英语经典美文阅读常用(15篇)
在平平淡淡的学习、工作、生活中，大家应该都对美文很熟悉吧？随着时代的发展，读者对美文的要求也在不断变化，因此人们对美文的要求也在不断变化，想要学习写美文吗？以下是小编精心整理的英语经典美文阅读，欢迎阅读与收藏。
英语经典美文阅读1
Michael Jordan's Retired Speech
迈克尔·乔丹退役演说
I am here to announce my retirement from the game of basketball. It won't be another announcement to baseball or anything to that nature.
我在这里宣布从篮球场上退役，而且这次退役后不会再去从事棒球或其他类似的运动。
Mentally, I'm exhausted; I don't feel I have a challenge. Physically, I feel great. The last time in 1993 I had other agendas. I felt that I wanted to play baseball and I felt that at my age, it was a good opportunity and time to do it. And with the death of my father, and I was basically trying to deal with that.
由于精神上很疲惫，我感到自己非常蛙主耻战力，体力倒还不错。1993年那次退役时我有其他计划：想打棒球，我这个年纪正是从事桦球事业的极佳时机而且父亲刚好去世了，我只想尽力去面对这一切。
Actually I talked to very last year once the season ended and I told Jerry at that time, mentally, I was a little exhausted. I didn't know if I would play next year. I wanted to put him on awareness so that he could possibly prepare going into next season. And very, once we had our conversation, wanted me to take time as I did in 93 to make sure that it was the right decision because it was going to be the final decision.
事实上，去年赛季刚结束时，我和在里谈过一次。我告诉他我精神上有些疲惫，不知道下一年还能不能打我想让他幸识到这一点，以便为下一事丰做准备。杰里——有一次我们谈过这个问题——让我要像93年那样，好好考虑，以使做出明智的决定，因为这将是最后的决定。
I retired the first time when Phil Jackson was the coach. And I think that even with Phil being the coach I would have had a tough time , mentally finding the challenge for myself. I though he can somehow present challenges for me. I don't know if he could have presented the challenge for me to continue on to this season. Even though middle way of this season I wanted to continue to play a couple more years, but at the end of this season I was mentally drained and tired. 50 I can't say that he would have restored that.
第一次退役时菲尔.杰克逊是教练。但我觉得即使本赛季他还担任教练，我也会很困难，内心里 ，我已感到了挑战。当然克论如何，他都会给我一些应对方洁的我不知道他是否还有办法使我打完这一赛季。在本赛季中间我还想着再打几年呢，但当赛季结束时，我却感觉精神枯竭，疲惫。因此我确实不能说他会使我恢复精力。
I will support the Chicago Bulls. I think the game itself is a lot bigger than Michael Jordan. I've been given an opportunity by people before me, to name a few, Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Doctor J, Eljohn Baylor Jerry West. These guys played the game way before Michael Jordan was born and Michael Jordan came on the heels of all that activity. Mr. Stern and what he's done for the league, gave me an opportunity to play the game of basketball I played it to the best I could play it, I tried to enhance the game itself. I've tried to be the best basketball player that I could be.
我将支持芝加哥公牛队，我认为比赛本身比迈克尔.乔丹重要得多。我的.很多机会都是篮球前辈们给的。我这里指出一些：里姆·阿卡杜·贾巴尔，J博士,伊利约翰 ·贝勒，杰里 ·韦斯特这些人早在迈克尔.乔丹出生前就活跃在赛场了。迈克尔.乔丹只不过是继承了他们的传统。斯特恩先生及其为联盟做出的贡献给了我打篮球的机会。找已尽我最大能力打球，我也努力拉动比赛本身的发展。我一直在努力，尽我所能成为最好的球员。
英语经典美文阅读2
On beauty
美
Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide? And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech?
如果美不以自身为途径，为向导，你们又到哪里去找她，又怎么能找到她呢？如果她不是你们言语的编织者，你们又如何能谈论她呢？
The aggrieved and the injured say, "Beauty is kind and gentle. Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks among us."
伤心痛苦者说：“美是善良而温柔的。她像一位因自己的荣耀而半含羞涩的年轻母亲，走在我们的身边。”
And the passionate say, "Nay, beauty is a thing of might and dread. Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and the sky above us."
热情奔放者说：“不，美是强烈而令人惊畏的。她如暴风雨般震动我们脚下的大地，摇撼我们头上的天空。”
The tired and the weary say, "Beauty is of soft whisperings. She speaks in our spirit. Her voice yields to our silences like a faint light that quivers in fear of the shadow."
疲惫怠倦者说：“美是温柔的低语，她在我们的.心中诉说。她的声音波动在我们的沉默中，犹如一道微弱的光在对阴影的恐惧中颤抖。”
But the restless say, "We have heard her shouting among the mountains, and with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions."
但活泼好动者说：“我们曾听到她在山谷中大声呼叫，随其呐喊而来的是足蹄踏地、翅膀拍击和雄狮怒吼的声音。”
At night the watchmen of the city say, "Beauty shall rise with the dawn from the east."
夜晚，城市的守夜人说：“美将与晨光一同从东方升起。”
And at noon-time the toilers and the wayfarers say, "We have seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset."
正午，辛勤劳作者和长途跋涉者说：“我们曾看到她透过黄昏之窗眺望大地。”
In winter say the snow-bound, "She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills."
