适合背诵及听力的英语美文
01 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.
译文： 青春
青春不是年华，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，炙热的恋情；青春是生命的深泉在涌流。
青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯弱，进取压倒苟安。如此锐气，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。 、
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。
02 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.
译文： 假如给我三天光明（节选）
我们都读过震撼人心的故事，故事中的主人公只能再活一段很有限的时光，有时长达一年，有时却短至一日。但我们总是想要知道，注定要离世人的会选择如何度过自己最后的时光。当然，我说的是那些有选择权利的自由人，而不是那些活动范围受到严格限定的死囚。
这样的故事让我们思考，在类似的处境下，我们该做些什么？作为终有一死的人，在临终前的几个小时内我们应该做什么事，经历些什么或做哪些联想？回忆往昔，什么使我们开心快乐？什么又使我们悔恨不已？
有时我想，把每天都当作生命中的最后一天来边，也不失为一个极好的生活法则。这种态度会使人格外重视生命的价值。我们每天都应该以优雅的姿态，充沛的精力，抱着感恩之心来生活。但当时间以无休止的日，月和年在我们面前流逝时，我们却常常没有了这种子感觉。当然，也有人奉行“吃，喝，享受”的享乐主义信条，但绝大多数人还是会受到即将到来的死亡的惩罚。
在故事中，将死的主人公通常都在最后一刻因突降的幸运而获救，但他的价值观通常都会改变，他变得更加理解生命的意义及其永恒的精神价值。我们常常注意到，那些生活在或曾经生活在死亡阴影下的人无论做什么都会感到幸福。
然而，我们中的大多数人都把生命看成是理所当然的。我们知道有一天我们必将面对死亡，但总认为那一天还在遥远的将来。当我们身强体健之时，死亡简直不可想象，我们很少考虑到它。日子多得好像没有尽头。因此我们一味忙于琐事，几乎意识不到我们对待生活的冷漠态度。
我担心同样的冷漠也存在于我们对自己官能和意识的运用上。只有聋子才理解听力的重要，只有盲人才明白视觉的可贵，这尤其适用于那些成年后才失去视力或听力之苦的人很少充分利用这些宝贵的能力。他们的眼睛和耳朵模糊地感受着周围的景物与声音，心不在焉，也无所感激。这正好我们只有在失去后才懂得珍惜一样，我们只有在生病后才意识到健康的可贵。
我经常想，如果每个人在年轻的时候都有几天失时失聪，也不失为一件幸事。黑暗将使他更加感激光明，寂静将告诉他声音的美妙。
03 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.
译文： 以书为伴（节选）
通常看一个读些什么书就可知道他的为人，就像看他同什么人交往就可知道他的为人一样，因为有人以人为伴，也有人以书为伴。无论是书友还是朋友，我们都应该以最好的为伴。
好书就像是你最好的朋友。它始终不渝，过去如此，现在如此，将来也永远不变。它是最有耐心，最令人愉悦的伴侣。在我们穷愁潦倒，临危遭难时，它也不会抛弃我们，对我们总是一如既往地亲切。在我们年轻时，好书陶冶我们的性情，增长我们的知识；到我们年老时，它又给我们以慰藉和勉励。
人们常常因为喜欢同一本书而结为知已，就像有时两个人因为敬慕同一个人而成为朋友一样。有句古谚说道：“爱屋及屋。”其实“爱我及书”这句话蕴涵更多的哲理。书是更为真诚而高尚的情谊纽带。人们可以通过共同喜爱的作家沟通思想，交流感情，彼此息息相通，并与自己喜欢的作家思想相通，情感相融。
好书常如最精美的宝器，珍藏着人生的思想的精华，因为人生的境界主要就在于其思想的境界。因此，最好的书是金玉良言和崇高思想的宝库，这些良言和思想若铭记于心并多加珍视，就会成为我们忠实的伴侣和永恒的慰藉。
书籍具有不朽的本质，是为人类努力创造的最为持久的成果。寺庙会倒坍，神像会朽烂，而书却经久长存。对于伟大的思想来说，时间是无关紧要的。多年前初次闪现于作者脑海的伟大思想今日依然清新如故。时间惟一的作用是淘汰不好的作品，因为只有真正的佳作才能经世长存。
书籍介绍我们与最优秀的人为伍，使我们置身于历代伟人巨匠之间，如闻其声，如观其行，如见其人，同他们情感交融，悲喜与共，感同身受。我们觉得自己仿佛在作者所描绘的舞台上和他们一起粉墨登场。
即使在人世间，伟大杰出的人物也永生不来。他们的精神被载入书册，传于四海。书是人生至今仍在聆听的智慧之声，永远充满着活力。
04 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.
