英语经典美文
在生活、工作和学习中，大家都接触过美文吧？在各种竞争日益激烈的今天，在网络中，很多人都会喜欢一些比较伤感的美文，人们通过阅览这种文章来对自己的心情进行调解，以此为一种精神上的寄托。想要学习写美文吗？下面是小编为大家整理的英语经典美文，欢迎大家借鉴与参考，希望对大家有所帮助。
英语经典美文1
英语美文推荐：明亮的心
Last year around Halloween, I was invited to participate in a carnival for Tuesday's Child, an organization that helps children with the AIDS virus. I was asked to attend because I'm on a television show; I went because I care. I don't think that most of the kids recognize me as a celebrity. They just thought of me as a big kid who came to play with them for the day. I think I liked it better that way.
At the carnival they had all kinds of booths. I was drawn to one in particular because of all the children that had gathered there. At this booth, anyone who wanted to could paint a square. Later that square was going to be sewn together with the others, to make a quilt. The quilt would be presented to a man who had dedicated his life to this organization and would soon be retiring.
They gave everyone fabric paints in bright, beautiful colors and asked the kids to paint something that would make the quilt beautiful. As I looked around at all the squares, I saw pink hearts and bright blue clouds, beautiful orange sunrises and green and purple flowers. The pictures were all bright, positive and uplifting. All except for one.
The boy sitting next to me was painting a heart, but it was dark, empty, lifeless. It lacked the bright, vibrant colors that his fellow artists had used.
At first I thought maybe he took the only paint that was left and it just happened to be dark. But when I asked him about it, he said his heart was that color because his own heart felt dark. I asked him why and he told me that he was very sick. Not only was he very sick, but his mom was very sick also. He said that his sickness was not ever going to get better and neither was his mom's. He looked straight into my eyes and said, “There is nothing anyone can do that will help.”
I told him I was sorry that he was sick and I could certainly understand why he was so sad. I could even understand why he had made his heart a dark color. But...I told him that it isn't true that there is nothing anyone can do to help. Other people may not be able to make him or his mom better...but we can do things like give bear hugs, which in my experience can really help when you are feeling sad. I told him that if he would like, I would be happy to give him one so he could see what I meant. He instantly crawled into my lap and I thought my own heart would burst with the love I felt for this sweet little boy.
He sat there for a long time and when he had had enough, he jumped down to finish his coloring. I asked him if he felt any better and he said that he did, but he was still sick and nothing would change that. I told him I understood. I walked away feeling sad, but recommitted to this cause. I would do whatever I could to help.
As the day was coming to an end and I was getting ready to head home, I felt a tug on my jacket. I turned around and standing there with a smile on his face was the little boy. He said, “My heart is changing colors. It is getting brighter...I think those bear hugs really do work.”
On my way home I felt my own heart and realized it, too, had changed to a brighter color.
英语经典美文2
Wuthering Heights 呼啸山庄 (Excerpt 节选)
By Emily Bronte (艾米莉·勃朗特 著)
艾米莉·勃朗特(1818-1848)从小生活在英国约克郡的荒原上，荒原造就了她自由不羁的个性，同时也为她提供了一个想象的世界。她的杰作《呼啸山庄》便以此为背景，讲述吉普赛弃儿希刺克厉夫和凯瑟琳之间的爱情传奇。全书自始至终贯穿着离奇、紧张、浪漫的气氛和一种“有呼吸、有心跳的活生生的激情”。诚如一位评论家所说，“尽管这本书中有那么多极其痛苦的场面，却令人不厌再读，每读一遍必有所获。”
Wuthering Heights is the name of Mr. Heathcliff’s dwelling. “Wuthering” being a significant provincial adjective, descriptive of the atmospheric tumult to which its station is exposed in stormy weather. One may guess the power of the north wind blowing over the edge, by the excessive slant of a few stunted firs at the end of the house Happily, the architect had foresight to build it strong: the narrow windows are deeply set in the wall, and the corners defended with large jutting stones.
The window ledge, above the bed where I placed my candle, was covered with writing scratched on the paint. A name repeated in all kinds of characters, large and small – a Catherine Earnshaw, here and there varied to Catherine Heathcliff, and then again to Catherine Linton.
In vapid Listlessness I leant my head against the window, and continued spelling over Catherine Earnshaw – Heathcliff – Linton, till my eyes closed, but they had not rested five minutes when I was disturbed by the noise from the branch of a fir tree that touched my lattice, as the wind wailed by, and rattled its dry cones against the panes.
I resolved to silence it, if possible; I endeavoured to unhasp the casement, but the hook was soldered into the staple.
“I must stop it, nevertheless!” I muttered, knocking my knuckles through the glass, and stretching an arm out to seize the branch; instead of which, my fingers closed on the fingers of a little, ice-cold hand! The intense horror of nightmare came over me: I tried to draw back my arm, but the hand clung to it, and a most melancholy voice sobbed, “Let me in, let me in!”
“Who are you?” I asked, struggling, meanwhile, to disengage myself.
“Catherine Linton,” it replied shiveringly, “I’m come home. I’ve lost my way on the moor!” As it spoke, I discerned, obscurely, a child’s face looking through the window.
Terror made me cruel; and, finding it useless to attempt shaking the creature off, I pulled its wrist on to the broken pane, and rubbed it to and fro till the blood ran down and soaked the bedclothes: still it wailed, “Let me in!” and maintained its tenacious grip, almost maddening me with fear.
“How can I?” I said at length. “Let me go, if you want me to let you in!”
The fingers relaxed, I snatched mine through the hole, and stopped my ears to exclude the lamentable prayer. I seemed to keep them closed above a quarter of an hour; yet, the instant I listened again, there was the doleful cry moaning on!
