http://www.hsenglish.com.tw/2009/teach/share/experience.asp?type=C&serial=175

前陣子我在住家大樓的洗衣間發現了一本書：THE GRADUATES’BOOK OF
WISDOM，這本鄰居捐出的書竟讓我像撿到寶一樣，因為裡頭有許多句子讀來振奮人心呀，雖然我已經大學畢業好幾年，而屬於我的高中畢業典禮與畢業旅行，則是十年前的往事了，不過，小小一本書卻轟擊了我的腦門，讓我想起我教過的學生們，無論是那些已經離開復興校門，或是今年正要邁開新旅程的莘莘學子…在這裡，想和所有的高三畢業生與英文老師們分享我在 THE GRADUATES’ BOOK OF WISDOM 裡所讀到的關於畢業，關於教育，關於終生學習，關於目標，關於勇氣，關於人生的好句子，有的句子下方會加上我個人的一點心得與體會。

關於畢業 Graduation
The fireworks begin today. Each diploma is a lighted match.
Each one of you is a fuse.

這一句話的比喻用的很妙，把畢業證書比喻為點燃的火柴，把畢業生比喻為導火線。
All that stands between the graduate and the top of the ladder is the ladder.

The young graduate is discovering that among the necessaries of life,
the most important is living.

畢業數年後, 當我們回首從前，也許課本裡的東西都忘得精光，但是我們不會忘記隔壁同學的笑臉，和好朋友度過的美好時光，某某老師的綽號，以及那一段歡笑與淚水交織的日子，確實 the most important is living.

關於教育與學習 Education and Learning
An educated man is thoroughly inoculated against humbug, thinks for himself and .
tries to give his thoughts some style.

We not only create a desire for thought, we give a man experience in thinking.

The educated differ from the uneducated as much as the living from the dead.

受教育真的是一件很重要的事，但並不是腦袋裝滿了知識，就表示這個人已經是
educated，因為一個人的人格，待人處事，還有對別人的禮貌與尊重，都在展現他受教育的程度。
All men by nature desires to learn.

Learning means keeping the mind open and active to receive all kinds of
experience.

Learning is a natural pleasure, inborn and instinctive, one of the earliest pleasures and one of the essential pleasures of the human race.

To be able to be caught up in the world of thought---that is education

If there is anything in the world that can really be called a man’s property, it is
surely his mental activity.

The test and the use of man’s education is to find pleasure in the exercise of his mind.

我很認同 Jacques Barzun 的這一句話，我認為真正的學習，是會在內心產生快樂與滿足的， 否則，人不會想要繼續學下去。

關於目標 Goals
Having a goal is a state of happiness.

In the long run men hit only what they aim at. Therefore aim high.

Henry David Thoreau 的這句話讓我聯想到證嚴法師的靜思語： 不要小看自己，因為人有無限的可能
Aim at heaven and you get earth thrown in; aim at earth and you get neither.

如果對自己的要求很高，那可能就會有驚人的表現；如果對自己沒有什麼要求，那麼內在的潛力可能就無法被激發了。
Everything’s in the mind. That’s where it all starts. Knowing what you want is the first step toward getting it.

The poor man is not he who is without a cent but he who is without a dream.

俗話說，人因夢想而偉大，沒有夢的人，人生會少了很多滋味吧。

關於勇氣 Courage
Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain.

確實，恐懼本身才是最大的恐懼，如果能夠去做自己最害怕的事，那麼也就不會那麼害怕了。
There is no security on this earth; there is only opportunity.

若樂觀看待人生，就覺得生活處處是機會，危機可以化為轉機。
When fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade.

電影 The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants ( 中譯片名：牛仔褲的夏天)，裡頭的台詞就有引用這一句話 “ When fate hands you a lemon, make lemonade.”

關於人生 Life
If you love life, life will love you back.

這一句話很有意思，如果把它改成→ If you love English, English will love you back. 也是很有道理唷！
We create our fate every day. Most of the ills we suffer from are directly traceable to our own behavior.

很多人感嘆命運不由人，其實許多時候，命運是掌握在自己的手裡，一個人會變成怎樣的人，一定跟他自己的所做所為有關。
Life is 10 percent what you make it and 90 percent how you take it.

Life is what we make it. Always has been. Always will be.

What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for others?

我很喜歡 George Eliot 寫的這一句話，它充滿了人文關懷與人與人之間互依互存的情感。

最後，和大家分享兩首歌詞很不錯的 graduation songs. 祝各位同學都能找到自己的夢想，築夢踏實，鵬程萬里。