英语名篇名段精华

二十后生而有之，

六旬男子则更多见。 年岁有加，并非垂老，理想丢弃，方堕暮年。

岁月悠悠，衰微 只及肌肤；热忱抛却，颓废必致灵魂。忧烦，惶恐，丧失自

信，定使心灵扭曲，意气如灰 。

无论年届花甲，拟或二八芳龄，心中皆有生命之欢乐，奇迹 之诱惑，孩童般

天真久盛不衰。人人心中皆有一台天线，只要你从天上人间接受美好、希 望、欢

乐、勇气和力量的信号，你就青春永驻，风华常存。

< /p>

一旦天线下降，锐气便被冰雪覆盖，玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生，即使年

方二十，实已垂垂老矣；然则只要树起天线，捕捉乐观信号，你就有望在八十高

龄告别尘寰时仍觉年轻。

19 advice to a young man

Remember, my son,

you have to

work. Whether you handle a pick or a pen, a

wheel- barrow or a set of books, digging ditches or editing a paper, ringing an auction

bell or writing funny things, you must work. If you look around you will see the men

who

are

the

most

able

to

live

the

rest

of

their

days

without

work

are

the

men

who

work the hardest. Don't be afraid of killing yourself with overwork. It is beyond your

power to do that on the sunny side of thirty. They die sometimes, but it is because they

quit work at six in the evening, and do not go home until two in the morning. It

?

s the

interval

that kills,

my son. The work

gives

you

an appetite for

your meals; it lends

solidity to your slumbers, it gives you a perfect and grateful appreciation of a holiday.

There are

young men who do not work, but the world is not proud of them.

It

does not know their names, even it simply speaks of them as

“old So

-and-So

?s boy”.

Nobody likes them; the great, busy world doesn

?

t know that they are there. So find

out what you want to be and do, and take off your coat and make a dust in the world.

The busier you are, the less harm you will be apt to get into, the sweeter will be your

sleep, the brighter and happier your holidays, and the better satisfied will the world be

with you.

By Robert Jones Burdette

谨记，我的年轻人，你们必须工作．不管你是使锄头还是用笔，也不管是推

< br>手推车还是编记账簿，

也不管你是种地还是编辑报纸，

是 拍卖师亦或是作家，

都

必须有一份工作，并为之努力奋斗．如果 仔细观察周围的人，你就会发现，那些

工作最努力的人最有可能安享晚年而无须去工作．

不要害怕超负荷的工作会缩短

你的寿命，

不足三十岁的年龄，

你的承受能力远不止如此．

如果说真的有 人过早

送命，那完全是因为他们在晚上六点结束工作，却要在外流连到凌晨两点才归

家．

我的年轻人，

正是晚上六点到凌晨两点 的这段时间的生活毁了他们自己．

工

作会增加你的食欲，工作会 使你安然入睡，工作将会使你心满意足地享受假日．

有的年轻人不工作，

但世界并不会因他们自豪。

它不知道他们的姓名，

甚至

简单地将他们概括为

“

老令人讨厌者的男孩

”

。没有人喜欢他们

;

伟大，繁忙的

世界不知道他们在那里。因此，找出哪些你想成为和做的，脱下你的外衣，把粉

尘抛在世界上。

越是繁忙的你越是少受伤害，

甜蜜将 成为您的睡眠，

光明和幸福

着您的假期，更好地满足你的意志世 界。

20 What is immortal

What is immortal

TO see the golden sun and the azure sky, the outstretched ocean, to walk upon

the

green

earth

,

and

to

be

a

lord

of

a

thousand

creatures

to

look

down

giddy

precipices or over distant flowery vales, to see the world spread out under one's finger

in a map, to bring the stars near, to view the smallest insects in a microscope, to read

history and witness the revolutions of empires and the succession of generations ,to

hear the glory of Sidon and Tyre of Babylon and Susa, as of a fade pageant, and it say

all these were and are now nothing. to think that we exist in such a point of time, and

in such a corner of space, to be at once spectators and a part of the moving scene to

watch the return of the seasons, of spring and autumn, to hear---

The stock dove plain amid the forest deep,

That drowsy rustles to the sighing gale.

