經(jīng)典美文英語短篇：英語美文摘抄Solitude《孤獨》

Solitude

Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Laugh, and the world laughs with you,Weep, and you weep alone.

For the sad old earth must borrow its mirth,But has trouble enough of its own.

Sing, and the hills will answer,Sigh, it is lost on the air.

The echoes bound to a joyful sound,But shrink from voicing care.

你歡笑，這世界陪你一同歡笑;

你哭泣，卻只能獨自黯然神傷。

只因古老而憂傷的大地必須注入歡樂，它的煩惱已經(jīng)足夠。

你歌唱，山谷將與你和音共曲;

你嘆息，空氣將其無聲湮沒。

快樂之聲總能引來回聲陣陣，憂慮之音卻令其銷聲匿跡。

Rejoice, and men will seek you.

Grieve, and they turn and go.

They want full measure of all your pleasure,But they do not need your woe.

Be glad, and your friends are many,Be sad, and you lose them all.

There are none to decline your nectared wine,But alone you must drink life’s gall.

你歡喜，人們會與你相隨;

你悲傷，人們則會轉(zhuǎn)身離去。

人人都愿分享你全部的快樂，但無人需要你的哀傷苦楚。

快樂起來吧，你會擁有眾多朋友。

若悲傷感懷，你會與他們失之交臂。

沒有人會拒絕與你共酌美酒甘露，然而生活的苦汁你必須獨自品嘗。

Feast, and your halls are crowded;

Fast, and the world goes by.

Succeed and give, and it helps you live,But no man can help you die.

There is room in the halls of pleasure

For a long and lordly train,But one by one we must all file on

Through the narrow aisle of pain.

饕餮盛宴，你的廳堂人潮涌動;

時光飛逝，這世界匆匆而過，成功、給予，是你生活的動力，然而沒有人能夠替你離世而去。

因為歡愉的殿堂里，容得下一節(jié)長長的豪華火車，但我們必須一個接一個地排隊，穿越歲月磨難的狹長隧道而進(jìn)入。

1.Thrift

[導(dǎo)讀]本文論述了節(jié)儉這一美德的重要。文章圍繞論點展開，層次分明。（選取任意兩個段落背誦）

Thrift is the foundation of all greatness.It is applied not only to money matters, but to everything else in life—the wise use of one's time, ability, and energy.In short, thrift is the scientific management of one's money, of one's time, of one's affairs, and of one's self.Thrift is the best word for us.It makes fortune.It uplifts character.It improves the quality of the individual.The exercise of thrift has a very healthful reaction upon all the other faculties.The habit of thrift denotes self-control.It is a proof that a man is not a hopeless victim of his weakness.It is a proof that he is the master of himself as well as of his finances.Thrift is an educator.A thrifty man thinks and plans.He has a program.He has a certain amount of independence.If you have cultivated thrift, it means that you have the ability to control your desires and that you are developing some of the grandest human qualities—self-reliance, independence, prudence, and foresight.We know that all great nations are founded on thrift.The ancient Roman Empire degenerated and came to an end when it ceased to be thrifty.Yet thrift does not require superior courage.It needs no fervent resolution, but only a little patient self-denial.And BEGIN is its device!

[注釋]

thrift: n.economy;frugality.節(jié)儉；儉約。

fortune: n.a great deal of money or property.錢財 uplift v.: improve.提高；

Healthful reaction: helpful reaction.有助的反應(yīng) faculty: n.ability.能力

victim: n.person sacrificed.犧牲者

finances: n.money;private income.錢財；個人所得 thrifty: adj.economical;frugal.節(jié)儉的 program: n.plan of what is to be done.計劃

grandest human qualities: noblest character.最高尚的品德

self-reliance: n.reliance on one’s own power.自恃

prudence: n.caution.謹(jǐn)慎

foresight: n.power to see or realize beforehand.先見

degenerate: v.decline.衰頹

fervent resolution: Intense determination.非常的決心

self-denial: n.self-control.克己 2.Advice To A Young Man

[導(dǎo)讀]羅伯特·伯德特（Robert Jones Burdette）的作品邏輯嚴(yán)密，層層推進(jìn)，富有感染力。（選出任意一段進(jìn)行背誦）