严冬，困在风雪中的人说：“她将与春同至，雀跃于山峦之间。”
And in the summer heat the reapers say, "We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves, and we saw a drift of snow in her hair."
酷暑，收割庄稼的人说：“我们曾看到她与秋叶共舞，雪花点缀于她的发梢。”
All these things have you said of beauty, yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied, and beauty is not a need but an ecstasy. It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty haand stretched forth, but rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted. It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear, but rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears. It is not the sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw, but rather a garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight.
你们谈到关于美的所有这些，实际并非关于她本身，而是关于你们未被满足的需求，但美并不是一种需求，而是 心醉神迷的欣喜。她不是焦渴的唇，也不是伸出的空空的手，而是一颗燃烧的心，一个充满喜悦的灵魂。她不是你们想看到的形象，也不是你们想听到的歌声，而是 你们闭上眼睛看到的形象，堵住耳朵听到的歌声。她不是伤残树皮下的树液，也不是悬在利爪下的翅膀。而是一座鲜花永远盛开的花园，一群永远在天空飞翔的天使。
Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
当生命摘去遮盖她圣洁面容的面纱时，美就是生命。
英语经典美文阅读3
There are moments in life when you miss someone so much that you just want to pick them from your dreams and hug them for real!
在一生有多少这样的时刻：我们对一个人朝思暮想，只想一把把他们从梦中拉出来，真切的拥抱一回！
When the door of happiness closes, another opens, but often times we look so long at the closed door that we don't see the one which has been opened for us.
一扇通往幸福的门关闭了，另一扇幸福之门打开了，可有多少次啊，我们徘徊在那扇关闭的门前，却忽略了那扇早已为我们开启的新的幸福之门。
Don't go for looks; they can deceive. Don't go for wealth; even that fades away. Go for someone who makes you smile because it takes only a smile to make a dark day seem bright. Find the one that makes your heart smile.
不要以貌取人，外貌可能会欺骗你；不要追逐财富，财富会消失的。去寻找那个让你笑口常开的人吧，一个微笑就可以使暗淡的日子豁然开朗。去追寻那个令你心灵愉悦的人吧！
Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do.
做你想做的梦，去你想去的地方，成为你想成为的人，因为你只有一次生命和一次机会去做你想做的事情。
May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human, enough hope to make you happy.
愿幸福与你永伴，使你亲切可爱；愿你历经磨难，使你坚韧不拔；愿你痛彻心肺，使你通情达理，愿你充满希望，使你幸福快乐。
The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.
世界上最幸福的人并不一定拥有最好的东西，他们只是最充分利用、珍惜了他们生命中的一切。
Love begins with a smile, grows with a kiss and ends with a tear.
爱始于微笑，育于亲吻，终于流泪。
The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past, you can't go on well in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.
五彩缤纷的`明天常常建立在对过去的遗忘之上。只有对过去的失败和伤痛不再耿耿于怀，生活才会变得更加美好。
When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.
当你呱呱落地、啼哭不已时，周围的人却笑逐颜开；要认真的生活，只有这样，当你走到生命的尽头时，你才会含笑而眠，而周围的人却痛哭不已。
英语经典美文阅读4
Isn't it amazing how one person, sharing one idea, at the right time and place can change the course of your life s history? This is certainly what happened in my life. When I was 14, I was hitchhiking from Houston, Texas, through El Paso on my way to California. I was following my dream, journeying with the sun. I was a high school dropout with learning disabilities and was set on surfing the biggest waves in the world, first in California and then in Hawaii, where I would later live.
Upon reaching downtown El Paso, I met an old man, a bum, on the street corner. He saw me walking, stopped me and questioned me as I passed by. He asked me if I was running away from home, I suppose because I looked so young. I told him, "Not exactly, sir," since my father had given me a ride to the freeway in Houston and given me his blessings while saying, "It is important to follow your dream and what is in your heart. Son. "
The bum then asked me if he could buy me a cup of coffee. I told him, "No, sir, but a soda would be great." We walked to a corner malt4 shop and sat down on a couple of swiveling stools while we enjoyed our drinks.
After conversing for a few minutes, the friendly bum told me to follow him. He told me that he had something grand to show me and share with me. We walked a couple of blocks until we came upon the downtown El Paso Public Library.
We walked up its front steps and stopped at a small information stand. Here the bum spoke to a smiling old lady, and asked her if she would be kind enough to watch my things for a moment while he and I entered the library. I left my belongings with this grandmotherly figure and entered into this magnificent hall of learning.
The bum first led me to a table and asked me to sit down and wait for a moment while he looked for something special amongst the shelves. A few moments later, he returned with a couple of old books under his arms and set them on the table. He then sat down beside me and spoke. He started with a few statements that were very special and that changed my life. He said, "There are two things that I want to teach you, young man, and they are these:
"Number one is to never judge a book by its cover, for a cover can fool you. "He followed with, "I ll bet you think I m a bum, don t you, young man?"
I said, "Well, uh, yes, I guess so, sir. "
"Well, young man, I ve got a little surprise for you. I am one of the wealthiest men in the world. I have probably everything any man could ever want. I originally come from the Northeast and have all the things that money can buy. But a year ago, my wife passed away, bless her soul, and since then I have been deeply reflecting upon life. I realized there were certain things I had not yet experienced in life,one of which was what it would be like to live like a bum on the streets. I made a commitment11 to myself to do exactly that for one year. For the past year.1 have been going from city to city doing just that. So, you see, don t ever judge a book by its cover, for a cover can fool you.