“Begone!” I shouted, “I’ll never let you in, not if you beg for twenty years.”
“It is twenty years,” mourned the voice. “Twenty years. I’ve been a waif for twenty years!”
There at began a feeble scratching outside. I tried to jump up, but could not stir a limb; and so yelled aloud, in a frenzy of fright. Hasty footsteps approached my chamber door; somebody pushed it open, with a vigorous hand.
Heathcliff stood with a candle dripping over his fingers, and his face as white as the walls around him.
呼啸山庄是希刺克厉夫先生的住宅名称。“呼啸”是一个意味深长的形容词，形容这地方在风暴的天气里所受的气压波动。房屋那头有几棵矮小的枞树过度倾斜，由此就可以猜想到北风吹过的威力了。幸亏建筑师很有先见，把房子盖得很结实：窄小的窗子深深地嵌在墙里，墙里有大块的凸出的石头防护着。
在床头我放蜡烛的窗台上，油漆面多处给字迹划得乱七八糟。一个名字用各种字体写着，有大有小——凯瑟琳·恩萧，有的地方又改成凯瑟琳·希刺克厉夫，跟着又是凯瑟琳·林顿。
我无精打采地把头靠在窗子上，接连地拼写着凯瑟琳·恩萧——希刺克厉夫——林顿，一直到我的眼睛合上为止，可是还没有五分钟，一棵枞树的'枝子触到了窗格子上，惊醒了我。狂风正悲叹而过，它的干果在玻璃窗面上碰得嘎嘎作响。
我决定把这声音止住，如果可能的话。我试着去打开那窗子，但窗钩给焊在钩环里了。
“不管怎么样，我非止住它不可!”我咕噜着，用拳头打穿了玻璃，伸出一个胳膊去抓那条树枝。可我的手指头没抓到它，却碰着了一只冰凉小手的手指!梦魇的恐怖压倒了我：我极力把胳膊缩回来，可是那只手却拉住它不放，一个异常忧郁的声音抽泣着：“让我进去，让我进去!”
“你是谁?”我问，同时拼命想把手挣脱。
“凯瑟琳·林顿，”那声音颤抖着回答。“我回家来啦，我在旷野上走迷路啦!”在她说话时，我模模糊糊地辨认出一张小孩的脸向窗里望。
恐怖使我狠了心，发现想甩掉那个人是没有用的，就把她的手腕拉到那个破了的玻璃面上，来回地擦着，直到鲜血滴下来，沾湿了床单。可她还是哀哭着，“让我进去!”而且还是紧紧抓住我，简直要把我吓疯了。
“我怎么能够呢?”我终于说。“如果你要我让你进来，先放开我!”
手指松开了。我把自己的手从窗洞外抽回，捂住耳朵不听那可怜的祈求声。大概捂了有一刻钟以上吧，等到我再听时，那悲惨的呼声还继续哀叫着!
“走开!”我喊道，“就是你求我二十年，我也绝不让你进来。”
“已经二十年啦，”这声音哭着说，“二十年啦。我已经流浪了二十年啦。”
接着，外面开始了一个轻微的刮擦声。我想跳起来，可是四肢动弹不得，于是在惊骇中大声喊叫起来，一阵匆忙的脚步声走近我的卧室门口。有人使劲推开了门。
希刺克厉夫站在那里，拿着一支蜡烛，烛油直滴到他的手指上，脸色苍白得犹如他身后的墙。
英语经典美文3
On the 14th of March, at a quarter to three in the afternoon, the greatest living thinker ceased to think. He had been left alone for scarcely two minutes, and when we came back we found him in his armchair, peacefully gone to sleep—but forever. An immeasurable loss has been sustained both by the militant proletariat of Europe and America, and by historical science, in the death of this man. The gap that has been left by the departure of this mighty spirit will soon enough make itself felt.
Just as Darwin discovered the law of development of organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history: the simple fact, hitherto concealed by an overgrowth of ideology, that mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion, etc.; that therefore the production of the immediate material means of subsistence and consequently the degree of economic development attained by a given people or during a given epoch form the foundation upon which the state institutions, the legal conceptions, art, and even the ideas on religion, of the people concerned have been evolved, and in the light of which they must, therefore, be explained, instead of vice versa, as had hitherto been the case.
But that is not all. Marx also discovered the special law of motion governing the present-day capitalist mode of production and the bourgeois society that this mode of production has created. The discovery of surplus value suddenly threw light on the problem, in trying to solve which all previous investigations, of both bourgeois economists and socialist critics, had been groping in the dark. Two such discoveries would be enough for one lifetime. Happy the man to whom it is granted to make even one such discovery. But in every single field which Marx investigated—and he investigated very many fields, none of them superficially—in every field, even in that of mathematics, he made independent discoveries.
英语经典美文4
yes, yes, yes, it’s a new day, it’s a different day, and it’s a bright day!
and most importantly, it is a new beginning for your life, a beginning where you are
going to make new decisions, take new actions, make new friends and take your life
to a totally unprecedented level. 当你慢慢睁开眼睛的时候，环顾四周，注意到阳光是从什么地方射到你的房间；仔细听
听，看看你是否能辨认出什么新的声音；用你的身心去感觉，看看你是否能感受到空气中散
发出的新鲜的气息。
是的，是的，是的！今天是崭新的一天，今天是与众不同的一天，今天是充满希望的一
天！更重要的是，今天是你开始新生活的一天！今天，你要做出新的决定；今天，你要采取
新的行动；今天，你要认识新的朋友；今天，你要彻底地改造自我，让你的人生改头换面！in your mind’s eye, you can see clearly the things you want to have, the places
you intend to go, the relationships you desire to develop, and the positions you aspire
to reach. you can hear your laughers of joy and happiness on the day when everything
happens as you dream! you can see the smiles on the people around you when the magic
moment strikes. you can feel your face is getting red, your heart is beating fast,
and your blood is rushing all over your body, to every single corner of your being!在你的脑海里，你能清晰地看到你最想得到的汽车和房屋，你最向往的游览胜地，你最
渴望的朋友，还有你最意欲达到的地位和身份。你能清晰地听到当梦想实现的那天你发出的
爽朗的笑声，你能明白地看出当这神奇的时刻到来的那一瞬间你的朋友的`脸上所绽放出来的
幸福的微笑。你明显地感觉到，你的脸在热，你的心跳在加速，你的血液在你的全身疯狂地
奔涌！ your life with absolute passion, and you will show your passion through the words
you speak and the actions you take. you will focus all your time and effort on the
most important goals of your life. you will never succumb to challenges and hardships;
you will never waver in your pursuit of excellence. after all, you are the best, and
you deserve the best!
