我许你一世安好
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
一切刚开始 We're Just Beginning
"We are reading the first verse of the first chapter of a book whose pages are infinite…”
“我们正在读一本书的第一章第一行，这本书的页数是无限的……”
I do not know who wrote those words, but I have always liked them as a reminder that the future can be anything we want to make it. We can take the mysterious, hazy future and carve out of it anything that we can imagine, just as a sculptor carves a statue from a shapeless stone.
我不知道是谁写的，可我很喜欢这句话，它提醒我们未来是由自己创造的。我们可以把神秘、不可知的未来塑造成我们想象中的任何模样，犹如雕刻家将未成形的石头刻成雕像。
We are all in the position of the farmer. If we plant a good seed, we reap a good harvest. If our seed is poor and full of weeds, we reap a useless crop. If we plant nothing at all, we harvest nothing at all.
我们每个人都像是农夫。洒下良种将有丰收，播下劣种或生满野草便将毁去收成。没有耕耘则会一无所获。
I want the future to be better than the past. I don't want it contaminated by the mistakes and errors with which history is filled. We should all be concerned about the future because that is where we will spend the remainder of our lives.
我希望未来比过去更加美好，希望未来不会沾染历史的错误与过失。我们都应举目向前，因我们的余生要用未来书写。
The past is gone and static. Nothing we can do will change it. The future is before us and dynamic. Everything we do will affect it. Each day brings with it new frontiers, in our homes and in our business, if we only recognize them. We are just at the beginning of the progress in every field of human endeavor.
往昔已逝，静如止水;我们无法再作改变。而前方的未来正生机勃勃;我们所做的每一件事都将会影响着它。只要我们认识到这些，无论是在家中还是在工作上，每天我们的面前都会展现出新的天地。在人类致力开拓的每一片领域上，我们正站在进步的起跑点。
英语美文欣赏
别让这个时代越来越冷漠 Don’t Make the era More and More Indifferent
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings, but shorter tempers; wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints; we spend more, but have less; we buy more but enjoy less.
我们这个时代在历史上的说法就是我们拥有更高的建筑，但是有更暴的脾气;我们拥有更宽阔的高速公路，却有更狭隘的观点;我们花费得更多，拥有得却更少;我们购买得更多却享受得更少。
We have bigger houses and smaller families; more conveniences, but less time; we have more degrees, but less sense; more knowledge, but less judgment; more experts, but more problems; more medicine, but less wellness.
我们的房子越来越大，家庭却越来越小;便利越来越多，时间却越来越少;学位越来越多，感觉却越来越少;知识越来越多，观点却越来越少;专家越来越多，问题也越来越多;药物越来越多，健康却越来越少。
We drink too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry too quickly, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
我们喝得太多，花钱大手大脚，笑得太少，开车太快，易怒，熬夜，赖床，书读得越来越少，电视看得越来越多，却很少向上帝祈祷。
We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often. We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life; we’ve added years to life, not life to years.
我们常常夸夸其谈，却很少付出爱心，且常常心中充满了仇恨。我们学会了如何谋生，而不知如何生活。我们延长了生命的期限，而不是生活的期限。
We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet the new neighbor. We’ve conquered outer space, but not inner space; we’ve done larger things, but not better things.
我们登上了月球，并成功返回，却不能穿过街道去拜访新邻居。我们已经征服了太空，却征服不了自己的内心;我们的事业越做越大，但质量却没有提高。
We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul; we’ve split the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less; we plan more, but accomplish less.
我们清洁了空气，却污染了灵魂;我们分离了原子，却无法驱除我们的偏见;我们写得更多，学到的却更少;我们的计划更多，完成的却更少。
We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait; we have higher incomes, but, lower morals.
我们学会了奔跑，却忘记了如何等待;我们的收入越来越高，道德水平却越来越低。
We build more computers to hold more information to produce more copies than ever, but have less communication; we’ve become long on quantity, but short on quality.
我们制造了更多的计算机来存储更多的信息，制造了最多的副本，却减少了交流;我们开始渴望数量，但忽视了质量。
These are the days of two incomes, but more divorce; of fancier houses, but more broken homes.
这个时代有双收入，但也有了更高的离婚率;有更华丽的房屋，却有更多破碎的家庭。
These are the days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throw away morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. Where are we heading...?
这个时代有了快速旅游，免洗尿布，却抛弃了道德、一夜情、超重的身体，以及可以从快乐中走向静止和自杀的药物。我们将走向何方……?