英语经典美文阅读5
If the Dream Is Big Enough
志当存高远
A school was across the street from our home and I would often watch the kids from my window as they played basketball. One day, among the children a girl attracted me. She seemed so small as she muscled her way through the crowd of boys. Running circles around the other kids, she managed to shoot jump shots just over their heads and into the net with on one to stop her. Sometimes, I saw her play alone. She would practice dribbling and shooting over and over again, until dark.
我的家与一所学校只有一街之隔，我经常透过窗户看学校里孩子们打篮球。一天我注意到一个小姑娘。她在一群孩子中间，身材矮小，却在费劲地从男孩子们中间挤过。她在别人旁边兜来转去，设法地跳起投篮，“嗖——”，球恰好越过那些孩子的头顶飞入篮筐，竟无人能挡。有时候我看到她一个人在打球，一遍又一遍地练习运球和投篮，直到天黑。
One day I asked her why she practiced so much. Without hesitation, she said, "I want to go to college. The only way I can go is if I get a scholarship. If I were good enough, I would get a scholarship. I like basketball. My Daddy told me if the dream is big enough, the facts don't count." Then she smiled and ran towards the court to go on practice.
有一天我问她为什么这么刻苦地练球。她不假思索地说：“我想上大学。只有获得奖学金我才能上大学。我想只要我打得好，我就能获得奖学金。我喜欢打篮球。我爸爸告诉我说，只要主义真，铁杵磨成针。”说完她笑了笑，跑向篮球场继续练球。
I watched her through junior high and into high school. Every week, she led her varsity team to victory. One day in her senior year, I saw her sitting in the grass, head cradled in her arms. I went over there and sat down beside her. Quietly I asked her what was wrong. "Oh, nothing," She replied softly. "I am just too short." The coach told her that at 5'5"she would probably never get to play for a top ranked college team — much less be offered a scholarship — so she should stop dreaming about college.
我看着她这些年从初中升到高中。每个星期，她带领的学校篮球代表队都能够获胜。高中那会儿的某一天，我看见她坐在草地上，头埋在臂弯里。我穿过街道，坐到她旁边的清凉的草地上。我轻轻地问出什么事了。“哦，没什么，”她轻声回答，“只是我太矮了。”原来篮球教练告诉她，以五英尺五英寸的身材，她几乎是没有机会到一流的`球队去打球的——更不用说会获得奖学金了——所以她应该放弃想上大学的梦想。
She was heartbroken and I felt my own throat tighten as I sensed her disappointment. I asked her if she had talked to her dad about it yet. She told me that her father said those coaches were wrong. They did not understand the power of a dream. He told her that if she really wanted to play for a good college, if she truly wanted a scholarship, that nothing could stop her except one thing — her own attitude. He told her again, "If the dream is big enough, the facts don't count."
她很伤心，我也觉得自己的喉咙发紧，因为我感觉到了她的失望。我问她是否与她的爸爸谈过这件事。她从臂弯里抬起头，告诉我，她爸爸说那些教练错了。他们根本不懂得梦想的力量。他告诉她，如果真的想到一个好的大学去打篮球，如果她真的想获得奖学金，任何东西也不能阻止她，除非她自己不愿意。他又一次跟她说：“心中有目标，风雨不折腰。”第二年，当她和她的球队去参加北加利福尼亚州冠军赛时，她被一位大学的招生人员看中了。她真的获得了奖学金，一个全面资助的奖学金，并且进入美国全国大学体育协会其中一队女子甲组篮球队。她将接受她曾梦想并为之奋斗多年的大学教育。
The next year, as she and her team went to the Northern California Championship game, she was seen by a college recruiter, and was offered a full scholarship, to a NCAA women's basketball team. She was going to college, which she had dreamed of and worked toward for all those years.
第二年，当她和她的球队去参加北加利福尼亚州冠军赛时，她被一位大学的招生人员看中，并获得了全额奖学金，进入美国全国大学体育协会中的一个女子篮球队。她要去上大学了，那是她多年来梦想的，为之奋斗的目标。
It's true: If the dream is big enough, the facts don't matter.
没错：只要主义真，铁杵磨成针。
人生哲理英语美文鉴赏
Permission to Fail
孰能无过
Each of us fails from time to time. If we are wise, we accept these failures as a necessary part of the learning process. But all too often as parents and teachers we deny this same right to our children. We tell them that failure is something to be ashamed of, that nothing but top performance will meet with our approval.
我们每个人都会不时出错。聪明人承认自己的错误，并将其视为学习过程中的必不可少的一部分。但是我们作为老师和家长，却又常常不能接受孩子们和我们一样有犯错的权利。我们告诉他们犯错是件丢人的事，只有最好的表现才能得到我们的赞赏。
When I see a child subject to this kind of pressure, I think of Donnie, my youngest third-grader，he was a shy, nervous perfectionist. His fear of failure kept him from classroom games that other children played with joyous abandon. He seldom answered questions — he might be wrong. Written assignments, especially math, reduced him to nail-biting frustration. He seldom finished his work because he repeatedly checked with me to be sure he hadn't made a mistake.