04 译文： 如果我休息，我就会生锈
在一把旧钥匙上发现了一则意义深远的铭文——如果我休息，我就会生锈。对于那些懒散而烦恼的人来说，这将是至理名言。甚至最为勤勉的人也以此作为警示：如果一个人有才能而不用，就像废弃钥匙上的铁一样，这些才能就会很快生锈，并最终无法完成安排给自己的工作。
有些人想取得伟人所获得并保持的成就，他们就必须不断运用自身才能，以便开启知识的大门，即那些通往人类努力探求的各个领域的大门，这些领域包括各种职业：科学，艺术，文学，农业等。
勤奋使开启成功宝库的钥匙保持光亮。如果休•米勒在采石场劳作一天后，晚上的时光用来休息消遣的话，他就不会成为名垂青史的地质学家。著名数学家爱德蒙•斯通如果闲暇时无所事事，就不会出版数学词典，也不会发现开启数学之门的钥匙。如果苏格兰青年弗格森在山坡上放羊时，让他那思维活跃的大脑处于休息状态，而不是借助一串珠子计算星星的位置，他就不会成为著名的天文学家。
劳动征服一切。这里所指的劳动不是断断续续的，间歇性的或方向偏差的劳动，而是坚定的，不懈的，方向正确的每日劳动。正如要想拥有自由就要时刻保持警惕一样，要想取得伟大的，持久的成功，就必须坚持不懈地努力。
05 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.
译文： 抱负
一个缺乏抱负的世界将会怎样，这不难想象。或许，这将是一个更为友善的世界：没有渴求，没有磨擦，没有失望。人们将有时间进行反思。他们所从事的工作将不是为了他们自身，而是为了整个集体。竞争永远不会介入；冲突将被消除。人们的紧张关系将成为过往云烟。创造的重压将得以终结。艺术将不再惹人费神，其功能将纯粹为了庆典。人的寿命将会更长，因为由激烈拼争引起的心脏病和中风所导致的死亡将越来越少。焦虑将会消失。时光流逝，抱负却早已远离人心。
啊，长此以往人生将变得多么乏味无聊！
有一种盛行的观点认为，成功是一种神话，因此抱负亦属虚幻。这是不是说实际上并不丰在成功？成就本身就是一场空？与诸多运动和事件的力量相比，男男女女的努力显得微不足？显然，并非所有的成功都值得景仰，也并非所有的抱负都值得追求。对值得和不值得的选择，一个人自然而然很快就能学会。但即使是最为愤世嫉俗的人暗地里也承认，成功确实存在，成就的意义举足轻重，而把世上男男女女的所作所为说成是徒劳无功才是真正的无稽之谈。认为成功不存在的观点很可能造成混乱。这种观点的本意是一笔勾销所有提高能力的动机，求取业绩的兴趣和对子孙后代的关注。
我们无法选择出生，无法选择父母，无法选择出生的历史时期与国家，或是成长的周遭环境。我们大多数人都无法选择死亡，无法选择死亡的时间或条件。但是在这些无法选择之中，我们的确可以选择自己的生活方式：是勇敢无畏还是胆小怯懦，是光明磊落还是厚颜无耻，是目标坚定还是随波逐流。我们决定生活中哪些至关重要，哪些微不足道。我们决定，用以显示我们自身重要性的，不是我们做了什么，就是我们拒绝做些什么。但是不论世界对我们所做的选择和决定有多么漠不关心，这些选择和决定终究是我们自己做出的。我们决定，我们选择。而当我们决定和选择时，我们的生活便得以形成。最终构筑我们命运的就是抱负之所在。
06 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.