If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of days. But the family we left behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.
如果我们明天就死掉，我们为之工作的公司可能会在一天内很轻易地找人代替我们的位置。但是当我们离开家人后，他们的余生将会在失落中度过。
And come to think of it, we pour ourselves more into work than to our family an unwise investment indeed.
考虑一下吧，我们将自己的时间更多地投入到工作中，而放弃与家人在一起的时光，实在并非明智之举。
So what is the morale of the story?
那么这则故事的主旨是什么呢?
Don’t work too hard... and you know what’s the full word of family?
不要工作得太辛苦，你知道家的全称吗?
FAMILY = (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER, (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU.
家=爸爸妈妈，我爱你们。
英语经典美文欣赏
50%的希望 Fifty-percent Expectation
I believe in the "50-percent theory". Half the time things are better than normal; the other half, they are worse. I believe life is a pendulum swing. It takes time and experience to understand what normal is, and that gives me the perspective to deal with the surprises of the future.
我信奉“对半理论”。生活时而无比顺畅，时而倒霉透顶，好坏参半。我觉得生活就像来回晃动的钟摆。读懂生活的常态需要时间和阅历，也正是这样才练就了我面对未来荣辱不惊的生活态度。
Let's benchmark the parameters: Yes, I will die. I've dealt with the deaths of both parents, a best friend, a beloved boss and cherished pets. Some of these deaths have been violent, before my eyes, or slow and agonizing. Bad stuff, and it belongs at the bottom of the scale.
让我们掂量这些点点滴滴：是的，我注定会死去。我已经经历了双亲的仙逝，一位友人的亡故，一位敬爱的老板的离逝，还有心爱宠物的死亡。当中一些变故突如其来，直击眼前;有些却长期折磨，痛苦不堪。糟糕的事儿，它们驻留谷底。
Then there are those high points: romance and marriage to the right person; having a child and doing those Dad things like coaching my son's baseball team, paddling around the creek in the boat while he's swimming with the dogs, discovering his compassion so deep it manifests even in his kindness to snails, his imagination so vivid he builds a spaceship from a scattered pile of Legos.
当然生活也不乏熠熠光彩：坠入爱河缔结良缘;养育幼子身为人父，训练儿子的棒球队，当他和狗在水中嬉戏时，摇桨划船前瞻后顾，感受他如此强烈的同情心——即使对蜗牛也善待有加，发现他如此活跃的想像力——即使零散的积木也能堆出太空飞船。
But there is a vast meadow of life in the middle, where the bad and the good flip-flop acrobatically. This is what convinces me to believe in the 50-percent theory.
但在它们发生期间有一片宽广的草坪，在那儿上演的各种好事坏事像耍杂技一样地翻新。这就是让我信服对半理论的原因。
One spring I planted corn too early in a bottomland so flood-prone that neighbors laughed. I felt chagrined at the wasted effort. Summer turned brutal-- the worst heat wave and drought in my lifetime. The air-conditioner died,the well went dry, the marriage ended, the job lost, the money gone. I was living lyrics from a country tune -- music I loathed. Only a surging Kansas CityRoyals team, bound for their first World Series, buoyed my spirits.
有一年春天，我在一片容易被淹的低洼地过早种下了玉米，邻居们都为此嘲笑我。一番心血付之东流让我懊恼不已。接着我生命中最难熬的酷暑来临了--热浪袭人，酿至旱灾。空调失灵，水井枯竭，婚姻破裂，惨遭失业，积蓄挥空。我正经历某个乡村调频描绘的情节，我讨厌这种音乐。只有一支人气攀升的堪萨斯皇家棒球队的小组因他们的第一次出征世界大赛团结起来使我精神振奋。
Looking back on that horrible summer, I soon understood that all succeeding good things merely offset the bad. Worse than normal wouldn't last long. I am owed and savor the halcyon times. They reinvigorate me for the next nasty surprise and offer assurance that I can thrive. The 50 percent theory even helps me see hope beyond my Royals' recent slump, a field of struggling rookies sown so that some year soon we can reap an October harvest.
