英文經典美文
閱讀是人生的一種美好享受。閱讀經典美文可以讓學生的心靈得到滋潤和淨化,穿越時空與作者展開靈魂的交流,在不斷提升的精神境界中讓生命之樹得以枝繁葉茂。下面是本站小編帶來的優美經典英語文章，歡迎閱讀!
Life in a violin Case
琴匣子中的生趣
Alexander Bloch
亞歷山大·布洛克
In order to tell what I believe, I must briefly sketch something of my per-sonal history.
爲了闡明我生活的信條，我必須簡單介紹一下我的經歷。
The turning point of my life was my decision to give up a promising business career and study music. My parents, although sympathetic, and sharing my love of music, disapproved of it as a profession. This was understandable in view of the family background. My grandfather had taughtmusic for nearly forty years at Springhill College in Mobile and, though much beloved and respected in the community, earned barely enough to provide for his large family. My father often said it was only the hardheaded thriftiness of my grandmother that kept the wolf at bay . As a consequence of this example in the family, the very mention of music as a profession carried with it a picture of a precarious existence with uncertain financial rewards. My parents insisted upon college instead of a conservatory of music, and to college I went-quite happily, as I remember, for although Iloved my violin and spent most of my spare time practicing, I had many other interests.
我生活的轉折點是我決定不做發跡有望的商人而專攻音樂。我父母雖然同情我，也像我一樣熱愛音樂，卻反對我以音樂爲職業。考慮到我的家庭情況，他們的這種態度是完全可以理解的。我祖父在莫比爾的斯普林希爾學院教授音樂達40年之久，深受學院師生的熱愛和敬重，他的工資卻幾乎不夠維持一大家人的生活。父親常說若不是祖母精明能幹，克勤克儉，一家人非捱餓不可。所以在我們家，只要一提起音樂這個行當，大家就會想起那收入微薄、朝不保夕的苦日子。父母堅持要我上大學，不准我進音樂學院，我也就上了大學。我記得自己當時還挺高興，因爲雖然我熱愛小提琴，大部分課餘時間都花在練琴上，但我還有許多其他的愛好。
Before my graduation from Columbia, the family met with severe financial reverses and I felt it my duty to leave college and take a job. Thus was I launched upon a business career-which I always think of as the wasted years.
不等尊從哥倫比亞大學畢業，家庭經濟嚴重惡化，我感到自己有責任退學找工作，就這樣我投身子商界——事後我每次想起這段經歷都覺得是虛度了年華。
Now I do not for a moment mean to disparage business. My whole point is that it was not for me. I went into it for money, and aside from the satisfaction of being able to help the family, money is alll got out of it. It was not enough. I felt that life was passing me by. From being merely discontented I became acutely miserable. My one ambition was to save enough to quit and go to Europe to study music.I used to get up at dawn to practice before I left for "downtown," distracting my poor mother by bolting a hasty breakfast at the last minute. Instead of lunching with my business associates, I would seek out some cheap cafe, order a meager meal and scribble my harmony exercises. I continued to make money, and finally, bit by bit, accumulated enough to enable me to go abroad. The family being once more solvent, and my help no longer necessary, I resigned from my position and, feeling like a man released from jail, sailed for Europe. I stayed four years, worked harder than I had ever dreamed of working before and enjoyed every minute of it.
我從來無意貶低經商，我的意思是它不適合我。我經商只是爲了掙錢。除了能補貼家用給我帶來一點滿足以外，我從這項職業得到的唯一東西就是錢。這是不夠的。我感到年華似水從我身邊流走。對職業的不滿使我痛苦不堪。我唯一的抱負就是積攢足夠的錢，然後改行，到歐洲去學音樂。於是，我天天黎明即起，練習小提琴，再去“商業區”上班，幾乎來不及囫圇吞下倉促準備的早餐，搞得我可憐的媽媽惶恐不安。我不與商界同事共進午餐，總愛找個便宜的餐館，隨便混上一頓，信手寫些和聲練習曲.。我不停地掙錢，終於，一分一分地攢夠了出國的錢。這時，家庭經濟情況也好轉了，不再需要我的幫助。我辭去商務，感到自己像出獄的犯人一樣自由，乘船去了歐洲，一去就是四年。我學習要比從前想象的刻苦得多，然而生活得很快樂。
"Enjoyed" is too mild a word. I walked on air. I really lived. I was a freeman and I was doing what I loved to do and what I was meant to do.
