每天分享一篇中英雙語閱讀，對英語口語的練習很有幫助，也是積累英語考試中寫作，翻譯素材的好資料，加油吧!

Life Is Like a Coffee

生活就像一杯咖啡

A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got together to visit their old university professor. The conversation soon turned into complaints about stress in work and in life. Offering his guests coffee, the professor went to the kitchen and returned with a large pot of coffee and an assortment of cups -- porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal, some plain-looking, some expensive, some exquisite -- telling them to help themselves to the coffee.

一群畢業生，各自在事業上都已有所建樹，相約一起去看望他們年老的大學教授。談話一會兒就變成了各自對工作和生活壓力的抱怨。在用咖啡招待這些客人時，教授去廚房端來一大壺咖啡，并拿出各式各樣的咖啡杯——陶瓷的、塑料的、玻璃的、水晶的，有看上去普通的、有價值不菲的、有做工精細的——讓他們自己倒咖啡喝。

When all the students had a cup of coffee in hand, the professor said:

當所有學生手中都端了一杯咖啡后，教授發話了 ：

If you noticed, all the nice-looking expensive cups were taken up, leaving behind the plain and cheap ones.While it is normal for you to want only the best for yourselves, that is the source of your problems and stress.

“如果你們注意一下，就會發現所有好看的昂貴的杯子都被挑走了，剩下的只是那些普通的和便宜的。當然，每個人都只想擁有最好的，這很正常，但這也正是你們的問題和壓力的根源所在。”

What all of you really wanted was coffee, not the cup, but you consciously went for the best cups and were eyeing each other’s cups.

“其實你們真正想要的是咖啡，而不是杯子，但你們卻又都下意識去挑選最好的杯子，并觀察別人拿到的杯子。”

Now consider this: Life is the coffee and the jobs, money and position in society are the cups. They are just tools to hold and contain life, and do not change the quality of life. Sometimes, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee God has provided. So, don’t let the cups drive you ... enjoy the coffee instead.

“現在設想一下：如果生活是杯中的咖啡，工作、財富和社會地位就是那些杯子。它們只是維持生活的工具而已，并不改變生活質量。有時候，我們在過于關注杯子的同時卻忘了去品 味上帝賜予的咖啡。所以，不要成為杯子的奴隸…好好品味杯中的咖啡。”