優秀的經典英語美文摘抄賞析
經典美文是語文閱讀教學的重要組成部分,可以陶冶情操,豐富想象,還可以培養學生對語言文字的興趣和敏感力。本站小編整理了優秀的經典英語美文，歡迎閱讀!
by Bertrand Russell
December 30, 1954
I am speaking not as a Briton, not as a European, not as a member of a western democracy, but as a human being, a member of the species Man, whose continued existence is in doubt. The world is full of conflicts: Jews and Arabs; Indians and Pakistanis; white men and Negroes in Africa; and, overshadowing all minor conflicts, the titanic struggle between communism and anticommunism.
Almost everybody who is politically conscious has strong feelings about one or more of these issues; but I want you, if you can, to set aside such feelings for the moment and consider yourself only as a member of a biological species which has had a remarkable history and whose disappearance none of us can desire. I shall try to say no single word which should appeal to one group rather than to another. All, equally, are in peril, and, if the peril is understood, there is hope that they may collectively avert it. We have to learn to think in a new way. We have to learn to ask ourselves not what steps can be taken to give military victory to whatever group we prefer, for there no longer are such steps. The question we have to ask ourselves is: What steps can be taken to prevent a military contest of which the issue must be disastrous to all sides?
The general public, and even many men in positions of authority, have not realized what would be involved in a war with hydrogen bombs. The general public still thinks in terms of the obliteration of cities. It is understood that the new bombs are more powerful than the old and that, while one atomic bomb could obliterate Hiroshima, one hydrogen bomb could obliterate the largest cities such as London, New York, and Moscow. No doubt in a hydrogen-bomb war great cities would be obliterated. But this is one of the minor disasters that would have to be faced. If everybody in London, New York, and Moscow were exterminated, the world might, in the course of a few centuries, recover from the blow. But we now know, especially since the Bikini test, that hydrogen bombs can gradually spread destruction over a much wider area than had been supposed. It is stated on very good authority that a bomb can now be manufactured which will be 25,000 times as powerful as that which destroyed Hiroshima. Such a bomb, if exploded near the ground or under water, sends radioactive particles into the upper air. They sink gradually and reach the surface of the earth in the form of a deadly dust or rain. It was this dust which infected the Japanese fishermen and their catch of fish although they were outside what American experts believed to be the danger zone. No one knows how widely such lethal radioactive particles might be diffused, but the best authorities are unanimous in saying that a war with hydrogen bombs is quite likely to put an end to the human race. It is feared that if many hydrogen bombs are used there will be universal death - sudden only for a fortunate minority, but for the majority a slow torture of disease and disintegration...
我們該選擇死亡嗎?
伯特蘭·羅素
1954年12月30日
我不是作爲一個英國人、一個歐洲人、一個西方民主國家的一員，而是作爲一個人，作爲不知是否還能繼續生存下去的人類的一員在講演。世界充滿了爭鬥：猶太人和阿拉伯人;印度人和巴勒斯坦人;非洲的白人和黑人;
差不多每個有政治意識的人都對這類問題懷有強烈的感受;但是我希望你們，如果你們能夠的話，把這份感受暫擱一邊，並把自己只看作一種具有非凡歷史、誰也不希望它滅亡的生物的一員。可能會迎合一羣人而冷落另一羣人的詞語，我將努力一個字都不說。所有的人，不分彼此，都處在危險之中;如果大家都看到了這種危險，那麼就有希望聯合起來避開它。我們必須學習新的思想方法。我們必須學習不自問能採取什麼措施來使我們所喜歡的人羣獲得軍事上的勝利，因爲不再有這樣的措施。我們必須自問的問題是：能採取什麼措施來避免必然會給各方造成災難的軍事競賽?
普通羣衆，甚至許多當權人士，不清楚一場氫彈戰所包含的會是什麼。普通羣衆仍舊從城市的毀滅上思考問題。不言而喻，新炸彈比舊炸彈更具威力——一顆原彈能毀滅廣島，而一顆氫彈能毀滅像倫敦、紐約和菲斯科這樣的大都市。毫無疑問，一場氫彈戰將會毀滅大城市。但這只是世界必須面對的小災難中的一個。假如倫敦人、紐約人和莫斯科人都滅絕了，世界可能要經過幾個世紀才能從這場災難中恢復過來。而我們現在，尤其是從比基尼核試驗以來很清楚：氫彈能夠逐漸把破壞力擴散到一個比預料要廣大得多的地區。據非常權威的人士說，現在能夠製造出一種炸彈，其威力比毀滅廣島的炸彈大2.5萬倍。這種炸彈如果在近地或水下爆炸，會把放射性微粒送入高層大氣。這些微粒逐漸降落，呈有毒灰塵或毒雨的狀態到達地球表面。正是這種灰塵使日本漁民和他們所捕獲的魚受到了感染，儘管他們並不在美國專家所確認的危險區之內。沒有人知道這種致命的放射性微粒怎麼會傳播得這麼廣，但是這個領域的最高權威一致表示：一場氫彈戰差不多就是滅絕人類的代名詞。如果許多氫彈被使用，死神恐怕就會降臨全球——只有少數幸運者纔會突然死亡，大多數人卻須忍受疾病和解體的慢性折磨……
優秀的經典英語美文：春Springs are not always the same. In some years, April bursts upon Virginia hills in one prodigious leap – and all the stage is filled at once, whole choruses of tulips, arabesques of forsythia, cadenzas of flowering plum. The trees grow leaves overnight.
