英语词汇来源

希腊神话的国王Tantalus，受惩罚站在没颌的水中，头上就是结满果实的树枝。但他低头喝水水就退了下去，抬头吃果果又移开来。如今的动词tantalize（逗弄），就来自这个倒霉的国王。

而后希腊人建立了自己的城邦，展开人类第一次的民主试验。可他们请来制定法典的人Draco，是个不折不扣的书呆子。依照他制定的法典连偷东西都会被杀头，以至于draconian成了严酷的同义词。

到了法国大革命，热衷人道主义的Guillotin医生为了让杀头这个过程迅速，以便减少死刑的痛苦，发明了断头台。可是随着革命推向激进，无数无辜的人被推上断头台处死，好心的医生就随着人们对guillotine（断头台）的憎恶臭名昭著了。

在大洋的彼岸，美国人却建立起了公正的司法制度。但是富有想象力的官员Lynch，在他自己的小镇推行一种不经公正审判就对犯人行刑的“麦当劳司法”，于是他也一不小心臭了名声，lynch成为民众私刑的代名词。

再过几十年，爱尔兰的英国地主Charles Boycott不肯服从法律，降低地租，大家联合起来抵制他，直到他跟谁都没有生意做，连东西都买不到。如此一来，很多人都学会了boycott（联合抵制）这种做法。

这时在美国，有个养牛的Maverick先生，不像其它的同行一样在自己小牛的屁股上烙个印，偏偏要与众不同，说你们都烙我就不用烙了，屁股没印的就是我的牛。从此人们要说别人特立独行，就说他maverick。
英文]：Life is sweet.
[中文]：人生是美好的.
[出处]：

[英文]：Life is fine and enjoyable, yet you must learn to enjoy your fine life.
[中文]：人生是美好的,但要学会如何享用美好的生活.
[出处]：

[英文]：Life is real, life is earnest.
[中文]：人生真实,人生诚挚.
[出处]：H.W.Longfellow 朗费罗(美国诗人)

[英文]：Life is compared to a voyage.
[中文]：人生好比是一次航程.
[出处]：

[英文]：Life would be too smooth if it had no rubs in it.
[中文]：生活若无波折险阻,就会过于平淡无奇.
[出处]：

[英文]：Life means struggle.
[中文]：生活就是斗争.
[出处]：

[英文]：Life is but a hard and tortuous journey.
[中文]： 人生即是一段艰难曲折的旅程. /人生无坦途.
[出处]：

[英文]：Life is a horse, and either you ride it or it rides you.
[中文]：人生像一匹马,你不驾驭它,它便驾驭你.
[出处]：

[英文]：Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.
[中文]：人生是一幅大画布,你应该努力绘出绚丽多彩的画面.
[出处]：

[英文]：Life is like music. It must be composed by ear, feeling and instinct, not by rule.
[中文]：人生如一首乐曲,要用

乐感,感情和直觉去谱写.不能只按乐律行事.
[出处]：

[英文]：Life is painting a picture, not doing a sum.
[中文]：生活是绘画,不是做算术.
[出处]：O.W.Holmes 霍姆斯

[英文]：Life is a leaf of paper white, thereon each of us may write his word or two.
[中文]：生活是一张白纸,每个人都在上面写上自己的一两句话.
[出处]：A.Lowell 洛威尔

[英文]：On earth there is nothing great but man; in the man there is nothing great but mind.
[中文]：地球上唯一伟大的是人,人身上唯一伟大的是心灵.
[出处]：A.Hamilton 哈密尔顿

[英文]：Everything ought to be beautiful in a human being: face, and dress, and soul, and ideas.
[中文]：人的一切----面貌,衣着,心灵和思想,都应该是美好的.
[出处]：Chekhov 契诃夫

[英文]：All things in their being are good for something.
[中文]：天生我才必有用.
[出处]：

[英文]：The good or ill of man lies within his own will
[中文]：人的善良或邪恶都存在于他自己的意志之中.
[出处]：[古希腊]Epictetus 爱比克泰德

[英文]：He is born in a good hour who gets a good name.
[中文]：生逢其时,美誉自至.
[出处]：

[英文]：Life is just a series of trying to make up your mind.
[中文]：生活只是由一系列下决心的努力所构成.
[出处]：T.Fuller 富勒

[英文]：Live as though you intend to live forever, and work as though your strength were limitless.
[中文]：要这样生活,仿佛你寿命永恒.要这样工作,仿佛你精力无穷.
[出处]：S.Bernhardt 伯恩哈特(法国女演员)

[英文]：To live remains an art which everyone must learn, and which no one can teach.
[中文]：生活是一种人人须学而无人能教的艺术.
[出处]：H.Ellis 埃利斯

[英文]：Life is a foreign language: All men mispronounce it.
[中文]：生活是一种外语,谁都发不好它的音.
[出处]：C.D.Morley 莫利

[英文]：Life has taught me to think, but thinking has not taught me to live.
[中文]：生活教会了我思考,但思考却没有教会我生活.
[出处]：A.Herzen 赫尔岑(俄国作家,哲学家)

[英文]：I wept when I was born, and every day shows why.
[中文]：人生道路艰难困苦,难怪婴儿出世就哭. /我方出世,哭泣不止,为何如此,日月自知.