时间:2018-12-17 作者:英语课 分类:2006年NPR美国国家公共电台


英语课
I believe in figuring out of my own way to do things.
I believe in the power of numbers.
I believe in Barbecue.
Well, I believe in friendliness 1.
I believe in mankind.
This I believe.
It’s Monday the day we bring you our series This I Believe. And today we hear from singer and songwriter Jimmy Dale Gilmore. He’s known for his unlikely blend of eastern mysticism with the deep country sound of West Texas.
Here’s our series curator Independent Producer Jay Allison.

Jimmie Dale Gilmore once embraced the outlaw 2 musician way of life. He says he used to think he knew everything and the eventual 3 realization 4 that he didn’t was hard-earned. It was his own mistakes that led him to his belief. Here is Jimmy Dale Gilmore with his essay for This I Believe.

The question of belief has always been a source of confusion for me. Most of my life ,I have been torn between a deep longing 5 for certainty and an equally deep skepticism. At times the ability to convince myself of vast unprovable notions was kind of soothing 6. But the relief was usually short-lived. The truce 7 with pessimism 8 bordering on nihilism was a very tenuous 9 one. My outer life mirrored this conflict as I went from one extreme to another, sometimes aspiring 10 to mystical otherworldliness and other times living in the nightlife music world not far removed from the criminal. I did my best to cultivate belief but could only come up with what Allan Watch once called a "belief in belief". The real thing remained elusive 11. Brief glimpses of beautiful, inspirational meaning would slowly fade into boredom 12 or sorrow at the state of the world and even cynicism. It came as a great shock to discover that my real spiritual problem was not a product of the world’s condition but of my own self-centeredness. I caused hurt and sorrow to those closest to me by living my life with my own gratification as the guiding principle. The old cliché that experience is the best teacher proved itself to me with a vengeance 13. For some of us it seems experience is the only teacher. I had to learn the hard way. I went through a few years of just getting lost and more lost--- the drugs to sexy alcohol:it sounds like a lot of fun, that is if you don’t figure in the remorseful 14 hangovers, the depression or the loneliness that is both the cause and the effect of the whole vicious circle. I went far enough down to have to either change or die. I basically managed to break my own heart, but people are capable of learning and learning that I had no wisdom on my own finally open the way for me to learn from those who did. I was given a second chance. I found that what I once considered empty platitudes 15 are actually descriptions of fact. Jesus said it is better to give than to receive. I now know that to be the case, not by faith but by experience. I finally discovered the beautiful paradoxical truth that genuine concern for the welfare of others is the gateway 16 to the only real satisfaction for myself. I cannot claim to consistently live up to this ideal but it is with genuine gratitude 17 that I can say I have come to believe these words of the Indian philosopher poet Shantideva: All the joy the world contains has come through wishing happiness for others; All the misery 18 the world contains has come through wanting pleasure for oneself.

Jimmy Dale Gilmore with his essay for This I Believe. He told us reading aloud isn’t easy for him, he misses the melody and rhythm. This is Gilmore singing his song I’m Gonna Love You.

You found me when my heart was broken
And the cold world was closing in

If you would like to contribute an essay to our series, or see what others have written, visit our website: NPR.org
For This I Believe, I'm Jay Allison.

You found me when my wings were broken
And I was crying to the...
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mysticism
a religious practice in which people try to get knowledge of truth and to become united with God through prayer and meditation
hard-earned
earned or achieved after a lot of effort
short-lived
existing or happening for only a short time:
nihilism
the belief that nothing has any meaning or value
otherworldly
relating to religious thoughts and ideas rather than with normal daily life
with a vengeance
with great force or more effort than before:
The music started up again with a vengeance.



