出版时间:2012-6 出版社:湖南文艺出版社 作者:(美)坎菲尔德 等编著,顾芯宇 译 页数:392 字数:420000 译者:顾芯宇
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前言
Introduction Every family seems a bit dysfunctional when you get to know it well. No one seems to think his or her own family is “normal.” So if we are all a bit abnormal, then that becomes the new normal. Every family has its unusual members—the ones who make holidays so interesting, who make funerals a minefield, who have to be “managed” at weddings, and so on. Family matters. And there are always lots of family matters to discuss in any modern family, especially mine. In my sixty years, I have sure experienced a lot of family, and my family is the most important, most rewarding, most challenging, and most wonderful part of my life. I have had my share of family ups and downs, including the loss of my brother at age eighteen, but I am happy about the journey I have taken. My childhood was happy and in my adult years I’ve been married three times and I have ten children. The most exciting thing in life and the most difficult thing in life is family. With ten children, it does get complicated! Not only do I have to deal with being a husband to a strong and accomplished woman, but I also have to deal with the massive personalities of the children. When you’re dealing with this many people your life is very full. Dealing with a large family and large personalities makes the decathlon look simple. It is amazing how different each kid is. There is a debate about genetics versus upbringing. The kids in each family were brought up the same way as each other and yet they are all so different. I believe that it’s genetics that really determine who we are, with a little sprinkling of “upbringing” on top. With my first wife, Chrystie Crownover, I had my first son and my first daughter. Burt, who is thirty-two, has grown up to be one of those kids who is going to do it on his own. I respect him for that. He is not afraid to work but only if it is for himself. He only lasted three months in the one office job that he had, selling telecommunications services over the phone. At least he learned not to take rejection personally, which is great because this hardworking kid has now combined his love of auto racing and his knowledge of the Internet in a new business that he has been working on for years. In the meantime, being an entrepreneur, he pays the bills with his dog training and boarding business. His sister, my beautiful and very smart daughter Casey, is thirty, and is married to a great guy she first met at Boston College. They gave me my very first grandchild, Francesca Marino, who is a year old now. With my second wife, Linda Thompson, I had two more sons. Brandon is twenty-nine and has the most talent in the family. When he was a teenager he banged himself up on a Motocross bike so he decided to learn the guitar while he was recuperating. It turned out he was really good. When he quit college in his