当今时代，英语已经成为一种多国、多 文化 ，多功能的国际语言。“英语族”这一概念也开始为大家所熟悉。本文是关于优秀英语短文，希望对大家有帮助!
关于优秀英语短文：A carpenter's story
An elderly carpenter was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house-building business to live a more leisurel life with his wife and enjoy hisextended family. He would miss the paycheck each week, but he wanted to retire. They could get by.
The contractor was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter said yes, but over time it was easy to see that his heart was not materials. It was an unfortunate way to end a dedicated career.
When the carpenter finished his work, his employer came to inspect the house. Then he handed the front-door key to the carpenter and said, "This is your house... my gift to you. "
The carpenter was shocked!
What a shame!If he had only known he was building his own house, he would have done it all so differently.
So it is with us. We build our lives, a day at a time, often putting less than our best into the building. Then, with a shock; we realize we have to live in the house we have built. If we could do it over,we would do it much differently.
But, you cannot go back. You are the carpenter, and everyday you hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Someone once said, "Life is a do-it-yourself project." Your attitude and the choices you made today, help build the "house" you will live in tomorrow. Therefore, build wisely!
关于优秀英语短文：The happy door
Happiness is like a pebble dropped into a pool to set in motion an ever-widening circle ofripples. As Stevenson has said, being happy is a duty.
There is no exact definition of the word happiness. Happy people are happy for all sorts of reasons. The key is not wealth or physical well-being, since we find beggars, invalids and so-called failures, who are extremely happy.
Being happy is a sort of unexpected dividend. But staying happy is an accomplishment, a triumph of soul and character. It is not selfish to strive for it. It is, indeed, a duty to ourselves and others.
Being unhappy is like an infectious disease. It causes people to shrink away from the sufferer. He soon finds himself alone, miserable and embittered. There is, however, a cure so simple as to seem, at first glance, ridiculous; if you don’t feel happy, pretend to be!
It works. Before long you will find that instead of repelling people, you attract them. You discover how deeply rewarding it is to be the center of wider and wider circles of good will.
Then the make-believe becomes a reality. You possess the secret of peace of mind, and can forget yourself in being of service to others.
Being happy, once it is realized as a duty and established as a habit, opens doors into unimaginable gardens thronged with grateful friends.
关于优秀英语短文：We are on a journey
Wherever you are, and whoever you may be, there is one thing in which you and I are just alike at this monment, and in all the moments of our existence. We are not at rest, we are on a journey. Our life is a movement, a tendency, a steady, ceaseless progress towards an unseen goal.
We are gaining something, or losing something, or losing something, everyday. Even when our position and our character seem to remain precisely the same, they are changing. For the mereadvance of time is a change. It is not the same thing to have a bare field in January and in July. The season makes the difference. The limitations that are childlike in the child are childishin the man.
Everything that we do is a step in one direction or another. Even the failure to do something is in itself a deed. it sets us forward or backward. the action of the negative pole of a magnetic needle is just as real as the action of the positive pole. To decline is to accept--the other alternative.
Are you nearer to your port today than you were yesterday? yes, you must be a little nearer to some port or other for since your ship was first launched upon the sea of life, you have never been still for a single moment, the sea is too deep, you could not find an anchorage if you would, there can be no pause until you come into port.
关于优秀英语短文：A True Gift of Love
"Can I see my baby?" the happy new mother asked.
When the bundle was nestled in her arms and she moved the fold of cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped. The doctor turned quickly and looked out the tall hospital window. The baby had been born without ears.
Time proved that the baby's hearing was perfect. It was only his appearance that was marred. When he rushed home from school one day and flung himself into his mother's arms, she sighed, knowing that his life was to be a succession of heartbreaks.
He blurted out the tragedy. "A boy, a big boy...called me a freak."
He grew up, handsome for his misfortune. A favorite with his fellow students, he might have been class president, but for that. He developed a gift, a talent for literature and music.
"But you might mingle with other young people," his mother reproved him, but felt a kindness in her heart.
The boy's father had a session with the family physician... "Could nothing be done?"
"I believe I could graft on a pair of outer ears, if they could be procured," the doctordecided. Whereupon the search began for a person who would make such a sacrifice for a young man.
Two years went by. One day, his father said to the son, "You're going to the hospital, son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need. But it's a secret."
The operation was a brilliant success, and a new person emerged. His talents blossomed into genius, and school and college became a series of triumphs.
