1   On Christmas Eve 1993, Norman Vincent Peale, the author of the all-time bestseller The Power of Positive Thinking, died at age 95. He was at home surrounded by love, peace and tender care. Norman Vincent Peale deserved nothing less. His positive-thinking ministry had brought peace and renewed confidence to generations of people who realized from his sermons, speeches, radio shows and books that we are responsible for the condition we’re in. Norman often reminded us that we have two choices every morning when we wake up: we can choose to feel good about ourselves or choose to feel lousy. I can still hear Norman clearly shouting out, “Why would you choose the latter?”

2   I first met Norman in July 1986. Since then, Norman had a great impact on my life. He always contended that positive thinkers get positive results because they are not afraid of problems. In fact, rather than thinking of a problem as something that is negative and ought to be removed as quickly as possible, Norman felt problems were a sign of life. To illustrate that point, here is one of his favorite stories, one I have used frequently in my presentations:

3   One day I was walking down the street, when I saw my friend George approaching. It was evident from his downtrodden look that he wasn’t feeling happy.

4   Naturally I asked him, “How are you, George?” While that was meant to be a routine inquiry, George took me very seriously and for 15 minutes he told me about how bad he felt. And the more he talked, the worse I felt. 

5   Finally I said to him, “Well, George, I’m sorry to see you in such a depressed state. How did you get this way?” That really set him off.

6   “It’s my problems,” he said. “Problems — nothing but problems. I’m fed up with problems. If you could get rid of all my problems, I would contribute $5,000 to your favorite charity.”

7   Well now, I am never one to turn a deaf ear to such an offer, and so I considered the proposition for a while and came up with an answer that I thought was pretty good.

8   I said, “Yesterday I went to a place where thousands of people reside. As far as I could determine, not one of them has any problems. Would you like to go there?”

9   “When can we  leave? That sounds like my kind of place,” answered George.

10   “If  that’s  the case, George,” I said, “I’ll be happy to take you tomorrow to Woodlawn Cemetery because the only people I know who don’t have any problems are dead.”

11   I love that story. It really puts life in perspective. I heard Norman say many times, “If you have no problems at all — I warn you — you’re in grave jeopardy — you’re on the way out and you don’t know it! If you don’t believe you have any problems, I suggest that you immediately race from wherever you are, jump into your car and drive home as fast but as safely as possible, run into your house, and go straight to your bedroom and slam the door. Then get on your knees and pray, ‘What’s the matter, Lord? Don’t you trust me anymore? Give me some problems.’”

                                                                  (566 words) 

1.On Christmas Eve 1993, Norman Vincent Peale, the author of the all-time bestseller The Power of Positive Thinking, died at age 95.

1993年圣诞节前夕，创纪录的畅销书《积极思考之力量》的作者诺曼·文森特·皮尔与世长辞，享年95岁。

本句中，the author of  the all-time bestseller The Power of Positive Thinking是Norman Vincent Peale的同位语。at age 95也可以表达为at the age of 95，省去the和of是美国用法。

2.His positive-thinking ministry had brought peace and renewed confidence  to generations of people who realized from his sermons, speeches, radio shows and books that we are responsible for the condition we’re in. 

这些完全都是诺曼·文森特·皮尔应该得到的。他作为牧师所提倡的积极思考为几代人带来了安宁和重建的信心，这些人从他的布道演讲、广播节目和书中认识到，我们应为我们所处的状况负责。

本句中brought peace and renewed confidence to generations of people的意思是made generations of people become peaceful and confident again，原文的名词化表达形式更具有书卷气 ，也更便于generations of people被定语从句修饰。后面定语从句中的谓语动词realized的宾语是that we are responsible for the condition we’re in。

3.Norman often reminded us that we have two choices every morning when we wake up: we can choose to feel good about ourselves or choose to feel lousy.

诺曼经常提醒我们，每天早晨我们醒来时，我们都有两种选择：我们可以选择对我们自己感觉良好或选择感觉很糟。

这个句子的主句和从句时态不一致：主句用过去式，因为Norman已经去世；而从句用一般现在时，因为在作者看来，这个说法没有过时。下一段中的He always contended  that positive thinkers get positive results because they are not afraid of problems.也是同样的情况。

4.In fact, rather than thinking of a problem as something that is negative and ought to be removed as quickly as possible, Norman felt problems were a sign of life.

实际上，诺曼认为问题绝不是消极的、应该尽快消除的东西，而是一种生命的标志。

本句中，rather than 的意思是instead of doing sth. else, because one thinks it better “与其…(不如…)”或“不是…(而是…)”。放在句首时后面的动词可以用现在分词形式，也可以用动词原形。例如：

Rather than criticizing your husband, why not find out if there’s something wrong? 与其批评你丈夫，为何不查看一下是否出了故障？

 Rather than cause trouble, he left. 

他宁可走开而不愿引起麻烦。

5.To illustrate that point, her is one of his favorite stories, one I have used frequently in my presentations.

为了说明这一点，这里是他最喜欢讲的故事之一，也是我在授课时经常用到的一个故事。

本句以不定式开头，用来表示目的；one I have used frequently in my presentations是前面的one of his favorite stories的同位语，其中的I have used frequently in my presentations 又是one的定语从句。

6.And the more he talked, the worse I felt.

他越讲我越感到不妙。

此句的句型是the more…, the more…，意为“越…，就越…”。又如：

The more he explained, the more confused I became. 

他越解释我就越糊涂。

7.While that was meant to be a routine inquiry, George took me very seriously and for 15 minutes he told me about how bad he felt.

虽然我这话的意思只是常规的询问，但乔治却对我的话极为认真，竟花了15分钟对我讲述了他感觉如何糟糕。

本句中，while引导的是让步状语从句，其中动词mean的用法值得注意：mean… to do…意为“想让…做…”。 又如：

I didn’t mean you to read the letter. 

我原不想让你读这封信。

另外，George took me very seriously意思是“乔治把我的随意招呼当真，以为我真是问他情况如何”。 take sb./sth. seriously意为“认真对待…”。又如：

He often talks big, so I never take his words seriously. 

他经常吹牛，所以我从来不把他的话当真。