最適合暑假背誦的英語(yǔ)美文，可學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)法哦
最適合暑假背誦的英語(yǔ)美文，可學(xué)習(xí)語(yǔ)法哦
今天分享的英語(yǔ)美文的精美段落全部摘選自英文網(wǎng)站、權(quán)威報(bào)紙、名人演講稿和大學(xué)教材，語(yǔ)言地道，適合背誦，如果大家能夠?qū)W會(huì)舉一反三，就能迅速提高英語(yǔ)作文水平和口頭表達(dá)能力。
第一篇
Youth 青春
Youth
Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonders, the unfailing appetite for what’s next and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart, there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, courage and power from man and from the infinite, so long as you are young.
When your aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you’ve grown old, even at 20; but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there’s hope you may die young at 80.
譯文： 青春
青春不是年華，而是心境;青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志，恢宏的想象，炙熱的戀情;青春是生命的深泉在涌流。
青春氣貫長(zhǎng)虹，勇銳蓋過(guò)怯弱，進(jìn)取壓倒茍安。如此銳氣，二十后生而有之，六旬男子則更多見(jiàn)。年歲有加，并非垂老，理想丟棄，方墮暮年。
歲月悠悠，衰微只及肌膚;熱忱拋卻，頹廢必致靈魂。憂煩，惶恐，喪失自信，定使心靈扭曲，意氣如灰。
無(wú)論年屆花甲，擬或二八芳齡，心中皆有生命之歡樂(lè)，奇跡之誘惑，孩童般天真久盛不衰。人人心中皆有一臺(tái)天線，只要你從天上人間接受美好、希望、歡樂(lè)、勇氣和力量的信號(hào)，你就青春永駐，風(fēng)華常存。 、
一旦天線下降，銳氣便被冰雪覆蓋，玩世不恭、自暴自棄油然而生，即使年方二十，實(shí)已垂垂老矣;然則只要樹(shù)起天線，捕捉樂(lè)觀信號(hào)，你就有望在八十高齡告別塵寰時(shí)仍覺(jué)年輕。
第二篇
Three Days to See(Excerpts)假如給我三天光明(節(jié)選)
Three Days to See(Excerpts)
All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year, sometimes as short as 24 hours. But always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed hero chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.
Such stories set us thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What events, what experiences, what associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings, what regrets?
Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with gentleness, vigor and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come. There are those, of course, who would adopt the Epicurean motto of “Eat, drink, and be merry”. But most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.
In stories the doomed hero is usually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortune, but almost always his sense of values is changed. He becomes more appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It has often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do.
Most of us, however, take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future. When we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. The days stretch out in an endless vista. So we go about our petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.
The same lethargy, I am afraid, characterizes the use of all our faculties and senses. Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in adult life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sounds hazily, without concentration and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.
I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound.
譯文： 假如給我三天光明(節(jié)選)
我們都讀過(guò)震撼人心的故事，故事中的主人公只能再活一段很有限的時(shí)光，有時(shí)長(zhǎng)達(dá)一年，有時(shí)卻短至一日。但我們總是想要知道，注定要離世人的會(huì)選擇如何度過(guò)自己最后的時(shí)光。當(dāng)然，我說(shuō)的是那些有選擇權(quán)利的自由人，而不是那些活動(dòng)范圍受到嚴(yán)格限定的死囚。
這樣的故事讓我們思考，在類似的處境下，我們?cè)撟鲂┦裁?作為終有一死的人，在臨終前的幾個(gè)小時(shí)內(nèi)我們應(yīng)該做什么事，經(jīng)歷些什么或做哪些聯(lián)想?回憶往昔，什么使我們開(kāi)心快樂(lè)?什么又使我們悔恨不已?
