成功的朗诵者会在深入理解原作的思想内容的基础上,以情为魂,以声为根,把文字作品转化为富有感染力的有声语言,从而阐释作品的思想情感,展现朗诵的艺术美感。下面是我带来的英语经典朗诵美文，欢迎阅读!
英语经典朗诵美文篇一
我们需要梦想We need dreams
We all want to believe that we are capable of great feats, of reaching our fullest potential. We need dreams. They give us a vision of a better future. They nourish our spirit。
我们都相信自己有成就伟业的能力，能发挥出自己的最大潜能，我们需要梦想，它会给我们展现一番更好的前景，它能滋养我们的灵魂。
They represent possibility even then we are dragged down by reality. They keep us going. Most successful people are dreamers Dreamers are not content with being merely mediocre, because no one ever dreams of going halfway.
梦想代表一种可能性，尽管它会受现实的羁绊。梦想让我们勇往直前。多数成功人士都是梦想家。梦想家不满足于平庸，因为谁也不希望半途而废。
When we were little kids, we didn’t dream of a life of struggle and frustration. We dreamed of doing something big and splashy, something significant. We dreamed big.
孩提时，我们不曾梦想过自立而充满挫折的生活，却梦想做一些轰轰烈烈而又意义的大事。我们梦想成为伟人。
We know now that we have to put in the effort to reach our dreams, but the tough part is that most of us don’t know where to start working. duanwenw.com We might have every intention of becoming Vice President in five years or running across the finish line in a marathon or completing the novel we started years ago. But often we have no idea how to translate these dreams into actions.
如今，我们知道，要实现梦想必须全力以赴，可多数人却不知从何入手。我们可以有5年后成为副总统，或者 马拉松 赛中冲过终点，或完成多年前就已经开始创作的小说的梦想。可我们往往不知怎么将梦想转为行动。
In order to make real steps toward fulfilling our ultimate, big, splashy dreams, we have to start with concrete objective. These are our goals.
为了真正付诸实施，实现我们终极、伟大而恢弘的梦想。我们一定要从具体的目标着手，这些就是我们的目标。
英语经典朗诵美文篇二
丘比特和绵羊 Jupiter and the Sheep
A Sheep was once forced to submit to much harm from the other animals. He therefore appeared before Jupiter, and begged him to lessen his misery. Jupiter appeared willing, and said to the Sheep, "I see plainly, my pious creature, that I have created you too defenseless . Now choose how I had best remedy this fault. Shall I arm your jaws with terrible fangs and your feet with claws?"
绵羊曾经一度被迫忍受别的动物对它造成的诸多伤害。终于，它来见丘比特，恳求他为自己减轻痛苦。丘比特看上去乐意帮忙，他对绵羊说：“我和清楚，我虔诚的小东西，我创造的你太没有防御能力了。现在你可以选择让我怎样来弥补自己的过失。我让你的上下颚长上尖牙，脚上长出利爪，好吗?”
"O, no! " exclaimed the Sheep, " I will have nothing in common with the beasts of prey."
“噢，不!”绵羊惊叫道，“我不愿意和掠食的野兽有任何相同之处。”
"Or," said Jupiter, " Shall I make your bite poisonous?"
“要不然，”丘比特说，“让你被咬的动物中毒?
"Alas!" replied the Sheep, " the poisonous snakes are so sadly detested."
“哎呀!”绵羊回答说，“毒蛇可是让人深恶痛绝的。”
"Well, what shall I do ? Shall I plant horns on your forehead, and give strength to your neck?"
“那么，怎么办呢?我让你的头上长出角来，让你的脖颈变得有劲儿，行吗?”
"Nor that, gracious father; I should then butt like the goat."
“那也不行，我的天父，那样我就会像山羊一样用头去抵撞别人的。”
"At the same time you would be able to injure others, if I gave you the means of defending yourself."
“一旦我给了你自卫的武器，你就具有了伤害别人的能力。”
"Should I, indeed? "sighed the Sheep. "Oh! Then leave me, merciful father, as I am. For the power of injuring would, I am fearful, awake the desire of doing so; and it is better to suffer harm, than to inflict it."
“真的会那样吗?”绵羊叹息道，“唉!那么仁慈的天父，你就让我保持原样吧。因为，我担心有了伤害别人的能力，就会引发起那样去做的念头。自己忍受伤害总比给别人造成伤害要好呀。”
Jupiter blessed the pious Sheep, who ceased from that moment his complaints.