“快樂”一詞還不足以表達我的心情。我是樂不可支，飄飄欲仙了。我過着真正的生活。我是個自由人，做我愛做的、命中註定要做的事情。
If I had stayed in business I might be a comparatively wealthy man today, but I do not believe I would have made a success of living. I would have given up all those intangibles, those inner satisfactions that money can never buy, and that are too often sacrificed when a man's primary goal is finanaal success.
假如我一直經商，今天可能已經成了一個相當富有的人，但我認爲我那時的生活並沒有帶來成功;爲了金錢我可能放棄了一切無形的東西，放棄了精神上的種種樂趣，那是金錢永遠買不來的，一個人要是把獲取金錢當做主要的奮鬥目標，他的精神樂趣就常常被犧牲了。
When I broke away from business it was against the advice of practically all my friends and family. So conditioned are most of us to the association of success with money that the thought of giving up a good salary for an idea seemed little short of insane. If so, all I can say is 'Gee , it's great to be crazy."
我毅然脫離商業，幾乎違背了所有的親友的勸告。我們大多數人習慣把成功與金錢連在一起。那種爲理想而放棄高薪的念頭簡直會被人認爲是瘋子的念頭。如果真是如此，我倒要說一聲：“咦!瘋子真了不起!”
Money is a wonderful thing, but it is possible to pay too high a price for it.
錢固然是好東西，但是爲了錢而付出的代價往往太高昂了。
優美經典英語文章篇二Love Is Not Like Merchandise
愛情不是商品
A reader in Florida, apparently bruised by some personal experience, writes in to complain, "If I steal a nickel's worth of merchandise, I am a thief and punished; but if I steal the love of another's wife, I am free."
佛羅里達州的一位讀者顯然是在個人經歷上受過創傷, 他寫信來抱怨道: “如果我偷走了五分錢的商品, 我就是個賊, 要受到懲罰, 但是如果我偷走了他人妻子的愛情, 我沒事兒。”
This is a prevalent misconception in many people's minds---that love, like merchandise, can be "stolen". Numerous states, in fact, have enacted laws allowing damages for "alienation of affections".
這是許多人心目中普遍存在的一種錯誤觀念——愛情, 像商品一樣, 可以 “偷走”。實際上，許多州都頒佈法令，允許索取“情感轉讓”賠償金。
But love is not a commodity; the real thing cannot be bought, sold, traded or stolen. It is an act of the will, a turning of the emotions, a change in the climate of the personality.
但是愛情並不是商品;真情實意不可能買到，賣掉，交換，或者偷走。愛情是志願的行動，是感情的轉向，是個性發揮上的變化。
When a husband or wife is "stolen" by another person, that husband or wife was already ripe for the stealing, was already predisposed toward a new partner. The "love bandit" was only taking what was waiting to be taken, what wanted to be taken.
當丈夫或妻子被另一個人“偷走”時，那個丈夫或妻子就已經具備了被偷走的條件，事先已經準備接受新的伴侶了。這位“愛匪”不過是取走等人取走、盼人取走的東西。
We tend to treat persons like goods. We even speak of the children "belonging" to their parents. But nobody "belongs" to anyone else. Each person belongs to himself, and to God. Children are entrusted to their parents, and if their parents do not treat them properly, the state has a right to remove them from their parents' trusteeship.
我們往往待人如物。我們甚至說孩子“屬於”父母。但是誰也不“屬於”誰。人都屬於自己和上帝。孩子是託付給父母的，如果父母不善待他們，州政府就有權取消父母對他們的託管身份。
Most of us, when young, had the experience of a sweetheart being taken from us by somebody more attractive and more appealing. At the time, we may have resented this intruder---but as we grew older, we recognized that the sweetheart had never been ours to begin with. It was not the intruder that "caused" the break, but the lack of a real relationship.