我一看见有孩子遭受这种压力，就会想起唐尼。他是我三年级班里年龄最小的学生，他腼腆，惴惴不安，事事求全。他害怕出错，从不参加班里的游戏，可别人都玩得不亦乐乎。他从不回答自己没有把握的问题。写作业，尤其是数学作业急得他抓头搔耳，手足无措。他为了作业不出错反反复复和我校对答案，所以他经常不能完成作业。
I tried my best to build his self-confidence. But nothing changed until midterm, when Mary Anne, a student teacher, was assigned to our classroom. She was young and pretty, and she loved children. My pupils, Donnie included, adored her. But even enthusiastic, loving Mary was baffled by this little boy who feared of making mistake.
我想尽办法让他建立自信，都无济于事。直到期中，有一个实习教师分配到了我们班。这位年轻又漂亮的老师叫玛丽安妮。她爱孩子，我的学生们包括唐尼也都非常喜欢她。可是就连这位热情，充满爱心的玛丽老师也觉得这个小家伙害怕出错的行为难以理解。
Then one morning we were working math problems at the blackboard. Donnie had copied the problems with painstaking neatness and filled in answers for the first row. Pleased with his progress, I left the children with Mary Anne and went for art materials. When I returned, Donnie was in tears. He'd missed the third problem.
后来有一天早晨，我们在黑板上做数学题。唐尼煞费苦心工工整整地在黑板上抄写题目，并且把第一行的'答案填了出来。看到他的进步我很高兴，放心地把孩子们留给玛丽照顾，我去拿了一趟美术用品。回来发现唐尼正在哭哭啼啼，原来他把第三题落了没抄。
Mary looked at me in despair. Suddenly her face brightened. From the desk we shared, she got a canister of pencils.
玛丽失望地看着我。这时她眼前突然一亮，从讲台的抽屉里拿出一筒铅笔。
"Look, Donnie," she said, kneeling beside him and gently lifting the tear-stained face from his arms. She placed the pencils on his desk.
“唐尼，你看，”玛丽老师说。一面蹲下身子靠近唐尼，一面轻轻地把他沾满泪水的小脸从他胳膊上抬起来。玛丽老师把一支支的铅笔摆在了唐尼的课桌上。
"See these pencils, Donnie?" she continued. "They belong to Mrs. Lindstrom and me. See how the erasers are worn? That's because we make mistakes too, lots of them. But we erase the mistakes and try again. That' what you must learn to do, too."
玛丽老师说道：“看到这些铅笔了吗?唐尼，这是我和林老师的铅笔。你知道为什么上面的橡皮磨下去许多吗?那是因为我们也犯错，也会犯很多错误。但是我们把错误擦掉再写一次。这也正是你要学会的啊。”
She kissed him and stood up. "Here," she said, "I'll leave one pencil to you so you'll remember that everybody makes mistakes, even teachers." Donnie looked up with love in his eyes and just a glimmer of a smile.
玛丽老师亲了一下小家伙站了起来。她说：“瞧，我给你留一支铅笔，这样你就会记住每个人都会犯错了，就连老师也一样。”唐尼抬头微微笑了笑，眼中带着感激，看了看老师。
The pencil became Donnie's prize. That, together with Mary Anne's frequent encouragement and unfailing praise for even Donnie's small successes, gradually persuaded him that it's all right to make mistakes — s long as you erase them and try again.
铅笔成了唐尼的奖赏。那支铅笔和玛丽老师不断的鼓励，再加上无论多小的成绩都能得到持久的表扬，渐渐地唐尼明白了犯错很正常，只要知错能改就是好孩子。
人生哲理英语美文赏析
Full sail in spring wind
春风满帆
The youth have a wonderful time, brand--new life and promising future.
青年人拥有青春的美好时光、崭新的生活和美好的未来。
Try to face life positively, believe in yourself, be yourself and control yourself. Face the reality courageously and fight the difficulties. Strive to improve all-around qualities and build healthy and perfect personalities.
积极地面对人生，相信自己，坚持自己，把握自己;勇于面对现实，克服困难;努力提高个人的全面素质，塑造见去那完美的人格品质;
Have the courage to pursue your dreams, inspire yourself with great ideals, and motivate yourself with high spirits. Let’s look forward to having a brilliant future!
敢于追逐梦想，用崇高的'理想激励自己，用昂扬的斗志鼓舞自己。让我们一起憧憬锦绣前程吧!
英语经典美文阅读6
Sitting on a grassy grave, beneath one of the windows of the church, was a little girl.
With her head bent back she was gazing up at the sky and singing,
while one of her little hands was pointing to a tiny cloud
that hovered like a golden feather above her head.
The sun, which had suddenly become very bright, shining on her glossy hair,
gave it a metallic luster, and it was difficult to say what was the color, dark bronze or black.
So completely absorbed was she in watching the cloud to which her strange song or incantation seemed addressed,
that she did not observe me when I rose and went towards her.
Over her head, high up in the blue,
a lark that was soaring towards the same gauzy cloud was singing, as if in rivalry.
As I slowly approached the child,
I could see by her forehead, which in the sunshine seemed like a globe of pearl,
and especially by her complexion, that she uncommonly lovely.
