英语经典美文阅读（荐）
在平时的学习、工作或生活中，大家都经常看到美文的身影吧？网络文化是一种开放、自由的文化，给美文的概念也赋予了更多的开放自由的元素，用通俗的讲法，写的好的文章，就是美文。为了帮助大家更好的了解美文，以下是小编精心整理的英语经典美文阅读，欢迎大家借鉴与参考，希望对大家有所帮助。
英语经典美文阅读1
What can you tell yourself that you don’t already know? A whole lot.如何自己发掘未知呢？办法很多。
In the privacy of your mind you constantly talk to yourself. Your inner monologue might seem pointless at times, but the truth is the act of talking to yourself can help you learn and maintain a positive lifelong trajectory. Therefore, collected below are six effective topics for self-talk, so the next time you talk to yourself you will know exactly what to say.内心深处你总是在跟自己对话，有时这种自言自语看似不得要领，但却能使你养成并保持积极的习惯。所以请看以下六种自我对话方式，学着下次澄清自己的所向所求吧。
1. What you love.你喜欢什么。
When it comes to lifelong labors and dreams, lukewarm is no good. Hot is no good either. White hot and passionate is the only way to work and live.提起终生职业与梦想，保持中庸并不见得明智，当然过于激进也不行。但热情在工作和生活中确实必不可少。
Invest your thoughts and time in the things you love. Don’t wait around for too long to get involved in something that moves you. Realize how important it is to be an enthusiast in life. If you are interested in something, no matter what it is, explore it. Get up and go after it. Embrace it, hug it, love it, and above all, let your passion flow freely.把时间和精力投入到喜欢的事情上，千万别在喜欢的事情面前徘徊不决。积极生活很重要。如果对某件事感兴趣，不要犹豫，赶紧行动，全力以赴去做好，让激情尽情释放吧！
The most important decision you will ever make is what you do with the limited time that has been given to you. Before you know it you’ll be asking, “How did it get so late so soon?” So put your thoughts and time to good use, and let yourself be drawn to the strange pull of what you love – doing so will not lead you astray. Live your life so that when you’re old, you never have to let the person you became fantasize about the person you were capable of being.最重要的决定就是如何分配有限的时间。你可能常常疑惑“时间怎么过得这么快？”，既然如此，更应该把精力和时间花在热爱的事情上——别担心，你不会因此走火入魔。尽情生活，到老你会欣然发现：你已长成自己渴望的那个人。
2. Your own inner truth.你的.真实自我。
Why worry about what others think of you? Should you have more confidence in their opinions than you do your own?干嘛担心别人怎么看你？与其相信别人的眼光，不如相信自己的判定！
Truth be told, how others see you is not nearly as important as how you see yourself. To be happy means to live confidently in your own skin – to be faithful to that which exists within you. What you’re doing by being yourself is you’re keeping it real, and you’re being really brave.说实话，别人怎么看你根本就不重要。要想活得开心，首先要对自己有信心——完全相信自己的潜力。勇敢做你自己！
When you choose to stay true to YOU, some people might refuse to accept you for who you are. Forget them. Rather than being fake and incurring the pain and confusion of trying to be someone you’re not, choose to stand strong, even at the risk of incurring ridicule. When you are comfortable in your skin, not everyone in this world will like you, and that’s perfectly OK. You could be the ripest, juiciest apple in the world, and there’s going to be at least a few people out there who hate apples.有时当你做真实的自己时，会遭到别人的冷眼。去他们的吧！与其困惑而痛苦地假装他人，倒不如坚强活出自我，哪怕受人挖苦讽刺。不是所有人都喜欢真实的你，但那又怎样！或许你是世上最红最甜的苹果，但要是有人本来就讨厌苹果呢？
3. What you are willing to sacrifice for your goals.为了目标，你愿意牺牲什么？
When it comes to goal setting, you must be specific. If you find yourself talking to yourself about wanting everything, it means you are treacherously close to achieving nothing. It means you are avoiding the effort required to get anywhere at all.目标制定必须详细。如果你这也想要那也想要，很可能会一无所获。因为你只想成果而不愿为特定目标付诸切实努力。
Usually, it’s not too difficult to decide what you want your life to look like in a year from now. What is difficult is figuring out what you’re willing to give up in order to do the things that must be done to get to where you want to go.通常一年内的目标并不难决定，难的是为了实现目标而甘心作出放弃。
This takes serious commitment, and it requires transient discomfort. When you decide to aim for something higher, you must be willing to suffer a bit of vertigo – the fear of falling. And you must be willing to fight against that voice of emptiness below you which tempts and lures you to believe that you don’t have enough strength to ascend any higher.你需要全力以赴，还得忍受暂时的苦痛。目标越高，担心失败的困扰也越多。而你则必须战胜内心那个不断引诱你的消极思维，说什么你根本没有足够的能力更上一层楼。
4. The little victories of each day.每天胜利一点点。
Sometimes the human mind operates in mysterious ways when it comes to achievements and happiness. We dream of something and we wait and wait and feel like it’s taking forever to arrive. Then it does and it’s over, and all we really want is to curl back up in that moment before things change again.有时成功和幸福来得太突然，唬得人们猝手不及：我们是那么渴望，等了又等，总以为成功还遥遥无期，然而它却瞬间昙花般出现了，于是我们惊愕，满心期望一切能再演绎一次。
