英语美文100篇

经典英语美文背诵100篇(MP3+中英字幕)2015-04-12 编辑：wendy 标签：我来听写•夏天的飞鸟，飞到我的宙前唱歌，又飞去了。

秋天的黄叶，它们没有什么可唱，只叹息一声，飞落在那里。

2015-04-11 编辑：wendy 标签：我来听写•自由就是秩序，自由就是力量。

放眼寰球,你定然会对那些具有启发性的景象钦佩不已。

你会看到，自由不仅仅是力量和秩序，而且是占据统治地位的不可征服的力量和秩序它使其他一切力量的源泉都相形见绌。

2015-04-10 编辑：wendy 标签：我来听写•奥运会所代表的崇高理想，就是各国的运动选手用运动员精神超越政治障碍聚集在一起。

可是，其利害关系不仅在于谁获得金牌。

每一届奥运会后不久，各国又重新开始争夺下一届奥运会的主办权。

2015-04-09 编辑：wendy 标签：我来听写•公司的首席执行官未必都是经过许多正规培训的人。

所以，我认为接受更多的学校教育未必就能促使你在成功的阶梯上步步高升。

2015-04-08 编辑：wendy 标签：我来听写•即使上帝只赐予了你一半的生命，我们今天还是趁此机会来感谢你以自己的那种方式使我们的生命熠熠生辉。

我们大家永远都会有一种上当受骗的感觉，因为你过早地香销玉殒，但是我们仍然必须学会感恩，2015-04-07 编辑：wendy 标签：我来听写•一年四季之中，大自然的外貌最美不过的一个月就是八月。

春天有许多美的地方，五月是新鲜和娇艳的月份，但是这种时节的媚人之处是由于和冬季的对照而加强起来的。

2015-04-06 编辑：wendy 标签：我来听写•在所有与古巴有关的亊情中，有一个人常常令我无法忘怀。

美西战争爆发以后，美国必须马上与反抗军首领加西亚将军取得联系。

加西亚将军隐藏在古巴辽阔的崇山峻岭中——没有人知道确切的地点，2015-04-05 编辑：wendy 标签：我来听写•那么，人生的工作是什么？那些伟大的人物们，还有那些被我们称为英雄的人们，他们春风得意地走过世界的舞台时又做了些什么呢？难道就是要在众口喧称中变得伟大，并且还要在历史上占据许多篇章吗？2015-04-04 编辑：wendy 标签：我来听写•也许克服对死亡恐惧的最好方法是想一想，人生有始也就必有终。

英语背诵100篇1. The First SnowThe first snow came. How beautiful it was, falling so silently all day long, all night long, on the mountains, on the meadows, on the roofs on the living, on the graves of the dead! All white save the river, that marked its cour se be a winding black line across the landscape; and the leafless tress, that against the leaden sky now revealed more fully the wonderful beauty and intricacies of their branches. What silence, too, came with the snow, and what seclusion! Every sound was muffled, every noise changed to something soft and musical. No more tramping hoofs, no more rattling wheels! Only the chiming of sleigh-bell, beating as swift and merrily as the hearts of children. (118 words)From KavanaghBy Henry Wadsworth Longfellow2. The Humming-birdOf all animals being this is the most elegant in form and the most brilliant in colors. The stones and metals polished by our arts are not comparable to this jewel of Nature. She has placed it least in size of the order of birds. "maxime Miranda in minimis." Her masterpiece is this little humming-bird, and upon it she has heaped all the gifts which the other birds may only share. Lightness, rapidity, nimbleness, grace, and rich apparel all belong to this little favorite. The emerald, the r uby, and the topaz gleam upon its dress. It never soils them with the dust of earth, and in its aerial life scarcely touches the turf an instant. Always in the air, flying from flower to flower, it has their freshness as well as their brightness. It lives upon their nectar, and dwells only in the climates where they perennially bloom. (149 words)From Natural HistoryBy George Louise Buffon陈冠商《英语背诵文选》3. PinesThe pine, placed nearly always among scenes disordered and desolate, bring into them all possible elements of order and precision. Lowland trees may lean to this side and that, though it is but a meadow breeze that bends them or a bank of cowlips from which their trunks lean aslope. But let storm and avalanche do their worst, and let the pine find only a ledge of vertical precipice to cling to, it will nevertheless grow straight. Thrust a rod from its last shoot down the stem; it shall point to the center of the earth as long as the tree lives. It may be well also for lowland branches to reach hither and thither for what they need, and to take all kinds of irregular shape and extension. But the pine is trained to need nothing and endure everything. It is resolvedly whole, self-contained, desiring nothing but rightness, content with restricted completion. Tall or short, it will be straight.(160 words)From Modern PaintersBy John Ruskin陈冠商《英语背诵文选》4. Reading Good BooksDevote some of your leisure, I repeat, to cultivating a love of reading good books. Fortunate indeed are those who contrive to make themselves genuine book-lovers. For book lovers have some noteworthy advantages over other people. They need never know lonely hours so long as they have books around them, and the better the books the more delightful the company. From good books, moreover, they draw much besides entertainment. They gain mental food such as few companions can supply. Even while resting from their labors they are, through the books they read, equipping themselves to perform those labors more efficiently. This albeit they may not be deliberately reading to improve their mind. All unconsciously the ideas they derive from the printed paged are stored up, to be worke d over by the imagination for future profit.(135 words)From Self-DevelopmentBy Henry Addington Bruce陈冠商《英语背诵文选》5. On EtiquetteEtiquette to society is what apparel is to the individual. Without apparel men would go in shameful nudity which would surely lead to the corruption of morals; and without etiquette society would be in a pitiable state and the necessary intercourse between its members would be interfered with by needless offences and troubles. If society were a train, the etiquette would be the rails along which only the train could rumble forth; if society were a state coach, the etiquette would be the wheels and axis on which only the coach could roll forward. The lack of proprieties would make the most intimate friends turns to be the most decided enemies and the friendly or allied countries declare war against each other. We can find many exam ples in the history of mankind. Therefore I advise you to stand on ceremony before anyone else and to take pains not to do anything against etiquette lest you give offences or make enemies. (160 words)by William Hazlitt陈冠商《英语背诵文选》6. An Hour Before SunriseAn hour before sunrise in the city there is an air of cold. Solitary desolation about the noiseless streets, which we are accustomed to see thronged at other times by a busy, eager crowd, and over the quiet, closely shut buildings which throughout the day are warming with life. The drunken, the dissipated, and the criminal have disappeared; the more sober and orderly part of the population have not yet awakened to the labors of the day, and the stillness of death is over streets; its very hue seems to be imparted to them, cold and lifeless as they look in the gray, somber light of daybreak. A partially opened bedroom window here and there bespeaks the heat of the weather and theuneasy slumbers of its occupant; and the dim scanty flicker of a light through the blinds of yonder windows denotes the chamber of watching and sickness. Save for that sad light, the streets present no signs of life, nor the houses of habitation. (166 words)From BozBy Charles Dickens陈冠商《英语背诵文选》7. The Importance of Scientific ExperimentsThe rise of modern science may perhaps be considered to date as far as the time of Roger Bacon, the wonderful monk and philosopher of Oxford, who lived between the years 1214 and 1292. He was probable the first in the middle ages to assert that we must learn science by observing and experimenting on the things around us, and he himself made many remarkable discoveries. Galileo, however who lived more than 300 years later (1564 to 1642), was the greates t of several great men, who in Italy, France, Germany or England, began by degrees to show how many important truths could be discovered by well-directed observation. Before the time of Galileo, learned men believed that large bodies fall more rapidly towa rds the earth than small ones, because Aristotle said so. But Galileo, going to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, let fall two unequal stones, and proved to some friends, whom he had brought there to see his experiment, that Aristotle was in error. It is Galileo's sprit of going direct to Nature, and verifying our opinions and theories by experiment, that has led to all the great discoveries of modern science.(196 words)From LogicBy William Stanley Jevons陈冠商《英语背诵文选》8. Address at GettysburgFourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent anew nation in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whethe r that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, ca n long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate-we cannot consecrate-we cannot hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, heave consecrated it far above our poor po wer to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobl y advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that form these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. (268 words)By Abraham Lincoln9. A Little Girl (1)Sitting on a grassy grave, beneath one of the windows of the church, was a little girl. With her head bent back she was gazing up at the sky and singing, while one of her little hands was pointing to a tiny cloud that hovered like a golden feather above her head. The sun, which had suddenly become very bright, shining on her glossy hair, gave it a metallic luster, and it was difficult to say what was the color, dark bronze or black. So completely absorbed was shi in watching the cloud to which her strange song or incantation and went towards her. Over her head, high up in the blue, a lark that was soaring towards the same gauzy could was singing, as if in rivalry.As I slowly approached the child, I could see by her forehead, which in the sunshine seemed like a glob e of pearl, and especially by her complexion, that she uncommonly lovely.(159 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》10. A Little Girl (2)Her eyes, which at one moment seemed blue-gray, at another violet, were shaded by long black lashes, curving backward in a most peculiar way, and these matched in hue her eyebrows, and the tresses that were tossed about her tender throat and were quivering in the sunlight. All this I did not take in at once; for at first I could see nothing but those quivering, glittering, changeful eyes turned up into my face. Gradually the other features, especially the sensitive full-lipped mouth, grew upon me as I stood silently gazing. Here seemed tome a more perfect beauty than had ever come to me in my loveliest dreams of beauty. Yet it was not her b eauty so much as the look she gave me that fascinated me, melted me. (129 words)(302 words)From Aylwinby Theodore Watts-Dunton陈冠商《英语背诵文选》11. Choosing an OccupationHodeslea, Eastbourne,November 5, 1892Dear Sir,I am very sorry that the pressure of o ther occupations has prevented me form sending an earlier reply to your letter.In my opinion a man's first duty is to find a way of supporting himself, thereby relieving other people of the necessity of supporting him. Moreover, the learning to so work of practical value in the world, in an exact and careful manner, is of itself, a very important education the effects of whichmake themselves felt in all other pursuits. The habit of doing that which you do not dare about when you would much rather be doing something else, is invaluable. It would have saved me a frightful waste of time if I had ever had it drilled into me in youth.Success in any scientific career requires an unusual equipment of capacity, industry, and energy. If you possess that equipment,you will find leisure enough after your daily commercial work is over, to make an opening in the scientific ranks for yourself. If you do not, you had better stick to commerce. Nothing is less to be desired than the fate of a young man who, as the Scotch proverb says, in 'trying to make a spoon spoils a horn," and becomes a mere hanger-on in literature or in science, when he might have been a useful and a valuable member of Society in other occupations.I think that your father ought to see this letter. (244 words)Yours faithfullyT.H. HuxleyFrom Life and Letters of Thomas Henry HuxleyBy Leonard Huxley陈冠商《英语背诵文选》12. An Important Aspect of College LifeIt is perfectly possible to organize the life of our colleges in such a way that students and teachers alike will take part in it; in such a way that a perfectly natural daily intercourse will be establis hed between them; and it is only by such an organization that they can be given real vitality as places of serious training, be made communities in which youngsters will come fully to realize how interesting intellectual work is, how vital, how important, how closely associated with all modern achievement-only by such an organization that study can be made to seem part of life itself. Lectures often seem very formal and empty things; recitations generally proved very dull and unrewarding. It is in conversation and natural intercourse with scholars chiefly that you find how lively knowledge is, how it ties into everything that is interestingand important, how intimate a part it is of every thing that is interesting and important, how intimate a part it is of everything that is "practical" and connected with the world. Men are not always made thoughtful by books; but they are generally made thoughtful by association with men who think. (195 words)By Woodrow Wilson陈冠商《英语背诵文选》13. Night (1)Night has fallen over the country. Through the trees rises the red moon, and the stars are scarcely seen. In the vast shadow of night the coolness and the dews descend. I sit at the open window to enjoy them; and hear only the voice of the summer wind. Like black hulks, the shadows of the great trees ride at anchor on the billowy sea of grass. I cannot see the red and blue flowers, but I know that they are there. Far away in the meadow gleams the silver Charles. The tramp of horses' hoofs sounds from the wooden bridge. Then all is still save the continuous wind or the sound of the neighboring sea. The village clock strikes; and I feel that I am not alone.(128 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》14. Night (2)How different it is in the city! It is late, and the crowd is gone. You step out upon the balcony, and lie in the very bosom of the cool, dewy night as if you folded her garments about you. Beneath lies the public walk with trees,like a fathomless, black gulf, into whose silent beloved spirit clasped in its embrace. The lamps are still burning up and down the long street. People go by with grotesque shadows, now foreshortened, and now lengthening away into the darkness and vanishing, while a new one springs up behind the walker, and seems to pass him revolving like the sail of a windmill. The iron gates of the park shut with a jangling clang. There are footsteps and loud voices; --a tumult; --a drunken brawl; --an alarm of fire; --then silenceagain. And now at length the city is asleep, and we can see the night. The belated moon looks over the roofs, and finds no one to welcome her. The moonlight is broken. It lies here and there in the squares, and the opening of the streets-angular like blocks of white marble. (195 words)(323 words)By Nathanial Hawthorne陈冠商《英语背诵文选》15. An October Sunrise (1)I was up the next morning before the October sunrise, and away through the wild and the woodland. The rising of the sun was noble in the cold and warmth of it; peeping down the spread of light, he raised his shoulder heavily over the edge of gray mountain and wavering length of upland. Beneath his gaze the dew-fogs dipped and crept to the hollow places, then stole away in line and column, holding skirts and cling subtly at the sheltering corners where rock hung over gr ass-land, while the brave lines of the hills came forth, one beyond other gliding.The woods arose in folds, like drapery of awakened mountains, stately with a depth of awe, and memory of the tempests. Autumn's mellow hand was upon them, as they owned alre ady, touched with gold and red and olive, and their joy towards the sun was less to a bridegroom than a father. (152 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》16. An October Sunrise (2)Yet before the floating impress of the woods could clear itself, suddenly the gladsome light leaped over hill and valley, casting amber, blue, and purple, and a tint of rich red rose, according to the scene they lit on, and the curtain flung around; yet all alike dispelling fear and the coven hoof of darkness, all on the wings of hope advancing, a nd proclaiming, "God is here!" Then life and joy sprang reassured from every crouching hollow; every flower and bud and bird had a fluttering sense of them, and all the flashing of God's gaze merged into soft beneficence.So, perhaps, shall break upon us t hat eternal morning, when crag and chasm shall be no more, neither hill and valley, nor great unvintaged ocean; when glory shall not scare happiness, neither happiness envy glory; but all things shall arise, and shine in the light of the Father's countenan ce, because itself is risen. (153 words)(305 words)By Richard D. Blackmore陈冠商《英语背诵文选》17. Of Studies (1)Studies serve for delight, for ornamental, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar. They perfect nature, natural plants, that need proyning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Craft y men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. (157 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》18. Of Studies (2)Read not to contradict and confute; no r to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted; others to swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; butthat would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wi t; an if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. (170 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》19. Of Studies (3)Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores. Nay there is no stond or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies: like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores. If he be not apt to b eat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt. (163 words)(490 words)By Francis Bacon陈冠商《英语背诵文选》20. Books (1)The good books of the hour, then, --I do not speak of the bad ones—is simply the useful or pleasant talk of some person whom you cannot otherwise converse with, printed for you. Very useful often, telling you what you need to know; very pleasant often, as a sensible friend's pre sent talk would be. These bright accounts of travels; good-humoured and witty discussion ofquestions; lively or pathetic story-telling in the form of novel; firm fact-telling, by the real agents concerned in the events of passing history; --all these books of the hour, multiplying among us as education becomes more general, are a peculiar characteristic and possession of the present age: we ought to be entirely thankful for them, and entirely ashamed of ourselves if we make no good use of them. But we make the worse possible use, if we allow them to usurp the place of true books: for, strictly speaking, they are not books at all, but merely letters or newspapers in good print. Our friend's letter may be delightful, or necessary, today: whether worth keeping or not, is to be considered. (189 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》21. Books (2)The newspaper may be entirely proper at breakfast time, but assuredly it is not reading for all day. So though bound up in a volume, the long letter which gives you so pleasant an account of the inns, the roads, and weather last year at such a place, or which tells you that amusing story, or gives you the real circumstances of such and such events, however valuable for occasional reference, may not be, in the real sense of the word, a "book" at all, nor, in the real sense, to be "read". A book is essentially not a talked thing, but a written thing; and written, not with the view of mere communication, but of permanence. The book of talk is printed only because its author cannot speak to thou sands of people at once; if he could, he would-the volume is mere multiplication of his voice. You cannot talk to your friend in India; if you could, you would; you write instead: that is mere conveyance of voice. But a book is written, not to multiply the voice merely, not to carry it merely, but to preserve it. (190 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》22. Books (3)The author has something to say which he perceives to be true and useful, or helpfully beautiful. So far as he knows, no one has yet said it; so far as heknows, no one else can say it. He is bound to say it, clearly and melodious ly if he may; clearly, at all events. In the sum of his life he finds this to be the thing, or group of things, manifest to him; --this the piece of true knowledge, or sight, which his share of sunshine and earth has permitted him to seize. He would fain set it down for ever; engrave it on rock, if he could; saying, "this is the best of me; for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved and hated, like another; my life was as the vapour, and is not; but this I saw and knew: this, if anything of mine, is w orth your memory, " That is his "writing"; it is, in his small human way, and with whatever degree of true inspiration is in him, his inscription, or scripture. That is a "Book". (186 words)(565 words)By John Ruskin陈冠商《英语背诵文选》24. The Value of Time (1)"Time" says the proverb "is money". This means that every moment well spent may put some money into our pockets. If our time is usefully employed, it will either turn out some useful and important piece of work which will fetch its price in the market, or it will add to our experience and increase our capacities so as to enable us to earn money when the proper opportunity comes. There can thus be no doubt that time is convertible into money. Let those who think nothing of wasting time, remember this; let th em remember that an hour misspent is equivalent to the loss of a bank-note; an that an hour utilized is tantamount to so much silver or gold; and then they will probably think twice before they give their consent to the loss of any part of their time.Moreover, our life is nothing more than our time. To kill time is therefore a form of suicide. We are shocked when we think of death, and we spare no pains, no trouble, and no expense to preserve life. But we are too often indifferent to the loss of an hour or of a day, forgetting that our life is thesum total of the days and of the hours we live. A day of an hour wasted is therefore so much life forfeited. Let us bear this in mind, and waste of time will appear to us in the light of a crime as culpable as sui cide itself. (250 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》25. The Value of Time (2)There is a third consideration which will also tend to warn us against loss of time. Our life is a brief span measuring some sixty or seventy years in all, but nearly one half of this has to be spent in sleep; some yea rs have to be spent over our meals; some over dressing and undressing; some in making journeys on land and voyages by sea; some in merry-making, either on our own account or for the sake of others; some in celebrating religious and social festivities; some in watching over the sick-beds of our nearest and dearest relatives. Now if all these years were to be deducted from the tern over which our life extends we shall find about fifteen or twenty years at our disposal for active work. Whoever remembers this c an never willingly waste a single moment of his life. "It is astonishing" says Lord Chesterfield "that anyone can squander away in absolute idleness one single moment of that portion of time which is allotted to us in this world. Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it!" (187 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》26. The Value of Time (3)All time is precious; but the time of our childhood and of our youth is more precious than any other portion of our existence. For those are the periods when alone we can acquire knowledge and develop our faculties and capacities. If we allow these morning hours of life to slip away unutilized, we shall never be able to recoup the loss. As we grow older, our power of acquisition gets blunted, so that the art or science which is not acquired in childhood or youth will never be acquired at all. Just as money laid out at interest doubles and trebles itself in time, so the precious hours of childhoodand youth, if properly used, will yield us incalculable advantages. "Every moment you lose" says Lord Chesterfield "is so much character and advantage lost; as on the other hand, every moment you now employ usefully is so much time wisely laid out at prodigious interest."A proper employment of time is of great benefit to us from a moral point of view. Idleness is justly said to be the rust of the mind and an idle brain is said to be Satan's workshop. It is mostly when you do not know what to do with yourself that you do something ill or wrong. The mind of the idler preys upon itself. As Watt has said:In works of labour or of skillLet me be busy too;For Satan finds some mischief stillFor idle hands to do. (249 words(686 words)By Robert William Service陈冠商《英语背诵文选》27. Spring The Resurrection TimeSprings are not always the same, In some years, April bursts upon our Virginia hills in one prodigious leap—and all the stage is filled at once, whole choruses of tulips, arabesques of forsythia, cadenzas of flowering plum. The trees grow leaves overnight.In other years, spring tiptoes in. It pauses, overcome by shyness, like my grandchild at the door, peeping in, ducking out of sight, giggling in the hallway. "I know you're out there," I cry. "Come in!" And April slips into arms.The dogwood bud, pale green, is inlaid with russet markings. With in the perfect cup a score of clustered seeds are nestled. Once examined the bud in awe: Where were those seeds a month ago The apples display their milliner's scraps of ivory silk, rose-tinged. All the sleeping things wake up-primrose, baby iris, blue phlox. The earth warms-you can smell it, feel it, crumbleApril in your hands.The dark Blue Mountains in which I dwell, great-hipped, big-breasted, slumber on the western sky. And then they stretch and gradually awaken. A warm wind, soft as a girl's hair, moves sailboat clouds in gentle skies. The rain come-good rains to sleep by-and fields that were dun as oatmeal turn to pale green, then to Kelly green.All this reminds me of a theme that runs through my head like a line of music. Its message is profoundly simple, and profoundly mysterious also: Life goes on. That is all there is to it. Everything that is, was; and everything that is, will be. (259 words)by James J. Kilpatrick陈擎红《英语背诵散文》27. Spell of the Rising MoonAs the moon lifted off the ridge it gathered firmness and authority. Its complexion changed from red, to orange, to gold, to impassive yellow. It seemed to draw light out of the darkening earth, for as it rose, the hills and valleys below grew dimmer. By the time the moon stood clear of the horizon, full chested and round and the color of ivory, the valley were deep shadows in the landscape. The dogs, reassured that this was the familiar moon, stopped barking.The drama took an hour. Moonrise is slow and serried with subtleties. To watch it, we must slip into an older, more patient sense of time. To watch the moon move inexorably higher is to find an unusual stillness within ourselves. Our imaginations become aware of the vast distances of space, the immensity of the earth and the huge improbability of our own existence. We feel small but privileged.Moonlight shows us none of life's harder edges. Hillsides seem silken and silvery, the oceans still and blue in its ligh t. In moonlight we become less calculating, more drawn to our feelings.(184 words)。

