电影《死亡诗社》大家应该都知道吧，在电影中我们看到了基汀老师（R.I.P. Robin Williams）自由发散式的教育方式，同时电影中还提到了很多诗。有的诗唯美，有的诗励志！今天我们就来了解一些励志的英文诗，来给面临考试的广大考生们打点儿鸡血吧！！！



01

If

Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;

如果周围的人毫无理性地向你发难，

你仍能镇定自若保持冷静；

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

But make allowance for their doubting too;

如果众人对你心存猜忌，

你仍能自信如常并认为他们的猜忌情有可原；

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

如果你肯耐心等待不急不躁，

Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,

或遭人诽谤却不以牙还牙，

Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,

或遭人憎恨却不以恶报恶；

And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

既不装腔作势，亦不气盛趾高；

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;

如果你有梦想，而又不为梦主宰；

If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;

如果你有神思，而又不走火入魔；

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

And treat those two impostors just the same;

如果你坦然面对胜利和灾难，

对虚渺的胜负荣辱胸怀旷荡；

If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken

Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

如果你能忍受有这样的无赖，

歪曲你的口吐真言蒙骗笨汉，

Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,

And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

或看着心血铸就的事业崩溃，

仍能忍辱负重脚踏实地重新攀登；

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

如果你敢把取得的一切胜利，

为了更崇高的目标孤注一掷，

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

And never breathe a word about your loss;

面临失去，

决心从头再来而绝口不提自己的损失；

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To serve your turn long after they are gone,

如果人们早已离你而去，

你仍能坚守阵地奋力前驱，

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

Except the Will which says to them:"Hold on";

身上已一无所有，

唯存意志在高喊“顶住”；

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,

如果你跟平民交谈而不变谦虚之态，

Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;

亦或与王侯散步而不露谄媚之颜；

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;

如果敌友都无法对你造成伤害；

If all men count with you, but none too much;

如果众人对你信赖有加却不过分依赖；

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -

如果你能惜时如金利用每一分钟不可追回的光阴；

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

那么，你的修为就会如天地般博大，

并拥有了属于自己的世界，

And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

更重要的是：

孩子，你成为了真正顶天立地之人！



这首诗的作者是拉迪亚德·吉卜林，英国小说家兼诗人，吉卜林一生共创作了八部诗集、四部长篇小说、二十一部短篇小说集和历史故事集，以及大量散文、随笔、游记等。他于1907年获得诺贝尔文学奖，成为英国第一位获此奖的作家。而这首诗是他写给自己儿子的，一经出版就备受欢迎，曾被翻译成27国语言，被广大青少年学习，以此来勉励自己。

02

The Invitation

Oriah Mountain Dreamer（节选）

I want to know

if you can sit with pain

mine or your own

without moving to hide it

or fade it

or fix it.

我想知道，你能否真正与伤痛共处

——与我的或者你自己的，

而不是去掩饰它、淡忘它，

或过于在意它。

I want to know

if you can be with joy

mine or your own

if you can dance with wildness

and let the ecstasy fill you

to the tips of your fingers and toes

without cautioning us

to be careful

to be realistic

to remember the limitations

of being human.

我想知道，你能否真正去享受快乐

——与我的或者你自己的，

翩翩起舞，无拘无束，

让激情从指尖到脚趾充满你的身体，

这一刻，

忘记谨小慎微，

忘记现实残酷，

忘记生命极限的束缚。

I want to know

if you can live with failure

yours and mine

and still stand at the edge of the lake

and shout to the silver of the full moon,

"Yes."

我想知道，

你能否坦然面对失败

——你的或者我的，

即使失败，也能站在湖边，

对着银色的圆月高喊：

“我可以。”

I want to know

if you can be alone

with yourself

and if you truly like

the company you keep

in the empty moments.

我不在乎你认识何人，

为何在此。

我只想知道，生命之火熊熊燃烧时，

你是否敢和我一起，

站在火焰中央，毫不畏缩。



这首诗的作者是一名加拿大女诗人，现居住在加拿大的多伦多，而这首《生活的邀请函》可以说是她最出名的作品了，也曾被翻译成超过15种语言。这首诗浅显易懂，这里只节选其中几小段，感兴趣的话可以去搜一下，争取全文背诵吧！

03

Be the Best of Whatever You Are

Douglas Malloch

If you can't be a pine on the top of the hill,

Be a scrub in the valley — but be

The best little scrub by the side of the rill;

Be a bush if you can't be a tree.

如果你不能成为山顶的一棵松

就做一丛小树生长在山谷中

但须是溪边最好的一小丛

如果你不能成为一棵大树，就做灌木一丛

If you can't be a bush be a bit of the grass,

And some highway happier make;

If you can't be a muskie then just be a bass —

But the liveliest bass in the lake!

如果你不能成为一丛灌木，就做一片绿草

让公路也有几分欢娱

如果你不能成为一只麝香鹿，就做一条鲈鱼

但须做湖里最好的一条鱼

We can't all be captains, we've got to be crew,

There's something for all of us here,

There's big work to do, and there's lesser to do,

And the task you must do is the near.

我们不能都做船长，我们得做海员

世上的事情，多得做不完

工作有大的，也有小的

我们该做的工作，就在你的手边

If you can't be a highway then just be a trail,

If you can't be the sun be a star;

It isn't by size that you win or you fail —

Be the best of whatever you are!

如果你不能做一条公路，就做一条小径

如果你不能做太阳，就做一颗星星

不能凭大小来断定你的输赢

不论你做什么都要做最好一名



Douglas Malloch（1877-1938），中文名道格拉斯·马罗奇，美国著名诗人、短篇小说家，代表作Be the Best of Whatever You Are(做最好的自己)，这首诗从题目来看就很励志。

04

The Road Not Taken

Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

黄色的树林里分出两条路

可惜我不能同时去涉足

我在那路口久久伫立

我向着一条路极目望去

直到它消失在丛林深处

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

但我却选择了另外一条路

它荒草萋萋，十分幽寂

显得更诱人，更美丽

虽然在这条小路上

很少留下旅人的足迹

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

那天清晨落叶满地

两条路都未经脚印污染

呵，留下一条路等改日再见

但我知道路径延绵无尽头

恐怕我难以再回返

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood,and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

也许多少年后在某个地方，

我将轻声叹息将往事回顾：

一片树林里分出两条路——

而我选择了人迹更少的一条，

从此决定了我一生的道路。



罗伯特·弗罗斯特（Robert Frost，1874年3月26日——1963年1月29日）是20世纪最受欢迎的美国诗人之一。他曾赢得4次普利策奖和许多其他的奖励及荣誉，被称之为“美国文学中的桂冠诗人”。这首《未选择的路》发表于1915年，别看很简短，但是诗本身的语法及其内涵都不简单，想多了解的话可以去百度一下。