（优）英语经典美文
在日常的学习、工作、生活中，大家一定看过美文吧？一篇美文是建立在真挚情感的基础上的。文字表达的是内心的感受，是真情实感的自然流露，什么样的美文才是真正的好美文呢？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
Struggle
奋斗
A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day, a small opening appeared； he sat and watched the cocoon for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. But it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further.
一个人捡到一个蝴蝶茧。一天，茧上出现了一个小孔；他坐下观察了这茧几个小时。 茧内的蝴蝶努力挣扎着让身体通过茧孔。但是，看起来没有什么进展。茧里的蝴蝶似乎 已经使尽了全部力气，再也钻不动了。
Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small,shriveled wings.
于是这个人决定帮助这只蝴蝶,他拿剪刀剪掉了茧的剩余部分。蝴蝶很容易就出来 了。但是它的身体臃肿，翅膀也萎缩了。
The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that at any moment the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.
这个人继续观察着蝴蝶,他期望有那么一刻蝴蝶的翅膀会变大，张开支撑住身体,臃 肿的身体也会及时缩小。
Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.
什么都没有发生！事实上这只蝴蝶只能拖着臃肿的`身体和萎缩的翅膀度过余生了。 它飞不起来。
What the man in his kindness and fast action didn’t understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved freedom from the cocoon.
这个好心而性急的人没有明白的是，茧的束缚和蝴蝶通过小孔的努力是把体内的营 养挤压到翅膀的自然方式，这样它破茧而出的时候就可以展翅而飞了。
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If nature allowed us to go through our lives without any difficulties, it would weaken or even disable us.We would not be as strong as what we could have been and we could never fly.
有时候奋斗恰恰是我们生活所需要的。如果自然允许我们一帆风顺地度过一生，那 我们就会变得软弱甚至残疾。如果那样,我们就不会像我们能变成的那样强大，我们也永 远不能飞翔。
英语经典美文2
There is a big bed , a small desk , a shelf and a closet in my room. The bed is near the desk . There is a shelf near the closet too . Many good books are in the shelf . I like the books very much . Oh , yes , There is a big board on the wall . I often write and draw pictures on the board .
Oh , My bedroom is too beautiful . I like it very much . Do you like my room? Can you tell me about your room , please ?
英语经典美文3
You must study to be frank with the world:frankness is the child of honesty and courage. Say just what you mean to do, on every occasion. If a friend asks a favor, you should grant it, if it is reasonable; if not, tell him plainly why you cannot. You would wrong him and wrong yourself by equivocation of any kind.
Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one. The man who requires you to do so is dearly purchased at a sacrifice. Deal kindly but firmly with all your classmates. You will find it the policy which wears best. Above all, do not appear to others what you are not.
If you have any fault to find with any one, tell him, not others, of what you complain. There is no more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to do one thing before a man's face and another behind his back. We should say and do nothing to the injury of any one. It is not only a matter of principle, but also the path of peace and hornor.
你必须学会坦率地面对这个世界：坦率是诚实和勇敢的孩子。在任何场合都要说出你的意思。如果一个朋友请求帮助，你应该给予它，如果它是合理的；如果没有，告诉他清楚你为什么不能。你错了他和你自己用含糊的任何一种。
永远不要做错误的事来交朋友或留住朋友。要求你这样做的人是以牺牲的代价买来的。与同学们友好但坚决地对待。你会发现这是最好的政策。最重要的是，不要对别人显得你不是什么。
如果你有任何缺点，请告诉他，而不是其他人，告诉他你所抱怨的。在男人面前做一件事，而在背后做一件事，再没有比这更危险的'实验了。我们应该对任何人的伤害说不做。它不仅是一个原则问题，也是和平和荣誉的道路。
英语经典美文4
"The days that make us happy make us wise."_ John Masefield
When I first read this line by England‘s Poet Laureate, it startled me. What did Masefield mean? Without thinking about it much. I had always assumed that the opposite was true. But his sober assurance was arresting. I could not forget it.
Finally, I seemed to grasp his meaning and realized that here was a profound observation. The wisdom that happiness makes possible lies in clear perception, not fogged by anxiety nor dimmed by despair and boredom, and without the blind spots caused by fear.
Active happiness not mere satisfaction or contentment_ Often comes suddenly, like an April shower or the unfolding of a bud. Then you discover what kind of wisdom has accompanied it. The grass is greener, bird songs are sweeter, the shortcomings of your friends are more understandable and more forgivable. Happiness is like a pair of eyeglasses correcting your spiritual vision.
