英語每日經典美文摘抄
廣義的美文,顧名思義就是精美的文章，其歷史可謂源遠流長。下面小編整理了每日英語美文，希望大家喜歡!
Life Is A DIY Project
An elderly carpenter was ready to told his employer contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his wife enjoying his extended family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to could get by.
The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal carpenter said Yes,but in time it was easy to see that his heart was not in his resorted to shoddy workmanship and used inferior materials.
It was an unfortunate way to end his the carpenter finished his work and the builder came to inspect the house, the contractor handed the front door key to the carpenter." This is your house," He said," My gift to you."
What a shock! What a shame! If he had only known he was building his own house,he would have done it all so differently. Now he had to live in the home he had built none too well! So it is with us. We build our lives in a distracted way, reacting rather than acting, willing to put up less than the best. At important points we do not give the job our best effort. Then with a shock we look at the situation we have created and find that we are now living in the house we have built. If we had realized that we would have done it differently.
Think of yourself as the carpenter. Think about your house. Each day you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Build wisely. It is the only life you will ever build. Even if you live it for only one day more, that day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. The plaque on the wall says, "Life is a do-it-yourself project." Who could say it more clearly? Your life today is the result of your attitudes and the choices in the past. Your life tomorrow will be the result of your attitudes and the choices you make today.
每日英語美文鑑賞(此文節選自：Dr. Joyce Brothers的《Why We Love Who We Love 》)
Have you ever known a married couple that just didn't seem as though they should fit together--yet they are both happy in the marriage, and you can't figure out why?
I know of one couple: He is a burly ex-athlete who, in addition to being a successful salesman, coached Little League, was active in his Rotary Club and played golf every Saturday with friends. Meanwhile, his wife is petite, quiet and a complete homebody. She doesn't even like to go out to dinner.
What mysterious force drives us into the arms of one person, while pushing us away from another who might appear equally desirable to any unbiased observer?
Of the many factors influencing our idea of the perfect mate, one of the most telling, according to John Money, professor emeritus of medical psychology and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University, is what he calls our 'lovemap'--a group of messages encoded in our brains that describes our likes and dislikes. It shows our preferences in hair and eye color, in voice, smell, body build. It also records the kind of personality that appeals to us, whether it's the warm and friendly type or the strong, silent type.
In short, we fall for and pursue those people who most clearly fit our lovemap. And this lovemap is largely determined in childhood. By age eight, the pattern for our ideal mate has already begun to float around in our brains.
When I lecture, I often ask couples in the audience what drew them to their dates or mates. Answers range from 'She's strong and independent' and 'I go for redheads' to 'I love his sense of humor' and 'That crooked smile, that's what did it.'
I believe what they say. But I also know that if I were to ask those same men and women to describe their mothers, there would be many similarities between their ideal mates and their moms. Yes, our mothers--the first real love of our lives--write a significant portion of our lovemap.
When we're little, our mother is the center of our attention, and we are the center of hers. So our mother's characteristics leave an indelible impression, and we are forever after attracted to people with her facial features, body type, personality, even sense of humor. If our mother was warm and giving, as adults we tend to be attracted to people who are warm and giving. If our mother was strong and even-tempered, we are going to be attracted to a fair-minded strength in our mates.
The mother has an additional influence on her sons: she not only gives them clues to what they will find attractive in a mate, but also affects how they feel about women in general. So if she is warm and nice, her sons are going to think that's the way women are. They will likely grow up warm and responsive lovers and also be cooperative around the house.
Conversely, a mother who has a depressive personality, and is sometimes friendly but then suddenly turns cold and rejecting, may raise a man who becomes a 'dance-away lover.' Because he's been so scared about love from his mother, he is afraid of commitment and may pull away from a girlfriend for this reason.
While the mother determines in large part what qualities attract us in a mate, it's the father--the first male in our lives--who influences how we relate to the opposite sex. Fathers have an enormous effect on their children's personalities and chances of marital happiness.
Just as mothers influence their son's general feelings toward women, fathers influence their daughter's general feelings about men. If a father lavishes praise on his daughter and demonstrates that she is a worthwhile person, she'll feel very good about herself in relation to men. But if the father is cold, critical or absent, the daughter will tend to feel she's not very lovable or attractive.
每日英語美文賞析Love Means Putting The Other One First 愛意味着把對方放第一位
As a teenager I had certain ideas in my mind that constituted the idyllic life of love and marriage. In Home Economics, our teacher had us plan the perfect wedding and the perfect reception, right down to the throwing of rice and driving away in a limousine. It was just like the movies where the nice guy gets the beautiful girl and they live happily ever after. Reality was not a part of the picture.
還是十幾歲的少女時，我腦子裏對愛情與婚姻所想像的是情畫意般的生活。在家政學課上，老師讓我們設計理想的婚禮、理想的婚慶招待會 ，一直到撒大米、新郎新娘開着豪華轎車緩緩離去。這就像中俊男靚女終成眷屬，他們從此幸福地生活在一起。但現實可不是如此。
?After high school, I went to college and was determined to ome a nurse. I forgot about marriage. I could put that on hold since I was going to help people and travel. Surprisingly, two years later I met the man I would marry. It's often said, " opposites attract." This was really true about us.
