關於英語經典美文賞析
從歷史的傳統看,影響中國幾千年文藝創作的主流審美觀念無疑是一種美文的觀念。下面小編整理了英語經典美文賞析，希望大家喜歡!
A Beautiful Heart 美麗心靈
One day a young man was standing in the middle of the town proclaiming that he had the most beautiful heart in the whole valley. A large crowd gathered and they all admired his heart for it was perfect. There was not a mark or a flaw in it. Yes, they all agreed it truly was the most beautiful heart they had ever seen. The young man was very proud and boasted more loudly about his beautiful heart.
一個年輕人站在城鎮的中央，宣佈他的心是整個山谷中最美麗的心。圍觀的羣衆很多，他們都稱讚他的心的確是最完美的，沒有一點傷痕或者瑕疵。真的，他們一致認爲這實在是他們見過的最美麗的心。這個年輕人非常自豪，更加起勁地大聲吹捧自己那顆美麗的心。
Suddenly, an old man appeared at the front of the crowd and said, “Why your heart is not nearly as beautiful as mine.” The crowd and the young man looked at the old man’s heart. It was beating strongly, but full of scars, it had places where pieces had been removed and other pieces put in, but they didn’t fit quite right and there were several jagged edges. In fact, in some places there were deep gouges where whole pieces were missing.
突然，一位老人出現在人羣面前，他說：“你的心不如我的美麗。”圍觀羣衆和年輕人都朝老人的心看去，它有力地跳動着，卻佈滿了傷疤，有的地方被挖走了，雖然重新補上了，但修補得不甚完整，留下參差不齊的疤痕。實際上，有的地方還露出很深的豁口。
The people stared — how can he say his heart is more beautiful, they thought? The young man looked at the old man’s heart and saw its state and laughed. “You must be joking,” he said. “Compare your heart with mine, mine is perfect and yours is a mess of scars and tears.”
人們睜大了眼睛——他們想：他怎能說自己的心更美麗呢?年輕人看了看老人的心，見是這種情形，不禁笑了起來：“你不是在開玩笑吧?”他說。“把你的心和我的比一下，我的心是那麼完美，而你的心卻佈滿了傷疤和裂痕。”
“Yes,” said the old man, “Yours is perfect looking but I would never trade with you. You see, every scar represents a person to whom I have given my love — I tear out a piece of my heart and give it to them, and often they give me a piece of their heart which fits into the empty place in my heart, but because the pieces aren’t exact, I have some rough edges, which I cherish, because they remind me of the love we shared. Sometimes I have given pieces of my heart away, and the other person hasn’t returned a piece of his heart to me. These are the empty gouges — giving love is taking a chance. Although these gouges are painful, they stay open, reminding me of the love I have for these people too, and I hope someday they may return and fill the space I have been waiting. So now do you see what true beauty is? ”
“是的，”老人說，“你的心從表面來看很完美，但我絕不會跟你交換。你看，每個傷疤都代表我爲別人獻出的一份愛——我掏出一塊心給他們，他們常常會掏出自己的一塊回贈給我，但由於這兩塊不完全一樣，傷口的邊緣就留下了疤痕，不過我十分珍惜這些疤痕，因爲它們能使我想起我們共同擁有的愛心。有時我送出了心，其他人並沒有回贈給我，因此就出現了這些深孔——獻出愛只是創造機會。儘管這些傷口疼痛，並且整日敞開着，卻能使我想起我給予他們的愛。我希望有一天，他們能夠回來填補上我心裏的空間。你們現在明白什麼是真正的美麗了吧?”
The young man stood silently with tears running down his cheeks. He walked up to the old man, reached into his perfect young and beautiful heart, and ripped a piece out. He offered it to the old man with trembling hands.
年輕人默默無語地站着，淚水順着臉頰流下。他走到這位老人身邊，把手伸進自己完美而年輕美麗的心裏，撕下一塊來。他用顫抖的雙手把它獻給這位老人。
The old man took his offering, placed it in his heart and then took a piece from his old scarred heart and placed it in the wound in the young man’s heart. It fit, but not perfectly, as there were some jagged edges.
老人接過饋贈，把它放進自己的心裏。然後他從自己疤痕累累的心裏掏出一塊，放在年輕人心裏的那個傷口上。
The young man looked at his heart, not perfect anymore but more beautiful than ever, since love from the old man’s heart flowed into his.
正好放進去，但不是特別吻合，因爲有一些疤痕。年輕人看着自己的心，看起來不再完美但比以前更美麗了，因爲老人心中的愛也流淌到了他的心裏。
They embraced and walked away side by side.