有時(shí)我想，把每天都當(dāng)作生命中的最后一天來(lái)邊，也不失為一個(gè)極好的生活法則。這種態(tài)度會(huì)使人格外重視生命的價(jià)值。我們每天都應(yīng)該以優(yōu)雅的姿態(tài)，充沛的精力，抱著感恩之心來(lái)生活。但當(dāng)時(shí)間以無(wú)休止的日，月和年在我們面前流逝時(shí)，我們卻常常沒(méi)有了這種子感覺(jué)。當(dāng)然，也有人奉行“吃，喝，享受”的享樂(lè)主義信條，但絕大多數(shù)人還是會(huì)受到即將到來(lái)的死亡的懲罰。
在故事中，將死的主人公通常都在最后一刻因突降的幸運(yùn)而獲救，但他的價(jià)值觀通常都會(huì)改變，他變得更加理解生命的意義及其永恒的精神價(jià)值。我們常常注意到，那些生活在或曾經(jīng)生活在死亡陰影下的人無(wú)論做什么都會(huì)感到幸福。
然而，我們中的大多數(shù)人都把生命看成是理所當(dāng)然的。我們知道有一天我們必將面對(duì)死亡，但總認(rèn)為那一天還在遙遠(yuǎn)的將來(lái)。當(dāng)我們身強(qiáng)體健之時(shí)，死亡簡(jiǎn)直不可想象，我們很少考慮到它。日子多得好像沒(méi)有盡頭。因此我們一味忙于瑣事，幾乎意識(shí)不到我們對(duì)待生活的冷漠態(tài)度。
我擔(dān)心同樣的冷漠也存在于我們對(duì)自己官能和意識(shí)的運(yùn)用上。只有聾子才理解聽(tīng)力的重要，只有盲人才明白視覺(jué)的可貴，這尤其適用于那些成年后才失去視力或聽(tīng)力之苦的人很少充分利用這些寶貴的能力。他們的眼睛和耳朵模糊地感受著周圍的景物與聲音，心不在焉，也無(wú)所感激。這正好我們只有在失去后才懂得珍惜一樣，我們只有在生病后才意識(shí)到健康的可貴。
我經(jīng)常想，如果每個(gè)人在年輕的時(shí)候都有幾天失時(shí)失聰，也不失為一件幸事。黑暗將使他更加感激光明，寂靜將告訴他聲音的美妙。
第三篇
Companionship of Books 以書為伴
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.
A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it 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.
Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both entertain 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.
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.
Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author’s minds, ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time have been to sift out the bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive e but what is really good.
Books introduce us into the best society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see the as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe.
The great and good do not die, even in this world. Embalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which on still listens.
譯文： 以書為伴(節(jié)選)
通?？匆粋€(gè)讀些什么書就可知道他的為人，就像看他同什么人交往就可知道他的為人一樣，因?yàn)橛腥艘匀藶榘?，也有人以書為伴。無(wú)論是書友還是朋友，我們都應(yīng)該以最好的為伴。
好書就像是你最好的朋友。它始終不渝，過(guò)去如此，現(xiàn)在如此，將來(lái)也永遠(yuǎn)不變。它是最有耐心，最令人愉悅的伴侶。在我們窮愁潦倒，臨危遭難時(shí)，它也不會(huì)拋棄我們，對(duì)我們總是一如既往地親切。在我們年輕時(shí)，好書陶冶我們的性情，增長(zhǎng)我們的知識(shí);到我們年老時(shí)，它又給我們以慰藉和勉勵(lì)。
人們常常因?yàn)橄矚g同一本書而結(jié)為知已，就像有時(shí)兩個(gè)人因?yàn)榫茨酵粋€(gè)人而成為朋友一樣。有句古諺說(shuō)道：“愛(ài)屋及屋。”其實(shí)“愛(ài)我及書”這句話蘊(yùn)涵更多的哲理。書是更為真誠(chéng)而高尚的情誼紐帶。人們可以通過(guò)共同喜愛(ài)的作家溝通思想，交流感情，彼此息息相通，并與自己喜歡的作家思想相通，情感相融。
好書常如最精美的寶器，珍藏著人生的思想的精華，因?yàn)槿松木辰缰饕驮谟谄渌枷氲木辰?。因此，最好的書是金玉良言和崇高思想的寶?kù)，這些良言和思想若銘記于心并多加珍視，就會(huì)成為我們忠實(shí)的伴侶和永恒的慰藉。
書籍具有不朽的本質(zhì)，是為人類努力創(chuàng)造的最為持久的成果。寺廟會(huì)倒坍，神像會(huì)朽爛，而書卻經(jīng)久長(zhǎng)存。對(duì)于偉大的思想來(lái)說(shuō)，時(shí)間是無(wú)關(guān)緊要的。多年前初次閃現(xiàn)于作者腦海的偉大思想今日依然清新如故。時(shí)間惟一的作用是淘汰不好的作品，因?yàn)橹挥姓嬲募炎鞑拍芙?jīng)世長(zhǎng)存。
書籍介紹我們與最優(yōu)秀的人為伍，使我們置身于歷代偉人巨匠之間，如聞其聲，如觀其行，如見(jiàn)其人，同他們情感交融，悲喜與共，感同身受。我們覺(jué)得自己仿佛在作者所描繪的舞臺(tái)上和他們一起粉墨登場(chǎng)。
即使在人世間，偉大杰出的人物也永生不來(lái)。他們的精神被載入書冊(cè)，傳于四海。書是人生至今仍在聆聽(tīng)的智慧之聲，永遠(yuǎn)充滿著活力。
第四篇
If I Rest,I Rust 如果我休息，我就會(huì)生銹
If I Rest, I Rust
The significant inscription found on an old key---“If I rest, I rust”---would be an excellent motto for those who are afflicted with the slightest bit of idleness. Even the most industrious person might adopt it with advantage to serve as a reminder that, if one allows his faculties to rest, like the iron in the unused key, they will soon show signs of rust and, ultimately, cannot do the work required of them.