junior year to pursue his passion, music, I was okay with that. I believe that you have achieved success when you can’t tell the difference between work and play. Brandon is one of those kids who doesn’t tell you anything as he goes along. Even though I am a pilot, he didn’t tell me that he was getting his pilot’s license until he already had it. He did the same thing with his music. One day he casually mentioned to me that he was performing his first live gig at the Malibu Inn. I didn’t even know he had a band. It was one of those great nights as a father. Brandon got up there and sang and played his own songs and he was phenomenally good. Now Brandon and his girlfriend, Leah Felder, whose dad Don was the lead guitarist for the Eagles, are engaged, and are recording their first album for Warner Bros. Brandon grew up with a recording studio in his house. His stepfather was producer David Foster, an icon in the music world. Brandon and his brother Brody, who is twenty-seven, appeared with their mother in an early family reality show called The Princes of Malibu, which featured them living with their stepfather. The show didn’t last long but it is funny that my two sons were in a reality show about family long before Keeping Up with the Kardashians. It must be in our genes. That early TV exposure launched Brody’s career on MTV and he is now on the reality show The Hills, and is also well known for dating beautiful women! Now with my new bride of twenty years, Kris, I have an even bigger family and I have had to learn a new set of rules—how to be a stepdad. Being a stepdad is very difficult. You’re living with the stepchildren more than with your biological children, but you’re not their real dad and they don’t let you forget it. Although I got along very well with Kris’s first husband, Robert Kardashian, my oldest stepchild Kourtney had a hard time accepting me as her stepfather in the beginning. She wore black for the first year of our marriage! Kourtney, who is now thirty-one, was just entering adolescence at that time, which helps explain it, although she continues to be tough and stubborn about what she wants. As time went on, Kourtney and I developed a very good relationship and it has improved even more now that she is a mother. We welcomed a new grandchild into the Kardashian side of the family almost a year ago, Mason, who is the son of Kourtney and Scott Disick. These three Kardashian girls are very smart businesswomen like their mother, and I look forward to them all out-earning me. Kimberly, who is twenty-nine, is the most motivated of the three. She never stops working. She was a little younger when I became her stepfather and she and I have always had a good relationship. Khloe is the youngest, at twenty-six, and she was so young when I joined the family that we always got along really well. That leaves one more Kardashian to discuss, Rob, who is twenty-three, and who we finally got out of the house recently, although