回想那个可怕的夏天，我不久就明白了所有的好事坏事不过是正负抵消。不顺心的境遇不会延宕过久。太平时光是我应得的，我要尽情享受。它们给我新的活力以应对突如其来的险境，并确保我再度辉煌。对半理论甚至帮我在我喜爱的皇家棒球队最近的低潮中看到希望——这是一块艰难行进的新手们耕耘的土地，播种了，假以时日我们就可以收获十月的金秋。
Oh, yeah, the corn crop? For that one blistering summer, the ground moisture was just right, planting early allowed pollination before heat,withered the tops, and the lack of rain spared the standing corn from floods. That winter my crib overflowed with corn -- fat, healthy three-to-a-stalk ears filled with kernels from heel to tip -- while my neighbors' fields yielded only brown, empty husks.
哦，对了，玉米收成?就那年炎热的夏天，庄稼地的湿度恰到好处，过早的种植使授粉避开酷热在顶梢干枯前完成，雨水稀少使地里长着的玉米免遭水灾。那年冬天，我的粮仓里堆满了玉米--饱满结实的玉米每株秆上结三个，每个玉米从底到顶端长满了玉米粒--而我的邻居们地里长出来的只是暗沉干瘪的壳。
Although plantings past may have fallen below the 50-percent expectation, and they probably will again in the future, I am still sustained by the crop that flourishes during the drought.
尽管过去播种的收获没有达到50%的期望，而且将来也可能是这样，我仍然要为经历旱季依然丰收的玉米而坚守阵地。
萱萱小宝
美文,大概就是美的化身,它是一种情感,一种体验和一种表达。下面是我带来的经典英语美文摘抄，欢迎阅读!经典英语美文摘抄篇一 什么东西比金钱更重要 It is physically impossible for a well-educated intellectual, or brave man to make money the chief object① of his thoughts; as physically impossible as it is for him to make his dinner the principal object of them. 一个受过良好 教育 、有头脑的、有胆识的人完全不可能将金钱当作他考虑的主要对象，正如他完全不可能将美餐当做他主要考虑对象一样。 All healthy people like their dinner, but their dinner is not the mainobject of their lives. So all healthy-minded people like making money--ought to like it and to enjoy the sensation② of winning; but the main object of their lives is not money; it is something better than money. 所有健康的人都喜欢享用美餐，但美餐并不是他们生活的主要目标。同样道理，所有思想健全的人都喜欢挣钱--喜欢并体验挣到钞票的兴奋感是正当的;然而，他们生活的主要目标并不是金钱，而是比金钱更珍贵的东西。 A good soldier, for instance③, mainly wishes to do his fighting well. He is glad of his pay--very properly so --and justly grumbles④ when you keep him ten months without it; still, his main notion⑤ of life is to win battles, not to be paid for winning them. 例如，一位优秀的士兵主要想打好仗。他为自己的薪饷感到高兴--完全合乎情理;假如，你扣发他十个月军饷，他发牢骚理所应当。不过，他的人生主要目标仍然是打胜仗，并非为了薪饷而打胜仗。 So too of doctors. They like fees no doubt--ought to like them; yet the entire object of their lives is not fees. They, on the whole desire to cure the sick, would rather cure their patients and lose their fee than kill them and get it. And so with all other brave and rightly trained men: their work is first, their fee is second, very important always, but still second. 医生也是如此。毫无疑问，他们都喜欢收诊费--本应如此;然而他们人生的全部目标并不是诊费。总的说来，他们都想把病人治好，而且宁愿把病人治好而得不到诊金，也不愿为了诊金而把病人治死。所有其他有胆识的、受过正当培训的人也是如此：他们总是工作第一、报酬第二。报酬尽管总是非常重要，但还是第二。 But in every nation, there is a vast class of people who are cowardly⑥, and more or less stupid. And with these people, just as certainly the fee is first and the work second, as with brave people the work is first and the fee second. 可是，在每个国家，都有一大批怯懦的、多少有点愚蠢的人。对于这些人而言，无疑是报酬第一、工作第二，正如有胆识的人工作第一、报酬第二一样。 And this is no small distinction⑦. It is the whole distinction in a man. You cannot serve two masters; you must serve one or the other. If your work is first with you, and your fee is second, work is your master. 这决非细微差异，这是根本性差异，区分一个人的根本性差异。你不能侍奉两个主人，你必须侍奉其中一个，非此即彼。假如就你而言是工作第一、报酬第二，那么工作就是你的主人。 Observe, then, all wise work is mainly threefold⑧ in character. It is honest, useful, and cheerful. I hardly know anything more strange than that you recognize honesty in play, and do not in work. 请注意，一切明确的工作本质上都具有三重性：诚实、有用和愉悦。人们在娱乐中讲究诚实而在工作中却不讲诚实--据我所知，没有比这更奇怪的事情了。 