Those who would attain the heights reached and kept by great men must keep their faculties polished by constant use, so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge, the gate that guard the entrances to the professions, to science, art, literature, agriculture---every department of human endeavor.
Industry keeps bright the key that opens the treasury of achievement. If Hugh Miller, after toiling all day in a quarry, had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation, he would never have become a famous geologist. The celebrated mathematician, Edmund Stone, would never have published a mathematical dictionary, never have found the key to science of mathematics, if he had given his spare moments to idleness, had the little Scotch lad, Ferguson, allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside instead of calculating the position of the stars by a string of beads, he would never have become a famous astronomer.
Labor vanquishes all---not inconstant, spasmodic, or ill-directed labor; but faithful, unremitting, daily effort toward a well-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so is eternal industry the price of noble and enduring success.
譯文： 如果我休息，我就會(huì)生銹
在一把舊鑰匙上發(fā)現(xiàn)了一則意義深遠(yuǎn)的銘文——如果我休息，我就會(huì)生銹。對(duì)于那些懶散而煩惱的人來(lái)說(shuō)，這將是至理名言。甚至最為勤勉的人也以此作為警示：如果一個(gè)人有才能而不用，就像廢棄鑰匙上的鐵一樣，這些才能就會(huì)很快生銹，并最終無(wú)法完成安排給自己的工作。
有些人想取得偉人所獲得并保持的成就，他們就必須不斷運(yùn)用自身才能，以便開(kāi)啟知識(shí)的大門，即那些通往人類努力探求的各個(gè)領(lǐng)域的大門，這些領(lǐng)域包括各種職業(yè)：科學(xué)，藝術(shù)，文學(xué)，農(nóng)業(yè)等。
勤奮使開(kāi)啟成功寶庫(kù)的鑰匙保持光亮。如果休•米勒在采石場(chǎng)勞作一天后，晚上的時(shí)光用來(lái)休息消遣的話，他就不會(huì)成為名垂青史的地質(zhì)學(xué)家。著名數(shù)學(xué)家愛(ài)德蒙•斯通如果閑暇時(shí)無(wú)所事事，就不會(huì)出版數(shù)學(xué)詞典，也不會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)開(kāi)啟數(shù)學(xué)之門的鑰匙。如果蘇格蘭青年弗格森在山坡上放羊時(shí)，讓他那思維活躍的大腦處于休息狀態(tài)，而不是借助一串珠子計(jì)算星星的位置，他就不會(huì)成為著名的天文學(xué)家。
勞動(dòng)征服一切。這里所指的勞動(dòng)不是斷斷續(xù)續(xù)的，間歇性的或方向偏差的勞動(dòng)，而是堅(jiān)定的，不懈的，方向正確的每日勞動(dòng)。正如要想擁有自由就要時(shí)刻保持警惕一樣，要想取得偉大的，持久的成功，就必須堅(jiān)持不懈地努力。
第五篇
Ambition 抱負(fù)
Ambition
It is not difficult to imagine a world short of ambition. It would probably be a kinder world: with out 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.
譯文： 抱負(fù)
一個(gè)缺乏抱負(fù)的世界將會(huì)怎樣，這不難想象?；蛟S，這將是一個(gè)更為友善的世界：沒(méi)有渴求，沒(méi)有磨擦，沒(méi)有失望。人們將有時(shí)間進(jìn)行反思。他們所從事的工作將不是為了他們自身，而是為了整個(gè)集體。競(jìng)爭(zhēng)永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)介入;沖突將被消除。人們的緊張關(guān)系將成為過(guò)往云煙。創(chuàng)造的重壓將得以終結(jié)。藝術(shù)將不再惹人費(fèi)神，其功能將純粹為了慶典。人的壽命將會(huì)更長(zhǎng)，因?yàn)橛杉ち移礌?zhēng)引起的心臟病和中風(fēng)所導(dǎo)致的死亡將越來(lái)越少。焦慮將會(huì)消失。時(shí)光流逝，抱負(fù)卻早已遠(yuǎn)離人心。
啊，長(zhǎng)此以往人生將變得多么乏味無(wú)聊!