你知道所有这一切都会变成现实，只要你拥有自信、激情和坚定！你确实拥有自信！你
确实拥有激情！你也确实拥有坚定！从今天开始，你将不再担心发出异样的声音，你将不再
顾虑袒露丰富的表情，你将不再恐惧舞动你的身体，你将不再害怕结交陌生人，你更不会在
乎提出奇怪的问题！你将用语言和行动点燃你每天的激情！你将把所有的时间和努力都专注
于对你来说最重要的目标上！你绝不会对挑战低头，也更不会向困难妥协！在向着成功奋进
的途中，你将毫不犹豫、永不动摇！因为你优秀的，所以你的人生应该是卓越的！ as your coach and friend, i can assure you the door to all the best things in
the world will open to you, but the key to that door is in your hand. you must do
your part, you must faithfully follow the plans you make and take the actions you
plan, you must never quit, you must never fear! i know you must do it, you can do
it, you will do it, and you will succeed! now stand firm and tall, make a fist, get
excited and yell it out: i must do it! i can do it! i will do it! i will succeed!作为你的朋友和教练，我可以肯定的告诉你，这个世界上一切美好的事物都向会向你敞
开大门，然而打开这扇大门的钥匙就握在你的手中。
英语经典美文5
A Lifelong Career【学习：一生的事业】
As food is to the body, so is learning to the mind. Our bodies grow and muscles develop with the intake of adequate nutritious food. Likewise, we should keep learning day by day to maintain our keen mental power and expand our intellectual capacity. Constant learning supplies us with inexhaustible fuel for driving us to sharpen our power of reasoning, analysis, and judgment. Learning incessantly is the surest way to keep pace with the times in the information age, and an infallible warrant of success in times of uncertainty.
Once learning stops, vegetation sets in. It is a common fallacy to regard school as the only workshop for the acquisition of knowledge. On the contrary, learning should be a never-ending process, from the cradle to the grave. With the world ever changing so fast, the cease from learning for just a few days will make a person lag behind. What's worse, the animalistic instinct dormant deep in our subconsciousness will come to life, weakening our will to pursue our noble ideal, sapping our determination to sweep away obstacles to our success and strangling our desire for the refinement of our character. Lack of learning will inevitably lead to the stagnation of the mind, or even worse, its fossilization, Therefore, to stay mentally young, we have to take learning as a lifelong career.
学习之于心灵，就像食物之于身体一样。摄取了适量的营养食物，我们的身体得以生长而肌肉得以发达。同样地，我们应该日复一日不断地学习以保持我们敏锐的心智能力，并扩充我们的智力容量。不断的学习提供我们用不尽的燃料，来驱使我们磨利我们的'推理、分析和判断的能力。持续的学习是在信息时代中跟时代并驾齐驱的最稳当的方法，也是在变动的世代中成功的可靠保证。
一旦学习停止，单调贫乏的生活就开始了。视学校为汲取知识的唯一场所是种常见的谬误。相反地，学习应该是一种无终止的历程，从生到死。由于世界一直快速地在变动，只要学习停顿数日就将使人落后。更糟的是，蛰伏在我们潜意识深处的本能就会复活，削弱我们追求高贵理想的意志，弱化我们扫除成功障碍的决心，而且扼杀我们净化我们人格的欲望。缺少学习将不可避免地导致心灵的停滞，甚至更糟地，使其僵化。因此，为了保持心理年轻，我们必须将学习当作一生的事业。
英语经典美文6
People usually say father is quiet and strict, but my father is totally not. He is easygoing. I have a good relationship with my father and we are good friends to each other. We have many topics to talk about because we have much in common. For example, we like playing football. After dinner, we often go to the downstairs to play. I learn many football skills from him. Besides, we like playing video games or computer games. Sometimes, we compete to each other, while sometimes we make a team to compete to others. Of course, he puts study as my priority, so he cares much about my study as well. He once said that he hoped me to study happily. I am really grateful to have such a good father.
人们常说，父亲是安静严厉的，但是我的爸爸完全不是这样，他很随和。我和爸爸关系融洽，我们是彼此的`好朋友。因为我们有很多共同点，所以我们有很多话题来讨论。比如说，我们都喜欢踢足球。晚饭过后我们经常到楼下踢足球，我从他那里学到了很多技巧。除此之外，我们还喜欢玩电游和网游。有时候，我们相互竞争；有时候，我们组成一个团队去和别人竞争。当然，他把学习作为我的首要任务，因此他也非常关心我的学习。他曾经说过希望我开心地学习。我真的很感激有这样一个好爸爸。
英语经典美文7
1.Prose of its very nature is longer than verse,and the virtues peculiar to it manifest themselves gradually. If the cardinal virtue of poetry is love, the cardinal virtue of prose is justice; and, whereas love makes you act and speak on the spur of moment, justice needs inquiry, patience, and a control even of the noblest passions. By justice here I do not mean justice only to particular people or ideas, but a habit of justice in all the processes of thought, a style tranquillized and a form moulded by that habit.