he moved in with Khloe and her husband, Lamar Odom. That kid has lived a very cushy life with a doting mother and three older sisters. But he is very smart, and majored in business, and I expect him to do very well with our business partner who is teaching him the ropes as they develop the family’s PerfectSkin line of personal care products. Rob was devastated by the sudden loss of his father to cancer in 2003, at only age fifty-nine, so he is still overcoming that. And he is quite a perfectionist—he lines up his shirts by color—so we’ll see who he ends up with. This brings me to my little angels, Kendall, who is turning fifteen, and Kylie who is thirteen. Kris and I had children with people we didn’t even want to be married to anymore, so it made sense to have kids together. These girls are really growing up in the public eye, between the TV show and their other activities. Kendall is already modeling for the Wilhelmina agency, and Kylie is waiting for her turn, but I told her she has to wait until she’s fourteen, which doesn’t make her happy. I’ve learned not to take her displeasure personally—I’m a professional father when it comes to young women and their hormones. But Kylie has a closer personality to Kourtney than anyone else because of her tough independence, so she will be fun to watch. They are all fun to watch. And I know many of you enjoy watching them too. Kris and I have been starring on the ultimate family TV show, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, on E! for the last four years, along with all six of Kris’s children and guest appearances from my older children. Many of you have been watching the ups and downs of our very colorful lives. By the way, it is all true. We really do act that way! I think I am viewed as the stable guy in this mix of families and ex-wives and children. The Jenner/Kardashian household certainly swirls around me every episode, with so many bizarre events that you can see why that old adage “truth is stranger than fiction” is so wise. Being in the show does not affect how the family operates. We really are who you see. We love each other, fight with each other, and stick up for each other. The bottom line is we all love and respect each other. We are a tight family and we have been through a lot together—divorces, the controversy over the OJ Simpson trial when Robert Kardashian undertook OJ’s defense. His attitude was that someone had to represent him, no matter what he thought of his guilt or innocence, and Robert had been his friend in college. Robert’s death was a terrible blow to the family. And then there is all the media furor. The show has actually made the family tighter. It’s not really a show about three crazy girls running around and having high-profile lives, but about a real family... a tight family. You see that at the end of every episode—the show always ends with the family making up and enjoying each other once again. Everyone makes mistakes