在英语教学中,开展经典美文教学不仅能提高学生的文学水平,而且能提高学生的英语素养。我整理了大学晨读英语美文，欢迎阅读!
孩子的守护天使Once upon a time there was a child ready to be born. So one day he asked God, “They tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow but how am I going to live there being so small and helpless?”
God replied, “Among the many angels, I chose one for you. She will be waiting for you and will take care of you.”
But the child wasn't sure he really wanted to go. “But tell me, here in Heaven, I don't do anything else but sing and smile, that's enough for me to be happy.”
“Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you every day. And you will feel your angel's love and be happy.”
“And how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me,” the child continued, “if I don't know the language that men talk?”
God patted him on the head and said, “Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak.”
“And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?”
But God had an answer for that question too. “Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.”
“I've heard that on earth there are bad men, who will protect me?”
“Your angel will defend you even if it means risking her life!”
“But I will always be sad because I will not see you anymore,” the child continued warily.
God smiled on the young one. “Your angel will always talk to you about me and will teach you the way for you to come back to me, even though I will always be next to you.”
At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but voices from earth could already be heard. The child knew he had to start on his journey very soon. He asked God one more question, softly, “Oh God, if I am about to leave now, please tell me my angel's name.”
God touched the child on the shoulder and answered, “Your angel's name is not hard to remember. You will simply call her Mommy.”
[参考译文]
从前有一个孩子准备出生。所以有一天他问上帝， "他们告诉我，你送我到地球的明天，但我应该如何去生活，有那么小和无助" ?
上帝回答说： "在众多的天使，我选择了一个给你。她会等着你，并会照顾你" 。
但孩子不知道他是否真的想去。 " ，但告诉我，这里的天堂，我什么都不做，否则，但唱歌和微笑，那足够我快乐" 。
"你的天使会唱歌，你也将微笑为你的每一天。你会觉得你的天使的爱与快乐" 。
"我应该如何去完成可以理解的时候，人们都说，我说： "孩子继续说： "如果我不知道的语言，男人谈" ?
上帝拍拍他的头说： "你的天使会告诉你最美丽的，并说漂亮话，你将永远听到的，并给予很多的耐心和关怀，你的天使将教导您如何发言" 。
"有什么我会做的时候，我想你谈谈" ?
但是上帝在回答这个问题太大。 "你的天使将双手放在一起，并会教你如何祈祷" 。
"我听说地球上有坏男人，他们会保护我" ?
"你的天使将会保卫你，即使这意味着冒她的生命" !
"但我将永远难过，因为我不会见你了， "孩子继续侧目。
上帝微笑着对年轻的一个。 "你的天使将永远和大家谈谈我会教你的方法让你回来给我，即使我将永远你旁边" 。
就在这个时候有很多和平的天堂，而是声音，从地球上已经能够被听到。孩子知道他已开始对他的旅程即将展开。他问上帝一个问题，悄悄地， "噢上帝，如果我即将离开，现在，请告诉我我的天使的名字" 。
上帝感动了孩子的肩膀，并回答了， "你的天使的名字并不难记。你干脆叫她妈妈" 。
朋友的种类Types of Friends A Faraway Friend is someone you grew up with or went to school with or lived in the same town as until one of you moved away. Without a Faraway Friend, you would never get any mail addressed in handwriting. A Faraway Friend calls late at night, invites you to her wedding, always says she is coming to visit but rarely shows up. An actual visit from a Faraway Friend is a cause for celebration and binges of all kinds. Cigarettes, Chips Ahoy, bottles of tequila.the Former Friend. A sad thing. At best a wistful memory, at worst a dangerous enemy who is in possession of many of your deepest secrets. But what was it that drove you apart? A misunderstanding, a betrayed confidence, an unrepaid loan, an ill-conceived flirtation. A poor choice of spouse can do in a friendship just like that. Going into business together can be a serious mistake. Time, money, distance, cult religions: all noted friendship killers.
A New Friend is a tonic unlike any other. Say you meet her at a party. In your bowling league. At a Japanese conversation class, perhaps.
Wherever, whenever, there's that spark of recognition. The first time you talk, you can't believe how much you have in common. Suddenly, your life story is interesting again, your insights fresh, your opinion valued. Your various shortcomings are as yet completely invisible.
