[美文欣賞]

Today I begin a new life.

And I make a solemn oath to myself that nothing will retard my new life's growth. I will lose not a day from these readings for that day cannot be retrieved nor can I substitute another for it. I must not , I will not, break this habit of daily reading from these scrolls and, in truth, the few moments spent each day on this new habit are but a small price to pay for the happiness and success that will be mine.

As I read and re-read the words in the scrolls to follow, never will I allow the brevity of each scroll nor the simplicity of its words to cause me to treat the scroll's message lightly. Thousands of grapes are pressed to fill one jar with wine, and the grapeskin and pulp are tossed to the birds. So it is with these grapes of wisdom from the ages. Much has been filtered and tossed to the wind.Only the pure truth lies distilled in the words to come. I will drink as instructed and spill not a drop. And the seed of success I will swallow.

Today my old skin has become as dust. I will walk tall among men and they will know me not , for today I am a new man, with a new life.

[參考譯文]

今天，我開始新的生活

我鄭重地發(fā)誓，絕不讓任何事情妨礙我新生命的成長(zhǎng)。在閱讀這些讀物的時(shí)候，我絕不浪費(fèi)一天的時(shí)間，因?yàn)闀r(shí)光一去不返，失去的日子是無法彌補(bǔ)的。我也絕不打破每天閱讀的習(xí)慣。事實(shí)上，每天在這些新習(xí)慣上花費(fèi)少許時(shí)間，相對(duì)于可能獲得的愉樂與成功而言，只是微不足道的代價(jià)。

當(dāng)我閱讀書卷中的字句時(shí)，絕不能因?yàn)槲淖值木珶挾鲆晝?nèi)容的深沉。一瓶葡萄美酒需要千百顆果子釀制而成，果皮和渣子拋給小鳥。葡萄的智慧代代相傳，有些被過濾，有些被淘汰，隨風(fēng)飄逝。只有純正的真理才是永恒的。它們就精煉在我要閱讀的文字中。我要依照指示，絕不浪費(fèi)，飲下成功的種子。

今天，我的老繭化為塵埃。我在人群中昂首闊步，不會(huì)有人認(rèn)出我來，因?yàn)槲也辉偈沁^去的自己、我已擁有新的生命。