優秀英語四級美文閱讀
英語語言如同漢語一樣,是世界上最優美的語言之一,蘊含着濃厚的人文功能和美學價值。下面是本站小編帶來的優秀英語四級美文閱讀，歡迎閱讀!
一杯牛奶的溫暖 A Glass of Milk
One day， a poor boy who was trying to pay his way through school by selling goods door to door found that he only had one dime left. He was hungry so he decided to beg for a meal at the next house.
一天，一個貧窮的小男孩爲了攢夠學費正挨家挨戶地推銷商品。飢寒交迫的他摸遍全身，卻只有一角錢。於是他決定向下一戶人家討口飯吃。
However， he lost his nerve when a lovely young woman opened the door. Instead of a meal he asked for a drink of water. She thought he looked hungry so she brought him a large glass of milk. He drank it slowly， and then asked， “How much do I owe you?”
然而，當一位美麗的年輕女子打開房門的時候，這個小男孩卻有點不知所措了。他沒有要飯，只乞求給他一口水喝。這位女子看到他飢餓的樣子，就倒了一大杯牛奶給他。男孩慢慢地喝完牛奶，問道：“我應該付多少錢?”
“You don’t owe me anything，” she replied. “Mother has taught me never to accept pay for a kindness.” He said， “Then I thank you from the bottom of my heart.” As Howard Kelly left that house， he not only felt stronger physically， but it also increased his faith in God and the human race. He was about to give up and quit before this point.
年輕女子微笑着回答：“一分錢也不用付。我媽媽教導我，施以愛心，不圖回報。”男孩說：“那麼，就請接受我由衷的感謝吧!”說完，霍華德-凱利就離開了這戶人家。此時的他不僅自己渾身是勁兒，而且更加相信上帝和整個人類。本來，他都打算放棄了。
Years later the young woman became critically ill. The local doctors were baffled. They finally sent her to the big city， where specialists can be called in to study her rare disease. Dr. Howard Kelly， now famous was called in for the consultation. When he heard the name of the town she came from， a strange light filled his eyes. Immediately， he rose and went down through the hospital hall into her room.
數年之後，那位女子得了一種罕見的重病，當地醫生對此束手無策。最後，她被轉到大城市醫治，由專家會診治療。大名鼎鼎的霍華德-凱利醫生也參加了醫療方案的制定。當他聽到病人來自的那個城鎮的名字時，一個奇怪的念頭霎時間閃過他的腦際。他馬上起身直奔她的病房。
Dressed in his doctor’s gown he went in to see her. He recognized her at once. He went back to the consultation room and determined to do his best to save her life. From that day on， he gave special attention to her case.
身穿手術服的凱利醫生來到病房，一眼就認出了恩人。回到會診室後，他決心一定要竭盡所能來治好她的病。從那天起，他就特別關照這個對自己有恩的病人。
After a long struggle， the battle was won. Dr. Kelly requested the business office to pass the final bill to him for approval. He looked at it and then wrote something on the side. The bill was sent to her room. She was afraid to open it because she was positive that it would take the rest of her life to pay it off. Finally she looked， and the note on the side of the bill caught her attention. She read these words……
經過艱苦的努力，手術成功了。凱利醫生要求把醫藥費通知單送到他那裏，他看了一下，便在通知單的旁邊簽了字。當醫藥費通知單送到她的病房時，她不敢看。因爲她確信，治病的費用將會花費她整個餘生來償還。最後，她還是鼓起勇氣，翻開了醫藥費通知單，旁邊的那行小字引起了她的注意，她不禁輕聲讀了出來：
“Paid in full with a glass of milk.”
(Signed) Dr. Howard Kelly
“醫藥費已付：一杯牛奶。”
(簽名)霍華德-凱利醫生
Tears of joy flooded her eyes as she prayed silently： “Thank You， God. Your love has spread through human hearts and hands.”
