The Happy Marriage/幸福的婚姻
A man and his girlfriend were married. It was a large celebration.
All of their friends and family came to see the lovely ceremony and to partake of the festivities and celebrations. All had a wonderful time. Everyone could tell that the love they had for each other was true.
A few months later，the wife came to the husband with a proposal，“I read in a magazine a while ago about how we can strengthen our marriage. Each of us will write a list of the things that we find a bit annoying with the other person. Then，we can talk about how we can fix them together and make our lives happier together.”
The husband agreed. So each of them went to a separate room in the house and thought of the things that annoyed them about the other. They thought about this question for the rest of the day and wrote down what they came up with. The next morning，at the breakfast table，they decided that they would go over their lists.
“I，ll start，”offered the wife. She took out her list. It had many items on it，enough to fill three pages. In fact，as she started reading the list of the little annoyances，she noticed that tears were starting to appear in her husband，s eyes.
“What，s wrong？”she asked.“Nothing，”the husband replied，“keep reading your list.”
The wife continued to read until she had read all three pages to her husband. She neatly placed her list on the table and folded her hands over the top of it.
“Now，you read your list and then we，ll talk about the things on both of our lists，”she said happily.
Quietly the husband stated，“I don，t have anything on my list. I think that you are perfect the way that you are. I don，t want you to change anything for me. You are lovely and wonderful and I wouldn，t want to try and change anything about you.”The wife，touched by his honesty and the depth of his love for her and his acceptance of her，turned her head and wept.
In life，there are enough times when we are disappointed，depressed and annoyed. We don，t really have to go looking for them. We have a wonderful world that is full of beauty，light and promise. Why waste time in this world looking for the bad，disappointing or annoying when we can look around us，and see the wondrous things before us？
男人终于和自己的女朋友结婚了。婚礼声势浩大。
所有的亲友都来见证他们的结婚典礼，参加盛典，所有人都度过了一段美好的时光。每个人都能看出他们之间 的真爱。
数月之后，妻子向丈夫提议道：“我刚刚在杂志里看到关于巩固婚姻的方法。我们各自将对方的小缺点写成清 单，然后一起商量如何去改正缺点好让我们更幸福地生活在一起。”
丈夫欣然同意。于是他们走进单独的房间思考着对方让自己觉得不满的地方。他们在接下来的一天里都在思考 这个问题，并将想到的都写了下来。次日清晨吃早餐时，他们决定讨论缺点清单。
“我先来，”妻子提议说。她掏出自己写的清单，上面纷繁的条目足足占据了三张纸。事实上，当她开始读清 单上那些小厌恶时，她看到丈夫的眼里有泪花闪烁。
“你怎么了？”“没事，”丈夫回答说，“继续读。”
妻子继续读着，直到整整三页的厌恶都传达给丈夫。她干脆地将清单放到桌子上，双手交叉其上。
“现在你开始读你的吧，然后我们来讨论讨论清单上的问题，”她兴奋地说。
丈夫轻轻地开口了：“我的清单上什么都没有。我觉得原本的你是最完美的，我不希望你为我做任何改变。我 不想改变你，不想你失去可爱与美好。”他的真实，对她深深的爱，对她的包容深深触动着她。她转过头，流 下眼泪。
生命中，失望、压抑和烦恼常常不请自来。生活在一个充满美好、光明、希望的世界，我们本可以尽情领略周 围的奇妙，为何浪费时间去自寻丑恶、失望和烦恼呢？
festivity
【释义】n. 欢庆，欢宴；庆典；欢乐
【短语】Wedding Festivities 洞房花烛；Celebrate festivities 过节
proposal
【释义】n. 提议，建议；求婚
【短语】research proposal 研究计划，开题报告
annoyance
【释义】n. 烦恼；可厌之事；打扰
【短语】to the annoyance of…… 让……烦恼的是
disappoint
【释义】vt.使失望；使破灭
【短语】disappoint at 对……感到失望
depress
【释义】vt. 压抑；使沮丧；使萧条
【短语】depress price 抑制价格；depress to 降低到
Bite by Bite/ 一口一口吃掉烦恼
“Mom，I can，t do this.”My teenage son Bret stood in front of me with his hands outstretched， full of papers.
