前段時間有學生提問說，現在講會不會分數給的很低，我覺得因為我們課上給的范文是這個，所以考生重復講到的可能性很大，估計考官聽多了會覺得有些考生只是背誦了事先準備的話題。所以建議大家能發揮自己的想象力和原創性，多發掘一些好書，力求講出新意。這里，我推薦一本我本人非常喜歡的一本書——《沉思錄》。()
《沉思錄》是古羅馬唯一一位哲學家皇帝馬可·奧勒留所著，這本自己與自己的十二卷對話，內容大部分是他在鞍馬勞頓中所寫，是斯多葛派哲學的一個里程碑�！冻了间洝穪碜杂谧髡邔ι砹b宮廷的自身和自己所處混亂世界的感受，追求一種擺脫了激情和欲望、冷靜而達觀的生活。馬可·奧勒留在書中闡述了靈魂與死亡的關系，解析了個人的德行、個人的解脫以及個人對社會的責任，要求常常自省以達到內心的平靜，要擯棄一切無用和瑣屑的思想、正直地思考。而且，不僅要思考善、思考光明磊落的事情，更要付諸行動。
推薦閱讀的版本是——《沉思錄：中英雙語·典藏本》。其英文部分采用的是最為經典的喬治·朗譯本，優美流暢，純正優雅，原汁原味的純正英語，再加上地道的英語翻譯水平和表達方式，一定會使廣大英語愛好者還有“雅友”們有大快朵頤的閱讀快感，極大地提高英語水平。
下面是兩段書摘，以饗讀者：
雖然你打算活三千年，活數萬年，但還是要記住：任何人失去的不是什么別的生活，而只是他現在所過的生活；任何人所過的也不是什么別的生活，而只是他現在失去的生活。最長和最短的生命就如此成為同一。雖然那已逝去的并不相同，但現在對于所有人都是同樣的。所以那喪失的看來就只是一單純的片刻。因為一個人不可能喪失過去或未來-一個人沒有的東西，有什么人能從他奪走呢？這樣你就必須把這兩件事牢記在心：一是所有來自永恒的事物猶如形式，是循環往復的，一個人是在一百年還是在兩千年或無限的時間里看到同樣的事物，這對他都是一回事；二是生命最長者和瀕臨死亡者失去的是同樣的東西。因為，惟一能從一個人那里奪走的只是現在。如果這是真的，即一個人只擁有現在，那么一個人就不可能喪失一件他并不擁有的東西。
Though thou shouldst be going to live three thousand years, and as many times ten thousand years, still remember that no man loses any other life than this which he now lives, nor lives any other than this which he now loses. The longest and shortest are thus brought to the same. For the present is the same to all, though that which perishes is not the same; and so that which is lost appears to be a mere moment. For a man cannot lose either the past or the future: for what a man has not, how can any one take this from him? These two things then thou must bear in mind; the one, that all things from eternity are of like forms and come round in a circle, and that it makes no difference whether a man shall see the same things during a hundred years or two hundred, or an infinite time; and the second, that the longest liver and he who will die soonest lose just the same. For the present is the only thing of which a man can be deprived, if it is true that this is the only thing which he has, and that a man cannot lose a thing if he has it not.
一日之始就對自己說：我將遇見好管閑事的人、忘恩負義的人、傲慢的人、欺詐的人、嫉妒的人和孤僻的人。他們染有這些品性是因為他們不知道什么是善，什么是惡。但是，我，-作為知道善和惡的性質，知道前者是美后者是丑的人；作為知道做了錯事的人們的本性是與我相似，我們不僅具有同樣的血液和皮膚，而且分享同樣的理智和同樣的一分神性的人-決不可能被他們中的任何一個人損害，因為任何人都不可能把惡強加于我，我也不可能遷怒于這些與我同類的人，或者憎恨他們。因為，我們是天生要合作的，猶如手足，唇齒和眼瞼。那么，相互反對就是違反本性了，就是自尋煩惱和自我排斥。
Begin the morning by saying to thyself, I shall meet with the busy-body, the ungrateful, arrogant, deceitful, envious, unsocial. All these things happen to them by reason of their ignorance of what is good and evil. But I who have seen the nature of the good that it is beautiful, and of the bad that it is ugly, and the nature of him who does wrong, that it is akin to me, not only of the same blood or seed, but that it participates in the same intelligence and the same portion of the divinity, I can neither be injured by any of them, for no one can fix on me what is ugly, nor can I be angry with my kinsman, nor hate him, For we are made for co-operation, like feet, like hands, like eyelids, like the rows of the upper and lower teeth. To act against one another then is contrary to nature; and it is acting against one another to be vexed and to turn away.
來源：《沉思錄》馬可·奧勒留
最后大家可以加上一些書評或者個人讀書的感悟，比如說：
The book has a favorable reception.(很受歡迎)
The book was handed down from one generation to another.(世代相傳)
The book has been read through all ages.(千古傳誦)
A good book or a good friend often serves to wake up our latent possibilities. (激發潛能)。
This is a must book for your reading.
Great literature is a balsam to the soul. (偉大的文學可以慰藉心靈)。
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