Remember, my son, you have to work.Whether you handle a pick or a pen, a wheel-barrow or a set of books, digging ditches or editing a paper, ringing an

auction bell or writing funny things, you must work.If you look around you will see the men who are the most able to live the rest of their days without work are the men who work the hardest.Don't be afraid of killing yourself with overwork.It is beyond your power to do that on the sunny side of thirty.They die sometimes, but it is because they quit work at six in the evening, and do not go home until two in the morning.It’s the interval that kills, my son.The work gives you an appetite for your meals;it lends solidity to your slumbers, it gives you a perfect and grateful appreciation of a holiday.There are young men who do not work, but the world is not proud of them.It does not know their names, even it simply speaks of them as “old So-and-So’s boy”.Nobody likes them;the great, busy world doesn’t know that they are there.So find out what you want to be and do, and take off your coat and make a dust in the world.The busier you are, the less harm you will be apt to get into, the sweeter will be your sleep, the brighter and happier your holidays, and the better satisfied will the world be with you.[注釋]

son: young man.年輕人

pick n: a sharp-pointed iron tool used in digging.鋤頭

wheel-barrow n: a small vehicle with one wheel and two handles, used for moving small loads.手推車

a set of books: a set of accounts.一套帳簿

ditch n: a channel dug in the ground.溝 paper: newspaper.報紙

auction n: a public sale in which goods are sold to the highest bidder.拍賣 overwork n: too much work.工作過勞

on the sunny side of thirty: below thirty years of age.三十歲以內(nèi) interval n: the time between events.間隔時間

The work gives you an appetite for you meals:工作會增加你的食欲

it lends solidity to your slumbers: the work makes you sleep soundly.工作會使你安然入睡

it gives you a perfect and grateful appreciation of a holiday:工作會使你心滿意足地享受假日

So-and-So: a certain person.某人

take off your coat: keep up your spirits.脫下你的外衣，意即提起你的精神 make a dust in the world: become prominent in the world.揚名于世 the…the…: by how much….by so much.愈….愈….apt to get into: liable to suffer.易于遭受

3.Books（選擇任意兩段背誦）

[導(dǎo)讀]塞繆爾·斯邁爾斯（Samuel Smiles）英國作家，以道德教誨的作品“自助”(Self-Help，1859)最為有名。

A man may usually be known by the books he reads, as well as by the company

for there is a companionship of books as well as of men;and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.A good book may be among the best of friends.It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change.It is the most patient and cheerful of companions.It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress.It always receives us with the same kindness;amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book—just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both entertain for a third.There is an old proverb, “Love me, love my dog.” But there is more wisdom in this: “Love me, love my book.” The book is a truer and higher bond of union.Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author.They live in him together, and he in them.A good book is often the best urn of a life, enshrining the best thoughts of which that life was capable;for the world of a man's life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts.Thus the best books are treasuries of good words and golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our abiding companions and comforters.“They are never alone,” said Sir Philip Sidney, “that are accompanied by noble thoughts.” The good and true thought may in time of temptation be as an angel of mercy purifying and guarding the soul.It also enshrines the germs of action, for good words almost invariably inspire to good works.company: 陪伴 adversity: 不幸, 逆境

distress: 悲痛, 窮困

console : vt.安慰

affinity: 吸引力, 親合力

bond: 結(jié)合, 粘結(jié)

urn:壺。這一句的意思是：好書常如最精美的寶器，珍藏著人的一生思想的精華。enshrine: 銘記 abiding: adj.持久的

Sir Philip Sidney: 菲利普·悉尼爵士英國作家。

[參考譯文] 書為友

觀其友而知其人，同樣，察一個人讀些什么書就可知他的為人，只因書與人一樣，也能做人之友。無論是書還是人，我們都應(yīng)該擇其最佳者為友。

一本好書可以成為人的摯友，古往今來，恒久不變。所有朋友中，書本最為耐心而又令人愉悅。我們身處逆境灰心沮喪時，書本并不變臉拋棄我們，始終如一，友愛接納。我們年輕時，書本給我們以歡娛和陶冶；我們老邁時，又予我們以慰藉和鼓勵。