Nor are the insights of happiness limited to what is near around you. Unhappy, with your thoughts turned in upon your emotional woes, your vision is cut short as though by a wall. Happy, the wall crumbles.
The long vista is there for the seeing. The ground at your feet, the world about you _people, thoughts, emotions, pressures_ are now fitted into the larger scene. Every thing assumes a fairer proportion. And here is the beginning of wisdom.
介绍：劳埃德莫里斯（1613-1680），英国著名作家，作品富于机智幽默。著有《格言集》等。以演绎的手法论述快乐对人的影响。先籍梅斯菲尔德的诗引出“ 快乐和智慧”的关系，接着以人在快乐时的种种心理反应，点出快乐无处不在。最后再给予肯定的结论：快乐是智慧的开端。“快乐的日子，使我们聪明。”--约翰.梅斯菲尔德
第一次读到英国桂冠诗人梅斯菲尔德这行诗的时候，我非常惊讶，它真正的寓意是什么呢？不仔细考虑的话，我一直认为这句诗倒过来才对。不过他的冷静与自信却俘获了我，所以我一直无法忘记这句诗。
终于，我好象领会了他的意思，意识到其中蕴含着深刻的观察思考。快乐带来的智慧存在与清晰的心灵感觉中，不因忧虑担心而困惑，不因绝望、厌烦而迟钝，不因惶恐而出现盲点。
跳动的快乐——不仅是满足或惬意——会突然到来，就像四月的春雨或是花蕾的绽放。然后你发觉智慧已随快乐而来。草儿更绿，鸟儿的歌声更加美妙，朋友的.缺点也变得更加可以理解、原谅。快乐就像一副眼镜，可以修正你精神的视力。
快乐的视野并不受你周围事物的局限。只不过当你不快乐的时候，思想便转向你感情上的苦恼，眼界也就被心灵之墙隔断了。而当你快乐的时候，这道墙便崩塌了。
你的眼界更宽了。脚下的大地，身旁的世界——人们、思想、情感、压力——现在都溶进了一个更加宏伟的情境中，每件事都恰如其分。这就是智慧的开端。
英语经典美文5
Chess Players Give "Check" a New Meaning
大多数国际象棋大师可能都同意，保持棋艺不败的重要方法之一就是不断练习。但是，随着电脑数据库里存储的棋谱越来越多，这一方法会让他们遭遇尴尬：他们练习得越多，就越容易被打败。
Mr. Bonin is much more active than most elite players, but he is doing what most serious players have long thought is necessary: playing frequently to stay in peak form. Now, however, because of the widespread availability of databases of games and the growing strength of chess software, such activity may actually be making it easier to beat him.
大多数国际象棋大师可能都同意，保持棋艺不败的重要方法之一就是不断练习。但是，随着电脑数据库里存储的棋谱越来越多，这一方法会让他们遭遇尴尬：他们练习得越多，就越容易被打败。
《纽约时报》1月13日报道了国际象棋大师杰·伯宁的经历。这位象棋大师可以算是全美国最忙的大师之一了。每周，他除了面对面与棋手较量之外，还定期到网上参加快棋比赛。据他估计，过去三四年中，他在网上共参加了2万多盘比赛。
但是，最近伯宁却意外输给了比他弱的一名对手。这名选手虽然几年没有比赛了，但是却在伯宁走了一个最为常见的开局后，以出人意料的一招击败了伯宁。伯宁说：“从他的布局来看，他显然是作了准备。”
目前，国际象棋大师要在两个方面深造。一方面，他们要加强与其他选手间的联系。这包括研究对手常走的路数，了解最佳的走棋步骤等。通常，象棋可以有很多方式开局，一些选手也会有自己最喜欢的'开局方式。另一方面，他们要通过研究游戏数据库中存储的棋局，了解对方最常使用的开局是什么，并对比赛进行分析，以决定采取什么样的对策。
现在，很多电子棋局软件取代书籍成了棋手的第一信息来源，选手们普遍使用它为比赛作准备。目前，著名象棋网站Chessbase.com里存有300万盘棋局，每周更新一次，大多数棋局都对公众开放。其中，很多棋局都出自一些大师的手笔。
与伯宁不同，另一位国际象棋大师格雷戈里并不认为，对手精心设计一个开局就能打败他。但是在格雷戈里看来，电脑和数据库的存在使象棋变得过于规则化，这样少了很多乐趣。他认为：“现在，走棋的创意不如以前。”
Jay Bonin, an international chess master who lives in New York, is one of the busiest players in the country. He takes part in face-to-face tournament matches every week and also regularly participates in games of speed chess at chessclub.com, the Internet Chess Club. He estimated that he has played more than 20,000 games online in the last three or four years.