---to traverse desert wildness, to listen to the dungeon's gloom, or sit in crowded

theatres and see life itself mocked, to feel heat and cold, pleasure and pain right and

wrong, truth and falsehood, to study the works of art and refine the sense of beauty to

agony, to worship

fame and to dream of immortality, to have read Shakespeare and

Beloit to the same species as Sir is act Newton to be and to do all this and then in a

moment

to

be

nothing

to

have

it

all

snatched

from

one

like

a

juggler's

ball

or

a

phantasmagoria.....

我们看到金色的太阳，

蔚蓝的天空，

广阔的海洋；

我们漫步在绿油油的大地

上，做万物的主人；我们俯视令人目眩心悸的悬崖峭壁，远眺鲜花盛开的山谷；

我们把地 图摊开，

任意指点全球；

我们把星辰移到眼前观看，

极其微小的生物，我们学历史，亲自目睹帝国的兴亡，时 代的交替；我们听人谈

论西顿、推罗、巴比伦和苏撒的勋业，如同听一番往昔的盛会，听 了以后，我们

说这些事确实发生过，

但现在却是过眼云烟了；< /p>

我们思考着自己生活的时代，

生

活的地区 ；我们在人生的活动舞台上既当观众，又当演员；我们观察四季更迭，

春秋代序，我们听 见了

___

野鸽在浓密的树林中哀诉，

树林随微风的叹息而低语。

___

我们横绝大漠；

我们倾听了子夜的歌声；

我们光顾灯火辉煌的厅堂，

走

下阴森森的地牢，

或者坐在万头攒动的剧院里观看生活本身受到的摩拟；

我们亲

身感受炎热和寒冷，

快乐和痛苦，

正义和邪恶，

真理和谬误；

我们钻研艺术作品，

把自己的美 感提高到极其敏锐的程度；

我们崇拜荣誉，

梦想不朽；

我们阅读莎士

比亚，

或者把自己和牛顿爵士视为 同一族类，

正当我们面临这一切，

从事这一切

< br>的时候，

自己却在一刹那之间化为虚无，

眼前的一切像是 魔术师手中的圆球，

像

是一场幻影，一下子全都消失得无影无踪

......

21 The English character

The

English

seem

as

silent

as

the

Japanese,

yet

vainer

than

the

inhabitants

of

Siam. Upon my arrival I attributed that reserve to modesty, which, I now find, has its

origin

in

pride.

Condescend

to

address

them

first,

and

you

are

sure

of

their

acquaintance; stoop to flattery, and you conciliate their friendship and esteem. They

bear hunger, cold, fatigue, and all the miseries of life without shrinking, danger only

calls forth their fortitude; they even exult in calamity, but contemp is what they cannot

bear.

An

Englishman

fears

contempt

more

than

death;

he

often

flies

to

death

as

a

refuge from its

pressure, and dies when he fancies

the world

has creased to

esteem

him.

by Oliver Goldsmith

22 The use of history

There are two ways of thinking of history. There is, first, history regarded as

a

way

of

look?

ing

at

other

things,

really

the

temporal

aspect

of

anything,

from

the

universe to this nib with which I am writing. Everything has its history. There is the

history of the universe, if only we knew it

－

and we know something of it, if we do

not know much. Nor is the contrast so great, when you come to think of it, between

the universe and this pen-nib. A mere pen-nib has quite a considerable history. There

is,

to

begin

with,

what

has

been

written

with

it,

and

that

might

be

something

quite

important. After all it was probably only one quill-pen or a couple that wrote Hamlet.

Whatever has been written with the pen- nib is part of its history. In addition to that

there

is

the

history

of

its

manufacture:

this

particular

nib

is

a

'Relief'

nib,

No.

314,

made

by

R.