Although there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a fulfilled dream, you must realize that it’s just one small moment of your life. Like every other moment, this one instance of victory is fleeting. Lifelong happiness is not found in any one particular moment, it’s found in all the moments and memories leading up to our inevitable sunset – all the small victories of each day that fall between the big events.尽情享受胜利时刻无可厚非，但也得提醒自己：这只是人生中的一个小插曲罢了。这点成功也会成为过往。人生的幸福不在于这一时半刻的成功，而在于漫漫岁月中的所有胜利和回忆——积少成多，小胜利终将汇成大喜悦！
Ultimately you will realize that your highest aspirations should just be a target – a point on the horizon to step towards. You may not ever reach it, but you can always look up after every small step and see beauty of where that step has taken you.最后或许你会发现，你最渴求的目标只有一个——它远远发着光，等着你去追寻。或许它总是可望而不可及，但你总能仰望着它，一点一点靠近，享受沿途的风景。
5. How to help others.如何帮助他人。
Talk yourself into helping someone today.试着帮助他人吧。
No exercise is better for your heart and mind than reaching down and helping others up. Happiness and success in life doesn’t come through selfishness, but through selflessness. Everything you do comes back around to you.再没什么比帮助他人更能愉悦身心了。幸福圆满的生活不是来自自私，而是得益于无私。更何况，好心总会有好报。
The best way to feel alive is to get up and do something positive for someone else. Don’t wait around for good things to happen in this world. If you go out and make good things happen, you will fill the world with happiness and you will make yourself smile in the process.想要尽情生活？那就热情帮助他人！不要总等着幸运降临，而应自己创造幸运，这样你会发现生活充满欢乐。
Greet people with positivity. Encourage them. Compliment them. Lend them a helping hand. Notice their progress, cheer them on and make them smile. Love and kindness is contagious. The more happiness and success you help others find, the more happiness and success you will find every single day of your life.热情跟人打招呼。鼓励赞美他人，向他们伸出援手，关注他们的进步，为他们加油鼓劲，让他们开心快乐。你传递的快乐越多，收获也就越多。
6. The immediate reality of your own happiness.创造自己的快乐。
Right now, you have more than enough to be happy.现在，你一定有足够的理由快乐。
Right now, you have the full capacity to find something small to celebrate.现在，你绝对能从细微之处发掘快乐。
Right now, you have a choice to make.现在，选择权就在你的手中！
Don’t make the mistake of waiting on someone or something to come along and make you happy. True happiness comes from within, when you choose not to allow another person or event to control your emotions, and when you choose to focus on what you have, not what you haven’t.别再傻傻等着别人给你带来快乐。真正的快乐源于内心——只要你不让别人影响你的情绪，只要你珍惜拥有、淡看没有。
One of the great secrets to happiness is to pay more attention to the beginnings than the endings. So many people say they want a new life, but then they take the new one they get every morning for granted. Don’t do this. Don’t wait until your life is almost over to realize how great it has been. A great life begins right now, when you stop wanting a better one.快乐的一大秘诀就是：多注重开头而非结果。很多人都说要过新生活，但新的一天开始时，他们却浑然不觉。真不应该啊！千万别等白了头才幡然悔恨。新生活就是当下，别再徒然期待将来如何如何了！
Scream it out loud: “Life is good!”大声呐喊吧——“生活很美好！”
英语经典美文阅读2
You may believe me, when I assure you in the most solemn manner that, so far from seeking this employment, I have used every effort in my power to avoid it, not only from my unwillingness to part with you and the family, but from a consciousness of its being a trust too great for my capacity; and I should enjoy more real happiness in one month with you at home that I have the most distant prospect of finding abroad; if my stay were to be seven times seven years. But as it has been a kind of destiny that has thrown me upon this service, I shall hope that has my undertaking it is designed to answer some good purpose...
I shall rely confidently on that Providence which has heretofore preserved and been bountiful to me, not doubting but that I shall return safe to you in the fall. I shall feel no pain from the toil or danger of the campaign; my unhappiness will flow from the uneasiness I know you will feel from being left alone. I therefore beg that you will summon your whole fortitude, and pass your times agreeably as possible. Nothing will give me so much sincere satisfaction as to hear this, and to hear it from your own pen.
George Washington
1775
您应当相信我，当我以最庄严的方式向您保证时，我没有谋求这个职位， 我已就我所能竭力回避这个职位。 不仅仅是我不愿意与您和家人离别，而是由于我有自知之明，深感力不从心，难以胜任， 我宁愿与您在家享受一个月人间的天伦多乐，要是我在那呆七七四十九天，这乐趣在异乡得到最好的期望也无法比拟。 但既然命中注定委任我， 我只愿接受此任是为了实现崇高的目的……
我将完全依赖于上帝，上帝一直在保佑和厚待我。 今秋我一定安全无恙地回到您的身边。 我不会因军营的.磨练和危险而感痛苦， 您独自一人在家，我知道您会感到不安，您的不安却会使我忧心忡忡。 正因如此，我求您鼓足勇气，尽可能愉快地欢度时光。 再也没有比这更令我欣慰，再也没有什么比您亲笔写信能给我欣慰。
乔治华盛顿
1775年
英语经典美文阅读3
James Cameron: Failure is an Option, but Fear is not
詹姆斯·卡梅隆：失败是人生的选项之一，但畏惧不是
And you know, along the way in this journey of discovery, I learned a lot. I learned a lot about science. But I also learned a lot about leadership. Now you think director has got to be a leader, leader of, captain of the ship, and all that sort of thing.