Her eyes, which at one moment seemed blue-gray, at another violet,
were shaded by long black lashes, curving backward in a most peculiar way,
and these matched in hue her eyebrows,
and the tresses that were tossed about her tender throat were quivering in the sunlight.
All this I did not take in at once;
for at first I could see nothing but those quivering, glittering, changeful eyes turned up into my face.
Gradually the other features, especially the sensitive full-lipped mouth,
grew upon me as I stood silently gazing.
Here seemed to me a more perfect beauty than had ever come to me in my loveliest dreams of beauty.
Yet it was not her beauty so much as the look she gave me that fascinated me, melted me.
英语经典美文阅读7
纯净的心才能感受纯净的善良
I was riding the subway and happened to be seated between two young guys.我当时正在坐地铁，我两边各坐了一个年轻的男孩。
The one on the right eyed the slightly grungy BandAid on my thumb and said, “You should really change that, you know. You have to keep it clean.”坐在右边的男孩看了下我大拇指上已经有点脏的创可贴，然后说：“你知道吗？你真的该把它换一换了。你得让那里保持干净。”
Then the one on my left said, “Here, I have one,” and pulled a fresh BandAid out of his knapsack. “I keep them on me because I’m always hurting myself.” 然后，坐在我左边的男孩说：“我这有一个，拿去吧，”接着，他从背包里拿出了一个新的邦迪创可贴。“我通常都带着它们，因为我经常把自己弄伤。”
Incredulous, I thanked him, changed my bandage, and got off at my stop feeling pretty good about people, life, and New York City.带着怀疑的态度，我感谢了他，然后换掉了我的创可贴；当我下车的.时候，我心情很好，同时觉得其他人、生命、纽约市都好棒。
There is kindness in this world everywhere.世界上到处都有善良。
And there is evil.同时也有邪恶。
They take turns come to you.它们会轮流出现在你的生命中。
You need to learn to see the good things hiding in all those tiny corner of your life.你需要学习，才能看到那些潜藏在你生命各个角落中的美好事物。
英语经典美文阅读8
It is not difficult to imagine a world short of ambition. It would probably be a kinder world: without demands, without abrasions, without disappointments. People would have time for reflection. Such work as they did would not be for themselves but for the collectivity. Competition would never enter in. conflict would be eliminated, tension become a thing of the past. The stress of creation would be at an end. Art would no longer be troubling, but purely celebratory in its functions. Longevity would be increased, for fewer people would die of heart attack or stroke caused by tumultuous endeavor. Anxiety would be extinct. Time would stretch on and on, with ambition long departed from the human heart.
Ah, how unrelieved boring life would be!
There is a strong view that holds that success is a myth, and ambition therefore a sham. Does this mean that success does not really exist? That achievement is at bottom empty? That the efforts of men and women are of no significance alongside the force of movements and events now not all success, obviously, is worth esteeming, nor all ambition worth cultivating. Which are and which are not is something one soon enough learns on one’s own. But even the most cynical secretly admit that success exists; that achievement counts for a great deal; and that the true myth is that the actions of men and women are useless. To believe otherwise is to take on a point of view that is likely to be deranging. It is, in its implications, to remove all motives for competence, interest in attainment, and regard for posterity.
We do not choose to be born. We do not choose our parents. We do not choose our historical epoch, the country of our birth, or the immediate circumstances of our upbringing. We do not, most of us, choose to die; nor do we choose the time or conditions of our death. But within all this realm of choicelessness, we do choose how we shall live: courageously or in cowardice, honorably or dishonorably, with purpose or in drift. We decide what is important and what is trivial in life. We decide that what makes us significant is either what we do or what we refuse to do. But no matter how indifferent the universe may be to our choices and decisions, these choices and decisions are ours to make. We decide. We choose. And as we decide and choose, so are our lives formed. In the end, forming our own destiny is what ambition is about.
英语经典美文阅读9
Once upon a time there was a baby eagle living in a nest perched on a cliff overlooking a beautiful valley with waterfalls and streams, trees and lots of little animals, scurrying1 about enjoying their lives.
The baby eagle liked the nest. It was the only world he had ever known. It was warm and comfortable, had a great view, and even better, he had all the food and love and attention that a great mother eagle could provide. Many times each day the mother would swoop2 down from the sky and land in the nest and feed the baby eagle delicious morsels3 of food. She was like a god to him, he had no idea where she came from or how she worked her magic.
The baby eagle was hungry all the time, but the mother eagle would always come just in time with the food and love and attention he craved4. The baby eagle grew strong. His vision grew very sharp. He felt good all the time.
Until one day, the mother stopped coming to the nest.
The baby eagle was hungry. "I'm sure to die," said the baby eagle, all the time.
"Very soon, death is coming," he cried, with tears streaming down his face. Over and over. But there was no one there to hear him.
Then one day the mother eagle appeared at the top of the mountain cliff, with a big bowl of delicious food and she looked down at her baby. The baby looked up at the mother and cried "Why did you abandon me? I'm going to die any minute. How could you do this to me?"
The mother said, "Here is some very tasty and nourishing food, all you have to do is come get it."
"Come get it!" said the baby, with much anger. "How?"
The mother flew away.
The baby cried and cried and cried.
A few days later, "I'm going to end it all," he said. "I give up. It is time for me to die."
He didn't know his mother was nearby. She swooped5 down to the nest with his last meal.