Esterbrook

and

Co.

in

England,

who

supply

the

Midland

Bank

with

pen-nibs, from whom I got it

—

a gift, I may say, but behind this nib there is the whole

process

of

manufacture.

In

fact

a

pen

nib

implies

of

universe,

and

the

history

of

it

implies

its

history.

We

may

regard

this

way

of

looking

at

it

—

history

as

the

time- aspect of all things: a pen-nib, the universe, the fiddled before me as I write, as a

relative

conception

of

history.

There

is,

secondly,

what

we

mat

call

a

substantive

conception of history, what we usually mean by it, history proper as a subject of study

in itself.

Excerpt from The Use of History by

23 The study of words

the study of words

That if your vocabulary is limited your chances of success are limited.

That one of the easiest and quickest ways to get ahead is by consciously building

up your knowledge of words.

The

the

vocabulary

of

the

average

person

almost

stops

growing

by

the

middle

twenties. And that from then on it is necessary to have an intelligent plan if progress is

to be made. No haphazard hit-or-miss methods will do.

The study of words is not merely something that has to do with literature. Words

are your tools of thought. You can't even think at all without them. Try it. If you are

planning to go downtown thin afternoon you will find that you are saying to yourself,

I think I will go downtown this afternoon.

this without using words.

Without words you could make no decisions and from no judgments whatsoever.

A pianist may have the most beautiful tunes in his head, but if he had only five keys

on his piano he would never get more than a fraction of these tunes out.

The study

of words is

not

only to

improve the

processes of

your mind.

It will

give

you

assurance;

build

your

self-confidence;

lend

color

to

your

personality;

increase

your

popularity.

Your

words

are

your

personality.

Your

vocabulary

is

you.

And your words are all that we, your friends, have to know and judge

you by. You

have no other medium for telling us your thoughts-for convincing us, persuading us,

giving us orders.

24 Did you deal with fortune fairly

Did you deal with fortune fairly

Most people complain of fortune, few of nature; and the kinder they think the

latter has been to them, the more they murmur at what they call the injustice of the

former.

Why have not I the riches, the rank, the power, of such and such, is the common

expostulation with fortune; but why have not I the merit, the talents, the wit, or the

beauty, of such and such others, is a reproach rarely or never made to nature.

The truth is, that nature, seldom profuse, and seldom niggardly, has distributed

her

gifts

more

equally

than

she

is

generally

supposed

to

have

done.

Education

and

situation

make

the

great

difference.

Culture

improves,

and

occasions

elicit,

natural

talents I make no doubt but that there are potentially, if I may use that pedantic word,

many

Bacons,

Lockes,

Newtons,

Caesars,

Cromwells,

and

Mariboroughs

at

the

ploughtail behind counters, and, perhaps, even among the nobility; but the soil must

be cultivated, and the season favourable, for the fruit to have all its spirit and flavour.

If sometimes our common parent has been a little partial, and not kept the scales

quite

even;

if

one

preponderates

too

much,

we

throw

into

the

lighter

a

due

counterpoise of vanity, which never fails to set all right. Hence it happens, that hardly

any one man would, without reverse, and in every particular, change with any other.

Though all are thus satisfied with the dispensations of nature, how few listen to

her voice! How to follow her as a guide!

In vain she points out to us the plain and

direct way to truth, vanity, fancy, affection, and fashion assume her shape and wind us

through fairy-ground to folly and error.

很多人抱怨命运，

却很少有人抱怨自然 ；

人们越是认为自然对他们仁爱有加，

便越是嘀咕命运对他们的 所谓不公。

人们常常对命运发出诘难：

我为何没有财富、

地位、

权力以及诸如此类的东

西；但人们却很少或从不这样责怪过自然：我为何没有长处、天赋、机智或美丽

以及诸如此类的东西。

事实是，

自 然总是将天赋公平地分配给人们，

比人们通常认为的还要不偏不

倚，很少过分地慷慨

!

