一個民族產(chǎn)生過幾位大哲學家沒什么稀罕，但一個民族能以哲理的眼光去觀察事物，那是難能可貴的。我整理了哲理英語美文故事，歡迎閱讀!

讓我們微笑吧

The thing that goes the farthest toward making life worthwhile, that costs the least and does the most, is just a pleasant smile.

那最能賦予生命價值、代價最廉而回報最多的東西，不過一個令人心暢的微笑而已。

The smile that bubbles from the heart that loves its fellow men, will drive away the clouds of gloom and coax the Sun again.

由衷地熱愛同胞的微笑，會驅(qū)走心頭陰郁的烏云，心底收獲一輪夕陽。

It's full of worth and goodness, too, with manly kindness blent; It's worth a million dollars, and it doesn’t cost a cent.

它充滿價值和美好，混合著堅毅的仁愛之心;它價值連城卻不花一文。

There is no room for sadness when we see a cheery smile; It always has the same good look; it's never out of style; It nerves us on to try again when failure makes us blue;

當我們看到喜悅的微笑，憂傷就會一掃而光;它始終面容姣好，永不落伍;失敗令我們沮喪之時，它鼓勵我們再次嘗試;

The dimples of encouragement are good for me and you.It pays the highest interest — for it is merely lent;

鼓勵的笑靨于你我大有裨益。它支付的利息高昂無比──只因它是種借貸形式;

It's worth a million dollars, and it doesn’t cost a cent.

它價值連城卻不花一文。

A smile comes very easy — you can wrinkle up with cheer. A hundred times before you can squeeze out a salty tear. It ripples out, moreover, to the heartstrings that will tug, and always leaves an echo that is very like a hug.

來一個微笑很容易──嘴角歡快翹起來，你能百次微笑，可難得擠出一滴淚;它的漣漪深深波及心弦，總會留下反響，宛若擁抱。

So, smile away! Folks understand what by a smile is meant. It’s worth a million dollars, and it doesn’t cost a cent.

繼續(xù)微笑吧!誰都懂得它意味著什么。它價值連城卻不花一文。

讓過去過去 讓未來來到

Regret can be a terrible addiction. Those who suffer from it so often become bitter and full of self-pity.

后悔是一件很可怕的東西, 它會讓人上癮. 那些經(jīng)常感到后悔的人會變得更加悲天憫人, 自顧自憐.

It is an emotion that serious entrepreneurs cannot afford: they must keep pressing onwards and should not look back with remorse, dwelling on errors of long ago.

而對于企業(yè)家來說, 他們絕對不可以對 “后悔” 這種情緒上癮. 他們必須時刻堅持前進, 不能總是回望很久以前犯下的錯誤而懊悔自責.

As Alexander Graham Bell, inventor of the telephone, said: “When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us.” Entrepreneurs must learn to manage the conflict between constant experimentation – which means lots of painful mistakes – and a fear of failure, which can lead to paralysis.

正如電話機的發(fā)明者亞歷山大?格拉漢姆?貝爾所言, “當人生的一扇門關(guān)閉了, 總會有另一扇門為你打開; 然而, 我們卻經(jīng)常久久地回顧那扇關(guān)閉了的門, 懊悔不已, 卻沒有看到那扇為我們打開的門.” 企業(yè)家必須學會如何平衡各種不斷的嘗試和害怕失敗的心理之間的矛盾. 這些嘗試可能意味著許多痛苦的失誤, 而害怕失敗的心理則可能導致你停滯不前.

Likewise, past glory can be a killer. For example, Greg Dyke, who is a clever fellow, still harks back too much to his resignation as director-general of the BBC. He should move on and stop moaning about the injustice of it all.

同樣的, 過去的榮耀也可能是毀滅你的殺手. 比如說, 格里格?戴克, 一個頭腦聰明的人, 至今仍然對他當初辭去BBC總裁一職耿耿于懷. 他應(yīng)該立即停止抱怨所有的不公, 繼續(xù)前進.

And Tim Waterstone should give up trying to buy back his bookshop chain, which he finally left more than 10 years ago (after selling it once and then getting involved again). He has tried to repurchase it at least five times, if rumour is to be believed. Possibly the root of the problem is that he exaggerates the chain’s importance, once saying: “Waterstone’s does more for the day-to-day cultural life of the nation than perhaps anything or anyone else.”

而蒂姆?沃特斯通, 既然十年前已經(jīng)決定離開他的連鎖書店了, 現(xiàn)在就應(yīng)該放棄試圖回購連鎖書店的計劃(他曾經(jīng)將書店出售, 后來又買回來). 如果傳言屬實的話, 他曾經(jīng)至少五次試圖將它買回來. 問題的根源可能是, 他過于高估書店的價值. 他曾說, “Waterstone’s 在本國日常文化生活層面上所做的貢獻是任何東西和任何人都不能比擬的.”