星火书业晨读英语美文100篇六级Passage1. Knowledge and VirtueKnowledge is one thing, virtue is another; good sense is not conscience, refinement is not humility, nor is largeness and justness of view faith. Philosophy, however enlightened, however profound, gives no command over the passions, no influential motives, no vivifying principles. Liberal Education makes not the Christian, not the Catholic, but the gentleman. It is well to be a gentleman, it is well to have a cultivated intellect, a delicate taste, a candid, equitable, dispassionate mind, a noble and courteous bearing in the conduct of life—these are the connatural qualities of a large knowledge; they are the objects of a University. I am advocating, I shall illustrate and insist upon them; but still, I repeat, they are no guarantee for sanctity or even for conscientiousness, and they may attach to the man of the world, to the profligate, to the heartless, pleasant, alas, and attractive as he shows when decked out in them. Taken by themselves, they do but seem to be what they are not; they look like virtue at a distance, but they are detected by close observers, and in the long run; and hence it is that they are popularly accused of pretense and hypocrisy, not, I repeat, from their own fault, but because their professors and their admirers persist in taking them for what they are not, and are officious in arrogating for them a praise to which they have no claim. Quarry the granite rock with razors, or moor the vessel with a thread of silk, then may you hope with such keen and delicate instruments as human knowledge and human reason to contend against those giants, the passion and the pride of man.Passage2. “Packing” a PersonA person, like a commodity, needs packaging. But going too far is absolutely undesirable. A little exaggeration, however, does no harm when it shows the person's unique qualities to their advantage. To display personal charm in a casual and natural way, it is important for one to have a clear knowledge of oneself. A master packager knows how to integrate art and nature without any traces of embellishment, so that the person so packaged is no commodity but a human being, lively and lovely. A young person, especially a female, radiant with beauty and full of life, has all the favor granted by God. Any attempt to make up would be self-defeating. Youth, however, comes and goes in a moment of doze. Packaging for the middle-aged is primarily to conceal the furrows ploughed by time. If you still enjoy life's exuberance enough to retain self-confidence and pursue pioneering work, you are unique in your natural qualities, and your charm and grace will remain. Elderly people are beautiful if their river of life has been, through plains, mountains and jungles, running its course as it should. You have really lived your life which now arrives at a complacent stage of serenity indifferent to fame or wealth. There is no need toresort to hair-dyeing；the snow-capped mountain is itself a beautiful scene of fairyland. Let your looks change from young to old synchronizing with the natural ageing process so as to keep in harmony with nature, for harmony itself is beauty, while the other way round will only end in unpleasantness. To be in the elder's company is like reading a thick book of deluxe edition that fascinates one so much as to be reluctant to part with. As long as one finds where one stands, one knows how to package oneself, just as a commodity establishes its brand by the right packaging.Passage3. Three Passions I Have Lived forThree passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair. I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy —ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of my life for a few hours for this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness —that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what—at last—I have found. With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine ... A little of this, but not much, I have achieved. Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people —a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer. This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.Passage4. A Little GirlSitting on a grassy grave, beneath one of the windows of the church, was a little girl. With her head bent back she was gazing up at the sky and singing, while one of her little hands was pointing to a tiny cloud that hovered like a golden feather above her head. The sun, which had suddenly become very bright, shining on her glossy hair, gave it a metallic luster, and it was difficult to say what was the color, dark bronze or black. So completely absorbed was she in watching the cloud to which her strange song or incantation seemed addressed, that she did not observe me when I rose and went towards her. Over her head, high up in the blue, a lark that was soaring towards the same gauzy cloud wassinging, as if in rivalry. As I slowly approached the child, I could see by her forehead, which in the sunshine seemed like a globe of pearl, and especially by her complexion, that she uncommonly lovely. Her eyes, which at one moment seemed blue-gray, at another violet, were shaded by long black lashes, curving backward in a most peculiar way, and these matched in hue her eyebrows, and the tresses that were tossed about her tender throat were quivering in the sunlight. All this I did not take in at once; for at first I could see nothing but those quivering, glittering, changeful eyes turned up into my face. Gradually the other features, especially the sensitive full-lipped mouth, grew upon me as I stood silently gazing. Here seemed to me a more perfect beauty than had ever come to me in my loveliest dreams of beauty. Yet it was not her beauty so much as the look she gave me that fascinated me, melted me.Passage5 Declaration of IndependenceWhen in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. —That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, —That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience has shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.Passage6. A Tribute to the DogThe best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become hisenemy. His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith. The money that a man has he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most. A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a mo ment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor when success is with us may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog. A man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his mast er’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer; he will lick the wounds and sores that come from encounter with the roughness of the world. He will guard the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert, he remains. When riches take wings and reputation falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journeys through the heavens. If fortune drives the master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless，the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him, to guard him against danger, to fight against his enemies. And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace, and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter if all other friends pursue their way, there by the grave will the noble dog be found, his head between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness, faithful and true even in death.Passage7. Knowledge and ProgressWhy does the idea of progress loom so large in the modern world? Surely because progress of a particular kind is actually taking place around us and is becoming more and more manifest. Although mankind has undergone no general improvement in intelligence or morality, it has made extraordinary progress in the accumulation of knowledge. Knowledge began to increase as soon as the thoughts of one individual could be communicated to another by means of speech. With the invention of writing，a great advance was made, for knowledge could then be not only communicated but also stored. Libraries made education possible, and education in its turn added to libraries: the growth of knowledge followed a kind of compound interest law, which was greatly enhanced by the invention of printing. All this was comparatively slow until, with the coming of science, the tempo was suddenly raised. Then knowledge began to be accumulated according to a systematic plan. The trickle became a stream; the stream has now become a torrent. Moreover, as soon as new knowledge is acquired, it is now turned to practical account. What is called “modern civilization” is not the result of a balanced development of all man's nature, but of accumulated knowledge applied to practical life. The problem nowfacing humanity is: What is going to be done with all this knowledge? As is so often pointed out, knowledge is a two-edged weapon which can be used equally for good or evil. It is now being used indifferently for both. Could any spectacle, for instance, be more grimly weird than that of gunners using science to shatter men's bodies while, close at hand, surgeons use it to restore them? We have to ask ourselves very seriously what will happen if this twofold use of knowledge, with its ever-increasing power, continues.Passage8. Address by EngelsOn the 14th of March, at a quarter to three in the afternoon, the greatest living thinker ceased to think. He had been left alone for scarcely two minutes, and when we came back we found him in his armchair, peacefully gone to sleep—but forever. An immeasurable loss has been sustained both by the militant proletariat of Europe and America, and by historical science, in the death of this man. The gap that has been left by the departure of this mighty spirit will soon enough make itself felt. Just as Darwin discovered the law of development of organic nature, so Marx discovered the law of development of human history: the simple fact, hitherto concealed by an overgrowth of ideology, that mankind must first of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion, etc.; that therefore the production of the immediate material means of subsistence and consequently the degree of economic development attained by a given people or during a given epoch form the foundation upon which the state institutions, the legal conceptions, art, and even the ideas on religion, of the people concerned have been evolved, and in the light of which they must, therefore, be explained, instead of vice versa, as had hitherto been the case. But that is not all. Marx also discovered the special law of motion governing the present-day capitalist mode of production and the bourgeois society that this mode of production has created. The discovery of surplus value suddenly threw light on the problem, in trying to solve which all previous investigations, of both bourgeois economists and socialist critics, had been groping in the dark. Two such discoveries would be enough for one lifetime. Happy the man to whom it is granted to make even one such discovery. But in every single field which Marx investigated—and he investigated very many fields, none of them superficially—in every field, even in that of mathematics, he made independent discoveries.Passage9. Relationship that LastsIf somebody tells you,“ I’ll love you for ever,” will you believe it? I don’t thi nk there’s any reason not to. We are ready to believe such commitment at the moment, whatever change may happen afterwards. As for the belief in an everlasting love, that’s another thing. Then you may be asked whether there is such a thing as an everlasting love. I’d answer I believe in it, but an everlasting love is not immutable. You may unswervingly love or be loved by a person. But love will change its composition with the passage of time. It will not remain thesame. In the course of your growth and as a result of your increased experience, love will become something different to you. In the beginning you believed a fervent love for a person could last definitely. By and by, however, “fervent” gave way to “prosaic”. Precisely because of this change it became possible for love to last. Then what was meant by an everlasting love would eventually end up in a sort of interdependence. We used to insist on the difference between love and liking. The former seemed much more beautiful than the latter. One day, however, it turns out there’s really no need to make such difference. Liking is actually a sort of love. By the same token, the everlasting interdependence is actually an everlasting love. I wish I could believe there was somebody who would love me for ever. That’s, as we all k now, too romantic to be true. Instead, it will more often than not be a case of lasting relationship.Passage10. RushSwallows may have gone, but there is a time of return; willow trees may have died back, but there is a time of regreening; peach blossoms may have fallen, but they will bloom again. Now, you the wise, tell me, why should our days leave us, never to return? If they had been stolen by someone, who could it be? Where could he hide them? If they had made the escape themselves, then where could they stay at the moment? I don’t know how many day s I have been given to spend, but I do feel my hands are getting empty. Taking stock silently,I find that more than eight thousand days have already slid away from me. Likea drop of water from the point of a needle disappearing into the ocean, my days are dripping into the stream of time, soundless, traceless. Already sweat is starting on my forehead, and tears welling up in my eyes. Those that have gone have gone for good, those to come keep coming; yet in between, how fast is the shift, in such a rush? When I get up in the morning, the slanting sun marks its presence in my small room in two or three oblongs. The sun has feet, look, he is treading on, lightly and furtively; and I am caught, blankly, in his revolution. Thus — the day flows away through the sink when I wash my hands, wears off in the bowl when I eat my meal, and passes away before my day-dreaming gaze as reflect in silence. I can feel his haste now, so I reach out my hands to hold him back, but he keeps flowing past my withholding hands. In the evening, as I lie in bed, he strides over my body, glides past my feet, in his agile way. The moment I open my eyes and meet the sun again, one whole day has gone. I bury my face in my hands and heave a sigh. But the new day begins to flash past in the sigh. What can I do, in this bustling world, with my days flying in their escape? Nothing but to hesitate, to rush. What have I been doing in that eight-thousand-day rush, apart from hesitating? Those bygone days have been dispersed as smoke by a light wind, or evaporated as mist by the morning sun. What traces have I left behind me? Have I ever left behind any gossamer traces at all? I have come to the world, stark naked; am I to go back, in a blink, in the same stark nakedness? It is not fair though: why should I have made such a trip for nothing! You the wise, tell me, why should our days leave us, never toreturn?Passage11. A Summer DayOne day thirty years ago Marseilles lay in the burning sun. A blazing sun upon a fierce August day was no greater rarity in southern France than at any other time before or since. Everything in Marseilles and about Marseilles had stared at the fervid sun, and had been stared at in return, until a staring habit had become universal there. Strangers were stared out of countenance by staring white houses, staring white streets, staring tracts of arid road, staring hills from which verdure was burnt away. The only things to be seen not fixedly staring and glaring were the vines drooping under their loads of grapes. These did occasionally wink a little, as the hot air barely moved their faint leaves.The universal stare made the eyes ache. Towards the distant blue of the Italian coast, indeed, it was a little relieved by light clouds of mist slowly rising from the evaporation of the sea, but it softened nowhere else. Far away the dusty vines overhanging wayside cottages, and the monotonous wayside avenues of parched trees without shade, dropped beneath the stare of earth and sky. So did the horses with drowsy bells, in long files of carts, creeping slowly towards the interior; so did their recumbent drivers, when they were awake, which rarely happened; so did the exhausted laborers in the fields. Everything that lived or grew was oppressed by the glare; except the lizard, passing swiftly over rough stone walls, and cicada, chirping its dry hot chirp, like a rattle. The very dust was scorched brown, and something quivered in the atmosphere as if the air itself were panting. Blinds, shutters, curtains, awnings, were all closed and drawn to deep out the stare. Grant it but a chink or a keyhole, and it shot in like a white-hot arrow.Passage12. NightNight has fallen over the country. Through the trees rises the red moon and the stars are scarcely seen. In the vast shadow of night, the coolness and the dews descend. I sit at the open window to enjoy them; and hear only the voice of the summer wind. Like black hulks, the shadows of the great trees ride at anchor on the billowy sea of grass. I cannot see the red and blue flowers, but I know that they are there. Far away in the meadow gleams the silver Charles. The tramp of horses' hoofs sounds from the wooden bridge. Then all is still save the continuous wind or the sound of the neighboring sea. The village clock strikes; and I feel that I am not alone. How different it is in the city! It is late, and the crowd is gone. You step out upon the balcony, and lie in the very bosom of the cool, dewy night as if you folded her garments about you. Beneath lies the public walk with trees, like a fathomless, black gulf. The lamps are still burning up and down the long street. People go by with grotesque shadows, now foreshortened, and now lengthening away into the darkness and vanishing, while a new one springs up behind the walker, and seems to pass him revolving like the sail of a windmill. The iron gates of the park shut with a jangling clang.There are footsteps and loud voices; —a tumult; —a drunken brawl; —an alarm of fire; —then silence again. And now at length the city is asleep, and we can see the night. The belated moon looks over the roofs, and finds no one to welcome her. The moonlight is broken. It lies here and there in the squares and the opening of the streets—angular like blocks of white marble.Passage13. Peace and Development: the Themes of Our TimesPeace and development are the themes of the times. People across the world should join hands in advancing the lofty cause of peace and development of mankind. A peaceful environment is indispensable for national, regional and even global development. Without peace or political stability there would be no economic progress to speak of. This has been fully proved by both the past and the present. In today’s world, the international situation is, on the whol e, moving towards relaxation. However, conflicts and even local wars triggered by various factors have kept cropping up, and tension still remains in some areas. All this has impeded the economic development of the countries and regions concerned, and has also adversely affected the world economy. All responsible statesmen and governments must abide by the purposes of the UN Charter and the universally acknowledged norms governing international relations, and work for a universal, lasting and comprehensive peace. Nobody should be allowed to cause tension or armed conflicts against the interests of the people. There are still in this world a few interest groups, which always want to seek gains by creating tension here and there. This is against the will of the majority of the people and against the trend of the times. An enormous market demand can be created and economic prosperity promoted only when continued efforts are made to advance the cause of peace and development, to ensure that people around the world live and work in peace and contentment and focus on economic development and on scientific and technological innovation. I hope that all of us here today will join hands with all other peace-loving people and work for lasting world peace and the common development and prosperity of all nations and regions.Passage14. Self-EsteemSelf-esteem is the combination of self-confidence and self-respect—the conviction that you are competent to cope with life’s challenges and are worthy of happiness. Self-esteem is the way you talk to yourself about yourself. Self-esteem has two interrelated aspects; it entails a sense of personal efficacy and a sense of personal worth. It is the integrated sum of self-confidence and self-respect. It is the conviction that one is competent to live and worthy of living. Our self-esteem and self-image are developed by how we talk to ourselves. All of us have conscious and unconscious memories of all the times we felt bad or wrong—they are part of the unavoidable scars of childhood. This is where the critical voice gets started. Everyone has a critical inner voice. People with low self-esteem simply have a more vicious and demeaning innervoice. Psychologists say that almost every aspect of our lives—our personal happiness, success, relationships with others, achievement, creativity, dependencies—are dependent on our level of self-esteem. The more we have, the better we deal with things. Positive self-esteem is important because when people experience it, they feel good and look good, they are effective and productive, and they respond to other people and themselves in healthy, positive, growing ways. People who have positive self-esteem know that they are lovable and capable, and they care about themselves and other people.They do not have to build themselves up by tearing other people down or by patronizing less competent people. Our background largely determines what we will become in personality and more importantly in self-esteem. Where do feelings of worthlessness come from? Many come from our families, since more than 80% of our waking hours up to the age of eighteen are spent under their direct influence. We are who we ar e because of where we’ve been. We build our own brands of self-esteem from four ingredients: fate, the positive things life offers, the negative things life offers and our own decisions about how to respond to fate, the positives and the negatives. Neither fate nor decisions can be determined by other people in our own life. No one can change fate. We can control our thinking and therefore our decisions in life.Passage15. Struggle for FreedomIt is not possible for me to express all that I feel of appreciation for what has been said and given to me. I accept, for myself, with the conviction of having received far beyond what I have been able to give in my books. I can only hope that the many books which I have yet to write will be in some measure a worthier acknowledgment than I can make tonight. And, indeed, I can accept only in the same spirit in which I think this gift was originally given—that it is a prize not so much for what has been done, as for the future. Whatever I write in the future must, I think, be always benefited and strengthened when I remember this day. I accept, too, for my country, the United States of America. We are a people still young and we know that we have not yet come to the fullest of our powers. This award, given to an American, strengthens not only one, but the whole body of American writers, who are encouraged and heartened by such generous recognition. And I should like to say, too, that in my country it is important that this award has been given to a woman. You who have already so recognized your own Selma Lagerlof, and have long recognized women in other fields, cannot perhaps wholly understand what it means in many countries that it is a woman who stands here at this moment. But I speak not only for writers and for women, but for all Americans, for we all share in this. I should not be truly myself if I did not, in my own wholly unofficial way, speak also of the people of China, whose life has for so many years been my life also, whose life, indeed, must always be a part of my life. The minds of my own country and China, my foster country, are alike in many ways, but above all, alike in our common love of freedom. And today more than ever, this is true, now when China's whole。