“Can，t do what？”I half-looked at him while preparing supper.
“All these！”He waved his hands up and down.“There，s no way I can do everything my teachers are asking me to do！”
I stopped what I was doing and turned to face him. I had never seen him so upset. He was my jovial，carefree son. He made good grades in school and nothing ever seemed to bother him. As I studied his face，I could see tears brimming in his eyes accompanying the look of panic.
Walking over to the kitchen table，I sat down and motioned him to join me.
“Show me what you have to do.”
Bret plopped down in a chair and dropped the papers in a stack in front of him.
“Ms. Jones，my chemistry teacher wants me to make a project for the Science Fair.”
“Okay. And what else？”
“I have an algebra test next week that will be one-third of our semester grade！”
I knew how Bret hated algebra，which always gave him trouble.
“And I have to write an essay for English composition. And midterms are the next week！ I need to study for them and I have to get help with Spanish. There，s no way I can do everything！”
It broke my heart to see him so stressed out. I wanted to help him，yet I couldn，t do the work for him. I could relate to his dilemma though.
In my job as a sales manager，there had been many stressful times. Caught in the middle，I had to please upper management by producing results from my sales team as well as deal with ten individuals.
As much as I wanted to run away and hide from the responsibility，I knew I had to handle it. And even though I had my doubts about the outcome，I wanted things to run well. How did I handle it and not implode？ I made a list. I listed everything that had to be done，then I put a deadline on each item and organized the list according to what had to be done first，second，and so on.
I looked at Bret and said，“You don，t have to do everything at once. You can do one at a time. Let，s make a list of what you need to do.”
So，one by one，we listed each item. Then we put the due date next to the item. Next we separated the items into parts. As we worked on prioritizing the tasks，I saw my son visibly relax.
When we finished with the list，I asked，“Do you think you can do this now？”
He smiled and I saw his confidence return.“Sure！ Thanks，Mom！”
From that day on，Bret made lists for everything he had to do. I had to laugh when I saw lists lying around，but I knew the process worked for him，as it did for me. Bret completed all his assignments and kept his good grades.
There，s an adage that asks，“How do you eat an elephant？”The answer is，“One bite at a time. ”
“妈妈，我搞不定这个。”我十几岁的儿子布雷特站在我面前，伸出的手里攥满试卷。
“搞不定什么？”我边准备晚餐边瞥了他一眼。
“所有这些！”他上下挥舞着手。“我不可能完成老师要求的所有任务！”
我停下正在做的事，转过身面对着他。我从没见过他如此沮丧。他是我生性快乐、无忧无虑的儿子；在学校成 绩很好，似乎没什么能让他困扰。当我仔细看着他的脸，分明看见他神情慌张，眼里有眼泪在打转。
我走到餐桌旁坐下，并示意他和我坐到一起。
“让我看看你要做的。”
布雷特扑通一声坐到椅子上，将一堆试卷丢到我面前。
“我的化学老师琼斯小姐希望我为科学展览会做个设计。”
“嗯，还有呢？”
“我下周有场代数考试，这成绩会作为学期成绩的三分之一。”
我清楚布雷特对代数的厌恶程度，它常常给他带来烦恼。
“还有，我得为英文写作写一篇文章，并且下周就要期中考试了！我要复习考试，还要补习西班牙语。我不可 能完成所有的任务！”
看到他承受如此大的压力，我的心都碎了。我想帮助他，尽管我能感受到他的困境，但我不能替他做那些功课。
作为一名销售经理，我的工作中有很多压力大的时候。身处中层，我必须以我销售团队创造的业绩来取悦上层 管理者，同时要管理10个员工。