as they grow up. As a parent you just have to keep an open mind, lead by example, and give kids room to grow up. Kim, for instance, snuck off to Las Vegas when she was just nineteen and married some guy and then didn’t tell anyone. Kourtney figured it out after a while and went online and found the marriage record in the Las Vegas court. That marriage lasted a couple of years and ended badly. And just to show you that kids do listen to us, back then I told Kim that it was okay to get this first marriage out of the way while she was young and she told me I was an idiot. Then Khloe, who we thought was the least likely to get married, met Lamar and married him in two weeks, and I overheard Kim telling Khloe that it was good to get the first one out of the way while young! By the way, Khloe’s marriage seems to be working well, so we’re happy about that. Khloe, who is so sweet, made her own mistake recently, had a couple of drinks with friends and then drove home. She was pulled over and got a DUI. It has been a year and a half of hell for her, between the media and all the consequences for this in California. It was a big mistake, but it was a good mistake: no one was hurt; there was no accident; and she learned a valuable lesson. I wasn’t mad, although she would have a problem with me if she did it again. It could have been a lot worse. Three months after I won my gold for the United States in the Olympic decathlon in 1976, my younger brother Burt was killed in an auto accident that was his fault. He was only eighteen. You never get over something like that. I still have two sisters. Pam is older than me. She was always perfect—a great student and athlete who studied seven hours a night. She married a tax attorney and they live in Florida and Wyoming, having quite a nice life. Lisa is sixteen years younger than me, so we didn’t really grow up together, but she and my mom live in Idaho now so I see them there. My mom, by the way, is in her eighties, and she got remarried a few years ago to a ninety-year-old guy. So now I have a stepdad too. Growing up, I was dyslexic and had low self-esteem. Everyone could read better than I could. So sports became my refuge, a place where I could excel and where I could bash into smart guys on the football field. My parents never encouraged me to do sports—they were just there for me. Back in those days, parents didn’t routinely attend their kids’ sporting events the way they do today. But I would look over at the stands during a basketball game and the only parents in the stands would be mine. My dad was a real hero. He was in the Fifth Ranger Battalion and landed on Omaha Beach. He got a Purple Heart and is buried at Arlington. He was a great example for me. I try to be a good example to my children as well. Kids watch everything their parents do. Family is what really counts in our lives. My life is all about my family, first and foremost, so when I was asked to write the foreword for