《心灵鸡汤：淡定的人生不再寂寞》讲述了50余篇真实感人的故事，故事纪录了发生在家庭中的趣事以及点滴的幸福瞬间。比如父子间、母女间、夫妻间或者整个家庭成员间的故事等。文笔感性，整体风格活泼幽默。原汁原味的英文，优美感性的中文，使人不自觉沉浸其中，受到心灵的洗涤和滋养。
这本书是地道双语的完美结合，不论是形式，还是故事内容，都堪称经典。
同时，本书以双语形式编排推出，是人们学习英语的最佳读本。
《心灵鸡汤》系列发行56个国家，被译为40多种语言。全球畅销上亿册，是美国乃至世界各国公认的权威心灵成长读物。该丛书连续七年蝉联美国畅销榜第一名，有以下三大优势： ★最丰富的心灵读本。本书将探索如何在金钱、情感、地位等诱惑面前，保持个人内心的纯净和自由。 ★最重要的人生激励。遇到困境时，我们应该处之泰然，宠辱不惊。书中的故事，将带我们发掘爱的本质，教我们如何过上宁静而丰富的生活。 ★最权威的双语美文。地道美语原味呈现，译文真挚动人，在赏析的同时无负担地学习，适合每天诵读。 ★我们如果无法包容和放下，内心就会背负太多的包袱和负累。淡定，是一种超然的境界，也是我们告别烦忧，获得欢喜的秘诀。本书精选数十篇感人肺腑的真情故事，献给所有站在人生路口、渴望改变的人。
①杰克·坎菲尔德（JackCanfield）是“心灵鸡汤系列丛书”的创始人之一，这套丛书被《时代》杂志赞誉为“近十年来是出版业的神话”。他还参与编写了另外八本畅销作品。
②马克·维克多`汉森（Mark Victor Hansen）和JackCanfield一样，是“心灵鸡汤系列丛书”的创始人之一。他是一个备受追捧的演讲人、畅销书作者、市场营销专家。他关于可能性、机遇、行动的具有冲击力的见解，已经为全球成千上万人的人生带来了神奇的改变。