In other years, spring tiptoes in. It pauses, overcome by shyness, like my grandchild at the door, peeping in, ducking out of sight, giggling in the hallway. “I know you’re out there,” I cry. “Come in!” And April slips into our arms.
The dogwood bud, pale green, is inlaid with russet markings. Within the perfect cup a score of clustered seeds are nestled. One examines the bud in awe: Where were those seeds a month ago? The apples display their milliner’s scraps of ivory silk, rose-tinged. All the sleeping things wake up – primrose, baby iris, blue phlox. The earth warms – you can smell it, feel it, crumble April in your hands.
Look to the rue anemone, if you will, or the pea patch, or to the stubborn weed that thrusts its shoulders through a city street. This is how it was, is now, and ever shall be, the world without end. In the serene certainty of spring recurring, who can fear the distant fall?
春不總是千篇一律的。有時候，四月一個健步就躍上了弗吉尼亞的小山丘。頓時，整個舞臺活躍起來：鬱金香們引吭高歌，連翹花翩翩起舞，梅花表演起了獨奏。樹木也在一夜之間披上了新綠。
有時候，春又悄然來臨。它欲前又止，羞澀靦腆，就像我的小孫女，倚在門口，偷偷往裏瞅，又一下子跑開了，不見蹤影，從門廳傳出她咯咯的笑聲。我喊一聲：“我知道你在那兒，進來吧!”於是四月便倏地一下飛進我們懷中。
山茱蓃的花骨朵兒嫩綠嫩綠的，鑲着赤褐色的花邊。在那漂亮的花萼裏，竟穩穩地簇擁着十幾顆小種子。我們不禁要驚羨地問一句：一個月前這些種子還在哪兒呢?蘋果樹則像賣帽人，向人們展示他帽子上那一片片微帶點玫瑰紅地乳白色絲緞。所有熟睡的都醒了——櫻草花、小蝴蝶花、藍夾竹桃。大地也暖和起來了——你可以聞到四月的氣息，感覺到它那股馨香，把它捧在手中賞玩。
去看看白頭翁花，如果你願意，再去看看豌豆畦，或是那倔強地手臂伸過城市街道的野花。它們從前是這樣，現在是這樣，將來還會是這樣，這是個永不停息的世界。當我們發現，春已切切實實地回來了，在恬靜之中，誰還會害怕遙遠的秋天呢?
優秀的經典英語美文：相信自己，追隨夢想I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk programs.
The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, “I want to tell you why I let Jack use my house. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.”
“That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.”
“He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, ‘See me after class.’”
“The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, ‘Why did I receive an F?’”
“The teacher said, ‘This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you’ll have to pay large stud fees. There’s no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher added, ‘If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.’”
“The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, ‘Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.’”
“Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He stated, ‘You can keep the F and I’ll keep my dream.’”
Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, “I tell you this story because you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the fireplace.” He added, “The best part of the story is that two summers ago that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.” When the teacher was leaving, he said, ‘Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption not to give up on yours.’”
Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.
我有個朋友叫蒙提·羅伯茲，他在聖思多羅有座牧馬場。我常借用他寬敞的住宅舉辦募款活動，以便爲幫助青少年的計劃籌備基金。
上次活動時，他在致辭中提到：“我讓傑克借用住宅是有原因的。這故事跟一個小男孩有關，他的父親是位馬術師，他從小就必須跟着父親東奔西跑，男孩的求學過程並不順利。高中時，有次老師叫全班同學寫報告，題目是長大後的志願。”
“那晚他洋洋灑灑地寫了七張紙，描述他的偉大志願，那就是想擁有一座屬於自己的牧馬農場，並且仔細畫了一張200畝農場的設計圖，上面標有馬廄、跑道等的位置，然後在這一大片農場中央，還要建造一棟佔地4,000平方英尺的巨宅。”
“他花了好大心血把報告完成，第二天交給了老師。兩天後他拿回了報告，第一頁上打了一個又紅又大的F，旁邊還寫了一行字：下課後來見我。”
“腦中充滿幻想的他下課後帶着報告去找老師：‘爲什麼給我不及格?’”
“老師回答道：‘你年紀輕輕，不要老做白日夢。你沒錢，沒家庭背景，什麼都沒有。蓋座農場可是個花錢的大工程;你要花錢買地、花錢買純種馬匹、花錢照顧它們。你別太好高騖遠了。’他接着又說：‘如果你肯重寫一個比較不離譜的志願，我會重新給你打分。’”
“這男孩回家後反覆思量了好幾次，然後徵詢父親的意見。父親只是告訴他：‘兒子，這是非常重要的決定，你必須自己拿定主意。’”
“再三考慮好幾天後，他決定原稿交回，一個字都不改。他告訴老師：‘即使不及格，我也不願放棄夢想。’”
蒙提此時向衆人表示：“我提起這故事，是因爲各位現在就坐在200畝農場內，佔地4,000平方英尺的豪華住宅。那份高中時寫的報告我至今還留着。”他頓了一下又說：“有意思的是，兩年前的夏天，那位老師帶了30個學生來我農場露營一星期。離開之前，他對我說：‘蒙提，說來有些慚愧。你讀高中時，我曾潑過你冷水。這些年來，我也對不少學生說過相同的話。幸虧你有這個毅力堅持自己的夢想。’”
不論做什麼事，相信你自己，別讓別人的一句話將你擊倒。