"Eat this, it's your last meal," she said.
The baby cried, but he ate and whined6 and whined about what a bad mother she was.
"You're a terrible mother," he said. Then she pushed him out of the nest.
He fell.
Head first.
Picked up speed.
Faster and faster.
He screamed. "I'm dying I'm dying," he cried. He picked up more speed.
He looked up at his mother. "How could you do this to me?"
He looked down.
The ground rushed closer, faster and faster. He could visualize7 his own death so clearly, coming so soon, and cried and whined and complained. "This isn't fair!" he screamed.
Something strange happens.
The air caught behind his arms and they snapped away from his body, with a feeling unlike anything he had ever experienced. He looked down and saw the sky. He wasn't moving towards the ground anymore, his eyes were pointed8 up at the sun.
"Huh?" he said. "What is going on here!"
"You're flying," his mother said.
"This is fun!" laughed the baby eagle, as he soared and dived and swooped.
"Yes it is!" said the mother.
英语经典美文阅读10
无论你只是位员工或公司老板，多付出一点点都可使你 成为公司里不可少的人物：你为公司提供其他人无法提供的 服务。也许其他人具备更多的知识、技术或声望，但是，只有 你能提供公司不可缺少的服务。也许还有其他公司能提供公 关专业服务，但如果你能容忍在半夜二点时被叫醒，并且以“愿意做”的`态度提供服务时、则客户们将会记住你并会给你 高度评价。
Whether you are an employee or the head of your own company,going the extra mile makes you indispensable to others.You do for them what no one else does.There may be others with more knowledge,skill,or prestige,but you are the only one who provides something absolutely necessary.There may be seven other companies providing public relations expertise,but if you are the one who can be called upon at two in the morning with a can-do attitude when a disaster strikes,people will remember and value that.
有位在电影人才经纪公司任职的年轻人，是该公司惟一 愿意每天，甚至每个小时，听一位脾气古怪的电影明星抱怨的 人。当这位明星生气罢工时，也是由这位年轻人(不是导演， 制作人或录像室老板)去说服她回来工作，并因而使得招片能 赶上进度，并为电影公司省下好几百万美金，他使自己成为照 顾重要明星的不可缺少的人。
One young man,working for a movie talent agency,was the only person willing to listen to a cantankerous star complain about her problems hour after hour,day after day.No one else took the time.When she threw a tantrum on the set studio,or her agent,was the only one to persuade her to go back to work.The movie went back on schedule,and millions of dollars were saved.He had made himself indispensable by befriending that important client.
除非你能成为某人或某团体不可或缺的人物，否则你的 所得将永远无法超过一般的水平。你应使你自己的地位，变 得重要到无人能取代你的地步，能使自己变得比别人强，并且 服务中有多付出一点点的精神及具积极进取心的人，便可自 己决定自己的薪水。
You will never command more than average compensation until you become indispensable to somebody or some group.Make yourself so useful that it would be extremely difficult,if not impossible,to replace you.People who have pulled themselves out of the crowd and have included the priceless ingredients of going the extra mile and personal initiative in their service virtually write their own paychecks.
英语经典美文阅读11
我是个没有什么大志愿的人。我向来没说过自己有如何了不起的学问与天才，也没觉得谁的职业比我自己的高贵或低贱。我只希望吃的饱，穿的暖，而尽心尽力的写些文章。
I am not an amb’s profession as superior or inferior. I merely hope to have enough to eat and enough to wear so that I can dedicate myself to writing.
在写文章中我可是有个志愿——希望能写出一本好的剧本来。虽然我是没有什么远大志愿的人，这个志愿——写个好剧本——可的确不算很小。要达到这个志愿，我须第一，去读很多很多的书——顶好是能上外国去读几年书。第二，我须有戏必看，去“养”我的眼睛。第三，我想我应当到什么剧团中作二年职员，天天和导演、演员、与其他的专门的技术人员有亲密的接触。第四，或者我还应当学学演戏，常扮个什么不重要的角色。把上述四项都作到，我还不知道我是否有写剧的天才。假若没有，我的工夫虽然下到了，可还是难以如愿。这个志愿真的不算小!
Talking about writing, I have a dream to realize. I hope I can write a good play some day. This dream, however, is not a small one. To realize my dream, firstly I need to read a lot or, better still, spend a couple of years studying abroad. Secondly, I must go to the theater and see as many plays as possible to cultivate my eyes. Thirdly, I should get a job at the theater for a year or two to be in everyday contact with directors, actors and all kinds of technicians. Fourthly, perhaps, I should also learn some acting, getting a minor role to play from time to time. Even with all these prerequisites fulfilled, I am still not sure that I have the aptitude of a playwright. If not, my dream cannot come true even if I have worked the hardest. So you see, in this sense, my dream is really not a small one.
恐怕有人以为我不很实诚吧——写个剧本也值得发这么大的愿?好，让咱们往远里说说吧。第一，即使在没有用文字写出来的小说的民族中，他们也必定有口传的诗歌与故事，人，从一个意义来说，是活在记忆中的。他记得过去，才关切将来。否则他们活在虚无飘渺中，不知自己从何而来，和要往哪里去。因此，文艺——不管是写出来的还是口传的一一老不会死亡。文艺出丧的日子，也就是文化死亡的时候。
You might think I am not telling the truth一making such a ftiss over the mere writing of a play. Very well. Let us look at the matter in a broader perspective. Even in a nation without written fiction, there must be bAllads and folk-tales passed down orally. Man, in a sense, lives in memory. As he remembers the past, he cares for the future. Otherwise he loses his sense of continuity not knowing where he comes from and where he is going. Therefore, literature and arts, either in written form or oral, will never die. If they did, culture would die too.