黑茲利特曾說：“書香輕拂沁心靈，詩行輕滑滲血液。青春時所讀之書，垂暮時依然會回想，仿佛就在身邊發(fā)生。書籍價廉物美，我們就在書香中呼吸?！?/p>

一本好書往往就是作者的人生結(jié)晶，里面蘊(yùn)藏著他窮其一生的求索成果。因為人一生的世界大多就是其思想的世界，故而最優(yōu)秀的書籍也就是至理名言和輝煌思想的富藏。這些

思想若能銘記在心，就成為我們永久的朋友和永恒的慰藉。菲利普·悉尼爵士說得好：“與高尚思想為伴的人永不寂寞。”在我們受誘惑時，美好純真的思想如同仁慈的天使，凈化衛(wèi)護(hù)著我們的靈魂，并蘊(yùn)含著我們行動的萌芽，因為金玉良言總能激勵我們美好的行為。

4.Jane Eyre

[導(dǎo)讀]夏洛蒂·勃朗特(Charlotte Bronte)的《簡愛》通過簡·愛的自述，描繪的是一個出身貧苦家庭，長相平凡，無依無靠的女家庭教師的曲折遭遇。簡，成為純潔、熱情、坦率、愛好真理，敢于追求幸福的女性的象征，因而形象鮮明。作品成功之處還在于作者在對人性的描述中，我們隱約看到了自己，卑劣或美麗的人性，而覺得心有戚戚焉。

‘I tell you I must go!’ I retorted, roused to something like passion.‘Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton?I have as much soul as you,it is my spirit that addresses your spirit;just as if both had passed through the grave, and we stood at God's feet, equal,ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of 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.And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux.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 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 this 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.三種單純而又異常強(qiáng)烈的情感控制著我的生活：對愛的渴望，對知識的渴求，還有因人類遭受痛苦而產(chǎn)生的難以忍受的憐憫。這三種情感，有如三股勁風(fēng)，卷著我到處飄零，倏忽無定，飛越深深的苦海，瀕臨絕望的邊緣。

我尋求愛，首先是因為愛能讓人感到無比幸福——這幸福的感覺如此強(qiáng)烈，我恨不得拿我的余生去換取幾個小時的幸福感。我尋求愛的第二個原因是，愛能解除孤寂感——一旦陷入可怕的孤寂之中，靈魂顫抖著從世界的邊緣上窺視過去，卻只見那又寒又冷、深不可測、毫無生氣的深淵。我尋求愛的最后一個原因是，在愛的歡聚中，我看到圣者和詩人們在想象中所預(yù)見的天堂景象的神秘縮影。這就是我的追求，盡管對人生而言這好象有點兒可望不可及，但我最終還是如愿以償了。

我以絲毫不減的熱情尋求知識。我發(fā)愿要了解人心。我發(fā)愿去探究群星閃耀的秘密。我也曾努力理解畢達(dá)哥拉斯賦予數(shù)的力量，在他那里，數(shù)主宰了萬物的流變。結(jié)果我獲得了一點，而不是很多的知識。

愛和知識盡可能的將我引向高高的天空。但是憐憫又往往把我拽回大地。痛哭的回聲在我心中回蕩不已。饑荒中的兒童，被統(tǒng)治者蹂躪的受害者，成為子女累贅并被他們嫌棄的無助的老人，充滿孤寂、貧困和痛苦的世界，這諸多苦難成為對人類生活理想的諷刺。我渴望減輕邪惡導(dǎo)致的痛苦，但是我無能為力，就連我自己也難免其苦。

這就是我的生活。我發(fā)現(xiàn)這樣活著很有意義，倘若機(jī)會容許，我會欣然回到世上再活一次。

9.The Four Freedoms 富蘭克林

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.The first is freedom of speech and expression―everywhere in the world.The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way―everywhere in the world.The third is freedom from want―which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peace time life for its inhabitants―everywhere in the world.The forth is freedom from fear which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor--anywhere in the world.我們努力保證未來的歲月能夠安定，我們期待著將來有一個建立在四項人類基本自由基礎(chǔ)之上的世界