1 friendliness
n.友谊,亲切,亲密
  • Behind the mask of friendliness,I know he really dislikes me.在友善的面具后面,我知道他其实并不喜欢我。
  • His manner was a blend of friendliness and respect.他的态度友善且毕恭毕敬。
2 outlaw
n.歹徒,亡命之徒;vt.宣布…为不合法
  • The outlaw hid out in the hills for several months.逃犯在山里隐藏了几个月。
  • The outlaw has been caught.歹徒已被抓住了。
3 eventual
adj.最后的,结局的,最终的
  • Several schools face eventual closure.几所学校面临最终关闭。
  • Both parties expressed optimism about an eventual solution.双方对问题的最终解决都表示乐观。
4 realization
n.实现;认识到,深刻了解
  • We shall gladly lend every effort in our power toward its realization.我们将乐意为它的实现而竭尽全力。
  • He came to the realization that he would never make a good teacher.他逐渐认识到自己永远不会成为好老师。
5 longing
n.(for)渴望
  • Hearing the tune again sent waves of longing through her.再次听到那首曲子使她胸中充满了渴望。
  • His heart burned with longing for revenge.他心中燃烧着急欲复仇的怒火。
6 soothing
adj.慰藉的;使人宽心的;镇静的
  • Put on some nice soothing music.播放一些柔和舒缓的音乐。
  • His casual, relaxed manner was very soothing.他随意而放松的举动让人很快便平静下来。
7 truce
n.休战,(争执,烦恼等的)缓和;v.以停战结束
  • The hot weather gave the old man a truce from rheumatism.热天使这位老人暂时免受风湿病之苦。
  • She had thought of flying out to breathe the fresh air in an interval of truce.她想跑出去呼吸一下休战期间的新鲜空气。
8 pessimism
n.悲观者,悲观主义者,厌世者
  • He displayed his usual pessimism.他流露出惯有的悲观。
  • There is the note of pessimism in his writings.他的著作带有悲观色彩。
9 tenuous
adj.细薄的,稀薄的,空洞的
  • He has a rather tenuous grasp of reality.他对现实认识很肤浅。
  • The air ten miles above the earth is very tenuous.距离地面十公里的空气十分稀薄。
10 aspiring
adj.有志气的;有抱负的;高耸的v.渴望;追求
  • Aspiring musicians need hours of practice every day. 想当音乐家就要每天练许多小时。
  • He came from an aspiring working-class background. 他出身于有抱负的工人阶级家庭。 来自辞典例句
11 elusive
adj.难以表达(捉摸)的;令人困惑的;逃避的
  • Try to catch the elusive charm of the original in translation.翻译时设法把握住原文中难以捉摸的风韵。
  • Interpol have searched all the corners of the earth for the elusive hijackers.国际刑警组织已在世界各地搜查在逃的飞机劫持者。
12 boredom
n.厌烦,厌倦,乏味,无聊
  • Unemployment can drive you mad with boredom.失业会让你无聊得发疯。
  • A walkman can relieve the boredom of running.跑步时带着随身听就不那么乏味了。
13 vengeance
n.报复,报仇,复仇
  • He swore vengeance against the men who murdered his father.他发誓要向那些杀害他父亲的人报仇。
  • For years he brooded vengeance.多年来他一直在盘算报仇。
14 remorseful
adj.悔恨的
  • He represented to the court that the accused was very remorseful.他代被告向法庭陈情说被告十分懊悔。
  • The minister well knew--subtle,but remorseful hypocrite that he was!牧师深知这一切——他是一个多么难以捉摸又懊悔不迭的伪君子啊!
15 platitudes
n.平常的话,老生常谈,陈词滥调( platitude的名词复数 );滥套子
  • He was mouthing the usual platitudes about the need for more compassion. 他言不由衷地说了些需要更加同情之类的陈腔滥调。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He delivered a long prose full of platitudes. 他发表了一篇充满陈词滥调的文章。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
16 gateway
n.大门口,出入口,途径,方法
  • Hard work is the gateway to success.努力工作是通往成功之路。
  • A man collected tolls at the gateway.一个人在大门口收通行费。
17 gratitude
adj.感激,感谢
  • I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
  • She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。
18 misery
n.痛苦,苦恼,苦难;悲惨的境遇,贫苦
  • Business depression usually causes misery among the working class.商业不景气常使工薪阶层受苦。
  • He has rescued me from the mire of misery.他把我从苦海里救了出来。
学英语单词
absolute elsewhere
accept full responsibility for
active application
adneural
adsobability
advertocracy
alkali-resistant enamel
anallergenic Serum
armature cord lamination
arunta des.
askarels
aspor
ate up with
be young in the trade
boni
brucine sulfate
BTZ
bull's eye riveting
bumper strap
capisce
carbon support
chiarenzana (italy)
chiropody
Chlanidote
class-c
code of ethics and professional conduct
commercial waste
cost prices
Curst.
dissolutious
district man
entourage effects
Euonymus nanoides
extent of crime
extraembryonic somatopleuric mesoderm
faulty prosthesis
ferrite modulator
flow chart convention
genus musteluss
got off my chest
graduating class
grandfather's clocks
Grigel
hacks away
Hampsthwaite
hand operating crank
hematogenous osteomyelitis
herbarize
heterophonies
high speed skip
hydro-cleaning installation
information model
intermediate chordotonal organ
jazz fusion
jospins
Kayser-Fleischer sign
laphria azurea
light sensitive tube
light-running fit
Malgaigne's luxation
naphthylene
nated
necked grain
neisser-sachs' method
nonarcheological
norm of vector
nose with control wing
nosil
object-oriented programing languages
Octacosactid
offsaddled
one-energy-storage network
out-footing
paramiographer
percussion mark
physical ton of cargo
powder dyes
prestrobe delay
propugnacles
protein sorting signal
rapid stream
receiving directivity
Rubus mallotifolius
schneider electric
sesquisulphide
set something on his feet
shielas
signal-to-jamming ratio
space-time correlation
square hole
stage game
Sulfoguenil
trash beater
triple-pass scanner
two-crystal spectrometer
vehicle-borne measurement
volitional movement
Warnerian
Web Services Transaction
weighted random early detection
wild snapdragon
works-in-progress