.晨读英语美文100篇Passage1.KnowledgeandVirtueKnowledgeisonething,virtueisanother;goodsenseisnotconscience,refinementisnothumility,norislargenessandjustness of view faith.Philosophy,however enlightened,however profound,gives no commandover the passions,no influential motives,no vivifying principles.LiberalEducationmakesnottheChristian,nottheCatholic,butthegentleman.Itiswelltobeagentleman,itiswelltohaveacultivatedintellect,adelicatetaste,acandid,equitable,dispassionate mind,a noble and courteous bearing in the conduct oflife—these are theconnatural qualities of alargeknowledge;they aretheobjects ofa amadvocating,Ishallillustrateandinsistuponthem;butstill,Irepeat,they are noguarantee for sanctity or even for conscientiousness,and they mayattach to the manof the world,to the profligate,to the heartless,pleasant,alas,andattractive as he shows whendecked outin by themselves,theydo but seemtobewhatthey are not;theylook like virtue atadistance,buttheyaredetectedbycloseobservers,andinthelongrun;andhenceitisthattheyarepopularly accusedof pretense andhypocrisy,not,Irepeat,from.their ownfault,but becausetheir professors andtheir admirerspersist in taking themfor whattheyare not,and are officiousin arrogating for them apraise to which they havenothegraniterockwithrazors,ormoorthevessel withathreadofsilk,thenmayyouhopewithsuchkeenand delicateinstrumentsashumanknowledgeandhumanreasonto contendagainstthosegiants,Passage2.“Packing”aPersonAperson,like acommodity,needs going toofar is absolutely little exaggeration,however, doesnoharmwhenit showstheperson's uniquequalities totheir displaypersonalcharminacasualandnaturalway,it is important for oneto have a clearknowledge ofmasterpackagerknowshowto integrate art andnaturewithout any traces of embellishment,so that the personsopackagedis nocommoditybutahumanbeing,lively andyoungperson,especially afemale,radiant withbeautyandfull oflife,hasallthefavorgrantedbyattempttomakeupwouldbeself-defeating.Youth,however,comesandgoesin amomentof forthemiddle-agedisprimarily to concealthe furrows ploughedby youstill enjoylife'sexuberance enough to retainself-confidenceandpursuepioneeringwork,youareuniqueinyournaturalqualities,and yourcharmandgracewillpeoplearebeautiful iftheirriveroflifehasbeen,throughplains,mountainsand jungles,running its course asit havereallylivedyour lifewhich now arrives at acomplacent stageofserenityindifferent to fameor is noneed t oresorttohair-dyeing；thesnow-cappedmountainisitselfa beautifulsceneofyourlookschangefromyoung tooldsynchronizingwiththenaturalageingprocesssoasto keepinharmonywith nature,forharmonyitself isbeauty,while theotherwayroundwillonlyendinbeintheelder'scompanyislikereadingathickbookofdeluxe editionthatfascinatesonesomuchastobereluctanttopart longasonefindswhereonestands,oneknowshowto packageoneself,justasacommodityestablishesitsbrandby therightpackaging.Passage3.ThreePassionsIHaveLivedforThreepassions,simplebutoverwhelminglystrong,havegoverned my life:the longingfor love,the search forknowledge,and unbearable pity for the suffering o fpassions,like greatwinds,haveblownmehitherand thither,in a wayward courseover a deepoceanofanguish,reachingtotheveryvergeofhavesoughtlove,first,becauseitbringsecstasy—ecstasysogreatthat Iwouldoftenhavesacrificedalltherestofmylifeforafewhoursforthishavesoughtit,next,becauseitrelievesloneliness—thatterriblelonelinessinwhichoneshiveringconsciousnesslooksovertherimofthew orldintothecoldunfathomablelifelesshavesoughtit,finally,becauseintheunionoflov eIhaveseen,inamysticminiature,the prefiguringvisionoftheheaventhatsaintsandpoetshaveiswhatIsought,andthoughitmi ghtseemtoogoodforhumanlife,thisiswhat—atlast—Ihaveequal passion I have sought have wished tounderstand thehearts of havewishedto knowwhythestarsshine...Alittleofthis,butnotmuch,Ihaveandknowledge,sofar astheywerepossible,ledupwardtowardthe alwayspity brought mebackto ofcries of pain reverberate in my in famine,victimstorturedbyoppressors,helplessoldpeople—ahatedburdentotheir sons,and the wholeworldofloneliness,poverty,andpainmakeamockeryofwhathumanlifeshouldlongtoalleviate theevil,butI cannot,andItoo hasbeenmy havefound it worthliving,andwouldgladlylive it ;.againifthechancewereofferedme.Passage4.ALittleGirlSittingonagrassygrave,beneathoneofthewindowsof thechurch,wasalittleherheadbentbackshewasgazingup at the skyandsinging,while oneof herlittle hands waspointing toatiny cloudthat hoveredlike agolden feather abovehersun,whichhadsuddenlybecomevery bright, shiningonherglossyhair,gaveitametallicluster,anditwasdifficult tosaywhatwasthe color,darkbronzeor completely absorbedwassheinwatching thecloudtowhichher strangesongorincantationseemedaddressed,thatshedidnot observemewhenI rose andwenttowards herhead,high upintheblue,alarkthatwassoaringtowardsthesamegauzycloud wassinging,asif in Islowly approachedthechild,I could seebyherforehead,whichinthesunshine seemedlikeaglobeofpearl,andespeciallybyhercomplexion,that sheuncommonlyeyes,whichatonemomentseemedblue-gray,at another violet,were shadedbylong black lashes,curvingbackwardinamostpeculiarway,andthesematchedin huehereyebrows,andthetressesthatweretossedabouthertender throat werequivering in the thisI didnottakeinatonce;foratfirstIcouldseenothingbutthosequivering,glittering,changeful eyes turned up into mytheotherfeatures,especiallythesensitivefull-lipped mouth,grewuponmeasI stood silently seemedtomeamoreperfectbeautythanhadevercometomein myloveliest dreamsof it wasnotherbeauty somuch asthelookshegavemethatfascinatedme,meltedme.Passage5DeclarationofIndependenceWhenintheCourseofhumanevents,itbecomesnecessary foronepeopletodissolvethepoliticalbandswhichhaveconnectedthemwith another,and toassumeamongthepowersofthe earth,theseparate andequal station towhichtheLawsofNatureandofNature'sGodentitlethem,adecent respecttotheopinionsofmankindrequiresthattheyshould declarethecauseswhichimpelthemtotheholdthese truths to be self-evident,that all menare createdequal,that they are endowedby their Creator with certain unalienableRights,thatamongtheseareLife,Libertyandthepursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted amongMen,deriving their just powersfromtheconsentofthegoverned,—Thatwheneverany Formof Governmentbecomesdestructive of theseends,it is theRight of the Peopletoalteror to abolishit,andtoinstitutenewGovernment,layingitsfoundationonsuchprinciplesand organizingitspowersinsuchform,astothemshallseemmostlikelyto effect their Safetyand Happiness.Prudence,indeed, willdictatethatGovernmentslongestablishedshouldnotbe changedforlightandtransientcauses;andaccordinglyall experience hasshown,that mankindaremoredisposedto suffer,whileevils are sufferable,than to right themselves byabolishingtheformstowhichtheyarewhena longtrainofabusesandusurpations,pursuinginvariablythe sameObject evinces adesign to reducethemunder absoluteDespotism,it istheir right,it is their duty,tothrow offsuchGovernment,andtoprovide newGuardsfor their future security.—SuchhasbeenthepatientsufferanceoftheseColonies;and suchisnowthenecessity whichconstrains themtoalter their formerSystemsofhistoryofthepresentKingof Great Britainis a history of repeated injuries and usurpations,allhavingindirectobjecttheestablishmentofanabsolute TyrannyovertheseStates.To provethis, let Facts besubmittedtoacandidworld.Passage6.ATributetotheDog Thebestfriendamanhasintheworldmayturnagainsthimandbecomehissonordaughterthat hehasreared ;.with loving caremayprove whoarenearest and dearesttous,thosewhomwetrustwithourhappinessandour goodname,maybecometraitorstotheirmoneythatamanhashe flies awayfromhim,perhapswhenheneeds itman’sreputationmaybesacrificedinamomentofill-considered people whoareproneto fall ontheirkneestodoushonorwhensuccessiswithusmaybethefirst tothrowthestoneofmalicewhenfailure settlesits cloud uponouroneabsolutely unselfish friend that mancanhaveinthisselfishworld,theonethatneverdesertshim,theonethat neverproves ungrateful or treacherous,ishisman’sdogstands byhimin prosperity andinpoverty,in health andinwill sleep onthecold ground,wherethe wintrywindsblowandthesnowdrives fiercely,ifonly hemaybenear hismaster’swillkissthehandthathasnofoodtooffer;he will lick thewoundsandsoresthat comefromencounterwith the roughnessof the willguard thesleep ofhispaupermasterasifhewereaallotherfriendsdesert,heriches takewingsandreputation falls topieces,heisasconstantinhisloveasthesuninitsjourneys throughthe fortunedrivesthe masterforth,anoutcastintheworld,friendlessandhomeless,thefaithfuldogasksnohigherprivilegethanthatofaccompanyinghim,toguardhimagainst danger,to fight against his whenthelastsceneofallcomes,anddeathtakesthemasterinitsembrace,andhis bodyis laid awayinthe cold ground,no matterifallotherfriendspursuetheirway,therebythegravewillthenoble dogbefound,his headbetweenhispaws,his eyessadbutopenin alert watchfulness,faithful andtrue evenin death.Passage7.KnowledgeandProgressWhydoestheidea of progress loomsolarge in the modernworld?Surely becauseprogress ofaparticular kind is actuallytaking place around usand is becoming more andmoremankindhasundergonenogeneral improvement inintelligence ormorality,it hasmadeextraordinary progress intheaccumulationofbegantoincreaseassoonasthe thoughts of oneindividualcould becommunicatedtoanotherbymeansoftheinventionofwriting，agreatadvancewasmade,forknowledgecouldthenbenotonlycommunicatedbut also madeeducation possible,andeducationinitsturnaddedtolibraries:thegrowthof knowledgefollowedakindofcompoundinterestlaw,whichwas greatlyenhancedbytheinventionofthiswascomparatively slowuntil,withthe comingof science,the tempowassuddenlyknowledgebegantobeaccumulatedaccording to asystematic trickle becameastream;thestream has nowbecomea torrent.Moreover,as soon as newknowledge is acquired,it is now turned to practicalis called“moderncivilization”is notthe resultof a balanced developmentof all man's nature,but ofaccumulatedknowledgeappliedtopracticalproblem nowfacinghumanityis:Whatisgoingtobedonewithallthisknowledge?Asis sooften pointed out,knowledgeis atwo-edgedweaponwhichcanbeusedequally for goodor is nowbeing usedindifferently for anyspectacle,for instance,be more grimly weirdthan that ofgunners usingscience toshattermen'sbodieswhile,closeathand,surgeonsuseittorestore them?Wehavetoaskourselves very seriously whatwillhappen if this twofold use ofknowledge,with itsever-increasingpower,continues.Passage8.AddressbyEngelsOn the14th of March,at a quarter to three in theafternoon,thegreatestlivingthinkerceasedtohadbeenleft alone for scarcelytwominutes,and whenwecamebackwefoundhiminhisarmchair,peacefullygonetosleep—but immeasurablelosshasbeensustainedbothbythemilitantproletariatofEuropeandAmerica,andbyhistorical science,inthedeathofthisgapthathasbeenleft bythedepartureofthismightyspiritwillsoonenoughmake itselfasDarwindiscoveredthelawofdevelopmentoforganic nature,so Marxdiscovered thelawofdevelopment ofhumanhistory:the simple fact,hithertoconcealed byanovergrowthofideology,thatmankindmustfirstofalleat,drink,haveshelter andclothing,before it canpursuepolitics,science,art,religion,etc.;that therefore theproduction of theimmediatematerialmeansofsubsistenceandconsequentlythedegreeof economicdevelopmentattained byagivenpeopleorduringagivenepochformthefoundationuponwhichthestateinstitutions,the legal conceptions,art,andeventheideasonreligion,of the people concernedhavebeenevolved,andin the lightofwhichtheymust,therefore,beexplained,insteadofvice versa,ashadhitherto beenthethatis notalsodiscoveredthespeciallawofmotiongoverningthepresent-day capitalist modeof productionand the bourgeoissociety that this modeofproduction has discoveryofsurplus value suddenly threwlight onthe problem,in tryingtosolvewhichallpreviousinvestigations,ofbothbourgeois economists and socialist critics,hadbeengroping in the ;.dark.Two such discoveries would be enough for one themantowhomitisgrantedtomakeevenonein every single field which Marx investigated—andheinvestigatedverymanyfields,noneofthemsuperficially—in every field,even in that ofmathematics,he made independent9.Relationship that LastsIf somebodytellsyou,“I’ll love you for ever,”willyoubelieve it?Idon’tthink there’sanyreasonnot are ready to believe such commitment at themoment,whateverchangemayhappen forthebelief inaneverlastinglove,that’sanotheryoumaybeaskedwhetherthereissuchathingasaneverlasting’d answer Ibelieve init,butaneverlasting love isnotmayunswervinglylove orbeloved byalovewillchangeitscompositionwiththepassageof willnotremainthethecourseofyourgrowthandasa result of your increased experience,love willbecomesomethingdifferenttothebeginningyoubelieveda ferventloveforapersoncouldlastandby,however,“fervent”gavewayto“prosaic”.Precisely becauseofthischangeitbecamepossibleforlovetowhatwasmeantbyan everlastinglovewouldeventuallyendupina;.. sortofusedtoinsistonthedifferencebetweenloveandformerseemedmuchmorebeautif ulthanthe day,however,itturnsout there’sreallynoneedtomakesuchisactuallyasortofthesametoken,theeverlastinginterdependenceisactuallyaneverlastingwishIcouldbelievetherewassomebodywhowouldlovemefor’s,asweallknow,tooromantictobetrue.Passage10.RushSwallows may have gone,but there is a time ofreturn;willow trees mayhavedied back,but there is atime ofregreening;peach blossomsmayhavefallen,but they willbloomagain.Now,youthewise,tellme,whyshould ourdaysleave us, nevertoreturn?Iftheyhadbeenstolenbysomeone,whocoulditbe?Wherecouldhehidethem?Iftheyhadmadetheescape themselves,thenwherecouldtheystayatthemoment?Idon’tknowhowmanydaysIhavebeengiventospend,butIdofeel myhandsaregettingstocksilently,Ifindthatmorethan eight thousand dayshave already slid awayfromadropofwaterfromthepoint ofaneedle disappearing intotheocean,mydaysaredrippingintothestreamoftime, soundless,sweatis starting onmyforehead, ;..andtears welling upinmythat havegonehavegoneforgood,thosetocomekeepcoming;yetinbetween,howfast istheshift,insucharush?WhenIgetupinthemorning,theslanting sunmarksits presenceinmysmall roomin twoor threesunhasfeet,look,heistreading on,lightly andfurtively;and I amcaught,blankly,inhis—thedayflowsawaythrough the sink whenI washmyhands,wears offinthebowlwhenIeatmymeal,andpassesawaybeforemyday-dreaminggazeasreflectincanfeelhishastenow,soIreachoutmyhandstoholdhimback,buthekeeps flowingpastmywithholdingtheevening,asIlieinbed,hestrides overmybody,glides pastmyfeet,in his agile momentI openmyeyesandmeetthe sunagain,onewhole dayhasburymyfaceinmyhandsandheavea thenewdaybeginstoflashpastinthecanIdo,inthis bustling world,with my days flying in their escape?Nothing butto hesitate,to haveIbeendoing inthateight-thousand-dayrush,apartfromhesitating?Those bygonedayshavebeendispersedassmokebyalightwind,or evaporatedasmistbythemorningtraceshaveIleftbehindme?HaveI ever left behindanygossamertraces at all?Ihavecometothe world,stark naked;amIto goback,in ablink,;..inthesamestarknakedness?Itisnotfairthough:whyshouldIhavemadesuchatripfornothing!Youthewise,tellme,whyshouldourdaysleaveus,nevertoreturn?;.。

