英语经典的短文美文欣赏
有很多人说英语太难学习了，其实不难的。今天小编就给大家分享一下英语美文欣赏，来欣赏学习一下吧
Let Us Smile
让我们微笑吧
The thing that goes the farthest toward making life worthwhile,
那最能赋予生命价值、代价最廉而回报最多的东西，
That costs the least and does the most, is just a pleasant smile.
不过一个令人心畅的微笑而已。
The smile that bubbles from the heart that loves its fellow men,
由衷地热爱同胞的微笑，
Will drive away the clouds of gloom and coax the Sun again.
会驱走心头阴郁的乌云，心底收获一轮夕阳。
It's full of worth and goodness, too, with manly kindness blent;
它充满价值和美好，混合着坚毅的仁爱之心;
It's worth a million dollars, and it doesn't cost a cent.
它价值连城却不花一文。
There is no room for sadness when we see a cheery smile;
当我们看到喜悦的微笑，忧伤就会一扫而光;
It always has the same good look; it's never out of style;
它始终面容姣好，永不落伍;
It nerves us on to try again when failure makes us blue;
失败令我们沮丧之时，它鼓励我们再次尝试;
The dimples of encouragement are good for me and you.
鼓励的笑靥于你我大有裨益。
It pays the highest interest — for it is merely lent;
它支付的利息高昂无比──只因它是种借贷形式;
It's worth a million dollars, and it doesn't cost a cent.
它价值连城却不花一文。
A smile comes very easy — you can wrinkle up with cheer,
来一个微笑很容易──嘴角欢快翘起来，
A hundred times before you can squeeze out a salty tear;
你能百次微笑，可难得挤出一滴泪;
It ripples out, moreover, to the heartstrings that will tug,
它的涟漪深深波及心弦，
And always leaves an echo that is very like a hug.
总会留下反响，宛若拥抱。
So, smile away! Folks understand what by a smile is meant;
继续微笑吧!谁都懂得它意味着什么;
It's worth a million dollars, and it doesn't cost a cent.
它价值连城却不花一文。
A Perfect Wife/完美的妻子
By Ellen Glasgow/ 埃伦·格拉斯哥
After thirty years of married happiness, he could still remind himself that Victoria was endowed with every charm except the thrilling touch of human frailty. Though her perfection discouraged pleasures, especially the pleasures of love, he had learned in time to feel the pride of a husband in her natural frigidity. For he still clung, amid the decay of moral platitudes, to the discredited ideal of chivalry. In his youth the world was suffused with the after-glow of the long Victorian age, and a graceful feminine style had softened the manners, if not the natures, of men. At the end of that interesting epoch, when womanhood was exalted from a biological factsintosa miraculous power, Virginius Littlepage, the younger son of an old and affluent family, had married Victoria Brooke, the grand-daughter of a tobacco planter, who had made a satisfactory fortune by forsaking his plantation and converting tobaccos into cigarettes. While Virginius had been trained by stern tradition to respect every woman who had not stooped to folly, the virtue peculiar to her sex was among the least of his reasons for admiring Victoria. She was not only modest, which was usual in the nineties, but she was beautiful, which is unusual in any decade.
经过了三十年的幸福婚姻，他仍能时常提醒自己，维多利亚除了缺乏那么一点点令人心动的人性脆弱以外,拥有一切美妙的品质。尽管她的完美减少了乐趣，尤其是爱情的乐趣，经过长时间的生活，作为一个丈夫，他渐渐为她天性中的保守感到骄傲。虽然陈腐的道德已经没落，他却仍然坚守遭到怀疑的骑士风范。他年轻的时候，漫长的维多利亚时代的余晖仍未散去;如果说优雅的女性化风尚没有软化男人们的本性，那它也软化了他们的举止。在这个有趣的年代行将结束的时候，人们对女性的赞美已不再停留在对女人的自然属性的赞美上，而是近乎把女人作为神明来膜拜。在这个时候，弗吉尼亚斯·里托尔培奇，一个古老富有家庭中的小儿子，和维多利亚·布鲁克结婚了。维多利亚是一个大烟草种植园主的孙女，这个种植园主因不再种植烟草而是把烟草做成卷烟而发了财。尽管严格的传统教育使弗吉尼亚斯尊重所有不甘堕落至做蠢事的女性，女性独有的美德并不是他爱慕维多利亚的原因。她不仅谦虚——这个品质在九十年代很普遍，她还非常美丽，这在任何年代都是不常见的。
In the beginning of their acquaintance he had gone even further and ascribed intellect to her; but a few months of marriage had shown this to be merely one of the many delusions created by perfect features and noble expression. Everything about her had been smooth and definite, even the tones of her voice and the way her light brown hair, which she wore a la Pompadour*, was rolled stiffly back from her forehead and coiled in a burnished rope on the top of her head.