在发现的旅途中，我学到了很多。我学到的不仅仅是科学知识，还有领导力。很多人以为作为导演，就一定具有很高的领导力，就像船长带领整艘船一样。
I didn't really learn about leadership until I did these expeditions. Because I had to, at a certain point, say, "What am I doing out here? Why am I doing this? What do I get out of it?" We don't make money at these damn shows. We barely break even. There is no fame in it. People sort of think I went away between "Titanic" and "Avatar" and was buffing my nails someplace, sitting at the beach. Made all these films, made all these documentary films for a very limited audience.
但我却是从这些探险中学到如何带领团队。在探险时，有时候我会问自己，“我为什么会在这里?为什么要做这些纪录片?我从中得到了什么?”我们并没有从这些纪录片中赚钱，还差点亏了本。我也没有赚到名声。很多人以为我在《秦坦尼克号》之后《阿凡达》之前就一直躺在沙滩边享受。这些纪录片只有很少的观众。
No fame, no glory, no money. What are you doing? You're doing it for the task itself, for the challenge---and the ocean is the most challenging environment there is, for the thrill of discovery, and for that strange bond that happens when a small group of people form a tightly knit team. Because we would do these things with 10-12 people working for years at a time. Sometimes at sea for 2-3 months at a time.
没有名声，没有荣耀，没有利润。那我在做什么呢?我做这些其实只是为了这件任务本身。为了挑战——海洋是现存最危险的环境;为了发现;也为了一种奇怪的关系，这发生在一个很少人组成的紧密团队中。我们这10到12个人在一起工作了很多年。有时要在海里一起工作2到3个月。
And in that bond, you realize that the most important thing is the respect that you have for them and that they have for you, that you've done a task that you can't explain to someone else. When you come back to the shore and you say, "We had to do this, and the fiber optic, and the attenuation, and this and that all the technology of it, and the difficulty, the human performance aspects of working at sea, you can't explain it to people. It's that thing that maybe cops have, or people in combat that have gone through something together and they know they can never explain it. Creates a bond, creates a bond of respect."
在这种关系中，我发现最重要的.东西就是尊重。你尊重他们，他们也尊重你，每个人做的工作都无法向其他人解释。当你从岸边回来的时候，你说：“我们不得不这样做，光纤眼、钝化、这个、那个，所有的技术、困难和在海边表演的各方面，你没法跟大家说清楚。这很像警察经历的那种事情或是格斗中人们经历的，他们知道他们解释不清。创造一种关系，建立起一种尊重关系。”
英语经典美文阅读4
If you don't want to do something for somebody, you should manage to say "No." in the first place.如果你不想为一个人做什么事情，你一开始就应该说“不。”
The moment you give in, you've given them the impression that they can use your time as long as they try hard enough.你一旦让步，就会让他们以为只要多做些努力就能占用你的时间。
No "Let me see."不要说“我看看。”
No "Maybe."不要说“可能吧。”
Just "No." and a "Sorry." if you want to be polite.直接说“不。”，如果你想表现得礼貌点就加一个“抱歉。”
Or you can ask "How much?" if it suits you.或者，如果你觉得可行，也可以问问“你愿意出多少钱？”
Time is the most precious thing that we have.时间是我们所拥有的最珍贵的东西。
Once you lose a piece of it, you can never get it back.一旦你失去了一段时间，你永远不可能重新得到它。
And you have the freedom to decide how to use each piece of it.而你有权利自由支配自己的每一份时间。
So if someone want a piece of your time, they have to be worth it, either by being someone you truly care or by providing enough payment.所以，如果有人想动用你的时间，那他们最好配得上它：要么，他们是你真正关心的'人；要么，他们愿意付足够多的报酬。
Let me say it once again.让我再说一遍。
Time is the most precious thing that we have. Learn to refuse when people ask for your time.时间是我们所拥有的最珍贵的东西。当有人想要你的时间的时候，学会拒绝。
英语经典美文阅读5
1. The more we know about ourselves, the more power we have to behave better. We each have an infinite capacity for self-deception countless unconscious ways we protect ourselves from pain, uncertainty, and responsibility often at the expense of others and of ourselves.
1.越了解自己就越要谨慎而为。我们每个人在 自欺欺人 方面的潜能都是无限的，尽管大多数时候，我们这么做都是无意为之，是为了保护自己免受痛苦、责任和不确定的伤害。然而，当我们在欺骗自己的同时，可能就要用他人的痛苦、责任和不确定来作为代价。
2. Notice the good. We each carry a predisposition to dwell on what's wrong in our lives. The antidote is to deliberately take time out each day to notice what's going right, and to feel grateful for what you've got.
2.关注好的方面。我们与生俱来的一种特质就是看到生活中不好的地方。而治愈这种顽症的良药就是有意识地每天花一点时间去关注好的方面，对你所获得的抱有感恩之心。
3. Let go of certainty. The opposite isn't uncertainty. It's openness, curiosity and a willingness to embrace paradox, rather than choose up sides. The ultimate challenge is to accept ourselves exactly as we are, but never stop trying to learn and grow.
3.世上没有确定之事。确定的反面就是不确定，就是开放、好奇和愿意接受悖论的思想，而不是选边站。人生的终极挑战就是接受真正的自己，同时永不停歇地去求知、去成长。
4. Never seek your value at the expense of someone else's. When we're feeling devalued, our reactive instinct is to do anything to restore what we've lost. Devaluing the person who made you feel bad will only prompt more of the same in return.