Mr. Bonin is much more active than most elite players, but he is doing what most serious players have long thought is necessary: playing frequently to stay in peak form. Now, however, because of the widespread availability of databases of games and the growing strength of chess software, such activity may actually be making it easier to beat him.
Mr. Bonin said that he recently lost a tournament game to a weaker player who had not competed in years, but who had sprung a surprise move on him in one of Mr. Bonin"s favorite openings.
"The line he played reeked of preparation," he said.
The problem for elite players is that while practice is important, so too is study and preparation - knowing the best moves and knowing what opponents like to play.
There are many ways to play a chess game, particularly in the opening sequences, and some players may have studied the first 15 or 20 moves of their favorite openings, like the Kings Indian defense, the Ruy Lopez or hundreds of others that are known by shorthand names.
Game databases, many of which are online, give players information about what opening strategies their opponents use. And rapidly improving chess computer programs can analyze games and make suggestions about what to play. In many cases, electronic game collections are replacing books as chess players" primary source of information.
Using computers and databases during tournament matches is not allowed, and most players say that cheating is rare. But using such systems to help prepare has become ubiquitous.
Gregory Shahade, an international master, said he has used databases, partly because everyone else does, too. Mr. Shahade said that he did not think that he had ever lost a game because an opponent prepared a special opening, but that he felt computers and databases have made chess more predictable and probably less fun. "It seems there is less creativity now," he said.
英语经典美文6
A water bearer (挑夫) in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole, which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack (裂缝) in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always carried a full pot of water at the end of the long walk from the river to the master’s house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For two years this went on daily, with the bearer carrying only one and a half full of water to his master’s house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its achievements(成就). But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and sad that it was able to finish only half of what it had been made to do. After two years of bitter failures, it spoke to the water bearer one day by the river.
“I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you.”
“Why?” asked the bearer. “What are you ashamed of?”
“I have been able, for these past two years, to carry only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to go out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my weakness, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value from your efforts,” the pot said.
The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and he said with pity, “As we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”
Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of the sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it some. But at the end of the trip, it still felt bad because it had gone out half its load, and so again it apologized to the bearer for its failure.
The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your weakness, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the river, you’ve watered them.
For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master’s table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace (使增光彩) his house.”
Each of us has our own unique weakness. We’re all cracked pots. But if we will allow it, God will use our weakness to make his table beautiful.
In this world, nothing goes to waste. So as we find ways to serve the world, and as someone asks us to finish a task, don’t be afraid of your weakness. Be thankful for it, and make use of it, and you, too, can be the cause of beauty in the world.
英语经典美文7
The eyelids are like lovers who have not seen each other for a long time, struggling to touch each other and feel the existence of each other. I want to like in the boring time, a scene out of boredom.
In the mind, empty, the things that can be done, what you want to do, are separated by life. In this light flickering, the boundary of time and space disorderly, aimless floating, vague and empty language, at the moment became my reason.
In life is not always the case, the first second of enthusiasm, will be after a second sudden, hit a smash.
I do not know, or do not want to know.
I don't know from time to time. I began to hate wasting time. I always felt that what I learned in one day or did something meaningful is the reason I should live on this day and sleep at ease.
And wait, and when I'm ready, I should understand and understand. The stream is always a passive flow ahead, so the Jianghai lost; Suifengerqu leaves always followed the flying posture, so from the wind to dust.
It is not necessarily wrong to wait a second.
After all, even the ancient people cloud "the impermanence of the world". The plan is carried out, the accident is the general, the disturbance is commonly used, the adjustment is should, the realization is certain. I should have a common heart, even if I want to do something that is disturbed, it should be prepared again. There is always a substitute. If I am really interested, I want to do it.
Passive, be the fate of charge the cost of living, as long as enough to keep their own choices, before that, being charged, there is always a miserable one day.
When I think of a thing, I always give my best written narration to sad and bitter things, but happy and happy things are always written by single words, but there seems to be no suitable words to describe such a world. Do I have a masochistic physique... Of course, it's right to the people, the right thing.
At the time, slowly slipping away, meaning stuck with my tired eyes, also seems to fall at each other's eyes, as if did not have to fight a bit.