this book, I jumped at the chance. No matter what hurdles your family puts in front of you, no matter how tough the ups and downs, no matter how unpleasant the discourse they throw at you, raising a family and being a part of a family is a race worth running. Chicken Soup for the Soul has always been a great source of inspiration, comfort, understanding, and humor about family life, and I loved this subject. This new volume of stories that you hold in your hands really resonates with me—the stories are so funny, so outrageous, and so real.I hope you will enjoy these great stories as much as I did. They certainly rival the ones I live every day.Bruse Jenner 当你真正了解一个家庭的时候,总会发觉它有点不同寻常,没人觉得自己的家庭是正常的。所以,如果我们都是如此,那这种不正常就会变成新的正常标准。每个家庭中总有些不同寻常的人,他们让假日变得妙趣横生、让葬礼跟中东局势一般紧张、让婚礼变成托管中心…… 任何现代家庭中总有很多趣事可供谈论,尤其是我的家庭。在我六十年的岁月中,毫无疑问,我经历过许多家庭,而我的家庭是我人生当中最为重要、回报最大、最具挑战以及最为美妙的一部分。 我和我家一起经历过许多起起伏伏,包括在十八岁那年失去了兄弟,但我很高兴自己这一路走来的过程。我的童年很快乐,成年之后结过三次婚,有十个孩子。人生中最让我激动也最让我感到困难的就是家庭,十个孩子确实是很复杂的。我不仅要和强势而又长袖善舞的妻子相处,还要适应每个孩子不同的个性。当你要和很多人相处的时候,你的生活是非常充实的,而这也让十项全能运动显得简单。 每个孩子的不同之处会让人觉得惊奇,关于这是先天基因所致还是后天培养的结果,一直都存在争议。每个家庭的孩子都是一样地长大,但他们却是如此大相径庭。我觉得,基因是决定因素,再加上一点点后天的培养,造就了后来的我们。 我和第一任妻子克里斯蒂?克劳诺弗有了我人生中的第一个儿子和女儿。三十二岁的伯特已经长大成人,他打算自己创业,我尊重他的选择。只要是为他自己好,他从来就不怕工作。他唯一的一个办公室工作只维持了三个月,是电话销售员。从这个工作中,他至少学到了不要太介意别人的拒绝,这就很好。因为,努力工作的他现在结合自己对赛车的爱好和对互联网的了解,开创了一个新的事业——他为此已准备多年。作为一个企业家,他同时要为训狗和扩展事业埋单。他的妹妹,我美丽聪明的女儿凯西,现在三十岁了,嫁给了她在波士顿大学认识的一个好男人。他们为我带来了第一个外孙女——弗朗西斯卡?马里诺,她现在一岁了。 我和第二任妻子琳达?汤普森又生了两个儿子。二十九岁的布兰登是家里最有才能的,他年少时参加越野摩托车赛受伤了,在之后复原的过程中他决定学吉他。结果,他还弹得挺不错的。大学一年级的时候,他为了追求自己的音乐梦想退了学,我也没有反对。我相信,当你把工作当成一种娱乐来享受时,你就成功了。布兰登是那种自己干什么都不让人知道的孩子,即使我是个飞行员,他考飞行员执照的时候也什么都没说,直到他拿到了执照我才知道。对于音乐,他也如此。一天,他很随意地跟我提到要在马里布旅馆现场表演,我才知道他组了个乐队。那晚,布兰登站到台上,一边弹奏,一边演唱自己写的曲子,表现很出色。作为父亲,那是令我感到骄傲的众多夜晚之一。 现在布兰登和老鹰乐队的主吉他手唐的女儿利厄?菲尔德订婚了,他们正在为华纳兄弟录制他们的第一张专辑。布兰登的家里有个录音棚,他的继父大卫?福斯特是个制作人,是音乐界的偶像。布兰登和现年二十七岁的弟弟布罗迪、还有他们的母亲出现在早期一个名为《马里布王子》的真人秀上,是关于和他们继父一起生活的专题节目。节目的播放时间不长,但很有趣,我那两个儿子那时候就在关于家庭的真人秀里出现了,远远早于《跟上卡戴珊》这个节目。这肯定是与生俱来的天赋。那部早期真人秀开启了布罗迪在音乐电视台的职业生涯,现在他出演《好莱坞女孩》真人秀,也以和美眉约会而著称。 现在,和我结婚已有二十年的克里斯,使我有了一个更大的家庭,并不得不学习一些新规则,例如怎样当继父。当一个继父很困难,你和继子继女一起生活的时间多于和自己亲生孩子的生活时间,但你又不是他们真正的父亲,他们也不会让你忘记这一点。虽然我和克里斯的第一任丈夫罗伯特?卡戴珊相处得很好,但最年长的继女考特尼一开始很难接受我成为她的继父。我和克里斯结婚后的第一年,考特尼一直都穿黑色的衣服。考特尼现在三十一岁,我和她妈结婚那阵正好是她的青春期,倒也说得通她那时为什么会那样做。尽管她现在对于自己想要的东西还是很执著,但随着时间的推移,考特尼和我建立了很好的关系,她现在自己当了母亲,我们的关系就更进一步了。大约一年前,我们迎来了卡戴珊家族的第一个外孙——梅森,他是考特尼和史考特?迪斯科的儿子。 这三个卡戴珊女孩和她们的母亲一样,都是很聪明的女商人,我也期待着她们都赚得比我多。二十九岁的金伯利是三个之中最积极的,她从不停止工作。我成为她继父的时候,她的年龄比考特尼要小点,我们之间的关系一直很好。二十六岁的克洛伊是三个女孩之中最小的,我刚加入这个家庭的时候她还太小,我们的关系也很融洽。 还剩下一个卡戴珊家族成员,那就是罗伯,现年二十三岁。最近他终于离开家了,尽管是搬去和克洛伊还有她的丈夫拉马尔?奥多姆一起住。有个溺爱他的母亲,还有三个姐姐,这个孩子的日子过得太轻松了。但他很聪明,主修商务。在发展家族完美肌肤的个人护理产品的过程中,我们的商业伙伴教了罗伯很多,我期待着他能有一番成就。2003年,罗伯的父亲因为癌症突然去世,年仅五十九岁,他痛不欲生,至今仍在克服这个心结。罗伯是个完美主义者,他的衬衫是按照颜色排列的。他最后会和谁在一起?我们拭目以待。 接下来是我的小天使,马上要满十五岁的肯德尔和十三岁的凯利。我和克里斯之前都与别人有过孩子,那么拥有我们自己的孩子也合乎情理。这两个女孩完全是在公众的瞩目下成长的,不论是电视节目还是她们其他的活动,都在聚光灯下。肯德尔已经是威廉敏娜模特中介的模特,凯利也在等待着那一天的到来。但我告诉她,要等到她十四岁时才能当模特,这让她不太高兴。不过我已经学会了客观地看待她的不悦,所以能够从容应对这些年轻姑娘的闹别扭。但凯利的性格和考特尼最接近,因为她们都很独立。所以关于凯利的部分应该是很有趣的。 