靠自己把握

Life is raw material, we are artisans(工匠)．We can sculpt(雕刻)our existence into something beautiful or debase (贬低…的意义) it into ugliness. It's in our hands.生命是原材料，我们是匠人。我们可以把我们的生命雕刻成美，也可以将它贬为丑。一切都掌握在我们手中。

――Cathy Better 卡西・拜特

Isn't it amazing how few of us ask ourselves the important question?

Several years ago I was invited to hear an important speaker address the student body of a small college in South Carolina. The auditorium(礼堂) was filled with students excited, about the opportunity to hear a person of her stature1 speak.After the governor gave the introduction, the speaker moved to the microphone, looked at the audience from left to right, and began:

"I was born to a mother who was deaf and could not speak. I do not know who my father is or was. The first job I ever had was in a cotton field."

The audience was spellbound2. "Nothing has to remain the way it is if that's not the way a person wants it to be," she continued. "It isn't luck, and it isn't circumstances3, and it isn't being born a certain way that causes a person's future to become what it becomes."And she softly repeated, "Nothing has to remain the way it is if that's not the way a person wants it to be."

"All a person has to do,"she added in a firm voice, "to change a situation that brings unhappiness or dissatisfaction is answer the question: 'How do I want this situation to be- come?' then the person must commit4 totally to personal actions that carry them there."

Then a beautiful smile shone forth as she said, "My name is Azie Taylor Morton. I stand before you today as treasurer （财务主管） of the United States of America."

注释：

1. stature n. 高度水平

2. spellbind vt.迷住，使入迷

3. circumstance n．环境

4．commit vt．把……付诸

很少有人问自己重要的问题，这不是很奇怪吗？

几年前，我受邀去听一位显赫人物为南卡罗来纳州一座小规模学院的学生团体所做的讲话。学生们挤满了礼堂，他们为有机会听到她高水准的讲话而兴奋不已。校长的开场白完毕后，演讲人走到话筒前，从左至右扫视一下观众，开始了演说：

“我的亲生母亲既聋又哑。我不知道父亲是谁。我的第一份工作是在棉花田里干农活。”

听众们的兴趣给提了起来。“只要一个人愿意，就能改变现状，”她继续说道，“一个人的光明未来不是靠运气带来，不是靠环境创造，也不是与生俱来所拥有的。”接着她又缓缓地重复道：“只要一个人愿意，就能改变现状。”

“一个人，”她坚定地补充道，“要想改变不幸和不满意的状况，就要回答这个问题：‘我要把这个状况改变成怎样？’然后这个人就要全力以赴去努力实现。”

然后她甜美地微笑着说：“我的名字叫阿西・泰勒・莫顿。今天我以美利坚合众国财政部长的身份，站在你们大家的面前。”