英语美文背诵文选100篇1. The First SnowThe first snow came. How beautiful it was, falling so silently all day long, all night long, on the mountains, on the meadows, on the roofs on the living, on the graves of the dead! All white save the river, that marked its course be a winding black line across the landscape; and the leafless tress, that against the leaden sky now revealed more fully the wonderful beauty and intricacies of their branches. What silence, too, came with the snow, and what seclusion! Every sound was muffled, every noise changed to something soft and musical. No more tramping hoofs, no more rattling wheels! Only the chiming of sleigh-bell, beating as swift and merrily as the hearts of children. (118 words)From KavanaghBy Henry Wadsworth Longfellow2. The Humming-birdOf all animals being this is the most elegant in form and the most brilliant in colors. The stones and metals polished by our arts are not comparable to this jewel of Nature. She has placed it least in size of the order of birds. "maxime Miranda in minimis." Her masterpiece is this little humming-bird, and upon it she has heaped all the gifts which the other birds may only share. Lightness, rapidity, nimbleness, grace, and rich apparel all belong to this little favorite. The emerald, the ruby, and the topaz gleam upon its dress. It never soils them with the dust of earth, and in its aerial life scarcely touches the turf an instant. Always in the air, flying from flower to flower, it has their freshness as well as their brightness. It lives upon their nectar, and dwells only in the climates where they perennially bloom. (149 words) From Natural HistoryBy George Louise Buffon冠商《英语背诵文选》3. PinesThe pine, placed nearly always among scenes disordered and desolate, bring into them all possible elements of order and precision. Lowland trees may lean to this side and that, though it is but a meadow breeze that bends them or a bank of cowlips from which their trunks lean aslope. But let storm and avalanche do their worst, and let the pine find only a ledge of vertical precipice to cling to, it will nevertheless grow straight. Thrust a rod from its last shoot down the stem; it shall point to the center of the earth as long as the tree lives. It may be well also for lowland branches to reach hither and thither for what they need, and to take all kinds of irregular shape and extension. But the pine is trained to need nothing and endure everything. It is resolvedly whole, self-contained, desiring nothing but rightness, content with restricted completion. Tall or short, it will be straight.(160 words)From Modern PaintersBy John Ruskin冠商《英语背诵文选》4. Reading Good BooksDevote some of your leisure, I repeat, to cultivating a love of reading good books. Fortunate indeed are those who contrive to make themselves genuine book-lovers. For book lovers have some noteworthy advantages over other people. They need never know lonely hours so long as they have books around them, and the better the books the more delightful the company. From good books, moreover, they draw much besides entertainment. They gain mental food such as few companions can supply. Even while resting from their labors they are, through the books they read, equipping themselves to perform those labors more efficiently. This albeit they may not be deliberately reading to improve their mind. All unconsciously the ideas they derive from the printed paged are stored up, to be worked over by the imagination for future profit. (135 words)From Self-DevelopmentBy Henry Addington Bruce冠商《英语背诵文选》5. On EtiquetteEtiquette to society is what apparel is to the individual. Without apparel men would go in shameful nudity which would surely lead to the corruption of morals; and without etiquette society would be in a pitiable state and the necessary intercourse between its members would be interfered with by needless offences and troubles. If society were a train, the etiquette would be the rails along which only the train could rumble forth; if society were a state coach, the etiquette would be the wheels and axis on which only the coach could roll forward. The lack of proprieties would make the most intimate friends turns to be the most decided enemies and the friendly or allied countries declare war against each other. We can find many examples in the history of mankind. Therefore I advise you to stand on ceremony before anyone else and to take pains not to do anything against etiquette lest you give offences or make enemies. (160 words)by William Hazlitt冠商《英语背诵文选》6. An Hour Before SunriseAn hour before sunrise in the city there is an air of cold. Solitary desolation about the noiseless streets, which we are accustomed to see thronged at other times by a busy, eager crowd, and over the quiet, closely shut buildings which throughout the day are warming with life. The drunken, the dissipated, and the criminal have disappeared; the more sober and orderly part of the population have not yet awakened to the labors of the day, and the stillness of death is over streets; its very hue seems to be imparted to them, cold and lifeless as they look in the gray, somber light of daybreak. A partially opened bedroom window here and there bespeaks the heat of the weather and the uneasy slumbers of its occupant; and the dim scanty flicker of a light through the blinds of yonder windows denotes the chamber of watching and sickness. Save for that sad light, the streets present no signs of life, nor the houses of habitation. (166 words)From BozBy Charles Dickens冠商《英语背诵文选》7. The Importance of Scientific ExperimentsThe rise of modern science may perhaps be considered to date as far as the time of Roger Bacon, the wonderful monk and philosopher of Oxford, who lived between the years 1214 and 1292. He was probable the first in the middle ages to assert that we must learn science by observing and experimenting on the things around us, and he himself made many remarkable discoveries. Galileo, however who lived more than 300 years later (1564 to 1642), was the greatest of several great men, who in Italy, France, Germany or England, began by degrees to show how many important truths could be discovered by well-directed observation. Before the time of Galileo, learned men believed that large bodies fall more rapidly towards the earth than small ones, because Aristotle said so. But Galileo, going to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, let fall two unequal stones, and proved to some friends, whom he had brought there to see his experiment, that Aristotle was in error. It is Galileo's sprit of going direct to Nature, and verifying our opinions and theories by experiment, that has led to all the great discoveries of modern science.(196 words)From LogicBy William Stanley Jevons冠商《英语背诵文选》8. Address at GettysburgFourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, ca n long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate-we cannot consecrate-we cannot hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, heave consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that form these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. (268 words) By Abraham Lincoln9. A Little Girl (1)Sitting on a grassy grave, beneath one of the windows of the church, was a little girl. With her head bent back she was gazing up at the sky and singing, while oneof her little hands was pointing to a tiny cloud that hovered like a golden feather above her head. The sun, which had suddenly become very bright, shining on her glossy hair, gave it a metallic luster, and it was difficult to say what was the color, dark bronze or black. So completely absorbed was shi in watching the cloud to which her strange song or incantation and went towards her. Over her head, high up in the blue, a lark that was soaring towards the same gauzy could was singing, as if in rivalry. As I slowly approached the child, I could see by her forehead, which in the sunshine seemed like a globe of pearl, and especially by her complexion, that she uncommonly lovely.(159 words)冠商《英语背诵文选》10. A Little Girl (2)Her eyes, which at one moment seemed blue-gray, at another violet, were shaded by long black lashes, curving backward in a most peculiar way, and these matched in hue her eyebrows, and the tresses that were tossed about her tender throat and were quivering in the sunlight. All this I did not take in at once; for at first I could see nothing but those quivering, glittering, changeful eyes turned up into my face. Gradually the other features, especially the sensitive full-lipped mouth, grew upon me as I stood silently gazing. Here seemed tome a more perfect beauty than had ever come to me in my loveliest dreams of beauty. Yet it was not her beauty so much as the look she gave me that fascinated me, melted me. (129 words)(302 words)From Aylwinby Theodore Watts-Dunton冠商《英语背诵文选》11. Choosing an OccupationHodeslea, Eastbourne,November 5, 1892Dear Sir,I am very sorry that the pressure of other occupations has prevented me form sending an earlier reply to your letter.In my opinion a man's first duty is to find a way of supporting himself, thereby relieving other people of the necessity of supporting him. Moreover, the learning to so work of practical value in the world, in an exact and careful manner, is of itself, a very important education the effects of which make themselves felt in all other pursuits. The habit of doing that which you do not dare about when you would much rather be doing something else, is invaluable. It would have saved me a frightful waste of time if I had ever had it drilled into me in youth.Success in any scientific career requires an unusual equipment of capacity, industry, and energy. If you possess that equipment, you will find leisure enough after your daily commercial work is over, to make an opening in the scientific ranks for yourself. If you do not, you had better stick to commerce. Nothing is less to be desired than the fate of a young man who, as the Scotch proverb says, in 'trying to make a spoon spoils a horn," and becomes a mere hanger-on in literature or in science, when hemight have been a useful and a valuable member of Society in other occupations.I think that your father ought to see this letter. (244 words)Yours faithfullyT.H. HuxleyFrom Life and Letters of Thomas Henry HuxleyBy Leonard Huxley冠商《英语背诵文选》12. An Important Aspect of College LifeIt is perfectly possible to organize the life of our colleges in such a way that students and teachers alike will take part in it; in such a way that a perfectly natural daily intercourse will be established between them; and it is only by such an organization that they can be given real vitality as places of serious training, be made communities in which youngsters will come fully to realize how interesting intellectual work is, how vital, how important, how closely associated with all modern achievement-only by such an organization that study can be made to seem part of life itself. Lectures often seem very formal and empty things; recitations generally proved very dull and unrewarding. It is in conversation and natural intercourse with scholars chiefly that you find how lively knowledge is, how it ties into everything that is interesting and important, how intimate a part it is of every thing that is interesting and important, how intimate a part it is of everything that is "practical" and connected with the world. Men are not always made thoughtful by books; but they are generally made thoughtful by association with men who think. (195 words)By Woodrow Wilson冠商《英语背诵文选》13. Night (1)Night has fallen over the country. Through the trees rises the red moon, and the stars are scarcely seen. In the vast shadow of night the coolness and the dews descend.I sit at the open window to enjoy them; and hear only the voice of the summer wind. Like black hulks, the shadows of the great trees ride at anchor on the billowy sea of grass. I cannot see the red and blue flowers, but I know that they are there. Far away in the meadow gleams the silver Charles. The tramp of horses' hoofs sounds from the wooden bridge. Then all is still save the continuous wind or the sound of the neighboring sea. The village clock strikes; and I feel that I am not alone. (128 words)冠商《英语背诵文选》14. Night (2)How different it is in the city! It is late, and the crowd is gone. You step out upon the balcony, and lie in the very bosom of the cool, dewy night as if you folded her garments about you. Beneath lies the public walk with trees, like a fathomless, black gulf, into whose silent beloved spirit clasped in its embrace. The lamps are still burning up and down the long street. People go by with grotesque shadows, now foreshortened, and now lengthening away into the darkness and vanishing, while a new one springs up behind the walker, and seems to pass him revolving like the sailof a windmill. The iron gates of the park shut with a jangling clang. There are footsteps and loud voices; --a tumult; --a drunken brawl; --an alarm of fire; --then silence again. And now at length the city is asleep, and we can see the night. The belated moon looks over the roofs, and finds no one to welcome her. The moonlight is broken. It lies here and there in the squares, and the opening of the streets-angular like blocks of white marble. (195 words)(323 words)By Nathanial Hawthorne冠商《英语背诵文选》15. An October Sunrise (1)I was up the next morning before the October sunrise, and away through the wild and the woodland. The rising of the sun was noble in the cold and warmth of it; peeping down the spread of light, he raised his shoulder heavily over the edge of gray mountain and wavering length of upland. Beneath his gaze the dew-fogs dipped and crept to the hollow places, then stole away in line and column, holding skirts and cling subtly at the sheltering corners where rock hung over grass-land, while the brave lines of the hills came forth, one beyond other gliding.The woods arose in folds, like drapery of awakened mountains, stately with a depth of awe, and memory of the tempests. Autumn's mellow hand was upon them, as they owned already, touched with gold and red and olive, and their joy towards the sun was less to a bridegroom than a father. (152 words)冠商《英语背诵文选》16. An October Sunrise (2)Yet before the floating impress of the woods could clear itself, suddenly the gladsome light leaped over hill and valley, casting amber, blue, and purple, and a tint of rich red rose, according to the scene they lit on, and the curtain flung around; yet all alike dispelling fear and the coven hoof of darkness, all on the wings of hope advancing, and proclaiming, "God is here!" Then life and joy sprang reassured from every crouching hollow; every flower and bud and bird had a fluttering sense of them, and all the flashing of God's gaze merged into soft beneficence. So, perhaps, shall break upon us that eternal morning, when crag and chasm shall be no more, neither hill and valley, nor great unvintaged ocean; when glory shall not scare happiness, neither happiness envy glory; but all things shall arise, and shine in the light of the Father's countenance, because itself is risen. (153 words) (305 words)By Richard D. Blackmore冠商《英语背诵文选》17. Of Studies (1)Studies serve for delight, for ornamental, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to makejudgment wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar. They perfect nature, natural plants, that need proyning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. (157 words)冠商《英语背诵文选》18. Of Studies (2)Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted; others to swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; an if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. (170 words) 冠商《英语背诵文选》19. Of Studies (3)Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores. Nay there is no stond or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies: like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt. (163 words)(490 words)By Francis Bacon冠商《英语背诵文选》20. Books (1)The good books of the hour, then, --I do not speak of the bad ones—is simply the useful or pleasant talk of some person whom you cannot otherwise converse with, printed for you. Very useful often, telling you what you need to know; very pleasant often, as a sensible friend's present talk would be. These bright accounts of travels; good-humoured and witty discussion of questions; lively or pathetic story-telling in the form of novel; firm fact-telling, by the real agents concerned in the events of passing history; --all these books of the hour, multiplying among us as educationbecomes more general, are a peculiar characteristic and possession of the present age: we ought to be entirely thankful for them, and entirely ashamed of ourselves if we make no good use of them. But we make the worse possible use, if we allow them to usurp the place of true books: for, strictly speaking, they are not books at all, but merely letters or newspapers in good print. Our friend's letter may be delightful, or necessary, today: whether worth keeping or not, is to be considered. (189 words) 冠商《英语背诵文选》21. Books (2)The newspaper may be entirely proper at breakfast time, but assuredly it is not reading for all day. So though bound up in a volume, the long letter which gives you so pleasant an account of the inns, the roads, and weather last year at such a place, or which tells you that amusing story, or gives you the real circumstances of such and such events, however valuable for occasional reference, may not be, in the real sense of the word, a "book" at all, nor, in the real sense, to be "read".A book is essentially not a talked thing, but a written thing; and written, not with the view of mere communication, but of permanence. The book of talk is printed only because its author cannot speak to thousands of people at once; if he could, he would-the volume is mere multiplication of his voice. You cannot talk to your friend in India; if you could, you would; you write instead: that is mere conveyance of voice. But a book is written, not to multiply the voice merely, not to carry it merely, but to preserve it. (190 words)冠商《英语背诵文选》22. Books (3)The author has something to say which he perceives to be true and useful, or helpfully beautiful. So far as he knows, no one has yet said it; so far as he knows, no one else can say it. He is bound to say it, clearly and melodiously if he may; clearly, at all events. In the sum of his life he finds this to be the thing, or group of things, manifest to him; --this the piece of true knowledge, or sight, which his share of sunshine and earth has permitted him to seize. He would fain set it down for ever; engrave it on rock, if he could; saying, "this is the best of me; for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved and hated, like another; my life was as the vapour, and is not; but this I saw and knew: this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory, " That is his "writing"; it is, in his small human way, and with whatever degree of true inspiration is in him, his inscription, or scripture. That is a "Book". (186 words)(565 words)By John Ruskin冠商《英语背诵文选》24. The Value of Time (1)"Time" says the proverb "is money". This means that every moment well spent may put some money into our pockets. If our time is usefully employed, it will either turn out some useful and important piece of work which will fetch its price in the market, or it will add to our experience and increase our capacities so as to enable us to earn money when the proper opportunity comes. There can thus be no doubt that timeis convertible into money. Let those who think nothing of wasting time, remember this; let them remember that an hour misspent is equivalent to the loss of a bank-note; an that an hour utilized is tantamount to so much silver or gold; and then they will probably think twice before they give their consent to the loss of any part of their time.Moreover, our life is nothing more than our time. To kill time is therefore a form of suicide. We are shocked when we think of death, and we spare no pains, no trouble, and no expense to preserve life. But we are too often indifferent to the loss of an hour or of a day, forgetting that our life is the sum total of the days and of the hours we live. A day of an hour wasted is therefore so much life forfeited. Let us bear this in mind, and waste of time will appear to us in the light of a crime as culpable as suicide itself. (250 words)冠商《英语背诵文选》25. The Value of Time (2)There is a third consideration which will also tend to warn us against loss of time. Our life is a brief span measuring some sixty or seventy years in all, but nearly one half of this has to be spent in sleep; some years have to be spent over our meals; some over dressing and undressing; some in making journeys on land and voyages by sea; some in merry-making, either on our own account or for the sake of others; some in celebrating religious and social festivities; some in watching over the sick-beds of our nearest and dearest relatives. Now if all these years were to be deducted from the tern over which our life extends we shall find about fifteen or twenty years at our disposal for active work. Whoever remembers this can never willingly waste a single moment of his life. "It is astonishing" says Lord Chesterfield "that anyone can squander away in absolute idleness one single moment of that portion of time which is allotted to us in this world. Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it!" (187 words)冠商《英语背诵文选》26. The Value of Time (3)All time is precious; but the time of our childhood and of our youth is more precious than any other portion of our existence. For those are the periods when alone we can acquire knowledge and develop our faculties and capacities. If we allow these morning hours of life to slip away unutilized, we shall never be able to recoup the loss. As we grow older, our power of acquisition gets blunted, so that the art or science which is not acquired in childhood or youth will never be acquired at all. Just as money laid out at interest doubles and trebles itself in time, so the precious hours of childhood and youth, if properly used, will yield us incalculable advantages. "Every moment you lose" says Lord Chesterfield "is so much character and advantage lost; as on the other hand, every moment you now employ usefully is so much time wisely laid out at prodigious interest."A proper employment of time is of great benefit to us from a moral point of view. Idleness is justly said to be the rust of the mind and an idle brain is said to be Satan's workshop. It is mostly when you do not know what to do with yourself that you do something ill or wrong. The mind of the idler preys upon itself. As Watt hassaid:In works of labour or of skillLet me be busy too;For Satan finds some mischief stillFor idle hands to do. (249 words(686 words)By Robert William Service冠商《英语背诵文选》27. Spring The Resurrection TimeSprings are not always the same, In some years, April bursts upon our Virginia hills in one prodigious leap—and all the stage is filled at once, whole choruses of tulips, arabesques of forsythia, cadenzas of flowering plum. The trees grow leaves overnight.In other years, spring tiptoes in. It pauses, overcome by shyness, like my grandchild at the door, peeping in, ducking out of sight, giggling in the hallway. "I know you're out there," I cry. "Come in!" And April slips into arms.The dogwood bud, pale green, is inlaid with russet markings. With in the perfect cup a score of clustered seeds are nestled. Once examined the bud in awe: Where were those seeds a month ago The apples display their milliner's scraps of ivory silk, rose-tinged. All the sleeping things wake up-primrose, baby iris, blue phlox. The earth warms-you can smell it, feel it, crumble April in your hands.The dark Blue Mountains in which I dwell, great-hipped, big-breasted, slumber on the western sky. And then they stretch and gradually awaken. A warm wind, soft as a girl's hair, moves sailboat clouds in gentle skies. The rain come-good rains to sleep by-and fields that were dun as oatmeal turn to pale green, then to Kelly green. All this reminds me of a theme that runs through my head like a line of music. Its message is profoundly simple, and profoundly mysterious also: Life goes on. That is all there is to it. Everything that is, was; and everything that is, will be. (259 words)by James J. Kilpatrick擎红《英语背诵散文》27. Spell of the Rising MoonAs the moon lifted off the ridge it gathered firmness and authority. Its complexion changed from red, to orange, to gold, to impassive yellow. It seemed to draw light out of the darkening earth, for as it rose, the hills and valleys below grew dimmer. By the time the moon stood clear of the horizon, full chested and round and the color of ivory, the valley were deep shadows in the landscape. The dogs, reassured that this was the familiar moon, stopped barking.The drama took an hour. Moonrise is slow and serried with subtleties. To watch it, we must slip into an older, more patient sense of time. To watch the moon move inexorably higher is to find an unusual stillness within ourselves. Our imaginations become aware of the vast distances of space, the immensity of the earth and the huge improbability of our own existence. We feel small but privileged.Moonlight shows us none of life's harder edges. Hillsides seem silken and silvery,。