4.永远不要通过贬低别人来找回自己的价值。当我们被人看扁的'时候，本能反应就是要找回我们失去的东西、以牙还牙。然而，贬低看扁我们的人的这种做法只会招致更多的恶果，造成恶性循环。
5. Do the most important thing first in the morning and you'll never have an unproductive day. Most of us have the highest energy early in the day, and the fewest distractions. By focusing for a designated period of time, without interruption, on the highest value task for no more than 90 minutes, it's possible to get an extraordinary amount of work accomplished in a short time.
5.最重要的事放在早上做，你的一天都会充满效率。大多数人早上的精力都是最充沛的，而且这个时候受到的干扰是最少的。拨出一段特定的时间，不要超过一个半小时，集中注意力，排除一切干扰，来完成价值最高的工作。这样，在短时间内你就能拥有非凡的工作成绩。
6. It's possible to be excellent at anything, but nothing valuable comes easy and discomfort is part of growth. Getting better at something depends far less on inborn talent than it does the willingness to practice the activity over and over, and to seek out regular feedback, the more precise the better.
6.你可能出色地做到任何事，但记住，成功来之不易，挫折也是成长的一部分。能不能做好一件事，天赋只占很小的一部分原因，而愿不愿意一次次地去做，去寻求反馈才是关键因素，收到的反馈越多，准确度越高，效果越好。
7. The more behaviors you intentionally make automatic in your life, the more you'll get done. If you have to think about doing something each time you do it, you probably won't do it for very long. The trick is to get more things done using less energy and conscious self-control. How often do you forget to brush your teeth?
7.你在生活中越是能自动自发地做事，你的收获就越多。如果在做一件事之前你总要想一想，那么这件事你可能不会做得太长久。秘诀就是花更少的力气，少去想为什么要做，同时能完成更多的事情。想想看：你会经常想要不要去刷牙这个问题吗?
8. Slow down. Speed is the enemy of nearly everything in life that really matters. It's addictive and it undermines quality, compassion, depth, creativity, appreciation and real relationship.
8.放慢速度。追求速度几乎是生活中所有重要的事情的天敌。求快速会有损于做事的质量、同情心、深度、创造力、鉴赏力，还有真正重要的人际关系。
9. The feeling of having enough is magical. It rarely depends on how much you've got. More is rarely better. Too much of anything eventually becomes toxic.
9.知足常乐的感觉是奇妙的。幸福往往不在于你真的拥有多少。很多情况下，拥有太多不一定就是好事。拥有太多反而会成为带来烦恼。
10. Do the right thing because it's the right thing to do, and don't expect anything in return.Your values are one of the only possessions you have that no one can take away from you. Doing the right thing may not always get you what you think you want in the moment, but it will almost always leave you feeling better about yourself in the long run.
10.做好事因为它应该做，而不要希求有什么回报。人的价值是少数只属于你的、别人抢不走的财富。做好事可能不会立刻有好报，不过从长远来看，做好事总会让你感觉更加良好。
11. Add more value in the world than you're using up. We spend down the earth's resources every day. Life's primary challenge is to put more back into the world than we take out.
11.付出要比索取多。我们每天都在消耗地球上的资源，而生活最基本的挑战就是，向这个世界索取了多少，就要回报得比索取更多才行。
12. Savor every moment even the difficult ones. It all goes so fast.
12.享受每一刻 即使是困难的时候，也要细细品味。生命中的每一刻都是转瞬即逝的。
英语经典美文阅读6
I believe that the greatest frontier of our ignorance lies in the relationship of man to man. I do not discount the marvelous development in the world of thins, nor do I devaluate the contributions of those who made these developments possible.
我相信，我们对人与人之间关系的了解是最为匮乏的。这并不是对物质世界非凡发展的低估，也不是对人们为此做出的巨大贡献的贬低。
Yet all these are but means, and unless we can learn to shape and to control them to ends that are constructive for the inhabitants of the earth, material miracles become not only futile but worse; worse, because they provide more means of destruction.
会制造并使用它们，使之对地球居民具有建设性的意义，否则物质生产的奇迹只会变得无用且糟糕，因为它们只会带来更多的毁灭手段。
I believe the frontier of human relationship can be extended. It will not be easy to do so. Man must learn more about himself than he already knows.
会制造并使用它们，使之对地球居民具有建设性的意义，否则物质生产的奇迹只会变得无用且糟糕，因为它们只会带来更多的毁灭手段。
The human emotions and the meaning of human behavior present difficulties in measurement much greater than those encountered in learning to measure steel or gold.
但这一切仅仅是人类必须更加了解自己。比起钢或金的纯度测量而言，对人类情感与行为意义的衡量更是难上加难。
Perhaps the greatest impediment to the advancement of knowledge about us has been the fact that we have assumed we know. The man who can predict accurately the smell or color of the vapor which arises when two substances are mixed excites his fellow citizens far more than one who tries to predict the result of the slash of two personalities. In the second phenomenon we tend to solve by one of two methods. We dismiss it as unpredictable prior to the slash, or, afterwards, we declare the result to have been inevitable and expected by everyone. In either case we are denying our ignorance.
或许，我们自以为了解自己，而这正是阻碍我们深入了解自己的最大障碍。两种化学物质混合并散发出蒸汽时，能够准确说出蒸汽的气味和颜色的人往往会令同伴兴奋不已，而与此相比，当人们试图预测两种个性碰撞的结果时，反响却远不及此。面对第二种现象，我们往往会采取下面的两种解决方法：在事发前，以无法预知其结果为由而不予理睬;或者事后，宣称所有人早已料到这不可避免的结果。无论采取何种方法，我们都是在拒绝承认自己无知。
We shall have over one of the largest obstacles to a solution of man's favorable relationship whit man when we know and acknowledge how little we know about ourselves. The step to follow our admission of ignorance is to seek the knowledge and understanding that we have concluded we do not have.
