優秀英語四級美文薦讀
英語寫作能力是衡量英語學習者綜合應用能力的主要尺度。但是,英語寫作往往是廣大英語學習者的薄弱環節，通過強化英語閱讀來提高英語寫作能力。下面是本站小編帶來的優秀英語四級美文薦讀，歡迎閱讀!
One Dollars Worth-一美圓的價值
The United States One Dollar Bill. Take out a one dollar bill，and look at it.
The one dollar bill you“”re looking at first came off the presses in 1957 in its present design.
This so-called paper money is in fact a cotton and linen blend with red and blue minute silk fibers running through it.
It is actually material.
We“”ve all washed it without it falling apart. A special blend of ink is used，the contents we will never know. It is overprinted with symbols and then it is starched to make it water resistant and pressed to give it that nice crisp look.
If you look on the front of the bill，you will see the United States Treasury Seal.
On the top，you will see the scales for a balanced the center you have a carpenter“”s square，a tool used for an even cut. Underneath is the Key to the United States “”s all pretty easy to figure out，but what is on the back of that dollar bill is something we should all you turn the bill over，you will see two circles.
Both circles，together，comprise the Great Seal of the United States. The First Continental Congress requested that Benjamin Franklin and a group of men come up with a Seal. It took them four years to accomplish this task and another two years to get it approved.
If you look at the left-hand circle，you will see a Pyramid. Notice the face is lighted and the western side is dark. This country was just beginning. We had not begun to explore the West or decided what we could do for Western Civilization.
The Pyramid is un-capped，again signifying that we were not even close to being finished. Inside the capstone，you have the all-seeing eye，an ancient symbol for divinity. It was Franklin“”s belief that one man couldn“”t do it alone，but a group of men，with the help of God，could do anything.“In God We Trust”is on this currency，but that phrase was added in the 1950s during the Red Scare.
Prior to that，none of our paper currency had that phrase.
The Latin above the pyramid，Annuit Coeptis，means，“God has favored our undertaking.”
The Latin below the pyramid，Novus Ordo Seclorum，means，“a new order has begun.”
At the base of the pyramid is the Roman Numeral for 1776.
If you look at the right-hand circle，and check it carefully，you will learn that it is on every National Cemetery in the United States.
It is also on the Parade of Flags Walkway at the Bushnell，Florida National Cemetery and is the centerpiece of most heroes“”
monuments. Slightly modified，it is the seal of the President of the United States，and it is always visible whenever he speaks，yet very few people know what the symbols mean.
The Bald Eagle was selected as a symbol for victory for two reasons：
First，he is not afraid of a storm;he is strong，and he is smart enough to soar above it.
Second，he wears no material crown. We had just broken from the King of England.
Also，notice the shield is unsupported. This country can now stand on its own.
At the top of that shield you have a white bar signifying congress，a unifying factor. We were coming together as one nation.
In the Eagle“”s beak you will read，“E Pluribus Unum”，meaning，“one nation from many people.”
Above the Eagle，you have thirteen stars，representing the thirteen original colonies and any clouds of misunderstanding rolling away. Again，we were coming together as one.
Notice what the Eagle holds in his talons. He holds an olive branch and arrows. This country wants peace，but we will never be afraid to fight to preserve peace. The Eagle always wants to face the olive branch，but in time of war，his gaze turns toward the arrows.
They say that the number 13 is an unlucky number. This is almost a worldwide belief. You will usually never see a room numbered 13，or any hotels or motels with a 13th floor. But think about this：
13 original colonies，13 signers of the Declaration of Independence，13 stripes on our flag，13 steps on the Pyramid，13 letters in the Latin above，13 letters in“E Pluribus Unum”，13 stars above the Eagle，13 bars on that shield，13 leaves on the olive branch，13 fruits，and if you look closely，13 arrows. And，for minorities：the 13th Amendment.
I always ask people，“Why don”“t you know this?”Your children don“”t know this，and their history teachers don“”t know this.
Too many veterans have given up too much to ever let the meaning fade. Many veterans remember coming home to an America that didn“”t care. Too many veterans never came home at all.
Share this page with everyone，so they can learn what is on the back of the UNITED STATES ONE DOLLAR BILL and what it stands for. Otherwise，they will probably never know……
優秀英語四級美文薦讀篇二The Lost Heart of Asia
The following passage is an extract from The Lost Heart of Asia by British travel writer Colin Thubron. In this book，Thubron travels through the countries of Central Asia shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In this extract，Thubron describes his first evening in the city of Mari，in Turkmenistan.