英语经典美文8
Is University Teaching Useful
When young people who want to be journalists ask me what subject they should study after leaving school asks me what subject they should study after leaving school, I tell them: most veterans of my trade would say the same.
It is practical advice. For obviously reasons, newspaper editors like to employ people who can bring something other than knowledge of the media to the party that we call our work.
On the daily telegraph, for example, the editor of London spy is a philosopher. The editor of our student magazine, juice, studied physics. As for myself, I read history, ancient and modern, at the taxpayer’s expense.
I am not sure what Charles Clarke, the education secretary, would make of all this. If I understand him correctly, he would think that the public money spent on teaching this huge range of disciplines to the staff of the daily telegraph was pretty much wasted. the only academic course of which he would wholeheartedly approve in the list above would be physics_—but then again, he would probably think it a terrible waste that Simon Hogg chose to edit juice instead of designing aeroplanes or building nuclear reactors. by that, he seems to mean that everything taught at the public expense should have a direct, practical application that will benefit society and the economy.
It is extremely alarming that the man in charge of Britain’s education system should think in this narrow-minded, half-witted way. The truth, of course, is that all academic disciplines benefit society and the economy, whether in a direct and obviously way or not. They teach student to think –to process in formation and to distinguish between what is important and unimportant, true and untrue. Above all, a country in which academic research and intelligent ideas are allowed to flourish is clearly a much more interesting, stimulating and enjoyable place than one without “ornament”, in which money and useless are that count.
Mr. Clarke certainly has a point when he says that much of what is taught in Britain’s universities is useless. But it is useless for a far more serious reason than that it lacks any obvious economic utility. As the extraordinary high drop-out rate testifies, it is useless because it fails the first test of university teaching-that is should stimulate the interest of those being taught. When student themselves think that course are a waste of time and money, then a waste they are.
The answer is not to cut off state funding for the humanities. It is to offer short, no-nonsense vocational course to those who want to learn a trade, and reserve university places for those who want pursue an academic discipline. By a great deal of wasted money could be saved and all students-the academic and the not-so-academic-would benefit. What Mr. Clarke seems to be proposing instead is an act of culture vandalism that would rob Britain of all claim of is called a civilized country?
英语经典美文9
There is a story told about how Neill set about winning over one particular boy who was always causing trouble and who clearly regarded all teachers with a hostile eye. On one occasion Neill, out taking a stroll, had just rounded a corner at Summerhill when he came across the boy playing on his own. The boy, not noticing he was no longer alone, picked up a stone and threw it through one of the school windows. Turning he saw Neill. Instead of finding himself shouted at angrily as he expected the boy was startled to see Neill bend down, pick up a stone and hurl it at another window. The boy had to pay to get the window repaired, as did Neill. But he thought this a small price to pay for establishing a bond between himself and the boy, whose behaviour improved afterwards.
Neill was a remarkable character who knew just when to be firm and just when to adopt a lighter touch when handling children. Not everyone is so successful. Willie Russell, the playwright, likes to tell of the time when he had freshly graduated from teacher training college and had just begun work as a probationary teacher. This was in a rather tough area of Liverpool. On his first day at the school he was left to do playground duty on his own, rather a daunting experience for one so new to the job. Standing in the middle of the playground surrounded by milling children at morning break he turned to see one of the children throwing a stone at a school window. When the boy saw that he had been spotted by a teacher his face fell. This was at a time when the punishment for misbehaviour at most schools was a sound beating. Fortunately for this boy, Russell, fresh from training college with his idealism undimmed by grim reality, remembered the story about Neill. ‘Ah-ha,‘ he said to himself, ‘I know just what to do in this situation.‘ Stooping down he picked up a stone and propelled it through another window. Turning to smile triumphantly at the boy his satisfaction was suddenly shattered by the sound of dozens of windows being hit by flying stones. Unfortunately he had failed to take into account the difference between his situation and the one which Neill had faced, namely that he and the boy were not alone. All around him dozens of mischievous schoolboys had been only too glad to rush to emulate ‘Sir‘. It was at this point in his career that Russell decided that perhaps he was not quite cut out to be a teacher.
By hurling a stone at the window, Neill has probably put the boy in a new situation, a situation in which the boy watches someone else break a window and therefore break the rule. Instead of enjoying his own mischief which is in fact a revenge against his teachers, the boy had a chance of experiencing what others may feel about a broken window. Another important implication here for the boy can be that teachers are also humans and can also make mistakes or even run into mischief. But it is no big deal correcting the mistakes. Furthermore, there is no need to be an enemy of someone who is trying to help him correct himself, someone like a teacher.
