英语美文：今天,我开始新的生活(上)

《世界上最伟大的推销员》，这是一本在全世界范围内影响巨大的书，适合任何附层的人阅读。它振雷人心，激励斗志，改变了许多人的命运，本书是一经问世，英文版销量当年突破100万，讯即被译成18种文字，每年销量有增无减。

Today I begin a new life.

今天，我天始新的生活。

Today I shed my old skin, which has too long suffered the bruises of failure and the wounds of mediocrity.

今天，我爬出满是失败创伤的老茧。

Today I am born anew and my birthplace is a vineyard where there is fruit for all.

今天，我重新来到这个世上，我出生在葡萄园中，国内的葡萄任人享用。

Today I will pluck grapes of wisdom from the tallest and fullest vines in the vineyard, for these were planted by the wisest of my profession who have come before me, generation upon generation.

今天，我要从最高最密的藤上摘下智慧的果实，这葡萄藤是好几代前的智者种下的。

Today I will savor the taste of grapes from these vines and verily I will swallow the seed of success buried in each and new life will sprout within me.

今天，我要品尝葡萄的美味，还要吞下每一位成功的种子，让新生命在我心里萌牙。

The career I have chosen is laden with opportunity yet it is fraught with heartbreak and despair and the bodies of those who have failed, were they piled one atop another, would cast a shadow down upon all the pyramids of the earth.

我选择的道路充满机遇，也有辛酸与绝望。失败的同伴数不胜数，叠在一起，比金字塔还高。

Yet I will not fail, as the others, for in my hands I now hold the charts, which will guide through perilous waters to shores, which only yesterday seemed but a dream.

然而，我不会像他们一样失败，因为我手中持有航海图，可以领我越过汹涌的大海，抵达梦中的彼岸。

Failure no longer will be my payment for struggle. Just as nature made no provision for my body to tolerate pain neither has it made any provision for my life to suffer failure. Failure, like pain, is alien to my life. In the past I accepted it as I accepted pain. Now I reject it and I am prepared for wisdom and principles which will guide me out of the shadows into the sunlight of wealth, position, and happiness far beyond my most extravagant dreams until even the golden apples in the Garden of Hesperides will seem no more than my just reward.

失败不再是我奋斗的代价。它和痛苦都将从我的生命中消失。失败和我，就像水火一样，互不相容。我不再像过去一样接受它们。我要在智慧的指引下，走出失败的阴影，步入富足、健康、快乐的乐园，这些都超出了我以往的梦想。

Time teaches all things to him who lives forever but I have not the luxury of eternity. Yet within my allotted time I must practice the art of patience for nature acts never in haste. To create the olive, king of all trees, a hundred years is required. An onion plant is old in nine weeks. I have lived as an onion plant. It has not pleased me. Now I wouldst become the greatest of olive trees and, in truth, the greatest of salesman.

我要是能长生不老，就可以学到一切，但我不能永生，所以，在有限的人生里，我必须学会忍耐的艺术，因为大自然的行为一向是从容不迫的。造物主创造树中之王橄摊树需要一百年的时间，而洋葱经过短短的九个星期就会枯老。我不留恋从前那种洋葱式的生活，我要成为万树之王--橄榄树，成为现实生活中最伟大的推销员。

And how will this be accomplished? For I have neither the knowledge nor the experience to achieve the greatness and already I have stumbled in ignorance and fallen into pools of self-pity. The answer is simple. I will commence my journey unencumbered with either the weight of unnecessary knowledge or the handicap of meaningless experience. Nature already has supplied me with knowledge and instinct far greater than any beast in the forest and the value of experience is overrated, usually by old men who nod wisely and speak stupidly.

怎么可能?我既没有渊博的知识，又没有丰富的经验，况且，我曾一度跌入愚昧与自怜的深渊。答案很简单。我不会让所谓的知识或者经验妨碍我的行程。造物生已经赐予我足够的知识和本能，这份天赋是其它生物望尘莫及的。经验的价值往往被高估了，人老的时候开口讲的多是糊涂话。

In truth, experience teaches thoroughly yet her course of instruction devours men’s years so the value of her lessons diminishes with the time necessary to acquire her special wisdom. The end finds it wasted on dead men. Furthermore, experience is comparable to fashion; an action that proved successful today will be unworkable and impractical tomorrow.

说实在的，经验确实能教给我们很多东西，只是这需要花费太长的时间。等到人们获得智慧的时候，其价值已随着时间的消逝而减少了。结果往往是这样，经验丰富了，人也余生无多。经验和时尚有关，适合某一时代的行为，并不寻味着在今天仍然行得通。

Only principles endure and these I now possess, for the laws that will lead me to greatness are contained in the words of these scrolls. What they will teach me is more to prevent failure than to gain success, for what is success other than a state of mind? Which two, among a thouand wise men, will define success in the same words; yet failure is always described but one way. Failure is man’s inability to reach his goals in life, whatever they may be.

只有原则是持久的，而我现在正拥有了这些原则。这些可以指引我走向成功的原则全写在这几张羊皮卷里。它教我如何避免失败，而不只是获得成功，因为成功更是一种精神状态。人们对于成功的定义，见仁见智，而失败却往往只有一种解释：失败就是一个人没能达到他的人生目标，不论这些目标是什么。

In truth, the only difference between those who have failed and those who have succeed lies in the difference of their habits. Good habits are the key to all success. Bad habits are the unlocked door to failure. Thus, the first law I will obey, which precede all the others is --I will form good habits and become their slave.

事实上，成功与失败的最大分野，来自不同的习惯。好习惯是开启成员的钥匙，坏习惯则是一扇向失败敞开的门。因此，我首先要做的便是养成良好的习惯，全心全意去实行。

作者简介：

奥格·曼狄诺是当今世界撰写自我帮助方面书籍的最流行最有灵感的作家。他著有14本书，销量超过3000万册，被译成18种语言。

成千上万的来自生活中各行各业的人们，都盛赞奥格·曼狄诺改变了他们的生活，从他的书中得到了神奇的力量。

他的书充满智慧、灵感和爱心。他的著作包括：《世界上最伟大的奇迹》、《世界上最伟大的推销员》、《世界上最伟大的成功》等。

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