In your lightest games you have always someone to see what you call "fair play". In boxing you must hit fair; in racing, start fair. Your watchword is fair play; your hatred, foul play. Did it ever strike you that you wanted another watchword⑨ also, fair work, and another hatred also, foul⑩ work? 在最不重要的比赛中，你总是请人做裁判，确保人们常说的公平竞赛。 拳击 中，你出拳必须公正;赛跑时，你起跑必须公正。你的 口号 就是公正比赛，你所深恶痛绝的就是违反规则。那么，你可曾想过，你还需要另一个口号，那就是老老实实地工作;你深恶痛绝的应是投机取巧。 经典英语美文摘抄篇二 Mother & Child 妈妈与孩子 It was Christmas 1961. I was teaching in a small town in Ohio where my twenty-seven third graders eagerly anticipated the great day of gifts giving. 那是1961年的 圣诞节 。我在俄亥俄州的一个小镇上教小学三年级。班上27个孩子都在积极参加"礼物赠送日"的活动。 A tree covered with tinsel and gaudy paper chains graced one corner. In another rested a manger scene produced from cardboard and poster paints by chubby, and sometimes grubby, hands. Someone had brought a doll and placed it on the straw in the cardboard box that served as the manger. It didn't matter that you could pull a string and hear the blue-eyed, golden-haired dolly say, "My name is Susie." "But Jesus was a boy baby!" one of the boys proclaimed. Nonetheless, Susie stayed. 教室的一角被一棵树装点得熠熠生辉，树上缀满了金银丝帛和华丽的彩纸。教室的另一角是一个涂着海报油彩由纸板制成的马槽，这出自孩子们那胖乎乎、脏兮兮的小手。有人带来了一个娃娃，把它放在纸板槽里的稻草上(假装小耶稣)。只要拉拉它身上的一条细绳，这个蓝眼睛、金发的娃娃就会说道，"我叫苏西"，不过这都没有关系。一个男孩提出："耶稣可是个小男孩呀!"不过苏西还是留了下来。 Each day the children produced some new wonder -- strings of popcorn, hand-made trinkets, and German bells made from wallpaper samples, which we hung from the ceiling. Through it all she remained aloof, watching from afar, seemingly miles away. I wondered what would happen to this quiet child, once so happy, now so suddenly withdrawn. I hoped the festivities would appeal to her. But nothing did. We made cards and gifts for mothers and dads, for sisters and brothers, for grandparents, and for each other. At home the students made the popular fried marbles and vied with one another to bring in the prettiest ones. " You put them in a hot frying pan, Teacher. And you let them get real hot, and then you watch what happens inside. But you don't fry them too long or they break."So, as my gift to them, I made each of my students a little pouch for carrying their fried marbles. And I knew they had each made something for me: bookmarks carefully cut, colored, and sometimes pasted together; cards and special drawings; liquid embroidery doilies, hand-fringed, of course. 每天孩子们都会做点儿新玩意--爆米花串成的细链子、手工做的小装饰品和墙纸样做的德国式风铃，我们把这些风铃挂在了天花板上。但自始至终，她都是孤零零地远远观望，仿佛是隔了一道几里长的障碍。我猜想着这个沉默的孩子发生了什么事，原来那个快乐的孩子怎么突然变得沉默寡言起来。我希望节日的活动能吸引她，可还是无济于事。我们制作了许多卡片和礼物，准备把它们送给爸爸妈妈、兄弟姐妹、祖父母和身边的同学。学生们在家里做了当时很流行“油炸"玻璃弹子，并且相互比着，要把最好看的拿来。"老师，把玻璃弹子放在热油锅里，让它们烧热，然后看看里面的变化。但不要炸得时间过长否则会破裂。"所以，我给每个学生做了一个装"油炸弹子"的小袋作为礼物送给他们。我知道他们每个人也都为我做了礼物：仔细剪裁、着色，或已粘集成串的书签; 贺卡 和特别绘制的图片;透明的镶边碗碟垫布，当然是手工编制的流苏。 The day of gift-giving finally came. We oohed and aahed over our handiwork as the presents were exchanged. Through it all, she sat quietly watching. I had made a special pouch for her, red and green with white lace. I wanted very much to see her smile. She opened the package so slowly and carefully. I waited but she turned away. I had not penetrated the wall of isolation she had built around herself. 赠送礼物的那天终于到了。在交换礼物时我们为对方亲手做的小礼品不停地欢呼叫好。而整个过程，她只是安静地坐在那儿看着。我为她做的小袋很特别，红绿相间还镶着白边。我非常想看到她笑一笑。她打开包装，动作又慢又小心。我等待着，但是她却转过了身。我还是没能穿过她在自己周围树起的高墙，这堵墙将她与大家隔离了开来。 