本质上，散文长于韵文，散文独有的品质逐渐显现。若诗歌的主要品质是爱，那散文的主要品质就是正义;而且，尽管爱会让你一时心血来潮的去动作和表达，但正义则需要质询，耐心和对强烈感情的控制。这里所说的正义，并非专对某些人或思想，正义是所有思想过程中的习惯，以及由此习惯铸就的形态和沉静的风格。
2.The master of prose is not cold, but will not let any word or image inflame him with a heat irrelevant to his purpose. Unhasting, unresting, he pursues it, subduing all the riches of his mind to it, rejecting all beauties that are not germane to it; making his own beauty out of the very accomplishment of it, out of the whole work and its proportions, so that you must read to the end before you know that it is beautiful.
散文大家并不冷漠，但也不会因头脑发热，让任意与其目的`无关的词汇或形象扰乱自己。从容不迫，坚持不懈，他追寻着它，献出自己毕生的智慧，赶走所有与它无关的浮华。成就散文创造自己的美，美渗透于整体和部分，所以你只有把它读完，才能发现它的美。
3.But he has his reward, for he is trusted and convinces, as those who are at the mercy of their own eloquence do not; and he gives a pleasure all the greater for being hardly noticed. In the best prose, whether narrative or argument, we are so led on as we read, that we do not stop to applaud the writer, nor do we stop to question him.
但他也有所回报，因为人们信任他，他也使人们信服，这正是那些靠口才的人所不能得到的;他不露声色而给人更大的愉悦。最好的散文，无论是叙述或辩论，都使我们着迷，已无心停下来为作者叫好，亦或质询什么。
英语经典美文8
雪季Snow Season
The early white snow falls softly and seems to heal the landscape. 轻盈、洁白的雪花纷纷扬扬,这场初雪似乎在抚慰大地。
There are no tracks or slush in the roads. The wind sweeps snow into the scars of our harvest-time haste, smoothing the brows of the hills and hiding the furrows and trash in the yard. Snow quiets the noise of metal and motion. It brings silence, allowing us to stop, look inward and rediscover the warmth of family. 至今积雪上还没有任何足迹,道路上也没有踏脏的雪泥。朔风扫过,白雪覆盖了人们丰收农忙之后的痕迹——它抚平了山脊,掩埋了院内的车辙和杂物。大雪还削减了金属摩擦发出的刺耳声和机器运转时的嘈杂声。它带来了一种静谧,让我们有机会驻足,审视内心,重新感受亲人团聚的温馨。
At such times, locked away inside the walls and wool, we recall the competing claims of nature. We see the branches and bark of trees rather than the green of their leaves. We look out the window and admire the grace of ice crystals, the brave trees leaning leafless into the wind and the dramatic shadows of the setting sun. We think about the structure of things, the shapes of branches and snowflakes, family and deed. 在这样的时节里,我们紧闭房门,裹上毛毯,回想大自然中的两种悖论。我们看到的是树木的枝杈和树皮,而不是绿叶;我们望着窗外,惊叹冰晶的美不胜收,钦佩光秃秃的树枝始终迎风而立,赞美落日的身影楚楚动人;我们观察着事物的`结构、树枝与雪花的形状,还有家庭、事业。
Even before the first snow, winter has started to make us see the world differently. We watch the lawn settle into the sleep of frost and the last leaf shake on the oak. At night the skies are cold and clear, and stars shine. The hillsides turn brown and gray. Dark clouds settle on the mountain ridges. Then comes the snow. When it has drifted on the roads, we head indoors and warm ourselves with the wood fire. The wood pile and a well-stocked kitchen tell us of the good night ahead, one of many winter’s long and silent nights, filled with dreams.
其实在冬天,在下第一场雪之前,我们看世界的感觉就不同了。我们注意到草地早已在霜冻中沉睡,最后一片橡树叶在枝头颤抖。夜晚的天空清冽而明朗,繁星闪烁。山坡被染成了棕灰色。山脊上乌云密集。接着,下雪了。当雪花在路面飘起,我们回到屋内,让自己沉迷在炉火轻微的噼啪声中。柴堆和储备良好的食物表明我们可以美美睡上一觉了。而冬日带来的是宁静的漫漫长夜,正好入梦。
英语经典美文9
微笑
Smile at each other, smile at your wife, smile at your husband, smile at your children, smile at each other―it doesn't matter who it is―and that will help you to grow up in greater love for each other.
经常保持笑容，对你的另一半、你的孩子微笑，甚至对陌生人也不要吝惜你的微笑，因为小小的微笑就能大大增进人与人之间的感情。 ――泰瑞莎修女
Many Americans are familiar with The Little Prince, a wonderful book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. This is a whimsical and fabulous book and works as a children's story as well as a thought-provoking adult fable. Far fewer are aware of Saint-Exupery's other writings, novels and short stories.
法国作家安东尼·圣艾修伯里所写的《小王子》是本很多美国人都很熟悉的极好的书。这本书表面上看来是童话故事，但世故的成人读来也觉寓意深远。很少人知道，除了《小王子》，圣艾修伯里还创作过其他小说和短篇故事。
Saint-Exupery was a fighter pilot who fought against the Nazis and was killed in action. Before World War II, he fought in the Spanish Civil War against the fascists. He wrote a fascinating story based on that experience entitled The Smile. It is this story which I'd like to share with you now. It isn't clear whether or not he meant this to be autobiographical or fiction. I choose to believe it to be the former.
