(原版)澳大利亞語文第五冊 LESSON 51

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LESSON 51 LESSONS ON HEALTH

LESSONS ON HEALTH

Ⅳ

THE CONCLUSION

BY the exercise of a little common sense when we are young, and by following a few plain and easy rules of living, we may enjoy and preserve good health to a hearty old age. On the other hand, it is very easy to make oneself ill—by over-eating, by want of exercise, by preferring pleasure to sleep, by neglecting to keep oneself clean, by breathing impure air, by intemperance, and in many other preventable ways.

Illness is often our own fault. We do those things which we ought not to do, and we leave undone those things which we ought to do, and then we wonder that there is no health in us.

Abraham Lincoln once wrote to a friend some quaint but admirable rules for living: "Do not worry; eat three square meals a day; say your prayers; be courteous to your creditors; keep your digestion good; steer clear of biliousness; exercise; go slow and go easy. Maybe there are other things that your special case requires to make you happy, but, my friend, these I reckon will give you a good lift."

The best way to avoid evil things is to seek the good. If we make our minds nests of pleasant thoughts and keep our hands busy with the day's work, we shall soon have no time for forming hurtful habits. Waters of a running stream keep pure and fresh; it is the standing pool that stagnates. Industry is the mother of many virtues; and if we would win and enjoy health we must shun idleness as a noisome swamp.

Even when we fall ill—and it is few that escape illness altogether—let us still be cheerful. One of the best tonics in the world is good humour. It helps to keep health in others as well as in ourselves.

Even the wisest of men relish a little nonsense now and then, and they thereby show their wisdom. The most wasted of all days, says Chamfort, is that on which one has not laughed. A hearty, unforced laugh is good medicine, both for body and spirit. "After all," says Dryden, "it is a good thing to laugh at any rate; and if a straw can tickle a man, it is an instrument of happiness."

The mind has an almost magical effect on the body, and if we have made up our mind to face any misfortune bravely, be it sickness, or loss of goods, or final separation from friends, it is wonderful how soon the body responds to a cheerful mind. Will-power enables many a patient to triumph over care and pain.

The invalid who looks on the bright side of things has a much better chance of recovery than he who is always counting up his ailments and moping at his condition. Sydney Smith never let his many infirmities sour his temper. He bore them with cheerful fortitude, and once, at the end of a letter to an old friend, he play- fully added: "I have gout, asthma, and seven other maladies, but am otherwise very well."

A merry heart doeth good like medicine.There is never any need to make trouble worse by repining. If the sky is dark, let us remember that "'tis always morning somewhere in the world," and "nothing is so bad but it might have been worse."

On the other hand, change, exercise, fresh air, dieting, tonics—all the remedies and medicines in the world—.will not cure anyone who gives up and gives way.

In the long run, then, health depends on the reasonable care we take of ourselves. If we follow simple rules and acquire good habits and avoid what we know to be wrong, we may all hope to enjoy a bountiful measure of life. Nature is so ready to help all those who obey her. This "harp of a thousand strings" which we call our body will keep in perfect tune for many a long year if we will only take care of it; and in the end the strings will not be found to snap with suddenness and pain, but under the stilling hand of Time the harp's music will cease so gently that one will not know when sound has passed into silence.

—E. W. H. F