我們多數人年輕時都有過戀人被某個更有誘惑力、更有吸引力的人奪去的經歷。在當時，我們興許怨恨這位不速之客---但是後來長大了，也就認識到了心上人本來就不屬於我們。並不是不速之客“導致了”決裂，而是缺乏真實的關係。
On the surface, many marriages seem to break up because of a "third party". This is, however, a psychological illusion. The other woman or the other man merely serves as a pretext for dissolving a marriage that had already lost its essential integrity.
從表面上看，許多婚姻似乎是因爲有了“第三者”才破裂的。然而這是一種心理上的幻覺。另外那個女人，或者另外那個男人，無非是作爲藉口，用來解除早就不是完好無損的婚姻罷了。
Nothing is more futile and more self-defeating than the bitterness of spurned love, the vengeful feeling that someone else has "come between" oneself and a beloved. This is always a distortion of reality, for people are not the captives or victims of others---they are free agents, working out their own destinies for good or for ill.
因失戀而痛苦，因別人“插足”於自己與心上人之間而圖報復，是最沒有出息、最自作自受的樂。這種事總是歪曲了事實真相，因爲誰都不是給別人當俘虜或犧牲品——人都是自由行事的，不論命運是好是壞，都由自己來作主。
But the rejected lover or mate cannot afford to believe that his beloved has freely turned away from him--- and so he ascribes sinister or magical properties to the interloper. He calls him a hypnotist or a thief or a home-breaker. In the vast majority of cases, however, when a home is broken, the breaking has begun long before any "third party" has appeared on the scene.
但是，遭離棄的情人或配偶無法相信她的心上人是自由地背離他的——因而他歸咎於插足者心術不正或迷人有招。他把他叫做催眠師、竊賊或破壞家庭的人。然而，從大多數事例看，一個家的破裂，是早在什麼“第三者”出現之前就開始了的。
優美經典英語文章篇三Luck
好運氣
Mark Twain
馬克·吐溫
I was at a dinner in London given in honor of one of the most celebrated English military men of his time. I do not want to tell you his real name and titles. I will just call him Lieutenant General Lord Arthur Scoresby. I cannot describe my excitement when I saw this great and famous man. There he sat, the man himself, in person, all covered with medals. I could not take my eyes off him. He seemed to show the true mark of greatness. His fame had no effect on him. The hundreds of eyes watching him, the worship of so many people did not seem to make any difference to him.
事情發生在倫敦的一次宴會上。這次宴會是爲當代英國威名顯赫的兩三位軍事將領之一舉行的。由於下面即將說明的原因，我將不提他的真實姓名和各種頭銜。我將稱他爲陸軍中將阿瑟·斯考茲比勳爵、皇家護衛騎士、巴斯爵士，等等，等等，等等。鼎鼎大名的人物具有多大的魅力130年前他在克里米亞戰役中嶄露頭角，名聲大噪，歷久不衰。從那時以後我曾無數次聽見人們談到他，而此刻他本人就坐在那兒。我盯着這位半神半人似的人物，看呀，看呀，看呀，好像這就是我的美酒佳餚。我注視着他，搜尋他的一切特點並默記在心：他的面部表情安詳、矜持、高貴、嚴肅;他的氣質中具有樸素、誠實的品格，這是一眼就看得出的;他對自己的豐功偉績雖然躊躇滿志，但卻不露聲色——好像不知道成百雙充滿崇敬之情的眼睛正注視着他;好像不知道出自人們內心的一股深厚的愛慕之情，一種真誠的崇拜，正朝他涌來。
Next to me sat a clergyman, who was an old friend of mine. He was not always a clergyman. During the first half of his life he was a teacher in the military school at Woolwich. There was a strange look in his eye as he leaned toward me and whispered – "Privately – he is a complete fool." He meant, of course, the hero of our dinner.
坐在我左邊的牧師是我的老相識。他現在是牧師，可前半輩子卻是在戎馬生涯中度過的，而且還當過伍立奇軍事學校的教官。就在我剛談到的這個時刻，他眼中隱隱約約閃現出一種十分離奇的目光，一邊用手勢指着宴會上的那位英雄，一邊俯過頭來輕輕地，但卻是滿有把握地對我說：“私下說說一他是個頭號大傻瓜。”
This came as a shock to me. I looked hard at him. I could not have been more surprised if he has said the same thing about Nepoleon, or Socrates, or Solomon. But I was sure of two things about the clergyman. He always spoke the truth. And, his judgment of men was good. Therefore, I wanted to find out more about our hero as soon as I could.