[参考译文]
远方的朋友和你一起长大或上同一所学校，直到其中一位搬走。没有远方的朋友，你可能永远也收不到一封手写的信件。远方的朋友半夜来访、邀请你参加她的婚礼，总是说要来看你，但又很少露面。远方的朋友真的来看你时，那就要庆祝一下，自然要狂欢作乐一番，少不了香烟、土豆片、欢呼声和一瓶瓶的龙舌兰酒。
啊，过去的朋友，一件令人伤怀的事。最好的能留给你一个情意绵绵的回忆;最糟糕的拥有你的许多机密从而成为你危险的敌人。但到底是什么使你们分手的?误解、泄密、未偿还的贷款或恶意的调情。对配偶选择不当也会带来同样的后果。合伙经商可能是一个严重的错误。时间、金钱、距离、邪教都是有名的友谊杀手。
新朋友就像一种与众不同的补品。比如说你在一个晚会上或保龄球俱乐部联合会上遇见了她，也许在一个日本会话课上。随时随地，都会产生撞击的火花。刹那间，你的人生经历再次生动起来，你的见解新颖独到，你的观点得到器重，而你的各种缺点却全然不见了。
让我们微笑吧Let Us Smile
The thing that goes the farthest toward making life worthwhile,
That costs the least and does the most, is just a pleasant smile.
The smile that bubbles from the heart that loves its fellow men,
Will drive away the clouds of gloom and coax the Sun again.
It'sfull of worth and goodness, too, with manly kindness blent;
It’s worth a million dollars, and it doesn’t cost a cent.
There is no room for sadness when we see a cheery smile;
It always has the same good look; it’s never out of style;
It nerves us on to try again when failure makes us blue;
The dimples of encouragement are good for me and you.
It pays the highest interest — for it is merely lent;
It’s worth a million dollars, and it doesn’t cost a cent.
A smile comes very easy — you can wrinkle up with cheer,
A hundred times before you can squeeze out a salty tear;
It ripples out, moreover, to the heartstrings that will tug,
And always leaves an echo that is very like a hug.
So, smile away! Folks understand what by a smile is meant;
It’s worth a million dollars, and it doesn’t cost a cent.
[参考译文]
那最能赋予生命价值、代价最廉而回报最多的东西，
不过一个令人心畅的微笑而已。
由衷地热爱同胞的微笑，
会驱走心头阴郁的乌云，心底收获一轮夕阳。
它充满价值和美好，混合着坚毅的仁爱之心;
它价值连城却不花一文。
当我们看到喜悦的微笑，忧伤就会一扫而光;
它始终面容姣好，永不落伍;
失败令我们沮丧之时，它鼓励我们再次尝试;
鼓励的笑靥于你我大有裨益。
它支付的利息高昂无比──只因它是种借贷形式;
它价值连城却不花一文。
来一个微笑很容易──嘴角欢快翘起来，
你能百次微笑，可难得挤出一滴泪;
它的涟漪深深波及心弦，
总会留下反响，宛若拥抱。
继续微笑吧!谁都懂得它意味着什么;
它价值连城却不花一文。
英语散文的发展历程十分曲折,散文大家风格多变,兼之中英语言个性殊异,若要成功地把英语散文大家的作品翻译到中文,既须了解英语散文发展的概况,又须注意保证气韵逻辑通畅,文气沛然,才能传神译出,曲尽其妙,令汉语读者获得相同或相近的审美感受。下面我为大家带来晨读英语散文精选，欢迎大家阅读!
晨读英语散文：生活的道路
The lives of most men are determined by their environment. They accept the circumstancesamid which fate has thrown them not only with resignation but even with good will. They arelike streetcars running contentedly on their rails and they despise the sprightly flivver thatdashes in and out of the traffic and speeds so jauntily across the open country. I respectthem;they are good citizens, good husbands, and good fathers, and of course somebody hasto pay the taxes; but I do not find them exciting. I am fascinated by the men, few enough in allconscience, who take life in their own hands and seem to mould it to their own liking. It may bethat we have no such thing as free will, but at all events we have the illusion ofit. At acrossroad it does seem to us that we might go either to the right or the left and, the choiceonce made, it is difficult to see that the whole course of the world's history obliged us to takethe turning we did.
对于大多数人来说，生活是由环境决定的。他们在命运的拨弄面前，不仅逆来顺受，甚至还能随遇而安。这些人犹如街上的有轨电车，满足于在自己的轨道上运行;而对于那些不时出没于车水马龙间和欢快地奔驰在旷野上的廉价小汽车却不屑一顾。我尊重这些人;他们是守法的公民、尽职的丈夫、慈祥的父亲。当然，总得有人缴纳种种税款;可是，我并不觉得他们使人振奋。另有些人把生活掌握在自己手里，似乎在按照自己的意愿创造生活，尽管这样的人寥若晨星，他们却深深地吸引了我。自由意志这玩意儿对我们来说也许纯属子虚乌有;但不管怎么说，它确实存在于我们的幻想之中。每逢站在十字路口，我们好像能在左右两条道路中任选其一，可一旦选定之后，却又很难认识到那实际是世界历史的整个进程左右了我们的转折点。
I never met a more interesting man than Mayhew. He was a lawyerin Detroit. He was an able anda successful one. By the time he was thirty-five he had a large and a lucrative praaice, he hadamassed a competence, and he stood on the threshold of a distinguished career. He had ana cute brain, anattractive personality, and uprightness. There was no reason why he shouldnot become, financially or politically, a power in the land. One evening he was sitting in his clubwith a group of friends and they were perhaps a little worse (or the better) for liquor. One ofthem had recently come from Italy and he told them of a house he had seen at Capri, a houseon the hill, overlooking the Bay of Naples, with a large and shady garden. He described to themthe beauty of the most beautifulisland in the Mediterranean.
