美文欣赏英语

英语作为学习生涯中必不可少的课程，想学好真的不容易。我在此献上英语美文，希望大家喜欢。

英语经典美文欣赏

控制你的情绪 Control Your Emotion

You must control and direct your emotions not abolish them. Besides, abolition would be antimissile task. Emotions are like a river. Their power can be dammed up and released under control and direction, but is cannot be held forever in check. Sooner or later the dam will burst, unleashing catastrophic destruction.

你必须控制并导引你的情绪而非摧毁它，况且摧毁情绪是一件不可能的事情。情绪就像河流一样，你可以筑一道堤 防把它挡起来，并在控制和导引之下排放它，但却不能永远抑制它，否则那道堤防迟早会崩溃，并造成大灾难。

Your negative emotions can also be controlled and directed. PMA and self-discipline can remove their harmful effects and make them serve constructive purposes. Sometimes fear and anger will inspire intense action. But you must always submit your negative emotions--and you positive ones--to the examination of your reason before releasing them. Emotion without reason is a dreadful enemy.

你的消极心态同样也可被控制和导引，积极心态和自律 可去除其中有害的部分，而使这些消极心态能为目标贡献力 量。有的时候恐惧和生气会激发出更彻底的行动，但是在你释放消极情绪(以及积极情绪)之前务必要让你的理性为它们做一番检验，缺乏理性的情绪必然是一位可怕的敌人。

What faculty provides the crucial balance between emotions and reason? It is your willpower, or ego, a subject which will be explored in more detail below. Self-discipline will teach you to throw your willpower behind either reason or emotion and amplify the intensity of their expression.

是什么力量使得情绪和理性之间能够达到平衡呢?是意志力或自尊心(我将在以下做更详细的说明)。自律会教导你的意志力作为理性和情绪的后盾，并强化二者的表现强度。

Both your heart and your mind need a master, and they can find the master in your ego. However, your ego will fill their role only if you use self-discipline. In the absence of self-discipline, your mind and heart will fight their battles as they please. In this situation the person within whose mind the fight is carried out often gets badly hurt.

你的感情和理智都需要一位主宰，而在你的自尊心里就可发现这个主宰，然而只有你在发挥你的自律精神时，自尊心才会扮演好这个角色，如果没有了自律，你的理智和感情便会随心所欲地进行战争，战争结果当然是你会受到严重的伤害。

英语美文欣赏

一万小时天才理论 The Talent Code

The 10,000-Hour Rule says that you need approximately 10,000 hours of practice to become a world-class expert in a field. There is no other way: if you want to be a world-class expert in your field, you must do your 10,000 hours of practice.

一万小时天才理论说的是：要想成为这一领域的世界级专家，你就需要花大约一万个小时来练习。没有其他的法子，如果你想成功，那就必须得花一万个小时。

Then, where should you invest my 10,000 hours of practice?

那么，你应该把这一万个小时花在哪里呢?

This question is important because 10,000 hours is a lot of time. If you consistently practice 4 hours a day for 6 days a week, you will still need 8 years to get 10,000 hours. So answering this question is essential. If you need to invest such a huge amount of time, you’d better do it right. You’d better find your niche.

这个问题很重要，因为一万个小时是很长的一段时间。如果你每天练习4小时，每周练习6天，那么你需要8年的时间才能达到一万个小时的练习量。所以回答“要把一万个小时花在哪”的这个问题就变得非常有必要了。你要付出这么多的时间，你就必须选好方向，选择最合适的方向。

To find your niche, I find the three questions below helpful. Answer them and you will have an idea of where you should go. Here they are:

为了能找到最合适的方向，我提出了下面的三个问题，如果能回答出来这些问题，你就能找到你的方向了。问题如下：

1. Where have you invested your time?

你过去都把时间花在了哪里?

One way to know where to invest your time is simply to look at where you have invested your time. For example, in the last few years you might have learned how to play music for one or two hours a day. Or you might have blogged about a certain topic. Or you might have spent a lot of time on gardening.

要想知道该在哪个方面花时间的最简单的办法就是回头看看自己已经在哪个领域花了时间。比如说，在过去的几年里，你每天都会花一两个小时来演奏音乐，或者在某个问题上持续地发表文章，又或者在园艺上花费了大量的时间。

Those are good signs of where you should invest your 10,000 hours. You already invest part of that 10,000 hours so you only need to invest the rest. The difference is now you do it consciously and deliberately. You will be more effective that way.

这些都能很好地说明你应该在哪些方面来利用这一万个小时的时间。你已经花了一部分时间了，那么你只需要把一万个小时中剩下的那部分时间花上去就可以了。区别在于现在你是有意识地、特意地把时间用在某个领域上，而收效也会更好。

2. What are your passions?

你最感兴趣的是什么?

In fact, that’s one reason why 10,000 hours is a magic number to become a world-class expert: almost everyone else fails before reaching that point. Only a few people can reach the 10,000 hours mark and that’s why they become world class.