他们其实都很有趣,我也知道你们中的很多人都很喜欢看这个节目。克里斯和我已经出演E频道的终极家庭电视秀《跟上卡戴珊》四年了,还有克里斯的六个孩子以及我那些较为年长的孩子的客串。你们中的许多人已经看到了我们多彩生活的跌宕起伏,顺便说一句,电视里的都是真的,我们确实就是那样做的! 在这个混合大家庭里,在前妻和孩子当中,我自己觉得被他们认为是个稳重的人。每一集中,詹纳/卡戴珊家庭肯定是绕着我团团转。有太多怪诞的事情发生,以至于你终于明白,为什么那句古老的谚语——“真相比小说更奇怪”——听起来那么明智了。 出演电视节目并不影响我们的家庭运作,你们看到的是真实的我们。我们相亲相爱、相互支持。我们也吵过闹过,但底线就是相互珍惜、相互尊重。我们是个紧密的家庭,一起经历过很多事情,如离婚、关于罗伯特?卡戴珊担任奥仁索?詹姆斯?辛普森辩护律师的争议。罗伯特的观点是,不论是不是觉得他有罪,总得有人代表他,而且罗伯特和辛普森在大学里是朋友。罗伯特的去世除了对这个家庭造成了巨大的打击,还引来了所有媒体的狂轰滥炸。而这个电视节目使这个家变得更为紧密,这不仅仅是关于三个疯女孩满世界地跑、高调地生活的故事,更是一个真实而紧密的家庭的写照。每集末尾你们都能看到,这家人再次和好如初。 每个人在成长过程中都会犯错。作为家长,你要保持一个开放的思想,以身作则,给孩子充分的成长空间。比如,金在十九岁那年偷偷溜去拉斯维加斯,瞒着所有人和一个男人结婚了。考特尼过了好一阵子才察觉,并在拉斯维加斯法院的网站上查到了她的结婚记录。那段婚姻只持续了几年,结局也很糟。而为了证明孩子确实听我的话,我告诉金这第一次婚姻没什么大不了的,她还年轻。她却跟我说我是个白痴。然后是克洛伊,我们都以为她结婚的可能性最小,但她从认识拉马尔到和他结婚,前后只有两个星期的时间。我曾不经意间听到金告诉克洛伊:年轻时第一次婚姻没什么大不了的!顺便说一句,克洛伊的婚姻状况看起来还不错,我们也很高兴。 可爱的克洛伊最近犯了错,某天和朋友喝了几杯之后,她开车回家,却被警察拦住,并告她醉酒驾车。那一年半对她来说简直就是生活在地狱。在加利福尼亚,她周旋于媒体和醉酒驾车的后果之间。这是个很大的错误,但也是个很好的错误,没人受伤,没有事故,而她也上了有价值的一课。当时我没生气,不过如果她再犯的话,我就不会这么轻易放过她了。 事情原本可能会更糟。1976年,在奥林匹克运动会上,我为美国赢得十项全能运动金牌。三个月后,我弟弟伯特在一次车祸中丧生,他负全责,那年他才十八岁。一个人永远都无法从那样的伤痛中恢复过来。我还有两个姐妹。潘姆比我年长,她一直都很完美,她是好学生、好运动员,每晚学习七小时。她嫁给了一个税务律师,他们住在佛罗里达和怀俄明州,过着美好的生活。丽萨比我小十六岁,所以我们并不是一起长大的,但她和我母亲住在爱达荷州,我会去那儿看望她们。我母亲现在八十多岁了。几年前,她和一个九十岁的老头再婚了。所以,现在我也有个继父。 成长过程中,我朗诵很差,自尊心也弱。课堂上,谁都比我朗诵得好。因此,运动成了我的庇护所,那是一个我擅长的、可以在球场上击败对手的领域。我的父母从不鼓励我从事运动,他们只是默默关注着我。那时候,父母不像现在这样经常去看孩子运动,但每次篮球赛我环顾看台,我父母是唯一坐在看台上看孩子打球的家长。我父亲是个真正的英雄,他曾是突击队第五营的成员,参与过诺曼底登陆。他得到过一个紫心勋章,这勋章随父亲葬在了阿林顿。对我来说,他是个很成功的榜样,我也试着给我的孩子树立一个良好的榜样。父母做什么,孩子们都在看着。 家庭在我们的人生中占据很重要的位置,我的人生是围绕着我的家庭的,从最初到现在。因此,在被邀请为本书写前言时,我立刻就答应了。不论你的家庭给你带来了什么样的难题、不论起伏是多么的艰难、不论家人对你说过多么难听的话,养家并融入家庭中,你义不容辞。心灵鸡汤一直是灵感、慰藉、理解和家庭幽默的上佳来源。我很喜欢这个主题,而现在你手中的这本新书也的确和我产生了共鸣,里面的故事是那么的有趣、那么的出人意料,却又那么的真实。我希望你能和我一样,享受这些故事——它们和我每天所遇到的事情一样,引人入胜。 ——布鲁斯·詹纳
内容概要
《心灵鸡汤:淡定的人生不再寂寞》讲述了50余篇真实感人的故事,故事纪录了发生在家庭中的趣事以及点滴的幸福瞬间。比如父子间、母女间、夫妻间或者整个家庭成员间的故事等。文笔感性,整体风格活泼幽默。原汁原味的英文,优美感性的中文,使人不自觉沉浸其中,受到心灵的洗涤和滋养。
这本书是地道双语的完美结合,不论是形式,还是故事内容,都堪称经典。
同时,本书以双语形式编排推出,是人们学习英语的最佳读本。
作者简介
①杰克·坎菲尔德(Jack
Canfield)是“心灵鸡汤系列丛书”的创始人之一,这套丛书被《时代》杂志赞誉为“近十年来是出版业的神话”。他还参与编写了另外八本畅销作品。
②马克·维克多`汉森(Mark Victor Hansen)和Jack
Canfield一样,是“心灵鸡汤系列丛书”的创始人之一。他是一个备受追捧的演讲人、畅销书作者、市场营销专家。他关于可能性、机遇、行动的具有冲击力的见解,已经为全球成千上万人的人生带来了神奇的改变。
③艾米·纽马克(Amy
Newmark)是“心灵鸡汤系列丛书”的出版人,拥有三十年的从业经历,其身份包括作家、演讲人,以及金融与电信领域的金融分析师和业务主管。
④苏珊·海姆(Susan M.
Heim)是作家和编辑界的常青树,擅长写育儿、女性和圣诞方面的文章。苏珊已经出版了好几本《心灵鸡汤》丛书。
书籍目录
Foreword
前言
Chapter 1 Forebear...ance
第一部分 长辈
003. A Guy for All Seasons
万能达人
010. The Day Dad Shot Conan
父亲枪击科南事件
017. Generationally Challenged
时代的挑战
024. Try It, You Won’t Like It
不去尝试,怎么知道自己喜不喜欢
031. The Optimist
乐天派
039. The Cooking Lesson
烹饪课
047. Answer the Phone
接电话
051. Cotton Balls
棉花球
059. Mr. Fix-It
修理先生
067. Dad’s Five-Dollar Pants
父亲的五块钱裤子
076. Against the Grain
格格不入
086. Truck Stop Teeth
加油站快餐厅的假牙
Chapter 2 Relatively Embarrassing
第二部分 尴尬关系
095. A Fist Full of Dollars
攥着钱的拳头
100. My Wingman
我的铁哥们儿
106. Strawberry Fields
草莓园
112. The BOEPAD Club
极速滑雪俱乐部
120. Mom, You’re Not Going to Write About This, Are You?
妈妈,你不会把这个写下来吧?