丘比特为这只虔诚的绵羊祝福，绵羊此后再也不抱怨了。
英语经典朗诵美文篇三
老马识途An old horse knows the way
ne spring, Guan Zhong and xi peng followed Huan Gong, King of the State of Qi, in an expedition against the State of Gu back. They lost their way, Guan Zhong said:
有一年春天，管仲、xi朋跟随齐桓公讨伐竹国。战争持续到冬天才结束。返回时，他们迷路了。管仲说：
“Old horses are wise animals who know their way. Let them duanwenw.com lead the way for us!”
“老马说一种智慧的动物，能认路，让老马来给我们带路吧!”
Thereupon, they let several old horses lead in front and the army followed behind. Finally they found their way home.
于是，他们就让几匹老马走在前面，军队尾随在后，终于踏上了归途。
When the army entered the hills, they ran out of water. Then Xi Peng said:” In duanwenw.com winter, the ants stay on the south side of a hill, and in summer, on the north side. There is sure to be water source under their nest. ”
军队走近山里，水没有了。这时xi朋说：“蚂蚁冬天住在向阳坡，夏天住在背阴坡，蚂蚁窝的下面一定有水源。”
Thereupon, the soldiers exerted strenuous efforts to dig the ground. Sure enough, they found water under the ants’ nest.
于是，士兵们奋力挖土，果然在蚂蚁窝的下面挖到了水。
Men of great learning like Guan Zhong and Xi Peng, when duanwenw.com coming across difficulties, would also seek help from horses and ants of lower intelligence than human beings to find a way out.
像管仲，xi朋这样学识渊博的人，在遇到困难时，也会求助于智慧不及人类的马和蚂蚁来解决问题。
朗诵与歌唱同属有声艺术,是紧密联络的。朗诵是歌唱的基础,歌唱近乎于朗诵,是赋予音乐性的朗诵。下面是我带来的经典英语朗诵美文，欢迎阅读!
经典英语朗诵美文篇一
知足Contentment
Contentment is such a rare state of mind that even the wisest men sometimes find it difficult to get. There is no end to what the heart can desire. We may never have all that we want, and we will always be unhappy if we can’t be satisfied with what we already have.
知足是一种难得的精神状态,甚至最睿智的人有时也会发现很难达到知足的境界。心中的欲望没有尽头。我们也许不能得到所有想要的。如果我们不能满足于我们已经拥有的一切,我们将会经常郁郁寡欢。
We foolishly ignore our loved one to search for more material possessions, duanwenw only to find the joy it brings is temporary. We may lose that loved one we have ignored. We never can tell what will happen tomorrow, so appreciate and treasure people and things around us now.
我们时常愚昧地忽视我们钟爱的事物,去寻求更多物质上的拥有,结果却发现它带来的欢愉只是暂时的。我们可能会因此失去一直忽视的挚爱。我们永远不知明天将如何,所以感激并珍惜今天陪在我们周围的人和物吧。
Disappointment es when we can’t get what we have desired or expected. The way to happiness is to learn how to control our human desires, especially the desire to have more.
当曾经的渴望或期待不能为我们所有时,失望会随之而来。通向快乐的途径是要学会控制我们人性的欲望,尤其是想要更多的欲望。
Someone once said that the constant preoccupation with desires is a sure road to misery. Don’t seek for wealth or riches. Instead, seek to be content.
有人曾说过,对欲望一直念念不忘是通往不幸的必然之路。不要追求财富,而要追求知足。
经典英语朗诵美文篇二
充分利用时间Make Full Use of Your Time
When you can only do a little, do it. Soon, you’ll have the chance to do a little more, and a little more again, until the job is done.
当你只能完成一点儿工作时,那么就做那一点儿。很快,你就会有机会完成更多一点儿,再多一点儿,直到将全部工作做完。
When you only have a moment or two, make full use of whatever time you have. Even when you can’t get all of it done, you can get some of it done.
当你只有一点儿时间时,充分利用你所拥有的时间,无论这段时间有多短。即使你不能在这段时间里完成全部的工作,你也可以完成其中的一部分。
Forget about the time you don’t have, and use the time you do have. Instead of worrying about how you’ll do it all, duanwenw focus on doing what you can do right now.
不要去想你不能空出的时间,而要利用你所拥有的时间。与其为如何做完全部工作而担忧,不如现在就集中注意力来做你能做的部分。
Achievement requires many steps. So take one step each time that you can.