我从未见到过比梅休更有意思的人了。他是底特律的一名律师，为人能干，事业上也很成功。35岁时就门庭若市，收入可观，累累胜诉，声名昭着，前程似锦。他头脑灵活，性格招?喜欢，为人又很正直，在这个国家里不变得有钱或有势才怪呢。一天晚上，他与一些朋友在俱乐部聚会。喝了酒之后，他们也许有点醉意(或更清醒)了，其中一人刚从意大利回来，跟大家谈起了在卡普里岛看到的一幢房子。那是一幢坐落在小山上的房屋，还有个绿叶成荫的大花园。从屋里望出去，那不勒斯湾尽收眼底。他娓娓动听地把地中海这个最美的岛屿夸了一番。
"It sounds fine," said Mayhew. "Is that house for sale?"
“听起来倒真不错!”梅休说，“那房子卖不卖?”
"Everything is for sale in Italy."
“在意大利什么东西都卖。”
"Let's send'em a cable and make an offer for it."
“我们打个电报，出个价把那房子买下来。”
"What in heaven's name would you do with a house in Capri?"
“天哪!你买卡普里的一所房子干什么用啊?”
"Live in it," said Mayhew.
“住呗!”梅休说。
He sent for a cable form, wrote it out, and dispatched it. In a few hours the reply came back.The offer was accepted.
他叫人取来一张电报单，填好后就发了出去。没过几小时，回电来了，买卖成交。
Mayhew was no hypocrite and he made no secret of the fact that he would never have done sowild a thing if he had been sober, but when he was he did not regret it. He was neither animpulsive nor an emotional man, but a very honest and sincere one. He would never havecontinued from bravado in a course that he had come to the conclusion was unwise. Hemade up his mind to do exactly as he had said. He did not care for wealth and he had enoughmoney on which to live in Italy. He thought he could do more with life than spend it oncomposing the trivial quarrels of unimportant people.
梅休绝对不是伪君子。他毫不隐讳地承认，如果当时头脑清醒的话，他决不至于做出如此轻率的事。但此刻他清醒了，也决不反悔。他不是个一冲动就鲁莽从事的人，也不多愁善感。他为人十分正直、诚恳。无论干什么，只要意识到所干的并不明智，他就马上会停下来，从不会因一时逞能而一味蛮干下去。他决心不折不扣地履行自己的诺言。
He had no definite plan. He merely wanted to get away from a life that had given him allit hadto offer. I suppose his friends thought him crazy; some must have done all they could todissuade him. He arranged his affairs, packed up his ffirniture, and started.
梅休并不在乎钱财，他有的是钱，足够在意大利花的。他想使生活过得更有价值，不愿再把这大好年华浪费在调停芸芸众生因区区小事引起的吵闹中。他没有明确的计赳。他只是想抛弃这已不能再使他满意的生活。我想他的朋友们一定以为他疯了。有些人肯定是费尽唇舌劝他千万别这么做。可是他安排好手头的事务，把家具装了箱，毅然上路了。
Capri is a gaunt rock of austere outline, bathed in a deep blue sea; but its vineyards, greenand smiling, give it a soft and easy grace. It is friendly,remote, and debonair. I find it strangethat Mayhew should have settled on this lovely island, for I never knew a man more insensibleto beauty I do not know what he sought there: happiness, freedom, or merely leisure; I knowwhat he found. In this place which appeals so extravagantly to the senses he lived a life entirelyof the spirit. For the island is rich with historic associations and over it broods always theenigmatic memory of Tiberius the Emperor. From his windows which overlooked the Bay ofNaples, with the noble shape of Vesuvius changing colour with the changing light, Mayhew saw ahundred places that recalled the Romans and the Greeks. The past began to haunt him. All thathe saw for the first time, for he had never been abroad before, excited his fancy; and in his soulstirred the creative imagination. He was a man of energy. Presently he made up his mind towrite a history. For some time he looked about for a subject, and at last decided on the secondcentury of the Roman Empire. It was little known and it seemed to him to offer problemsanalogous with those of our own day.
