I think it is to those southern farmers' great credit that they were able to see this adversity for what it really was a great blessing. Remember, it' s not what happens to us, but our response to what happens to us that makes the difference in the quality of our lives. I believe that everything that happens can be a lesson. Next time things don' t seem to be going the way you want, ask yourself what the positive aspect is. What' s the benefit in the adversity? You' ll have greater enjoyment and learn more in the process.
大约五岁时，我和家人在亚拉巴马恩特普赖斯住了几个月。在此期间，我父亲正在附近的洛克堡参加一个高级航空课程培训。
在亚拉巴马恩特普赖斯最值得留恋的就是位于镇中心的一座奇怪的纪念碑。你一定不要错过它，事实上路过时，你必须绕着它兜一圈，因为它正好坐落在马路的中央。这座纪念碑是专门用来纪念棉铃象鼻虫的。
也许在世界上你不会找到第二座纪念昆虫的雕塑。当然不是因为它的美学价值，棉铃象鼻虫是一种长相丑陋的昆虫。让人们颇感意外的是，竖立棉铃象鼻虫雕像的原因居然是它对周围地区棉花作物的破坏。
他们为什么要纪念这种昆虫呢？倘若不是棉铃象鼻虫，该地不健康的经济恐怕还要继续依赖单一的作物、单一的产品。在此之前，棉花是当地人们唯一的依靠。当棉铃象鼻虫到来时，农民和所有依赖棉农的工商业都不得不认识到多种经营的必要性。
从长远角度看，棉铃象鼻虫破坏农作物实际上反而给他们提供了一个机遇。他们再也不把所有的鸡蛋投入棉花这一个篮子里。他们转向养猪、种植花生和其他经济作物，整个地区的经济由此繁荣起来。
我想那些南部农民是很令人钦佩的，因为他们能够将这个灾难视做极大的福祉。记住，并不是我们身边发生的事，而是我们对事情的态度决定了我们生活的质量。我相信，每一件事情都是一种经验财富。下一次，遇到不能如愿的事情，就问问自己：这件事情积极的一面是什么？逆境将给予我们什么样的益处？你可以在这个过程中获得更多的快乐，学到更多的东西。
有时，困境带给人们更多的福祉。尽管人们不喜欢，困境却常常使人们因祸得福，困境意味着问题，它促使人们想办法克服问题、解决问题，而这个过程就是一个提高的过程。因此，在现实生活中，不管遭遇什么困境，都应该以积极的心态勇敢去应对，山穷水尽之处往往也是柳暗花明之时。
aviation [,eivi'ein] n. 航空；航空学
A case in point is the successful launching of "Shenzhou V
Spacecraft" which sets china in a high position of aviation and space flight.
一个典型的例子就是“神舟五号”飞船的成功发射，使中国在航空和空间飞行中处于高端地位。
memorable ['memrbl] adj. 值得纪念的；值得记忆的
We have spent a great deal of memorable time here.
我们在这里度过了许多难忘的时光。
aesthetic [i:s'etik] adj. 有关美的；美学的；审美的
Mozart himself was also a thinker with a unique personality, and
his aesthetic ideas to penetrate every area of his work.
莫扎特本人也是一个有着独特个性的思想家，他的美学思想渗透到他作品的每个领域。
adversity [鎑'v:siti:] n. 逆境；厄运；（经济方面的）窘境
Adversity is the first road leading to truth.
逆境是到达真理的第一条道路。
当棉铃象鼻虫到来时，农民和所有依赖棉农的工商业都不得不认识到多种经营的必要性。
他们再也不把所有的鸡蛋投入棉花这一个篮子里。
记住，并不是我们身边发生的事，而是我们对事情的态度决定了我们生活的质量。
When the boll weevil came, the farmers and all the other businesses that were reliant on the cotton farmers were forced to recognize the need to diversify.
be reliant on：依靠；离不开
In the long run, they saw that the boll weevil had, in fact, done them a favor by destroying their crops.
in the long run：从长远看；终究
贝多芬和《第九交响曲》
Beethoven and His Symphony 9
佚名 / Anonymous
It' s a familiar tale: an aging Beethoven, ill and deaf, conducting the orchestra and chorus in the premiere of his Ninth Symphony, conducting even after they had ceased to perform, after they had reached the end of the stunning new work, after the audience had already begun to applaud. continuing to conduct until a singer turned him around so that he could see the thunderous cheers that were resounding throughout the hall.
The image is deeply moving, so much so that more cynical historians would like to discount it; it is, they feel, too perfect to be true. Yet this once, however, the cynics are apparently wrong, for several eyewitnesses tell the same tale of that fateful performance in Vienna on May 7, 1824. Their stories vary somewhat in detail. Some place the dramatic moment at the symphony' s conclusion. Others maintain it occurred at the end of the scherzo. This difference of opinion might merely be credited to the passage of years between the incident itself and the day long after when those observers at last spoke to a biographer. Whenever the applause occurred, the fact that it passed unheard by Beethoven makes clear that he could never have heard a note of this most magnificent composition. Think about that bitter fact, and then wonder that a man so crossed by fate could still demand a choir to sing rapturously of joy.
Beethoven had first encountered Schiller' s poem "An die Freude" over thirty years before he completed the Ninth Symphony. The poem had first appeared in print in 1785, and from that time on was quite popular in the German states. Evidence suggests that Beethoven may have set the text to music as early as 1792. Other attempts were made in 1808 and 1811, when Beethoven' s notebooks include remarks to himself concerning possible settings for the familiar text. These years of toying with Schiller' s ode were also years of personal and professional growth. When he first came to know the poem, he was an optimistic young artist who had not yet composed his First Symphony, yet Beethoven' s third approach to the poem, in 1812, came with the completion of the Eighth Symphony. Perhaps the professional experience he had gained in those decades led him to consider that a poem of such spiritual power required an equally powerful setting, for he soon embarked on the creation of his Ninth Symphony, the work in which Schiller' s words would be given glorious flight.