译文： 我为何而生
我的一生被三种简单却又无比强烈的激情所控制：对爱的渴望，对知识的探索和对人类苦难难以抑制的屿。这些激情像狂风，把我恣情吹向四方，掠过苦痛的大海，迫使我濒临绝望的边缘。
我寻求爱，首先因为它使我心为之着迷，这种难以名状的美妙迷醉使我愿意用所有的余生去换取哪怕几个小时这样的幸福。我寻求爱，还因为它能缓解我心理上的孤独中，我感觉心灵的战栗，仿如站在世界的边缘而面前是冰冷，无底的死亡深渊。我寻求爱，因为在我所目睹的结合中，我仿佛看到了圣贤与诗人们所向往的天堂之景。这就是我所寻找的，虽然对人的一生而言似乎有些遥不可及，但至少是我用尽一生所领悟到的。
我用同样的激情去寻求知识。我希望能理解人类的心灵，希望能够知道群星闪烁的缘由。我试图领悟毕达哥拉斯所景仰的“数即万物”的思想。我已经悟出了其中的一点点道理，尽管并不是很多。
爱和知识，用它们的力量把人引向天堂。但是同情却总把人又拽回到尘世中来。痛苦的呼喊声回荡在我的内心。饥饿的孩子，受压迫的难民，贫穷和痛苦的世界，都是对人类所憧憬的美好生活的无情嘲弄。我渴望能够减少邪恶，但是我无能为力，我也难逃其折磨。
这就是我的一生。我已经找到它的价值。而且如果有机会，我很愿意能再活它一次。
百度文库搜就有
最美的爱
Since to love is better than to be loved, unrequited love may be the finest love of all. If this is so, then the less requited, the finer. And it follows that the most refined passion possible for us must finally be for those to whom we have never even spoken, whom we have never met. The passing face, the anguish of a vision of a face, a face sitting alone in front of you so endearing and so moving and so beautiful that you are torn and sick inside with hope and despair, instant despair, for it is hopelessly plain that no word can ever be spoken, those eyes will never greet yours, in a few minutes the bell will ring, the bus will shudder to a stop, and down some impersonal side street she will be gone. Never to be seen again. Gone even is the pain of listening to where she will book for—a four-penny, or a three half pence ticket (165 words)
95. Dreams vs. Goals
梦想与目标
Dreams, goals, what's the difference
Dreams are where we want to end up. Goals are how we get there. Dreams are our vision of where we are after our struggle, the prize at the end of the journey. Goals are the individual steps we take to ultimately deserve the prize.
Our dreams are our master plan. Goals are our day-by-day blueprint that provide achievable targets for incremental improvement. But dreams and goals are interrelated.
Goals provide our daily routine. They show us where to start and they establish our priorities. They make us organized and create the discipline in our lives. Getting yourself to establish your goals is paramount, one of the key building blocks in achieving success.
So you must establish specific goals and clearly define them. Goals are not merely fuzzy wishes, or hastily made New Year's resolutions. They are tangible action items to be written down and followed. (151 words)
By Rick Pitino
96. We Need Dreams
我们需要梦想
We all want to believe that we are capable of great feats, of reaching our fullest potential. We need dreams. They give us a vision of a better future. They nourish our spirit; they represent possibility even when we are dragged down by reality. They keep us going. Most successful people are dreams, ordinary people who are not afraid to think big and dare to be great. Dreamers are not content with being merely mediocre, because no one ever dreams of going halfway.
When we were little kids, we didn't dream of a life of struggle and frustration. We dreamed of doing something big and splashy, something significant. We dreamed big.
We know now that we have to put in the effort to reach our dreams, but the tough part is that most of us don't know where to start working. We might have every intention of becoming Vice President in five years or running across the finish line in a marathon or completing the novel we started years ago. But often we have no idea how to translate these dreams into actions.