下面這段文章選自英國遊記作家科林?薩布倫撰寫的《亞西亞失落的心》一書。
本書描述了薩布倫在蘇聯解體後不久遊歷中亞諸國的經歷。在這個節選片段中，薩布倫敘述了他在土庫曼斯坦馬雷市度過的第一晚的見聞。
Eastward from Ashkhabad my train lumbered across a region of oases where rivers dropped out of Iran to die in the Turcoman desert. In one window the Kopet Dagh mountains lurched darkly out of haze，and repeated themselves in thinning colours far into the sky. Beyond the other rolled a grey-green savannah，gashed with poppies. Over this immensity the sky curved like a frescoed ceiling，where flotillas of white and grey clouds floated on separate winds.
我乘坐的列車由阿什哈巴德駛出，一路向東，在土庫曼沙漠中的綠洲地區中緩慢行駛，源自伊朗的數條河流便在這裏彙集。透過一扇車窗，可以看到考匹特塔克山脈在黑色的迷霧中蜿蜒前行，若隱若現，其顏色隨着山勢的增高而變得模糊起來。另一扇車窗中，灰綠色草原綿延不絕，四處是凌亂的罌粟。天空在無垠的大地上盤旋曲折，彷彿是一個刻有壁畫的天花板，密集的白雲和灰雲在空中隨着陣風飄移。
Once or twice under the foothills I glimpsed the mound of a kurgan，broken open like the lips of a volcano– the burial-place of a tribal chief，perhaps，or the milestone of some lost nomad advance. Along this narrow littoral，a century ago，the Tekke Turcomans had grazed their camels and tough Argamak horses，and tilled the soil around forty-three earthen fortresses. Now the Karakum canal ran down from the Oxus through villages with old，despairing names such as“Dead-End”and“Cursed-by-God”，and fed collective farms of wheat and cotton.
在山麓小丘之下，我瞥見了一兩個墳頭，墳頭已經裂開，樣子與火山口相仿——也許，它是部落首領的埋葬之地，或者就是某個迷失的遊牧開拓者的一座里程碑。一個世紀之前，在這個濱海地區的沿岸，提基亞土庫曼人用泥土建立起43個堡壘，他們在周圍放牧駱駝和兇悍的阿葛馬克馬，並耕種土地。如今，卡拉庫姆運河自阿姆河順流而下，穿過那些以“死角”和“天譴”等古老、絕望的名字來命名的村子，灌溉着那些種有小麥與棉花的集體農場。
The train was like a town on the move. In its cubicles the close-tiered bunks were stacked with Russian factory workers and gangs of gossiping Turcomans. Grimy windows soured the world outside with their own fog，and a stench of urine rose from the washrooms. But a boisterous freedom was in the air. Everyone was in passage，lightly uprooted. They gobbled salads and tore at scraggy chicken，played cards raucously together and pampered each other“s children，until the afternoon lunch-break lulled them into sleep. Then the stained railway mattresses were deployed over the bunks，and the corridor became a tangle of arms and projecting feet in frayed socks. From a tundra of sheets poked the beards of Turcoman farmers，and the weathered heads of soldiers resting on their caps. Matriarchs on their way to visit relatives in the next oasis lay mounded under blankets or quilted coats，and young women curled up with their children in their arms and their scarves swept over their faces.
這列火車就像一個移動的城鎮。車廂單間內，上下鋪位間的空間狹窄，上面全都擠滿了俄羅斯工人和成羣唧喳不停的土庫曼人。污穢的車窗佈滿了霧氣，使外面的景色模糊不清，洗手間更是飄來了小便後的惡臭。但空氣中瀰漫着放縱喧鬧的氣氛。人們全都是在旅行，似乎有點漂泊在外的味道。他們大口吞嚥着沙拉，撕啃着骨多肉少的雞，一起大聲吆喝着玩着撲克，互相哄弄着彼此的小孩，直到下午，午休時間才使他們安靜下來，開始睡覺。之後，鋪位上紛紛鋪起污跡斑斑的列車牀墊，走廊裏頓時到處都是胳膊和露在外面、穿着破襪子的腳丫子。所有被單彷彿就是一片苔原，土庫曼農民把他們的鬍子露在了被單外面，而枕着帽子的士兵則把他們那飽受風霜之苦的腦袋露了出來。去下一個綠洲地區看親戚的老婦人們躺在毛毯裏或棉大衣中，好似一座座小山丘，而年輕的婦人則蜷着身子，懷裏抱着孩子，並用她們的頭巾蓋住了自己的臉。
Two hundred miles east of Ashkhabad，where the soil shelved into ridges of scrub-speckled sand，a harsh wind sprang up. It whined against our windows and liquefied the plain and sky to a single，yellowed light. Suddenly ploughed tracts and irrigation channels appeared，and the glisten of flooded rice-fields;and cranes preceded the suburbs of Mari. I had time for a spy“s glimpse into backyards– a view of cherished private plots and straggling geese– before we jolted to a halt.