卡普里岛是一块外形突兀的荒凉的岩石，沐浴在深蓝色的海洋里。但是它的葱绿的葡萄园仿佛在向人微笑，使这个海岛增添了几分令人舒爽的温柔宁静的姿色。卡普里岛远离尘嚣，却景色宜人，生气盎然。我真感到奇怪，梅休竟会找这么一个可爱的海岛定居，因为我实在不相信还有谁会比他对美更无动于衷的了。我不知道他到那儿去想追求什么，是寻幸福，求自由，或者只是为了优游岁月;但我知道他找到了什么。在这个岛上，人的感官本会受到强烈的刺激，而他却过上了纯精神的生活。因为这个岛上尽是能够勾起你联想的历史遗迹，总叫你想到提比略大帝的神秘故事。他站在窗前就能俯视那不勒斯湾。每当日移光变，维苏威火山的雄姿也随之变换色泽。此时，他凭窗远望，看到上百处残踪遗迹，因而联想起罗马和希腊的盛衰。他开始不停地思考起古代社会来。过去他从未到过国外，现在第一次开了眼界，什么都使他神驰遐想。脑海中创造性的想象联翩浮来。他是个精力充沛的人，立刻就决定要笔耕史学。他花了一些时间寻找题目，最终选定了罗马帝国的第二世纪。这个题目很少为人所知。梅休认为帝国当时存在的问题与当今社会的情况颇有巧合之处。
He began to collect books and soon he had an immense library. His legal training had taughthim to read quickly. He settled down to work. At first hehad been accustomed to foregather inthe evening with the painters, writers,and such like who met in the little tavern near the Piazza,but presently hewithdrew himself, for his absorption in his studies became more pressing. Hehad been accustomed to bathe in that bland sea and to take long walks among the pleasantvineyards, butlittle by little, grudging the time, he ceased to do so. He worked harder than hehad ever worked in Detroit. He would start at noon and work all through the night till thewhistle of the steamer that goes every morning from Capri to Naples told him that it was fiveo'clockand time to go to bed. His subject opened out before him, vaster and more significant,and he imagined a work that would put him forever beside the great historians of the past. Asthe years went by he was to be found seldom in the ways of men. He could be tempted to comeout of his house only by agame o' chess or the chance of an argument. He loved to set hisbrain against another's. He was widely read now, not only in history, but in philosophy andscience; and he was a skilful controversialist, quick, logical, and incisive.
他开始收集有关着作，不久就有了大量藏书。搞法律时受的训练教会了他如何快速阅读。他着手工作了。起初，，他惯于在黄昏时分到市场附近的一个小酒店和聚在那里的画家、作家等文人墨客共同消磨一段时光，但不久他就深居简出了，因为研究工作日趋紧张，使他抽不出时间。一开始他也常到温和的海水中去洗澡，不时在可爱的葡萄园之间散步。但由于舍不得时间，渐渐地他不再洗澡，也不散步了。他干得要比在底特律卖力得多，常常是正午开始工作，彻夜不眠，待到汽笛一鸣，才恍然意识到已是清晨五点，从卡普里到那不勒斯的船只正要起锚出航，该是睡觉的时候了。他的主题在他面前展开了，涉及的内容越来越广泛，意义越来越重大。他在遐想，一旦巨着完成，他将跻身于历代伟大的史学家之列，永垂史册。时间一年年过去，人们很少看到他与外界来往，只有一场棋赛或是一次辩论，才能诱使他走出家门。他就是爱与人斗智。现在他已博览群书，不仅读历史，还读哲学与科学。他能争善辩，思路敏捷，说理逻辑严密，批判尖锐辛辣。
But he had good-humour and kindliness; though he took a very human pleasure in victory, hedid not exult in it to your mortification.
但他心地是善良的。当然，每逢胜利他也免不了满腔欢欣与快乐，这是人之常情。不过他并不沾沾自喜，而让别人下不了台。
When first he came to the island he was a big, brawny.fellow, with thick black hair and a blackbeard, of a powerful physique; but gradually his skin became pale and waxy; he grew thin andfrail. It was an odd contradiction in the most logical of men that, though a convinced andimpetuous materialist,he despised the body; he looked upon it as a vile instrument which hecould force to do the spirit's bidding. Neither illness nor lassitude prevented him from going onwith his work. For fourteen years he toiled uluemittingly. He made thousands and thousands ofnotes. He sorted and classified them. Hehad his subjea at his finger ends, and at last was readyto begin. He sat down to write. He died.