In order to make real steps toward fulfilling our ultimate, big, splashy dreams, we have to start with concrete objectives. These are our goals. (207 words)
By Rick Pitino
97. Advice to Young Men
给年轻人的忠告
Whenever you possibly can, do good to those who need it. Never tell your neighbor to wait until tomorrow if you can help him now. Don't plan anything that will hurt your neighbor; he lives beside you, trusting you. Don't argue with someone for no reason when he has never done you any harm. Don't be jealous of violent people or decide to act as they do, because the Lord hates people who do evil, but he takes righteous men into his confidence. The Lord puts a curse on the homes of the wicked men, but blesses the homes of the righteous. He has no use fir conceited people, but shows favor to those who are humble. Wise men will gain an honorable reputation, but stupid men will only add to their own disgrace. (134 words)
From Good News Bible
98. You Are Very Special
一粒沙子
william blake/威廉.布莱克
to see a world in a grain of sand,
and a heaven in a wild fllower,
hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
and eternity in an hour.
从一粒沙子看到一个世界，
从一朵野花看到一个天堂，
把握在你手心里的就是无限，
永恒也就消融于一个时辰。
第二篇：love your life
热爱生活
henry david thoreau/享利.大卫.梭罗
however mean your life is,meet it and live it ;do not shun it and call it hard names.it is not so bad as you are.it looks poorest when you are richest.the fault-finder will find faults in paradise.love your life,poor as it is.you may perhaps have some pleasant,thrilling,glorious hourss,even in a poor-house.the setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man's abode;the snow melts before its door as early in the spring.i do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there,and have as cheering thoughts,as in a palace.the town's poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any.may be they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving.most think that they are above being supported by the town;but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means.which should be more disreputable.cultivate poverty like a garden herb,like sage.do not trouble yourself much to get new things,whether clothes or friends,turn the old,return to them.things do not change;we change.sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.
不论你的生活如何卑贱，你要面对它生活，不要躲避它，更别用恶言咒骂它。它不像你那样坏。你最富有的时候，倒是看似最穷。爱找缺点的人就是到天堂里也能找到缺点。你要爱你的生活，尽管它贫穷。甚至在一个济贫院里，你也还有愉快、高兴、光荣的时候。夕阳反射在济贫院的窗上，像身在富户人家窗上一样光亮；在那门前，积雪同在早春融化。我只看到，一个从容的人，在哪里也像在皇宫中一样，生活得心满意足而富有愉快的思想。城镇中的穷人，我看，倒往往是过着最独立不羁的生活。也许因为他们很伟大，所以受之无愧。大多数人以为他们是超然的，不靠城镇来支援他们；可是事实上他们是往往利用了不正当的手段来对付生活，他们是毫不超脱的，毋宁是不体面的。视贫穷如园中之花而像圣人一样耕植它吧！不要找新的花样，无论是新的朋友或新的衣服，来麻烦你自己。找旧的，回到那里去。万物不变，是我们在变。你的衣服可以卖掉，但要保留你的思想。
第三篇
the pure.the bright,the beautiful, 一切纯洁的,辉煌的,美丽的,
that stirred our hearts in youth, 强烈地震撼着我们年轻的心灵的,
the impulses to wordless prayer, 推动着我们做无言的祷告的,
the dreams of love and truth; 让我们梦想着爱与真理的;
the longing after something's lost, 在失去后为之感到珍惜的,
the spirit's yearning cry, 使灵魂深切地呼喊着的,
the striving after better hopes- 为了更美好的梦想而奋斗着的-
these things can never die. 这些美好不会消逝。