Russell failed to take into account that, unlike Neill, he and the boy were not alone - with disastrous results! Deciding after this that he was not suited to teaching he left to take up playwriting. Most of his plays are very imaginative and funny. A bit like this story, in fact.
英语经典美文10
Motion pictures are most popular not only in the United States, but throughout the world.
Although color television and video recording are gaining greater popularity and may be threatening the future of the movies, motion pictures have somewhat managed to cope with the film crisis in the seventies and remain one of the favorite forms of entertainment of the people.
There are 11,000 motion picture theaters, or cinema, and about 4,000 outdoor "drive-ins", where people sit in their own automobiles and watch domestic and foreign films. Heavy use of the highways in the United States has resulted in the rapid development of what we call roadside business of various kinds, including outdoor movie theaters, or drive-ins, and motels. Both outdoor drive-ins and motels are usually located on main roads near cities and at seaside and other resort areas.
In a drive-in, an enormous screen is put up in an open space, and the cars are all parked facing the screen in long rows. When you have parked, you may open the car window and bring in the instrument that is being handed over to you which gives the sound that accompanies the picture, and perhaps bring in a heater, too. If it is cold, you may well shut the window again, with the sound-reproducing device inside the car, so that you can hear while watching the big screen in front of your car. Drive-in cinemas usually have some kind of cafe in the area, and you can buy Coca-Cola and coffee to drink in the car.
The first drive-in was opened on June 6, 1933 in Camden, New Jersey. Newspapers of the period suggested that the automobile movie theater was an immediate success. On the opening night it was jammed to capacity with six hundred cars. The initial advertisement didn't mention the name of the film to be shown that night, and the people didn't care. The real attraction was clearly the theater itself. Since that night, drive-ins have been welcomed by the people across the whole country.
英语经典美文11
Venice is a fascinating city between sea and sky. It is built on 117 islands. There aren't any cars or buses because there are no highways in Venice. But it has 150 canals and 400 bridges. The narrow streets, with theirhistoric names, are paved with flagstones, but have no footpaths. They are lined with flower-decked balconies, Madonnas, shop signs and lanterns. Artisans' stalls and palaces stand side by side. The squares are charming. The brick bridges, with white stone trimmings, are pitched high to allow barges to pass under them. Every year thousands of touristsfromthe five continents visit this beautiful city.
They are always amazed at the charm of her water and pellucid light, which can make them freefromall dust and cooled by the sea breezes. But because the level of the surrounding waters is constantly rising, the exceptional position of Venice constitutes a threat to its very existence. And the Venetians love their city and want to stay there to save Venicefromthe sea. Now carious measures have already been taken and a plan to safeguard and remedy the position is under investigation.
英语经典美文12
It was a warm Saturday morning in Montpelier, Idaho. I had worked all week and was thinking about passing on my much-needed yard work for a day of fishing. I"d never been to this particular reservoir before, but had always thought about going there. Some of my customers at the feed store had told me how to get there, but it wasn"t what most people would consider an easy trip.
Working around the yard that morning, it wasn"t until 2 p.m. that I finally convinced myself I needed to stop and head for the reservoir. I called my brother-in-law, Ron, and invited him to join me. I didn"t bother to tell him our destination until I picked him up. He agreed to my unexpected offer, so I threw my equipment into my old blue Jeep and headed over to Ron"s place.
"It"s way too late to try and find it," he said when I finally announced where we were headed. But he still went along anyway.
Driving without benefit of a map or exact directions, we drove down the highway until we came to a dirt road, where I turned off. After another ten miles we finally came to a fork in the road - I simply turned without any hesitation.
"How"d you know which way to turn?" Ron asked.
"I"m not sure," I replied.
That probably reinforced Ron"s reluctance as he kept insisting that it was getting way too late to even try and get some fishing in. Another five miles passed, another fork in the road came, and yet another unhesitant turn didn"t help Ron"s confidence in me. He was convinced we were going to get lost.
Finally, at sunset, we crested a small hill and were greeted by the sight of a beautiful reservoir. With the exception of one little, topless Jeep parked near the water, there was no one else around for miles. We would have the entire lake to ourselves.
When we approached the other Jeep, a young man happily greeted us. He was there with his wife and their newborn baby, and their car battery was dead. They had no matches to build a fire, no coats, and there was only one thin blanket for the baby. He had been very worried, knowing that his wife and baby wouldn"t make it through the night if he had walked out the many miles for help. And since it was getting dark, he might even have gotten lost.