一份工作的完成需要很多个步骤。所以,循序渐进,每次完成你能力范围内的一点儿。
Don’t waste your time plaining when interruptions knock you off track. Just get yourself beyond them and get quickly back to work.
当各种干扰使你脱离正常轨道时,不要浪费时间去抱怨,而要超越这些干扰,并尽快返回到工作中。
Do what you can, when you can, as often as you can. Your persisten, consistent efforts will steadily take you where you choose to go.
在你能工作时,尽可能经常地去做你力所能及的事情。你坚持不懈的努力将带你朝着你所选择的方向坚定地前进。
经典英语朗诵美文篇三
你随时可以成功
To solve any problem or to reach your goal, you don’t need to know all the answers in advance. But you must have a clear idea of the problem or the goal you want to reach.
解决任何问题或实现目标，都不需要你预先知晓一切答案。但你需要明确知道自己面临的问题和实现的目标
All you have to do is know where you’re going. The answers will e to you of their own accord. duanwenw Don’t procrastinate when faced with a big difficult problem. Break the problem into parts, and handle one part at a time.
你必须知道自己的目的所在，答案才会自然揭晓。面对大问题，不可延迟，要将问题分成若干部分，各个击破。
If you can get up the courage to begin, you have the courage to succeed. It’s the job you never start that takes the longest to finish. Don’t worry about what lies dimly at a distance, but do what lies clearly ahead.
倘若你有开始的勇气，就一定会有成功的勇气。你从未接触过的工作，需要你花费更多的时间才能完成。切勿为远方朦胧之物而担忧，要做好眼前的明确之事。
Your biggest opportunity is where you are right now. Once you begin you’re half done.
你的最大机遇就在你此刻所在的地方。只要开始，就获得了一半的成功。
随着英语的国际化越来越广泛,我国的英语学习者也逐年激增,各大英语学习网站也推出英语美文的赏析和阅读。有很多英语学习者喜欢背诵这些美文以提高自己的英语水平,以下是我为大家整理的关于短篇英语美文朗诵文章，给大家作为参考，欢迎阅读!
短篇英语美文朗诵文章篇1：If I Rest, I Rust
The significant inscription found on an old key---“If I rest, I rust”---would be an excellent motto for those who are afflicted with the slightest bit of idleness. Even the most industrious person might adopt it with advantage to serve as a reminder that, if one allows his faculties to rest, like the iron in the unused key, they will soon show signs of rust and, ultimately, cannot do the work required of them.
Those who would attain the heights reached and kept by great men must keep their faculties polished by constant use, so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge, the gate that guard the entrances to the professions, to science, art, literature, agriculture---every department of human endeavor.
Industry keeps bright the key that opens the treasury of achievement. If Hugh Miller, after toiling all day in a quarry, had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation, he would never have bee a famous geologist. The celebrated mathematician, Edmund Stone, would never have published a mathematical dictionary, never have found the key to science of mathematics, if he had given his spare moments to idleness, had the little Scotch lad, Ferguson, allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside instead of calculating the position of the stars by a string of beads, he would never have bee a famous astronomer.
Labor vanquishes all---not inconstant, spa *** odic, or ill-directed labor; but faithful, unremitting, daily effort toward a well-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so is eternal industry the price of noble and enduring success.
译文：
如果我休息，我就会生锈
在一把旧钥匙上发现了一则意义深远的铭文——如果我休息，我就会生锈。对于那些懒散而烦恼的人来说，这将是至理名言。甚至最为勤勉的人也以此作为警示：如果一个人有才能而不用，就像废弃钥匙上的铁一样，这些才能就会很快生锈，并最终无法完成安排给自己的工作。
有些人想取得伟人所获得并保持的成就，他们就必须不断运用自身才能，以便开启知识的大门，即那些通往人类努力探求的各个领域的大门，这些领域包括各种职业：科学，艺术，文学，农业等。
勤奋使开启成功宝库的钥匙保持光亮。如果休•米勒在采石场劳作一天后，晚上的时光用来休息消遣的话，他就不会成为名垂青史的地质学家。著名数学家爱德蒙•斯通如果闲暇时无所事事，就不会出版数学词典，也不会发现开启数学之门的钥匙。如果苏格兰青年弗格森在山坡上放羊时，让他那思维活跃的大脑处于休息状态，而不是借助一串珠子计算星星的位置，他就不会成为著名的天文学家。
劳动征服一切。这里所指的劳动不是断断续续的，间歇性的或方向偏差的劳动，而是坚定的，不懈的，方向正确的每日劳动。正如要想拥有自由就要时刻保持警惕一样，要想取得伟大的，持久的成功，就必须坚持不懈地努力。
短篇英语美文朗诵文章篇2：panionship of Books
A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the pany he keeps; for there is a panionship of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best pany, 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 panions. 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 forting 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 that life could think out; 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, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, bee our constant panions and forters.
Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author’s minds, ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time have been to sift out the bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive e but what is really good.
Books introduce us into the best society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see the as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience bees ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe.
The great and good do not die, even in this world. Embalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad. The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which on still listens.
译文：
以书为伴节选
通常看一个读些什么书就可知道他的为人，就像看他同什么人交往就可知道他的为人一样，因为有人以人为伴，也有人以书为伴。无论是书友还是朋友，我们都应该以最好的为伴。
好书就像是你最好的朋友。它始终不渝，过去如此，现在如此，将来也永远不变。它是最有耐心，最令人愉悦的伴侣。在我们穷愁潦倒，临危遭难时，它也不会抛弃我们，对我们总是一如既往地亲切。在我们年轻时，好书陶冶我们的性情，增长我们的知识;到我们年老时，它又给我们以慰藉和勉励。
人们常常因为喜欢同一本书而结为知已，就像有时两个人因为敬慕同一个人而成为朋友一样。有句古谚说道：“爱屋及屋。”其实“爱我及书”这句话蕴涵更多的哲理。书是更为真诚而高尚的情谊纽带。人们可以通过共同喜爱的作家沟通思想，交流感情，彼此息息相通，并与自己喜欢的作家思想相通，情感相融。
好书常如最精美的宝器，珍藏着人生的思想的精华，因为人生的境界主要就在于其思想的境界。因此，最好的书是金玉良言和崇高思想的宝库，这些良言和思想若铭记于心并多加珍视，就会成为我们忠实的伴侣和永恒的慰藉。
书籍具有不朽的本质，是为人类努力创造的最为持久的成果。寺庙会倒坍，神像会朽烂，而书却经久长存。对于伟大的思想来说，时间是无关紧要的。多年前初次闪现于作者脑海的伟大思想今日依然清新如故。时间惟一的作用是淘汰不好的作品，因为只有真正的佳作才能经世长存。
书籍介绍我们与最优秀的人为伍，使我们置身于历代伟人巨匠之间，如闻其声，如观其行，如见其人，同他们情感交融，悲喜与共，感同身受。我们觉得自己仿佛在作者所描绘的舞台上和他们一起粉墨登场。
即使在人世间，伟大杰出的人物也永生不来。他们的精神被载入书册，传于四海。书是人生至今仍在聆听的智慧之声，永远充满著活力。
短篇英语美文朗诵文章篇3：Youth
Youth is not a time 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 the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.
Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of 60 more than a boy of 20. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.
Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusia *** wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.
Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonders, the unfailing appetite for what’s next and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart, there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, courage and power from man and from the infinite, so long as you are young.
When your aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynici *** and the ice of pessimi *** , then you’ve grown old, even at 20; but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimi *** , there’s hope you may die young at 80.
译文：
青春
青春不是年华，而是心境;青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志，恢巨集的想象，炙热的恋情;青春是生命的深泉在涌流。
青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯弱，进取压倒苟安。如此锐气，二十后生而有之，六旬男子则更多见。年岁有加，并非垂老，理想丢弃，方堕暮年。
岁月悠悠，衰微只及肌肤;热忱抛却，颓废必致灵魂。忧烦，惶恐，丧失自信，定使心灵扭曲，意气如灰。
无论年届花甲，拟或二八芳龄，心中皆有生命之欢乐，奇迹之诱惑，孩童般天真久盛不衰。人人心中皆有一台天线，只要你从天上人间接受美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的讯号，你就青春永驻，风华常存。 、
一旦天线下降，锐气便被冰雪覆盖，玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生，即使年方二十，实已垂垂老矣;然则只要树起天线，捕捉乐观讯号，你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉年轻。
短篇英语美文朗诵文章篇4：Three Days to See
All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live. Sometimes it was as long as a year, sometimes as short as 24 hours. But always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed hero chose to spend his last days or his last hours. I speak, of course, of free men who have a choice, not condemned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.