高中畢業後，我上了大學，立志要做一名護士。我把婚姻拋在了腦後。我暫不考慮結婚，因爲我要幫助他人，我要周遊四方。令人驚奇的是， 兩年後我遇到了我要嫁的男人。常常有人說，"對立物互相吸引。"我們倆就是這麼回事。
He was from a small town in Idaho and farmed with his father. I was from a Southern town, which had a ater population than the entire state of Idaho. I had always been emphatic that I didn't know whom I would marry, but one thing was for sure --he would not be a farmer or dairyman! Well, I was wrong in both cases. They were not only farmers but dairymen as well.
他愛達荷州的一個小鎮，和他父親一起經營農場。我南方的一個城鎮，那裏的人口比整個愛達荷州的總人口都多。我一直都是態 度堅決地表明我不知道要嫁給什麼樣的男人，但有一點是肯定無疑的--他不會是務農的或養乳牛的!但是結果我都錯了。我遇到的這個男人和 他父親既耕作也養牛。
We were married in October just prior to the beginning of heavy snowfalls. It would snow heavily throughout the whole winter. Our only entertainment was listening to the radio or the local high school sporting events. My new husband was a lover of sports. He had been a champion boxer and also participated in most sports. I was a lover of the arts. Speech, drama and dance were my first love. The nearest town with this kind of entertainment was forty miles away and the highway was closed off and on1 all winter.
我們在10月結了婚，就在大雪迫近之際。大雪會下一冬天。我們惟一的娛樂就是聽收音機或觀看當地比賽。我新婚的丈夫是個體 育愛好者。他曾是拳擊冠軍，也參加過很多種活動。而我是個藝術迷。、戲劇、舞蹈是我的摯愛。有這類藝術活動的城鎮，最近的離 我們也有40英里，而高速公路在整個冬天是時而封閉時而開放的。
We had only been married seven months when I received word that my mother, who was battling cancer, would not live much longer. Even though there was the dairy with 75 cows and 1400 acres to farm, as soon as my husband read the telegram, he sadly said, " Honey, get your bags packed while I make reservations for you. Your place is with your mother and your father right now." To him there had been no other decision to make. Every week I would receive a letter telling me all about how the farm was doing and inquiring about my parents and how we were all doing. Little was said about his sadness of being alone, or of missing his new bride, except at the very end of his letters where an unmistakable " I love you" was written. Teenage dream letters would have been filled with remarks of undying love and pain of missing me, but his letters were simple words of reality.
在我們結婚僅7個月的時候，我得到消息：我母親在與癌症作抗爭，恐怕活不了多久了。儘管有75頭牛和1400畝地要照顧，但我丈夫讀完電 報就悲傷地說："親愛的，我去給你訂票，你收拾好行李。你現在是該和你父母在一起。"對於他來說沒有什麼別的決定可作。每週我會收到他 的來信，告訴我農場的情況，並詢問我父母如何，我們全家人怎麼樣。他很少流露他孤獨一人的悲傷，或他如何思念他的新婚妻子，只是在每 封信的結尾都清楚無誤地寫了"我愛你"。我十幾歲時想像的夢中情書應該滿紙都是訴說永恆的愛和思念我的痛苦，但是我丈夫的信就是簡簡單 單描述現實生活的幾行字。
Four months later, after the funeral and final matters were taken care of with my father and brother, I returned to Idaho where I knew my husband would be at the airport to meet me.
4個月後，舉行完葬禮，在和我父親與兄弟一同落實了最後事宜之後，我返回愛達荷州。我知道我丈夫會到機場來 接我。
The look in his eyes told me more than any dream letter could. The joy and honesty of love was deep. On the 80-mile drive to our home, I talked incessantly while he quietly listened, without interrupting. When he finally had a chance to respond, he asked me to open the glove compartment of the car and take out an envelope with my name on it. " I wanted to give you something special to let you know how much I missed you," he said quietly.
他的眼神告訴我的遠比任何夢中情書所能寫的還要多，充滿了深切的愛的喜悅和誠摯。在開車80英里回我們家的路上，我不停地說這說那 ，而他只是靜靜地聽着，並不打斷我的話。當他終於有機會講話時，他叫我打開汽車儀表板上的儲物箱，拿出上面寫有我名字的一個信封。"我 想給你一樣特別的東西，讓你知道我有多麼想你，"他平靜地說。
I opened the envelope to find season tickets, for both of us, to all of the area's fine art functions. Our income was not all that at and I was stunned. " I don't believe this," I cried. " You don't enjoy these things!"
我打開信封，發現裏面有不少季節門票，是我們兩人的，是去參加該地區所有藝術活動的門票。我們的收入還沒到那個水平，我真是驚呆 了。"我不相信，"我哭着說，"你並不喜歡這些東西!" "
When I finally stopped protesting, he reached out, hugged me and quietly said, " No, but you do, and I will learn." In that moment I realized marriage wasn't 50/50, but real love was made of 100/0 sometimes. Love means putting the other one
first. His example taught his young wife a at lesson--a lesson that has made a happy marriage for 51 years.
?當我終於停止抗議時，他伸出臂膀，將我摟抱在懷，靜靜地說："是的，但是你喜歡，而我可以學。在那一刻，我領悟到婚姻不是50對50，真正的愛有時是100對0。愛意味着把對方放在首位。他用實例給他年輕的妻子上了深刻的一課，這一課促成了51年的幸福婚姻。
