实践箴言，生活改变How to Refill an Empty Life（1/2）

Read the article quickly and ahe follog questions.

1. What are the author’s feelgs before he has a religion?

2. What effects do you thk a religion has on people?

One day about fifteen years ago I suddenly ca face to face with yself and realized there was sothg quite epty about y life. My friends and associates perhaps didn’t see it. By the generally aepted standards, I was“suessful”. I was head of a prospero anufacturg n and I led what is ually referred to as an“active”life, both socially andbess. But it didn’t see toto be addg up to anythg. I was gog aroundcircles. I worked hard, pyed hard, and pretty soon I disvered I was hittg the highballs harder than I needed. I wasn’t a didate for Alholionyo, but to be ho with yself I had to adit I was drkg ore than was good for . It ay have been out of sheer boredo.

I began to wonder what to do. It ourred tothat I ight have gotteoo tightly ed upy job, to the sacrifice of the basic but nonaterialistic vaes of life. It struckabruptly that I was beg quite selfish, that y ajor terestpeople waswhat they ant to , what they represented as bess ntacts or eployees, not what I ight an to the. I rebered that as y other sentto Sunday school as a boy, and enuragedto sgthe church choi, she ed to tellthat the vae of what she called a good Christian background washavg sothg to tie to. I puta little thought recallg the Golden Rule and so of the other first prciples of Christianity. I began to get terestedYMCA work.

It happehat jt at this ti we were havg so bitter fights with the union at our pnt. Then one day it ourred to : What really is their pot of view, and why? I began to see a basis

for their spis, their often chip-on-shoulder pot of view, and I detered to do sothg about it.

We endeavored to apply―literally apply―Christian prciples to our dealgs with eployees, to practice, for exaple, sothg of the Golden Rule. The n’s response, ohey were nvced we were scere, was rearkable. The effort has paid for its pas, and I don’t andolrs. I andividends of huan dignity, of a an’s pridehis job andthe pany, knog that he is no lo a g but a live personal part of it and that it doesn’t atter whether he belongs to a certa church or whether the pigntation of his sk is sk is light or dark.

But Ispeak with ost authority on how this ge of attitude affectedand y personal outlook on life. Perhaps, aga, any of y friends did not notice the difference.

But I noticed it. That feelg of eptess, to which Icktails out of boredo, was fillg up stead with a purpose: to live a full life with an awareness and an appreciation of other people. I do not pretend for a send that I have suddenly bee a paragon. My faults are still legion and I know the.

But it sees tobetter to have a little religion and practice it than thk pioly and do nothg about it. I feel better adjted, ore ature than I ever havey life before. I have no fear. I say this not boastfully butall huility. The actual application of Christian prciples has ged y life.

大约15年前的一天，我在面对自己时，突然觉得自己的生活很空虚。也许这是朋友和同事所无法理解的。按照公认的标准来看，我是一位“成功者”。我领导着一个生意不错的制造公司，是社交界及商界中的“活跃分子”。然而，对我而言，这些并没有太大的意义。我始终都在圈内转来转去。我努力工作，尽情享乐，但很快就发现自己饮酒过度。虽然我并不准备加入嗜酒者互诫协会，但说真的，我不得不承认自己喝了太多的酒。也许，这是因为我的生活实在太无聊了。

于是，我开始想着去做点什么。突然，我想到或许是由于自己将过多的精力投入工作，却付出了失去最基本精神生活价值的代价。我顿时明白，自己一向都很自私，我只对别人对我意味着什么，作为我的生意伙伴或员工会为我带来什么价值感兴趣，而不在意我对他们而言意义何在。记得孩提时，母亲常告诉我，一位虔诚信徒的人生价值在于他拥有精神的寄托。当时，她还送我去主日学校学习，并鼓励我参加教堂唱诗班。我努力在脑海中回想着《圣经》中的金箴和基督教义中一些最重要的信条。于是，我开始对基督教青年会的工作感兴趣了。凑巧的是，那时我们与工厂工会之间发生了一些尖锐的摩擦。后来的一天，我突然想到：他们真正的观点是什么，为什么会这样？我开始明白他们为何会对我们产生怀疑，并常持敌对态度，于是我决定采取相应的行动。

在处理与员工间的问题时，我们试图将基督教的信条应用甚至照搬到其中，比如说，将金箴中的某些忠告付诸于行动。当人们相信我们的诚意，自然就会作出良好的回应。这种做法痛苦却有所回报。我所说的回报并非金钱，而是人的尊严，是使一个人为他的工作与公司而骄傲。他明白，自己不再是一个微不足道的小齿轮，而是公司中生动鲜活的一分子，公司不会在乎他属于哪个教会，或是肤色深浅。

然而，我可以肯定地说，我和我的人生观正是因这种态度而发生了转变。也许，对于我的变化，多数朋友并没有发现。

但是，我自己注意到了。曾经用酗酒来排遣的空虚感，如今已不复存在，取而代之的是明确

的目标：充实地生活，关注并尊重他人的存在。我并不装做自己立刻成为一个典范，我明白自己依然缺点重重。

但是，在我看来，与其不予行动地虔诚思考，不如拥有一点宗教信仰并将其付诸实践。我感觉，相比以前，自己得到了更好的调整，也更为成熟了。我无所畏惧。我之所以这么说，并非吹嘘，而是满怀谦卑。我的生活也因将基督教信条付诸于实践而发生了改变。

Acethe Hole

Keywords and expressions

1. endeavor

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