在阿什哈巴德以東200英里處，土地變成了長有稀鬆灌木的梯形沙地，狂風即時而起。風沙擊打着車窗，把平原和天空融合成一道昏黃的光線。剎那間，犁耕田和灌溉渠出現了，水稻田也在閃閃發亮;到達馬雷市郊區之前還看到了一些起重機。在我們的列車搖晃着停下來之前，我還來得及迅速瞥一眼居民的後院——看到的是妥善照料的自耕地和亂竄的鵝。
Mari was a scrawl over the oasis，built piecemeal in a pallid，dead brick. Between flat-blocks and bungalows I tramped towards a heart which was not there. I found a bleak hotel. Towards evening，sitting in its hall before a black-and-white-television，I heard that Najibullah had been deposed in Afghanistan. But there was nobody in the lobby with whom to share this;and the news went on. With a dim dissociation，as if I were receiving reports from a distant planet，I heard that the Danes had rejected the European Exchange Rate Mechanism and that there was to be a memorial concert for Freddie Mercury at Wembley.
馬雷市是綠洲地區中一座凌亂的城市，是用白色的、死氣沉沉的磚塊一塊塊堆壘起來的。我在居民樓和平房中大步行走，尋找一個原本不存在的市中心。我找到了一家景象淒涼的旅館。快入夜的時候，坐在大廳中黑白電視機前的我聽到了納吉布拉(原阿富汗總統)在阿富汗被免職的消息。但是，大廳中空無一人，無法與人分享這個消息;新聞還在繼續播送。我有點迷失，彷彿我正在一個遙遠的星球接收報告，我聽到丹麥人否決了歐洲匯率機制，以及要爲弗雷迪?摩克瑞(“皇后樂隊”主唱)在溫布利舉行紀念演唱會的消息。
But nothing from the outlandish present seemed real that night. It was the past which impinged. Somewhere on the fringe of this unlovely town lay the ruined caravan-city of Merv，lodestar of the Silk Road for two thousand years，and capital of the gifted and tragic Seljuk Turks：a rich city，sometimes cultivated and benignly powerful，which had nurtured its heterogeneous citizens in a common passion for trade.
但是那晚，在那個奇異的現實中似乎沒有一點是真實的。迴盪着的只是過去。在這個醜陋的城鎮邊緣的某個地方，坐落着已淪爲廢墟的驛站城市——莫夫城，它作爲絲綢之路的一顆明珠已有2000年的歷史了，而且是擁有天賦、命運悲慘的塞爾柱突厥人的都城：一座富裕的城市，在某段時間裏曾擁有過文明並且恃強而不凌弱，城中生活着對貿易有着同樣激情的各族居民。
I wandered out into the warm night of Mari. The few street-lamps shed down squalor. The only open restaurant served coarse vegetable soups，with lumps of mutton and goat in sticky rice. I padded down unlit alleys towards a thread of music，and emerged beneath flat-blocks to see a floodlit wedding feast. The guests were sitting at long trestle tables under a ceiling of vines，or dancing in a clearing of beaten earth. I watched them from the darkness. They seemed to be celebrating with an isolated fragility. They danced all together with their arms dangled above their heads. They might have been actors on a faraway stage. Nothing seemed solid. Distance muted the gorging and tippling at the table to an elfin conviviality. The speeches and the clash of toasts dwindled to murmuring and tinkling. The women shimmered in claret-coloured velvets and harlequin headscarves，and the young men flaunted black bomber-jackets and flared jeans.