126. Nana Ha Ha
娜娜哈哈
135. Who Wears Pink Shorts?
谁穿粉红色的短裤?
143. Chicago’s Great Rat Infestation
芝加哥大鼠患
149. The Evil Eye
“邪恶之眼”
153. Throw Mama from the Wheelchair
把婆婆扔出轮椅
Chapter 3 Newlyweds and Oldyweds
第三部分 新婚夫妇和老夫老妻
161. Umbrella Chairs
带阳伞的躺椅
167. Reno Salutes Hal and Midge
里诺向豪尔和米吉致敬
175. Busted
功败垂成
183. Surprise, Surprise
给你一个大惊喜
187. Here Comes the Marshmallow
棉花糖来了
195. Second Chance
第二次机会
202. What Families Do
家人的意义
Chapter 4 Happily Ever Laughter
第四部分 幸福快乐的笑声
213. The Butler Did It
男管家
220. In Your Dreams
在你梦中
226. My Next Husband Will Be Normal
我的下一任丈夫会是个正常人
232. Saturday Morning Crazy
疯狂的周六早晨
240. A Brush with Disaster
灾难梳子
245. Battle of the Dishes
盘子之战
250. Fit to Be Tied
十分恼火
254. Confessions of a Decorating Junkie
装饰狂人的忏悔
262. It’s Not Easy Being Green
要绿色环保不容易
269. Joseph’s Many Coats
约瑟夫的许多外套
277. Toilet Paper for Valentine’s Day
情人节厕纸
282. Define Normal
定义正常
Chapter 5 Family Fun
第五部分 家庭乐趣
289. Numb Skulls
麻木的脑袋
295. The Sleepover War
过夜之战
303. Bonding over Bats and Bunfires
与蝙蝠、篝火为伍
309. Scars and Legacies
伤痕和传统
314. The Brisket Fairies
酱牛肉精灵
321. A Burning Issue
着火问题
326. Better Late than Never
亡羊补牢,犹未为晚
334. Brown Coffee and American Bread
加奶咖啡和美国面包
342. The Clambake
烧蛤会
351. The Jokester
喜欢恶作剧的人
357. Tallyho!
猎食
365. Meet Our Contributors
见见我们的撰稿人
381. Meet Our Authors
见见我们的作者
385. About Bruce Jenner
布鲁斯?詹纳简介
387. Thank You
感谢词
390.
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Improving Your Life
Every Day
心灵鸡汤
每天改善你的生活
391. Share with Us
与我们一同分享
章节摘录
Surprise, Surprise 给你一个大惊喜 If I were invited to a dinner party with my characters, I wouldn’t show up. ~Dr. Seuss My father is a rabbi, and of course he often officiates at weddings. One time he was asked to officiate at a surprise fiftieth anniversary party that would include a renewal of vows. The couple’s daughter, Marilyn, was so excited. She had invited all of her parents’ lifelong friends—her mom’s mahjong group, her dad’s golfing buddies, all seven of their grandchildren—and she had booked a dinner for all of them at a fancy hotel. Marilyn said that she wanted nothing but the best for her parents. The event had begun as an elegant, fancy surprise party, but eventually grew to include a ten-piece band and a six-course expensive dinner. A photographer was even hired to make souvenir badges for each guest. As the days went by, and the cost seemed to exponentially expand, Marilyn’s husband began to question the growing expenses of the party: “I’m not so sure your parents truly need two flamingos in a rented fountain.” However, Marilyn would not budge. She met again with her party planner, and the arrangements became even more and