喜悅的淚水溢出了她的眼睛，她默默地祈禱着：“謝謝你，上帝，你的愛已通過人類的心靈和雙手傳播了。”
優秀英語四級美文閱讀篇二老爸 Dad
The first memory I have of him — of anything， really — is his strength. It was in the late afternoon in a house under construction near ours. The unfinished wood floor had large， terrifying holes whose yawning[張大嘴] darkness I knew led to nowhere good. His powerful hands， then age 33， wrapped all the way around my tiny arms， then age 4， and easily swung[搖擺] me up to his shoulders to command all I surveyed.
我對他——實際上是對所有事的最初記憶，就是他的力量。那是一個下午的晚些時候，在一所靠近我家的正在修建的房子裏，尚未完工的木地板上有一個個巨大可怕的洞，那些張着大口的黑洞在我看來是通向不祥之處的。時年33歲的爸爸用那強壯有力的雙手一把握住我的小胳膊，當時我才4歲，然後輕而易舉地把我甩上他的肩頭，讓我把一切都盡收眼底。
The relationship between a son and his father changes over time. It may grow and flourish[繁茂] in mutual maturity[成熟]. It may sour in resented dependence or independence. With many children living in single-parent homes today， it may not even exist.
父子間的關係是隨着歲月的流逝而變化的，它會在彼此成熟的過程中成長興盛，也會在令人不快的依賴或獨立的關係中產生不和。而今許多孩子生活在單親家庭中，這種關係可能根本不存在。
But to a little boy right after World War II ，a father seemed a god with strange strengths and uncanny[離奇的] powers enabling him to do and know things that no mortal could do or know. Amazing things， like putting a bicycle chain back on， just like that. Or building a hamster[倉鼠] guiding a jigsaw[拼板玩具] so it forms the letter F;I learned the alphabet[字母表] that way in those pre-television days.
然而，對於一個生活在二戰剛剛結束時期的小男孩來說，父親就像神，他擁有神奇的力量和神祕的能力，他無所不能，無所不知。那些奇妙的事兒有上自行車鏈條，或是建一個倉鼠籠子，或是教我玩拼圖玩具，拼出個字母“F”來。在那個電視機還未誕生的年代，我便是通過這種方法學會了字母表的。
There were， of course， rules to learn. First came the handshake. None of those fishy[冷冰冰的] little finger grips， but a good firm squeeze accompanied by an equally strong gaze into the other’s eyes. “ The first thing anyone knows about you is your handshake，” he would say. And we’d practice it each night on his return from work， the serious toddler in the battered[用舊了的] Cleveland Indian’s cap running up to the giant father to shake hands again and again until it was firm enough.
當然，還得學些做人的道理。首先是握手。這可不是指那種冷冰冰的手指相握，而是一種非常堅定有力的緊握，同時同樣堅定有力地注視對方的眼睛。老爸常說：“人們認識你首先是通過同你握手。”每晚他下班回家時，我們便練習握手。年幼的我，戴着頂破克利夫蘭印第安帽，一本正經地跌跌撞撞地跑向巨人般的父親，開始我們的握手。一次又一次，直到握得堅定，有力。
As time passed， there were other rules to learn. “Always do your best.”“Do it now.”“Never lie!” And most importantly，“You can do whatever you have to do.” By my teens， he wasn’t telling me what to do anymore， which was scary[令人害怕的] and heady[使人興奮的] at the same time. He provided perspective， not telling me what was around the great corner of life but letting me know there was a lot more than just today and the next， which I hadn’t thought of.
隨着時間的流逝，還有許多其他的道理要學。比如：“始終盡力而爲”，“從現在做起”，“永不撒謊”，以及最重要的一條：“凡是你必須做的事你都能做到”。當我十幾歲時，老爸不再叫我做這做那，這既令人害怕又令人興奮。他教給我判斷事物的方法。他不是告訴我，在人生的重大轉折點上將發生些什麼，而是讓我明白，除了今天和明天，還有很長的路要走，這一點我是從未考慮過的。
One day， I realize now， there was a change. I wasn’t trying to please him so much as I was trying to impress him. I never asked him to come to my football games. He had a high-pressure career， and it meant driving through most of Friday night. But for all the big games， when I looked over at the sideline， there was that familiar fedora. And by God， did the opposing team captain ever get a firm handshake and a gaze he would remember.