有一種盛行的觀點(diǎn)認(rèn)為，成功是一種神話，因此抱負(fù)亦屬虛幻。這是不是說(shuō)實(shí)際上并不豐在成功?成就本身就是一場(chǎng)空?與諸多運(yùn)動(dòng)和事件的力量相比，男男女女的努力顯得微不足?顯然，并非所有的成功都值得景仰，也并非所有的抱負(fù)都值得追求。對(duì)值得和不值得的選擇，一個(gè)人自然而然很快就能學(xué)會(huì)。但即使是最為憤世嫉俗的人暗地里也承認(rèn)，成功確實(shí)存在，成就的意義舉足輕重，而把世上男男女女的所作所為說(shuō)成是徒勞無(wú)功才是真正的無(wú)稽之談。認(rèn)為成功不存在的觀點(diǎn)很可能造成混亂。這種觀點(diǎn)的本意是一筆勾銷所有提高能力的動(dòng)機(jī)，求取業(yè)績(jī)的興趣和對(duì)子孫后代的關(guān)注。
我們無(wú)法選擇出生，無(wú)法選擇父母，無(wú)法選擇出生的歷史時(shí)期與國(guó)家，或是成長(zhǎng)的周遭環(huán)境。我們大多數(shù)人都無(wú)法選擇死亡，無(wú)法選擇死亡的時(shí)間或條件。但是在這些無(wú)法選擇之中，我們的確可以選擇自己的生活方式：是勇敢無(wú)畏還是膽小怯懦，是光明磊落還是厚顏無(wú)恥，是目標(biāo)堅(jiān)定還是隨波逐流。我們決定生活中哪些至關(guān)重要，哪些微不足道。我們決定，用以顯示我們自身重要性的，不是我們做了什么，就是我們拒絕做些什么。但是不論世界對(duì)我們所做的選擇和決定有多么漠不關(guān)心，這些選擇和決定終究是我們自己做出的。我們決定，我們選擇。而當(dāng)我們決定和選擇時(shí)，我們的生活便得以形成。最終構(gòu)筑我們命運(yùn)的就是抱負(fù)之所在。
第六篇
What I have Lived for 我為何而生
What I Have Lived For
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.
譯文： 我為何而生
我的一生被三種簡(jiǎn)單卻又無(wú)比強(qiáng)烈的激情所控制：對(duì)愛(ài)的渴望，對(duì)知識(shí)的探索和對(duì)人類苦難難以抑制的嶼。這些激情像狂風(fēng)，把我恣情吹向四方，掠過(guò)苦痛的大海，迫使我瀕臨絕望的邊緣。
我尋求愛(ài)，首先因?yàn)樗刮倚臑橹?，這種難以名狀的美妙迷醉使我愿意用所有的余生去換取哪怕幾個(gè)小時(shí)這樣的幸福。我尋求愛(ài)，還因?yàn)樗芫徑馕倚睦砩系墓陋?dú)中，我感覺(jué)心靈的戰(zhàn)栗，仿如站在世界的邊緣而面前是冰冷，無(wú)底的死亡深淵。我尋求愛(ài)，因?yàn)樵谖宜慷玫慕Y(jié)合中，我仿佛看到了圣賢與詩(shī)人們所向往的天堂之景。這就是我所尋找的，雖然對(duì)人的一生而言似乎有些遙不可及，但至少是我用盡一生所領(lǐng)悟到的。
我用同樣的激情去尋求知識(shí)。我希望能理解人類的心靈，希望能夠知道群星閃爍的緣由。我試圖領(lǐng)悟畢達(dá)哥拉斯所景仰的“數(shù)即萬(wàn)物”的思想。我已經(jīng)悟出了其中的一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)道理，盡管并不是很多。
愛(ài)和知識(shí)，用它們的力量把人引向天堂。但是同情卻總把人又拽回到塵世中來(lái)。痛苦的呼喊聲回蕩在我的內(nèi)心。饑餓的孩子，受壓迫的難民，貧窮和痛苦的世界，都是對(duì)人類所憧憬的美好生活的無(wú)情嘲弄。我渴望能夠減少邪惡，但是我無(wú)能為力，我也難逃其折磨。
這就是我的一生。我已經(jīng)找到它的價(jià)值。而且如果有機(jī)會(huì)，我很愿意能再活它一次。
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