当他初到海岛时，个子高大结实，一头浓密的黑发和一把黑胡须，是一个身强力壮的人。但渐渐地他的皮肤日见苍白，人也瘦弱了。尽管他是一个坚定不移的、甚至近于偏激的唯物论者，却不把肉体放在眼里。这在一位最讲究逻辑的人身上，可真是自相矛盾得叫人不可思议。他把肉体视为微不足道的工具，认为他可以驱使肉体去完成精神赋予的使命。病魔和疲劳都不能使他停止工作。整整14年，他埋头苦干，锲而不舍，做了千万条注释，又把这些注释分门别类整理有序。对于自己的主题，他了如指掌，终于万事俱备，他坐下来去写那煌煌巨着。然而他死了。
The body that he, the materialist, had treated so contumeliously took its revenge on him.
这位唯物论者曾极度蔑视肉体，如今肉体对他进行了报复。
That vast accumulation of knowledge is lost for ever. Vain was that ambition,surely not anignoble one, to set his name beside those of -Gibbon and Mommsen . His memory is treasuredin the hearts of a few friends, fewer,alas! as the years pass on, and to the world he isunknown in death as he was in life.
那长年累月积累起来的知识也随着他的死而化为乌有。他曾想与吉本和蒙森齐名。这雄心无疑是高尚的，然而如今只是一场空。几个朋友还怀念着他，可叹的是，随着岁月的流逝，记得他的人也越来越少。在这个大干世界上，他死后默默无闻，犹如他生前一样。
And yet to me his life was a success. The pattern is good and complete. Hedid what he wanted,and he died when his goal was in sight and never knew the bitterness of an end achieved.
然而，在我看来，他的一生是成功的。他的生活道路是完美的。因为他干了他想干的事。当目标在望时，他与世长辞，因而也就幸免了达到目标后的心酸与痛苦。
晨读英语散文：琴匣子中的生趣
The turning point of my life was my decision to give up a promising business career and studymusic. My parents, although sympathetic, and sharing my love of music, disapproved of it as aprofession. This was understandable in view of the family background. My grandfather hadtaughtmusic for nearly forty years at Springhill College in Mobile and, though much beloved andrespected in the community, earned barely enough to provide for his large family. My fatheroften said it was only the hardheaded thriftiness of my grandmother that kept the wolf at bay. As a consequence of this example in the family, the very mention of music as a professioncarried with it a picture of a precarious existence with uncertain financial rewards. My parentsinsisted upon college instead of a conservatory of music, and to college I went-quite happily,as I remember, for although Iloved my violin and spent most of my spare time practicing, I hadmany other interests.
我生活的转折点是我决定不做发迹有望的商人而专攻音乐。我父母虽然同情我，也像我一样热爱音乐，却反对我以音乐为职业。考虑到我的家庭情况，他们的这种态度是完全可以理解的。我祖父在莫比尔的斯普林希尔学院教授音乐达40年之久，深受学院师生的热爱和敬重，他的工资却几乎不够维持一大家人的生活。父亲常说若不是祖母精明能干，克勤克俭，一家人非挨饿不可。所以在我们家，只要一提起音乐这个行当，大家就会想起那收入微薄、朝不保夕的苦日子。父母坚持要我上大学，不准我进音乐学院，我也就上了大学。我记得自己当时还挺高兴，因为虽然我热爱小提琴，大部分课余时间都花在练琴上，但我还有许多其他的爱好。
Before my graduation from Columbia, the family met with severe financial reverses and I felt itmy duty to leave college and take a job. Thus was I launched upon a business career-which Ialways think of as the wasted years.
不等尊从哥伦比亚大学毕业，家庭经济严重恶化，我感到自己有责任退学找工作，就这样我投身子商界——事后我每次想起这段经历都觉得是虚度了年华。
Now I do not for a moment mean to disparage business. My whole point is that it was not forme. I went into it for money, and aside from the satisfaction of being able to help the family,money is alll got out of it. It was not enough. I felt that life was passing me by. From beingmerely discontented I became acutely miserable. My one ambition was to save enough toquit and go to Europe to study music.I used to get up at dawn to practice before I left for"downtown," distracting my poor mother by bolting a hasty breakfast at the last minute.Instead of lunching with my business associates, I would seek out some cheap cafe, order ameager meal and scribble my harmony exercises. I continued to make money, and finally, bitby bit, accumulated enough to enable me to go abroad. The family being once more solvent,and my help no longer necessary, I resigned from my position and, feeling like a man releasedfrom jail, sailed for Europe. I stayed four years, worked harder than I had ever dreamed ofworking before and enjoyed every minute of it.