Later he married and entered the diplomatic service. One day, he asked his father, “Who gave me the ears? Who gave me so much? I could never do enough for him or her.”
"I do not believe you could," said the father, "but the agreement was that you are not to know...not yet."
The years kept their profound secret, but the day did come. One of the darkest days that ever pass through a son. He stood with his father over his mother's casket. Slowly, tenderly, the father stretched forth a hand and raised the thick, reddish brown hair to reveal the mother had no outer ears.
"Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut," his father whispered gently, "and nobody ever thought mother less beautiful, did they?"
REMEMBER...
Real beauty lies not in the physical appearance,
but in the heart.
Real treasure lies not in what can be seen,
but what cannot be seen.
Real love lies not in what is done and known,
but in what that is done but not known.
散文 凭借精巧的谋篇布局,巧妙的措辞选景,来渲染气氛,创造意境,从而体现出它独特的风格。下面是我带来的英语优秀 文章 摘抄，欢迎阅读!
英语优秀文章摘抄篇一
A Lesson In Life 人生物语
Sometimes people come into your life and you know right away that they were meant to be there，they serve some sort of purpose，to teach you a lesson or help figure out who you are or who you want to become. You never know who these people may be - your roommate，neighbor，professor，long lost friend，lover or even a complete stranger who，when you lock eyes with them，you know that very moment that they will affect your life in some profound way.
And sometimes things happen to you and at the time they may seem horrible，painful and unfair，but in reflection you realize that without overcoming those obstacles，you would have never realized your potential，strength，will power or heart. Everything happens for a reason. Nothing happens by chance or by means of good or bad luck. Illness，injury，love，lost moments of true greatness and sheer stupidity - all occur to test the limits of your soul. Without these small tests，if they be events，illnesses or relationships，life would be like a smoothly paved，straight，flat road to nowhere. Safe and comfortable but dull and utterly pointless.
The people you meet who affect your life and the successes and downfalls you experience - they are the ones who create who you are. Even the bad experiences can be learned from. Those lessons are the hardest and probably the most important ones.
If someone hurts you，betrays you or breaks your heart，forgive them for they have helped you learn about trust and the importance of being cautious to whom you open your heart to. If someone loves you，love them back unconditionally，not only because they love you，but because they are teaching you to love and opening your heart and eyes to things you would have never seen or felt without them.
Make every day count. Appreciate every moment and take from it everything that you possibly can，for you may never be able to experience it again.
Talk to people you have never talked to before，and actually listen. Let yourself fall in love，break free and set your sights high. Hold your head up because you have every right to. Tell yourself you are a great individual and believe in yourself，for if you don‘t believe in yourself，no one else will believe in you either. You can make of your life anything you wish. Create your own life and then go out and live it.
“People are like tea bags - you have to put them in hot water before you know how strong they are.''
英语优秀文章摘抄篇二
老爸(Dad)
The first memory I have of him—of anything，really—is his strength. It was in the late afternoon in a house under construction near ours. The unfinished wood floor had large，terrifying holes whose yawning[张大嘴] darkness I knew led to nowhere good. His powerful hands，then age 33，wrapped all the way around my tiny arms，then age 4，and easily swung[摇摆] me up to his shoulders to command all I surveyed.
我对他——实际上是对所有事的最初记忆，就是他的力量。那是一个下午的晚些时候，在一所靠近我家的正在修建的房子里，尚未完工的木地板上有一个个巨大可怕的洞，那些张着大口的黑洞在我看来是通向不祥之处的。时年33岁的爸爸用那强壮有力的双手一把握住我的小胳膊，当时我才4岁，然后轻而易举地把我甩上他的肩头，让我把一切都尽收眼底。
The relationship between a son and his father changes over time. It may grow and flourish[繁茂] in mutual maturity[成熟]. It may sour in resented dependence or independence. With many children living in single-parent homes today，it may not even exist.
父子间的关系是随着岁月的流逝而变化的，它会在彼此成熟的过程中成长兴盛，也会在令人不快的依赖或独立的关系中产生不和。而今许多孩子生活在单亲家庭中，这种关系可能根本不存在。
But to a little boy right after World War II，a father seemed a god with strange strengths and uncanny[离奇的] powers enabling him to do and know things that no mortal could do or know. Amazing things，like putting a bicycle chain back on，just like that. Or building a hamster[仓鼠] cage.Or guiding a jigsaw[拼板玩具] so it forms the letter F;I learned the alphabet[字母表] that way in those pre-television days.