Such stories set us thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. What events, what experiences, what associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings, what regrets?
Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we should die tomorrow. Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life. We should live each day with gentleness, vigor and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to e. There are those, of course, who would adopt the Epicurean motto of “Eat, drink, and be merry”. But most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.
In stories the doomed hero is usually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortune, but almost always his sense of values is changed. He bees more appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values. It has often been noted that those who live, or have lived, in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everything they do.
Most of us, however, take life for granted. We know that one day we must die, but usually we picture that day as far in the future. When we are in buoyant health, death is all but unimaginable. We seldom think of it. 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, I am afraid, 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. Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearing in *** life. But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldom make the fullest use of these blessed faculties. Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sounds hazily, without concentration and with little appreciation. It is the same old story of not being grateful for what we have until we lose it, of not being conscious of health until we are ill.
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 *** life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound.
译文：
假如给我三天光明节选
我们都读过震撼人心的故事，故事中的主人公只能再活一段很有限的时光，有时长达一年，有时却短至一日。但我们总是想要知道，注定要离世人的会选择如何度过自己最后的时光。当然，我说的是那些有选择权利的自由人，而不是那些活动范围受到严格限定的死囚。
这样的故事让我们思考，在类似的处境下，我们该做些什么?作为终有一死的人，在临终前的几个小时内我们应该做什么事，经历些什么或做哪些联想?回忆往昔，什么使我们开心快乐?什么又使我们悔恨不已?
有时我想，把每天都当作生命中的最后一天来边，也不失为一个极好的生活法则。这种态度会使人格外重视生命的价值。我们每天都应该以优雅的姿态，充沛的精力，抱着感恩之心来生活。但当时间以无休止的日，月和年在我们面前流逝时，我们却常常没有了这种子感觉。当然，也有人奉行“吃，喝，享受”的享乐主义信条，但绝大多数人还是会受到即将到来的死亡的惩罚。
在故事中，将死的主人公通常都在最后一刻因突降的幸运而获救，但他的价值观通常都会改变，他变得更加理解生命的意义及其永恒的精神价值。我们常常注意到，那些生活在或曾经生活在死亡阴影下的人无论做什么都会感到幸福。
然而，我们中的大多数人都把生命看成是理所当然的。我们知道有一天我们必将面对死亡，但总认为那一天还在遥远的将来。当我们身强体健之时，死亡简直不可想象，我们很少考虑到它。日子多得好像没有尽头。因此我们一味忙于琐事，几乎意识不到我们对待生活的冷漠态度。
我担心同样的冷漠也存在于我们对自己官能和意识的运用上。只有聋子才理解听力的重要，只有盲人才明白视觉的可贵，这尤其适用于那些成年后才失去视力或听力之苦的人很少充分利用这些宝贵的能力。他们的眼睛和耳朵模糊地感受着周围的景物与声音，心不在焉，也无所感激。这正好我们只有在失去后才懂得珍惜一样，我们只有在生病后才意识到健康的可贵。
我经常想，如果每个人在年轻的时候都有几天失时失聪，也不失为一件幸事。黑暗将使他更加感镭射明，寂静将告诉他声音的美妙。
随着全球经济一体化的发展,我国的 教育 和 文化 等方面也在不断地向前发展。英语作为全球通用的语言,是不同国家的人们之间沟通的桥梁。下面是我带来的英语短篇美文朗诵，欢迎阅读!
英语短篇美文朗诵篇一
Who’s who
It has never been explained why university students seem to enjoy practical jokes more than anyone else. Students specialize in a particular type of practical joke: the hoax. Inviting the fire-brigade to put out a non-existent fire is a crude form of deception which no self-respecting student would ever indulge in, Students often create amusing situations which are funny to everyone except the victims. When a student recently saw two workmen using a pneumatic drill outside his university, he immediately telephoned the police and informed them that two students dressed up as workmen were tearing up the road with a pneumatic drill. As soon as he had hung up, he went over to the workmen and told them that if a policeman ordered them to go away, they were not to take him seriously. He added that a student had dressed up as a policeman and was playing all sorts of silly jokes on people. Both the police and the workmen were grateful to the student for this piece of advance information.