我从来无意贬低经商，我的意思是它不适合我。我经商只是为了挣钱。除了能补贴家用给我带来一点满足以外，我从这项职业得到的唯一东西就是钱。这是不够的。我感到年华似水从我身边流走。对职业的不满使我痛苦不堪。我唯一的抱负就是积攒足够的钱，然后改行，到欧洲去学音乐。于是，我天天黎明即起，练习小提琴，再去“商业区”上班，几乎来不及囫囵吞下仓促准备的早餐，搞得我可怜的妈妈惶恐不安。我不与商界同事共进午餐，总爱找个便宜的餐馆，随便混上一顿，信手写些和声练习曲.。我不停地挣钱，终于，一分一分地攒够了出国的钱。这时，家庭经济情况也好转了，不再需要我的帮助。我辞去商务，感到自己像出狱的犯人一样自由，乘船去了欧洲，一去就是四年。我学习要比从前想象的刻苦得多，然而生活得很快乐。
"Enjoyed" is too mild a word. I walked on air. I really lived. I was a freeman and I was doingwhat I loved to do and what I was meant to do.
“快乐”一词还不足以表达我的心情。我是乐不可支，飘飘欲仙了。我过着真正的生活。我是个自由人，做我爱做的、命中注定要做的事情。
If I had stayed in business I might be a comparatively wealthy man today, but I do not believeI would have made a success of living. I would have given up all those intangibles, those innersatisfactions that money can never buy, and that are too often sacrificed when a man'sprimary goal is finanaal success.
假如我一直经商，今天可能已经成了一个相当富有的人，但我认为我那时的生活并没有带来成功;为了金钱我可能放弃了一切无形的东西，放弃了精神上的种种乐趣，那是金钱永远买不来的，一个人要是把获取金钱当做主要的奋斗目标，他的精神乐趣就常常被牺牲了。
When I broke away from business it was against the advice of practically all my friends andfamily. So conditioned are most of us to the association of success with money that thethought of giving up a good salary for an idea seemed little short of insane. If so, all I can say is'Gee , it's great to be crazy."
我毅然脱离商业，几乎违背了所有的亲友的劝告。我们大多数人习惯把成功与金钱连在一起。那种为理想而放弃高薪的念头简直会被人认为是疯子的念头。如果真是如此，我倒要说一声：“咦!疯子真了不起!”
Money is a wonderful thing, but it is possible to pay too high a price for it.
下面是我为大家带来英语晨读经典美文，希望大家喜欢!
英语晨读经典美文：窗口
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the ftuid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.
两个病重的男人住在同一间病房。其中一个每天下午需要在床上坐起来一个小时，以便排出肺部的流质食物。他的床靠着这间房子的唯一一扇窗户。另一个人则只能平躺在床上度日。
The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military anda whole lot of things. Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.
他们能连续说上好几个小时的话。他们谈论各自的妻子和家人、他们的家、他们的工作、他们参军的经历，还有好多其他的事情。每天下午，当靠着窗户的那个人能坐起来的时候，他总是向他的室友描绘他看到的窗外发生的所有事情。
The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color ofthe world outside.
睡在另一张床上的人开始盼望着那些—小时的生活。每当那时，他的生活就会因窗外的一切活动和多姿多彩而感到开阔和愉快。
The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.
从窗口望去是一个公园，里面有一个可爱的池塘。鸭子和天鹅在水中嬉戏，孩子们则在划模型船，年轻的恋人手挽手在绚丽多彩的花丛中散步，远处是城市地平线上美丽的风景。
As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.
靠窗的这个人用优美的语言详细描绘这些的时候，房子另一端的那个人就会闭上眼睛想象那些栩栩如生的情景。
One warm aftemoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window pojrtrayed it with descriptive words.
一个温和的下午，窗口的那个人描绘了经过此处的阅兵。尽管另一个人听不到乐队演奏，但他却能看到。当窗口那个人用生动的语言描绘的时候，他则用心在看。
Days and weeks passed. one morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for theirbaths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.
一天天过去了’一周周过去了。一天早晨，当值白班的护士为他们提来洗澡水，看到的却是窗口那个男人的尸体，他已经在睡梦中安然去世了.她很悲伤，便叫医院的值班人员把尸体抬走了。
As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.
一到合适的时机，另一个人便问他能否搬到窗口那儿去。护士很乐意为他作了调换，在确信他觉得舒适后，就离开了。
Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. He strained to slowly tum to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.
缓慢地痛苦地，他用一个胳膊肘支撑着自己起来，想第一次亲眼看看外面的真实世界。他竭尽全力慢慢地朝床边的窗口望去看到的却只是一面墙。
The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate to have described such wonderful things outside this window.The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see thewall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."
