短文
How to Be True to Yourself My grandparents believed you were either honest or you weren’t.There was no in between. They had a simple motto hanging on heir living-room wall:“Life is like a field of newly fallen snow;where I choose to walk every step will show.”They didn’t have to talk about it—they demonstrated the motto by the way they lived.They understood instinctively that integrity means having a personal standard of morality and ethics that does not sell out to selfishness and that is not relative to the situation at hand. Integrity is an inner standard for judging your behavior.Unfortunately,integrity is in short supply today—and getting scarcer.But it is the real bottom line in every area of society.And it is something we must demand of ourselves. A good test for this value is to look at what I call the Integrity Trial, which consists of three key principles:Stand firmly for your convictions in the face of personal pressure.When you know you’re right, you can’t back down. Always give others credit that is rightfully theirs. Don’t be afraid of those who might have a better idea or who might even be smarter than you are. Be honest and open about who you really are.People who lack genuine core values rely on external factors—their looks or status—in order to feel good about themselves.Inevitably they will do everything they can to preserve this appearance, but they will do very little, to develop their inner value and personal growth. So be yourself. Don’t engage in a personal cover-up of areas that are unpleasing in your life. When it’s tough, do it tough. In other words, face reality and be adult in your responses to life’s challenges.Self-respect and a clear conscience are powerful components of integrity and are the basis for enriching your relationships with others.Integrity means you do what you do because it’s right and not just fashionable or politically correct. A life of principle, of not giving in to the seductive sirens of easy morality, will always win the day. It will take you forward into the 21st century without having to check your tacks in a rearview mirror. My grandparents taught me that.
我的爺爺和奶奶認(rèn)為，你要么是誠實的，要么不是，不可能介于兩者之間。 在他們起居室的墻上掛著一幅簡單易懂的座右銘：“生活好像一片剛剛落滿白雪的土地；我走到哪里，我的每一個腳印就會出現(xiàn)在哪里?！彼麄儫o需就此加以評說—一他們是以身體力行的方式來證實這幅座右銘的。 他們本能的理解是，誠實意味著具備一定的倫理道德標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，既不看風(fēng)使舵，也不隨著眼下的形勢而轉(zhuǎn)移。 誠實是判斷你行為的內(nèi)在標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。遺憾的是，如今，誠實處在短缺狀態(tài)——甚至越來越稀罕。然而，它卻是社會各個領(lǐng)域真正的思想底線，而且是我們必須要求自己嚴(yán)格做到的。檢驗這種價值標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的一個有效方法是，參看我所指的誠實考驗，其中包括三條主要原則：在個人壓力面前，要堅定信念。當(dāng)你知道你做得對的時候，你就不能退縮。對那些值得贊揚的人要常常給予肯定。切莫害怕那些可能有更好主意的或者那些可能比你更聰明的人。真誠、坦率地展示真實的你。那些缺乏真正的基本價值觀念的人，為了使自己感覺良好而依靠外在因素----相貌或社會地位。他們勢必盡一切可能來保全這種表面形象，卻很少會去培養(yǎng)自己內(nèi)在的價值和注重個人的成長。 因此，要展示你的真面目。不要設(shè)法掩蓋你生活中令人不快的方方面面。艱難時刻要頑強。換言之，要正視現(xiàn)實。面對生活的挑戰(zhàn)，要老成持重，應(yīng)付有方。 自尊和問心無愧是構(gòu)成誠實的強有力的成分，是豐富你與他人關(guān)系的基礎(chǔ)。誠實意味著去做你認(rèn)為對的事，而不僅僅是為了趕時髦或在政治上不出錯。堅持原則，不屈從于持享樂人生觀的女妖的誘惑，這樣的人生觀將戰(zhàn)無不勝。它將使你問心無愧地走向21世紀(jì)。這是祖父母教導(dǎo)我的。