這個評語使我大吃一驚。如果他說的是拿破崙、蘇格拉底或是所羅門，我也不會感到更驚奇了。有兩點我是清楚的：這位牧師說話句句真實可靠;而且他很有知人之明。因此我斷定，毫無疑問，世人是錯看了這位英雄：他的確是個傻瓜。於是我就想在方便的時候向這位孤身獨處的牧師問清楚，他是怎樣發現這個祕密的。
Some days later I got a chance to talk with the clergyman, and he told me more. These are his exact words:
過了些日子，機會來到了，下面就是這位牧師告訴我的話：
About forty years ago, I was an instructor in the military academy at Woolwich, when young Scoresby was given his first examination. I felt extremely sorry for him. Everybody answered the questions well, intelligently, while he – why, dear me – he did not know anything, so to speak. He was a nice, pleasant young man. It was painful to see him stand there and give answers that were miracles of stupidity.I knew of course that when examined again he would fail and be thrown out. So, I said to myself, it would be a simple, harmless act to help him as much as I could. I took him aside and found he knew a little about Julius Ceasar's history. But, he did not know anything else. So, I went to work and tested him and worked him like a slave. I made him work, over and over again, on a few questions about Ceasar, which I knew he would be you will believe me, he came through very well on the day of the examination. He got high praise too, while others who knew a thousand times more than he were sharply criticized. By some strange, lucky accident, he was asked no questions but those I made him study. Such an accident does not happen more than once in a hundred years. Well, all through his studies, I stood by him, with the feeling a mother has for a disabled child. And he always saved himself by some miracle.
大約40年前，我在伍立奇軍事學校當教官。年輕的斯考茲比參加初試時，我在他那個小組。班上別的學員回答問題都很漂亮，而他一一唉，天啊，他可說是一無所知，我的憐憫之心不禁爲之大動。誰都看得出他是個好孩子，可親可愛，又很天真;此刻他站在那兒，呆若木雞，回答問題時的愚昧無知真是荒謬絕倫，叫人看了十分痛心。我的憐憫心都被他激發起來了。我暗自思忖，複試時他肯定是要被刷掉的;既然如此，盡我所能來減輕他摔下來的痛苦，也就只不過是一種無害的慈悲舉動而已。我把他叫到一旁，發現他還知道一點兒愷撒大帝的歷史，既然他別的什麼也不知道，於是我就輔導他，逼他像奴隸船上的奴隸一樣拼命準備有關愷撒大帝的一些老生常談的問題，而我知道這些問題是會考到的。信不信由你，考試那天他居然名列前茅!就憑這點兒純釋是表面功夫的“死記硬背”他過了關，而且還受到讚揚;而別人呢，雖然比他強一千倍，卻被淘汰了。由於某種奇妙幸運的機遇一—這種機遇—百年也難碰到第二次，除了他準備的狹窄範圍之外，沒其妙。這麼說吧，自始至終我都守護着他，我對他的感情就像一位母親對待自己的瘸腿小孩一樣;但他卻總是能從困境中自己解脫出來——明擺着全是憑奇蹟。
I thought that what in the end would destroy him would be the mathematics examination. I decided to make his end as painless as possible. So, I pushed facts into his stupid head for hours. Finally, I let him go to the examination to experience what I was sure would be his dismissal from school. Well, sir, try to imagine the result. I was shocked out of my mind. He took first prize! And he got the highest praise.
當然囉，到頭來揭穿他、要他命的還是數學。我打定主意儘量叫他死得痛快點兒;於是我選定了考官最可能出的題目的路子對他反反覆覆進行填鴨式的硬灌，然後讓他聽天由命。您想想那結果吧：叫我大吃一驚，他居然榮獲頭獎!全場向他熱烈鼓掌祝賀。
I felt guilty day and night – what I was doing was not right. But I only wanted to make his dismissal a little less painful for him. I never dreamed it would lead to such strange, laughable results. I thought that sooner or later one thing was sure to happen: The first real test once he was through school would ruin him.