他們互相擁抱，然後肩並肩離開了。
經典的英語美文賞析Price of A Miracle 奇蹟的代價
Tess was a precocious eight-year-old girl when she heard her Mom and Dad talking about her little brother, Andrew. All she knew was that he was very sick and they were completely out of money. They were moving to an apartment complex next month because Daddy didn’t have the money for the doctor’s bills and our house.
聽爸爸媽媽談起小弟安德魯的事情時，苔絲已是一個早熟的8歲小女孩。她只知道弟弟病得很厲害，父母卻無錢給他醫治。下個月他們要搬到一個公寓房，因爲爸爸已經無力支付醫藥費和我們的房款。
Only a very costly surgery could save him now and it was looking like there was no-one to loan them the money. She heard Daddy say to her tearful Mother with whispered desperation, “Only a miracle can save him now.”
“現在唯一可以救他的辦法就是做手術，但手術費用非常昂貴，沒有人肯借錢給我們。”她聽到爸爸對滿含淚水的媽媽低聲而絕望地說：“現在只有奇蹟可以救他了。”
Tess went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly jar from its hiding place in the closet. She poured all the change out on the floor and counted it carefully. Three times, even. The total had to be exactly perfect. No chance here for mistakes.
苔絲回到房間，從壁櫥一個隱藏的地方拿出一個玻璃瓶子，把裏面所有的零錢倒在地上並仔細數了3次，直到確定無誤。
Carefully placing the coins back in the jar and twisting on the cap, she slipped out the back door and made her way 6 blocks to Rexall’s Drug Store with the big red Indian Chief sign above the door.
她仔細地把硬幣放回瓶子並把蓋子擰好，悄悄地從後門溜出去，穿過六條街區，來到門上有紅色印地安語大標誌的Rexall藥店。
She waited patiently for the pharmacist to give her some attention but he was too busy at this moment. Tess twisted her feet to make a noise. Nothing. She cleared her throat with the most disgusting sound she could muster.
她耐心地等待着藥劑師，可是藥劑師非常忙，並沒有注意她。苔絲扭動着她的腳弄出摩擦的聲音，沒有反映。她大聲地清清嗓子，還是沒反映。
No good. Finally she took a quarter from her jar and banged it on the glass counter. That did it! “And what do you want?” the pharmacist asked in an annoyed tone of voice. “I’m talking to my brother from Chicago whom I haven’t seen in ages, “he said without waiting for a reply to his question.”
最後，她從瓶子裏拿出個2角5分的硬幣摔在玻璃櫃臺上，弄出清脆的響聲。成功了!“你需要點什麼?”藥劑師不耐煩地問，“我要去接我的弟弟，他從芝加哥來，我們很多年沒見了。”他沒等苔絲說話就接着說起來。
“Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,” Tess answered back in the same annoyed tone. “He’s really, really sick and I want to buy a miracle.”
“我想跟你說下我弟弟的事情。”苔絲回答，“他真的病得很嚴重……我想爲他買個奇蹟。”
“I beg your pardon?” said the pharmacist. “His name is Andrew and he has something bad growing inside his head and my Daddy says only a miracle can save him now. So how much does a miracle cost?”
“你說什麼?”藥劑師問到，“他叫安德魯，他病得很厲害，爸爸說現在只有奇蹟能救他。所以，請問奇蹟多少錢?”
“We don’t sell miracles here, little girl. I’m sorry but I can’t help you,” the pharmacist said, softening a little.
“我們這裏不賣奇蹟，小女孩，很抱歉不能幫助你，”藥劑師稍帶溫和地說。“聽着，我有很多錢，如果這裏的不夠，我就回去取剩下的，請告訴我奇蹟多少錢?”
“Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it isn’t enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me how much it costs.” The pharmacist’s brother was a well-dressed man. He stooped down and asked the little girl, “What kind of a miracle does your brother need?” “I don’t know,” Tess replied with her eyes welling up.
這時候，藥劑師的弟弟來了，他是個穿着很得體的男人。他問小女孩“你弟弟需要什麼樣的奇蹟呢?”“我不知道，”苔絲的眼淚涌了上來。
“I just know he’s really sick and Mommy says he needs an operation. But my Daddy can’t pay for it, so I want to use my money.”
“我只知道他病得非常厲害，媽媽說他需要做手術，但是爸爸支付不起手術費，所以我想用我自己的錢。”
“How much do you have?” asked the man from Chicago.
“你有多少錢?”這個從芝加哥來的男人問。
“One dollar and eleven cents,” Tess answered barely audibly. “And it’s all the money I have, but I can get some more if I need to.”