可以说，当我们知道并承认对自己知之甚少时，就已经战胜了妨碍人们建立良好人际关系的`一大障碍。在接受自己的无知后，接下来便是努力去获得我们所不拥有的知识与理解。
This will be a long and difficult road, as long perhaps as from learning how to make fire to learning how to fission the atom. Man must turn his eyes and interest inward.
这将是一个漫长而艰难的过程，或许会像从学会如何生火到学会如何分裂原子一样漫长。人必须将目光与兴趣投向自身。
He has already made more gadgets than he understands or knows how to control. He resembles a child after Christmas unable to manage the the strange and complicated machine toys that had challenged the interest of his parents. Our acceptance that we do not know and must seek to learn cannot wait.
对于他所知道与理解的控制范围而言，人类的发明与创造已远远超出了这个极限。就像圣诞节后的小孩，面对他父母曾感兴趣的陌生而复杂的机械玩具却束手无策。我们应马上承认自己的无知，并努力学习。我们不像小孩子那样可以选择。
We have not the choice of the child. We cannot play with spools and leave the more complicated machines to our parents.
我们不能只玩卷轴，而让父母去处理那些更复杂的机械。
英语经典美文阅读7
She was six years old when I first met her on the beach near where I live. I drive to this beach, a distance of three or four miles, whenever the world begins to close in on me. She was building a sandcastle or something and looked up, her eyes as blue as the sea.
“Hello,” she said. I answered with a nod, not really in the mood to bother with a small child. “I’m building,” she said.
“I see that. What is it?” I asked, not really caring.
“Oh, I don’t know, I just like the feel of sand.”
That sounds good, I thought, and slipped off my shoes. A sandpiper glided by. “That’s a joy,” the child said.
“It’s a what?” I asked.
“It’s a joy. My mama says sandpipers come to bring us joy.” The bird went gliding down the beach.
“Good-bye joy,” I muttered to myself, “hello pain,” and turned to walk on. I was depressed; my life seemed completely out of balance.
“What’s your name?” She wouldn’t give up.
“Robert,” I answered. “I’m Robert Peterson.”
“Mine’s Wendy... I’m six.”
“Hi, Windy.” She giggled. “You’re funny,” she said. In spite of my gloom I laughed too and walked on. Her musical giggle followed me.
“Come again, Mr. P,” she called. “We’ll have another happy day.”
The days and weeks that followed belonged to others: a group of unruly Boy Scouts, PTA meetings, and an ailing mother.
The sun was shining one morning as I took my hands out of the dishwater. “I need a sandpiper,” I said to myself, gathering up my coat.
The ever-changing balm of the seashore awaited me. The breeze was chilly, but I strode along, trying to recapture the serenity I needed. I had forgotten the child and was startled when she appeared.
“Hello, Mr. P,” she said. “Do you want to play?”
“What did you have in mind?” I asked, with a twinge of annoyance.
“I don’t know, you say.”
“How about charades?” I asked sarcastically.
The tinkling laughter burst forth again. “I don’t know what that is.”
“Then let’s just walk.” Looking at her, I noticed the delicate fairness of her face. “Where do you live?” I asked.
“Over there.” She pointed toward a row of summer cottages. Strange, I thought, in winter.
“Where do you go to school?”
“I don’t go to school. Mommy says we’re on vacation.” She chattered little girl talk as we strolled up the beach, but my mind was on other things. When I left for home, Wendy said it had been a happy day. Feeling surprisingly better, I smiled at her and agreed.
Three weeks later, I rushed to my beach in a state of near panic. I was in no mood to even greet Wendy. I thought I saw her mother on the porch and felt like demanding she keep her child at home.
“Look, if you don’t mind,” I said crossly when Wendy caught up with me, “I’d rather be alone today.” She seemed unusually pale and out of breath.
“Why?” she asked.
I turned to her and shouted, “Because my mother died!” and thought, “My God, why was I saying this to a little child?”
“Oh,” she said quietly, “then this is a bad day.”
“Yes,” I said, “and yesterday and the day before and — oh, go away!”
“Did it hurt? “ she inquired.
“Did what hurt?” I was exasperated with her, with myself.
“When she died?”
“Of course it hurt!” I snapped, misunderstanding, wrapped up in myself. I strode off.
A month or so after that, when I next went to the beach, she wasn’t there. Feeling guilty, ashamed and admitting to myself I missed her, I went up to the cottage after my walk and knocked at the door. A drawn looking young woman with honey-colored hair opened the door.
“Hello,” I said. “I’m Robert Peterson. I missed your little girl today and wondered where she was.”
“Oh yes, Mr. Peterson, please come in. Wendy spoke of you so much. I’m afraid I allowed her to bother you. If she was a nuisance, please, accept my apologies.”
“Not at all — she’s a delightful child,” I said, suddenly realizing that I meant what I had just said. “Where is she?”
“Wendy died last week, Mr. Peterson. She had leukemia. Maybe she didn’t tell you.” Struck dumb, I groped for a chair. I had to catch my breath.
“She loved this beach; so when she asked to come, we couldn’t say no. She seemed so much better here and had a lot of what she called happy days. But the last few weeks, she declined rapidly...” Her voice faltered.
“She left something for you ... if only I could find it. Could you wait a moment while I look?”