睡覺?一個星期我都睡不着。我日日夜夜受着良心的折磨。我做的這一切純粹是出於惻隱之心，只是爲了讓這可憐的小夥子別摔得太慘。我做夢也沒有想到，事情的結果竟是如此之荒.唐透頂。我感到像弗蘭肯斯坦一樣有罪，難過。我讓一個呆瓜可能有機會青雲直上，榮膺重任;而結局只能是：時機一到，他和他的事業前程都會一塊兒完蛋。
Then, the Crimean War broke out. I felt that sad for him that there had to be a war. Peace would have given this donkey a chance to escape from ever being found out as being so stupid. Nervously, I waited for the worst to happen. It did. He was appointed an officer. A captain, of all things! Who could have dreamed that they would place such a responsibility on such weak shoulders as his.
克里米亞戰爭這時剛剛爆發。我暗中想，當然得有一場戰爭。要是在和平時期，就沒有機會叫這頭蠢驢在死之前不露出本相。我等着火山爆發。火山果然爆發了。可是火山爆發時卻驚得我目瞪口呆。官方公報上發表他爲作戰團隊的一名上尉!比他強的人服役到老，頭髮都灰白了，才能爬到這樣高的位置誰又預料得到他們竟會把責任如此重大的一副擔子放在這樣稚嫩而不堪勝任的肩膀上?要是他們叫他當一名扛大旗的軍士，我還勉強受得了;可是叫他當上尉一想想看!這真把我嚇了個半死。
I said to myself that I was responsible to the country for this. I must go with him and protect the nation against him as far as I could. So, I joined up with him. And anyway we went to the field.
我是個愛好安逸、不好活動的人，可是想想看我幹了件什麼事。我自思自想，這件事我要對國家負責，我一定得跟他一起去盡我所能保護國家不受他的禍害。於是我拿出歷年辛辛苦苦工作、點點滴滴節省下來的一點積蓄，嘆了口氣，跑到他那個團隊買了個扛大旗的差使，跟部隊一起開赴戰場。
And there – oh dear, it was terrible. Mistakes, fearful mistakes – why, he never did anything that was right – nothing but mistakes. But, you see, nobody knew the secret of how stupid he really was. Everybody misunderstood his actions. They saw his stupid mistakes as works of great intelligence. They did, honestly! His smallest mistakes made a man in his right mind cry, and shout and scream too – to himself, of course. And what kept me in a continual fear was the fact that every mistake he made increased his glory and fame. I kept saying to myself that when at last they found out about him, it will be like the sun falling out of the sky.
哎喲喲，真可怕。犯錯誤?——他可只會犯錯誤，別的什麼也幹不出來。但是你得明白，這傢伙的祕密誰也沒窺破過。大夥兒都錯看了他，並且對他的所作所爲每次都必然做出錯誤的解釋。結果是，他們把這個白癡所犯的大錯竟然當成是天才的傑作。我一點也不瞎說，他們就是這樣胡搞的!他最微小的錯誤也足夠叫一個頭腦清醒的人大喊起來;這些錯誤的確叫我大喊起來——這叫我私下裏大發雷霆、破口大罵。老是使我直冒冷汗的是，每次他犯下一個新的錯誤，他的英名就愈加大放異彩!我不斷地對自己說，他這樣青雲直上，、有朝一日真相揭穿的時候，那會像太陽從天上掉下來。
He continued to climb up, over the dead bodies of his superiors. Then, in the hottest moment of one battle down went our colonel. My heart jumped into my mouth, for Scoresby was the next in line to take his place. Now, we are in for it, I said…
他的上級不斷陣亡，他也就踏着他們的屍體步步高昇。最後，在某戰役最熾烈的時刻，我們的上校也犧牲了。我嚇得心都快從口裏跳出來了，因爲斯考茲比是第二名軍銜最高的軍官!瞧吧，我說，不到十分鐘咱們全都得到地獄裏報到，沒錯。
The battle grew hotter. The English and their allies were steadily retreating all over the field. Our regiment occupied a position that was extremely important. One mistake now would bring total disaster. And what did Scoresby do this time – he just mistook his left hand for his right hand…that was all. An order came for him to fall back and support our right. Instead, he moved forward and went over the hill to the left. We were over the hill before this insane movement could be discovered and stopped. And what did we find? A large and unsuspected Russian army waiting! And what happened – were we all killed? That is exactly what would have happened in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred. But no – those surprised Russians thought that no one regiment by itself would come around there at such a time.
