英语短文翻译

Unit 1 That was a time when life was difficult for everyone. My family could barely get by on my small income from driving a cab. One late night I responded to a call for a cab ride. To my surprise, when I arrived at the address, I found it was a frail old lady who was awaiting me. After she got into the cab, I engaged her in conversation. I learned that she was going to the hospice. Her doctor said she did not have very long. The old lady told me to drive through the downtown area. She pointed at some old buildings, telling me those were the places where she used to work or live. When the cab finally pulled up in front of the hospice, I didn’t accept her fare. In the rest of the day, I was lost in thought. Though I had to make a living. I lived not for the sole purpose of surviving. When circumstances looked gloomy, the small favor I had done could be a candle light. However faint the light was, it managed to warm up a soul and ennobled me as well. I did take pride in that small favor. Unit 2 After dinner, we all sat around the heath. Aunt Susan was still in the grief of losing Uncle Robert. In her soft voice she told us about their past years. Uncle Robert joined the army shortly after they were engaged. Given the critical situation at the time when lots of army men didn’t return alive, you can imagine how much horrified Aunt Susan was every day, and how much overjoyed she was to see Uncle Robert safe and sound from the European battlefield. Then they got married and brought up five children. For all those years, their affection for each other grew stronger in the course of overcoming difficulties and hardships in life. I was fascinated by Aunt Susan’s story, which was totally different from my ideal of love. They practiced, in their daily life, giving and sharing instead of pursuing passion and romance, or complaints. Amazingly, such love lasted through their whole life. Unit 3 As is commonly acknowledged that humans are social animals. Living together in a community, we naturally expect to have friends. As to what friendship is, we have read different definitions given by Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, and Cicero, a Roman statesman. No one will deny that some people make friends simply for mutual utility. Once the ground for such friendship disappears, the friendship also breaks up. However, a lot more people long for “soul pals”----those who possess virtues and with whom we can go through trials and tribulations together. Such friendships keep us away from greed and violence and inspire us to have the courage of our convictions. Such is what we call “true friendship”. It is with such friends’ company that we find ourselves surpassing our old selves and becoming better people. Unit 4 A gold medal is a tribute to the athletic talent, determination and courage of an Olympic champion. Then how do the athletes make themselves fortunate enough to be so highly honored? The champions who have mounted the winners’ stand can offer an answer based on their own experiences. First, in the course of training, they visualize themselves as champions. Once their dreams of becoming champions take shape, they will cling to them courageously. What’s more, top performers are driven to bring out their best. They discipline themselves and squeeze in every possible minute to practice everyday. Despite their relentless efforts, they may sometimes fail to win or narrowly miss a gold medal, yet they believe in themselves and never lose heart. They are ready to take on the most psychologically and technically challenging tasks or competitions. In reality, all champions have experienced lots of hardships on their way to the vital break of their lifetime. So we won’t and can’t say that a champion is lucky. After all, luck only strikes those prepared to capitalize on it. Unit 5 We all want to be healthy, to be at our best when handling tough challenges. There has never been a lack of good advice on health. For example, eat a balanced diet, get enough sleep, and set aside some time every week for exercise. Chronobiology, a new science, has provided us with a new approach to achieving peak efficiency. It is to coordinate our daily activities with our biological capacities. We plot on graph paper six readings of our temperature taken at four-hour intervals through a day, and familiarize ourselves with such information as when our body temperature begins to rise, when it reaches its peak point, and when the lowest point appears. Then we plan our daily activities by following the instructions given by chronobiology authorities. For instance, we tackle the most demanding physical work when our temperature is the highest. By contrast, we pursue mental activities like reading and reflection when our temperature is falling. In this way, what we actually do coincides with our body’s natural rhythms and we achieve our best as predicted.