經典新概念英語美文閱讀

　　《新概念英語》歷來受到英語教師和學習者的青睞,可在英語的聽、說、讀、寫上最大限度地發揮自己的潛能。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!

　　篇一

　　American Revolution

　　美國革命

　　The American Revolution was not a revolution in the sense of a radical or total change. It was not a sudden and violent overturning of the political and social framework, such as later occurred in France and Russia, when both were already independent nations.

　　美國革命從發生根本和徹底變化的意義上說其實並不算是一場革命。這次革命並不是對政治和社會框架的一次突然和猛烈的顛覆，諸如後來在已經是獨立國家的法國和俄國所爆發的革命那樣。

　　Significant changes were ushered in, but they were not breathtaking. What happened was accelerated evolution rather than outright revolution. During the conflict itself people went on working and praying, marrying and playing. Most of them were not seriously disturbed by the actual fighting, and many of the more isolated communities scarcely knew that a war was on.

　　革命帶來了重大的變化，但並非翻天覆地，所發生的只是進化的加速，而不是一場徹底的革命。在衝突期間，人們仍然上班、做禮拜、結婚、玩耍。大多數人並沒有受到實際戰鬥的嚴重影響。許多較閉塞的社群對這場戰爭幾乎一無所知。

　　America's War of Independence heralded the birth of three modern nations. One was Canada, which received its first large influx of English-speaking population from the thousands of loyalists who fled there from the United States. Another was Australia, which became a penal colony now that America was no longer available for prisoners and debtors. The third newcomer -- the United States -- based itself squarely on republican principles.

　　美國獨立戰爭宣佈了三個現代國家的誕生，其中一個是加拿大。加拿大的第一大批講英語的流入人口來自於成千上萬英王的效忠者，這些人從美國逃到了加拿大。另一個國家是澳大利亞，因為美國不再是容納罪犯和欠債者的國度了，澳大利亞就變成了一個懲治罪犯的殖民地。第三個國家就是美國，它完全建立在共和原則基礎上。

　　Yet even the political overturn was not so revolutionary as one might suppose. In some states, notably Connecticut and Rhode Island, the war largely ratified a colonial self-rule already existing. British officials, everywhere ousted, were replaced by a home-grown governing class, which promptly sought a local substitute for king and Parliament.

　　然而即使政治上的顛覆也不如人們可能想象的那樣具有革命性。在一些州，特別是康涅狄格和羅德島，戰爭基本上只是承認了已經存在的殖民地的自治。四處被驅逐的英國官員都被本土的統治階級所替代，這個統治階級迅速地尋求地方權力機關來替代國王和議會。

　　篇二

　　Types of Speech

　　言語的型別

　　Standard usage includes those words and expressions understood, used, and accepted by a majority of the speakers of a language in any situation regardless of the level of formality. As such, these words and expressions are well defined and listed in standard dictionaries.

　　標準用法包括那些為使用這種語言的大多數人在任何場合下理解、使用和接受的詞和短語，而不論該場合是否正式。這些詞和短語的意義已很確定並被列入了標準詞典中。

　　Colloquialisms, on the other hand, are familiar words and idioms that are understood by almost all speakers of a language and used in informal speech or writing, but not considered appropriate for more formal situations.

　　相反，俗語是指那些幾乎所有講這種語言的人都理解並在非正式的口頭或書面中使用，卻不適用於更正規的一些場合的詞和短語。

　　Almost all idiomatic expressions are colloquial language. Slang, however, refers to words and expressions understood by a large number of speakers but not accepted as good, formal usage by the majority. Colloquial expressions and even slang may be found in standard dictionaries but will be so identified. Both colloquial usage and slang are more common in speech than in writing.

　　幾乎所有的習慣用語都屬於俗語，然而俚語指的是為很多講這種語言的人理解但大多數人不把它們列入好的、正式用法之內的詞和短語;俗語甚至俚語都可能在標準字典中查到，但是字典中會標明它們的性質。俗語和俚語詞彙的應用都是口頭較多、筆頭較少。

　　Colloquial speech often passes into standard speech. Some slang also passes into standard speech, but other slang expressions enjoy momentary popularity followed by obscurity. In some cases, the majority never accepts certain slang phrases but nevertheless retains them in their collective memories. Every generation seems to require its own set of words to describe familiar objects and events.

