Does anyone know "If I were a boy again"?
 

I happen to read an article entitled "If I were a boy again". Could anyone tell me if it is from a English textbook for native English speakers, and who the author is. Thx.
Plus, I googled with no results.

full-text:
If I were a boy again, I would practice perseverance more often, and never give up a thing because it was or inconvenient. If we want light, we must conquer darkness. Perseverance can sometimes equal genius in its results. “There are only two creatures,” says a proverb, “Who can surmount the pyramids — the eagle and the snail.”

　　If I were a boy again, I would school myself into a habit of attention; I would let nothing come between me and the subject in hand. I would remember that a good skater never tries to skate in two directions at once.

　　The habit of attention becomes part of our life, if we begin early enough. I often hear grown up people say, “I could not fix my attention on the sermon or book, although I wished to do so”, and the reason is, the habit was not formed in youth.

　　If I were to live my life over again, I would pay more attention to the cultivation of the memory. I would strengthen that faculty by every possible means, and on every possible occasion. It takes a little hard work at first to remember things accurately; but memory soon helps itself, and gives very little trouble. It only needs early cultivation to become a power.

　　If I were a boy again, I would cultivate courage. “Nothing is so mild and gentle as courage, nothing so cruel and pitiless as cowardice,” says a wise author.

　　We too often borrow trouble, and anticipate that may never appear.” The fear of ill exceeds the ill we fear.” Dangers will arise in any career, but presence of mind will often conquer the worst of them. Be prepared for any fate, and there is no harm to be feared.

　　If I were a boy again, I would look on the cheerful side. Life is very much like a mirror: if you smile upon it, I smiles back upon you; but if you frown and look doubtful on it, you will get a similar look in return.

　　Inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owner, but of all that come in contact with it. “Who shuts love out, in turn shall be shut out from love.”

　　Importance of learning very early in life to gain that point where a young boy can stand erect, and decline.

　　If I were a boy again, I would school myself to say no more often. I might write pages on the doing an unworthy act because it is unworthy.

　　If I were a boy again, I would demand of myself more courtesy towards my companions and friends, and indeed towards strangers as well. The smallest courtesies along the rough roads of life are like the little birds that sing to us all winter long, and make that season of ice and snow more endurable.

　　Finally, instead of trying hard to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, I would, if I were a boy again, I would still try harder to make others happy.

It would be interesting to know who wrote that. Although it's been posted thousands of times on the web, riddled with a dozen spam links, nobody has attributed the author.

Spam links :eyebrow:?

Not in the post here, but if you Google a line from that piece, say "If I were a boy again, I would look on the cheerful side. Life is very much like a mirror: if you smile upon it, I smiles back upon you; but if you frown and look doubtful on it, you will get a similar look in return.", you'll get over 4,000 hits. Clicking through them, that piece has been posted thousands of times, usually in the comments section, riddled with spam links for everything from gold to sneakers.
That's probably where laywong saw it, and wondered about it's origin/author, so naturally inquired at the most intelligent site on the web.

Then tried here. :haha:

maybe laywong is trying to get us to google it and then stumble upon the spam on our own?

Thanks, guys, but what I actually mean is to ask you to determine whether this is readable or expressive to native English speakers. I sent it to one British friend and she said this was definitely NOT English but some sort of translation. How do you guys think of it?

It has a very Chinese ring to it, IMHO. But could also be British from the late 19th century. So, I will say the author is from Hong Kong, British educated Chinese.

Do I need to be present to win?

Thanks, footfootfoot, my British friend also commented as "non-English". Could you please, if it's not too much trouble, point out some of the expressions that sound Chinese to you?

If I were a boy again, I would practice perseverance more often, and never give up a thing because it was or inconvenient. If we want light, we must conquer darkness. (In the west we are not such a "we" culture, we are not as concerned with the group as were are with ourselves) Perseverance can sometimes equal genius in its results. “There are only two creatures,” says a proverb, “Who can surmount the pyramids — the eagle and the snail.”

　　If I were a boy again, I would school myself into a habit of attention; I would let nothing come between me and the subject in hand. I would remember that a good skater never tries to skate in two directions at once. (again, this sounds very Asian to my ear. School myself, habit of attention, nothing between me and the subject at hand are all the types of things I heard when I was studying martial arts and Japanese history. It reminds me of something I read about a boy talking about his devotion to the emperor and sticking his hand into a pot of boiling rice to make a rice ball for the emperor, not caring that his hand was getting burned...)

　　The habit of attention becomes part of our life, if we begin early enough. I often hear grown up people say, “I could not fix my attention on the sermon or book, although I wished to do so”, and the reason is, the habit was not formed in youth.

　　If I were to live my life over again, I would pay more attention to the cultivation of the memory. (Again, it's not MY memory, it;s an abstract idea about THE memory)I would strengthen that faculty by every possible means, and on every possible occasion. (Sounds very dramatic) It takes a little hard work at first to remember things accurately; but memory soon helps itself, and gives very little trouble. It only needs early cultivation to become a power.

　　If I were a boy again, I would cultivate courage. “Nothing is so mild and gentle as courage, nothing so cruel and pitiless as cowardice,” says a wise author.

　　We too often borrow trouble, and anticipate that may never appear.” The fear of ill exceeds the ill we fear.” Dangers will arise in any career, but presence of mind will often conquer the worst of them. Be prepared for any fate, and there is no harm to be feared. (Sounds like a passage from the I Ching)

　　If I were a boy again, I would look on the cheerful side. Life is very much like a mirror: if you smile upon it, I smiles back upon you; but if you frown and look doubtful on it, you will get a similar look in return.

　　Inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owner, but of all that come in contact with it. (Sounds like a proverb)“Who shuts love out, in turn shall be shut out from love.”

　　Importance of learning very early in life to gain that point where a young boy can stand erect, and decline. (I've met very few westerners who think children should do other than play and be children. This sounds like the approach that China and Russia take with children in developing them for Olympic competition)

　　If I were a boy again, I would school myself to say no more often. I might write pages on the doing an unworthy act because it is unworthy. (Again, not something anyone could imagine a western boy doing or thinking)

　　If I were a boy again, I would demand of myself more courtesy towards my companions and friends, and indeed towards strangers as well. The smallest courtesies along the rough roads of life are like the little birds that sing to us all winter long, and make that season of ice and snow more endurable.

　　Finally, instead of trying hard to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, I would, if I were a boy again, I would still try harder to make others happy.


Just my impressions, and as I said, there are parts that sound, to me, like Victorian era English

Thank you so much. I cound't bear even the first sentence "practise perseverance" which sounds exactly Chinese to me. Plus, the original text favors a British spelling, so maybe the "Chinese educated in Britain" is right.

How did you find this, something in school studies, or casual reading? I'm also curious where it originated. It seems like a strange choice for the spammers I mentioned before, which made me wonder if it's common. By common I mean, one of those things everyone has read somewhere, but doesn't know where it came from.

Oh, and welcome to the Cellar, laywong. :D

Funnily enough, I just googled it and most of the hits were on Chinese sites.

I find this during casual reading. Two of my collegues love it and I say "you will love it more if it was restored to its original Chinese form".
Welcome received xoxoxoBruce, and I feel comfortable in here.
BTW, do you think it is a piece of translation?

That's soooooooooooooooooooooo right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know, but of course if it ever appeared in Chinese, I certainly wouldn't have read it. :blush:
I do think footfootfoot might be on the right track, as it does sound like olde proper English.