英语散文朗读

2021年2月13日发(作者：惶恐)

英语散文

一、

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of

wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it

was the epoch of belief,

it

was

the

epoch

of

incredulity;

it

was

the

season of

light,

it

was

the

season

of darkness;

it

was

the

spring

of

hope,

it

was

the

winter

of

despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we

were

all

going

direct

to

Heaven,

we

were

all

going

direct

the

other

way.

Excerpt from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

这是一个最好的时代 ，也是一个最坏的时代；这是明智的年代，这是愚昧的年代；这是信任的纪元，

这是怀疑 的纪元；这是光明的季节，这是黑暗的季节；这是希望的春日，这是失望的冬日；我们面前

应有尽有，我们面前一无所有；我们都将直下地狱

……

二．

The

chess-board

is

the

world:the

pieces

are

the

phenomena

of

t

he

universe;

the

rules

of

the

game

are

what

we

call

the

laws

of

na

ture.

The

player

on

the

other

side

is

hidden

from

us.

We

know

tha

t

his

play

is

always

fair,

just

and

patient.

But

also

we

know,

to

ou

r

cost,

that

he

never

overlooks

a

mistake,

or

makes

the

smallest

all

owance

for

ignorance.

By

Thomas

Henry

Huxley

棋盘宛如世界：

一个个 棋子仿佛世间的种种现象：

游戏规则就是我们所称的自然法则。

竞争对手藏于暗处，

不为我们所见。我们知晓，这位对手向来处事公平，正义凛然，极富 耐心。然而，我们也明白，这位对手

从不忽视任何错误，或者因为我们的无知而做出一丝 让步，所以我们也必须为此付出代价。

三．

Equality and Greatness

Between persons of equal income there is no social distinction except the

distinction of merit. Money is nothing;character,conduct,and capacity are

d

of

all

the

workers

being

leveled

down

to

low

wage

standards

and

all

the

rich

leveled

up

to

fashionbale

income

standards,everybody under a system of equal

incomes would find his or

her own natural

would be great people and ordinary people

and little peolpe,but the great would always be those who had done great

things,and

never

the

idiot

whose

mother

had

spoiled

them

and

whose

father had left a hunred thousand a year;and the little would be persons of

small

minds

and

mean

characters,and

not poor persons

who

had

never

had

a

is

why

idiots

are

always

in

favour

of

inequality

of

income(their only chance of eminence),and the really great

in favour of

equality.

收入相当的人除了 品性迥异以外没有社会差别。金钱不能说明什么；性格，行为，能力才代表一切。在收

入 平等制度下，每个人将会找到他或她正常的地位，而不是所有的工人被划到应拿低工资阶层，所有的富

< p>
人被划到应得高收入的阶层。人有卓著伟人，平庸之辈和碌碌小人之别，然伟人总是那些有所建树之 人，

而非从小深受母亲溺爱，父亲每年留下一大笔钱之人；碌碌小人总是那些心胸狭窄， 品德卑劣之人，而不

是那些从未获取机会的穷人。愚蠢之众总是赞成收入不平等（他们职 能凭借这种机会才能为人所知）

，而真

正伟大之人则主张平等相 待，原因就在于此

四．

Great Expectations

As the night

was fast falling,and as the moon,being past the full,would

not

rise

early,we

held

a

little

council:a

short

one,for clearly

our

course

was to lie by at the first lonely tavern

we could ,they plied their

oars once more,and I looked out for anything like a we held

on,speaking little,for four or five dull was very cold,and,a collier

coming

by

us,with

her

gallery-fire

smoking

and

flaring,looked

like

a

comfortable night was as dark by this time as it would be until

morning;and what light we had,seemed to come more from the river than

the sky,as the oars in their dipping stuck at a few reflected stars.

天黑得很快，偏巧这天又是下弦月，月亮不会很早 升起。我们就稍稍商量了一下，可是也用不着多讨论，

因为情况是明摆着的，再划下去我 们一遇到冷落的酒店就得投宿。于是他们又使劲打起浆来，我则用心寻

找岸上是否隐隐约 约有什么房屋的模样。

这样又赶了四五英里路，

一路上好不气闷 ，

大家简直不说一句话。

天气非常冷，一艘煤船从我们近旁驶过 ，船上厨房里生着火，炊烟缕缕，火光荧荧，在我们看来简直就是

个安乐家了。这时夜已 透黑，看来就要这样一直黑到天明，我们仅有的一点光亮似乎不是来自天空，而是

来自河 上，一浆又一浆的，搅动着那寥寥几颗倒映在水里的寒星。

五．

The doer of Deeds

It is not the critic who counts,not the man who points out how the strong

man stumbles,the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arens,whose face is

marred

by dust

and sweat

and

blood;who

stives

valiantly;who

errs,and

comes short again and again;because there is not effort without error and

shortcoming;but who does actually strive to do the deeds;who knows the

great

enthusiasms,the

great

devotions;who

spends

himself

in

a

worthy

cause,who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievement

and who at the worst,if

he fails,at

least fails whiledaring greatly,so that

his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither

victory nor defeat.

真正令人尊敬的并 非那些评论家和那些指出强者是如何跌倒，实干家本该做得更好的人。

荣誉属于那些亲临竞技场，满脸污泥，汗水和鲜血的人。他们不懈努力，他们曾犯过过错，并一再失败。

因为付出即意味着犯错和失败。他们满怀激情地努力做事，执着不懈，将生命奉献于崇高 的事业。他们为

经过艰辛努力最终取得的伟大成就而自豪，如果失败，他们夜败的荣耀。 因而，这样的人永远不应与那些

不知道胜利，也从未失败过的冷淡而胆怯的灵魂相提并论 。

十六

The pleasant family

When in an hour they crowded into a cab to go home

，

I strolled idly to

my club. I was perhaps a little lonely

，

and it was with a touch of envy

that I thought of the pleasant family

life of which I had had a glimpse.

They seemed devoted to one another. They had little private jokes of their

own which

，

unintelligible to the outsider

，

amused them enormously.

Perhaps Charles Strickland was dull judged by a standard that demanded

above all things verbal scintillation

；

but his intelligence was adequate to

his surroundings

，

and that is a passport

，

not only to reasonable success

，

but still more to happiness. Mrs. Strickland was a charming woman

，

and

she loved him. I pictured their lives

，

troubled by no untoward adventure

，

honest

，

decent

，

and

，

by reason of those two upstanding

，

pleasant

children

，

so obviously destined to carry on the normal traditions of their

race

and

station

，

not

without

significance.

They

would

grow

old

insensibly

；

they

would

see

their

son

and

daughter

come

to

years

of

reason

，

marry in due course

——

the one a pretty girl

，

future mother of

healthy children

；

the other a handsome

，

manly fellow

，

obviously a

soldier

；

and at last

，

prosperous in their dignified retirement

，

beloved

by their descendants

，

after a happy

，

not unuseful life

，

in the fullness

of their age they would sink into the grave.

——

Excerpt from the Moon and Sixpennce by W. Somerset Maugham

一个钟头以后，

这一家挤上一辆马车回家去了，

我也一个人懒散地往俱乐部踱去。

我也许感到有一点寂寞，

回想我刚才瞥见的这种幸福家庭生活，心里不无艳羡之感。这一家人感情似乎非常融洽。他们说一些外人

无从理解的小笑话，笑得要命。如果纯粹从善于辞令这一角度衡量一个人的智慧，也许查理斯 。思特里克

兰德算不得聪明，但是在他自己的那个环境里，他的智慧还是绰绰有余的，这 不仅是事业成功的敲门砖，