The student hid in an archway nearby where he could watch and hear everything that went on. Sure enough, a policeman arrived on the scene and politely asked the workmen to go away. When he received a very rude reply from one of the workmen, he threatened to remove them by force. The workmen told him to do as he pleased and the policeman telephoned for help. Shortly afterwards, four more policemen arrived and remonstrated with the workmen. As the men refused to stop working, the police attempted to seize the pneumatic drill. The workmen struggled fiercely and one of them lost his temper. He threatened to call the police. At this, the police pointed out ironically that this would hardly be necessary as the men were already under arrest. Pretending to speak seriously, one of the workmen asked if he might make a telephone call before being taken
to the station. Permission was granted and a policeman accompanied him to a call-box. Only when he saw that the man was actually telephoning the police did he realize that they had all been the victims of a hoax.
谁也弄不清为什么大学生好像比任何人都更喜欢恶作剧。大学生擅长一种特殊的恶作剧——戏弄人。请消防队来扑灭一场根本没有的大火是一种低级骗局，有自尊心的大学生决不会去做。大学生们常常做的是制造一种可笑的局面，使大家笑上一场，当然受害者是笑不出来的。
最近有个学生看见两个工人在学校门外用风钻干活，马上打电话 报告 警察，说有两个学生装扮成工人，正在用风钻破坏路面。挂上电话后，他又马上来到工人那儿，告诉他们若有个警察来让他们走开，不要把他当回事，还对工人说，有个学生常装扮成警察无聊地同别人开玩笑。警察与工人都对那个学生事先通报情况表示感谢。
那个学生躲在附近一拱形的门廊里，在那儿可以看见、听到现场发生的一切。果然，警察来了，不礼貌地请工人离开此地;但其中一个工人粗鲁地回了几句。于是警察威胁要强行使他们离开。工人说，悉听尊便。警察去打电话叫人。一会儿工夫，又来了4个警察，规劝工人离开。由于工人拒绝停下手中的活，警察想夺风钻。两个工人奋力抗争，其中一个发了火，威胁说要去叫警察。警察听后讥讽地说，这大可不必，因为他俩已被逮捕了。其中一个工人装模作样地问道，在被带往警察局之前，是否可以打一个电话。警察同意了，陪他来到一个投币地电话前，当他看到那个工人真的是给警察挂电话，才恍然大悟，原来他们都成一场骗局的受害者。
英语短篇美文朗诵篇二
Daniel Mendoza
Boxing matches were very popular in England two hundred years ago. In those days, boxers fought with bare fists for Prize money. Because of this, they were known as 'prize-fighters'. However, boxing was very crude, for there were no rules and a prize-fighter could be seriously injured or even killed during a match.
One of the most colourful figures in boxing history was Daniel Mendoza who was born in 1764. The use of gloves was not introduced until 1860 when the Marquis of Queensberry drew up the first set Of rules. Though he was technically a prize-fighter, Mendoza did much to change crude prize-fighting into a sport, for he brought science to the game. In his day, Mendoza enjoyed tremendous popularity. He was adored by rich and poor alike. Mendoza rose to fame swiftly after a boxing-match when he was only fourteen years old. This attracted the attention of Richard Humphries who was then the most eminent boxer in England. He offered to train Mendoza and his young pupil was quick to learn. In fact, Mendoza soon became so successful that Humphries turned against him. The two men quarrelled bitterly and it was clear that the argument could only be settled by a fight. A match was held at Stilton where both men fought for an hour. The public bet a great deal of money on Mendoza, but he was defeated. Mendoza met Humphries in the ring on a later occasion and he lost for a second time. It was not until his third match in 1790 that he finally beat Humphries and became Champion of England. Meanwhile, he founded a highly successful Academy and even Lord Byron became one of his pupils. He earned enormous sums of money and was paid as much as &100 for a single appearance. Despite this, he was so extravagant that he was always in debt. After he was defeated by a boxer called Gentleman Jackson, he was quickly forgotten. He was sent to prison for failing to pay his debts and died in poverty in 1836.