我出了門，在馬雷市溫暖的夜晚中漫步。大街上爲數不多的路燈投下了昏暗的燈光。唯一一家尚在營業的餐館提供的是做工很差的羊肉塊蔬菜湯，以及拌有羊肉的粘米飯。我跟隨着隱約聽到的音樂走進了漆黑的巷子，突然在居民樓之下出現了燈火通明的婚宴。賓客們要不圍坐在有藤頂遮蓋的長摺疊桌旁，要不就在一塊土質夯實的空地上跳舞。我在黑暗處觀察着他們。他們似乎是在一個塵世之外、虛無的世界中慶祝着。他們跳舞時全部都在頭上揮舞着手臂。彷彿就是在遠處舞臺上表演的演員。一切都看似虛幻。由於距離遠，所以餐桌上的大吃大喝變成了無聲的精靈歡宴。而致辭聲和觥籌交錯的祝酒聲也變小了，成了嘟囔和叮噹作響之聲。女人們穿着深紅色天鵝絨，頭戴花格頭巾，神采奕奕，而穿着鬆緊口夾克和闊擺牛仔褲的小夥子們也很招搖。
Adding to the strangeness，there were Russians among them：big，blond men who danced，and affectionate young women kissing their Turcoman friends. They swayed and sang faintly to the plangent music– Turc and Slav together– in a tableau of fairytale unity.
更不可思議的是，俄羅斯人加入了他們中間：高大的金髮男子在跳舞，熱情洋溢的年輕姑娘在親吻着他們的土庫曼朋友。在一個童話般團結的戲劇性場面中，他們——土庫曼人和斯拉夫人——伴隨着悽切的音樂在搖擺和輕聲歌唱。
I wanted to believe in this unity. The material divide between conqueror and conquered had always been slim here，so that the poorer people，I thought，might painlessly integrate. But the Russian“s conviction of their cultural superiority，and the Turcomans”deep conservatism，①played havoc with this hope. Safar had told me that it was almost unknown for a Turcoman family to yield its daughter to a Russian man. So，as I watched，the feasting and dancing assumed the make-believe of an advertisement，and I was not surprised when the Russian guests departed early，their presence a fleeting token，while the Turcomans danced on into the night.
我想相信這種團結是真的。征服者與被征服者之間在物質上的差異在這裏總是顯得渺小的，所以我認爲，更加貧困的人們可能會愉快地團結到一起。但俄羅斯人認定，他們的文化是優越的，而土庫曼人是非常保守的，這極大地破壞了這一意願。薩法(作者在土庫曼斯坦認識的一位朋友)曾告訴我，土庫曼家庭中幾乎很少有人把女兒嫁給俄羅斯人。所以，正如我所看到的，這裏的晚宴和舞會好似廣告一樣是虛假的，當俄羅斯賓客早早地離去——他們的存在轉瞬即逝，而土庫曼人則一直跳到深夜時，我並沒有感到吃驚。
優秀英語四級美文薦讀篇三英漢對照:賈平凹《醜石》
我常常遺憾我家門前的那塊醜石呢：它黑黝黝地臥在那裏，牛似的模樣;誰也不知道是什麼時候留在這裏的，誰也不去理會它。只是麥收時節，門前攤了麥子，奶奶總是要說：這塊醜石，多礙地面喲，多時把它搬走吧。
於是，伯父家蓋房，想以它壘山牆，但苦於它極不規則，沒棱角兒，也沒平面兒;用塹破開吧，又懶得花那麼大氣力，因爲河灘並不甚遠，隨便去掬一塊回來，哪一塊也比它強。
一年，來了一個石匠，爲我家洗一臺石磨，奶奶又說：用這塊醜石吧，省得從遠處搬動。石匠看了看，搖着頭，嫌它石質太細，也不採用。它不像漢白玉那樣的細膩，可以鑿下刻字雕花，也不像大青石那樣的光滑，可以供來院紗捶布;它靜靜地臥在那裏，院邊的槐蔭沒有庇覆它，花兒也不再在它身邊生長。荒草便繁衍出來，枝蔓上下，慢慢地，竟鏽上了綠苔、黑斑。我們這些做孩子的也討厭起它夾。曾合夥要搬走它，但力氣又不足;雖時時咒罵它，嫌棄它，也無可奈何，只好任它留在那裏去了。稍稍能安慰我們的，是在那石上有一個不大不小的坑凹兒，雨天就盛滿了水。常常雨過三天了，地上已經乾燥，那石凹裏水兒還有，雞兒便去那裏渴飲。每每到了十五的夜晚，我們盼着滿月出來，就爬到其上，翹望天邊;奶奶總是要罵的，害怕我們摔下來。果然那一次就摔了下來，磕破了我的膝蓋呢。
人都罵它是醜石，它真是醜得不能再醜的醜石了。
終有一日，村子裏來了一個天文學家。他在我家門前路過，突然發現了這塊石頭，眼光立即就拉直了。他再沒有走去，就住了下來;以後又來了好些人，說這是一塊隕石，從天上落下來已經有二三百年了，是一件了不起的東西。不久便來了車，小心翼翼地將它運走了。這使我們都很驚奇!這又怪又醜的石頭，原來是天上的呢!它補過天，在天上發過熱，閃過光，我們的先祖或許仰望過它，它給了他們光明、嚮往、憧憬;而它落下來了，在污土裏，荒草裏，一躺就是幾百年了?!