这个人问护士是什么促使他过世的室友描绘出窗外那么丰富的世界的。护士回答说，那个人是个盲人，甚至连墙都看不见。她说：“也许他只是想鼓励你。”
英语晨读经典美文：生命中小小的一部分
When he told me he was leaving I felt like a vase which has just smashed. There were pieces of me all over the tidy, tan tiles. He kept talking, telling me why he was leaving, explaining it was for the best, I could do better, it was his fault and not mine. I had heard it before many times and yet somehow was still not immune; perhaps one did not become immune to such blow.
当他告诉我他要离开的时候，我感觉自己就像花瓶裂成了碎片，跌落在干净的茶色瓷砖地板上。他一直在说话，解释着为什么要离开，说什么这是最好的选择，我可以做得更好，都是他的错，与我无关。虽然这些话我已经听上好几千遍了，可每次听完都让我很受伤，或许在这样巨大的打击面前没有人能做到无动于衷。
He left and I tried to get on with my life, I filled the kettle and put it on to boil, I took out my old red mug and filled it with coffee watching as each coffee granule slipped in to the mug. That was what my life had been like, endless omissions of coffee granules, somehow never managing to make that cup of coffee.
他走了，我尝试着继续过自己的生活。我把水壶装满水烧上，取出我那只红色的旧马克杯，倒入咖啡，看着咖啡粉末一点点地落A杯子里。这正是我现在生活的鲜活写照，不断地往下掉咖啡粉末，却从来没有真正地泡成一杯咖啡。
Somehow when the kettle piped its finishing waming I pretended not to hear it. That's what Mike's leaving had been like, sudden and with an awful finality. I would rather just wallow in uncertainty than have things finished.I laughed at myself. Imagine geffing all philosophical and sentimental about a mug of coffee. I must be getting old.
水开了，水壶发出警报声，我假装没有听见。迈克的离去也是一样，突如其来，并且无可挽回。要知道，我宁愿忍受分与不分的煎熬，也不愿意以这样的方式被宣判“死刑”。想着想着我就哑然失笑，自己竟然为一杯咖啡有如此多的人生感怀，我自己一定是老了。
And yet it was a young woman who stared back at me from the mirror. A young woman full of promise and hope, a young woman with bright eyes and full lips just waiting to take on the world. I never loved Mike anyway. Besides there are more important things. More important than love, I insist to myselffirmly. The lid goes back on the coffee just like closure on the whole Mike experience.
可镜子里回瞪着我的那个女孩还是那么年轻啊!她明目皓齿，充满了前途与希望，光明的未来在向她招手。没关系的，反正我也从来没有爱过迈克。何况，生命中还有比爱更重要的东西在等待着我，我对自己坚持说。我将咖啡罐的盖子盖好，也将所有关于迈克的记忆尘封起来。
He doesn't haunt my dreams as I feared that night. Instead I am flying far across fields and woods, looking down on those below me.Suddenly I fall to the ground and it is only when I wake up that I realize I was shot by a hunter, brought down by the burden of not the bullet but the soul of the man who shot it. I realize later, with some degree of understanding, that Mike was the hunter holding me down and I am the bird that longs to fly. The next rught my dream is similar to the previous
nights, but without the hunter.I fly free until I meet another bird who flies with me in perfect harmony. I realize with some relief that there is a bird out there for me, there is another person, not necessarily a lover perhaps just a friend, but there is someone out there who is my soul mate. I think about being a broken vase again and realize that I have glued myself back together, what Mike has is merely a little part of my time in earth, a little understanding of my physicalbeing. He has only, a little piece ofme.
那天晚上，出乎意料的是，他并没有进入到我的梦中。在梦里，我飞过田野和森林，俯瞰着大地。突然间，我掉了下来……醒来后才发现原来自己被猎人打中了，但是令我坠落的不是他的子弹，而是他的灵魂。我后来才渐渐明白，原来迈克就是那个使我坠落的猎人，而我是那只渴望飞翔的小鸟。到了第二天晚上，我仍然做了类似的梦，但是猎人不见了，我—直在自由地飞翔，直到遇上另外一只小鸟和我比翼双飞。我开始意识到，总有那么一只鸟，那么一个人在前面等我，这个人可能是我的爱人，可能只是朋友，但一定是知我懂我的人，这令我感觉如释重负。我想起自己曾经觉得像花瓶一样裂开了，这才意识到原来自己已经把自己修理好了.迈克只是我生命过程中的小小过客，他仅仅了解我的表面而已，他仅仅是我生命中小小的一部分
学习英语就要多阅读英语文章，才能提高我们的'英语认知能力，下面请看英语的晨读美文！欢迎阅读！
In 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 reconstruction will 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.”
