The Sunshine-Man
奥里森·马登 / Orison Marden
“There’s the dearest little old gentleman,” says James Buckram, “who goes into town every morning on the 8:30 train. I don’t know his name, and yet I know him better than anybody else in town. He just radiates cheerfulness as far as you can see him. There is always a smile on his face, and I never heard him open his mouth except to say something kind, courteous, or good-natured. Everybody bows to him, even strangers, and he bows to everybody, yet never with the slightest hint of presumption or familiarity. If the weather is fine, his jokily compliments make it seem finer; and if it is raining, the merry way in which he speaks of it is as good as a rainbow.”
“The inborn geniality of some people,” says Whipple,“amounts to genius.” There are those whose very presence carries sunshine with them wherever they go; a sunshine which means pity for the poor, sympathy for the suffering, help for the unfortunate, and benignity toward all.
Everybody loves the sunny soul. His very face is a passport anywhere. All doors fly open to him. He disarms prejudice and envy, for he bears good will to everybody. He is as welcome in every household as the sunshine.
“He was quiet, cheerful, genial,” says Carlyle in his “Reminiscences” concerning Edward Irving’s sunny helpfulness. “His soul unruffled, clear as a mirror, honestly loving and loved, Irving’s voice was to me one of blessedness and new hope.”
And to William Wilberforce the poet Soothey paid this tribute: “I never saw any other man who seemed to enjoy such perpetual serenity and sunshine of spirit.”
When Goldsmith was in Flanders he discovered the happiest man he had ever seen. At his toil, from morning till night, he was full of song and laughter. Yet this sunny-hearted being was a slave, maimed, deformed, and wearing a chain. How well he illustrated that saying which bids us, if there is no bright side, to polish up the dark one!
The first prize at a flower-show was taken by a pale, sickly little girl, who lived in a close, dark court in the east of London. The judges asked how she could grow it in such a dingy and sunless place. She replied that a little ray of sunlight came into the court; as soon as it appeared in the morning, she put her flower beneath it, and, as it moved, moved the flower, so that she kept it in the sunlight all day.
“Water, air, and sunshine, the three greatest hygienic agents, are free, and within the reach of all. Twelve years ago,” says Walt Whitman,“I came to Camden to die. But every day 1 went into the country, and bathed in the sunshine, lived with the birds and squirrels, and played in the water with the fishes. I received my health from nature.”
“It is the unqualified result of all my experience with the sick,” said Florence Nightingale,“that second only to their need of fresh air, is their need of light; that, after a close room, what most hurts them is a dark room; and that it is not only light, but direct sunshine they want.”
The sun, making all living things to grow, exerts its happiest influence in cheering the mind of man and making his heart glad, and if a man has sunshine in his soul he will go on his way rejoicing; content to look forward if under a cloud, not bating one jot of heart or hope if for a moment cast down; honoring his occupation, whatever it be; rendering even rags respectable by the way he wears them; and not only happy himself, but giving happiness to others.
美国作家詹姆斯·巴克海姆曾这样回忆一个人：“有一个老人十分有趣，每天早晨，他都会乘8点30分的火车去小镇。我不知道他叫什么，可我是镇上最了解他的人。只要老人进入你的视线，他就会向你传达快乐。老人总是一副笑意融融的样子，我几乎没有听过他说话，可一旦开口，他的语气肯定十分和蔼、谦逊、慈祥。路过的人都会向老人点头打招呼，甚至陌生人也是一样；老人也向所有人点头回敬，但从未显现出丝毫的做作或不敬之意。在阳光灿烂的日子，他那令人欢快的问候声会使天气愈加明媚；换作是雨天的话，他提到天气时的乐观语气则如同彩虹一样美丽。”
美国医学家惠普尔说：“有些与生俱来的亲切感本身就是一种财富。” 有一些人，不管身在何处，阳光都会跟随着他们的步履；这里的阳光意味着对穷人的怜悯、对痛苦者的同情、对不幸者的帮助以及对所有人的仁慈。
每个人都喜欢阳光乐观的人：他的笑脸就是万能的护照，所有的大门都为他开启；他能送走骄傲与妒忌，因为他赋予每一个人好心情；所有家庭像喜欢阳光一样喜欢他。
在自己的回忆录里，英国作家卡莱尔曾关注过苏格兰宗教改革运动领袖爱德华·欧文乐观向上的性格：“他十分沉静、乐观、亲切。他的心灵仿佛镜子一般平滑、清亮，他真心地爱他人，也被他人所爱；欧文的话语在我的耳中就是满怀希望和幸福感的声音。”
对于废奴先驱威廉·威尔伯福斯，英国著名诗人骚塞曾这样表达自己的敬佩之情：“除了他，我从未见过其他任何人享受精神上永恒的平静和快乐。”
在佛兰德斯期间，英国作家戈德史密斯遇到了一个他所见过的最快乐的人。虽然日夜不息地埋头干活，他却总是欢歌笑语不断。这个阳光向上的人却是一个奴隶，而且身体残废、面貌丑陋，还戴着镣铐。他很好地解释了那句令我们深省的话——假如看不到光明的一面，就去驱除阴暗的一面吧!
在一次花展上，一个苍白、瘦弱的小女孩儿夺得了第一名。她的家在伦敦东区一个拥挤、阴暗的庭院里。评委问她如何能在这样一个阴暗、缺少光照的地方，培育出如此美丽的花。小女孩的答案是：庭院内只有一缕阳光，每天早上只要太阳出来，她就让花接触这缕阳光，然后随着光线的改变，不断地挪动花盆，这样，花就一整天都在阳光的照射下。
“水、空气和阳光，是最有益于健康的三种能量，而且可以任意索取，触手可及。”沃尔特·惠特曼说，“十二年前，我打算去坎登等待死亡。意想不到的事情发生了，因为每天在乡村里散步，在阳光里沐浴，与鸟儿和松鼠为伴，在水中与鱼儿嬉戏，这一切让我精神焕发。大自然又让我重新拥有了健康。”
“从我照顾病人的所有经验来看，”弗洛伦斯·南丁格尔说，“有人说除了对新鲜空气的需要，病人最需要的是灯光，这种观点是不正确的。在一个密闭的房间里，阴暗对病人伤害最大；他们需要的不只是灯光，更重要的是直接晒太阳。”
太阳促使万物生长，同时也展现着最令人快乐的影响，人们才得以精神焕发、心情愉悦。假如一个人心中拥有阳光，他就会踏上幸福之路：在压力重重时也乐意向前看，就算有片刻沮丧，也不会丧失丝毫的精神力量或希望；不管自己现状如何，都因所拥有的一切而骄傲；就算衣衫褴褛，也感激不已；不但自己快乐，也把快乐传递给他人。
1. There is always a on his face, and I never heard him his mouth except to say something kind, courteous, or good natured. _bows to him, even strangers, and he bows to everybody, yet with the slightest hint of presumption or familiarity.
2. All fly open to him. He disarms prejudice and envy, for he bears____will to everybody. He is as in every household as the sunshine.
3. She replied a little ray of sunlight came into the court; as soon as it in the morning, she put her flower beneath it, and, as it moved, ______the flower, so that she kept it in the sunlight day.
1. 虽然日夜不息地埋头干活，他却总是欢歌笑语不断。
2. 假如看不到光明的一面，就去驱除阴暗的一面吧!
3. 假如一个人心中拥有阳光，他就会踏上幸福之路。
1. He just radiates cheerfulness as far as you can see him.
as far as：至于，直到，远到；就……而言
2. ...as soon as it appeared in the morning, she put her flower beneath it...
as soon as：一……就……
