經典美文英語

　　英語作為學習生涯中必不可少的課程，想學好真的不容易。小編在此獻上英語美文，希望大家喜歡。

　　　英語經典美文欣賞

　　書寫你的生命Write Your Own Life

　　Suppose someone gave you a pen — a sealed, solid-colored pen.You couldn’t see how much ink it had.

　　假設有人給了你一枝筆，一枝密封的、純色的水筆，裡面有多少墨水你看不到。

　　It might run dry after the first few tentative words or last just long enough to create a masterpiece ***or several*** that would last forever and make a difference in the scheme of things.You don’t know before you begin.

　　很可能剛剛試寫幾字便用乾耗盡;也可能足以完成一部或幾部傑作，永存於世，使世事為之大變。

　　Under the rules of the game, you really never know.You have to take a chance!

　　而這一切你在動筆之前卻是一無所知。根據遊戲的規則，你確實永遠也不會知道，只能冒一下險。

　　Actually, no rule of the game states you must do anything. Instead of picking up and using the pen, you could leave it on a shelf or in a drawer where it will dry up, unused.

　　而事實上，也沒有規則說你就一定要做些什麼。你大可以把筆擱在架子上、放在抽屜裡，棄置不用，任墨水蒸發乾淨。

　　But if you do decide to use it, what would you do with it? How would you play the game?

　　然而，如果你真的決定使用，你會做什麼?怎麼來做這個遊戲?

　　Would you plan and plan before you ever wrote a word?

　　你會左計劃、右計劃，然後才慢慢下筆嗎?

　　Would your plans be so extensive that you never even got to the writing?

　　計劃會不會太泛太多，根本就達不到寫作這一步?

　　Or would you take the pen in hand, plunge right in and just do it, struggling to keep up with the twists and turns of the torrents of words that take you where they take you?

　　會不會提筆在手，迫不及待地投入其中，任由手中的筆、筆下的字帶著你在詞海中上下翻騰、左突右衝?

　　Would you write cautiously and carefully, as if the pen might run dry the next moment, or would you pretend or believe ***or pretend to believe*** that the pen will write forever and proceed accord gly?

　　會不會下筆謹小慎微，似乎墨水隨時都將乾涸?會不會假裝或相信、或假裝相信筆中墨水永不會枯竭，任你揮灑?

　　And of what would you write: Of love? Hate? Fun? Misery? Life? Death? Nothing Everything?

　　你會寫些什麼?愛情?仇恨?樂趣?痛苦?生命?死亡?虛無空空抑或世事萬種?

　　Would you write to please just yourself? Or others? Or yourself by writing for others?

　　是會用來自娛?還是取悅他人?還是為人寫作而愉悅自身?

　　Would your strokes be tremblingly timid or brilliantly bold? Fancy with a flourish or plain?

　　你的一筆一劃會顫抖怯懦還是亮麗大膽?花裡胡哨還是樸實無華?

　　Would you even write? Once you have the pen, no rule says you have to write. Would you sketch? Scribble? Doodle or draw?

　　你確實會去寫嗎?你一旦有了這枝筆，卻也沒有規則說你一定就要去寫。你會粗粗寫來?潦潦草草?信手塗鴉?還是認真描畫?

　　Would you stay in or on the lines, or see no lines at all, even if they were there? Or are they? There’s a lot to think about here, isn’t there?

　　你會寫線上裡還是寫在線上，或者對紙上的線格根本就視而不見?真的有什麼線格嗎?此時此刻，有很多東西值得思考，不是嗎?

　　Now, suppose someone gave you a life...

　　那麼，假設有人給了你一次生命……

　　　英語美文欣賞

　　母愛的真諦-永遠不後悔 Never Regret

　　Time is running out for my friend. While we are sitting at lunch she casually mentions she and her husband are thinking of starting a family. "We're taking a survey, “she says, half-joking. "Do you think I should have a baby?"

　　時光任苒，朋友已經老大不小了。我們坐在一起吃飯的時候，她漫不經心地提到她和她的丈夫正考慮要小孩。“我們正在做一項調查，”她半開玩笑地說。“你覺得我應該要個小孩嗎?”

　　"It will change your life," I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral. "I know," she says, "no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous holidays..."

　　“他將改變你的生活。”我小心翼翼地說道，儘量使語氣保持客觀。“這我知道。”她答道，“週末睡不成懶覺，再也不能隨心所欲休假了……”

　　But that's not what I mean at all. I look at my friend, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes. I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will be vulnerable forever.

　　但我說的絕非這些。我注視著朋友，試圖整理一下自己的思緒。我想讓她知道她永遠不可能在分娩課上學到的東西。我想讓她知道：分娩的有形傷疤可以癒合，但是做母親的情感傷痕卻永遠如新，她會因此變得十分脆弱。

　　I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper without thinking: "What if that had been MY child?" That every plane crash, every house fire will haunt her. That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die. I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to the primitive level of a bear protecting her cub.

　　我想告誡她：做了母親後，每當她看報紙時就會情不自禁地聯想：“如果那件事情發生在我的孩子身上將會怎樣啊!”每一次飛機失事、每一場住宅火災都會讓她提心吊膽。看到那些忍飢挨餓的孩子們的照片時，她會思索：世界上還有什麼比眼睜睜地看著自己的孩子餓死更慘的事情呢?我打量著她精修細剪的指甲和時尚前衛的衣服，心裡想到：不管她打扮多麼考究，做了母親後，她會變得像護崽的母熊那樣原始而不修邊幅。

　　I feel I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood. She might arrange for child care, but one day she will be going into an important business meeting, and she will think her baby's sweet smell. She will have to use every ounce of discipline to keep from running home, just to make sure her child is all right.