第一是在世界的一切地方，一切人都有言論與表達(dá)意見的自由。

第二是在世界的一切地方，一切人都有自由以自己的方式崇拜上帝。

第三是免于匱乏的自由。從世界范圍的意義上說就是在經(jīng)濟(jì)上達(dá)到諒解，保證世界的一切地方，每一個國家的居民都能夠過一種健康的和平生活。

第四是免于恐懼的自由。從世界范圍的意義上說就是進(jìn)行世界性的徹底裁軍，使世界上的一切地方，沒有任何一個國家有能力向任何鄰國發(fā)起侵略行動。

10.Youth

by Samuel Ullman(選擇任意兩段背誦)

Youth is not just a stage of life;it is a state of mind.It is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees;it is a matter of the will, a quality of imagination, a vigor of the emotions.It is the freshness of the deep spring of life.Youth means the predominance of courage over timidity, of adventure over the love of ease.This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty.Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years.We grow old by deserting our ideals.Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.Worry, doubt, self-distrust, fear and despair---these bow the head and turn the growing spirit back to dust.Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every human being's heart the love of wonder, the sweet amazement of the stars and the star like things, the undoubted challenge of events, the unfailing childlike appetite for what-next and the joy of the game of living.You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt, as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear, as young as your hope, as old as your despair.青春不是年華，而是心境；青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志、宏偉的想象、熾熱的感情；青春是生命的深泉在涌流。

青春氣貫長虹，勇銳蓋過怯弱，進(jìn)去壓倒茍安，如此銳氣，二十后生有之，六旬男子則更多見。年年有加，并非垂老；理想丟棄，方墮暮年。

歲月悠悠，衰微只及肌膚；熱忱拋卻，頹唐必至靈魂。煩憂、惶恐、喪失自信，定使心靈扭曲，意氣如灰。

無論年屆花甲，抑或二八芳齡，心中皆有生命之歡樂，奇跡之誘惑，孩童般天真久盛不衰。人人心中皆有一臺天線，只要你從天上人間接受美好、希望、歡樂、勇氣和力量的信號，你就青春永駐，風(fēng)華常存。

11.Of Studies

by Francis Bacon Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.Their chief use for delight，is 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 humor of a scholar.// They perfect

nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study;and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience.讀書足以怡情，足以傅彩，足以長才。其怡情也，最見于獨處幽居之時；其傅彩也，最見于高談闊論之中；其長才也，最見于處世判事之際。練達(dá)之士雖能分別處理細(xì)事或一一判別枝節(jié)，然縱觀統(tǒng)籌，全局策劃，則舍好學(xué)深思者莫屬。讀書費時過多易惰，文采藻飾太盛則矯，全憑條文斷事乃學(xué)究故態(tài)。讀書補(bǔ)天然之不足，經(jīng)驗又補(bǔ)讀書之不足，蓋天生才干猶如自然花草，讀書然后知如何修剪移接，而書中所示，如不以經(jīng)驗范之，則又大而無當(dāng)。(王佐良譯)

12.The Joy of Life

Wise men of ancient times and successful men of today have told us that labor is sweet.Its reward is not material gain but what one becomes by it.Work does much more for us than just giving us a living.The real joys of life come from doing something and doing it well.All of us hope for success, but it is illusive and hard to keep.It nearly always slips away from one like sand through the fingers, like water through a leaky pail, unless it is held tight by hard work, day by day, night by night, year in year out.Everyone who fears failure should work harder and harder with a faithful heart as long as he lasts.13.True Nobility

by Ernest Hemingway

(選取任意兩段背誦)In a calm sea every man is a pilot.But all sunshine without shade, all pleasure without pain, is not life at all.Take the lot of the happiest----it is a tangled yarn.Bereavements and blessings, one following another, make us sad and blessed by turns.Even death itself makes life more loving.Men come closest to their true selves in the sober moments of life, under the shadows of sorrow and loss.In the affairs of life or of business, it is not intellect that tells so much as character, not brains so much as heart, not genius so much as self-control, patience, and discipline, regulated by judgment.I have always believed that the man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live more simply without.In an age of extravagance and waste, I wish I could show to the world how few the real wants of humanity are.To regret one's errors to the point of not repeating them is true repentance.There is nothing noble in being superior to some other man.The true nobility is in being superior to your previous self.在平靜的海平面上，每個人都可以成為領(lǐng)航員。

