英语励志美文精华 57

Don't Step Out of Character

BY VIRGINIA SAL!

ON A PLANE flying from Chicago to New York, my seat companion

was a young girl who gave me a friendly smile as I sat beside her, but

whose young face showed great sadness. Hesitantly, she told me she

was on her way to the funeral of her seventeen-year-old brother, had been Wiled² in Korea. She also told me that her only other relatives

were two brothers, both in the service, and that they had loss

their eldest³ brother in the war in Europe. I wanted to say something

to comfort her ... I felt so useless. ... All I could say was "I'm so sorry." And I thought, "Just what can I do to help bring order and

hope into the world today?" And the thought came to me, "I can

pray and my prayers will tune⁴ in with other sincere prayers to create

a mighty⁵ force for good and for peace in the world."

As a girl I was fortunate in having old-fashioned, religious parents

and I often think of the old hymn⁶ my good father sang so lustily as

I stood beside him in church, "I need Thee every hour As I'v

grown older my philosophy has changed in a way. I don't think of

God now as an old man with a long gray beard sitting up on a throne

I believe in a practical religion. What good is it unless I can use it that

help solve my daily problems, large or small?

I am grateful for what I consider the most worthwhile things

my life a happy marriage, a good husband, and a son and daughter

who become ininitely finer as they grow up. Success in my theatrical⁷

career has come second to these. However, no matter what my material blessings⁹ may be, I realize that my happiness must come from

within myself. I can't get back anything I don't give out. Anybody

knows a sure cure for the blues¹⁰ is to get out and do something nice for

someone else.

I have had a wonderful opportunity, on my tours with my one

woman show, to meet fine, good people in every one of the seven

hundred towns I've played. From them I know that good people predominate in every part of this country.

I love my work. I believe that laughter is a great sou! cleanser, and

I pray that my audiences may somehow be better off for having seen

my show. I believe in blessing⁸ everything and everybody along the

way. Sometimes I may have let stage fright and nerves rob me and

my audience of my best performance. I have failed if I haven't beforehand blessed everyone in my audience, everyone backstage, and,

when I'm working in television, radio or motion pictures, everyone

in the studio my fellow actors and the director and technicians. I

admire their courage, their goodhearted generous qualities.

What do I mean by "blessing"? Well, I first have a deep sense of

gratitude¹¹ to an audience, and a feeling of good will and good wishes,

so that I know there is complete harmony between them and me,

and I know they will like me because I really like them that we will

tune in together.

My late brother, the great character actor and comedian¹², Charles

"Chic¹" Sale, said to me one time we were talking about spiritual

things and about being perfect channels for expression: "The thing

to do, kiddo, is to stay in character be God's child." And I try never

to forget this. a

1 chic   

n./adj.别致(的)，时髦(的)，讲究的

参考例句：

• She bought a chic little hat.她买了一顶别致的小帽子。
• The chic restaurant is patronized by many celebrities.这家时髦的饭店常有名人光顾。

2 wiled   

v.引诱( wile的过去式和过去分词 )；诱惑；消遣；消磨

参考例句：

• The music wiled him from his study. 诱人的音乐使他无心学习下去。 来自辞典例句
• The sunshine wiled me from my work. 阳光引诱我放下了工作。 来自辞典例句

3 eldest   

adj.最年长的，最年老的

参考例句：

• The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
• The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。

4 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

5 mighty   

adj.强有力的；巨大的

参考例句：

• A mighty force was about to break loose.一股巨大的力量即将迸发而出。
• The mighty iceberg came into view.巨大的冰山出现在眼前。

6 hymn   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌

参考例句：

• They sang a hymn of praise to God.他们唱着圣歌，赞美上帝。
• The choir has sung only two verses of the last hymn.合唱团只唱了最后一首赞美诗的两个段落。

7 theatrical   

adj.剧场的，演戏的；做戏似的，做作的

参考例句：

• The final scene was dismayingly lacking in theatrical effect.最后一场缺乏戏剧效果，叫人失望。
• She always makes some theatrical gesture.她老在做些夸张的手势。

8 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

9 blessings   

n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福

参考例句：

• Afflictions are sometimes blessings in disguise. 塞翁失马，焉知非福。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We don't rely on blessings from Heaven. 我们不靠老天保佑。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 blues   

n.抑郁，沮丧；布鲁斯音乐

参考例句：

• She was in the back of a smoky bar singing the blues.她在烟雾弥漫的酒吧深处唱着布鲁斯歌曲。
• He was in the blues on account of his failure in business.他因事业失败而意志消沉。

11 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

12 comedian   

n.喜剧演员；滑稽演员

参考例句：

• The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
• The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。