“一美元十一美分，”苔絲用很勉強才能聽到的聲音回答。“這是我所有的錢，但是如果不夠的話我再想辦法。”
“Well, what a coincidence,” smiled the man. “A dollar and eleven cents — the exact price of a miracle for little brothers. “He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped her mitten and said “Take me to where you live. I want to see your brother and meet your parents. Let’s see if I have the kind of miracle you need.”
“剛剛好，”男人笑着說，“一美元十一美分 —— 正好可以爲你弟弟買個奇蹟。”他一手拿着小女孩的錢一手緊緊握住她的手說“帶我去你住的地方，我想去看看你弟弟和你的父母，看看我是不是有你們需要的奇蹟。”
That well-dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon, specializing in neurosurgery. The operation was completed without charge and it wasn’t long until Andrew was home again and doing well. Mom and Dad were happily talking about the chain of events that had led them to this place.
這個穿着光鮮的男人就是卡爾頓•阿姆斯壯，著名的神經外科醫生。手術沒有支付任何費用，安德魯回家後不久就康復了。爸爸和媽媽高興地談論着這件事情。
“That surgery,” her Mom whispered, “was a real miracle. I wonder how much it would have cost?” Tess smiled. She knew exactly how much a miracle cost one dollar and eleven cents plus the faith of a little child.
“這個手術真的是個奇蹟，奇蹟到底需要多少錢呢?”母親低聲自語。苔絲笑了，她知道奇蹟的真正價值：一美元十一美分，加上一個小女孩的信念。
關於英語經典美文賞析不丹，幸福的祕境
Once upon a time in a country far, far away lived a most unusual king who proclaimed that in his tiny Himalayan kingdom, “Gross national happiness is more important than gross national product.” Although most of us give lip service to the cliché, “Money can’t buy you happiness,” in our hearts we believe a big pile of cash can make a sizable down payment and put smiles on our faces. To us, if a country’s economic development isn’t measured in dollars, it doesn’t make sense. So the story of Bhutan sounds like a fairy tale.
從前，在一個很遠很遠的國家，住着一位不同尋常的國王。他在那個小小的喜馬拉雅王國宣佈：“國民幸福總值比國民生產總值更重要。”雖然我們大多數人口頭上認同這樣的老生常談——“金錢不能買到幸福”，但我們心裏仍然相信一大疊鈔票可以讓你付清一筆相當金額的首付款，從而讓我們面露笑容。一個國家的經濟發展不以金錢來度量，這對我們來說根本說不通。因此，不丹的故事聽起來就像天方夜譚。
Even Bhutan’s nicknames—Land of the Thunder Dragon, the Kingdom in the Clouds, the last Shangrila—evoke a fantasyland. I’ve come here for a reality check, to immerse myself in Bhutanese culture, to see if fairy tales do come true and people can live happily ever after.
僅僅是不丹的綽號——“雷龍之境”、“雲中王國”、“最後的香格里拉”——已經能讓我們聯想起仙境。我來這裏驗證事實，讓自己沉浸在不丹文化裏，看看童話故事是否成真，人們能否真的“從此過上幸福的生活”。
It’s not Sunday, but I’m in church, or rather, a Buddhist temple inside our hotel in the city of Paro. The monk is conducting a ceremony, offering us blessings for a safe journey and giving us packages of prayer flags to take along. Their significance becomes clear a couple of days later when I arrive at Dochula Pass just above 10,000 feet on a fog-shrouded, narrow, no-shoulder highway. Religion isn’t just “A Sunday Kind of Love” for the Bhutanese. Buddhism is part of daily life, the foundation of the culture.
雖然今天不是星期天，但我身處教堂，或者更確切地說，是帕羅市內我們所住酒店裏的一座佛寺。僧人正在進行一種儀式，祈願我們旅途平安，還給了我們一包包經幡隨身攜帶。幾天後，當我來到位於10000英尺(3048米)高處、雲霧繚繞、沒有路肩的狹窄的多奇拉隘口時，經幡的重要性開始顯現。對不丹人而言，信仰不是一種“星期天的愛”;佛教是不丹人日常生活的一部分，是不丹文化的根基。
Isolation from the outside world used to shelter Bhutan’s unique culture, but that’s changing. A 94-year-old local tells me, “When I was younger, I kept hearing stories about big powerful machines called trains that could carry people quickly over long distances. I wanted to see one for myself, so I walked six days to the Indian border. There I hitched a ride on a truck, which was the first motorized vehicle I’d ever seen, and rode ten hours to see my first train.”