The young man told us he had just had the Jeep overhauled and was out with his family for the day. After the battery died, he had decided to stay with his family and simply hope that someone would come along.
Ron and I got out our battery cables and gave his Jeep a jump-start. He profusely thanked us, and they left for home.
As we watched them drive off, Ron turned to me. "You still want to fish?"
"No" was all I said. We got back in our own Jeep and followed them out to make sure they got home safely.
That was over thirty years ago. I have never returned to that reservoir, and I am not even sure if it"s still there. But there is one thing I am sure about: the Lord answered a father"s prayers through my love for fishing.
英语经典美文13
[1]Believe it or not, I 8217;ve been starving for four days on end.
[2] At first, I ate nothing but four baked cakes or two small buns per day, then I cut them down by half and then by another half, until I didn 8217;t even own a copper for buying boiled water. When I was thirsty, I would stand under a tap and let its running water pour down my throat through my wide-open mouth. I felt bloated. There was a pain and chill in my stomach. I cannot tell you enough how miserable I was.
[3] How did it come that I had been reduced to such poverty? It was because the school where I studied had got into trouble. Many students had been arrested and taken to the police station. Some students had moved house and some had gone home. The school canteen was closed because it refused to serve meals on credit. While trying to rescue the arrested fellow students, I meanwhile had to find enough money to pay my living expenses. So I was terribly busy.
[4] Pressed by hunger, I would visit Chunchao Bookstore every day to seek a loan of money. When Kang Nong or Fu Hua was there, I would have no problem in borrowing a couple of silver dollars through them. But I seldom found them in the store and the clerks of course had no say in this matter. Therefore, in nine times out of ten nothing would come of my visit there.
[5] 1 was beside myself with joy the day when I found my book The Diary of a Woman Soldier published at long last. Pasted up at the door of the bookstore was an eye-catching colourful poster advertising the book. I went into the store full of curiosity, and, as an ordinary customer would do, took from the shelf a copy of the book, which had on its bright-red front cover a cartoon by Feng Zikai 8217;s daughter portraying a little woman soldier riding on a cow. I didn 8217;t buy it for I knew I was entitled as its author to at least ten complimentary copies.
说出来，有谁相信呢?我已经四天没吃饭了。
起初是一天吃四个烧饼，或者两个小面包;后来由四个减成两个，再由两个减成一个，最后简直穷得连买开水的一个铜板也没有了。口渴时就张开嘴来，站在自来水管的龙头下，一扭开来，就让水灌进嘴里，喝得肚子胀得饱饱的，又冷又痛，那滋味真有说不出的`难受。
为什么会穷到这个地步呢?那时学校里发生了问题，许多同学被抓进捕房去了，许多同学搬了家，也有些回去了的，厨房不肯赊账，他再不愿意开饭给我们吃了。我那时一面还进行援救被捕同学的工作，一面又要筹备自己的生活费，真是忙得头昏眼花。
实在饿得不能忍受了，才每天跑去春潮书店借钱。如果遇到康农和抚华两人在，还可借给我三元五元，但他们在店里的日子是很少的，伙计们自然不敢做主，因此去十次总有九次落空的。
那是我最快乐的一天，《从军日记》出版了!春潮书店的大门口贴着一张用各种不同颜色写的又鲜明又动人的广告，我怀着一颗好奇心走了进去，也像顾客一般，从书架上抽出来一本封面鲜红、是丰子皑先生的女公于画的小兵骑牛的《从军日记》来看。但我没有买它，因为我知道，至少可以无条件地得到十本的。
英语经典美文14
When Dad played his fiddle, the world became a bright star. To him violin was an instrument of faith, hope and charity. At least a thousand times, my mother said, “Your papa would play his fiddle if the world was about to blow up.”
每当爸爸拉起小提琴,世界就变成一颗闪亮的星星。对爸爸来说,小提琴是一种能带来信念、希望和善意的乐器。“即使世界下一秒就要灰飞湮灭,你爸爸还是会拉他的小提琴。”这样的话,妈妈曾说过不下一千次。
And once Dad came about as close to that as could ever be possible.
有一回,爸爸几近要面临那可能发生的一幕。
Everything on Nubbin Ridge—and on a majority of the small farms in Texas—was built around cotton as the money crop. But in the early years of the century, the 3)boll weevil began 4)devastating the cotton farms in the south.