③艾米·纽马克（AmyNewmark）是“心灵鸡汤系列丛书”的出版人，拥有三十年的从业经历，其身份包括作家、演讲人，以及金融与电信领域的金融分析师和业务主管。
④苏珊·海姆（Susan M.Heim）是作家和编辑界的常青树，擅长写育儿、女性和圣诞方面的文章。苏珊已经出版了好几本《心灵鸡汤》丛书。
Foreword
前言
Chapter 1 Forebear...ance
第一部分 长辈
003. A Guy for All Seasons
万能达人
010. The Day Dad Shot Conan
父亲枪击科南事件
017. Generationally Challenged
时代的挑战
024. Try It, You Won’t Like It
不去尝试，怎么知道自己喜不喜欢
031. The Optimist
乐天派
039. The Cooking Lesson
Foreword
前言
Chapter 1 Forebear...ance
第一部分 长辈
003. A Guy for All Seasons
万能达人
010. The Day Dad Shot Conan
父亲枪击科南事件
017. Generationally Challenged
时代的挑战
024. Try It, You Won’t Like It
不去尝试，怎么知道自己喜不喜欢
031. The Optimist
乐天派
039. The Cooking Lesson
烹饪课
047. Answer the Phone
接电话
051. Cotton Balls
棉花球
059. Mr. Fix-It
修理先生
067. Dad’s Five-Dollar Pants
父亲的五块钱裤子
076. Against the Grain
格格不入
086. Truck Stop Teeth
加油站快餐厅的假牙
Chapter 2 Relatively Embarrassing
第二部分 尴尬关系
095. A Fist Full of Dollars
攥着钱的拳头
100. My Wingman
我的铁哥们儿
106. Strawberry Fields
草莓园
112. The BOEPAD Club
极速滑雪俱乐部
120. Mom, You’re Not Going to Write About This, Are You?
妈妈，你不会把这个写下来吧？
126. Nana Ha Ha
娜娜哈哈
135. Who Wears Pink Shorts?
谁穿粉红色的短裤？
143. Chicago’s Great Rat Infestation
芝加哥大鼠患
149. The Evil Eye
“邪恶之眼”
153. Throw Mama from the Wheelchair
把婆婆扔出轮椅
Chapter 3 Newlyweds and Oldyweds
第三部分 新婚夫妇和老夫老妻
161. Umbrella Chairs
带阳伞的躺椅
167. Reno Salutes Hal and Midge
里诺向豪尔和米吉致敬
175. Busted
功败垂成
183. Surprise, Surprise
给你一个大惊喜
187. Here Comes the Marshmallow
棉花糖来了
195. Second Chance
第二次机会
202. What Families Do
家人的意义
Chapter 4 Happily Ever Laughter
第四部分 幸福快乐的笑声
213. The Butler Did It
男管家
220. In Your Dreams
在你梦中
226. My Next Husband Will Be Normal
我的下一任丈夫会是个正常人
232. Saturday Morning Crazy
疯狂的周六早晨
240. A Brush with Disaster
灾难梳子
245. Battle of the Dishes
盘子之战
250. Fit to Be Tied
十分恼火
254. Confessions of a Decorating Junkie
装饰狂人的忏悔
262. It’s Not Easy Being Green
要绿色环保不容易
269. Joseph’s Many Coats
约瑟夫的许多外套
277. Toilet Paper for Valentine’s Day
情人节厕纸
282. Define Normal
定义正常
Chapter 5 Family Fun
第五部分 家庭乐趣
289. Numb Skulls
麻木的脑袋
295. The Sleepover War
过夜之战
303. Bonding over Bats and Bunfires
与蝙蝠、篝火为伍
309. Scars and Legacies
伤痕和传统
314. The Brisket Fairies
酱牛肉精灵
321. A Burning Issue
着火问题
326. Better Late than Never
亡羊补牢，犹未为晚
334. Brown Coffee and American Bread
加奶咖啡和美国面包
342. The Clambake
烧蛤会
351. The Jokester
喜欢恶作剧的人
357. Tallyho!
猎食
365. Meet Our Contributors
见见我们的撰稿人
381. Meet Our Authors
见见我们的作者
385. About Bruce Jenner
布鲁斯?詹纳简介
387. Thank You
感谢词
390.
Chicken Soup for the Soul
Improving Your LifeEvery Day
心灵鸡汤
每天改善你的生活
391. Share with Us
与我们一同分享
Surprise, Surprise
给你一个大惊喜
If I were invited to a dinner party with my characters, I
wouldn’t show up.
～Dr. Seuss
My father is a rabbi, and of course he often officiates atweddings. One time he was asked to officiate at a surprise fiftiethanniversary party that would include a renewal of vows. Thecouple’s daughter, Marilyn, was so excited. She had invited all ofher parents’ lifelong friends—her mom’s
mahjong group, her dad’s golfing buddies, all seven of theirgrandchildren—and she had booked a dinner for all of them at afancy hotel. Marilyn said that she wanted nothing but the best forher parents.
The event had begun as an elegant, fancy surprise party, buteventually grew to include a ten-piece band and a six-courseexpensive dinner.
A photographer was even hired to make souvenir badges for eachguest.
As the days went by, and the cost seemed to exponentially expand,Marilyn’s husband began to question the growing expenses of theparty: “I’m not so sure your parents truly need two flamingos in arented fountain.” However, Marilyn would not budge. She met againwith her party planner, and the arrangements became even more andmore elaborate.
The big day finally arrived and Marilyn could not have asked fora more beautiful evening as she and her husband drove up to thehotel. They hastened inside. The aroma from the kitchen wasdelightful. The musicians were tuning their instruments and thehall looked beautiful. As the guests began to arrive Marilyn wasmore excited than she thought possible.