你看，文艺有多么重要!
You see how important literature and arts are!
第二，等到文化较高了，人们——受宗教的或社会行动的带动——才发明了戏剧。戏剧比诗歌与故事年轻，而在服装上，动作上，谈吐上，都比它的哥哥们更漂亮、活泼、文雅的多。戏剧把当时的文化整个的活现在人的眼前。文化有多么高，多么大，它也就有多么高，多么大。有了戏剧的民族，不会再返归野蛮，它需要好的故事，好的思想，好言语，好的音乐、服装、跳舞，与好的舞台。它还需要受过特别训练的演员与有教养的观众。它不但要包括艺术，也要包括文化!戏剧，从一个意义来说，是文化的.发言人。假如你还不大看起戏剧，就请想想看吧，有没有第二个东西足以代替它?准保没有!再看看，哪一个野蛮民族“有”真正的戏剧?和哪个文化高的民族，“没有”戏剧?
And then, it was not until culture was further developed that man, stimulated by religious and social activities, invented drama. Drama is a genre much younger than poetry and fiction, but more beautiful and lively and more refined in constume, acting and monologue or dialogue. Drama presents to the audience the culture of the day in a vivid manner. It develops along with culture. When a nation is developed in drama, it can never be barbarized again because drama requires good stories with good ideas, refined language and good music, graceful dancing and a good stage; it also requires well-trained actors and actresses and well-mannered audiences. It is integrated with arts and culture as well. To a certain degree drama is the spokesman of culture. If by now you still held drama in contempt, I’d like you to think about one question: Is there anything else that can substitute for drama? I can assure you there is none. Here is another question for you to think about: Is there any barbarous tribe that is developed in real drama or any civilized country that is without drama?
你看，戏剧有多么重要!
You see how important drama is!
戏剧既是这么大的东西，我怎能不为要写个剧本而下个很大的志愿呢?它的根子虽然生长在文艺的园地里，它所吸取的却是艺术全部的养分啊!
Since drama is so important, don't you think I should make a resolution to write one? Drama is rooted in the soil of literature and arts, but it absorbs nourishment All arts.
好吧，虽然我是个没有什么远志的人，我却要在今天——戏剧节一一定下这么一个大志愿。这并不是要凑凑热闹，而是想在文化的建设中写写少不得的戏剧呀!文化滋养艺术，艺术又翻回头来领导文化，建设文化。在艺术中，能综合艺术各部门而求其总效果的，只有戏剧。
Well, though I am not an ambitious person, I want to make a resolution on the occasion of this Drama Festival. I don’t mean to add to the clamor but to write some plays that are indispensable to the growth of culture. Literature and arts take nourishment from culture and at the same time guide and promote culture. Of all the genres of literature and arts, drama is the only one that integrates other arts with their artistic effects.
抗战与文化建设须携手而行。那么，我要立志写个好剧本，大概并不能算作无聊。至于我能否如愿以偿，那就看我的努力如何了。愿与戏剧同仁共勉之。
The construction of culture has an important role to play in the War against Japanese Aggression. So when I say I want to write a good play, I am not talking nonsense. As for whether I will be able to realize my dream, it all depends on how hard I work. I am willing to work in this field together with my friends and colleagues to achieve this goal.
英语经典美文阅读12
What I have Lived for 我为何而生
Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.
I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy---ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of my life for a few hours for this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness---that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what---at last---I have found.
With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.
Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always it brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.
This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.
译文：
我为何而生
我的一生被三种简单却又无比强烈的激情所控制：对爱的渴望，对知识的探索和对人类苦难难以抑制的屿。这些激情像狂风，把我恣情吹向四方，掠过苦痛的大海，迫使我濒临绝望的边缘。
我寻求爱，首先因为它使我心为之着迷，这种难以名状的美妙迷醉使我愿意用所有的余生去换取哪怕几个小时这样的幸福。我寻求爱，还因为它能缓解我心理上的孤独中，我感觉心灵的战栗，仿如站在世界的边缘而面前是冰冷，无底的死亡深渊。我寻求爱，因为在我所目睹的结合中，我仿佛看到了圣贤与诗人们所向往的天堂之景。这就是我所寻找的，虽然对人的一生而言似乎有些遥不可及，但至少是我用尽一生所领悟到的。
我用同样的激情去寻求知识。我希望能理解人类的'心灵，希望能够知道群星闪烁的缘由。我试图领悟毕达哥拉斯所景仰的“数即万物”的思想。我已经悟出了其中的一点点道理，尽管并不是很多。
爱和知识，用它们的力量把人引向天堂。但是同情却总把人又拽回到尘世中来。痛苦的呼喊声回荡在我的内心。饥饿的孩子，受压迫的难民，贫穷和痛苦的世界，都是对人类所憧憬的美好生活的无情嘲弄。我渴望能够减少邪恶，但是我无能为力，我也难逃其折磨。
这就是我的一生。我已经找到它的价值。而且如果有机会，我很愿意能再活它一次。
英语经典美文阅读13
It says poison, passion and stop right there. It is the most powerful colour on the planet and it is rife with contradictions. Its universal meanings are heat, blood, danger and emotion.