the timid hand stretched forth to aid 羞怯地伸出援助的手，
a brother in his need, 在你的弟兄需要的时候，
a kindly word in grief's dark hour 伤恸、困难的时候，一句亲切的话
that proves a friend indeed ; 就足以证明朋友的真心；
the plea for mercy softly breathed, 轻声地乞求怜悯，
when justice threatens nigh, 在审判临近的时候，
the sorrow of a contrite heart- 懊悔的心有一种伤感--
these things shall never die. 这些美好不会消逝。
let nothing pass for every hand 在人间传递温情
must find some work to do ; 尽你所能地去做；
lose not a chance to waken love- 别错失去了唤醒爱的良机-----
be firm,and just ,and true; 为人要坚定，正直，忠诚；
so shall a light that cannot fade 因此上方照耀着你的那道光芒
beam on thee from on high. 就不会消失。
and angel voices say to thee---你将听到天使的声音在说-----
these things shall never die. 这些美好不会消逝。
第四篇
think it over……好好想想……
today we have higher buildings and wider highways,but shorter temperaments and narrower points of view;
今天我们拥有了更高层的楼宇以及更宽阔的公路，但是我们的性情却更为急躁，眼光也更加狭隘；
we spend more,but enjoy less;
我们消耗的更多，享受到的却更少；
we have bigger houses,but smaller famillies;
我们的住房更大了，但我们的家庭却更小了；
we have more compromises,but less time;
我们妥协更多，时间更少；
we have more knowledge,but less judgment;
我们拥有了更多的知识，可判断力却更差了；
we have more medicines,but less health;
我们有了更多的药品，但健康状况却更不如意；
we have multiplied out possessions,but reduced out values;
我们拥有的财富倍增，但其价值却减少了；
we talk much,we love only a little,and we hate too much;
我们说的多了，爱的却少了，我们的仇恨也更多了；
we reached the moon and came back,but we find it troublesome to cross our own street and meet our neighbors;
我们可以往返月球，但却难以迈出一步去亲近我们的左邻右舍；
we have conquered the outer space,but not our inner space;
我们可以征服外太空，却征服不了我们的内心；
we have highter income,but less morals;
我们的收入增加了，但我们的道德却少了；
these are times with more liberty,but less joy;
我们的时代更加自由了，但我们拥有的快乐时光却越来越少；
we have much more food,but less nutrition;
我们有了更多的食物，但所能得到的营养却越来越少了；
these are the days in which it takes two salaries for each home,but divorces increase;
现在每个家庭都可以有双份收入，但离婚的现象越来越多了；
these are times of finer houses,but more broken homes;
现在的住房越来越精致，但我们也有了更多破碎的家庭；
that's why i propose,that as of today;
这就是我为什么要说，让我们从今天开始；
you do not keep anything for a special occasion.because every day that you live is a special occasion.
不要将你的东西为了某一个特别的时刻而预留着，因为你生活的每一天都是那么特别；
search for knowledge,read more ,sit on your porch and admire the view without paying attention to your needs;
寻找更我的知识，多读一些书，坐在你家的前廊里，以赞美的眼光去享受眼前的风景，不要带上任何功利的想法；
spend more time with your family and friends,eat your favorite foods,visit the places you love;
花多点时间和朋友与家人在一起，吃你爱吃的食物，去你想去的地方；
life is a chain of moments of enjoyment;not only about survival;
生活是一串串的快乐时光；我们不仅仅是为了生存而生存；
use your crystal goblets.do not save your best perfume,and use it every time you feel you want it.
举起你的水晶酒杯吧。不要吝啬洒上你最好的香水，你想用的时候就享用吧！
remove from your vocabulary phrases like"one of these days"or "someday";
从你的词汇库中移去所谓的“有那么一天”或者“某一天”；
let's write that letter we thought of writing "one of these days"!
曾打算“有那么一天”去写的信，就在今天吧！
let's tell our families and friends how much we love them;
告诉家人和朋友，我们是多么地爱他们；
do not delay anything that adds laughter and joy to your life;
不要延迟任何可以给你的生活带来欢笑与快乐的事情；
every day,every hour,and every minute is special;
每一天、每一小时、每一分钟都是那么特别；
and you don't know if it will be your last.