然而，对于一个生活在二战刚刚结束时期的小男孩来说，父亲就像神，他拥有神奇的力量和神秘的能力，他无所不能，无所不知。那些奇妙的事儿有上自行车链条，或是建一个仓鼠笼子，或是教我玩拼图玩具，拼出个字母“F”来。在那个电视机还未诞生的年代，我便是通过这种 方法 学会了字母表的。
There were，of course，rules to learn. First came the handshake. None of those fishy[冷冰冰的] little finger grips，but a good firm squeeze accompanied by an equally strong gaze into the other‘s eyes.“The first thing anyone knows about you is your handshake，”he would say. And we’d practice it each night on his return from work，the serious toddler in the battered[用旧了的] Cleveland Indian‘s cap running up to the giant father to shake hands again and again until it was firm enough.
当然，还得学些做人的道理。首先是握手。这可不是指那种冷冰冰的手指相握，而是一种非常坚定有力的紧握，同时同样坚定有力地注视对方的眼睛。老爸常说：“人们认识你首先是通过同你握手。”每晚他下班回家时，我们便练习握手。年幼的我，戴着顶破克利夫兰印第安帽，一本正经地跌跌撞撞地跑向巨人般的父亲，开始我们的握手。一次又一次，直到握得坚定，有力。
As time passed，there were other rules to learn.“Always do your best.”“Do it now.”“Never lie!”And most importantly，“You can do whatever you have to do.”By my teens，he wasn‘t telling me what to do anymore，which was scary[令人害怕的] and heady[使人兴奋的] at the same time. He provided perspective，not telling me what was around the great corner of life but letting me know there was a lot more than just today and the next，which I hadn’t thought of.
随着时间的流逝，还有许多其他的道理要学。比如：“始终尽力而为”，“从现在做起”，“永不撒谎”，以及最重要的一条：“凡是你必须做的事你都能做到”。当我十几岁时，老爸不再叫我做这做那，这既令人害怕又令人兴奋。他教给我判断事物的方法。他不是告诉我，在人生的重大转折点上将发生些什么，而是让我明白，除了今天和明天，还有很长的路要走，这一点我是从未考虑过的。
One day，I realize now，there was a change. I wasn‘t trying to please him so much as I was trying to impress him. I never asked him to come to my football games. He had a high-pressure career，and it meant driving through most of Friday night. But for all the big games，when I looked over at the sideline，there was that familiar fedora. And by God，did the opposing team captain ever get a firm handshake and a gaze he would remember.
有一天，事情发生了变化，这是我现在才意识到的。我不再那么迫切地想要取悦于老爸，而是迫切地想要给他留下深刻的印象。我从未请他来看我的 橄榄球 赛。他工作压力很大，这意味着每个礼拜五要拼命干大半夜。但每次大型比赛，当我抬头环视看台时，那顶熟悉的软呢帽总在那儿。并且感谢上帝，对方队长总能得到一次让他铭记于心的握手——坚定而有力，伴以同样坚定的注视。
Then，a school fact contradicted something he said. Impossible that he could be wrong，but there it was in the book. These accumulated over time，along with personal experiences，to buttress my own developing sense of values. And I could tell we had each taken our own，perfectly normal paths.
后来，在学校学到的一个事实否定了老爸说过的某些东西。他不可能会错的，可书上却是这样写的。诸如此类的事日积月累，加上我的个人阅历，支持了我逐渐成形的价值观。我可以这么说：我俩开始各走各的阳关道了。
I began to see，too，his blind spots，his prejudices[偏见] and his weaknesses. I never threw these up at him. He hadn‘t to me，and，anyway，he seemed to need protection. I stopped asking his advice;the experiences he drew from no longer seemed relevant to the decisions I had to make.
与此同时，我还开始发现他对某些事的无知，他的偏见，他的弱点。我从未在他面前提起这些，他也从未在我面前说起，而且，不管怎么说，他看起来需要保护了。我不再向他征求意见;他的那些 经验 也似乎同我要做出的决定不再相干。
He volunteered advice for a while. But then，in more recent years，politics and issues gave way to talk of empty errands and，always，to ailments.
老爸当了一段时间的“自愿顾问”，但后来，特别是近几年里，他谈话中的政治与国家大事让位给了空洞的使命与疾病。
From his bed，he showed me the many sores and scars on his misshapen body and all the bottles for medicine.“Sometimes，”he confided[倾诉]，“I would just like to lie down and go to sleep and not wake up.”