　　俗語用法經常地被接受為標準用法。一些俚語也變成了標準用法，但另外一些俚語只經歷了短暫的流行，而後就被棄之不用了。有時候，多數人從來不接受某些俚語，但是他們把這些俚語儲存到集中記憶中。每一代人似乎都需要獨有的一套詞彙來描述熟知的物體和事件。

　　It has been pointed out by a number of linguists that three cultural conditions are necessary for the creation of a large body of slang expressions. First, the introduction and acceptance of new objects and situations in the society; second, a diverse population with a large number of subgroups; third, association among the subgroups and the majority population.

　　很多語言學家指出，大量俚語的形成需要三個文化條件：第一，對社會中新事物的引入和接受;第二，一個由大量子群構成的多樣化人口;第三，各子群與多數人口之間的聯絡。

　　Finally, it is worth noting that the terms "standard" "colloquial" and "slang" exist only as abstract labels for scholars who study language. Only a tiny number of the speakers of any language will be aware that they are using colloquial or slang expressions. Most speakers of English will, during appropriate situations, select and use all three types of expressions.

　　最後需要提到的是，“標準語”、“俗語”和“俚語”這些術語只是對研究語言的專家才有用的抽象標籤。不論何種語言，只會有很小一部分使用者能夠意識到他們是在使用俗語或俚語。講英語的多數人能夠在適當的場合中選擇使用所有這三種語言型別。

　　篇三

　　Suburbanization

　　郊區化

　　If by "suburb" is meant an urban margin that grows more rapidly than its already developed interior, the process of suburbanization began during the emergence of the industrial city in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Before that period the city was a small highly compact cluster in which people moved about on foot and goods were conveyed by horse and cart.

　　如果“郊區”指的是比已建好的城市內部發展更為迅速的城市邊緣地帶，那麼郊區化在1825年至1850年工業化城市出現期間就開始了。在這之前，城市只是高度密集的小聚居群，在這裡人們靠步行走動，商品靠馬車運送。

　　But the early factories built in the 1830's and 1840's were located along waterways and near railheads at the edges of cities, and housing was needed for the thousands of people drawn by the prospect of employment. In time, the factories were surrounded by proliferating mill towns of apartments and row houses that abutted the older, main cities. As a defense against this encroachment and to enlarge their tax bases, the cities appropriated their industrial neighbors. In 1854, for example, the city of Philadelphia annexed most of Philadelphia County. Similar municipal maneuvers took place in Chicago and in New York.

　　但是建於18世紀三四十年代的早期工廠位於城邊的航道和鐵路附近，而被工作前景吸引到這裡的成千上萬的人們需要住房。漸漸地，在與舊有的主要城區相毗鄰的地方，不斷湧現出由排房和公寓樓組成的工人聚居區，包圍了工廠。作為對這種侵蝕的自衛，也為了擴大稅基，城市吞併了工業化的臨近地帶，比如1854年費城的城區就兼併了費縣的絕大部分地區。相似的城市化也發生在芝加哥和紐約。

　　Indeed, most great cities of the United States achieved such status only by incorporating the communities along their borders. With the acceleration of industrial growth came acute urban crowding and accompanying social stress -- conditions that began to approach disastrous proportions when, in 1888, the first commercially successful electric traction line was developed. Within a few years the horse-drawn trolleys were retired and electric streetcar networks crisscrossed and connected every major urban area, fostering a wave of suburbanization that transformed the compact industrial city into a dispersed metropolis.

　　事實上，今天很多美國的大城市就是靠吞併它們附近的邊緣地區而變成大都會的。隨著工業化的加速發展，城市裡出現了嚴重擁擠和隨之而來的社會壓力。當1888年第一條商業化成功的電氣化鐵軌被製造出來時，壓力開始接近危機的程度。幾年之內，馬車就被廢棄了，電車網相互交織連線著各個重要的城區，從而形成了一種郊區化的潮流，即密集的工業城市轉變成了分散的都市。

　　This first phase of mass-scale suburbanization was reinforced by the simultaneous emergence of the urban Middle Class, whose desires for homeownership in neighborhoods far from the aging inner city were satisfied by the developers of single-family housing tracts.

　　此時城市中產階級的出現進一步加強了第一波大規模郊區化。這些中產階級希望在遠離老舊城市的地區擁有住宅，單一家庭住宅地區的開發者滿足了他們的願望。