谈一场恋爱就像读一本新书Starting a new book is a risk, just like falling in love. You have to commit to it. You open the pages knowing a little bit about it maybe, from the back or from a blurb on the front. But who knows, right? Those bits and pieces aren’t always right. 读一本新书恰似坠入爱河，是场冒险。

你得全身心投入进去。

翻开书页之时，从序言简介直至封底你或许都知之甚少。

但谁又不是呢？字里行间的只言片语亦不总是正确。

Sometimes people advertise themselves as one thing and then when you get deep into it you realize that they’re something completely different. Either there was some good marketing attached to a terrible book, or the story was only explained in a superficial way and once you reach the middle of the book, you realize there’s so much more to this book than anyone could have ever told you.有时候你会发现，人们自我推销时是一种形象，等你再深入了解后，他们又完全是另一种模样了。

有时拙作却配有出色的市场推销，故事的叙述却流于表面，阅读过半后，你方才发觉：这本书真是出乎意料地妙不可言，这种感受只要靠自己去感悟！You start off slow. The story is beginning to unfold. You’re unsure. It’s a big commitment lugging this tome around. Maybe this book won’t be that great but you’ll feel guilty about putting it down. Maybe it’ll be so awful you’ll keep hate-reading or just set it down immediately and never pick it up again. Or maybe you’ll come back to it some night, drunk or lonely — needing something to fill the time, but it won’t be any better than it was when you first started reading it.你慢慢翻页，故事开始缓慢展开，而你却依旧心存犹疑。