躺在床上，他给我看他那被岁月扭曲了的躯体上的疤痕，以及他所有的药瓶儿。他倾诉着：“有时我真想躺下睡一觉，永远不再醒来。”
After much thought and practice(“You can do whatever you have to do.”)，one night last winter，I sat down by his bed and remembered for an instant those terrifying dark holes in another house 35 years before. I told my fatherhow much I loved him. I described all the things people were doing for him. But，I said，he kept eating poorly，hiding in his room and violating the doctor‘s orders. No amount of love could make someone else care about life，I said;it was a two-way street. He wasn’t doing his best. The decision was his.
通过深思熟虑与亲身体验(“凡是你必须做的事你都能做到”)，去年冬天的一个夜晚，我坐在老爸床边，忽然想起35年前那另一栋房子里可怕的黑洞。我告诉老爸我有多爱他。我向他讲述了人们为他所做的一切。而我又说，他总是吃得太少，躲在房间里，还不听医生的劝告。我说，再多的爱也不能使一个人自己去热爱生命：这是一条双行道，而他并没有尽力，一切都取决于他自己。
He said he knew how hard my words had been to say and how proud he was of me.“I had the best teacher，”I said.“You can do whatever you have to do.”He smiled a little. And we shook hands，firmly，for the last time.
他说他明白要我说出这些话多不容易，他是多么为我自豪。“我有位最好的老师，”我说，“凡是你必须做的事你都能做到”。他微微一笑，之后我们握手，那是一次坚定的握手，也是最后的一次。
Several days later，at about 4 A.M.，my mother heard Dad shuffling[拖着] about their dark room.“I have some things I have to do，”he said. He paid a bundle of bills. He composed for my mother a long list of legal and financial what-to-do‘s“in case of emergency.”And he wrote me a note.
几天后，大约凌晨四点，母亲听到父亲拖着脚步在他们漆黑的房间里走来走去。他说：“有些事我必须得做。”他支付了一叠帐单，给母亲留了张长长的条子，上面列有法律及经济上该做的事，“以防不测”。接着他留了封短信给我。
Then he walked back to his bed and laid himself down. He went to sleep，naturally. And he did not wake up.
然后，他走回自己的床边，躺下。他睡了，十分安详，再也没有醒来。
英语优秀文章摘抄篇三
Picasso And Me (毕加索和我)
This is the 50th anniversary of the day I crossed paths with Pablo Picasso. It came about in a strange way. I had written a column showing how absurd some of my mail had become.
One letter was from Philadelphia. It was written by a Temple University student named Harvey Brodsky. Harvey said he was in love with a girl named Gloria Segall，and he hoped to marry her someday. She claimed to be the greatest living fan of Picasso. The couple went to a Picasso exhibit and，to impress her，Harvey told Gloria that he could probably get the artist‘s autograph.
Harvey‘s letter continued，“Since that incident，Gloria and I have stopped seeing each other. I did a stupid thing and she threw me out and told me she never wanted to see me again.
“I‘m writing to you because I’m not giving up on Gloria. Could you get Picasso‘s autograph for me?If you could，I have a feeling Gloria and I could get back together. The futures of two young people depend on it. I know she is miserable without me and I without her. Everything depends on you.”
At the end of the letter，he said，“I，Harvey Brodsky，do solemnly swear that any item received by me from Art Buchwald(namely，Pablo Picasso‘s autograph)will never be sold or given to anyone except Miss Gloria Segall.”
I printed the letter in my column to show how ridiculous my mail was. When it appeared，David Duncan，a photographer，was with Picasso in Cannes and Duncan translated it for Picasso.
Picasso was very moved，and he took out his crayons and drew a beautiful color sketch for Gloria Segall and signed it.
Duncan called and told me the good news.
I said，“The heck with Gloria Segall，what about me?”
David explained this to Picasso and in crayons he drew a picture of the two of us together，holding a glass of wine，and wrote on the top，“Pour Art Buchwald.”
By this time，the Associated Press had picked up the story and followed through on the delivery of the picture to Gloria Segall. When it arrived special delivery in Philadelphia，Gloria took one look and said，“Harvey and I will always be good friends.”
If you‘re wondering how the story ends，Harvey married somebody else，and so did Gloria. The Picasso hangs in Gloria’s living room.