纽宾山,以及德克萨斯州大部分的小农场的一切,都是建立在棉花这种经济作物上的。然而在上世纪初期,棉铃象甲开始侵嗜美国南部的棉花农场。
And in May of 1910 folks all over the nation were in a space-age state of 5)turmoil over 6)Halley's Comet. There were all sorts of frightening stories about the comet, the main one being that the world would pass through its tail, said to be millions of miles long.
1910年5月,全美国人民都笼罩在一片对哈雷彗星的恐慌之下,如处于太空时代般躁动不安。关于彗星耸人听闻的说法云云种种,传得最厉害的就是地球将穿过彗星的彗尾——据说彗尾长达数百万英里。
Between the threats of comet and weevils, the farmers were running low on optimism. One night, the farmers gathered at our farm to discuss what to do. When everyone had found seats, Will Bowen suggested, “Charley, how about getting down your fiddle and 7)bow and giving us a little music?”
面对着彗星和棉铃象甲的双重威胁,农场主们都一筹莫展。一天晚上,农场主们聚集在我们的农场商量大计。当大家纷纷落座,威尔·鲍温建议:“查理,把你的小提琴和琴弓拿出来,给大伙来点儿音乐怎么样?”
“Aw, I don't think anybody'd want to hear me saw the 8)gourd tonight,” Dad replied.
“噢,我觉得今晚没人想听我拉那葫芦吧。”爸爸回应说。
“Come on, Mr. Nordyke,” one of the younger women urged, “why don't you play for us.”
“来吧,诺达克先生,”一个年轻妇女催促说,“你就给我们拉一把吧。”
Dad had a knack for getting people in the mood for his music. Knowing of the 9)scattered 10)prejudice against the fiddle, he eased into a song titled Gloryland. It was a church song with church tones, but it was fairly fast with some good 11)runs. He shifted from Gloryland to The Bonnie Blue Flag, a 12)Confederate war song, which created a big stir—foot stamping, hand clapping and a few rebel yells.
爸爸有这么一种能耐,能将大家带入他的音乐氛围中。知道有些人对小提琴存有异见,他先来了首《荣耀之地》暖场。这是一首教会的歌,有着教会的调调,但节奏较快,有几段精彩的急奏。然后,他从《荣耀之地》过渡到《美丽的蓝旗》—— 一首南北战争时南方联盟的战歌,这首歌在人群中引起了很大的共鸣,场上响起了跺脚声、打拍子声,还有喝彩声。
Will Bowen, apparently having forgotten Halley's Comet, shouted, “How about giving us Sally Goodin?” Dad played the old breakdown with vigor. Several men jumped up and jigged around. Children gathered around and gazed wide-eyed at the performance.
威尔·鲍温明显已经把哈雷彗星的`事忘得一干二净了,嚷了起来:“来首《沙丽·古丁》吧!”爸爸又兴致勃勃地拉奏了这首经典的跺脚拽步舞曲。有几个人应声而起,跳起舞来了。孩子们也围拢过来定睛看着这段表演,眼睛都睁得大大的。
All our neighbors went home whistling or humming. Very few remembered to look toward the northwest to see whether the comet and its wicked tail were still around…
所有的邻居在散去时要么吹着口哨,要么就哼着曲儿。几乎没人还记得要看看那西北方是否还有哈雷彗星和它那邪恶的尾巴的踪迹……
One evening, Will Bowen called dad on the telephone and said, “Charley, I'm downhearted and blue. Every time a 13)square forms, there are four boll weevils waiting there to puncture it with their 14)snouts. Just wondered if you could play a tune or two for me?”
一天晚上,威尔·鲍温给爸爸打来电话,说“查理,我很失落很担心。每长出一个棉蕾,就有四只棉铃象甲蠢蠢欲动,等着用象鼻往里面钻孔。你能不能给我拉一两首歌?”
“I sure could, Will,” Dad said. “Could you come over?”
“当然可以啦,威尔,”爸爸说,“你可以过来吗?”
“No. I mean play on the phone box.”
“不,我的意思是在电话里拉。”
“The phone box?”
“在电话里?”
“Sure,” Mr. Bowen said. “I can hear you talk. Why couldn't I hear the fiddle?”
“是啊,”鲍温先生说,“我能听到你说话,怎么会听不到你的琴声呢?”
Dad took the fiddle to the telephone and thumped the strings. Putting the receiver to his ear, he said, “Hear anything. Will?”