My 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.
One 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 wings, 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 wave that 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.
Half 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 face when 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.
保持晨读的良好习惯，是提高 英语阅读 水平的最好 方法 ，下面是我为大家带来三篇英语经典晨读美文，希望大家喜欢!
I think that, from a biological standpoint, human life almost reads like a poem.
我以为，从生物学角度看，人的一生恰如诗歌。
It has its own rhythm and beat, its internal cycles of growth and decay.
人生自有其韵律和节奏，自有内在的生成与衰亡。
No one can say that a life with childhood, manhood and old age is not a beautiful arrangement;
人生有童年、少年和老年，谁也不能否认这是一种美好的安排，
the day has its morning, noon and sunset, and the year has its seasons, and it is good
一天要有清晨、正午和日落，一年要有四季之分，如此才好。
that it is so. There is no good or bad in life, except what is good according to its own season.
人生本无好坏之分，只是各个季节有各自的好处。
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.
如若我们持此种生物学的观点，并循着季节去生活，除了狂妄自大的傻瓜和无可救药的理想主义者，谁能说人生不能像诗一般度过呢。
Wherever you are, and whoever you maybe, there is one thing in which you and I are just alike at this moment, 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, everyday. Even when our position and our character seem to remain precisely the same, they are changing. For the mere advance 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 childish in the man.
无论你在何处，无论你是何人，此刻，而且在我们生命的每时每刻，你与我有一点是类似的。我们不是在休息，我们在旅途中。生命是一种运动，一种趋势，一个稳步、持续的通往一个未知目标的过程。每天，我们都在获得，或失去。尽管我们的地位和性格看起来好像一点都没变，但是它们在变化。因为时光的流逝本身是一种变化。在一月和七月拥有一片贫瘠的土地是不同的，是季节本身带来了变化。孩童时可爱的缺点到了成人时便成了幼稚。
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.
我们做的每件事都是迈向一个或另外一个方向，甚至“什么都没做”本身也是一种行为，它让我们前进或倒退。一棵磁针的阴极的作用与阳极是一样的。拒绝即接受??接受反面。
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 lunched 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.
你今天比昨天更加接近你的目标了吗?是的，你肯定是离一个或另一个码头或更近一些了。因为自从你的小船从生命的海洋上启航时，你没有哪一刻是停止的。大海是这样深，你想抛锚时找不到地方。在你驶入码头之前，你不可能停留。
How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people—first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. I am strongly drawn to a frugal life and am often oppressively aware that I am engrossing an undue amount of the labor of my fellowmen. I regard class distinctions as unjustified and, in the last resort, based on force. I also believe that a simple and unassuming life is good for everybody, physically and mentally.
我们这些肉体凡胎是多么奇怪啊!每个人来到这个世上都只作短暂停留，究竟为了什么目的却无从知晓，虽然有时觉得自己好像有所感悟。但是，无需深入思考，仅从日常生活就可明白，人是为他人而存在的——首先是为这样一些人：他们的欢笑、健康和福祉与我们的幸福息息相关;其次是为那些为数众多的陌生人，因为同情他们，使得我们与他们的命运联系在了一起。每一天，我都上百次地提醒自己，我的精神和物质生活都是建立在他人(包括生者和死者)的劳动基础上，对于我已经得到和正在得到的一切，我必须尽力给以相同程度的回报。我深深向往一种俭朴的生活，由于经常意识到自己占用了同胞太多的劳动而心有不安。我认为阶级区分是不正当的，其最终的达成方式常常诉诸暴力。我还认为，无论是在身体上还是心理上，过一种简单而不铺张浪费的生活对每个人都有好处。
I do not at all believe in human freedom in the philosophical sense. Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity. Schopenhauer’s saying, “A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants,” has been a very real inspiration to me since my youth; it has been a continual consolation in the face of life’s hardships, my own and others’, and an unfailing wellspring of tolerance. This realization mercifully mitigates the easily paralyzing sense of responsibility and prevents us from taking ourselves and other people all too seriously; it is conducive to a view of life which, in particular, gives humor its due. 我完全不相信哲学意义上的人的自由。每个人的行为不仅受外在力量的约束，还要与内在需求协调一致。叔本华说：“人可以任意而为，却不能心想事成。”这句话从我年轻时起就一直深深地启发着我。在面对生活的艰辛时——无论是我自己还是他人的艰辛，这句话总能不断地给我安慰，成为永不枯竭的忍耐的源泉。这一认识能够仁慈地缓和那份令人几欲崩溃的责任感，并防止我们太把自己或者他人当回事，还有助于形成一种尤其幽默的人生观。