It was a story that caught the imagination of people all over the world. I received lots of letters after the column was published. My favorite came from an art dealer in New York，who wrote：
“I can find you as many unhappy couples in New York City as you can get Picasso sketches. Two girls I know are on the verge of suicide if they don‘t hear from Picasso，and I know several couples in Greenwich Village who are in the initial stages of divorce. Please wire me how many you need. We both stand to make a fortune.”
Another letter，from Bud Grossman in London，said，“My wife threatens to leave me unless I can get her Khrushchev‘s autograph. She would like it signed on a Russian sable coat.”
经典美文是中华民族文化的精粹,凝聚着前人的智慧、蕴含着丰富的情感、营造着优美的意境。本文是有关于优秀英语美文，希望对大家有帮助!
I think that, from a biological standpoint, human life almost reads like a poem. It has its own rhythm and beat, its internal cycles of growth and decay. It begins with innocent childhood, followed by awkward adolescence trying awkwardly to adapt itself to mature society, with its young passions and follies, its ideals and ambitions; then it reaches a manhood of intense activities, profiting from experience and learning more about society and human nature; at middle age, there is a slight easing of tension, a mellowing of character like the ripening of fruit or the mellowing of good wine, and the gradual acquiring of a more tolerant, more cynical and at the same time a kindlier view of life; then In the sunset of our life, the endocrine glands decrease their activity, and if we have a true philosophy of old age and have ordered our life pattern according to it, it is for us the age of peace and security and leisure and contentment; finally, life flickers out and one goes into eternal sleep, never to wake up again.
One should be able to sense the beauty of this rhythm of life, to appreciate, as we do in grand symphonies, its main theme, its strains of conflict and the final resolution. The movements of these cycles are very much the same in a normal life, but the music must be provided by the individual himself. In some souls, the discordant note becomes harsher and harsher and finally overwhelms or submerges the main melody. Sometimes the discordant note gains so much power that the music can no longer go on, and the individual shoots himself with a pistol or jump into a river. But that is because his original leitmotif has been hopelessly over-showed through the lack of a good self-education. Otherwise the normal human life runs to its normal end in kind of dignified movement and procession. There are sometimes in many of us too many staccatos or impetuosos, and because the tempo is wrong, the music is not pleasing to the ear; we might have more of the grand rhythm and majestic tempo o the Ganges, flowing slowly and eternally into the sea.
No one can say that life with childhood, manhood and old age is not a beautiful arrangement; the day has its morning, noon and sunset, and the year has its seasons, and it is good that it is so. There is no good or bad in life, except what is good according to its own season. And if we take this biological view of life and try to live according to the seasons, no one but a conceited fool or an impossible idealist can deny that human life can be lived like a poem. Shakespeare has expressed this idea more graphically in his passage about the seven stages of life, and a good many Chinese writers have said about the same thing. It is curious that Shakespeare was never very religious, or very much concerned with religion. I think this was his greatness; he took human life largely as it was, and intruded himself as little upon the general scheme of things as he did upon the characters of his plays. Shakespeare was like Nature itself, and that is the greatest compliment we can pay to a writer or thinker. He merely lived, observed life and went away.
I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude. We are for the most part more lonely when we go abroad among men than when we stay in our chambers. A man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will. Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows. The really diligent student in one of the crowded hives of Cambridge College is as solitary as a dervish in the desert. The farmer can work alone in the field or the woods all day, hoeing or chopping, and not feel lonesome, because he is employed; but when he comes home at night he cannot sit down in a room alone, at the mercy of his thoughts, but must be where he can :see the folks,:” and recreate, and, as he thinks, remunerate himself for his day’s solitude; and hence he wonders how the student can sit alone in the house all night and most of the day without ennui and :the blues:; but he does not realize that the student, though in the house, is still at work in his field, and chopping in his woods, as the farmer in his, and in turn seeks the same recreation and society that the latter does, though it may be a more condensed form of it.
Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are. We have had to agree on a certain set of rules, called etiquette and politeness, to make this frequent meeting tolerable and that we need not come to open war. We meet at the post-office, and at the sociable, and about the fireside every night; we live thick and are in each other’s way, and stumble over one another, and I think that we thus lose some respect for one another. Certainly less frequency would suffice for all important and hearty communications. Consider the girls in a factory---never alone, hardly in their dreams. It would be better if there were but one inhabitant to a square mile, as where I live. The value of a man is not in his skin, that we should touch him.
I have a great deal of company in my house; especially in the morning, when nobody calls. Let me suggest a few comparisons, that some one may convey an idea of my situation. I am no more lonely than the loon in the pond that laughs so loud, or than Walden Pond itself. What company has that lonely lake, I pray?