圣艾修伯里是名飞行员，二次大战对抗纳粹时被击落身亡，之前他也曾参加西班牙内战打击法西斯分子。他根据这次经验写了一篇精彩的故事――《微笑》，现在要提的就是这篇作品。这是真实故事或是虚构事情，没人能下定论，但我宁可相信这是作者的亲身体验。
He said that he was captured by the enemy and thrown into a jail cell. He was sure that from the contemptuous looks and rough treatment he received from his jailers he would be executed the next day. From here, I'll tell the story as I remember it in my own words.
故事的前段大意是作者被敌军俘虏，关进监牢。看守监狱的人一脸凶相，态度极为恶劣。他心想，明天绝对会被拖出去枪毙。以下是我记忆中的故事原文。
"I was sure that I was to be killed. I became terribly nervous and distraught. I fumbled in my pockets to see if there were any cigarettes, which had escaped their search. I found one and because of my shaking hands, I could barely get it to my lips. But I had no matches, they had taken those.
"一想到自己明天就没命了，不禁陷入极端的惶恐与不安。我翻遍了口袋，终于找到一支没被他们搜走的香烟，但我的手紧张得不停发抖，连将烟送进嘴里都成问题，而我的火柴也在搜身时被拿走了。
"I looked through the bars at my jailer. He did not make eye contact with me. After all, one does not make eye contact with a thing, a corpse. I called out to him ‘Have you got a light?' He looked at me, shrugged and came over to light my cigarette.
"我透过铁栏望着外面的警卫，他并没有注意到我在看他，也许对他而言，我只是他看守的一样‘物品'、一具‘尸体'。我叫了他一声：‘能跟你借个火吗?'他转头望着我，耸了耸肩，然后走了过来，点燃我的香烟
"As he came close and lit the match, his eyes inadvertently locked with mine. At that moment, I smiled. I don't know why I did that. Perhaps it was nervousness, perhaps it was because, when you get very close, one to another, it is very hard not to smile. In any case, I smiled. In that instant, it was as though a spark jumped across the gap between our two hearts, our two human souls. I know he didn't want to, but my smile leaped through the bars and generated a smile on his lips, too. He lit my cigarette but stayed near, looking at me directly in the eyes and continuing to smile.
"当他帮我点火时，他的眼光无意中与我的相接触，这时我突然冲着他微笑。我不知道自己为何有这般反应，也许是过于紧张，或者是当你如此靠近另一个人，你很难不对他微笑。不管是何理由，我对他笑了。就在这一刹那，这抹微笑如同火花般，打破了我们心灵间的隔阂。受到了我的感染，他的嘴角不自觉地也现出了笑容，虽然我知道他原无此意。他点完火后并没立刻离开，两眼盯着我瞧，脸上仍带着微笑。
"I kept smiling at him, now aware of him as a person and not just a jailer. And his looking at me seemed to have a new dimension, too. ‘Do you have kids?' he asked.
"我也以笑容回应，仿佛他是个朋友，而不是个守着我的警卫。他看着我的眼神也少了当初的那股凶气，‘你有小孩吗?'他开口问道。
" Yes, here, here.I took out my wallet and nervously fumbled for the pictures of my family. He, too, took out the pictures of his family and began to talk about his plans and hopes for them. My eyes filled with tears. I said that I feared that I'd never see my family again, never have the chance to see them grow up. Tears came to his eyes, too.
"‘有，你看。'我拿出了皮夹，手忙脚乱地翻出了我的全家福照片。他也掏出了照片，并且开始讲述他对家人的期望与计划。这时我眼中充满了泪水，我说我害怕再也见不到家人。我害怕没机会看着孩子长大。他听了也流下两行眼泪。
Suddenly, without another word, he unlocked my cell and silently led me out. Out of the jail, quietly and by back routes, out of the town. There, at the edge of town, he released me. And without another word, he turned back toward the town.
"突然间，他二话不说地打开了牢门，悄悄地带我从后面的小路逃离了监狱，出了小镇，就在小镇的边上，他放了我，之后便转身往回走，不曾留下一句话。
My life was saved by a smile.
"一个微笑居然能救自己一条命。"
11/ Yes, the smile―the unaffected, unplanned, natural connection between people. I tell this story in my work because I'd like people to consider that underneath all the layers we construct to protect ourselves, our dignity, our titles, our degrees, our status and our need to be seen in certain ways―underneath all that, remains the authentic, essential self. I'm not afraid to call it the soul. I really believe that if that part of you and that part of me could recognize each other, we wouldn't be enemies. We couldn't have hate or envy or fear. I sadly conclude that all those other layers, which we so carefully construct through our lives, distance and insulate us from truly contacting others. Saint-Exupery's story speaks of that magic moment when two souls recognize each other.
是的，微笑是人与人之间最自然真挚的沟通方式，我在我的作品中讲这个故事，因为我希望人们能仔细想想以下的.事情：人常常为自己建立层层的保护膜，为了维护尊严、头街、身分、形象等，而必须有所隐藏。我相信在这些掩饰下，每个人都有一个真实、不带虚伪的灵魂。如果我们能用心灵去认识彼此，世间不会有结怨成仇的憾事;恨意、妒嫉、恐惧也会不复存在。可惜的是人小心翼翼为自己所建造的保护膜，却阻隔了自己与他人真诚相对的机会。圣艾修伯里的这则故事，让我们见到了两颗心灵相互交流的神奇时刻。
I've had just a few moments like that. Falling in love is one example. And looking at a baby. Why do we smile when we see a baby? Perhaps it's because we see someone without all the defensive layers, someone whose smile for us we know to be fully genuine and without guile. And that baby-soul inside us smiles wistfully in recognition.