也很少吝啬。人与人之间的巨大差异是由 于教育和环境使

然。文化修养改良了天赋，机遇环境诱发了天赋。我们并不怀疑在农田耕 作，在

柜台后营业，甚至在豪门贵族中间有很多潜在的培根们、洛克们、牛顿们、凯撒< /p>

们、

克伦威尔们和马尔伯勒们，

如果允许 我用

“

潜在的

”

这个学究味浓重的词的话；

但是要使果实具有它全部的品质和风味，

< br>还必须有耕耘过的泥土，

必须有适宜的

季节。

倘若大自然有时候有那么一点偏心，

没有将天平 摆正；

倘若有一头过重，

我

们就会在轻 的一头投上一枚大小适当的虚荣的砝码，它每次都会将天平重新调

平，

< br>从不出差错。

因此就出现了这种情况：

几乎没有人会毫无 保留地和另一个人

里里外外全部对换一下。

< br>虽然对于自然的分配，

人人都感到满意；

然而肯听听她的 忠告的人却是如此

之少

!

能将她当作向 导而跟随其后的人又是如此之少

!

她徒然地为我们指出一条

通向真理的笔直的坦途；而虚荣、幻想、矫情、时髦却俨然以她的面貌出现，暗

中将我们引向虚幻的歧途，走向愚笨和谬误。

Excerpt: from Upon Affectation

By Lord Chesterfield(

切斯特菲尔德勋爵

)

25 The lesson of a tree

The Lesson of a Tree

I should not take either the biggest or the most picturesque tree to illustrate it.

Here

is

one

of

my

favorites

now

before

me,

a

fine

yellow

poplar,

quite

straight,

perhaps

90

feet

high,

and

four

thick

at

the

butt.

How

strong,

vital,

enduring!

how

dumbly

eloquent!

What

suggestions

of

imperturbability

and

being,

as

against

the

human trait of mere seeming. Then the qualities, almost emotional, palpably artistic,

heroic, of a tree; so innocent and harmless, yet so savage. It is, yet says nothing. How

it

rebukes

by

its

tough

and

equable

serenity

all

weathers,

this

gusty-temper

?

d

little

whiffet, man, that runs indoors at a mite of rain or snow. Science (or rather half-way

science) scoffs at reminiscence of dryad and hamadryad, and of trees speaking. But, if

they don

?

t, they do as well as most speaking, writing, poetry, sermons

—

or rather they

do a great deal better. I should say indeed that those old dryad-reminiscences are quite

as true as any, and profounder than most reminiscences we get. (“Cut this out,” as the

quack mediciners say, and keep by you.) Go and sit in a grove or woods, with one or

more of those voiceless companions, and read the foregoing, and think.

One

lesson

from

affiliating

a

tree

—

perhaps

the

greatest

moral

lesson

anyhow

from earth, rocks, animals, is that same lesson of inherency, of what is, without the

least regard to what the looker on (the critic) supposes or says, or whether he likes or

dislikes.

What

worse

—

what

more

general

malady

pervades

each

and

all

of

us,

our

literature,

education,

attitude

toward

each

other,

(even

toward

ourselves,)

than

a

morbid trouble about seems, (generally temporarily seems too,) and no trouble at all,

or hardly any, about the sane, slow-growing, perennial, real parts of character, books,

friendship, marriage

—

humanity

?

s invisible foundations and hold- together?

by Walter Whitman

26 The joys of writing

The fortunate people in the world

—

the only reallyfortunate people in the world,

in my mind, are those whose work is also their pleasure. The class is not a large one,

not nearly so large as it is often represented to be; and authors are perhaps one of the

most important elements in its composition. They enjoy in this respect at least a real

harmony of life. To my mind, to be able to make your work your pleasure is the one

class distinction in the world worth striving for; and I do not wonder that others are

inclined

to

envy

those

happy

human

beings

who

find

their

livelihood

in

the

gay

effusions

of

their

fancy,

to

whom

every

hour

of

labour

is

an

hour

of

enjoyment,

to

whom

repose

—

however

necessary

—

is

a

tiresome

interlude.