但如果只有陽光而沒有陰影，只有歡樂而沒有痛苦，那就不是完整的人生。就拿最幸福的人來說吧——他的幸福是一團(tuán)糾結(jié)的紗線。痛苦和幸福輪番而至，讓我們悲喜交集，甚至死亡都讓人生更為可愛。人們在生命的嚴(yán)肅深刻，在悲傷與喪親的陰影下，才最接近真實的自我。

在生活和事業(yè)的各個方面，才智的功能遠(yuǎn)不如性格，頭腦的功能遠(yuǎn)不如心性，天分遠(yuǎn)不

如自制力、毅力與教養(yǎng)。

我始終認(rèn)為內(nèi)心開始過嚴(yán)肅生活的人，他外在的生活會開始變得更為簡樸。在一個奢侈浪費的年代，但愿我能讓世人了解：人類真正的需求是多么的稀少。

不重蹈覆轍才是真正的醒悟。比別人優(yōu)秀并無任何高貴之處，真正的高貴在于超越從前的自我。

14.I have a dream（節(jié)選，選取任意三小段背誦）

I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream.It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident;that all men are created equal.”

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slaveowners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.I have a dream today.I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.我要對你們說，朋友們，盡管眼前存在著困難挫折，我仍然有一個夢想。它是深深扎根于 “美國夢”的一個夢想。

我有一個夢想：總有一天，這個國家將站起來，實踐民族信條的真諦：“我們認(rèn)為這些真理是不言而喻的:人人生而平等?！?/p>

我有一個夢想：總有一天，在佐治亞州的紅土山陵上，昔日奴隸的孩子和昔日奴隸主的孩子，能夠情同手足地同坐一堂。

我有一個夢想：總有一天，即使在密西西比州——這個遭受不公和壓迫烈焰煎熬的沙漠州能夠改造成一個自由公正的綠洲。

我有一個夢想：，我的四個孩子總有一天能夠生活在評判他們時不看膚色而看內(nèi)在品質(zhì)的國家里。我今天有一個夢想。

我有一個夢想：總有一天亞拉巴馬州，它的州長目前口口聲聲是干預(yù)和廢除，能夠變成這樣一個局面：黑人男孩和女孩，能夠和白人的男孩和女孩攜手同行，如同兄弟姐妹。我

今天有這么一個夢想!15.City

The city as a center where ,any day in any year, there may be a fresh encounter with a new talents, a keen mind or a gifted specialist---this is essential to the life of a country.To play this role in our lives a city must have a soul---a university, a great art or music school, a cathedral or a great mosque or temple, a great laboratory or scientific center, as well as the libraries and museums and galleries that bring past and present together, a city must be a place where groups of women and men are seeking and developing the highest things they know.By Margaret Mead: World Enough 城市

城市是個中心，任何一年的任何一天，都可能在此邂逅初出茅廬的天才，敏捷的頭腦，或是有天賦的專家―――這是一個國家的生活必不可少的。在我們的生活中，要起到這個作用，一個城市必須擁有一個靈魂——一所大學(xué)，一所偉大的藝術(shù)或音樂學(xué)校，一座大教堂或清真寺或廟宇，一個大型實驗室或科學(xué)中心，以及圖書館和博物館還有美術(shù)館，這些地方能把過去與現(xiàn)在萃集一處。三五成群的女士和男人都在探求和推進(jìn)他們懂得是至高無上的事物，一個城市必須是這樣一個所在。

瑪格麗特 米德： 塵世