两百年前， 拳击 比赛在英国非常盛行。当时，拳击手们不戴手套，为争夺奖金而搏斗。因此，他们被称作“职业拳击手”。不过，拳击是十分野蛮的，因为当时没有任何比赛规则，职业拳击手有可能在比赛中受重伤，甚至丧命。
拳击史上最引人注目的人物之一是丹尼尔.门多萨，他生于1764年。1860年昆斯伯里侯爵第一次为拳击比赛制定了规则，拳击比赛这才用上了手套。虽然门多萨严格来讲不过是个职业拳击手，但在把这种粗野的拳击变成一种 体育运动 方面，他作出了重大贡献。是他把科学引进了这项运动。门多萨在的全盛时期深受大家欢迎，无论是富人还是穷人都对他祟拜备至。
门多萨在14岁时参加一场拳击赛后一举成名。这引起当时英国拳坛名将理查德.汉弗莱斯的注意。他主动提出教授门多萨，而年少的门多萨一学就会。事实上，门多萨不久便名声大振，致使汉弗莱斯与他反目为敌。两个人争吵不休，显而易见，只有较量一番才能解决问题。于是两人在斯蒂尔顿设下赛场，厮打了一个小时。公众把大笔赌注下到了门多萨身上，但他却输了。后来，门多萨与汉弗莱斯再次在拳击场上较量，门多萨又输了一场。直到1790年他们第3次对垒，门多萨才终于击败汉弗莱斯，成了全英拳击冠军。同时，他建立了一所拳击学校，办得很成功，连拜伦勋爵也成了他的学生。门多萨挣来大笔大笔的钱，一次出场费就多可达100英镑。尽管收入不少，但他挥霍无度，经常债台高筑。他在被一个叫杰克逊绅士的拳击手击败后很快被遗忘。他因无力还债而被捕入狱，最后于1836年在贫困中死去。
英语短篇美文朗诵篇三
By heart
Some plays are so successful that they run for years on end. In many ways, this is unfortunate for the poor actors who are required to go on repeating the same lines night after night. One would expect them to know their parts by heart and never have cause to falter. Yet this is not always the case.
A famous actor in a highly successful play was once cast in the role of an aristocrat who had been imprisoned in the Bastille for twenty years. In the last act, a gaoler would always come on to
the stage with a letter which he would hand to the prisoner. Even though the noble was expected to read the letter at each performance, he always insisted that it should be written out in full. One night, the gaoler decided to play a joke on his colleague to find out if, after so many performances, he had managed to learn the contents of the letter by heart. The curtain went up on the final act of the play and revealed the aristocrat sitting alone behind bars in his dark cell. Just then, the gaoler appeared with the precious letter in his hands. He entered the cell and presented the letter to the aristocrat. But the copy he gave him had not been written out in full as usual. It was simply a blank sheet of paper. The gaoler looked on eagerly, anxious to see if his fellow-actor had at last learnt his lines. The noble stared at the blank sheet of paper for a few seconds. Then, squinting his eyes, he said: 'The light is dim. Read the letter to me.' And he promptly handed the sheet of paper to the gaoler. Finding that he could not remember a word of the letter either, the gaoler replied: 'The light is indeed dim, sire. I must get my glasses.' With this, he hurried off the stage. Much to the aristocrat's amusement, the gaoler returned a few moments later with a pair of glasses and the usual copy of the letter which he proceeded to read to the prisoner.
有些剧目十分成功，以致连续上演好几年。这样一来，可怜的演员们可倒霉了。因为他们需要一夜连着一夜地重复同样的台词。人们以为，这些演员一定会把台词背得烂熟，绝不会临场结巴的，但情况却并不总是这样。
有一位名演员曾在一出极为成功的剧目中扮演一个贵族角色，这个贵族已在巴士底狱被关押了20年。在最后一幕中，狱卒手持一封信上场，然后将信交给狱中那位贵族。尽管那个贵族每场戏都得念一遍那封信。但他还是坚持要求将信的全文写在信纸上。
一天晚上，狱卒决定与他的同事开一个玩笑，看看他反复演出这么多场之后，是否已将信的内容记熟了。大幕拉开，最后一幕戏开演，贵族独自一人坐在铁窗后阴暗的牢房里。这时狱卒上场，手里拿着那封珍贵的信。狱卒走进牢房，将信交给贵族。但这回狱卒给贵族的信没有像往常那样把全文写全，而是一张白纸。狱卒热切地观察着，急于想了解他的同事是否记熟了台词。贵族盯着纸看了几秒钟，然后，眼珠一转，说道：“光线太暗，请给我读一下这封信。”说完，他一下子把信递给狱卒。狱卒发现自己连一个字也记不住，于是便说：“陛下，这儿光线的确太暗了，我得去眼镜拿来。”他一边说着，一边匆匆下台。贵族感到非常好笑的是：一会儿工夫，狱卒重新登台，拿来一副眼镜以及平时使用的那封信，然后为那囚犯念了起来。