And

even

a

holiday

is

almost deprivation. Whether a man writes well or ill, has much to say or little, if he

cares

about writing at

all,

he will appreciate the

pleasures of composition.

To sit at

one's

table

on

a

sunny

morning,

with

four

clear

hours

of

uninterruptible

security,

plenty of nice white paper, and a Squeezer pen

—

that is true happiness. The complete

absorption of the mind upon an agreeable occupation

—

what more is there than that to

desire? What does it matter what happens outside

？

The House of Commons may do

what it likes, and so may the House of Lords. The heathen may rage furiously in every

part

of

the

globe.

The

bottom

may

be

knocked

clean

out

of

the

American

market.

Consols may fall and suffragettes may rise. Never mind, for four hours, at any rate,

we will withdraw ourselves from a common, ill-governed, and disorderly world, and

with the key of fancy unlock that cupboard where all the good things of the infinite

are put away.

by Winston Churchill

27 Three passions

Three

passions,

simple

but

overwhelming

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

pity

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 can

?

t, 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.

< br>Unbearable

无法忍受的；

hither

and

thither

到处；

wayward

人性的；

anguish

痛苦，苦恼；

verge

边缘；

入迷；

unfathomable

莫测高深的；

abyss

深渊；

miniature

缩影，

缩图；

预示，

设想；

reverberate

反响；

oppressor< /p>

压迫者；

mockery

嘲笑；

alleviate

减轻；

28 The Americans

Americans are a peculiar people. They work like mad, then give away much of

what they earn. They play until they are exhausted, and call this a vacation. They live

to think of themselves as tough-minded business men, yet they are push-overs for any

hard

luck

story.

They

have

the

biggest

of

nearly

everything

including

government,

motor cars and debts,

yet they are afraid of bigness. They are always trying to chip

away at big government, big business, big unions, big influence. They like to think of

themselves as little people, average men, and they would like to cut everything down

to their own size. Yet they boast of their tall buildings, high mountains, long rivers,

big state, the best country, the best world, the best heaven. They also have the most

traffic deaths, the most waste, the most racketeering.

When they meet, they are always telling each other,

off like crazy in opposite directions. They play games as if they were fighting a war,

and fight wars as if playing a game. They marry more, go broke more often, and make

more

money

than

any

other

people.

They

love

children,

animals,

gadgets,

mother,

work,

excitement,

noise,

nature,

television

shows,

comedy,

installment

buying,

fast

motion, spectator sports, the underdog, the flag, Christmas, jazz, shapely women and

muscular

men,

classical

recordings,

crowds,

comics,

cigarettes,

warm

houses

in

winter and cool ones in summer, thick beefsteaks, coffee, ice cream, informal dress,

plenty of running water, do-it-yourself, and a working week trimmed to forty hours or

less.

They crowd their highways with cars while complaining about the traffic, flock

to movies and television while griping about the quality and the commercials, go to

church but don't care much for sermons, and drink too much in the hope of relaxing

－

only to find themselves stimulated to even bigger dreams.

There is of course, no typical American. But if you added them all together and

then divided by 226 000 000 they would look something like what this chapter has

tried to portray.

excerpt: from Why We Behave Like Americans

By Bradford Smith

美国人是一个与众不同的民族。

他们拼命地工作，

然 后花掉了大量辛苦赚来

的钱。他们玩得筋疲力尽，并称之为度假。他们向来把自己想成硬 心肠的商人，

可是任何不幸的故事都会使他们受骗。几乎所有最大的东西他们都有

：政府，

汽车和债务，

可他们害怕庞大。

所以他们总是要想办法除去大的政府，

大 的买卖，

大的团体，大的影响力。他们愿意把自己看成是小人物，平平常常的人，喜欢一

切都是平等的。他们吹嘘自己的高楼大厦，高山，大河，吹嘘自己是大国，是最