By 8:00 p.m., all the guests had arrived for the surprise party.Marilyn had planned for her parents to get to their surprise partyat 8:15 by telling them that the celebration was actually a partyfor their parents’ good friends, Mr. and Mrs. Samuels. However,8:15 came and went with no sign of the anniversary couple. Then8:30 came—and also went. At 8:50, Mary was becoming
extremely anxious and nervous.
“Where are my parents?” she nervously asked herself. “What ifsomething happened to them? What would we do?” Just then, Marilyn’scell phone rang. She grabbed it.
“Hello, hello!” she shouted.
“Marilyn, this is Mom. Please send our apologies to the Samuels,but last night we looked on the Internet for an inexpensive,last-minute cruise, and we found it. It left Galveston at 5:00 thisafternoon, and we’re now on our way to Key West. We’ll be back nextSaturday morning. You know, it’s our fiftieth anniversary thisTuesday, and we wanted to celebrate it in a meaningful way. Telleveryone that we are sorry we cannot be there together with themtonight.”
Marilyn was in shock. She did not even notice her cell phonedropping into the fountain with the flamingos. Her husband,however, overheard his mother-in-law’s comments on the phone. Hesarcastically, but calmly, stated to his wife, “Now, can we shout‘SURPRISE’?”
～Michael Jordan Segal, MSW
如果我受邀带着自己的个性出席晚餐聚会，那我是不会去的。
——瑟斯博士
我的父亲是一个犹太教祭司，当然，他经常主持婚礼。有一次，他受邀主持一个意想不到的五十周年结婚纪念日聚会，其中一项活动为重温当初的誓言。老夫妇的女儿玛丽琳十分激动。她邀请父母一生中所有的朋友都来参加聚会，母亲的麻将牌友、父亲的高尔夫球友和所有的孙子孙女。玛丽琳在一家高档酒店预订了晚餐，她说什么都不重要，只要父母开心就好。本来一开始只是个优雅、高档的惊喜聚会，但最后这顿昂贵的晚餐还包括了十组表演乐队和六道菜式，甚至还雇用了摄影师给每位来宾拍照留念。
随着时间的流逝，花费也在成倍地上涨。玛丽琳的丈夫开始质疑这次聚会的费用：“我怀疑你父母真的需要两个火烈鸟站在租来的喷水池里。”然而，玛丽琳不打算让步，她和聚会策划人再一次碰头，布置变得越来越精致。
那一天终于到来，玛丽琳和丈夫开车前往酒店，天气好得不能再好了。他们快速走进酒店，从厨房散发出的香味让人感到愉悦，音乐家们在调试乐器，大厅看起来美极了。当来宾开始抵达时，玛丽琳比想象中还要激动。
八点钟，所有来宾都已经抵达酒店。因为想给父母一个惊喜，所以玛丽琳原本告诉父母，这次的惊喜聚会是为父母的好友塞缪尔斯夫妇准备的，请父母八点十五分抵达酒店。但是，八点十五分到了，不见父母踪影。八点半了，还是没人。八点五十分，玛丽琳开始变得焦虑。
她紧张地问自己：“爸妈呢？是不是出事了？我们该怎么办？”
就在此时，玛丽琳的手机响了，她接起电话叫道：“喂？喂？”
“玛丽琳，是妈妈。请向塞缪尔斯夫妇致歉。昨晚，我们在网上看到一个便宜的豪华游轮旅行，时间很赶，我们就订了。今天早上五点就离开了加尔维斯敦，现在我们在去基韦斯特的路上，下周六早上回来。你知道的，这周二是我们的五十周年结婚纪念日，我们想以富有意义的方式来庆祝。告诉他们我们很抱歉今晚不能参加聚会了。”
玛丽琳惊呆了，连手机掉进喷水池也没察觉。而她的丈夫无意中听到岳母在电话里说的话，于是讽刺但又冷静地对妻子说道：“现在，我们可以大叫‘给你一个惊喜’了吗？”
——迈克·乔丹·西格尔
……
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