I nodded stupidly, my mind racing for something, to say to this lovely young woman. She handed me a smeared envelope, with “MR. P” printed in bold childish letters. Inside was a drawing in bright crayon hues — a yellow beach, a blue sea, and a brown bird. Underneath was carefully printed:
A SANDPIPER TO BRING YOU JOY
Tears welled up in my eyes and a heart that had almost forgotten to love opened wide. I took Wendy’s mother in my arms. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry,” I muttered over and over, and we wept together.
The precious little picture is framed now and hangs in my study. Six words — one for each year of her life — that speak to me of harmony, courage, and undemanding love. A gift from a child with sea-blue eyes and hair the color of sand — who taught me the gift of love.
英语经典美文阅读8
美文欣赏
When I was growing up, I had an old neighbor named Dr. Gibbs. He didn’t look like any doctor I’d ever known. He never yelled at us for playing in his yard. I remember him as someone who was a lot nicer than 1)circumstances warranted.
When Dr. Gibbs wasn’t saving lives, he was planting trees. His house sat on ten acres, and his life’s goal was to make it a forest.
The good doctor had some interesting theories concerning plant 2)husbandry. He came from the “No pain, no gain” school of 3)horticulture. He never watered his new trees, which flew in the face of conventional wisdom. Once I asked why. He said that watering plants spoiled them, and that if you water them, each successive tree generation will grow weaker and weaker. So you have to make things rough for them and 4)weed out the 5)weenie trees early on.
He talked about how watering trees made for shallow roots, and how trees that weren’t watered had to grow deep roots in search of 6)moisture. I took him to mean that deep roots were to be treasured.
So he never watered his trees. He’d plant an oak and, instead of watering it every morning, he’d beat it with a rolled-up newspaper. Smack! Slap! Pow! I asked him why he did that, and he said it was to get the tree’s attention.
Dr. Gibbs 7)went to glory a couple of years after I left home. 8)Every now and again, I walked by his house and looked at the trees that I’d watched him plant some twenty-five years ago. They’re 9)granite strong now. Big and 10)robust. Those trees wake up in the morning and beat their chests and drink their 11)coffee black.
I planted a couple of trees a few years back. Carried water to them for a 12)solid summer. Sprayed them. Prayed over them. The whole nine 13)yards. Two years of 14)coddling has resulted in trees that expect to be 15)waited on hand and foot. Whenever a cold wind blows in, they tremble and chatter their branches. Sissy trees.
Funny things about those trees of Dr. Gibbs’. 16)Adversity and 17)deprivation seemed to benefit them in ways comfort and ease never could.
Every night before I go to bed, I check on my two sons. I stand over them and watch their little bodies, the rising and falling of life within. I often pray for them. Mostly I pray that their lives will be easy. But lately I’ve been thinking that it’s time to change my prayer.
This change has to do with the inevitability of cold winds that hit us at the core. I know my children are going to encounter hardship, and I’m praying they won’t be naive. There’s always a cold wind blowing somewhere.
So I’m changing my prayer. Because life is tough, whether we want it to be or not. Too many times we pray for ease, but that’s a prayer seldom met. What we need to do is pray for roots that reach deep into 18)the Eternal, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won’t be 19)swept 20)asunder.
参考翻译
在我还是小孩子的时候，我有一个老邻居叫吉布斯医生。他不像我所认识的任何一个医生。我们在他的院子里玩耍，他从不对我们大喊大叫。我记得他是一个非常和蔼的人。
吉布斯医生不拯救人性命的时候就去种树。他的住所占地10英亩，他的人生目标就是将它变成一片森林。
这个好医生对于如何持家有一番有趣的理论。他来自一个“不劳无获”的园艺学校。他从不浇灌他新种的树，这显然与常理相悖。有一次我问为什么，他说浇水会毁了这些树，如果浇水，每一棵成活的树的后代会变得越来越娇弱。所以你得把它们的生长环境变得艰苦些，尽早淘汰那些弱不禁风的树。
他还告诉我用水浇灌的树的根是如何的浅，而那些没有浇水的树的根必须钻入深深的泥土获得水分。我将他的话理解为：深根是十分宝贵的。
所以他从不给他的树浇水。他种了一棵橡树，每天早上，他不是给它浇水，而是用一张卷起的报纸抽打它。“啪!噼!砰!”我问他为什么这样做，他说是为了引起树的注意。
在我离家两年后，吉布斯医生就去世了。我常常经过他的房子，看着那些25年前我曾看着他种下的那些树。如今它们已是像石头般硬朗了。枝繁叶茂、生气勃勃。这些树在早晨醒过来，拍打着胸脯，啜饮着苦难的汁水。
几年前我也种下两三棵树。整整一个夏天我都坚持为它们浇水。为它们喷杀虫剂，为它们祈祷。整整9平方码大的地方。两年的悉心呵护，结果两棵树弱不禁风。每当寒风吹起，它们就颤抖起来，枝叶直打战。娇里娇气的'两棵树。
吉布斯医生的树真是有趣。逆境和折磨带给它们的益处似乎是舒适和安逸永远无法给予的。
每天晚上睡觉前，我都要看看两个儿子。我俯视着他们那幼小的身体，生命就在其中起落沉浮。我总是为他们祈祷，总是祈祷他们的生活能一帆风顺。但后来我想是该改变我的祈祷词的时候了。