戰鬥打得異常激烈，聯軍在整個戰場上節節敗退。我們團隊所踞的陣地十分重要;此刻出錯必會招致全軍覆沒。在這一髮千鈞之際，，這個頭號大傻瓜是怎樣指揮的呢?他把團隊從陣地撤出，下令向鄰近的一座小山包發起衝鋒，而那裏連一個敵兵的影子也沒有!“一錯再錯!”我自言自語地說，“這下子到底是全完蛋啦。”我們一個勁兒往前衝，敵人還來不及發現和制止我們的瘋狂行動，我們就已經衝上了山脊。我們看到了什麼呢?誰也想不到竟是俄軍整整一個軍的後備隊!結果如何呢?是不是把我們吃掉了呢?百分之九十九的情況下，那必然是我們的下場。但是，不，那些俄國人推測：在這種時刻，單單一個團隊是決不會像羊羣放牧似的在這兒出現的。
It must be the whole British army, they thought. They turned tail, away they went over the hill and down into the field in wild disorder, and we after them. In no time, there was the greatest turn around you ever saw. The allies turned defeat into a sweeping and shining victory.
必定是英軍全軍出擊，必定是俄軍的詭計已被識破而不能得逞;因此他們就掉頭亂跑，從山上跑到山下，混亂不堪，我們則尾追不捨;他們自己破壞了俄軍堅強的中央陣地，撕開了一個缺口，於是俄軍立即全線大潰敗，那情形真是少見，結果聯軍反敗爲勝，獲得了偉大、輝煌的勝利!坎羅伯特元帥看到這一切，又驚又喜，讚歎不已，立即召見斯考茲比，擁抱他，在戰場上當着全軍的面給他授勳!
The allied commander looked on, his head spinning with wonder, surprise and joy. He sent right off for Scoresby, and put his arms around him and hugged him on the field in front of all the armies. Scoresby became famous that day as a great military leader – honored throughout the world. That honor will never disappear while history books last.
那一次斯考茲比犯的是什麼錯誤?只不過是把右手當成了左手——如此而已。命令叫他往後靠，支援我方右翼;而他呢，他卻往前靠，越過小山包向左方運動。但是那一天，他卻一舉成名，成了一位神奇的天才軍事家，譽滿全球。只要世上還有歷史書存在，這種榮譽就永放光芒。
He is just as nice and pleasant as ever, but he still does not know enough to come in out of the rain. He is the stupidest man in the universe. Until now, nobody knew it but Scoresby and myself. He has been followed, day by day, year by year, by a strange luck. He has been a shining soldier in all our wars for years. He has filled his whole military life with mistakes. Every one of them brought him another honorary title. Look at his chest, flooded with British and foreign medals. Well, sir, every one of them is the record of some great stupidity or other. They are proof that the best thing that can happen to a man is to be born lucky. I say again, as I did at the dinner, Scoresby's a complete fool.
他是一位非常和藹可親、平易近人的好人，但他就是不知道下雨了應當進屋躲躲。這話一點不假。他是宇宙間夭字第一號的蠢驢;半個鐘頭以前除了他自己和我之外還沒有旁人知道內情。日復一日，年復一年，他交的全是好運，一種極不尋常的、令人驚歎不已的好運。在一代人的時期內，他參加過我們的歷次戰爭，戰功彪炳;他在戎馬生涯中始終不斷犯錯誤，然而這些錯誤總是使他榮膺爵士、從男爵、勳爵或是別的什麼稱號。瞧他的胸脯兒，嘿，密密麻麻掛滿了本國和外國的勳章。你瞧，每枚勳章都是某件荒.唐透頂的蠢事的記錄，這些勳章加在一起就證明：人生在世所能碰到的最最好的事就是一出孃胎就交上好運氣。我在宴會上說過，我現在再說一遍，斯考茲比是個頭號大傻瓜。
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