more elaborate. The big day finally arrived and Marilyn could not have asked for a more beautiful evening as she and her husband drove up to the hotel. They hastened inside. The aroma from the kitchen was delightful. The musicians were tuning their instruments and the hall looked beautiful. As the guests began to arrive Marilyn was more excited than she thought possible. By 8:00 p.m., all the guests had arrived for the surprise party. Marilyn had planned for her parents to get to their surprise party at 8:15 by telling them that the celebration was actually a party for their parents’ good friends, Mr. and Mrs. Samuels. However, 8:15 came and went with no sign of the anniversary couple. Then 8:30 came—and also went. At 8:50, Mary was becoming extremely anxious and nervous. “Where are my parents?” she nervously asked herself. “What if something happened to them? What would we do?” Just then, Marilyn’s cell phone rang. She grabbed it. “Hello, hello!” she shouted. “Marilyn, this is Mom. Please send our apologies to the Samuels, but last night we looked on the Internet for an inexpensive, last-minute cruise, and we found it. It left Galveston at 5:00 this afternoon, and we’re now on our way to Key West. We’ll be back next Saturday morning. You know, it’s our fiftieth anniversary this Tuesday, and we wanted to celebrate it in a meaningful way. Tell everyone that we are sorry we cannot be there together with them tonight.” Marilyn was in shock. She did not even notice her cell phone dropping into the fountain with the flamingos. Her husband, however, overheard his mother-in-law’s comments on the phone. He sarcastically, but calmly, stated to his wife, “Now, can we shout ‘SURPRISE’?” Michael Jordan Segal, MSW 如果我受邀带着自己的个性出席晚餐聚会,那我是不会去的。 ——瑟斯博士 我的父亲是一个犹太教祭司,当然,他经常主持婚礼。有一次,他受邀主持一个意想不到的五十周年结婚纪念日聚会,其中一项活动为重温当初的誓言。老夫妇的女儿玛丽琳十分激动。她邀请父母一生中所有的朋友都来参加聚会,母亲的麻将牌友、父亲的高尔夫球友和所有的孙子孙女。玛丽琳在一家高档酒店预订了晚餐,她说什么都不重要,只要父母开心就好。本来一开始只是个优雅、高档的惊喜聚会,但最后这顿昂贵的晚餐还包括了十组表演乐队和六道菜式,甚至还雇用了摄影师给每位来宾拍照留念。 随着时间的流逝,花费也在成倍地上涨。玛丽琳的丈夫开始质疑这次聚会的费用:“我怀疑你父母真的需要两个火烈鸟站在租来的喷水池里。”然而,玛丽琳不打算让步,她和聚会策划人再一次碰头,布置变得越来越精致。 那一天终于到来,玛丽琳和丈夫开车前往酒店,天气好得不能再好了。他们快速走进酒店,从厨房散发出的香味让人感到愉悦,音乐家们在调试乐器,大厅看起来美极了。当来宾开始抵达时,玛丽琳比想象中还要激动。 八点钟,所有来宾都已经抵达酒店。因为想给父母一个惊喜,所以玛丽琳原本告诉父母,这次的惊喜聚会是为父母的好友塞缪尔斯夫妇准备的,请父母八点十五分抵达酒店。但是,八点十五分到了,不见父母踪影。八点半了,还是没人。八点五十分,玛丽琳开始变得焦虑。 她紧张地问自己:“爸妈呢?是不是出事了?我们该怎么办?” 就在此时,玛丽琳的手机响了,她接起电话叫道:“喂?喂?” “玛丽琳,是妈妈。请向塞缪尔斯夫妇致歉。昨晚,我们在网上看到一个便宜的豪华游轮旅行,时间很赶,我们就订了。今天早上五点就离开了加尔维斯敦,现在我们在去基韦斯特的路上,下周六早上回来。你知道的,这周二是我们的五十周年结婚纪念日,我们想以富有意义的方式来庆祝。告诉他们我们很抱歉今晚不能参加聚会了。” 玛丽琳惊呆了,连手机掉进喷水池也没察觉。而她的丈夫无意中听到岳母在电话里说的话,于是讽刺但又冷静地对妻子说道:“现在,我们可以大叫‘给你一个惊喜’了吗?” ——迈克·乔丹·西格尔 ……
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