After school the children left in little groups, chattering about the great day yet to come when long-hoped-for two-wheelers and bright sleds would appear beside their trees at home. She lingered, watching them bundle up and go out the door. I sat down in a child-sized chair to catch my breath, hardly aware of what was happening, when she came to me with outstretched hands, bearing a small white box, unwrapped and slightly soiled, as though it had been held many times by unwashed, childish hands. She said nothing. "For me?" I asked with a weak smile. She said not a word, but nodded her head. I took the box and gingerly opened it. There inside, glistening green, a fried marble hung from a golden chain. Then I looked into that elderly eight-year-old face and saw the question in her dark brown eyes. In a flash I knew -- she had made it for her mother, a mother she would never see again, a mother who would never hold her or brush her hair or share a funny story, a mother who would never again hear her childish joys or sorrows. A mother who had taken her own life just three weeks before. 放学后，学生们三三俩俩地离开了，边走边说着即将到来的圣诞节：家中的圣诞树旁将发现自己心系已久的自行车和崭新发亮的雪橇。她慢慢地走在后面，看着大家拥挤着走出门外。我坐在孩子们的小椅子上稍稍松了口气，对要发生的事没有一点准备。这时她向我走来，双手拿着一个白色的盒子向我伸过来。盒子没有打包装，稍有些脏。好像是被孩子未洗过的小手摸过了好多遍。她没有说话。"给我的吗?"我微微一笑。她没出声，只是点点头。我接过盒子，非常小心地打开它。盒子里面有一条金色的链子，上面坠着一块闪闪发光的“油炸"玻璃弹子。然后我看着她的脸，虽只有8岁，可却是成人的表情。在她深棕色的眼睛里我找到了问题的答案。我在一瞬间明白过来--这是她为妈妈做的项链，她再也见不到的妈妈，再也不能抱她、给她梳头或一起讲 故事 的妈妈。她的妈妈已再也不能分享她充满童稚的快乐，分担她孩子气的忧伤。就在3个星期前她的妈妈离开了人世。 I held out the chain. She took it in both her hands, reached forward, and secured the simple clasp at the back of my neck. She stepped back then as if to see that all was well. I looked down at the shiny piece of glass and the tarnished golden chain, then back at the giver. I meant it when I whispered," Oh, Maria, it is so beautiful. She would have loved it."Neither of us could stop the tears. She stumbled into my arms and we wept together. And for that brief moment I became her mother, for she had given me the greatest gift of all: herself. 我拿起那条链子。她用双手接过它，向前探了探身，在我的脖子后把简易的项链钩系好。然后她向后退了几步，好像在看看是否合适。我低下头看着闪闪发亮的玻璃珠和已失去光泽的金色链子，然后抬起头望着她。我很认真地轻声说道：“哦，玛丽亚，这链子真漂亮。你妈妈一定会喜欢的。"我们已无法抑制住泪水。她踉踉跄跄地扑进我的怀里，我们都哭了。在那短暂的一刻我成了她的妈妈，而她送给了我一份最珍贵的礼物：她的信任和爱。By Patricia A. Habada 经典英语美文摘抄篇三 FAMILY FAMILY= (F)ATHER (A)ND (M)OTHER, (I) (L)OVE (Y)OU A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door. Daddy, may I ask you a question? Yeah sure, what is it? replied the man. Daddy, how much do you make an hour? That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing? the man said angrily. I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour? pleaded the little boy. If you must know, I make $20 an hour. Oh, the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, Daddy, may I please borrow $10? The father was furious, If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I work hard everyday for such this childish behavior. The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10 and he really didn't ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door. Are you asleep, son? He asked. No daddy, I'm awake, replied the boy. I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier, said the man, It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $10you asked for. The little boy sat straight up, smiling. Oh, thank you daddy! He yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, then looked up at his father. Why do you want more money if you already have some? the father grumbled. Because I didn't have enough, but now I do, the little boy replied. Daddy, I have $20 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.