事实上，兴趣就是一万个小时天才理论的奥妙之处，因为很多人都在达到这个数量级之前就放弃了。只有一小部分人可以坚持一万个小时，而他们就成了世界级的高手。

To help you reach the 10,000 hours mark, doing something you love is really helpful. It will help you go through difficult times. It will help you overcome boredom. Without it, the 10,000 hours will feel like a painful journey. It’s highly unlikely that you will ever reach the 10,000 hours mark that way。

为了让自己能坚持一万个小时，做自己感兴趣的事是非常重要的。它可以帮助你渡过难关，战胜无聊。如果是自己不感兴趣的东西的话，那么要坚持一万个小时简直就是一段痛苦不堪的长途跋涉啊，很有可能你在到达终点前就已经放弃了。

3. What opportunities does the age give you?

你所处的时代赋予了你什么?

Ask yourself: what opportunities does your birth date give you? What opportunities does the history give you at this point in time?

问问自己：你出生的那个时代给你带来了什么机会?现在的社会环境又给你创造了什么机遇?

Answering these questions is not easy because it’s difficult to see whether or not something will be hot. When Bill Gates did his 10,000 hours of practice to learn programming, he might not know that it would eventually put him in a perfect position to be a software mogul. You need to have faith in something and believe that the dots will eventually connect.

要回答这个问题并不容易因为没有人可以预见未来，知道什么东西会在将来火起来。当比尔-盖茨把他的一万个小时用于学习编程的时候，他可能也不知道最终自己会因此而成为软件业巨头。你需要对自己选择的方向有信心，要相信最终这些小的点都会连成线。

英语经典美文欣赏

身体最重要的部分 The Most Important Body Part

My mother used to ask me what is the most important part of the body. Through the years I would guess at what I thought was the correct answer.

从前我母亲经常问我，身体最重要的部位是什么。许多年来，我一直以为自己所想的是正确答案。

When I was younger, I thought sound was very important to us as humans, so I said, "My ears, Mommy."

当我很小的时候，我认为对人类而言，声音很重要，因此回答：“妈咪，是耳朵。”

She said, "No. Many people are deaf. But you keep thinking about it and I will ask you again soon."

她说：“不对，有许多人是聋人。但是你继续想，不久我会再问你。”

Several years passed before she asked me again. Since making my first attempt, I had contemplated the correct answer. So this time I told her, "Mommy, sight is very important to everybody, so it must be our eyes."

当她再度问我时，已经是好几年后了。自从第一次回答之后，我就一直仔细的思考正确答案。所以这次我对她说：“妈咪，视觉对每个人都很重要，所以应该是我们的眼睛。”

She looked at me and told me, "You are learning fast, but the answer is not correct because there are many people who are blind."

她看着我，对我说：“你学的很快，但还是不对，因为有许多人是盲人。”

Over the years, Mother asked me a couple more times and always her answer was, "No, but

you are getting smarter every year, my child."

往后的年日里她又问了我几次，但她总是回答：“不对，可是孩子啊，你每年都有进步喔。”

Then last year, my Grandpa died. Everybody was hurt. Everybody was crying. My Mom looked at me when it was our turn to say our final good-bye to Grandpa. She asked me, "Do you know the most important body part yet, my dear?"

去年我祖父去世，每个人都很伤心，大家都哭了。轮到我们向爷爷做最后的告别时，妈妈看着我，问我：“宝贝，你知道身体最重要的部位了吗?”

I was shocked when she asked me this now. I always thought this was a game between her and me. She saw the confusion on my face and told me, "This question is very important. It shows that you have really lived your life." I saw her eyes well up with tears. She said, "My dear, the most important body part is your shoulder."

她在这时候问我这个问题，令我吓了一大跳。我一直以为这只是我和她之间的游戏。她看我一脸迷惑的样子，对我说：“这问题很重要，它是你真正理解生活的标志。”我看她眼睛里充盈着泪水，她说：“宝贝，最重要的部位是你的肩膀。”

I asked, "Is it because it holds up your head?"

我问：“是因为它能支撑脑袋吗?”

She replied, "No, it is because it can hold the head of a friend or loved one when they cry. Everybody needs a shoulder to cry on sometime in life, my dear. I only hope that you have enough love and friends that you will have a shoulder to cry on when you need it."

她回答说：“不，是因为让我们的朋友、我们所爱的人哭泣的时候，它可以给予依靠。宝贝，每个人在一生中都会有需要一个可以靠着哭泣的肩膀的时候。我只是希望当你需要时，会有足够的爱人和朋友，给你一个可倚靠哭泣的肩膀。”

Then and there I knew the most important body part is not a selfish one. It is sympathetic to the pain of others.

从那时起，我知道身体最重要的部位不是利己的部位，而是对别人的痛苦能感同身受的部位。