我也曾有过如此神奇的时刻，坠入情网是其中一刻，而看着婴儿的脸是另外一例。为什么我们见到婴孩会微笑?也许是因为我们在他们身上见到不设防的灵魂，还有他们纯真无邪的笑容，更引起了我们内心深处的共鸣。
拓展：英语阅读的重要性之阅读与词汇
阅读对于英语学习具有极其重要的作用，其重要性之一体现在它与词汇的关系上。
众所周知，词汇是语言的基本单位，是英语学习的基础。只有掌握了词汇，才能带动听、说、读、写能力的全面提高。而如何记忆和掌握词汇是让许多学生都头疼的事情。事实上，阅读是记忆和掌握词汇的最佳手段。在阅读中学习单词，就是把单词放到一定的语言情境中来学习。这样做的好处之一是，结合上下文来认识单词，可以避免因孤立地记单词而产生枯燥乏味和厌倦的心理。其二，借助阅读材料所提供的充分的语境，单词更易于被识记、理解和掌握。不仅词义记得准确、清楚，而且单词的用法以及使用条件也得以掌握。换句话说，阅读为单词提供了一个全面展示自己的空间。只有通过阅读提供的语境来掌握词汇，才能最全面、最精准得掌握词汇。
国学大师林语堂曾讲过这样一件事：从前有学生来问我某字之义，我正答一中文译语，而尚未讲下去，他已满足走开了，这种学生，英文一世也念不好。譬如某人的演讲冗长无味,英文叫做tedious，学生来问tedious何意，我说tedious是“讨厌”，学生满足回去，举一隅不以三隅反，他后来做出论文，说在电影院看见前排一对男女卿卿我我的蜜语，甚觉讨厌，就写了一句I felt very tedious.这种人读书不精，永无好成绩，犹如不通的熟师，一世考不得功名。因为我们通过出现在阅读材料中的tedious 的用法可知，讨人厌的人可以说是tedious，自己觉某事讨厌，在英文却不能讲I felt very tedious。
有不少英语学习者急于追求扩大词汇量。而事实是，词汇量固然重要，但是精准、全面地掌握单个词汇更为重要。这是因为词汇不在于多，而在于精准。这也解释了为什么词汇量大的人却不一定能得高分，而词汇量不算大的人却仍能取得好成绩的原因。所以，词汇在于精准，而精准何来？存在于阅读的语境中。
英语经典美文10
by William Blake
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet,painter,and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime,Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. His prophetic poetry has been said to form what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language . His visual artistry has led one modern critic to proclaim him far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced . Although he only once journeyed farther than a days walk outside London during his lifetime,he produced a diverse and symbolically rich corpus,which embraced the imagination as the body of God ,or Human existence itself.
Considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views,Blake is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity,and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterized as part of both the Romantic movement and Pre-Romantic ,for its large appearance in the 18th century. Reverent of the Bible but hostile to the Church of England,Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American revolutions,as well as by such thinkers as Jacob Boehme and Emanuel Swedenborg.
Despite these known influences,the singularity of Blake s work makes him difficult to classify. The 19th century scholar William Rossetti characterised Blake as a glorious luminary,and as a man not forestalled by predecessors,nor to be classed with contemporaries,nor to be replaced by known or readily surmisable successors.
Historian Peter Marshall has classified Blake as one of the forerunners of modern anarchism,along with Blake's contemporary William Godwin.
Tyger,tyger,burning bright
In the forests of the night,What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
And what shoulder and what art ,Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And,when thy heart began to beat,What dread hand and what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,And watered heaven with their tears,Did He smile His work to see?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?
Tyger,tyger,burning bright
In the forests of the night,What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
英语经典美文11
It was the Sunday after Christmas and the seven o"clock Mass was beginning. Chilled latecomers hurried up the side steps and the rear seats were filling up with stragglers, who welcomed the warmth of the radiators that backed the last pews.
The assistant pastor had begun the age-old celebration and the parishioners were very quiet, hardly participating. Each was in his or her own world. Christmas was two days ago and it had taken its toll. Even the children were still. It was a time of rest from the season"s whirl, and all were inclined to sit back and rest. As Father John began his sermon, he looked over a most subdued crowd. He began with a pleasant introduction about the holiday time and its true meaning. Then he carried his sermon a little further and talked about charity and love and being good to others all the time. He said we couldn"t go wrong by being nice. It was a talk we had all heard before, and we each felt smugly that we had done our part. Then there was a pause, and Father John added a new thought for his flock to contemplate, and we were startled and roused from our reveries.
He talked about the vagrants, the "trolls," the bums and the homeless that were walking the streets of the city and giving testimony to the new poverty. In quiet tones he said that they needed care most of all. Some of us squirmed in our seats and exchanged glances. It was
obvious we had some reservations about his statements. Most of us were thinking about the influx of wanderers into the city. Vagrants inhabited the parks, the shopping malls and the downtown area. Most of the petty crime seemed to be blamed on them, and they certainly weren"t viewed with charity.
Mrs. Scupp was terrified by their looks and grimy appearance. Last week a dingy stubble-faced man with a blanket wrapped around him had asked her for money. Startled and scared, she dropped all her packages as she squealed, "No." He stooped and helped her pick up her gifts. Then she did find some money in her purse and gave it to him. The experience had unnerved her, and now she shuddered at the thought of repeating it.
Joe Walden"s puffy face twisted with a grimace. Yeah, sure, he thought. Show these people an inch of kindness and they"ll ruin your business. At first he hadn"t complained about the groups playing violins and guitars in front of his store and asking for donations for their entertainment. But prospective buyers were uncomfortable and passed the shop by. His sales had dropped, and he blamed the street people. What was this priest suggesting? He snorted to himself.
Margaret was so horrified by the ragged-looking bunch down in the grocery store parking lot that she hated to go shopping there, and she cringed at the thought of even being near the homeless. But the store was the closest place to home, so she went at noon when there were plenty of other shoppers.
