與其用淚水悔恨今天，不如用汗水拼搏今天。英語美文中有很多勵志故事和小短文都能起到激勵人的作用。

A boy found an eagle's egg and he put it in the nest of a prairie chicken. The eagle hatched and thought he was a chicken. He grew up doing what prairie chicken do-scratching at the dirt for food and flying short distances with a noisy fluttering of wings. It was a dreary life. Gradually the eagle grew older and bitter. One day he and his prairie chicken friend saw a beautiful bird soaring on the currents of air, high above the mountains.

"Oh, I wish I could fly like that!" said the eagle. The chicken replied, "Don't give it another thought. That's the mighty eagle, the king of all birds-you could never be like him!" And the eagle didn't give it another thought. He went on cackling and complaining about life. He died thinking he was a prairie chicken. My friends, you too were born an eagle. The Creator intended you to be an eagle, so don’t listen to the prairie chickens!

一個小男孩發(fā)現(xiàn)了一只老鷹下的蛋，把它放進了一只山雞的窩里。鷹被孵出來了，但他以為自己是一只山雞。漸漸的他長大了，卻做著山雞所做的事---從泥土里尋找食物，做短距離的飛翔，翅膀還啪啪作響。生活非常沉悶，漸漸地鷹長大了，也越來越苦惱。有一天，他和他的山雞朋友看見一只美麗的鳥在天空翱翔，飛的比山還高。

“哦，我要能飛的那么高該多好啊！”鷹說。山雞回答說，“不要想了，那是兇猛無比的鷹，鳥中之王---你不可能像他一樣！”于是鷹放棄了那個念頭。他繼續(xù)咯咯地叫，不停的抱怨生活。最后他死了，依然認為自己是一只山雞。朋友們，你們天生就是雄鷹。造物主有意把你造就成一只雄鷹，所以不要聽信山雞的話！

【一】

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonders, the unfailing childlike appetite of what's next and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station: so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.

無論是60歲還是16歲，你需要保持永不衰竭的好奇心、永不熄滅的孩提般求知的渴望和追求事業(yè)成功的歡樂與熱情。在你我的心底，有一座無線電臺，它能在多長時間里接收到人間萬物傳遞來的美好、希望、歡樂、鼓舞和力量的信息，你就會年輕多長時間。

【二】

A young man asked Socrates the secret of Success. Socrates told the young man to meet him near the river the next morning.

They met. Socrates asked the young man to walk with him towards the river.

When the water got up to their necks, Socrates took the young man by surprise and ducked him into the water.

The man struggled to get out but Socrates was strong and kept him there until he started turning blue. The young man struggled hard and finally managed to get out and the first thing he did was to gasp and take deep breath.

Socrates asked, “What you wanted the most when you were there?” The man replied, “Air.”

Socrates said, “that's the most secret to success. When you want success as badly as you wanted air, you will get it. There is no other secret.”

一個年輕男子向蘇格拉底請教成功的秘訣。蘇格拉底告訴他次日早晨在河邊相見。

兩人如期而遇。蘇格拉底要這個年輕男子和他一起向河中走去。

當河水漫到他們脖子的時候，蘇格拉底突然抓住該男子并把他猛按入水中。

男子掙扎著想出來，但是蘇格拉底非常強壯有力，一直摁著該男子，直到他臉色變青。年輕男子拼命掙扎并最終沖出了水面，緊接著就是大口喘氣與呼吸。

蘇格拉底問道：“在水里時，你最想得到什么?”男子答道：“空氣?！?/p>

蘇格拉底說：“這就是成功的最佳秘訣。當你像渴望空氣一樣迫切渴望成功時，你將會成功。沒有其他的秘訣。”