每日英語美文欣賞
豐厚的積累是寫作的堅實基礎(chǔ),寫作是豐厚積累的外在體現(xiàn)。只有精心積累,才能創(chuàng)作美文。下面小編整理了英語美文,希望大家喜歡!
最新的英語美文
書為友Companionship of books
A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.
觀其友而知其人,同樣,觀察一個人讀些什么書就可知他的為人,只因書與人一樣,也能做人之友。無論是書還是人,我們都應(yīng)該擇其最佳者為友。
A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness; amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.
一本好書可以成為人的摯友,古往今來,恒久不變。所有朋友中,書本最為耐心而又令人愉悅。我們身處逆境灰心沮喪時,書本并不背棄我們。它對我們始終如一,友愛接納。我們年輕時,書本給我們以歡娛和陶冶;我們年邁時,又予我們以慰藉和鼓勵。
Men often discover their affinity to each other by the love they have each for a book -------just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both have for a third. There is an old proverb: “love me, love my dog.”But there is more wisdom in this: “love me, love my book.” The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he in them.
人們常常因間愛一本書而精神共鳴,正如兩個人有時因共同仰慕另外一人而彼此成為朋友。古諺云“愛屋及烏”,而“愛其人,也愛其珍愛之書”這句話里卻含有更多的哲理。書是更忠誠更高尚的情感紐帶。人們可以通過共同喜愛的作者而相知相契,息息相通。他們的思想與作者的思想水乳交融,密不可分。
“Books”, said Hazlitt, “wind into the heart; the poet’s verse slides in the current of our blood. We read them when young, we remember them when old. We feel that it has happened to ourselves. They are to be had very cheap and good. We breathe but the air of books.”
黑茲利特曾說:“書香輕拂沁心靈,詩行輕滑滲血液。青春時所讀之書,垂暮時依然會回想,仿佛就在身邊發(fā)乍。書籍價廉物美,我們就在書香中呼吸。”
A good book is often the best urn of a life, enshrining the best that life could think out; for the world of a man’s life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters. “They are never alone,”said Sir Philip Sidney, “that are accompanied by noble thoughts.” The good and true thought may in times of temptation be as an angel of mercy purifying and guarding the soul. It also enshrines the germs of action, for good words almost always inspire to good works.
一本好朽往往就是作者的人生結(jié)晶,里面蘊藏著他窮其一生的求索成果。因為人一生的世界大多就是其思想的世界,故而最優(yōu)秀的書籍也就是至理名言和輝煌思想的寶藏。這些思想若能銘記在心,就成為我們永久的朋友和永恒的慰藉。菲利普·錫德尼爵士說得好:“與高尚思想為伴的人永不寂寞。”在我們受誘惑時,美好純真的思想如同仁慈的天使,凈化呵護(hù)著我們的靈魂,并蘊含著我們行動的萌芽,因為金玉良言總能激勵我們美好的行為。
經(jīng)典的英語美文
忠告年輕人Advice to Youth
Being told I would be expected to talk here, I inquired what sort of talk I ought to make. They said it should be something suitable to youth-something didactic, instructive, or something in the nature of good advice. Very well. I have a few things in my mind which I have often longed to say for the instruction of the young; for it is in one’s tender early years that such things will best take root and be most enduring and most valuable. First, then. I will say to you my young friends—and I say it beseechingly, urgingly— Always obey your parents, when they are present. This is the best policy in the long run, because if you don’t, they will make you. Most parents think they know better than you do, and you can generally make more by humoring that superstition than you can by acting on your own better judgment.
被告知將要在此演講,我詢問應(yīng)該說什么話才合時宜。他們說我演講的內(nèi)容應(yīng)該適合年輕人——具有教育意義,或者能提出些善意的忠告。正好,我腦中有一些想法,一直希望能表達(dá)出來,對年輕人進(jìn)行教育;因為在年輕時,這些事情最能深扎心底,最為持久,最為珍貴。首先,我要告訴你們,我年輕的朋友——我懇切地說,父母在世時,永遠(yuǎn)遵從他們的要求,從長遠(yuǎn)來看這是最佳法則,因為你不這樣做,他們也會迫使你去做。大部分父母認(rèn)為,他們比你明白事理,一般來說,相信這一點會比照自己的判斷行事更奏效。
Be respectful to your superiors, if you have any, also to strangers, and sometimes to others. If a person offend you, and you are in doubt as to whether it was intentional or not, do not resort to extreme measures; simply watch your chance and hit him with a brick. That will be sufficient. If you shall find that he had not intended any offense, come out frankly and confess yourself in the wrong when you struck him; acknowledge it like a man and say you didn’t mean to. Yes, always avoid violence; in this age of charity and kindliness, the time has gone by for such things. Leave dynamite to the low and unrefined.