Al sat back in his pew and was lost in this part of the message. He was deeply involved in reviewing his career as a cop and how it applied. It was his job to round up those that disturbed the peace or interfered with others. The terrible antagonism aroused between the citizens and these wanderers had led to many arrests and "move on" orders. Were they justified? One thought came to mind. Is there a little extra I could do? Al pulled his head into the warmth of his coat, stuck his hands into his pockets and dismissed the thoughts.
The priest continued with the sermon, touching on many sore spots. He ended by asking people to be kinder to the less fortunate, to be fair, and to treat everybody the way Christ would treat them. He left the pulpit to continue Mass, leaving everybody in a ruffled mood.
The Mass continued, and at the same time a noise assaulted the solemnity. A cross between a groan and a whistle, it sounded again and again. A snicker ran through the church. It was a snore . . . a mighty one. Anxious looks at the altar proved that Father was unaffected by the noise, but others were. A lady in front with a big red hat was turning one way and then the other, seeking its originator. Three children were giggling. Their father tried to quiet them and at the same time scanned the congregation. Halfway up the middle aisle, to the right, was a hunched-up figure covered with a blanket - the source of the noise. Each time a chord was struck, the gray covering vibrated as the snore escaped its confines.
The snorer was obviously not a member of the church. Maybe he was one of those wanderers on his way south, or somebody who came in from the cold. Maybe he was a bum. One thing was certain, his snoring was offensive. People coughed nervously and then waited for the next sound.
"Do you think he had a nice Christmas, too, Mommie?" Whispers and hugs identified a little girl in a new pink jacket.
"God loves him too, doesn"t he?" Another flurry followed as her father, nodding, picked her up in his arms. She rested her chin over his shoulder and was looking at the inert man. The people moved in their seats. This was a member of the poor that the sermon was about. What an uncomfortable thought!
Father John was saying the final prayers when the little girl spoke to her father in a stage whisper that carried from one end of the church to the other. "Daddy, can"t we share our Christmas with him? Can I have some money? I won"t wake him up. Promise." There was quiet rustling and movement as she crossed the aisle and laid some bills on the blanket. Al rose to his feet and did the same. Joe Walden strode up with his offering. As Father John finished the Mass, other bills were dropped on the sleeping figure. He watched Mrs. Scupp gingerly place a five-dollar bill on the gray blanket that was now heaped with money. Margaret met Father John"s grin as she left her offering.
It was a strange crowd who greeted Father John after services. The man in the blanket had made an impression, and while few words were said, everyone greeted the priest with a special heartiness. It comes with the satisfaction of giving, he thought privately.
When Father John returned to the empty church and walked up the aisle to the man, he saw the green bills nestled in the folds of the gray blanket. There was more money on the floor around the man. Father John gently shook him. The snoring man raised his head and looked vacantly at the priest for a moment. "Oh, I fell asleep, I guess. What"s this?" The money cascaded around him as he rose and dropped the blanket. The priest looked with surprise into the face of Chris Gregory, a fireman and paramedic he had known for years. "Gee, Father John, I"m awfully sorry." As Chris gently scooped up and counted the wealth, Father John explained what had happened. Then Chris told his story.
His department had received three calls for fires down in the lagoon and along the railroad tracks. He had been out all night. The last call included a girl who was about to give birth. She was one of those who had sought the warmth of a fire that got out of hand. Before she could be taken to the hospital, he delivered her baby, a boy. Chris went to the hospital and stayed longer than he expected. It had been a long night, and he had stopped to make early-morning Mass before going home to sleep.
There was $600.60 altogether. Father John said, "Suppose we divide it. I"ll use my share for the soup kitchen and you take the rest for the new mother. She"s going to need it. Now, let"s get some breakfast. And fold up that blanket - I don"t really think the parishioners want to know who the man in the gray blanket was."
英语经典美文12
A sitcom or situation comedy is a genre of comedy performance originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. Sitcoms usually consist of recurring characters in a format in which there are one or more humorous story lines centred on a common environment, such as a family home or workplace.The situation comedy format seems to have originated in the old time radio era of the United States, but today they are produced around the globe.
Many countries, such as Britain, have embraced the form and so sitcoms have become among the most popular programmes on the schedule.history,The situation comedy format originated on radio in the 1920s. The first situation comedy is often said to be Sam and Henry which debuted on the Chicago, Illinois clear-channel station WGN in 1926, and was partially inspired by the notion of bringing the mix of humor and continuity found in comic strips to the young medium of radio. The first network situation comedy was Amos & Andy which debuted on CBS in 1928, and was one of the most popular sitcoms through the 1930s.Situation comedies have been a part of the landscape of broadcast television since its early days.
The first was probably Mary Kay and Johnny, a fifteen minute sitcom which debuted on the DuMont Television Network in November of 1947.This type of entertainment seemed to originate in the United States, which continues to be a leading producer of the genre, but soon spread to other nations.Characteristics Traditionally, situation comedies were largely self-contained, in that the characters themselves remained largely static and events in the sitcom resolved themselves by the conclusion of the show. One example of this is the animated situation comedy The Simpsons, where the characteristics of animation has rendered the characters unchanging in appearance forever?although the characters in the show have sometimes made knowing references to this. Other sitcoms, though, use greater or lesser elements of ongoing storylines: Friends, a hugely popular US sitcom of the 1990s, contains soap opera elements such as regularly resorting to an end-of-season cliffhanger, and has gradually developed the relationships of the characters. Other sitcoms have veered into social commentary. Examples of these are sitcoms by Norman Lear including All in the Family and Maude in the US, and the controversial Till Death Us Do Part in Britain.
Most contemporary situation comedies are filmed with a multicamera setup in front of a live audience, then edited and broadcast days or weeks later. This practice has not always been universal, however, especially prior to the 1970s when it became more common. Some comedies, such as M*A*S*H, were not filmed before a studio audience.