　　我覺得自己應該提醒她，不管她在工作上投入了多少年，一旦做了母親，工作就會脫離常規。她自然可以安排他人照顧孩子，但說不定哪天她要去參加一個非常重要的商務會議，卻忍不住想起寶寶身上散發的甜甜乳香。她不得不拼命剋制自己，才不至於為了看看孩子是否安然無樣而中途回家。

　　I want my friend to know that every decision will no longer be routine. That a five-year-old boy's desire to go to the men's room rather than the women's at a restaurant will become a major dilemma. The issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that a child molester may be lurking in the lavatory. However decisive she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother.

　　我想告訴朋友，有了孩子後，她將再也不能按照慣例做出決定。在餐館，5歲的兒子想進男廁而不願進女廁將成為擺在她眼前的一大難題：她將在兩個選擇之間權衡一番：尊重孩子的獨立和性別意識，還是讓他進男廁所冒險被潛在的兒童性騷擾者侵害?任憑她在辦公室多麼果斷，作為母親，她仍經常事後後悔自己當時的決定。

　　Looking at my attractive friend, I want to assure her that eventually she will shed the added weight of pregnancy, but she will never feel the same about herself. That her own life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child. She would give it up in a moment to save her offspring, but will also begin to hope for more years—not to accomplish her own dreams—but to watch her children accomplish theirs.

　　注視著我的這位漂亮的朋友，我想讓她明確地知道，她最終會恢復到懷孕前的體重，但是她對自己的感覺已然不同。她現在視為如此重要的生命將隨著孩子的誕生而變得不那麼寶貴。為了救自己的孩子，她時刻願意獻出自己的生命。但她也開始希望多活一些年頭，不是為了實現自己的夢想，而是為了看著孩子們美夢成真。

　　I want to describe to my friend the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to hit a ball. I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog for the first time. I want her to taste the joy that is so real it hurts.

　　我想向朋友形容自己看到孩子學會擊球時的喜悅之情。我想讓她留意寶寶第一次觸控狗的絨毛時的捧腹大笑。我想讓她品嚐快樂，儘管這快樂真實得令人心痛。

　　My friend's look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes. "You'll never regret it," I say finally. Then, squeezing my friend's hand, I offer a prayer for her and me and all of the mere mortal women who stumble their way into this holiest of callings.

　　朋友的表情讓我意識到自己已經是熱淚盈眶。“你永遠不會後悔，”我最後說。然後緊緊地握住朋友的手，為她、為自己、也為每一位艱難跋涉、準備響應母親職業神聖的召喚的平凡女性獻上自己的祈禱　　

　　經典優美英語文章

　　愛和時間Love and Time

　　Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived: Happiness, Sadness, Knowledge, and all of the others, including Love. One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink, so all constructed boats and left. Except for Love.

　　從前有一個島，所有的情感都住在那裡：幸福、悲傷、知識和所有其它的，愛也不例外。一天，所有的情感聽說小島即將沉沒，因此建造小船，紛紛離開，除了愛。

　　Love was the only one who stayed. Love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment.

　　愛是唯一留下來的，因為它希望能堅持到最後一刻。

　　When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.

　　小島即將沉沒了，愛決定請求幫助。

　　Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat. Love said,

　　富有駕著一艘大船從愛身邊經過，愛說，

　　"Richness, can you take me with you?"

　　“富有，你能帶上我麼?”

　　Richness answered, "No, I can't. There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat. There is no place here for you."

　　富有回答說：“不行，我的船上載滿金銀財寶，沒有你的地方。”

　　Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel. "Vanity, please help me!"

　　虛榮坐在漂亮的小船中從愛身邊駛過，愛問：“虛榮，你能幫助我麼?”

　　"I can't help you, Love. You are all wet and might damage my boat," Vanity answered.

　　虛榮說：“不行，你全身溼透，會弄髒我的船。”

　　Sadness was close by so Love asked, "Sadness, let me go with you."

　　悲傷的船靠近了，愛問：“悲傷，請帶我走吧。”

　　"Oh . . . Love, I am so sad that I need to be by myself!"

　　“哦... 愛，我太難過了，想一個人呆著。”

　　Happiness passed by Love, too, but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her.

　　幸福經過愛的身邊，它太開心了，根本沒聽見愛在呼喚。

　　Suddenly, there was a voice, "Come, Love, I will take you." It was an elder. So blessed and overjoyed, Love even forgot to ask the elder where they were going. When they arrived at dry land, the elder went her own way. Realizing how much was owed the elder,

　　突然，一個聲音喊道：“來，愛，我帶你走。” 聲音來自“年老”。愛太高興了，甚至忘了問他們即將去何方。當他們來到岸上，年老自己離開了。愛突然意識到“年老”給了它多大的幫助。

　　Love asked Knowledge, another elder, "Who Helped me?"

　　於是，愛問另一位老者--知識：“誰幫助了我?”

　　"It was Time," Knowledge answered.

　　知識說：“是時間。”

　　"Time?" asked Love. "But why did Time help me?"

　　“時間?”愛問：“但是時間為什麼幫助我?”

　　Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered, "Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is."

　　知識睿智地微笑道：“因為只有時間瞭解愛的價值。”