你无从知道这是否最后刻。
第五篇
the life i desired
我所追求的生活
that must be the story of innumerable couples,and the pattern of lifeof life it offers has a homely grace.it reminds you of a placid rivulet,meandering smoohtly through green pastures and shaded by pleasant trees,till at last it falls into the vasty sea;but the sea is so calm,so silent,so infifferent,that you are troubled suddently by a vague uneasiness.perhaps it is only by a kink in my nature,strong in me even in those days,that i felt in such an existence,the share of the great majority,something amiss.i recognized its social value.i saw its ordered happiness,but a fever in my blood asked for a wilder course.there seemed to me something alarming in such easy delights.in my heart was desire to live more dangerously.i was not unprepared for jagged rocks and treacherous,shoals it i could only have change-change and the exicitement of unforeseen.
这一定是世间无数对夫妻的生活写照，这种生活模式给人一种天伦之美。它使人想起一条平静的溪流，蜿蜒畅游过绿茵的草场，浓荫遮蔽，最后注入烟波浩渺的汪洋大海；但是大海太过平静，太过沉默，太过不动声色，你会突然感到莫名的不安。也许这只是我自己的一种怪诞想法，在那样的时代，这想法对我影响很深：我觉得这像大多数人一样的生活，似乎欠缺了一点儿什么。我承认这种生活有社会价值，我也看到了它那井然有序的幸福，但我血液里的冲动却渴望一种更桀骜不驯的旅程．这样的安逸中好像有一种叫我惊惧不安的东西．我的心渴望一种更加惊险的生活。只要生活中还能有变迁———以及不可知的刺激，我愿意踏上怪石嶙峋的山崖，奔赴暗礁满布的海滩。
第六篇:
virtue 美德
sweet day,so cool,so calm,so bright! 甜美的白昼，如此凉爽、安宁、明媚！
the bridal of the earth and sky- 天地间完美的匹配-----
the dew shall weep thy fall to-night; 今宵的露珠儿将为你的消逝而落泪；
for thou must die. 因为你必须离去。
sweet rose,whose hue angry and brave, 美丽的玫瑰，色泽红润艳丽，
bids the rash gazer wipe his eye, 令匆匆而过的人拭目而视，
thy root is ever in its grave, 你的根永远扎在坟墓里，
and thou must die. 而你必须消逝。
sweet spring,full of sweet days and roses, 美妙的春天，充满了美好的日子和芳香的玫瑰，
a box where sweets compacted lie, 如一支芬芳满溢的盒子，
my music shows ye have your closes, 我的音乐表明你们也有终止，
and all must die, 万物都得消逝。
only a sweet and virtuous soul, 唯有美好而正直的心灵，
like season'd timber,never gives; 犹如干燥备用的木料，永不走样；
but though the whole world turn to coal, 纵然整个世界变为灰烬，
then chiefly lives. 它依然流光溢彩。
第七篇:
the country maid and her milk can
村姑和牛奶罐
a country maid was walking along with a can of milk upon her head,when she fell into the following train of reflections."the money for which i shall sell this milk will enable me to increase my stock of eggs to three hundred,these eggs,allowing for what may prove addle,and what may be destroyed by vermin,will produce at least two hundred and fifty chickens.the chickens will be fit to carry to market just at the time when poultry is always dear;so that by the new year i cannot fail of having money enough to purchase a new gown.green-let me consider-yes,green becomes my complexion best .and green it shall be, in this dress i will go to the fair,where all young fellows will strive to have me for a parter;but no-i shall refuse every one of them,and with a disdainful toss turn from them."
transported with this idea,she could not forbear acting with her head the thought that passed in her mind,when down came the can of milk!and all her imaginary happiness vanished in a moment.
一个村姑头上顶着一罐牛奶在路上行走。走着走着，她的脑子里浮现出一连串的幻想：“我卖了这罐牛奶后，用这笔钱买鸡蛋，这样我有的鸡蛋可以增加到300个。用这300个鸡蛋孵小鸡，这就算有坏的、生虫的，至少也能孵出250只小鸡。等小鸡长大后，正好能赶上卖个好市价；那么到了新年，我就能有钱买一件新晚装。买一件绿色的——让我好好想想——对，绿色与我的肤色最相衬。我穿上这件衣服去赶集，所有的年轻小伙子都会抢着邀请我做舞伴；但是不行——我要轻蔑地把头一扬，转身过去不理他们，让他们人人都碰个钉子。
她想得得意忘形，情不自禁地把头一扬，刹那间，牛奶罐跌了下来！她幻想的一切幸福间破灭了。
第八篇:
the day is cold,and dark,and dreary;
it rains,and the wind is never weary;
the vine still clings to the moldering wall,
but at every gust the dead leaves fall,
and the day is dark and dreary.