And yet it has not the blue devils, but the blue angels in it, in the azure tint of its waters. The sun is alone, except in thick weather, when there sometimes appear to be two, but one is a mock sun. god is alone---but the devil, he is far from being alone; he sees a great deal of company; he is legion. I am no more lonely than a single mullein or dandelion in a pasture, or a bean leaf, or sorrel, or a horse-fly, or a bumblebee. I am no more lonely than the Millbrook, or a weathercock, or the north star, or the south wind, or an April shower, or a January thaw, or the first spider in a new house.
Have you thought about what you want people to say about you after you’re gone? Can you hear the voice saying, “He was a great man.” Or “She really will be missed.” What else do they say?
One of the strangest phenomena of life is to engage in a work that will last long after death. Isn’t that a lot like investing all your money so that future generations can bare interest on it? Perhaps, yet if you look deep in your own heart, you’ll find something drives you to make this kind of contribution---something drives every human being to find a purpose that lives on after death.
Do you hope to memorialize your name? Have a name that is whispered with reverent awe? Do you hope to have your face carved upon 50 ft of granite rock? Is the answer really that simple? Is the purpose of lifetime contribution an ego-driven desire for a mortal being to have an immortal name or is it something more?
A child alive today will die tomorrow. A baby that had the potential to be the next Einstein will die from complication is at birth. The circumstances of life are not set in stone. We are not all meant to live life through to old age. We’ve grown to perceive life3 as a full cycle with a certain number of years in between. If all of those years aren’t lived out, it’s a tragedy. A tragedy because a human’s potential was never realized. A tragedy because a spark was snuffed out before it ever became a flame.
By virtue of inhabiting a body we accept these risks. We expose our mortal flesh to the laws of the physical environment around us. The trade off isn’t so bad when you think about it. The problem comes when we construct mortal fantasies of what life should be like. When life doesn’t conform to our fantasy we grow upset, frustrated, or depressed.
We are alive; let us live. We have the ability to experience; let us experience. We have the ability to learn; let us learn. The meaning of life can be grasped in a moment. A moment so brief it often evades our perception.
What meaning stands behind the dramatic unfolding of life? What single truth can we grasp and hang onto for dear life when all other truths around us seem to fade with time?
These moments are strung together in a series we call events. These events are strung together in a series we call life. When we seize the moment and bend it according to our will, a will driven by the spirit deep inside us, then we have discovered the meaning of life, a meaning for us that shall go on long after we depart this Earth.
所谓美文,就是发表在报刊上的关于某篇课文的精美的赏析性短文或者教师自己撰写的此类文章。我精心收集了优秀英语美文，供大家欣赏学习!
Self-control is essential to happiness and usefulness. It is the master of all the virtues,andhas its root in self-respect. Let a man yield to his impulses and passions, and from thatmoment he gives up his moral freedom.
It is the self-discipline of a man that enables him to pursue success with superior diligenceand sobriety.Many of the great characters in history illustrate this trait. In ordinary life theapplication is the same.He who would lead must first command himself. The time of test iswhen everybody is excited or angry,then the well-balanced mind comes to the front.
There is a very special demand for the cultivation of his trait at present.The young men whorush into business with no good education or drill will do poor and feverish work.Endurance is amuch better test of character than act of heroism.
A fair amount of self-examination is good. Self-knowledge is a preface to self-control. Toomuch self-inspection leads to morbidness; too little conducts to careless and hasty action.There are two things which will surely strengthen our self-control. One is attention toconscience; the other is a spirit of good will.The man who would succeed in any greatundertaking must hold all his faculties under perfect control; they must be disciplined anddrilled until they quickly and cheerfully obey the will.
In the future days, which we seek to make secure,we look forward to a world founded uponfour 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 theworld.
The third is freedom from want - which, translated into world terms, means economicunderstandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peace time life for its inhabitants -everywhere in the world.
The fourth is freedom from fear - which, translated into world terms, means a world widereduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will bein a position to commit an actof physical aggression against any neighbor - anywhere in theworld.
That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable inour own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so called neworder of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.
To that new order we oppose the greater conception - the moral order. A good society is ableto face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear.
Since the beginning of our American history we have been engaged in change - in a perpetualpeaceful revolution - a revolution which goes on steadily, quietly adjusting itself to changingconditions - without theconcentration camp or the quicklime in the ditch. The world order whichwe seek is the cooperation of freecountries, working together in a friendly civilized society.
