英语名篇名段背诵精华(第21-30篇)

英语名篇名段背诵精华21 The English Character 英国人的性格

以下这段文字选自哥尔德史密斯的《世界公民》一书中有关英国社会的论述。关于英国人的性格，我们现在依然可以从中窥见一二。

The English seem as silent as the Japanese, yet vainer than the inhabitants of Siam. Upon my arrival I attributed

that reserve to modesty, which, I now find, has its origin in pride. Condescend to address them first, and you are

sure of their acquaintance; stoop to flattery, and you conciliate their friendship and esteem. They bear hunger, cold,

fatigue, and all the miseries of life without shrinking, danger only calls forth their fortitude; they even exult in

calamity, but contempt is what they cannot bear. An Englishman fears contempt more than death; he often flies to

death as a refuge from its pressure, and dies when he fancies the world has creased to esteem him.

Except from Letters of a Citizen of the World by Oliver Goldsmith

 注释

vain [vein]: too proud of one’s ability or achievements 自负的

fortitude [´fɔ:titju:d]: strength of mind that allows one to endure pain or adversity with courage 坚韧，刚毅

exult[ig´zʌlt]: to rejoice greatly; be jubilant or triumphant 狂喜，喜气洋洋或得意洋洋

contempt [kən´tempt]: disgrace, scorn 轻蔑，鄙视

 作者简介

Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) was a great man. Despite the disintegration of his personality, his excessive

drunkenness and incurable extravagance, he was a man of rare talents that bordered on genius, one of the

first natural writers in the English language. This reputation is based on, and justified by, some half a dozen

books, essays, plays, poems, and one novel, The Vicar of Wakefield. And An History of the Earth and

Animated Nature has been described as everything from “hackwork” to his “most substantial literary legacy”.奥利弗.哥尔德史密斯，是18世纪著名的英国剧作家。出生于爱尔兰，1756年定居伦敦，并展开其创作事业。不论是诗歌、小说、文章还是剧本，他的写作风格均以嬉笑怒骂的形式，借以讽刺时弊。

英国人似乎和日本人一样沉默寡言，却比泰国人更自负一点。我刚到伦敦时，把这种矜持归结为谦虚，现在我发现其源头是自尊心。 要是你主动先和他们客套寒暄，你就会成为他们的熟人；要是你停下来对他们赞美一番，你就会成为赢得他们的友谊与尊重。他们忍受饥饿、寒冷、劳累，面对人生所有的苦难从不退缩；苦难只会让他们更加坚忍不拔；即使身处逆境，他们仍然能欣然面对；但决不能忍受遭轻视，对一个英国人来说，这比死更难受。他常常因承受不了遭人鄙视的压力而赴死以求解脱。当他人物世人不再尊重自己时就会毅然弃世。

英语名篇名段背诵精华22 The Use of History 历史的用处

《历史的用处》(The Use of History, 1946)一书，倾注了罗斯对历史的热情，书中体现了他多年的教学心得。

There are two ways of thinking of history. There is, first, history regarded as a way of looking at other things, really

the temporal aspect of anything, from the universe to this nib with which I am writing. Everything has its history.

There is the history of the universe, if only we knew it－and we know something of it, if we do not know much. Nor

is the contrast so great, when you come to think of it, between the universe and this pen-nib. A mere pen-nib has

quite a considerable history. There is, to begin with, what has been written with it, and that might be something

quite important. After all it was probably only one quill-pen or a couple that wrote Hamlet. Whatever has been

written with the pen-nib is part of its history. In addition to that there is the history of its manufacture: this particular

nib is a 'Relief' nib, No. 314, made by R. Esterbrook and Co. in England, who supply the Midland Bank with

pen-nibs, from whom I got it—a gift, I may say. But behind this nib there is the whole process of manufacture.... In

fact a pen nib implies of universe, and the history of it implies its history. We may regard this way of looking at

it—history as the time-aspect of all things: a pen-nib, the universe, the fiddled before me as I write, as a relative

conception of history. There is, secondly, what we might call a substantive conception of history, what we usually

mean by it, history proper as a subject of study in itself. Excerpt from The Use of History by A.L.Rowse

 注释

temporal [´tempərəl]: 当时的，暂时的，现世的

nib [nib]: 鹅管笔的尖端，钢笔尖

considerable [kən´sidərəbl]: worth of consideration; significant 重要的，值得考虑的；有重大意义的

Midland Bank: 米特兰银行

the fiddled: 不重要的事

substantive [´sʌbstəntiv]: of or relating to the essence or substance; essential 实质的，实在的

 作者简介

A. L. Rowse (1903-1997) was a fellow of All Souls College, University of Oxford. The general editor of the

Oxford Shakespeare, he achieved worldwide fame when he claimed the elusive Dark Lady of the sonnets was

Emilia Lanier. He published more than ninety books of history, poems, biography, and criticism, including The

Expansion of Elizabethan England. 罗斯是当代英国首屈一指的文史学者，著作丰硕，纵横文学与史学两大领域。其史学作品有文学旨趣，而其文学著作又有史家见识，尤其擅长用传记来构筑断代史，为著名的伊丽莎白王朝学者，他的英国伊丽莎白社会历史三部曲（1950-1971）著作更是有口皆碑，他也写了好几部丘吉尔家族传，所以他的史学情怀可谓贯通古今。

历史的思考方式有两种。其一，历史作为审视其他事物的一种方式，其实仅为所有事物暂时的面貌，从整个宇宙到正在书写的笔尖。每一样事物都有它的历史。宇宙也有它的历史，要是我们知道的话—虽然我们所知有限，总算知道一些；仔细想一下，宇宙和这笔尖，其间的差异也不是那么大。但即使仅是这笔尖也有一段历史。首先，透过它便有写出来的东西，而这些可能相当重要。毕竟莎士比亚戏剧《哈姆雷特》也只靠一两支鹅毛笔便完成了。通过笔尖所写出来的变成了它自身的历史。此外，还有制造过程的历史：我这支笔尖其实是英国艾斯塔布禄克(Esterbrook)厂牌314号凸版型产品，专门供应米特兰银行用品，我是从那儿取得的—或许应该说是银行的赠品。在这笔尖的背后有一连串的制造过程……。故此，这笔尖蕴含了一个宇宙，而它的历史也蕴含了它自身的历史。我们可以把这种审视的方式看作—历史就是所有事物的设计面貌：一支笔尖、宇宙、眼前我写作的领域…...作为历史的相对观念。其二，则为我们称作实质观念的历史，就是我们通常所说的，历史本身作为一个研究科目。