这改变是因为将吹在我们要害的不可避免的寒风。我知道我的孩子们将遇到困难，我祈祷他们不会幼稚而脆弱。在某些地方总会有寒风吹过。
所以我改变了我的祈祷词。因为不管我们愿不愿意，生活总是艰难的。我们已祈祷了太多的安逸，但却少有实现。我们所需要做的是祈祷深植我们的信念之根，这样我们就不会被雨打风吹所伤害。
词汇释义
1、 注：这句话的直译是：即使情况允许(发火)的时候，他(吉布斯医生)也会非常和蔼。circumstances: n. [复数形式]情况，境况。warrant: vt. 使有(正当)理由，成为……的根据
2、 husbandry n. 耕作;家政，节俭
3、 horticulture n. 园艺(学)
4、 weed out 剔除，清除
5、 weenie n. 牛肉熏香肠，猪牛肉混合香肠
6、 moisture n. 湿度，水分
7、 go to glory 死
8、 every now and again 时而，不时
9、 granite n. 花岗石，坚如磐石
10、 robust a. 强健的，茁壮的
11、 black coffee 此处喻指树所遭受的磨难
12、 solid a. 连续的，完整的
13、 yard n. 码，一码约为0.914米
14、 coddle vt. 悉心照料，娇养，溺爱
15、 wait on 服侍(某人);招待(顾客)
16、 adversity n. 逆境，苦难
17、 deprivation n. 剥夺，丧失
18、 the Eternal [宗教用语]上帝
19、 sweep vt.(风等)刮起，(浪等)冲走，席卷
20、 asunder ad. 碎，散
英语经典美文阅读9
She entered the house. First, she went into the kitchen where she saw a note written by her father. It said: "Dear Ellen, there is some coffee ready, I went looking." Ellen was her mother but - where was she? On the right side of the hallway was her parents room. She went in. Then she saw her. Her mother, lying on the bed, sleeping. Her face looked so tired, as if she hadn't slept for days. She was really pale. Jenny would have wanted to wake her up but she looked too tired to force her. So Jenny just fell asleep beside her. When Jennifer woke up something was different...she wasn't in her mother's room and she wasn't wearing the old clothes she ran away in. She was in her cozy bed in her pajamas.
她进了屋，首先到了厨房，看见父亲留的一张字条，写着：“亲爱的埃伦，这是煮好的咖啡，我出去找找。”艾伦就是她的母亲，但是——母亲在哪儿?走廊的.右边是她父母的卧室，她走进去就看见了母亲，躺在床上睡着了。母亲的面色异常苍白，看起来是那样的疲惫，好像多日未眠。詹妮真想把她叫醒，但是母亲看起来太累了，真不忍心叫醒她。于是詹妮也躺在她身旁睡了。詹妮弗醒来时发现有些异样：她不在母亲的房间里了，穿的也不是离家出走时的旧衣服了。她是穿着睡衣躺在自己惬意的床上。
英语经典美文阅读10
“Do you like my dress?"she asked of a passing stranger."My mommy made it just for me."She said with a tear in her eye.
"Well,I think it's very pretty,so tell me little one,why are you crying?"
With a quiver in her voice the little girl answered."After Mommy made me this dress,she had to go away."
"Well,now,"said the lady,"with a little girl like you waiting for her,I'm sure she'll be right back."
"No Ma'am ,you don't understand,"said the child through her tears,"my daddy said she's up in heaven now with Grandfather."
Finally the woman realized what the child meant,and why she was crying.Kneeling down she gently cradled the child in her arms and together they cried for the mommy that was gone.
Then suddenly the little girl did something that the woman thought was a bit strange.She stopped crying,stepped back from the woman and began to sing.She sang so softly that it was almost a whisper. It was the sweetest sound the woman had ever heard,almost like the song of a very small bird.
After the child stopped singing she explained to the lady,"My mommy used to sing that song to me before she went away,and she made me promise to sing it whenever I started crying and it would make me stop."
"See,"she exclaimed,"it did,and now my eyes are dry!"
As the woman turned to go,the little girl grabbed her sleeve,"Ma'am,can you stay just a minute?I want to show you something."
"Of course,"she answered,"what do you want me to see?"
Pointing to a spot on her dress,she said,"Right here is where my mommy kissed my dress,and here,"pointing to another spot,"and here is another kiss, and here,and here.Mommy said that she put all those kisses on my dress so that I would have her kisses for every booboo'that made me cry."
Then the lady realized that she wasn't just looking at a dress,no,she was looking at a mother…who knew that she was going away and would not be there to kiss away the hurts that she knew her daughter would get.
So she took all the love she had for her beautiful little girl and put them into this dress,that her child now so proudly wore.
She no longer saw a little girl in a simple dress. She saw a child wrapped…in her mother's love.
英语经典美文阅读11
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12
在世界锦标赛决赛时，一位跳板跳水名将被他的同胞战友击败，却热烈拥抱胜利者，满含热泪向观众挥手告别。一位优秀的女击剑手在决胜的一局倒下了，不是倒在敌手的剑下，而是因为自己突然肌肉痉挛。
A veteran springboard diver, defeated by his compatriot in the finals of a worldchampionship, offering congratulations to the victor in a warm embrace and waving a tearfulfarewell to the audience. An outstanding female fencer falling in a decisive set not under theattack of her rival’s sword but as a result of a muscular spasm of her own.