小学英语必背美文100篇Passage 1.WoodpeckerThere are many apple trees in a garden. They’re good friends. One day an old tree is ill. There are many pests in the tree. Leaves of the tree turn yellow. The old tree feels very sad and unwell. Another tree sends for a doctor for him. At first, they send for a pigeon, but she has no idea about it. Then they send for an oriole, and she can’t treat the old tree well. Then they send for a woodpecker. She is a good doctor. She pecks a hole in the tree and eats lots of pests. At last the old tree becomes better and better. Leaves turn green and green.Passage 2.A Busy DayToday is Sunday! On Sundays, I usually play the flute.My father usually reads the newspaper. My motherusuallycleansthe house. Buttoday my mother is in bed. She is ill. My father has to do the housework. Now, he is cleaning the house. “Sam, can you help me?”“Yes, Dad!”Now, we’re washing the car. Where’s my sister, Amy? She is playing my flute. What a lucky girl!Passage 3.The dog and his reflectionOne day a dog with a piece of meat in his mouth was crossing a plank over a stream. As he walked along,helookedintowater,andhesawhis reflection. He thought this was another dog carryinga piece of meat. And he felt he would like to have two pieces. So he snapped at the reflection in the water, and of course, as he opened his mouth, the piece of meat disappeared quickly.Passage 4.An honest boyTony is seven years old. He is an honest and polite boy. One day, it was Sunday. Tony, his sister and his mother stayed at home. He was watching TV and his sister was reading books. His mother was washing clothes. Just then, his father came back with a bagof pears. Tony likes pears very much and he wantedto eat one. His mother gave him four and said, “Let’s sharethem.”“Whichpeardo youwant, Tony?”asked his mother. “The biggest one, mum.”“What?”said his mother, “You should be polite and want the smallest one.”“Should I tell a lie just to be polite, mum?”Passage 5.A birthday partyToday is Susan’s birthday. She is nine years old. Her friends are in her home now. There is a birthday party in the evening. Look! Mary is listening to the music. And Tom is drinking orangejuice. Jack and Sam are playing cards on the floor. Lily and Amy are watching TV. Someone is knocking at the door. It’s Henry. He brings a big teddy bear for Susan. The teddy bear is yellow. Susan is very happy. All the children are happy. They sing a birthday song for Susan.Passage 6.The Farmer and the SnakeIt was a cold winter day.A farmer found a snake on the ground. It was nearly dead by cold. The Farmer was a kind man. Hepicked up thesnake carefully and put it under the coat. Soon the snake Began to move and it raised its mouth and bit the farmer. “Oh, My god!”said the farmer, “I save your life, but you thank me in that way. You must die.”Then he killed the snake with a stick. At last he died, too.Passage 7.Two Young TreesTwo young trees are standing on the top of the hill. Their names are Tim and Alan.One day, it’s sunny and warm. Some birds are singing in the trees. The wind blows, and the trees are talking. “What do you want to be when you grow up?’’asks Tim. “I’m not sure. I think I want to be a chair or a desk.”answers Alan, “Maybe I want to bea toy box or a baseball bat. I like children.”“What do you want to be when you grow up?”asks Alan. “Me?”says Tim, “I just want to be a tree. I want to bea house for birds and spiders. I want to have many apples. And when it’s sunny and hot, people and animals can stand under me.”Passage 8.Hongkong is a nice placeHong Kong is a nice place, especially in summer. JulyisahotmonthinHongKong.Butit’san excellent time for swimming. There is a beautiful beach at Repulse Bay (浅水湾). To get there, you can take a bus from Central. Lots of people go to the beach on Sundays and Saturdays. But if you go on a weekday, it is will be not so crowded.Visitors to Hongkong need passports. But people from many countries do not need visas. Hongkong is a nice place for holiday. There are many shops.Passage 9.WaterWater is very important for living things. Without water, there must be no life on the earth. All the plants and animals need water to drink, to cook food and to clean ourselves. Water is needed in farms, factories, offices, schools, families and many other places.Water is found in seas, rivers and lakes. It can be found everywhere in the world, and it also can be found in the air.Passage 10.Twins’BedroomThis is the twins’bedroom. It is a nice room. The two beds look the same. This bed is Lily’s and that one is Lucy’s. The twins have one desk and two chairs. Their clock, books and pencil-boxes are on the desk. Their schoolbags are behind the chairs. Some nice flowers are on the desk. Some nice pictures are on the wall. Is there a kite? Yes, it’s under Lily’s bed. The bedroom is very nice.Passage 11.DogsOne of the animals that help people a lot is the dog. In some countries, dogs pull wagons. In the cold north, dogs pull sleds.There are other ways that dogs help us, too. Policemen use them to look for missing people. Soldiers use them to carry letters and medicine .On farms, dogs take care of sheep and keep them in the fields. At night, they take the sheep home. Dogs help the blind with work. Some dogs are good and kind. Some dogs are good at another skill.Passage 12.The Best JobBetty is a lazy girl. She doesn’t study hard, and she doesn’t help her mother with the housework, either. “What are you going to be when you grow up, Betty?”Mother asks. “You’re too lazy. No job will ever fit you.”“But I know one,”says the girl, “I’m going to be Father Christmas,”“You want to be Father Christmas?”Mother is surprised, “But why?”“Because he works only one day in a whole year.”Passage 13.A Clever MonkeyA little monkey picks up a pumpkin and wants to takeithome.Butthepumpkinistoobig.The monkey can’t take it home.Suddenly he sees a panda riding a bike towards him. He watches the bike. “l have a good idea. I can roll the pumpkin. It likes a wheel.”So he rolls the pumpkin to his home. When his mother sees the big pumpkin, she is surprised and says, “How can you carry it home?”The little monkey answers proudly, “l can’t lift it, but l can roll it.”His mother smiles and says, “What a clever boy!”Passage14. What Are Stars Like?Have you ever wondered about the stars? In some ways, stars are like people. They are born. They grow old. And they die. A star is born from dust and gas. Slowly the dust and gas make a ball. The ball gets very hot. Then it starts to give off light. The young star grows into a giant. Many years go by. The older star begins to get small again. At last its light goes out. The star’s life isover.Passage 15.Radio and TelevisionRadio and television are very popular in the world today. Millions of people watch TV. Perhaps more people listen to the radio.The TV is more useful than the radio. On TV we can see and hear what is happening in the world. However, radio isn’t lost. It is still with us. And listeners are becoming more. That’sbecause a transistor radio isn’t lost. It is still with us. It is very easy to carry. You can put one in your pocket and listen to it on the bus or your bike when you go to work.Passage 16.It’s cool behind youIt’stwoo’clockintheafternoon.Thesunis shinning and it’s very hot. Nancy has to meet her mother at the train station.Now she’s walking in the street. There are no trees and she’s fat. So she feels very hot. But she doesn’t find a boy walking just behind her. And she meets a friend and says “hello”to him. “Who’s the boy behind you？”asks the man . Now she sees the boy. She is angry and asks, “Why are you walking behind me, boy?”“There’snoshadeinthestreet, you know.”answers the boy. “It’s cool behind you, I think.”Passage 17.Father’s HobbyMy dad works from Monday to Friday in a bank. he uses the computer to count money. His job is very important in the bank.Dad is also busy at home. At weekends he cooks dinner. Usually he cooks Italian food. On Sundays he makesfive pieces of pizza. Sometimes hecooks chicken and makes Chinese food. My mum watches and helps him. I help my dad, too. I wash the dishes.Many people think it is strange for a man to cook. But my dad enjoys his hobby. Cooking relaxes him. He is a weekend cook.Passage 18.I don’t think soJack is a good boy but he doesn’t like to use his head. He often says something withou thinking.It makes others unhappy.Mr. Black teaches math in a school. He’s old now and he likes children.On the Friday Mr. Black doesn’t go to work, because he’s ill in a hospital. And Jack’s mother will see him after dinner. “I want to be there with you.”says Jack. “You’re a rude boy. I can’t take you there.’’sayshis mother. “Don’t worry, mum. I won’t do that again. Please believe me. ”says Jack. In the hospital, Jack says nothing at first. When they’re leaving , he says to Mr. Black, “You look fine. The doctor says you’re going to die, but I don’t think so. ”Passage 19.Seven days in a weekThere are about fifty-two weeks in a year. And there are seven days in each week. The first day of a week is Sunday. The other days of a week between SundayandSaturdayare Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday Thursday and Friday. Monday is the second day, Tuesday is the third day, Wednesday is the fourth day, Thursday is the fifth day, and Friday is the sixth day. What’s the last day? Do you know?Passage 20.My special FriendI have a friend in the U.S. His name is Don Adams. I know him very well, but I have never met him. We write to each other all the time. My letters are very short. It is still hard for me to write in English. I received a letter from Don yesterday. It makes me very happy. He is coming to my country for a visit next summer. We are going to see each other for the first time.Passage 21.A Day in My LifeMy family lives on this street. In the morning, my father goes to work and all the children go to school. My mother takes us to school everyday. She does the housework. She always has her lunch at home, and sees her friends in the afternoon. In the evening all the children come home from school. They always get home early. My father goes home from work and he is often late. After supper my two brothers and I do our homework. We go to bed at ten.Passage 22. The SeaWhat do know about the sea? Some people have seen it but others haven’t. The sea looks beautiful on a fine sunny day and it can be very tough when there is a strong wind. What other things do you know about it? Of course, the sea is very large. In the world there is more sea than land. If you have swum in the sea, you know that the sea is salty. Rivers carry salt from the land into the sea. Some places of the sea are saltier than the other places. Do you know the Dead Sea? It is so salty that you can’t sink when you are in the water! And fish cannot live in it!Passage 23.A Good Young PioneerLi Hua is a Yong Pioneer. He is going to the park. Now he is waiting for a bus. Suddenly he finds a watchon theground.He askssome people, “Whose watch is it?”But the watch isn’t theirs. So he gives the watch to a policeman.Now Li Hua gets on the bus. He is sitting near the window. An old woman gets on the bus. Shehas no seat. So he stands up and says, “Here is a seat for you, Granny. Please sit here”Passage 24.Sea horseThere are all kinds of horses in the world. But one of them you can’t ride. It doesn’t live on land, but in the sea. It looks like the head of horse. So the people call it sea horse. In fact, the sea horse is a small fish. It likes to live in warm water. A sea horse stands up in the water when it swims.Father horse carries the eggs to keep them safe in its pouch. Whenthe eggsare hatched, the baby horses swim away.Passage 25.A Cat and a BirdThere are three trees near the house. There is a big tree, and two small trees.In the big tree there is a bird. Can the bird sing? Yes, it can. What’s under the big tree? It’s a cat.“I want some food,”thinks the cat. “Bird, my good friend, Come here! It’s time to play games”says the cat.“No today, thank you!”says the bird, “You can’t catch me! Goodbye!”Look! The bird is flying!Passage 26.A Flying FoxA flying fox is not a fox at all. It is a bat. But this bat looks like a fox. A flying fox is very big. It likes to eat fruit. Sometimes the flying fox is called fruit bat.The flying fox flies into fruit trees. Then the bat eats all the fruit. So fruit farmers do not like the flying fox.Passage 27.Flying BirdsBirds don’t fly high up in the sky. The air is too thin.It is hard for birds to breathe in thin air. Thin air doesn’t hold them up.Birds fly near the ground so that they can see where they are. The birds look for places they know. Then they do not get lost. Some birds fly so low over the ocean that the waves often hide them. Many birds fly a long distance in the spring and autumn.Passage 28.AirAir is all around us. It is around us as we walk and play. From the time we were born air is around us on every side. When we sit down, it is around us. When we go to bed, air is also around us. We live in air. We can live without food or water for a few days, but we cannot live for more than a few minutes without air. We take in air. When we are working or running we need more air. When we are asleep, we need less air. We live in air, but we cannot see it. We can only feel it when it is moving. Moving air is called wind. How can we make air move? Here is one way. Hold an open book in front of your face, close it quickly. What can you feel? What you feel is air.Passage 29.ClocksThere are many clocks in the Brown’s house. They are in different rooms.A big clock stands in a corner of the sitting room. It is a very, very old clock, but it still keeps good time. Mr. Brown winds it once a week.Passage 30. SwimmingSwimming is a good sport. It’s popular. People like swimming because the water makes people feel cool. But if they swim in a wrong place, it is very dangerous. These years, some people died when they were enjoying themselves in water and most of them were students. Summer holiday will be there again. I want to give you some advice. First, don’t get into the water when you are alone. Second, don’t get into the water if there is a No swimming sign. Third, you should be careful in the water. If you remember these, swimming will be safe and it’s good for your health.。

晨读英语美文100篇（六级）晨读英语美文100篇六级Passage 1. knowledge and VirtueKnowledge is one thing, virtue is another;good sense is not conscience, refinement is not humility,nor is largeness and justness of view faith.Philosophy, however enlightened, however profound,gives no command over the passions, no influential motives, no vivifying principles.Liberal Education makes not the Christian, not the Catholic, but the gentleman.It is well to be a gentleman,it is well to have a cultivated intellect, a delicate taste,a candid, equitable, dispassionate mind,a noble and courteous bearing in the conduct of life—these are the connatural qualities of a large knowledge;they are the objects of a University.I am advocating, I shall illustrate and insist upon them;but still, I repeat, they are no guarantee for sanctity or even for conscientiousness,and they may attach to the man of the world, to the profligate,to the heartless, pleasant, alas, and attractive as he shows when decked out in them.Taken by themselves, they do but seem to be what they are not;they look like virtue at a distance, but they are detected by close observers, and in the long run; and hence it is that they are popularly accused of pretense and hypocrisy,not, I repeat, from their own fault,but because their professors and their admirers persist in taking them for what they are not, and are officious in arrogating for them a praise to which they have no claim.Quarry the granite rock with razors, or moor the vessel with a thread of silk,then may you hope with such keen and delicate instruments as human knowledgeand human reason to contend against those giants,Passage 2. “Packing” a PersonA person, like a commodity, needs packaging.But going too far is absolutely undesirable.A little exaggeration, however, does no harmwhen it shows the person's unique qualities to their advantage.To display personal charm in a casual and natural way,it is important for one to have a clear knowledge of oneself.A master packager knows how to integrate art and nature without any traces of embellishment, so that the person so packaged is no commodity but a human being, lively and lovely.A young person, especially a female, radiant with beauty and full of life,has all the favor granted by God.Any attempt to make up would be self-defeating.Youth, however, comes and goes in a moment of doze.Packaging for the middle-aged is primarily to conceal the furrows ploughed by time.If you still enjoy life's exuberance enough to retain self-confidenceand pursue pioneering work, you are unique in your naturalqualities,and your charm and grace will remain.Elderly people are beautiful if their river of life has been,through plains, mountains and jungles, running its course as it should.You have really lived your life which now arrives at a complacent stage of serenity indifferent to fame or wealth.There is no need to resort to hair-dyeing；the snow-capped mountain is itself a beautiful scene of fairyland.Let your looks change from young to old synchronizing with the natural ageing process so as to keep in harmony with nature, for harmony itself is beauty,while the other way round will only end in unpleasantness.To be in the elder's company is like reading a thick book of deluxe editionthat fascinates one so much as to be reluctant to part with.As long as one finds where one stands, one knows how to package oneself,just as a commodity establishes its brand by the right packaging.Passage 3. Three Passions I Have Lived forThree passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life:the longing for love, the search for knowledge,and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither,in a wayward course over a deep ocean of anguish,reaching to the very verge of despair.I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy—ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of my lifefor a few hours for this joy.I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness—that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousnesslooks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss.I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen,in a mystic miniature,the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined.This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life,this is what—at last—I have found.With equal passion I have sought knowledge.I have wished to understand the hearts of men.I have wished to know why the stars shine ...A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens.。