在他们相识之初，他甚至还认为她才华出众。但是几个月的婚姻生活证明了这不过是完美的外表和高贵的言辞带来的众多错觉之一。她的一切都是那么安详平淡，那么不事张扬，甚至包括她说话的声调和她选择的发式;她梳的是高卷式发型，淡褐色的头发从前额向后紧紧地卷过去用一根光亮的头绳盘绕在头顶上。那是一个凡事都严肃认真的年代，甚至恋人的情感和头脑都是有条理的。
A serious young man, ambitious to attain a place in the world more brilliant than the secluded seat of his ancestors, he had been impressed at their first meeting by the compactness and precision of Victoria's orderly mind. For in that earnest period the minds, as well as the emotions, of lovers were orderly. It was an age when eager young men flocked to church on Sunday morning, and eloquent divines discoursed upon the Victorian poets in the middle of the week. He could afford to smile now when he recalled the solemn Browning class in which he had first lost his heart. How passionately he had admired Victoria's virginal features! How fervently he had envied her competent but caressing way with the poet!
弗吉尼亚斯就是这样一个严肃的年轻人，他梦想有朝一日能在世上赢得辉煌的地位，远胜于他名声不旺的祖先。他们第一次见面的时候，他就发现维多利亚不仅思想有条理，而且思维缜密精确，因而留下了深刻的印象。在那个年代，满怀激情的年轻男子星期天早晨都涌向教堂;每星期三牧师们绘声绘色地讲述维多利亚诗人的诗歌。现在他回想起在那讨论诗人布朗宁的严肃课堂上，自己竟然春心萌动，不禁哑然失笑。他那时是多么醉心于维多利亚清纯的容颜，而看到她对布朗宁的诗心领神会，爱不释手时，他又是多么妒忌!
Incredible as it seemed to him now, he had fallen in love with her while she recited from the more ponderous passages in The Ring and the Book. He had fallen in love with her then, though he had never really enjoyed Browning, and it had been a relief to him when the Unseen, in company with its illustrious poet, had at last gone out of fashion. Yet, since he was disposed to admire all the qualities he did not possess, he had never ceased to respect the firmness with which Victoria continued to deal in other forms with the Absolute.
现在看起来真是难以置信，他居然是在她背诵《戒指和书》中非常沉闷的段落时爱上她的。尽管他从来没有真正喜欢过布朗宁的诗，他还是在那时爱上了她。当这个杰出的诗人与他的诗“幽冥”终于不再时兴的时候，他感到如释重负般的轻松。可是，对维多利亚继续以其它形式信奉绝对真理所表现出的坚定精神，他向来无比钦佩，因为他总是钦佩他所没有的所有品质。
As the placid years passed, and she came to rely less upon her virginal features, it seemed to him that the ripe opinions of her youth began to shrink and flatten as fruit does that has hung too long on the tree. She had never changed, he realized, since he had first known her; she had become merely riper, softer, and sweeter in nature.
随着平静岁月的流逝，维多利亚美丽的容颜开始渐褪;他似乎觉得她年轻时的成熟思想也开始变得不再锋芒毕露，就像果实在树上挂得过久。他意识到自从他第一次见到她，她从来没有改变过;她只是变得更加成熟、温婉和甜美。
Her advantage rested where advantage never fails to rest, in moral fervour. To be invariably right was her single wifely failing. For his wife, he sighed, with the vague unrest of a husband whose infidelities are imaginary, was a genuinely good woman. She was as far removed from pretence as she was from the posturing virtues that flourish in the credulous world of the drama. The pity of it was that even the least exacting husband should so often desire something more piquant than goodness.
她优于别人的地方在于她的精神热诚，这种优势牢不可破。作为妻子,她惟一的缺点就是能在任何时候都不做错事。臆想对妻子有不忠行为的丈夫总会有种淡淡的不安，正是带着这种不安他叹息道，他的妻子是一个真正的好女人。她没有一点虚饰，也没有一点在这个容易轻信的世界上所流行的那种伪善。但遗憾的是，即使是最不挑剔的丈夫也时常会渴望一点更为活泼有趣的东西，而不仅仅是善良。(选自《他们不惜干蠢事》，1929)
Never Too Old to Live Your Dream/Dan Clark
梦想终有成真时/丹·克拉克
The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know.I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder.I turned around to find a wrinkled，little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.She said，“Hi handsome.My name is Rose.I' m eighty-seven years old.Can I give you a hug?”I laughed and enthusiastically responded，“Of course you may.”and she gave me a giant squeeze.