This nation has placed its destiny in the hands and heads and hearts of its millions of free menand women;and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God. Freedom means thesupremacy of human rights everywhere. Our support goes to those who struggle to gainthose rights and keep them. Our strength is in our unityof purpose.
To that high concept there can be no end save victory.
While popular in the U.S., the April Fool’s Day tradition is even more prevalent in Europeancountries,such as France and Great Britain. Although the roots of the traditional trickings areunclear,the French andthe British both have claims on the origin of the celebration.
One theory holds that the first April Fool’s Day was on April 1 of the year when King of Franceinstituted the new calendar.This new system placed the day that had formerly been the firstday of a new year on April 1.Many people were reluctant to adjust to the new calandar andcontinued to celebrate New Year’s Day on what had become the first day of April.Thus, theybecome the first April fools.Others began to give gaggifts on the day to mock the foolishnessof thosewho continued to celebrate the new year on April 1.
An English story about the day, however, holds that it began sometime during the 1200s.Atthe time, King John of England was in the habit of making a road out of nearly every path hewalked regularly.The citizensof one particular farm village were aware of this.To avoid havingtheir green meadows and pastures disturbed with one of the king’s roads,they built a fencethat prevented the king from walking through their countryside.The king sent a group ofmessengers to inform the villagers that they must remove the barrier.Upon hearing that theking was planning to do this, however, the villagers developed a plan of their own.Whenthemessengers arrived, they found what appeared to be a community of lunatics,with peoplebehaving in a bizarre manner, throwing things and running around wildly.The messengers,alarmed at what they had found, reported to king John that these people were so mad as tobe beyond punishment.So, the villagers saved their farmland by tricking the King. In GreatBritain,tradition only allows April Fool’s tricks from midnightto noon on April 1. Those who try toplay tricks in the afternoon become the fools themselves.
英语美文题材丰富,涉及面广,大多蕴涵人生哲理。引导学生欣赏美文,不仅能提高他们的阅读理解能力,而且能使他们得到美的熏陶,从而提高学生对周围事物的认识。本文是关于优秀英语美文，希望对大家有帮助!
When Dad played his fiddle(小提琴) , the world became a bright star. To him violin was an instrument of faith, hope and charity. At least a thousand times, my mother said, "Your papa would play his fiddle if the world was about to blow up."
And once Dad came about as close to that as could ever be possible.
Everything on Nubbin Ridge—and on a majority of the small farms in Texas—was built around cotton as the money crop. But in the early years of the century, the boll weevil(棉子橡皮虫) began devastating the cotton farms in the south.
And in May of 1910 folks all over the nation were in a space-age state of turmoil over Halley's Comet. There were all sorts of frightening stories about the comet, the main one being that the world would pass through its tail, said to be millions of miles long.
Between the threats of comet and weevils, the farmers were running low on optimism. One night, the farmers gathered at our farm to discuss what to do. When everyone had found seats, Will Bowen suggested, "Charley, how about getting down your fiddle and bow and giving us a little music?"
"Aw, I don't think anybody'd want to hear me saw the gourd(葫芦) tonight,"Dad replied.
"Come on, Mr Nordyke," one of the younger women urged, "why don't you play for us."
Dad had a knack for getting people in the mood for his music. Knowing of the scattered prejudice against the fiddle, he eased into a song titled Gloryland. It was a church song with church tones, but it was fairly fast with some good runs. He shifted from Gloryland to The Bonnie Blue Flag, a Confederate war song, which created a big stir—foot stamping, hand clapping and a few rebel yells.
Will Bowen, apparently having forgotten Halley's Comet, shouted, "How about giving us Sally Goodin?" Dad played the old breakdown with vigor. Several men jumped up and jigged aund. Children gathered around and gazed wide-eyed at the performance.
All our neighbors went home whistling or humming. Very few remembered to look toward the northwest to see whether the comet and its wicked tail were still around...
One evening, Will Bowen called dad on the telephone and said, "Charley, I'm downhearted(无精打采的) and blue. Every time a square forms, there are four boll weevils waiting there to puncture it with their snouts. Just wondered if you could play a tune or two for me?"
"I sure could, Will," Dad said. "Could you come over?"
"No. I mean play on the phone box."
"The phone box?"
"Sure," Mr Bowen said. "I can hear you talk. Why couldn't I hear the fiddle?"