英语美文背诵文选100篇之蔡仲巾千创作1. The First SnowThe first snow came. How beautiful it was, falling so silently all day long, all night long, on the mountains, on the meadows, on the roofs on the living, on the graves of the dead! All white save the river, that marked its course be a winding black line across the landscape; and the leafless tress, that against the leaden sky now revealed more fully the wonderful beauty and intricacies of their branches. What silence, too, came with the snow, and what seclusion! Every sound was muffled, every noise changed to something soft and musical. No more tramping hoofs, no more rattling wheels! Only the chiming of sleigh-bell, beating as swift and merrily as the hearts of children. (118 words)From KavanaghBy Henry Wadsworth Longfellow2. The Humming-birdOf all animals being this is the most elegant in form and the most brilliant in colors. The stones and metals polished by our arts are not comparable to this jewel of Nature. She has placed it least in size of the order of birds. "maxime Mirandain minimis." Her masterpiece is this little humming-bird, and upon it she has heaped all the gifts which the other birds may only share. Lightness, rapidity, nimbleness, grace, and rich apparel all belong to this little favorite. The emerald, the ruby, and the topaz gleam upon its dress. It never soils them with the dust of earth, and in its aerial life scarcely touches the turf an instant. Always in the air, flying from flower to flower, it has their freshness as well as their brightness. It lives upon their nectar, and dwells only in the climates where they perennially bloom. (149 words) From Natural HistoryBy George Louise Buffon陈冠商《英语背诵文选》3. PinesThe pine, placed nearly always among scenes disordered and desolate, bring into them all possible elements of order and precision. Lowland trees may lean to this side and that, though it is but a meadow breeze that bends them or a bank of cowlips from which their trunks lean aslope. But let storm and avalanche do their worst, and let the pine find only a ledge of vertical precipice to cling to, it will nevertheless grow straight. Thrust a rod from its last shoot down the stem;it shall point to the center of the earth as long as the tree lives. It may be well also for lowland branches to reach hither and thither for what they need, and to take all kinds of irregular shape and extension. But the pine is trained to need nothing and endure everything. It is resolvedly whole, self-contained, desiring nothing but rightness, content with restricted completion. Tall or short, it will be straight. (160 words)From Modern PaintersBy John Ruskin陈冠商《英语背诵文选》4. Reading Good BooksDevote some of your leisure, I repeat, to cultivating a love of reading good books. Fortunate indeed are those who contrive to make themselves genuine book-lovers. For book lovers have some noteworthy advantages over other people. They need never know lonely hours so long as they have books around them, and the better the books the more delightful the company. From good books, moreover, they draw much besides entertainment. They gain mental food such as few companions can supply. Even while resting from their labors they are, through the books they read, equipping themselves to performthose labors more efficiently. This albeit they may not be deliberately reading to improve their mind. All unconsciously the ideas they derive from the printed paged are stored up, to be worked over by the imagination for future profit.(135 words)From Self-DevelopmentBy Henry Addington Bruce陈冠商《英语背诵文选》5. On EtiquetteEtiquette to society is what apparel is to the individual. Without apparel men would go in shameful nudity which would surely lead to the corruption of morals; and without etiquette society would be in a pitiable state and the necessary intercourse between its members would be interfered with by needless offences and troubles. If society were a train, the etiquette would be the rails along which only the train could rumble forth; if society were a state coach, the etiquette would be the wheels and axis on which only the coach could roll forward. The lack of proprieties would make the most intimate friends turns to be the most decided enemies and the friendly or allied countries declarewar against each other. We can find many examples in the history of mankind. Therefore I advise you to stand on ceremony before anyone else and to take pains not to do anything against etiquette lest you give offences or make enemies. (160 words)by William Hazlitt陈冠商《英语背诵文选》6. An Hour Before SunriseAn hour before sunrise in the city there is an air of cold. Solitary desolation about the noiseless streets, which we are accustomed to see thronged at other times by a busy, eager crowd, and over the quiet, closely shut buildings which throughout the day are warming with life. The drunken, the dissipated, and the criminal have disappeared; the more sober and orderly part of the population have not yet awakened to the labors of the day, and the stillness of death is over streets; its very hue seems to be imparted to them, cold and lifeless as they look in the gray, somber light of daybreak.A partially opened bedroom window here and there bespeaks the heat of the weather and the uneasy slumbers of its occupant; and the dim scanty flicker of a light through the blinds of yonder windows denotes the chamber of watching and sickness.Save for that sad light, the streets present no signs of life, nor the houses of habitation. (166 words)From BozBy Charles Dickens陈冠商《英语背诵文选》7. The Importance of Scientific ExperimentsThe rise of modern science may perhaps be considered to date as far as the time of Roger Bacon, the wonderful monk and philosopher of Oxford, who lived between the years 1214 and 1292. He was probable the first in the middle ages to assert that we must learn science by observing and experimenting on the things around us, and he himself made many remarkable discoveries. Galileo, however who lived more than 300 years later (1564 to 1642), was the greatest of several great men, who in Italy, France, Germany or England, began by degrees to show how many important truths could be discovered by well-directed observation. Before the time of Galileo, learned men believed that large bodies fall more rapidly towards the earth than small ones, because Aristotle said so. But Galileo, going to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, let fall two unequal stones, and proved to some friends, whom he had brought there to see his experiment, that Aristotlewas in error. It is Galileo's sprit of going direct to Nature, and verifying our opinions and theories by experiment, that has led to all the great discoveries of modern science. (196 words)From LogicBy William Stanley Jevons陈冠商《英语背诵文选》8. Address at GettysburgFourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, ca n long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate-we cannot consecrate-we cannot hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, heave consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will littlenote nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that form these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. (268 words)By Abraham Lincoln9. A Little Girl (1)Sitting on a grassy grave, beneath one of the windows of the church, was a little girl. With her head bent back she was gazing up at the sky and singing, while one of her little hands was pointing to a tiny cloud that hovered like a golden feather above her head. The sun, which had suddenly become very bright, shining on her glossy hair, gave it a metallic luster, and it was difficult to say what was the color, dark bronze or black. So completely absorbed was shi in watchingthe cloud to which her strange song or incantation and went towards her. Over her head, high up in the blue, a lark that was soaring towards the same gauzy could was singing, as if in rivalry. As I slowly approached the child, I could see by her forehead, which in the sunshine seemed like a globe of pearl, and especially by her complexion, that she uncommonly lovely.(159 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》10. A Little Girl (2)Her eyes, which at one moment seemed blue-gray, at another violet, were shaded by long black lashes, curving backward in a most peculiar way, and these matched in hue her eyebrows, and the tresses that were tossed about her tender throat and were quivering in the sunlight. All this I did not take in at once; for at first I could see nothing but those quivering, glittering, changeful eyes turned up into my face. Gradually the other features, especially the sensitive full-lipped mouth, grew upon me as I stood silently gazing. Here seemed tome a more perfect beauty than had ever come to me in my loveliest dreams of beauty. Yet it was not her beauty so much as the look she gave me that fascinated me, melted me. (129words)(302 words)From Aylwinby Theodore Watts-Dunton陈冠商《英语背诵文选》11. Choosing an OccupationHodeslea, Eastbourne,November 5, 1892Dear Sir,I am very sorry that the pressure of other occupations has prevented me form sending an earlier reply to your letter. In my opinion a man's first duty is to find a way of supporting himself, thereby relieving other people of the necessity of supporting him. Moreover, the learning to so work of practical value in the world, in an exact and careful manner, is of itself, a very important education the effects of which make themselves felt in all other pursuits. The habit of doing that which you do not dare about when you would much rather be doing something else, is invaluable. It would have saved me a frightful waste of time if I had ever had it drilled into me in youth.Success in any scientific career requires an unusualequipment of capacity, industry, and energy. If you possess that equipment, you will find leisure enough after your daily commercial work is over, to make an opening in the scientific ranks for yourself. If you do not, you had better stick to commerce. Nothing is less to be desired than the fate of a young man who, as the Scotch proverb says, in 'trying to make a spoon spoils a horn," and becomes a mere hanger-on in literature or in science, when he might have been a useful and a valuable member of Society in other occupations.I think that your father ought to see this letter. (244 words) Yours faithfullyT.H. HuxleyFrom Life and Letters of Thomas Henry HuxleyBy Leonard Huxley陈冠商《英语背诵文选》12. An Important Aspect of College LifeIt is perfectly possible to organize the life of our colleges in such a way that students and teachers alike will take part in it; in such a way that a perfectly natural daily intercourse will be established between them; and it is only by such an organization that they can be given real vitality as places of serious training, be made communities in whichyoungsters will come fully to realize how interesting intellectual work is, how vital, how important, how closely associated with all modern achievement-only by such an organization that study can be made to seem part of life itself. Lectures often seem very formal and empty things; recitations generally proved very dull and unrewarding. It is in conversation and natural intercourse with scholars chiefly that you find how lively knowledge is, how it ties into everything that is interesting and important, how intimate a part it is of every thing that is interesting and important, how intimate a part it is of everything that is "practical" and connected with the world. Men are not always made thoughtful by books; but they are generally made thoughtful by association with men who think. (195 words) By Woodrow Wilson陈冠商《英语背诵文选》13. Night (1)Night has fallen over the country. Through the trees rises the red moon, and the stars are scarcely seen. In the vast shadow of night the coolness and the dews descend. I sit at the open window to enjoy them; and hear only the voice of the summer wind. Like black hulks, the shadows of the great treesride at anchor on the billowy sea of grass. I cannot see the red and blue flowers, but I know that they are there. Far away in the meadow gleams the silver Charles. The tramp of horses' hoofs sounds from the wooden bridge. Then all is still save the continuous wind or the sound of the neighboring sea. The village clock strikes; and I feel that I am not alone. (128 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》14. Night (2)How different it is in the city! It is late, and the crowd is gone. You step out upon the balcony, and lie in the very bosom of the cool, dewy night as if you folded her garments about you. Beneath lies the public walk with trees, like a fathomless, black gulf, into whose silent beloved spirit clasped in its embrace. The lamps are still burning up and down the long street. People go by with grotesque shadows, now foreshortened, and now lengthening away into the darkness and vanishing, while a new one springs up behind the walker, and seems to pass him revolving like the sail of a windmill. The iron gates of the park shut with a jangling clang. There are footsteps and loud voices; --a tumult; --a drunken brawl; --an alarm of fire; --then silence again. And now at lengththe city is asleep, and we can see the night. The belated moon looks over the roofs, and finds no one to welcome her. The moonlight is broken. It lies here and there in the squares, and the opening of the streets-angular like blocks of white marble. (195 words)(323 words)By Nathanial Hawthorne陈冠商《英语背诵文选》15. An October Sunrise (1)I was up the next morning before the October sunrise, and away through the wild and the woodland. The rising of the sun was noble in the cold and warmth of it; peeping down the spread of light, he raised his shoulder heavily over the edge of gray mountain and wavering length of upland. Beneath his gaze the dew-fogs dipped and crept to the hollow places, then stole away in line and column, holding skirts and cling subtly at the sheltering corners where rock hung over grass-land, while the brave lines of the hills came forth, one beyond other gliding.The woods arose in folds, like drapery of awakened mountains, stately with a depth of awe, and memory of the tempests. Autumn's mellow hand was upon them, as they owned already,touched with gold and red and olive, and their joy towards the sun was less to a bridegroom than a father. (152 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》16. An October Sunrise (2)Yet before the floating impress of the woods could clear itself, suddenly the gladsome light leaped over hill and valley, casting amber, blue, and purple, and a tint of rich red rose, according to the scene they lit on, and the curtain flung around; yet all alike dispelling fear and the coven hoof of darkness, all on the wings of hope advancing, and proclaiming, "God is here!" Then life and joy sprang reassured from every crouching hollow; every flower and bud and bird had a fluttering sense of them, and all the flashing of God's gaze merged into soft beneficence.So, perhaps, shall break upon us that eternal morning, when crag and chasm shall be no more, neither hill and valley, nor great unvintaged ocean; when glory shall not scare happiness, neither happiness envy glory; but all things shall arise, and shine in the light of the Father's countenance, because itself is risen. (153 words)(305 words)By Richard D. Blackmore陈冠商《英语背诵文选》17. Of Studies (1)Studies serve for delight, for ornamental, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar. They perfect nature, natural plants, that need proyning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. (157 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》18. Of Studies (2)Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh andconsider. Some books are to be tasted; others to swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; an if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. (170 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》19. Of Studies (3)Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores. Nay there is no stond or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies: like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for thelungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt. (163 words)(490 words)By Francis Bacon陈冠商《英语背诵文选》20. Books (1)The good books of the hour, then, --I do not speak of the bad ones—is simply the useful or pleasant talk of some person whom you cannot otherwise converse with, printed for you. Very useful often, telling you what you need to know; very pleasant often, as a sensible friend's present talk would be. These bright accounts of travels; good-humoured and witty discussion of questions; lively or pathetic story-telling in the form of novel; firm fact-telling, by the real agentsconcerned in the events of passing history; --all these books of the hour, multiplying among us as education becomes more general, are a peculiar characteristic and possession of the present age: we ought to be entirely thankful for them, and entirely ashamed of ourselves if we make no good use of them. But we make the worse possible use, if we allow them to usurp the place of true books: for, strictly speaking, they are not books at all, but merely letters or newspapers in good print. Our friend's letter may be delightful, or necessary, today: whether worth keeping or not, is to be considered. (189 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》21. Books (2)The newspaper may be entirely proper at breakfast time, but assuredly it is not reading for all day. So though bound up in a volume, the long letter which gives you so pleasant an account of the inns, the roads, and weather last year at such a place, or which tells you that amusing story, or gives you the real circumstances of such and such events, however valuable for occasional reference, may not be, in the real sense of the word, a "book" at all, nor, in the real sense, to be "read". A book is essentially not a talked thing, but a written thing; and written, not with the view of merecommunication, but of permanence. The book of talk is printed only because its author cannot speak to thousands of people at once; if he could, he would-the volume is mere multiplication of his voice. You cannot talk to your friend in India; if you could, you would; you write instead: that is mere conveyance of voice. But a book is written, not to multiply the voice merely, not to carry it merely, but to preserve it. (190 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》22. Books (3)The author has something to say which he perceives to be true and useful, or helpfully beautiful. So far as he knows, no one has yet said it; so far as he knows, no one else can say it. He is bound to say it, clearly and melodiously if he may; clearly, at all events. In the sum of his life he finds this to be the thing, or group of things, manifest to him; --this the piece of true knowledge, or sight, which his share of sunshine and earth has permitted him to seize. He would fain set it down for ever; engrave it on rock, if he could; saying, "this is the best of me; for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved and hated, like another; my life was as the vapour, and is not; but this I saw and knew: this, if anythingof mine, is worth your memory, " That is his "writing"; it is, in his small human way, and with whatever degree of true inspiration is in him, his inscription, or scripture. That is a "Book". (186 words)(565 words)By John Ruskin陈冠商《英语背诵文选》24. The Value of Time (1)"Time" says the proverb "is money". This means that every moment well spent may put some money into our pockets. If our time is usefully employed, it will either turn out some useful and important piece of work which will fetch its price in the market, or it will add to our experience and increase our capacities so as to enable us to earn money when the proper opportunity comes. There can thus be no doubt that time is convertible into money. Let those who think nothing of wasting time, remember this; let them remember that an hour misspent is equivalent to the loss of a bank-note; an that an hour utilized is tantamount to so much silver or gold; and then they will probably think twice before they give their consent to the loss of any part of their time.Moreover, our life is nothing more than our time. To kill timeis therefore a form of suicide. We are shocked when we think of death, and we spare no pains, no trouble, and no expense to preserve life. But we are too often indifferent to the loss of an hour or of a day, forgetting that our life is the sum total of the days and of the hours we live. A day of an hour wasted is therefore so much life forfeited. Let us bear this in mind, and waste of time will appear to us in the light of a crime as culpable as suicide itself. (250 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》25. The Value of Time (2)There is a third consideration which will also tend to warn us against loss of time. Our life is a brief span measuring some sixty or seventy years in all, but nearly one half of this has to be spent in sleep; some years have to be spent over our meals; some over dressing and undressing; some in making journeys on land and voyages by sea; some in merry-making, either on our own account or for the sake of others; some in celebrating religious and social festivities; some in watching over the sick-beds of our nearest and dearest relatives. Now if all these years were to be deducted from the tern over which our life extends we shall find about fifteen or twenty years at our disposal for active work.Whoever remembers this can never willingly waste a single moment of his life. "It is astonishing" says Lord Chesterfield "that anyone can squander away in absolute idleness one single moment of that portion of time which is allotted to us in this world. Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it!" (187 words)陈冠商《英语背诵文选》26. The Value of Time (3)All time is precious; but the time of our childhood and of our youth is more precious than any other portion of our existence. For those are the periods when alone we can acquire knowledge and develop our faculties and capacities. If we allow these morning hours of life to slip away unutilized, we shall never be able to recoup the loss. As we grow older, our power of acquisition gets blunted, so that the art or science which is not acquired in childhood or youth will never be acquired at all. Just as money laid out at interest doubles and trebles itself in time, so the precious hours of childhood and youth, if properly used, will yield us incalculable advantages. "Every moment you lose" says Lord Chesterfield "is so much character and advantage lost; as on the other hand, every moment you now employ usefully is so much time wiselylaid out at prodigious interest."A proper employment of time is of great benefit to us from a moral point of view. Idleness is justly said to be the rust of the mind and an idle brain is said to be Satan's workshop. It is mostly when you do not know what to do with yourself that you do something ill or wrong. The mind of the idler preys upon itself. As Watt has said:In works of labour or of skillLet me be busy too;For Satan finds some mischief stillFor idle hands to do. (249 words(686 words)By Robert William Service陈冠商《英语背诵文选》27. Spring The Resurrection TimeSprings are not always the same, In some years, April bursts upon our Virginia hills in one prodigious leap—and all the stage is filled at once, whole choruses of tulips, arabesques of forsythia, cadenzas of flowering plum. The trees grow leaves overnight.In other years, spring tiptoes in. It pauses, overcome by shyness, like my grandchild at the door, peeping in, duckingout of sight, giggling in the hallway. "I know you're out there," I cry. "Come in!" And April slips into arms.The dogwood bud, pale green, is inlaid with russet markings. With in the perfect cup a score of clustered seeds are nestled. Once examined the bud in awe: Where were those seeds a month ago The apples display their milliner's scraps of ivory silk, rose-tinged. All the sleeping things wake up-primrose, baby iris, blue phlox. The earth warms-you can smell it, feel it, crumble April in your hands.The dark Blue Mountains in which I dwell, great-hipped, big-breasted, slumber on the western sky. And then they stretch and gradually awaken. A warm wind, soft as a girl's hair, moves sailboat clouds in gentle skies. The rain come-good rains to sleep by-and fields that were dun as oatmeal turn to pale green, then to Kelly green.All this reminds me of a theme that runs through my head like a line of music. Its message is profoundly simple, and profoundly mysterious also: Life goes on. That is all there is to it. Everything that is, was; and everything that is, will be. (259 words)by James J. Kilpatrick陈擎红《英语背诵散文》。

