你是独特的(心如花园双语悦读)

　　这是一本读五分钟就能让你享用一生的书！她可以帮助我们以感恩的积极心态，面对那些阴雨连绵、没有鲜花和掌声的生命时光。

心如花园双语悦读系列丛书：

　　《你是独特的》（心如花园双语悦读）收录了数十篇经典优美、百读不厌的英语短文，震撼心灵，耐人寻味。读者在欣赏文章的同时既可提高英语阅读水平，亦可陶冶情操，感悟人生。优美的短文通过平凡小事挖掘普通人的精神力量与人性之美，彰显爱心、希望、鼓励和信念。书中每篇英语短文均配有汉语对照译文，还有相应的词汇讲解。

If I Were a Boy Again 假如我重返少年
Butterfly Kisses 蝴蝶之吻
A Legend of Love 传奇之爱
The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance ofImagination
J.K.罗琳：失败的好处和想象的重要性
Enthusiasm Takes You Further 热情带你前进
The Zen of Cat 一只猫的哲学
A Letter to Myself 给自己的情书
Sadness of August 八月的忧愁
A Letter to My Son 给儿子的一封信
Beautiful Day 美丽的一天

　　You Are Special
　　你是独特的
　　One day a teacher asked her students to list thenames of theother students in the room on twosheets of paper, leaving a spacebetween each name.Then she told them to think of the nicest thingabouteach of their classmates and write it down. It tookthestudents a whole period to finish their assignment,and as thestudents left the room, each one handed inthe paper.
　　That Saturday, the teacher wrote down thename of each student ona separate sheet of paper,and listed what everyone else had saidabout thatindividual. On Monday she gave each student hisor herlist. Before long the entire class was smiling.“Really?” she heardwhispered. “I never knew that Imeant anything to anyone!” and, “Ididn’t know othersliked me so much.” were most of thecomments.
　　No one ever mentioned those papers in classagain. She never knewif they discussed them afterclass or with their parents, but itdidn’t matter. Theexercise had accomplished its purpose. Thestudentswere happy with themselves and one another. Thatgroup ofstudents moved on.
　　Last year one of the students was killed in abattle and histeacher attended the funeral of thatstudent. The church was packedwith his friends. Oneby one those who loved him took a last walk bythecoffin. The teacher was the last one to walk pastthecoffin.
　　After the funeral, most of Victor’s formerclassmates wenttogether to a luncheon. Victor’smother and father were there,obviously waiting tospeak with his teacher.
　　“We want to show you something,” his fathersaid, taking a walletout of his pocket. “They foundthis on Victor when he was killed. Wethought youmight recognize it.”
　　Opening the billfold, he carefully removed twoworn pieces ofnotebook paper that had obviouslybeen folded and refolded manytimes. The teacherknew without looking that the papers were theoneson which she had listed all the good things each ofVictor’sclassmates had said about him.
　　“Thank you so much for doing that,” Victor’smother said. “As youcan see, Victor treasured it.”
　　All of Victor’s former classmates started to gatheraround. Lukesmiled rather sheepishly and said, “I stillhave my list. It’s inthe top drawer of my desk at home.”
　　Luke’s wife said, “Luke asked me to put his inour weddingalbum.”
　　“I have mine too,” Ada said. “It’s in my diary.”
　　Then Arlene, another classmate, took out herwallet and showed herworn and frazzled list to thegroup. “I carry this with me at alltimes,” Arlene saidand without batting an eyelash, she continued,“Ithink we all saved our lists.”
　　The teacher finally sat down and cried. She criedfor Victor andfor all his friends who would never seehim again. The density ofpeople in society is so thickthat we forget that life will end oneday. And we don’tknow when that one day will be.
　　Please, tell the people you love and care for, thatthey arespecial and important. Tell them, before it istoo late. Remember,you reap what you sow. What youput into the lives of others comesback into your own.May your day be blessed and be as special as youare.
　　
　　
　　assignment n. 作业
　　whisper v. 耳语
　　comment n. 评论
　　luncheon n. （与他人共进的较正式的）午餐会
　　treasure v. 珍惜
　　有一天，老师让学生们把教室里其他学生的名字写在两张纸上，每个名字下面都留出空白。然后，她让大家想一想每个同学最大的优点，并将它写下来。学生们花了整整一节课的时间才把这项作业做完。在离开教室的时候，每个人都把他们写的交了上去。
　　那个星期六，老师把每个同学的名字单独写在一张纸上，并在名字下面写上其他同学对这个同学的评述。星期一，她把纸分别发给了每个同学。没过多久，全班同学都高兴地笑了。“真的这样吗？”她听到有人小声说，“我从来不知道我对别人有这么重要！”还有人说：“我不知道别人这么喜欢我。”这些是大家说得最多的话。
　　后来，班里没有人再提起这些纸的事。老师不知道学生们是否课后讨论过这件事或告诉过家长，但那没有关系，这个作业的目的已经达到了。学生们自己都很高兴，同学之间相处得也很好。这个班的学生继续在他们的人生道路上前进。
　　去年，有一个学生在一次战斗中牺牲了，老师去参加了他的葬礼。教堂里满是他的朋友。那些爱他的人一个接着一个从灵柩旁走过——最后一次走过他的身边。老师是最后一个走过的人。
　　葬礼结束后，许多维克托以前的同班同学去到一家餐馆聚餐。维克托的父母也在那儿，他们显然是在等着和老师说话。
　　“我们想给你看一件东西。”维克托的父亲一边说着，一边从口袋里拿出一个皮夹子，“维克托去世后，他们从他身上发现了这个。我们觉得你可能认得它。”
　　他打开皮夹子，小心翼翼地拿出了两张破旧不堪的从练习本上撕下的纸。纸很显然曾被来来回回打开又折叠过多次。老师一下就认了出来，那就是列着班上同学们对维克托所有好评的两张纸。
　　“我们非常感谢你做的这件事情。”维克托的母亲说，“你看，维克托是多么珍惜它！”
　　维克托以前的同班同学都围拢了过来。卢克有些羞涩地笑着说：“我也还保存着我的单子，它在我家书桌的第一个抽屉里放着呢。”
　　卢克的妻子说：“卢克让我把他的单子放在我们的结婚照相册里。”
　　“我的也还留着，”埃达说，“放在我的日记本里。”
　　接着，另一个同学阿琳掏出钱包，让大家看她的磨损了的单子。“我总是随身带着它，”阿琳开口道，眼睛眨都没眨又接着说道：“我想大家都保留着自己的单子。”
　　最终，老师坐下哭了起来。她为维克托而哭，也为维克托所有的朋友从此再也见不到他而伤心。世上的人是如此熙熙攘攘，以至于我们都忘记了生命总有一天会走到尽头，也不知道那一天什么时候到来。
　　请告诉你爱的人和你关心的人，他们对你来说很独特，也很重要。告诉他们，趁现在还不算太晚。记住，种瓜得瓜，种豆得豆。你对别人好，你的生活必定会得到回报。愿你的每一天都幸福，都过得像你自己一样独特。