奶奶說：“真看不出!它那麼不一般，卻怎麼連牆也壘不成，臺階也壘不成呢?”
“它是太醜了。”天文學家說。
“真的，是太醜了。”
“可這正是它的美!”天文學家說，“它是以醜爲美的。”
“以醜爲美?”
“是的，醜到極處，便是美到極處。正因爲它不是一般的頑石，當然不能去做牆，做臺
階，不能去雕刻，捶布。它不是做這些小玩意兒的，所以常常就遭到一般世俗的譏諷。“
奶奶臉紅了，我也臉紅了。
我感到自己的可恥，也感到了醜石的偉大;我甚至怨恨它這麼多年竟會默默地忍受着這一切，而我又立即深深地感到它那種不屈於誤解、寂寞的生存的偉大。
I used to feel sorry for that ugly black piece of stone lying like an ox in front of our door;none knew when it was left there and none paid any attention to it，except at the time when wheat was harvested and my grandma，seeing the grains of wheat spread all over the ground in the front yard of the house，would grumble：“This ugly stone takes so much space. Move it away someday.”
Thus my uncle had wanted to use it for the gable when he was building a house，but he was troubled to find it of very irregular shape，with no edges nor corners，nor a flat plane on it. And he wouldn‘t bother to break it in half with a chisel because the river bank was nearby，where he could have easily fetched a much better stone instead. Even when my uncle was busy with the flight of steps leading to the new house he didn’t take a fancy to the ugly stone. one year when a mason came by，we asked him to make us a stone mill with it. As my grandma put it：“Why not take this one，so you won‘t have to fetch one from afar.”But the mason took a look and shook his head：He wouldn’t take it for it was of too fine a quality.
It was not like a fine Piece of white marble on which words or flowers could be carved，nor like a smooth big bluish stone People used to wash their clothes on. The stone just lay there in silence，enjoying no shading from the Pagoda trees by the yard，nor flowers growing around it As a result weeds multiplied and stretched all over it，their stems and tendrils gradually covered with dark green spots of moss. We children began to dislike the stone too，and would have taken it away if we had been strong enough;all we could do for the present was to leave it alone，despite our disgust or even curses.
The only thing that had interested us in the ugly stone was a little pit on to P of it，which was filled with water on rainy days. Three days after a rainfall，usually，when the ground had become dry，there was still water in the pit，where chickens went to drink And every month when it came to the evening of the 15th of lunar calendar，we would climb onto the stone，looking up at the sky，hoping to see the full moon come out from far away. And Granny would give us a scolding，afraid lest we should fall down—and sure enough，I fell down once to have my knee broken. So everybody condemned the stone：an ugly stone，as ugly as it could be.
Then one day an astronomer came to the village. He looked the stone square in the eye the moment he came across it. He didn‘t take his leave but decided to stay in our village. Quite a number of people came afterwards，saying the stone was a Piece of aerolite which had fallen down from the sky two or three hundred years ago一what a wonder indeed!Pretty soon a truck came and carried it away carefully.
It gave us a great surprise!We had never expected that such a strange and ugly stone should have come from the sky!So it had once mended the sky，given out its heat and light there，and our ancestors should have looked up at it. It had given them light，brought- them hopes and expectations，and then it had fallen down to the earth，in the mud and among the weeds，lying there for hundreds of years!
My grandma said：“1 never expected it should be so great!But why can‘t People build a wall or pave steps with it?”
“It‘s too ugly，”The astronomer said.
“sure，it‘s really so ugly.”
“But that‘s just where its beauty lies!”
The astronomer said，“its beauty comes from its ugliness.”
“Beauty from ugliness?”
“Yes. When something becomes the ugliest，it turns out the most beautiful indeed. The stone is not an ordinary Piece of insensate
stone，it shouldn‘t be used to build a wall or pave the steps，to carve words or flowers or to wash clothes on. It’s not the material for those
Petty common things，and no wonder it‘s ridiculed often by people with petty common views.
My grandma became blushed，and so did I.
I feel shame while 1 feel the greatness of the ugly stone;I have even complained about it having pocketed silently all it had experienced for so many years，but again I am struck by the greatness that lies in its lonely unyielding existence of being misunderstood by people.
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