英语经典美文13
Minnesota Dreamer
Even if I didn't have a dream, I always had a plan. In college, I learned to be responsible and organized . Then everything changed. Days away from graduation and miles away from home, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I left the hospital alone, in devastation. Unsure of what my future would hold, I shed countless tears. Although close friends eased the pain, I could not hide from them my fear of facing death. Somehow, I managed to complete the exams in spite of my jangled nerves.
I began to feel different from everyone else, since my friends were graduating, celebrating, and eager to move on to new chapters in their lives. but I could not join them and celebrate with them. I especially found it interesting to see how others around me dealt with my news. Some acted suddenly distant for lack of words, some dramatized the whole thing, and some acted perfectly normal, which felt the most comfortable for me.
Within days, I had packed up all of my college belongings and headed home with my family ready to face this unexpected hurdle. I immediately turned to my best friend from high school. She had gone through cancer in our senior year, and because of watching her courageously overcome so many obstacles four years before, I knew she could give me the fuel I needed for my own battle.
As my surgery date to remove the tumor got closer, I was experiencing intense physical pain. Part of me wanted it over with and the other part of me was coming unglued. The wall of strength I had built was crumbling. I was so angry that I had to go through this when all those around me were going on with their lives. I spent a lot of time asking, why me?
But something wonderful started happening in the midst of all this. I began to see all the beauty around me in a wholly new way. The smallest things started to catch my eye. I noticed how colorful and serene a sunset could be when you took time to enjoy it. Blades of grass cascading along hillsides looked a brighter shade of green. A small child's laughter became an instant remedy for a bad day.
Miraculously, I woke up from surgery grateful to be alive and well. to be given a second chance.My recovery was a long process as I learned to walk again and do simple tasks. I remember when I went home and studied my bald head for the first time. It shouldn't have surprised me, but it did!
Life can sure throw a good curve ball when you least expect it. Yet I've had this new start, and I'm enjoying every minute of it. I used to hear people say you should dream the unimaginable, and Now, dreaming big and following my heart's desire without knowing how it will end up is the only thing I have time to do.
英语经典美文14
It is well that young men should begin at the beginning and occupy the most subordinate positions. Many of the leading businessmen of Pittsburgh had a serious responsibility thrust upon them at the very threshold of their career. They were introduced to the broom,and spent the first hours of their business lives sweeping out the office. I notice we have janitors and janitresses now in offices,and our young men unfortunately miss that salutary branch of business education. But if by chance the professional sweeper is absent any morning,the boy who has the genius of the future partner in him will not hesitate to try his hand at the broom. It does not hurt the newest comer to sweep out the office if necessary. I was one of those sweepers myself.
Assuming that you have all obtained employment and are fairly started,my advice to you is “aim high”. I would not give a fig for the young man who does not already see himself the partner or the head of an important firm. Do not rest content for a moment in your thoughts as head clerk,or foreman,or general manager in any concern,no matter how extensive. Say to yourself,“My place is at the top.” Be king in your dreams.
And here is the prime condition of success,the great secret: concentrate your energy,thought,and capital exclusively upon the business in which you are engaged. Having begun in one line,resolve to fight it out on that line,to lead in it,adopt every improvement,have the best machinery,and know the most about it.
The concerns which fail are those which have scattered their capital,which means that they have scattered their brains also. They have investments in this,or that,or the other,here there,and everywhere. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” is all wrong. I tell you to “put all your eggs in one basket,and then watch that basket.” Look round you and take notice,men who do that not often fail. It is easy to watch and carry the one basket. It is trying to carry too many baskets that breaks most eggs in this country. He who carries three baskets must put one on his head,which is apt to tumble and trip him up. One fault of the American businessman is lack of concentration.
To summarize what I have said: aim for the highest; never enter a bar room; do not touch liquor,or if at all only at meals; never speculate; never indorse beyond your surplus cash fund; make the firm’s interest yours; break orders always to save owners; concentrate; put all your eggs in one basket,and watch that basket; expenditure always within revenue; lastly,be not impatient,for as Emerson says,“no one can cheat you out of ultimate success but yourselves.”
Some of the greatest success stories of history have followed a word of encouragement or an act of confidence by a loved one or a trusting friend. Had it not been for a confident wife,Sophia,we might not have listed among the great names of literature the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne. When Nathaniel,a heartbroken man,went home to tell his wife that he was a failure and had been fired from his job in a customhouse,she surprised him with an exclamation of joy.
"Now," she said triumphantly,"you can write your book!"
"Yes," replied the man,with sagging confidence,"and what shall we live on while I am writing it?"
To his amazement,she opened a drawer and pulled out a substantial amount of money.
"Where on earth did you get that?" he exclaimed.
"I have always know you were a man of genius," she told him. "I knew that someday you would write a masterpiece. So every week,out of the money you gave me for housekeeping,I saved a little bit. So here is enough to last us for one whole year."
From her trust and confidence came one of the greatest novels of American literature,The Scarlet Letter.
英语经典美文15
When times become difficult (and you know they sometimes will), remember a moment in your life that was filled with joy and happiness. Remember how it made you feel, and you will have the strength you need to get through any trial. When life throws you one more obstacle than you think you can handle, remember something you achieved through perseverance and by struggling to the end.
In doing so, you'll find you have the ability to overcome each obstacle brought your way. When you find yourself drained and depleted of energy, remember to find a place of sanctuary and rest. Take the neccessary time in your own life to dream your dreams and renew your energy, so you'll be ready to face each new day. When you feel tension building, find something fun to do.
You'll find that the stress you feel will dissipate and your thoughts will become clearer. When you're faced with so many negative and draining situations, realize how minuscule problems will seem when you view your life as a whole--and remember the positive things.
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