過去，不丹的與世隔絕庇護了其獨特的文化，但現在這種情況逐漸發生改變。當地一位94歲高齡的老人告訴我：“我年輕時經常聽說火車的故事，這種強大的機器能很快地將人帶到很遠的地方。我想親眼看看火車，於是徒步走了六天去到印度邊境。我在那裏搭上一輛卡車，這是我平生見過的第一輛機動車。坐了十個小時的卡車之後，我看到了人生的第一輛火車。”
Bhutan still doesn’t have its own trains, but in 1962 it got its first road and in 1983 its first (and only) international airport. Now I’m one of only about 25,000 tourists who find their way here each year. Far greater outside influence arrives via satellites and computers thanks to King Jigme Singye Wangchuck—the fourth Dragon King of Bhutan—having lifted the ban on television and the Internet in 1999. Will this new technology “bring good things to life,” as the TV commercial goes? I can only report that for the half hour I spent watching people watch TV, the crowd was mesmerized by the latest episode of Bhutanese Idol.
雖然不丹現在仍然沒有火車，但這個國家在1962年建成了國內第一條道路，1983年建成國內第一個(也是唯一一個)國際機場。每年僅有大約2.5萬名旅客能到此遊玩，我便是其中之一。更大的影響來自衛星和電腦，這要感謝不丹第四世國王吉格梅·辛格·旺楚克在1999年解除了對電視和互聯網的禁令。這樣的新科技是否能像廣告所說的那樣“帶來美好生活”?我只能這樣彙報：我花了半個小時觀察人們看電視的情形，人們都被最新一集的《不丹偶像》迷住了。
Traveling the country, I visit the village of Kingathang, where a local farmer invites me to try some fresh-brewed arra, the local spirit. He gives me a tour of his home and introduces me to the 12 family members, covering four generations, who live together under one roof. It is a scene I will see repeated again and again—old caring for young, young helping old, and all regarding it as the natural order. While visiting people in their homes, I also visit monasteries and temples to try to understand the philosophy that shapes the culture and inspires the national policy of Gross National Happiness.
在這個國家旅行時，我探訪了金加桑村。一位當地農民邀請我品嚐當地新鮮釀造的“阿拉酒”。他還帶我參觀了他的家，向我介紹了他的12位家庭成員——他們四世同堂，住在同一屋檐下。這是我後來反覆看到的一個畫面——長護幼，幼助老，所有人都視之爲自然秩序。除了到當地居民家中拜訪，我還遊覽了各大寺院，試圖理解這種塑造了不丹文化、啓發了“國民幸福總值”這一國家政策的哲學思想。
I save the best temple for last, the Tiger’s Nest Monastery, nestled 10,200 feet high on the side of a cliff. According to legend, Guru Rinpoche, who is credited with bringing Buddhism to Bhutan, was carried here on the back of a flying tigress. The monastery followed in 1692, built to mark one of the most holy sites in Bhutan. Fortunately, given today’s shortage of flying tigresses, I can follow a foot trail to the top. I planned to ask a monk some grand question about the meaning of life. Instead, once I arrived I had more pressing concerns and simply requested a new set of knees so I could make it back down the mountain. I’m not sure I gained any insights into the secret of Gross National Happiness up here, despite the great view.
我把最好的寺院——虎穴寺留到最後。這座寺院嵌在10200英尺(3109米)高的懸崖壁上。據傳，將佛教帶到不丹的蓮花生大師騎着一隻會飛的雌虎來到此地。1692年，此地修築了虎穴寺，以紀念不丹最重要的聖地之一。雖然今天沒有會飛的雌虎，但幸運的是我還可以沿着一條小徑登上山頂。本來我打算向僧人提一些關於生命意義的宏觀問題，但是最後，當我終於到達那裏時，我卻有了更爲迫切的問題：我只求一對新的膝蓋，好讓我下山。我不確定自己在這裏得到了什麼關於“國民幸福總值”之奧祕的啓發，不過此地風光確實絕美。
Who knows whether the people in the faraway Kingdom of Bhutan will live happily ever after, but for now it’s official government policy to foster that goal. And according to people who measure such things, the Bhutanese are in fact the happiest people in Asia and among the happiest in the world. My advice: See this country before it changes. There aren’t many places like it. Some of the contentment here may be contagious. A bit of it even rubbed off on a cynic like me—at least for the time I was in Bhutan.
誰也不知道這個遙遠的不丹王國裏的人們是否能夠“從此過上幸福的生活”，但至少現在促成這一目標已經成爲當地政府的官方政策。另外，據衡量這些指標的人說，不丹人實際上是亞洲乃至全世界最幸福的人羣之一。我的建議是：在這個國家改變之前來看看吧。世界上像這樣的地方不多了。這裏的滿足感也許具有傳染性，甚至像我這樣憤世嫉俗的人也被感染了些許——至少當我身在不丹時是這樣。