No doubt I suffered from a similar delusion in taking over Borders bookshops. But such thoughts were never true, and are even less so now, in the age of e-books and Amazon. Admittedly, I did try to buy back PizzaExpress once, but that was different – it would have been a sound financial deal.

同樣并不稀奇的是, 在接管Borders書店時, 我也有類似的錯覺. 然而, 這樣的感覺從來都是錯誤的, 而在當今的電子書和亞馬遜普及的時代, 這種感覺就更加錯誤了. 無可置否, 我也曾經(jīng)試圖回購 PizzaExpress, 然而那時的情況不同, 那次的回購可能是一次明智的金融交易.

And who doesn’t have a tale of the one that got away? I remember David Dein, my predecessor as chairman of the charity Stage One, telling a wonderfully self-deprecating anecdote of his initial activities as a theatrical angel. Mr Dein, who has made a fortune investing in Arsenal football club, backed some early shows from a promising young producer called Cameron Mackintosh, and they unfortunately lost money. Finally, the apprentice impresario approached him about supporting an idea to put some of T.S.?Eliot’s poems to music, on stage. Not unreasonably, Mr Dein turned it down. It became, of course, Cats, one of the most successful productions of all time, and helped make Mr Mackintosh a very rich man indeed.

然而, 誰不曾中此類的招數(shù)呢? 我記得在我之前擔任慈善機構(gòu)Stage One董事長的大衛(wèi)?德恩曾經(jīng)自嘲般地講過他的一件軼事, 這件事與他剛開始擔任戲劇贊助人的經(jīng)歷有關(guān). 德恩先生曾經(jīng)投資阿森納足球俱樂部并獲得可觀的利潤. 后來他贊助一位頗有潛力的年輕制片人卡梅倫?麥金托什的一些早期劇目, 然而不幸的是, 這是一筆虧本買賣. 最后, 那位學徒式的劇場經(jīng)理希望德恩可以支持他將T?S?艾略特的部分詩歌改編成音樂劇搬上舞臺. 而德恩拒絕了他的請求, 這一切看起來也確實合情合理. 這時你應(yīng)該猜到, 這后來成為了史上最成功的音樂劇之一, <<貓>>. 它成功地讓麥金托什變成一個非常富有的人.

One of my experiences in that vein was Transform, a leading cosmetic surgery company. It was a highly profitable undertaking, serving a booming market, and I believed the acquisition would be a real winner. I spent many weeks negotiating a deal, but then got slightly cold feet at the last minute, and fell out with the vendor over a relatively trivial sum. He immediately turned round and sold it to those astute fellows at Phoenix private equity. Inevitably, they proceeded to make a rapid fortune.

我也有類似的經(jīng)歷, 那是在一家叫Transform的領(lǐng)先美容整形公司里. 這家公司營利情況非常好, 市場需求大, 因此我相信收購這家公司是一個明智的選擇. 我花了好多周的時間談判這筆交易, 但是在最后一刻卻有點動搖了, 最后因為一筆非常小的金額上與出售方發(fā)生分歧而使交易告吹. 出售方立即把公司轉(zhuǎn)賣給私人股本公司Phoenix的那幫精明的家伙. 結(jié)局不用說, 這些人迅速地賺取了可觀的利潤.

At least my mistake wasn’t as expensive as George Bell’s. He was the former documentary film-maker hired in 1996 to run Excite, the dotcom darling, which achieved a market capitalisation of $35bn at its peak. Three years later, the founders of Google decided that their search business was interfering with their studies and tried to sell it to a number of buyers, including Mr Bell, for just $750,000. He turned it down flat. Excite subsequently went bankrupt, while Google is now worth $170bn.

然而, 至少, 我的失誤不及喬治?貝爾的失誤付出的代價高. 他曾經(jīng)是紀錄片制片人, 1996年被Excite雇用. 該公司最高實現(xiàn)了350億美元的市值. 三年后, 谷歌的創(chuàng)使人認為, 他們的搜索業(yè)務(wù)干擾到了他們的研究, 試圖用區(qū)區(qū)75萬美元向眾多的買家出售, 包括貝爾. 然而貝爾直接拒絕了. Excite后來破產(chǎn)了, 而谷歌現(xiàn)在的市值高達1700億美元.

And it would be hard not to feel some sympathy for James Monaghan. In 1960, he teamed up with his brother Tom in the purchase of a single pizza restaurant in Michigan for $500. But later that year, he decided to go travelling, and so sold his 50 per cent share in the business to his brother in exchange for a used Volkswagen Beetle. A few years later, the company changed its name to Domino’s Pizza, and in 1998 was sold for about $1bn.