爸爸把小提琴拿到话机旁,重重地拨弄了几下琴弦。然后他把听筒拿到耳边,问:“威尔,听到吗?”
“Sure can,” Mr. Bowen said. “Could you try Sally Goodin and play it just like you did the other night?” Dad handed the receiver to me. He stepped up to the mouthpiece on the wall box and 15)cut loose on Sally Goodin. I could bear Mr. Bowen whistling and yelling.
“当然听到,”鲍温先生说,“你能不能拉《沙丽·古丁》,就像前几天那样?”爸爸把听筒递给我。他向前走近挂在墙上的话筒,尽情地拉奏起这首《沙丽·古丁》。我听到电话那头传来伯温先生的口哨声和欢呼声。
By the time the tune was finished there were half a dozen neighbors on the line, and they talked about how wonderful the music sounded over the telephone. They made numerous requests; I relayed them to Dad and he played the numbers.
曲终之时,电话的那头已经聚集了六位邻居,他们谈论着透过电话聆听音乐有多美妙。他们又点了很多曲子,我转告爸爸,他都一一弹奏了。
Our party line broadcasts became regular features of community life. On rough-weather days of winter when farm folks were forced to remain in the house, someone would ring us and ask Dad to play, and usually it developed into a network affair. Our phone kept ringing with requests for music until radio came in.
我们的派对热线广播成为了当地生活的固定节目。当严冬季节将务农的人们困在室内的时候,就会有人给我们打电话,请爸爸给他们拉小提琴。久而久之,这慢慢成为了一种社交生活。在无线电广播普及之前,我们家的点播热线总是响个不停。
英语经典美文15
It is curious that our own offenses should seem so much less heinous than the offenses of others. I suppose the reason is that we know all the circumstances that have occasioned them and so manage to excuse in ourselves what we cannot excuse in others. We turn our attention away from our own defects, and when we are forced by untoward events to consider them, find it easy to condone them. For all I know we are right to do this; they are part of us and we must accept the good and bad in ourselves together.
让人奇怪的是，和别人的过错比起来，我们自身的过错往往不是那样的可恶。我想，其原因应该是我们知晓一切导致自己犯错的情况，因此能够设法谅解自己的错误，而别人的错误却不能谅解。我们对自己的缺点不甚关注，即便是深陷困境而不得不正视它们的时候，我们也会很容易就宽恕自己。据我所知，我们这样做是正确的。缺点是我们自身的一部分，我们必须接纳自己的好和坏。
But when we come to judge others, it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge hem, but by an image that we have formed of ourselves from which we have left out everything that offends our vanity or would discredit us in the eyes of the world. To take a trivial stance: how scornful we are when we catch someone out telling a lie; but who can say that he has ever told not one, but a hundred?
但是当我们评判别人的`时候，情况就不同了。我们不是通过真实的自我来评判别人，而是用一种自我形象来评判，这种自我形象完全摒弃了在任何世人眼中会伤害到自己的虚荣或者体面的东西。举一个小例子来说：当觉察到别人说谎时，我们是多么地蔑视他啊!但是，谁能够说自从未说过谎?可能还不止一百次呢。
There is not much to choose between men. They are all a hotchpotch of greatness and tininess, of virtue and vice, of nobility and baseness. Some have more strength of character, or more opportunity, and so in one direction or another give their instincts freer play, but initially they are the same. For my part, I do not think I am any better or any worse than most people, but I know that if I set down every action in my life and every thought that has crossed my mind, the world would consider me a monster of depravity. The knowledge that these reveries are common to all men should inspire one with tolerance to oneself as well as to others. It is well also if they enable us to look upon our fellows, even the most eminent and respectable, with humor, and if they lead us to take ourselves not too seriously.
人和人之间没什么大的差别。他们皆是伟大与渺小，善良与邪恶，高尚与低俗的混合体。有的人性格比较坚毅，机会也比较多，因而这个或那个方面，能够更自由地发挥自己的禀赋，但是人类的潜能却都是相同的。至于我自己，我认为自己并不比大多数人更好或者更差，但是我知道，假如我记下我生命中每一次举动和每一个掠过我脑海的想法的话，世界就会将我视为一个邪恶的怪物。每个人都会有这样的怪念头，这样的认识应当能够启发我们宽容自己，也宽容他人。同时，假如因此我们得以用幽默的态度看待他人，即使是天下最优秀最令人尊敬的人，而且假如我们也因此不把自己看得过于重要，那是很有裨益的。
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