有一天，事情發生了變化，這是我現在才意識到的。我不再那麼迫切地想要取悅於老爸，而是迫切地想要給他留下深刻的印象。我從未請他來看我的橄欖球賽。他工作壓力很大，這意味着每個禮拜五要拼命幹大半夜。但每次大型比賽，當我擡頭環視看臺時，那頂熟悉的軟呢帽總在那兒。並且感謝上帝，對方隊長總能得到一次讓他銘記於心的握手——堅定而有力，伴以同樣堅定的注視。
Then， a school fact contradicted something he said. Impossible that he could be wrong， but there it was in the book. These accumulated over time， along with personal experiences， to buttress my own developing sense of values. And I could tell we had each taken our own， perfectly normal paths.
後來，在學校學到的一個事實否定了老爸說過的某些東西。他不可能會錯的，可書上卻是這樣寫的。諸如此類的事日積月累，加上我的個人閱歷，支持了我逐漸成形的價值觀。我可以這麼說：我倆開始各走各的陽關道了。
I began to see， too， his blind spots， his prejudices[偏見] and his weaknesses. I never threw these up at him. He hadn’t to me， and， anyway， he seemed to need protection. I stopped asking his advice; the experiences he drew from no longer seemed relevant to the decisions I had to make.
與此同時，我還開始發現他對某些事的無知，他的偏見，他的弱點。我從未在他面前提起這些，他也從未在我面前說起，而且，不管怎麼說，他看起來需要保護了。我不再向他徵求意見;他的那些經驗也似乎同我要做出的決定不再相干。
He volunteered advice for a while. But then， in more recent years， politics and issues gave way to talk of empty errands and， always， to ailments.
老爸當了一段時間的“自願顧問”，但後來，特別是近幾年裏，他談話中的政治與國家大事讓位給了空洞的使命與疾病。
From his bed， he showed me the many sores and scars on his misshapen body and all the bottles for medicine. “ Sometimes，” he confided[傾訴]， “ I would just like to lie down and go to sleep and not wake up.”
躺在牀上，他給我看他那被歲月扭曲了的軀體上的疤痕，以及他所有的藥瓶兒。他傾訴着：“有時我真想躺下睡一覺，永遠不再醒來。”
After much thought and practice (“ You can do whatever you have to do.” )， one night last winter， I sat down by his bed and remembered for an instant those terrifying dark holes in another house 35 years before. I told my fatherhow much I loved him. I described all the things people were doing for him. But， I said， he kept eating poorly， hiding in his room and violating the doctor’s orders. No amount of love could make someone else care about life， I said; it was a two-way street. He wasn’t doing his best. The decision was his.
通過深思熟慮與親身體驗(“凡是你必須做的事你都能做到”)，去年冬天的一個夜晚，我坐在老爸牀邊，忽然想起35年前那另一棟房子裏可怕的黑洞。我告訴老爸我有多愛他。我向他講述了人們爲他所做的一切。而我又說，他總是吃得太少，躲在房間裏，還不聽醫生的勸告。我說，再多的愛也不能使一個人自己去熱愛生命：這是一條雙行道，而他並沒有盡力，一切都取決於他自己。
He said he knew how hard my words had been to say and how proud he was of me. “ I had the best teacher，” I said. “ You can do whatever you have to do.” He smiled a little. And we shook hands， firmly， for the last time.
他說他明白要我說出這些話多不容易，他是多麼爲我自豪。“我有位最好的老師，”我說，“凡是你必須做的事你都能做到”。他微微一笑，之後我們握手，那是一次堅定的握手，也是最後的一次。
Several days later， at about 4 A.M.， my mother heard Dad shuffling[拖着] about their dark room. “ I have some things I have to do，” he said. He paid a bundle of bills. He composed for my mother a long list of legal and financial what-to-do’s “ in case of emergency.” And he wrote me a note.