这类事情在体坛司空见惯，但是这些英雄的悲剧场景不仅使失败的英雄热泪盈眶，而且使观众为之落泪。运动员把一生最美好的时光贡献出来，艰苦训练，激烈拼搏，希望成绩蒸蒸日上。如今他们过了巅峰走下坡路，仍然奋力发挥，力争为自己光辉的运动生涯划上一个完美的句号。
Those are common occurrences in the athletic world but they are scenes of tragic heroismbringing tears to the eyes of the outgoing heroes as well as the audience. Sportsmen spendthe best part of their lives in tough training and fierce competitions fighting for ever betterrecords. When it bccomcs evident they are on the decline they still make strenuous efforts togive their best so as to bring a satisfactory end to their brilliant career.
人生能有几回搏!生命有限，竞技生命更是短暂的.。运动员比任何人更深刻地认识到时光易逝机会难得。他会珍惜并利用每—分钟，抓住任何一个机会。他付出许多，也得到许多，不仅为自己也为袓国赢得荣誉。
Chances to compete for championship are few and far between. Life is short. Still shorter isthe time for an athlete trying to win games. None other than an athletic contestant feels sokeenly about the rarity of opportunity and the fleeting of time. He cherishes every minute,makes full use of it and tries to grasp any chance coming his way. He gets as much as he gives,winning honours not only for himself but also for his country.
参与并取胜，这就是奥林匹克精神。它表现于弱者敢于向强者挑战，也表现于强者力争取得更好的成绩。胜而又胜，优而更优，这种理想一直鼓舞着运动员奋力前进。他会尽其所能，永不松懈，永不罢休。有人说竞技者终究会是失败者，即使是最佳运动员也终将被更强者淘汰。成千上万个失败者才涌现一个胜利者，这个胜利者最终仍将被取代，挤出光荣榜——这就是竞技运动的规律。然而运动员却从不为这种不可避免的失败结局所沮丧，仍然力争最佳发挥。实在到了自知技穷之时，他会愉快地退下来，让位给年轻的优胜者，并对自己在奥林匹克运动中争取更好成绩尽了一份力而心满意足。他会自豪地说他的靑春没有虚度。
To participate and to win—that is the Olympic spirit. It finds expression in the weak daring todefy the strong, and the strong striving for ever better performance. Ever better—the idealalways luring a sportsman forward. He will do everything he can for it, never relax, never giveup. It is said that none of the competitors can avoid being defeated—even the best is bound tobe surpassed by someone still stronger. This is the rule of sports—thousands of losers to setoff one victor who in turn will eventually be replaced by someone on the honour list. However,undaunted by the inevitable failure, he is always striving to do the best he can. When thetime comes and he knows he he will step down happily to give place to the younger winner,aware contentedly of the fact that he has done his bit for the “ever better” records of theOlympic Games. He will say proudly that he has not lived his youth in vain.
英语经典美文阅读13
However mean your life is, meet it and live it; do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not as bad as you are.
不论你的生活如何卑贱，你要面对它生活，不要躲避它，更别用恶言咒骂它。它不像你那样坏。
It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is.
你最富有的时候，倒是看似最穷。爱找缺点的人就是到天堂里也能找到缺点。
You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poor-house. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man's abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace.
你要爱你的生活，尽管它贫穷。甚至在一个济贫院里，你也还有愉快、高兴、光荣的时候。夕阳反射在济贫院的窗上，像身在富户人家窗上一样光亮；在那门前，积雪同在早春融化。我只看到，一个从容的人，在哪里也像在皇宫中一样，生活得心满意足而富有愉快的思想。
The town's poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any. Maybe they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving. Most think that they are above being supported by the town; but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means, which should be more disreputable.
城镇中的穷人，我看，倒往往是过着最独立不羁的生活。也许因为他们很伟大，所以受之无愧。大多数人以为他们是超然的，不靠城镇来支援他们；可是事实上他们是往往利用了不正当的'手段来对付生活，他们是毫不超脱的，毋宁是不体面的。
Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends. Turn the old, return to them.
视贫穷如园中之花而像圣人一样耕植它吧！不要找新的花样，无论是新的朋友或新的衣服，来麻烦你自己。找旧的，回到那里去。
Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.
万物不变，是我们在变。你的衣服可以卖掉，但要保留你的思想。
英语经典美文阅读14
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15
Takada Park in Niigata prefecture offers a romantic option for nocturnal visitors. Cherryblossom viewing in Takada Castle is one of the three biggest night hanami events in Japan. The tourism website shows you how to hanami like a Japanese.
新潟县的高田公园是夜间观赏樱花的浪漫选择。高田城的.樱花展是全日本最大的“花见会”(日语：赏花活动)举办地之一。那里的旅游网站会告诉你如何像日本人一样去“花见”。
Takada Park's 4,000 blooming cherry trees will be lit up by thousands of bombori lanterns (traditional small oval-shaped lanterns) along the "Sakura road". "Because of cooler weather this year, cherry blooms will start a little bit later than usual," Kazuyuki Akiyama from International Tourism Office of Niigata Prefecture estimates. "I would say mid-to-late April will be the best time to see cherry blossom at Takada Castle."
高田公园的4000多株樱花树将点缀着上千盏竹灯笼(传统的鹅蛋形灯笼)，照亮一整条“樱花大道”。 “今年比往常更冷一点，所以樱花也会盛开得稍晚一点，” 新潟国际旅游办公室的Kazuyuki Akiyama预测道。“我估计4月中下旬会是观赏樱花的最佳时节。”
Traditional Japanese food and local food specialties like yakitori and takoyaki will be sold from 300 outdoor stalls at the event during the festival. Also, don't miss the firework on the final day.
节日当天还会有300家露天摊位供应传统日本小吃，比如日式烧鸡、章鱼烧之类的。还有，不要错过最后一天的烟花哦。
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