若有上級,要尊敬他們,尊重陌生人,有時也要尊重其他人。如果有人攻擊你,你要考慮清楚人家是有意還是無意的,不要采取極端措施;僅僅看準(zhǔn)時機,用磚頭予以回?fù)?,這樣足矣。如果你發(fā)現(xiàn)他并非有心攻擊你,那么你坦率地承認(rèn)自己打他是不應(yīng)該的;像個男子漢承認(rèn)自己并不是有意的。是的,應(yīng)該避免訴諸暴力行為;在與人為善、厚道謙和的年代,為這種事情計較,時間也會慢慢流逝。讓身份低賤,沒有受過教育的人去動手動腳吧。
Go to bed early, get up early- this is wise. Some authorities say get up with the sun; some say get up with one thing, others with another. But a lark is really the best thing to get up with. It gives you a splendid reputation with everybody to know that you get up with the lark; and if you get the right kind of lark, and work at him right, you can easily train him to get up at half past nine, every time—it’s no trick at all.
早睡早起——這是明智之舉。有些權(quán)威人士說日出而起,有些人說與這樣事物同起,有些人說與那樣事物同起。但是百靈鳥真的是最佳的同起之物。所有人知道你伴著百靈鳥起床,你會因此聲名鵲起;如果你得到合適的百靈鳥,用正確的方法調(diào)教,那么可以輕易地訓(xùn)練它在九點半起床,每次——它都不會做惡作劇。
優(yōu)秀的英語美文
英國人和美國人The English and the Americans
The contrasting English and American patterns have some remarkable implications, particularly if we assume that man, like other animals, has a built-in need to shut himself off from others from time to time. An English student in one of my seminars typified what happens when hidden patterns clash. He was quite obviously experiencing strain in his relationships with Americans. Nothing seemed to go right and it was quite clear from his remarks that we did not know how to behave. An analysis of his complaints showed that a major source of irritation was that no American seemed to be able to pick up the subtle clues that there were times when he didn’t want his thoughts intruded on. As he started it, “I’m walking around the apartment and it seems that whenever I want to be alone my roommate starts talking to me. Pretty soon he’s asking ‘What’s the matter?’ and wants to know if I’m angry. By then I am angry and say something.”
英美人的模式對比意味深長,如果我們假定人像其他動物一樣有內(nèi)在的需要經(jīng)常把自己保護(hù)起來,免受他人打擾,這些意義就更為明顯。在我的一個研討會上,一位英國學(xué)生的行為突出表現(xiàn)了當(dāng)潛在的模式發(fā)生碰撞時可能出現(xiàn)的情況。他與美國人在一起時非常緊張??雌饋硪磺卸紒y套了,顯然他的話里的意思是我們美國人不懂規(guī)矩。對其抱怨的分析結(jié)果表明,他惱羞成怒的主要原因是,當(dāng)他不希望別人對他的想法進(jìn)行攻擊時,美國人似乎并沒有理解他時不時給出的細(xì)微暗示。他說,“我在公寓里踱步,每次我想獨處,我的室友就開始跟我講話。很快,他就問我‘你怎么了?想知道我是不是生氣。這個時候,我就大發(fā)雷霆,吵起來。”
It took some time but finally we were able to identify most of the contrasting features of the American and Britain problems that were in conflict in this case. When the American wants to be alone he goes into a room and shuts the door---he depends on architectural features for screening. For an American to refuse to talk to someone else present in the same room, to give them the “silent treatment,” is the ultimate form of rejection and a sure sign of great displeasure. The English, on the other hand, lacking rooms of their own since childhood, never developed the practice of using space as a refuge from others. They have in effect internalized a set of barriers, which they erect and which others are supposed to recognize. Therefore, the more the Englishman shuts himself off when he is with an American the more likely the American is to break in to assure himself that all is well. Tension lasts until the two get to know each other. The important point is that the spatial and architectural needs of each are not the same at all.
雖然花了一些時間,但是最后我們還是發(fā)現(xiàn)英美人之間的大多數(shù)突出問題就是類似這樣的沖突。當(dāng)美國人想一個人待著時,他就會走進(jìn)房間,關(guān)上房門——他依賴建筑特征與外人隔離。對美國人來說,拒絕與在同一個房間的另外一個人講話時,對其他人“漠然視之”是最嚴(yán)重的拒絕方式,也是極度不高興的明顯表現(xiàn)。然而英國人從孩提時代開始就是沒有自己的房間,從來不會把空間作為遠(yuǎn)離他人的避難所。他們形成了一套屏障,這由他們建立,并且希望他人能夠了解。困此,英國人與美國人在一起時,越封閉自己,美國人就越需要進(jìn)入他們的世界以確定沒什么狀況。直到相互之間了解,這種緊張關(guān)系才會得以緩和。關(guān)鍵在于英美人之間的空間和建筑需要根本就完全不一樣。