开学的第一天教授做了自我介绍，他还要求我们去结识某位我们还不认识的人。就在我站起来四处张望时，一只手轻轻地搭在了我的肩上。我转过身一看，一位满脸皱纹个子矮小的老太太正冲着我微笑。这微笑使她浑身光彩照人。她说：“嘿，帅小伙儿，我叫罗斯，今年87岁。我可以拥抱你吗?”我笑了起来，热情地答道：“当然可以啦。”她紧紧地拥抱了我。
“Why are you in college at such a young，innocent age?”I asked. She jokingly replied，“I'm here to meet a rich husband，get married，have a couple of children，and then retire and travel.”“No，seriously?”I asked.I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
“你为什么在这么年轻而天真的年龄上大学?”我问。她开玩笑地回答说：“我要在此遇到一个有钱的丈夫，结婚，生几个孩子，然后退休，去旅游。”“真的吗?不对吧?”我问她。我很想知道，她这么大年纪，是什么促使她接受这样的挑战呢。
“I always dreamed of having a college education and now I'm getting one.”she told me.After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milk shake We became instant friends.Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk nonstop.I was always mesmerized listening to this“time machine”as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.
“我一直梦想接受大学教育。而现在我如愿以偿了。”她告诉我说。课后我们一同到学生活动楼，共饮了一杯巧克力泡沫牛奶。我们一下子就成了朋友。在此后的三个月中，我们每天都一起离开课堂，聊起来没完没了。在她向我传授她的智慧和经验时，我总是着了迷似地倾听这个“时间机器”。
Over the course of the year，Rose became a campus icon and she easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed up her from the other students.She was living it up. At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech，she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said，“I'm sorry I'm so jittery.I gave up beer for Lent(一种威士忌的牌子) and this whisky is killing me. I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just t ell you what I know.” As we laughed she cleared her throat and began：“We do not stop playing because we are old;we grow old because we stop playing.There are only four secrets to staying young，being happy，and achieving success.”
在这一年里，罗斯成了校园里的偶像。不管到哪里，她很容易地就交上了朋友。她喜欢精心打扮，陶醉于其他学生对她的注意。她尽情地享受这一切。到学期末，我们请罗斯在我们的足球宴会上讲话。我永远也不会忘记她给我们的教诲。介绍完毕后她就登上讲台。正当她要开始已准备好的演讲时，她的5寸长3寸宽的卡片掉在了地上。她有些不知所措，还有点尴尬，于是就靠近话筒干脆说了起来：“很抱歉我这么紧张。我为大斋节戒了啤酒，而这威士忌可是毁了我。按原先准备好了的讲是不可能了，还是把我所知道的说给你们听吧。”我们都笑了，她则清了清嗓子开始说：“我们并不因为自己老了而不娱乐;我们因为停止了娱乐而变老。要想保持年轻，过得幸福并取得成功只有4条秘诀。”
“You have to laugh and find humor every day.”
“每天都要笑，每天都要找到幽默。”
“You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams，you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead an d don't even know it.”
“一定要有梦想。失去了梦想，人就死了。在我们周围有那么多行尸走肉般的人，他们却不自知。”
“There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing，you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change.”
“变老和成熟是有巨大区别的。如果你19岁，在床上躺一整年，而不做一件有成效的事情，你会到20岁。如果我87岁，在床上待一年什么也不做，我也会到88岁。谁都会老，那不需要天才或能力。我的意思是要通过在变化中不断地寻找机会而达到成熟。”
“Have no regrets.The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did，but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets.”
“不要后悔。年长的人一般不会为我们所做的事而后悔，而会为我们所没有做的事后悔。只有充满遗憾的人才惧怕死亡。”
She concluded her speech by courageously singing“The Rose.”She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives.
她勇敢地唱了一首《玫瑰之歌》作为结束，还要求我们每个人学习歌词并在日常生活中将词意付诸行动。
At the year's end Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years a go. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep.
年末，罗斯结束了她多年前就开始的大学生涯，取得了学位。毕业一周之后，罗斯在睡梦中平静地去世。
Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.
两千多名大学生出席了她的葬礼，对这位了不起的女士表示敬意。她以自身范例教育我们：发挥自己的潜能永不为晚。
Remember，growing older is mandatory，growing up is optional.
记住，衰老是无法抗拒的，而成熟却是可以选择的。
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