晨读英语美文100篇My Perfect HouseMy house is perfect.By great good fortune I have found a housekeeper no less to my mind,a low-voiced, light-footed woman of discreet age, strong and deft enough to render me all the service I require,and not afraid of loneliness.She rises very early.By my breakfast-time there remains little to be done under the roof save dressing of meals. Very rarely do I hear even a clink of crockery; never the closing of a door or window.Oh, blessed silence!My house is perfect.Just large enough to allow the grace of order in domestic circumstance;just that superfluity of inner space, to lack which is to be less than at one's ease.The fabric is sound; the work in wood and plaster tells of a more leisurely and a more honest age than ours.The stairs do not creak under my step; I am attacked by no unkindly draught;I can open or close a window without muscle-ache.As to such trifles as the color and device of wall-paper, I confess my indifference;be the walls only plain, and I am satisfied.The first thing in one's home is comfort;let beauty of detail be added if one has the means, the patience, the eye.To me, this little book-room is beautiful, and chiefly because it is home.Through the greater part of life I was homeless.Many places have I lived, some which my soul disliked, and some which pleased me well;but never till now with that sense of security which makes a home.At any moment I might have been driven forth by evil accident, by disturbing necessity.For all that time did I say within myself:Some day, perchance, I shall have a home;yet the "perchance" had more and more of emphasis as life went on,and at the moment when fate was secretly smiling on me, I had all but abandoned hope.I have my home at last.This house is mine on a lease of a score of years.So long I certainly shall not live;but, if I did, even so long should I have the money to pay my rent and buy my food.I am no cosmopolite.Were I to think that I should die away from England, the thought would be dreadful to me. And in England, this is the place of my choice; this is my home.Blood, Toil, Sweat and TearsIn this crisis I think I may be pardoned if I do not address the House at any length today,and I hope that any of my friends and colleagues or former colleagues who are affected by the political reconstructionwill make all allowances for any lack of ceremony with which it has been necessary to act.I say to the House as I said to Ministers who have joined this government,I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, sweat and tears.We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind.We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering.You ask, what is our policy? I say it is to wage war by land, sea and air.War with all our might and with all the strength God has given us,and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and unpleasant catalogue of human crime.That is our policy.You ask, what is our aim?I can answer in one word.It is victory. Victory at all costs—victory in spite of all terrors—victory,however long and hard the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.Let that be realized.No survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for,no survival for the urge, the impulse of the ages,that mankind shall move forward toward his goal.I take up my task in light heart and hope.I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men.I feel entitled at this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say,“Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength.”On Going a JourneyOne of the pleasantest things in the world is going a journey:but I like to go by myself.I can enjoy society in a room;but out of doors, nature is company enough for me.I am then never less alone than when alone.“The fields his study, nature was his book.”I cannot see the wit of walking and talking at the same time.When I am in the country I wish to vegetate like the country.I am not for criticizing hedges and black cattle.I go out for town in order to forget the town and all that is in it.There are those who for this purpose go to watering places,and carry the metropolis with them.I like more space and fewer obstacles.I like solitude, when I give myself up to it, for the sake of solitude; nor do I ask for“a friend in my retreat, whom I may whisper solitude is sweet.”The soul of journey is liberty, perfect liberty, to think, feel, do, just as one pleases.We go a journey chiefly to be free of all obstacles and all inconveniences;to leave ourselves behind, much more to get rid of others.It is because I want a little breathing space to ponder on indifferent matters, where contemplation“May plume her feathers and let grow her w ings,that in the various bustle of resort were all too ruffled, and sometimes impaired.”I absent myself from the town for a while, without feeling at a loss the moment I am left by myself.Instead of a friend in a post chaise or in a carriage, to exchange good things with,and vary the same stale topics over again, for once let me have a time free from manners. Give me the clear blue sky over my head, and the green turf beneath my feet,a winding road before me, and the three hours' march to dinner—and then to thinking!It is hard if I cannot start some game on these lone heaths.I laugh, I run, I leap, I sing for joy!From the point of yonder rolling cloud I plunge into my past being,and revel there as the sun-burnt Indian plunges headlong into the wavethat wafts him to his native shore.Then long-forgotten things like “sunken wrack and sumless treasuries,”burst upon my eager sight, and I begin to feel, think, and be myself again.Instead of an awkward silence, broken by attempts at wit or dull commonplaces,mine is that undisturbed silence of the heart which alone is perfect eloquence.The Folly of AnxietyHalf the people on our streets look as though life was a sorry business.It is hard to find a happy looking man or woman.Worry is the cause of their woebegone appearance.Worry makes the wrinkles; worry cuts the deep, down-glancing lines on the face;worry is the worst disease of our modern times.Care is contagious; it is hard work being cheerful at a funeral,and it is a good deal harder to keep the frown from your facewhen you are in the throng of the worry worn ones.Yet, we have no right to be dispensers of gloom;no matter how heavy our loads may seem to be we have no right to throw their burden on others nor even to cast the shadow of them on other hearts.Anxiety is instability. Fret steals away force.He who dreads tomorrow trembles today.Worry is weakness.The successful men may be always wide-awake, but they never worry.Fret and fear are like fine sand, thrown into life's delicate mechanism;they cause more than half the friction; they steal half the power.Cheer is strength.Nothing is so well done as that which is done heartily,and nothing is so heartily done as that which is done happily.Be happy, is an injunction not impossible of fulfillment.Pleasure may be an accident; but happiness comes in definite ways.It is the casting out of our foolish fears that we may have room for a few of our common joys. It is the telling our worries to wait until we get through appreciating our blessings.Take a deep breath, raise your chest, lift your eyes from the ground,look up and think how many things you have for which to be grateful,and you will find a smile growing where one may long have been unknown.Take the right kind of thought—for to take no thought would be sin—but take the calm, unanxious thought of your business, your duties, your difficulties,your disappointments and all the things that once have caused you fear,and you will find yourself laughing at most of them.A Word for AutumnLast night the waiter put the celery on with the cheese,and I knew that summer was indeed dead.Other signs of autumn there may be—the reddening leaf, the chill in the early-morning air, the misty evenings—but none of these comes home to me so truly.There may be cool mornings in July;in a year of drought the leaves may change before their time;it is only with the first celery that summer is over.I knew all along that it would not last.Even in April I was saying that winter would soon be here.Yet somehow it had begun to seem possible lately that a miracle might happen,that summer might drift on and on through the months—a final upheaval to crown a wonderful year.The celery settled that.Last night with the celery autumn came into its own.A week ago I grieved for the dying summer.I wondered how I could possibly bear the waiting—the eight long months till May.In vain to comfort myself with the thought thatI could get through more work in the winter undistracted by thoughts of cricket grounds and country houses.In vain, equally, to tell myself that I could stay in bed later in the mornings.Even the thought of after-breakfast pipes in front of the fire left me cold.But now, suddenly, I am reconciled to autumn.I see quite clearly that all good things must come to an end.The summer has been splendid, but it has lasted long enough.This morning I welcomed the chill in the air;this morning I viewed the falling leaves with cheerfulness;and this morning I said to myself, “Why, of course, I’ll have celery for lunch.”There is a crispness about celery that is of the essence of October.It is as fresh and clean as a rainy day after a spell of heat.It crackles pleasantly in the mouth.Moreover it is excellent, I am told, for the complexion.One is always hearing of things which are good for the complexion,but there is no doubt that celery stands high on the list.After the burns and freckles of summer one is in need of something.How good that celery should be there at one’s elbow.Searching for a Win-Win SolutionRecently I have had a dilemma I'm trying to resolve, a weekend in the near futurewhere I have conflicting demands and values, and need to be in two places at the same time.I have agonized over this decision because my intuition is not giving me a clear answerand I haven't felt that there was a win-win solution.If I do one thing, I'm letting down a bunch of people.If I do the other, I'm also missing the mark.Either way I feel like a loser, not a winner.This morning I got an e-mail that directly addresses this dilemma:A Thinking TestYou are driving along on a wild, stormy night.You pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for the bus:1. An old lady who is sick and about to die.2. An old friend who once saved your life.3. The perfect man or woman you have been dreaming about.Which one would you choose to pick up, knowing that there could only be one passenger in your car?The candidate who was hired simply answered:"I would give the car keys to my old friend, and let him take the lady to the hospital.I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the woman of my dreams."Sometimes, we gain more if we are able togive up our stubborn thought limitations and think outside the box.If, like me, you are looking at a decision that makes you feel forced to choose between plan A or plan B,and neither plan by itself seems like the right decision,stretch your mind to consider plans C or D,to a third option that solves the problem in a whole new way.Believe that there is a solution you haven't yet thought of,which will enable you to feel good about your choice, and then search for what it is.You are not always the victim in life;most of the time you are the victor looking at the situation from the wrong view!The view is yours to choose.We Walk on the MoonDistinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with a great sense of pride as an Americanand with humility as a human being that I say to you todaywhat no men have been privileged to say before: “We walk on the moon.”But the footprints at Tranquility Base belong to more than the crew of Apollo Ⅱ.They were put there by hundreds of thousands of people across this country,people in the government, industry and universities,the teams and crews that preceded us, all who strived throughout the years with Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.Those footprints belong to the American people and you, the representatives,who accept and support, inevitable challenge of the moon.And, since we came in peace for all mankind those footprints belong also to all people of the world.As the moon shines impartially on all those looking up from our spinning earthso do we hope the benefits of space exploration will be spread equallywith a harmonizing influence to all mankind.Scientific exploration implies investigating the unknown.The result can never be wholly anticipated.Charles Lindberg said, “Scientific accomplishment is a path, not an end;a path leading to and disappearing in mystery.”Our steps in space have been a symbol of this country's way of lifeas we open our doors and windows to the world to view our successes and failuresand as we share with all nations our discovery.The Saturn, Columbia, and Eagle and the Extravehicular Mobility Unit have proved to Neil, Mike and me that this nation can produce equipment of the highest quality and dependability. This should give all of us hope and inspiration to overcome some of the more difficult problems here on earth.The Apollo lesson is that national goals can be met where there is a strong enough will to do so. The first step on the moon was a step toward our sister planets and ultimately toward the stars. “A small step for a man,” was a statement of a fact,“a giant leap for mankind,” is a hope for future.What this country does with the lessons of Apollo apply to domestic problems,and what we do in further space exploration programs will determinejust how giant a leap we have taken.Thank you.Nonviolent and Noncooperation MovementsIn my opinion, the Indian struggle for freedom bears in its consequencesnot only upon India and England but upon the whole world.It contains one-fifth of the human race.It represents one of the most ancient civilizations.It has traditions handed down from tens of thousands of years,some of which, to the astonishment of the world, remain intact.No doubt the damages of time have affected the purity of that civilizationas they have that of many other cultures and many institutions.If India is to revive the glory of her ancient past,she can only do so when she attains her freedom.The reason for the struggle having drawn the attention of the world I knowdoes not lie in the fact that we Indians are fighting for our liberty,but in the fact the means adopted by us for attaining that liberty are unique and,as far as history shows us, have not been adopted by any other people of whom we have any record.The means adopted are not violence,not bloodshed,not diplomacy as one understands it nowadays,but they are purely and simply truth and nonviolence.No wonder that the attention of the world is directed toward this attemptto lead a successful bloodless revolution.Hitherto,nations have fought in the manner of the brute.They have wreaked vengeance upon those whom they have considered to be their enemies. We find in searching national anthems adopted by great nationsthat they contain curse upon the so-called enemy.They have vowed destruction and have not hesitated to take the name of Godand seek divine assistance for the destruction of the enemy.We in India have endeavored to reverse the process.We feel that the law that governs brute creation is not the law that should guide the human race. That law is inconsistent with human dignity.I, personally,would wait, if need be,for ages rather than seek to attain the freedom of my country through bloody means.I feel in the innermost of my heart,after a political career extending over an unbroken period of close upon thirty-five years,that the world is sick unto death of blood spilling.The world is seeking a way out, and I flatter myself with the belief thatperhaps it will be the privilege of ancient land of Indiato show the way out to the hungering world.Old Friends, Good FriendsMore than 30 years ago, when I took my first job in New York City,I found myself working with a number of young women.Some I got to know just in passing, but others gradually became my friends.Today, six of these women remain an important part of my life.They are more than simply friends, more even than close friends.They are old friends, as indispensable as sunshine and more dear to me than ever.These people share a long-standing history with me.In fact, old friends are a lot like promises.They put reliability into the uncertainty of lifeand establish a reassuring link between the past, present,and future.The attachment between friends who have known each other for many years is bound to be complex.On occasion we are exceedingly close, and at other times one or both of us invariably step back. Ebb and flow. Thick and thin.How smoothly and gently we negotiate these hills and valleyshas everything to do with how well the friendship ages.Sometimes events intervene in a way that requires us to rework the term of a relationship.A friend starts a seco nd career, let’s say, and suddenly has less free time.Another remarries,adding someone new to the equation.Talk honestly and listen to each other to find out if the other’s needs are being met. Renegotiating pays full tribute to life’s inevitable changesand says that we deem our friendships worthy of preserving.Old friends are familiar with the layers of our lives.They have been there in the gloom and the glory.Even so, there’s always room to know more about another person.Of course, self-disclosure can make even old friends more vulnerable, so go slowly: Confiding can open new doors, but only if we knock first.Time is the prime commodity between old friends—by this I mean the time spent doing things together.Whether it’s face to face over a cup of coffee,side by side while jogging, ear to ear over the phone, or via email and letters,don’t let too much time go by without sharing your thoughts with each other.Motherly and Fatherly LoveMotherly love by its very nature is unconditional.Mother loves the newborn infant because it is her child,not because the child has fulfilled any specific condition,or lived up to any specific expectation.Unconditional love corresponds in one of the deepest longings,not only of the child, but of every human being;on the other hand, to be loved because of one’s merit, because one deserves it, always leaves doubt;maybe I did not please the person whom I want to love me,maybe this or that—there is always a fear that love could disappear.Furthermore,“deserved” love easily leaves a bitter feeling that one is not loved for oneself,that one is loved only because one pleases,that one is, in the last analysis, not loved at all but used.No wonder that we all cling to the longing for motherly love,as children and also as adults.The relationship to father is quite different.Mother is the home we come from, she is nature, soil, the ocean;father does not represent any such natural home.He has little connection with the child in the first years of its life,and his importance for the child in this early period cannot be compared with that of mother. But while father does not represent the natural world,he represents the other pole of human existence;the world of thought,of man-made things, of law and order, of discipline, of travel and adventure. Father is the one who teaches the child, who shows him the road into the world.Fatherly love is conditional love.Its principle is “I love you because you fulfill my expectations,because you do your duty,because yo u are like me.”In conditional fatherly love we find, as with unconditional motherly love,a negative and a positive aspect.The negative aspect is the very fact that fatherly love has to be deserved,that it can be lost if one does not do to what is expected.In the nature of fatherly love lies the fact that obedience becomes the main virtue,that disobedience is the main sin—and its punishment the withdrawal of fatherly love.The positive side is equally important.Since his love is conditional, I can do something to acquire it, I can work for it;his love is not outside of my control as motherly love is.Three Days to SeeMost of us take life for granted.We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future.The days stretch out in an endless vista,so we go about our petty tasks, hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.The same lethargy characterizes the use of all our faculties and senses.Only the deaf appreciate hearing, only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight.I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life.Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight;silence would teach him the joys of sound.When walking the woods, I, who cannot see,find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch.I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf.I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch,or the rough, shaggy bark of a pine.In the spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud—the first sign of awakening Nature after her winter’s sleep.I feel the delightful, velvety texture of a flower,and discover its remarkable convolutions;and something of the miracle of Nature is revealed to me.Occasionally, if I am very fortunate,I place my hand gently on a small tree and feel the happy quiver of a bird in full song.I am delighted to have the cool waters of a brook rush thought my open finger.To me a lush carpet of pine needles or spongy grass ismore welcome than the most luxurious Persian rug.To me the pageant of seasons is a thrilling and unending drama,the action of which streams through my finger tips.If I can get so much pleasure from mere touch,how much more beauty must be revealed by sight.Suppose you set your mind to work on the problem of how you would use your own eyesif you had only three more days to see.If with the oncoming darkness of the third night you knew that the sun would never rise for you again,how would you spend those three precious intervening days?What would you most want to let your gaze rest upon?I, naturally, should want most to see the thingswhich have become dear to me through my years of darkness.You, too, would want to let your eyes rest on the things that have become dear to youso that you could take the memory of them with you into the night that loomed before you.A Grain of SandHere is a story.A participant in the long-distance race got his shoes filled with sand when he was crossing a beach.He had to stop to get the sand out hastily before he resumed running.Unfortunately a grain of sand remained rubbing the sole and became increasingly tellingso that each step meant a twinge of pain.Reluctant to halt and get rid of the sand，he continued to run in spite of the pain until he could stand no more.He dropped out of the contest just a few yards from the finishing line.As he managed to get out of the shoe painfully，he was surprised to find the cause of his lasting torment was only a grain of sand.It seems that the greatest obstacle on one’s way forward may not be a high mountain or a deep valleybut a grain of sand that is hardly visible.To avoid blame on a minor fault one may tell a lie.That adds a burden to a heavy heart and weighs it down.In the days to come he will have to fabricate one falsehood after anotherto cover the lie he told and the fault he committed.Thus he will never be able to free himself from lingering anxiety, worry and regret,to the ignorance that all his sufferings originate in only a grain of sand—the first lie he told.It’s Never Too Late to ChangeAge is no criterion when it comes to changing your life.In fact, it might be just the opposite.The older we get, the more we must change.Change is what keeps us fresh and innovative.Change is what keeps us from getting stale and stuck in a rut.Change is what keeps us young.This is not easy.When we are young it's easy to change and experiment with different things.The older we get the more set in our ways we become.We've found out what our comfort level is, and we all want to stay in it.We don't want to be risk takers anymore, because risk frightens us,and simply not changing seems so easy.We must fight through this.We must look fear straight in the eye and take it on.We must tell ourselves that we have too much talent, too much wisdom,too much value not to change.I believe that Jim, who is on my staff,is one of the best assistant coaches in the country.But I almost didn't hire him three years agobecause I thought that psychologically he was too "old,"that he had lost the drive and passion that an assistant coach needs.Three years ago he was forty, and I thoughthe might have spent too many Saturday afternoons at the country club,that he wasn't going to get in the trenches anymore,like the younger assistant coaches do.But Jim told me that he couldn't wait to get down in the trenches again.So I hired him, and he's been an integral part of our success.There is a conventional wisdom in coaching that once you've been a head coachyou can't enthusiastically go back to being an assistant againand still have the same passion as before.Jim didn't buy into that.He didn't let his "old age" get in his way.He was ready when opportunity came calling.He reestablished a work ethic second to none with the eagerness of a person right out of college. And I'm thankful for what he did,because he played such an essential role in our championship season.This is what we all must do.We must realize that it's never too late to begin making changesthat can transform our life.Why I Want a WifeI belong to that classification of people known as wives.I am A Wife. And, not altogether incidentally,I am a mother.Not too long ago a male friend of mine appeared on the scene fresh from a recent divorce.He had one child, who is, of course, with his ex-wife.He is looking for another wife.As I thought about him while I was ironing one evening,it suddenly occurred to me that I, too, would like to have a wife.Why do I want a wife?I would like to go back to school so that I can become econmically independent,support myself, and if need be,support those dependent upon me.I want a wife who will work and send me to school.And while I am going to school I want a wife to take care of my children.I want a wife who take care of my physical needs.I want a wife who will keep my house clean.I want a wife who cooks the meals, a wife who is a good cook.I want a wife who will plan the menus, do the necessary grocery shopping,prepare the meals, serve them pleasantly, and then do the cleaning up while I do my studying.I want a wife who will care for me when I am sickand sympathize with my pain and loss of time from school.I want a wife who will n ot bother me with rambling complaints about a wife’s duties.But I want a wife who will listen to mewhen I feel the need to explain a rather difficult point I have come across in my course of studies. And I want a wife who will type my papers for me when I have written them.When I am through with school and have a job,I want my wife to quit working and remain at homeso that my wife can more fully and completely take care of a wife’s duties.If, by chance, I find another person more suitable as a wife than the wife I already have,I want the liberty to replace my present wife with another one.Naturally, I will expect a fresh, new life;my wife will take the children and be solely responsible for them so that I am left free.My god, who wouldn’t want a wi fe?。