幾天後，大約凌晨四點，母親聽到父親拖着腳步在他們漆黑的房間裏走來走去。他說：“有些事我必須得做。”他支付了一疊帳單，給母親留了張長長的條子，上面列有法律及經濟上該做的事，“以防不測”。接着他留了封短信給我。
Then he walked back to his bed and laid himself down. He went to sleep， naturally. And he did not wake up.
然後，他走回自己的牀邊，躺下。他睡了，十分安詳，再也沒有醒來。
優秀英語四級美文閱讀篇三布雨之龍 The Dragons Who Rained
一個英文寫成的中國傳統神話故事，關於中國四條江的形成。
Long， long ago， rain stopped falling in China. The people prayed for rain to the Jade Emperor， for it was he who looked after everything in heaven， on the land and in the sea， but no matter how much they prayed， rain did not fall.
在很久很久以前的中國，遇到了一次滴水不降的旱災。人們就向掌管天上、地下、海洋的玉皇大帝求拜，但無論他們怎麼祈求，雨始終不落一滴。
Four dragons lived in the East China Sea in those days. They swam to shore to see what was happening， and saw people tearing grass from the caked ground， for the people had nothing else left to eat.
當時，有四條龍住在中國的東海。他們游到岸邊去看怎麼回事，看到人們在從結塊的土地上拔草吃，因爲土地上實在沒有別的東西吃了。
“We must do something，” Long Dragon said， and Yellow Dragon nodded. “We must help them ourselves，” said Pearl Dragon， “for the Jade Emperor will never answer their prayers.”
“我們得做點什麼，”長龍說道，黃龍點頭附和。“我們一定得幫幫他們，”珠龍說，“因爲玉帝是不會答應他們的祈求的。”
They suddenly thought of a way to help. They started swimming this way and that， scooping up water with their bodies. Then all four leapt into the sky. Black Dragon flew to the north， Long Dragon flew to the west， Pearl Dragon flew to the southernmost tip of China， and Yellow Dragon flew to the very center of the vast country. All at once， they let the water fall from their mouths， arms， legs， and even their tails.
他們突然想到了一個辦法。他們在海里遊，然後用他們的身體汲取水。然後他們四個分別騰飛天空。黑龍飛向了北面，長龍飛去了西面，珠龍飛去了中國的最南端，而黃龍則飛去了這個遼闊國度的最中心。突然，他們讓水從他們的嘴巴、手腳、尾巴流出來。
The people down below looked up， but they could not see the dragons. They could only see the rain falling from the sky —— drops of rain more beautiful than any jewel. “Rain!” they cried joyfully， and all the people and animals ran out into the rain and started to dance.
地面的人們看到了，但他們看不到龍。他們只能看到雨從天空降下來——雨滴比任何珠寶都來得美麗。“雨!”人們歡呼雀躍，所有的人和動物都奔入雨中，歡呼起舞。
When the Jade Emperor saw the rain， he was furious. “Who dares to tamper with[干預] my world?” he shouted， and then saw the four dragons swooping around in the sky. “You will not escape!” he thundered， and summoning[招集] Mountain God， he ordered him to kill the dragons.
當玉帝看到雨，他十分震怒。“是誰幹的?”他咆哮道，然後他看到了飛在空中的四條龍。“你們跑不了的!”他大吼道，然後招集山神，他命令山神殺死四條龍
Mountain God sent four mountains tumbling after the dragons. The moment the creatures landed， the four mountains landed on top of them， crushing them. Then an odd thing happened. Suddenly four rivers formed， springing out from beneath the mountains and spreading across the whole country.
山神派了四座山去壓倒四龍。當龍一到，四座上就壓倒他們，壓垮他們。奇怪的事情發生了，突然間形成了四條河，從山下流出，貫穿了整個國家。
This， people say， is how the four great rivers of China were created： the Yangtze， the Yellow， the Pearl and the Heilongjiang are all that remain of the four great dragons who once saved the people of China.
人們說，這就是中國四條大江的由來，長江、黃河、珠江和黑龍江就是這四條龍的遺贈，他們曾經挽救過中國人們的生命。
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