同樣的, 我們也難免會為詹姆斯?莫納汗感到可惜. 1960年, 他和他的兄弟湯姆合作, 用500美元在密歇根買下了一間比薩餐廳. 后來, 也就在那一年, 他決定去旅行, 于是將自己百分之五十的股份賣給了他的兄弟, 換取一輛二手的大眾甲殼蟲汽車. 幾年以后, 那家比薩餐廳改名為達美樂比薩餐廳. 1998年, 達美樂比薩餐廳以約10億美元的價格出售.

By all means treasure experience, and learn from your blunders. But don’t wallow in nostalgia, pining for what might have been. Rather, go ahead and seize the day no matter what. I have little time for those who say: I wish I had started my own business. My only response is: so do it now.

前車可鑒, 我們一定要從經(jīng)驗和失誤中吸取教訓. 但是切不可以過分沉浸在過去的傷懷中而于可能的結(jié)果念念不忘. 相反, 你應(yīng)該勇往直前, 抓住一切可能的機會. 我沒有空去理會那些只會說 “我要早點創(chuàng)業(yè)就好了”. 如果有人對我說這句話, 我會對他說: 現(xiàn)在就去做吧!

珍惜現(xiàn)在 不再錯過

音樂家約翰帶著一把價值不菲的古董名琴，悄悄來到人潮不斷的地鐵站演奏。弦音曼妙，在空曠處流淌。將近一小時的演奏中，真正駐足聆聽者只有六七人。最捧場的是一位三歲小童，聽得入神。約翰當天得到52美元賞金。

John, a famous musician, took his priceless antique zither and played it in the crowded subway station. The music emanating from the zither was delicately streaming throughout the whole station. However, during the one-hour play, only six or seven people were truly appreciating the charming music. A three-year-old kid was so fascinated by the music that he forgot everything around. John only got 52 U.S. dollar for his work that day.

平日，約翰的演奏會舉行時，一張票超過100美元，且一票難求。 后來，不少當時就在地鐵站的觀眾扼腕自己眼拙，錯過了一場免費或者廉價的音樂盛宴。

However, in normal days, when John is about to hold a concert, one ticket can be sold at more than 100 dollars and it is extremely hard to buy a ticket even at such a high price. Therefore, later, many passers-by in the station that day felt deeply regretful for not recognizing the famous musician and missing such a valuable but cheap music feast.

有位忙碌的朋友得知老婆罹患重癥，徹頭徹尾變了一個人：親自下廚，陪太太散步……可是妻子敵不過病魔摧殘，三個月后就撒手人寰。他很傷感地說，太忙了，錯過與妻子營造最美好的人生時光，想彌補卻彌補不回來。

I have a very busy friend who had totally changed after knowing that his wife came down with acute illness. He cooked by himself for the family and took a walk with his wife every day. Nonetheless, his wife still did not manage to conquer the illness and passed away after three months. After that, he often sighed miserably that due to his past busy life, he had missed a lot of beautiful time with his wife. But now, it is impossible to make up for it.

醫(yī)生的兒子從19樓一躍而下，留下一封遺書，信中留言：最想爸爸陪他，最想看電影，最希望快快樂樂……兒子往生之后，爸爸才明白，人生中最珍貴的不是成就，而是親情。

A doctor’s son jumped from the 19th floor of a building and left a posthumous letter which expressed his strong desire for staying more with his father, going to see a movie with his father, etc. Not until his son committed suicide had the doctor realized that the most precious thing is not career achievement, but the tight and intact family bonds.

可惜千金難買早知道，很多美好的事，往往簡簡單單就被輕易錯過了。

It is no use crying over spilt milk. We have missed a lot of precious things in our life without knowing to cherish them.

事實上，我也錯過一些事。錯過的理由很簡單：以為還有明天。

Actually, I also missed something precious before. The reason why we would have missed those precious things is less than simple: we had thought that we could still own them tomorrow.

事實上，明天是不可靠的。要不，日休禪師怎么會說，很多人的一生中，只做了“等待”與“后悔”兩件事，合起來就叫“來不及”。我們老愛說：長大再說，有錢再說，老了再說……可是到了那時候，卻什么都不必說了。

Nevertheless, tomorrow is actually by no means reliable. There was a famous Buddhist monk saying that in many people’s lives, they have only done two things: waiting and regretting. The result is that they were always too late to cherish what they had before they lost it. We would often claim to do something when we grow up, or when we have money or when we become old, etc. However, when we reach the condition we have expected, we could no longer do realize our wish any more, because we have lost it by then.