红色意味着毒药、激情和立即停止。红色是世界上最有力的颜色，总是与矛盾联系在一起。红色最普遍的意思是灼热、鲜血、危险和感情。
A red light means that the doctor is in. Red cars are sexual status symbols. Red heads are supposed to be firebrands. The devil wears red and so do scarlet women. Those with heart problems are advised to avoid the colour because it is so stimulating. Red light has been known to accelerate plant growth.
红灯意味着 “手术中”。红色的车是性感的象征。红头发的人易怒。魔鬼就穿红色，朝三暮四的女人也是这样。心脏病患者最好避开红色，因为太刺激了。众所周知，红光可以使植物加速生长。
In China, it is a wedding colour denoting luck and happiness. According to Hebrew tradition the name Adam, the first man means both red and alive. Advertisers love red because it’s a high energy, high impact color; those attracted to it demand to be noticed.
在中国，红色是喜庆的'颜色，也是婚礼的颜色。而根据希伯来人的传统，世界上第一个男人的名字“亚当”，就是“红色”和“生命”的意思。广告客户都喜欢红色，因为这是一种精力旺盛、颇具感染力的颜色，喜欢红色的人喜欢引起别人的注意。
In the past, red dyes were expensive, so red walls and fabrics suggested either luxurious wealth, importance or ill repute. Today careful use can easily suggest an Asian influence. Red’s connection with heat is so strong that it can make you feel warmer even when the temperature hasn’t changed. Too much brings associations with violent emotions leading to impatience, confusion and irritability. Used with caution it can enrich although it does tend to make small rooms even smaller.
过去，红色的染料都很昂贵，因此，红色的墙和织物意味着奢华、财富、重要性或坏名声。现在，谨慎地使用红色很容易让人想到亚洲的影响。红色与热的联系是如此紧密，即使气温没有改变，红色也可以使你感到更温暖。过多的红色会使人情绪浮躁，以至失去耐心，引起混乱和易怒。小心使用红色，它能使你的房间更富有情趣，尽管它会使小房间看起来显得更小。
英语经典美文阅读14
林肯盖茨堡演讲词
Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation,
八十七年前，我们的祖先在这块大陆上建立了个新国家，
conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
这个国家是以自由为理念，并致力于人生而平等的主张。
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation，or any nation so conceived and so dedicated，can long endure.
现在我们投身于这场伟大的内战。这个内战在考验这个新国家或是任何一个有相同理念、致力于相同主张的国家能否长久存在。
We are met on a great battlefield of that war.
我们相会于这场战争的伟大战场上。
We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.
我们来到这里，将这战场上的小块土地奉献给那些为国家生存而捐躯的人，以作为他们最后安息之地。
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
我们这样做是十分适当的，也是应该的。
But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate-we cannot consecrate-we cannot hallow-this ground.
但就广义而言，我们却无法奉献这块土地，无法把这块土地变得神圣，
The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
因为在此奋战过的.勇者，不论是生是死，都已经将这块土地变得如此神圣，以致我们薄弱的力量实不能再对它有所扬抑。
The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.
我们现在在这里所说的话，世人是不太注意的，过不久都会忘记，但这些勇者在此曾有的表现世人将水远铭记在心。
It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
我们活着的人，应该在这块土地上献身于那些曾被努力推进却尚未完成的工作。
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us:
我们实在应该献身于这些勇者所遗留给我们的眼前这个伟大任务:
that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion;
这些光荣过世的先烈们曾为国家大业奉献到底，而我们则应秉承他们的奉献精神，更加全力以赴;
that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain;
我们决意不计这些先烈白白牺牲;
that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom;
在上帝的庇佑之下，自由将在我国重生，
and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
而这个民有、民治、民享的政府将永存于世。
英语经典美文阅读15
The greatest recent changes have ,been in the lives of women ,During the twentieth century there was an unusual shortening of the time of a woman’s life spent in caring for children. A woman marrying at the end of the 19th century would probably have been in her middle twenties ,and would be likely to have seven or eight children, of whom four or five lived till they were five years old ,By the time the youngest was fifteen ,the mother would have been id her early fifties and would expect to live a further twenty years ,during which custom ,chance and health made it unusual for her to get paid work, Today women marry younger and have fewer children Usually a woman ‘s youngest child will be fifteen when she is forty－five and is likely to take paid work until retirement at sixty Even while she has the care of children ,her work is lightened by household appliances （家用电器）and convenience foods.
This important change in women’s way of life has only recently begun to have its full effect on women’ s economic position Even a few years ago most girls left school at the first opportunity and most of them took a full－time job However ,when they married ,they usually left work at once and never returned to it ,Today the school－leaving age is sixteen ,many girls stay at school after that age ,and though women tend to marry younger ,more married women stay at work at leas until shortly before their first child is born Very many more after wads ,return to full or part-time work Such changes have led to a new relationship in marriage ,with both husband and wife accepting a greater share of the duties and satisfaction of family life, and with both husband and wife sharing more e-qually in providing the money and running the home ,according to the abilities and inter-est of each them.
1．According to the passage ,around the year1990 most women married
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