my life is cold and dark and dreary;
it rains and the wind is never weary;
my though still cling to the moldering past,
but the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast,
and the days are dark and dreary.
be still,sad heart!and cease repining;
behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
thy fate is the common fate of all,
into each life some rain must fall,
some days must be dark and dreary.
天冷、阴暗、沉闷；
下着雨，风也刮个不停；
藤还攀附着颓垣残壁，
每来一阵狂风，枯叶附落纷纷，
天真是阴暗而沉闷。
我的生活寒冷、阴郁、沉闷；
下着雨，风也刮个不停；
我的思想还纠缠着消逝的往事，
大风里，我的青春希望相继熄灭，
天真是阴暗而沉闷。
安静吧，忧伤的心！别再悔恨；
乌云后面太阳依然辉煌灿烂；
你命运和大家的一样，
每个人一生都得逢上阴雨，
有些日子必然阴暗而沉闷。
==========================
有8篇哦~~只是没MP3拉~~~~~~
我这里有30篇美文的MP3,可是怎么给你啊!
背课文啊
到网上找一下新东方背课文
闫贞：想找几篇英语美文看看?想找几篇英语美文看看,最好是适合背诵的.谢
17544325208…… The Importance of Keeping Optimistic Honourable judges, ladies and gentlemen, Good afternoon! Today I would like to talk about the importance of keeping optimistic. ...
闫贞：适合背诵的英语短文 -
17544325208…… Park There is a park near my home.There are a lot of beautiful trees,flowers and birds in the park.So many people go to the park to enjoy their weekends.They like walking or having a picnic in the park.But I like flying a kite with my sisiter there. 我家...
闫贞：能不能给我一篇你认为最好最适合背诵的英文美文?
17544325208…… On Friendship And a youth said, ＂Speak to us of Friendship.＂ Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and your fireside. For you come to him with your hunger, ...
闫贞：帮帮忙,找几篇又好背又短的英语短文.谢谢啦
17544325208…… As is vividly betrayed in the drawing above, all the people are advocating individualism which is highly valued by most people who are living in our modern society. This drawing mirrors a reality in our society, which should arouse our social concern. ...
闫贞：急需几篇英语美文、小短文(用来背诵的)? -
17544325208…… One hot summer day a fox was walking through an orchard. He stopped before a bunch of grapes. They were ripe and juicy. ＂I'm just feeling thirsty,＂ he thought. So he backed up a few paces, got a running start, jumped up, but could not reach the ...
闫贞：适合朗读和背诵的英语文章,可以锻炼发音和吐字的. -
17544325208…… 新东方英语背诵美文30篇http://jinan.neworiental.org/Default.aspx?TabID=2504&InfoID=115761&SettingModuleID=11306 新东方背诵文选全集(共50篇) 几乎包括从小学到研究生的课程发教材全部.可以下载的. 极力推荐!!!!!! http://blog.tom.com/blog/read.php?bloggerid=205649&blogid=50263 我多年在网上搜集的好网址,希望对你有帮助. 共同努力!!!!!!
闫贞：能快速背下来的英语文章!!急!! -
17544325208…… my name is sandra and i live in oxford .i sing in the school choir and i play the violin in the school orchestra . i like music very much ,all kinds of music ------classical ,rock,jazz...but my favourite kind of music is classical music.my mother is a good ...
闫贞：值得背诵的英语短文 -
17544325208…… 比如《沉思录》 双语版的
闫贞：提供背诵用的英语小短文 -
17544325208…… 01 The Language of Music A painter hangs his or her finished pictures on a wall, and everyone can see it. A composer writes a work, but no one can hear it until it is performed. Professional singers and players have great responsibilities, for the ...