Dad took the fiddle to the telephone and thumped the strings. Putting the receiver to his ear, he said, "Hear anything. Will?"
"Sure can," Mr Bowen said. "Could you try Sally Goodin and play it just like you did the other night?" Dad handed the receiver to me. He stepped up to the mouthpiece on the wall box and cut loose on Sally Goodin. I could bear Mr Bowen whistling and yelling.
By the time the tune was finished there were half a dozen neighbors on the line, and they talked about how wonderful the music sounded over the telephone. They made numerous requests; I relayed them to Dad and he played the numbers.
Our party line broadcasts became regular features of community life. On rough-weather days of winter when farm folks were forced to remain in the house, someone would ring us and ask Dad to play, and usually it developed into a network affair. Our phone kept ringing with requests for music until radio came in.
In 1994 I wrote a letter. I stuck it in an envelope, put it away and completely forgot about it.
It wasn't until we moved into our new home in 2006 that I found it again. It was addressed to me with explicit(明确的) instructions not to open until my birthday 2005. It was now 2006 so I decided to open it. This is what it said:
Dear Sherri
By the time you read this you will be 30. At the age of 18 I had so many hopes and dreams about where you'd be, what you'd be doing and with whom you'd spend your life with.
Right now I hope that you have traveled and seen everything you've always wanted to, both in Canada and overseas, and maybe even settled down somewhere in Australia doing some research in the field of biology (genetics).
I hope you're married to the man of your dreams. The man of mine is Gwynn. He is originally from South Africa (another place I wish to visit).
You'll probably have two children of your own – a girl(Michaela Anne) and a boy (name yet to be decided).
If everything goes according to plan you'll be living in Australia in a big house in a small town outside of a big city with a lot of land, a dog, Gwynn and your two beautiful children. Hopefully you have a career in the medical field, maybe doing research in genetics. Gwynn will be a computer programmer and you will be doing alright for yourselves.
However, if things don't go according to plan for you, I wish you all the love, happiness and joy in the world and don't settle for anything less than the best since that is absolutely what you deserve.
Live long, be happy and live life to it's fullest.
Love Sherri "18″
When I read this for the first time since writing it I was floored. Even now having dug this up again another 4 years later I still can't help but think this is really cool.
So much of what I wanted for myself has materialized.
After writing this I quickly forgot about what I had put in here actually. The things that materialized were all met with quite a bit of resistance (all internal) but I suppose these were things that I really did want. Having never strayed too far from home overseas travel was a huge deal. Having never been away from my family moving to Australia for several years was an incredibly huge decision.
I find it fascinating how the dreams of a young and naive little girl can become a grown woman's reality.
I'm curious if you guys have ever written anything to your future self and how it stacks up to your current reality. If you haven't, will you join me in writing a letter now to yourself in say 10 years from now? It's an interesting little experiment.
One of the more pervasive(普遍的) and destructive mental tendencies I've seen is that of focusing on what we want instead of what we have. It doesn't seem to make my difference how much we have, we just keep expanding our list of desires, which guarantees we will remain dissatisfied. The mind-set that says "I'll be happy" when this desire is fulfilled is the same mind-set that will repeat itself once that desire is met.
We want this or that. If we don't get what we want, we keep thinking about all that we don't have and we remain dissatisfied. If we do get what we want, we simply recreate the same thinking in our new circumstances. So, despite getting what we want, we still remain unhappy. Happiness can't be found when we are yearning for new desires.
Luckily, there is a way to be happy. It involves changing the emphasis of our thinking from what we want to what we have. Rather than wishing you were able to take a vacation to Hawaii, think of how much fun you have had close to home. The list of possibilities is endless! Each time you notice yourself falling into the "I wish life were different" trap, back off and start over. Take a breath and remember all that you have to be grateful. When you focus not on what you want, but on what you have, you end up getting more of what you want anyway. If you focus on the good qualities of your spouse, she'll be more loving. If you are grateful for your job rather than complaining about it, you'll do a better job, be more productive, and probably end up getting a raise any-way. If you focus on ways to enjoy yourself around home rather than waiting to enjoy yourself in Hawaii, you'll end up having more fun. If you ever do get to Hawaii, you'll be in the habit of enjoying yourself. And, if by some chance you don't, you have a great life anyway.
Make a note of yourself to start thinking more about what you have than what you want. If you do, your life will start appearing much better than before. For perhaps the first time in your life, you'll know what it means to feel satisfied.
