英语经典美文诵读

经典美文,经得起时间的考验,被历史证明是最有价值、最重要的文化精髓,思想宏远,构思巧妙,语言精美。我精心收集了3分钟英语美文，供大家欣赏学习!

Shocking Bill

触目惊心的账单

A young man had a new girlfriend,whom he wanted to impress

一年轻人新交了一位女朋友，为了给她留下好的印象

so he invited her to go to a world-famous restaurant with him one evening.

一天晚上他邀请女朋友去世界闻名的饭店吃饭。

They dined wonderfully and had numerous drinks;

他们吃了顿丰盛的饭菜并且还喝了各种各样的饮料。

they danced until midnight,and there was fine musical entertainment.

伴随着一场优雅的音乐会，他们跳舞一直到深夜。

The girl enjoyed the entire evening,

女孩整个晚上玩的很尽兴。

and was suitably impressed by everything she saw,

她所看到的一切，给她留下了深刻的印象，

including several film stars.

包括看到的几个影星。

Then the waiter brought the bill at the end of the evening,

这时，服务员拿来了这天晚上的消费的账单。

and when the young man saw how much he had to pay,

但年轻人看到账单时，

he was so shocked by the total that he went as white as a sheet.

他被账单上的数目惊呆了，脸色苍白。

The helpful waiter, who was watching his face,

服务员注视着他的脸，

thought he might be going to faint,

他认为这个年轻人要晕倒了。

so he quickly poured out a glass of ice cold water

于是，他拿来一杯冰水

and emptied it over the young man's head

泼在年轻人的头上，

Then he took the bill back and added to it:Iced water-- 50 cents.

然后他又拿来账单，并在上面加上:"冰水，50便士。"

Love and Time

爱和时间

Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived:

从前，有一个岛屿上住着所有的感情：

Happiness,Sadness, Knowledge,and all of the others, including Love.

快乐，悲伤，知识，还有包括爱在内的所有其他所有情感。

One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink,

一天他们得到消息说这个岛屿将要沉没，

so all constructed boats and left. Except for love.

除了爱以外，他们都修建了船只，打算离开。

Love was the only one who stayed.

只有爱无动于衷，

Love wanted to hold out until the last possible moment.

她想在最后一刻才离开

When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.

当岛屿几乎沉没的时候爱决定寻求帮助。

Richness was passing by Love in a grand boat.

富裕乘着一艘巨轮从爱身旁经过，

Love said,"Richness, can you take me with you?"

爱问:"富裕，你能带上我吗?"

Richness answered,"No,I can't.There is a lot of gold and silver in my boat.

富裕回答说:"不行，我的船上有很多金银珠宝

There is no place here for you."

没地方留给你了。"

Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel.

爱决定求助于空虚，他正坐在一艘漂亮的船上。

"Vanity,please help me!"

"空虚，请帮帮我。"

"I can't help you, Love.You are all wet and might damage my boat,Vanity answered

"我帮不了你，爱，你全身湿淋淋的会毁了我的船的。"空虚回答说。

Sadness was close by so Love asked,"Sadness,let me go with you."

悲伤走了过来，于是爱问:"悲伤，让我和你一块走吧?"

"Oh...Love,I am so sad that I need to be by myself!"

"噢......爱，我很难过想一个人呆着!"

Happiness passed by Love,too,

快乐也从爱身边经过，

but she was so happy that she did not even hear when Love called her.

她太高兴了竟然没有听到爱叫她。

Suddenly,there was a voice,"Come,Love, I will take you." It was an elder.

忽然，传来一个声音:来吧，爱，我载你。"是位老人。

So blessed and overjoyed,

爱是那么欣喜若狂，

Love even forgot to ask the elder where they were going.

竟忘记了问老人他们要去哪儿。

When they arrived at dry land,the elder went her own way.

到了一块干地后，老人放下爱独自走了。

Realizing how much was owed the elder,

意识到自己亏欠老人很多时，

Love asked Knowledge another elder,"Who helped me?

爱问另一位叫知识的老人:"帮我的是谁?"

"It was Time." Knowledge answered.

"是时间。"知识回答。

"Time?"asked Love."But why did Time help me?"

"时间?"爱问，"为什么时间要帮我?"

Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and answered,

知识意味深长地笑笑说:

"Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is."

"因为只有时间才懂得爱有多么珍贵。"

At the Post Office

在邮局

This was what happened to a Frenchman who lived in England

这是一个发生在居住英国的

and didn't know English very well.

而英语不太好的法国人身上的故事。

One day,he went into a post office with his letter.

一天他去邮局寄信

He bought a stamp and gave it together with his letter,

他买了一张邮票，将邮票和信一起

to the girl at the counter.

交给了柜台前的小姐。

"Oh,no."the girl said,"You must stick the stamp on yourself."

"哦，不，"小姐说，"你必须自己贴上邮票。"

The Frenchman was very surprised.He could not believe his ears.

这个法国人非常惊讶，他不相信自己的耳朵。

He said,"I want to post my letter,not myself.

他说:"我要寄的是信，而不是我自己。

Why must I stick the stamp on myself?"The girl smiled and answered,

为什么要在我自己身上贴上邮票?"

"I mean that you must stick the stamp on the envelope and must do it yourself

小姐笑着说:"我的意思是你必须自己把邮票贴在信封上。"

美文是不可或缺的存在,阅读的时候感动心灵,能够看到最真实的自己,感受最贴切的温暖。下面我整理了英语经典美文，希望大家喜欢!

The Thing I Value Most

我最珍视的东西

It has been somtimes since Jack has seen the old man.College,girls ,career,and life itself got in the way.In fact,Jack moved clear crossed the country and persuit his dreams .There, in the rush of his busy life, Jack had little time to think about the past and often no time to spend with his wife and son. He was working on his future and nothing could stop him.

杰克已经有段时间没有见过老人了。大学,女孩,事业和生活占据了所以时间。事实上,杰克搬离了乡村去追逐 他的梦想。在匆忙的生活中，杰克几乎没时间回忆过去，也经常没时间陪妻子和儿子。他正在为他的将来努力奋斗，没有什么可以阻挡他的脚步。

Over the phone his mother told him, "Mr. Belser died last night. The funeral is Wednesday."

电话里妈妈对他说，“贝尔瑟先生昨晚去世了，葬礼在周三举行。”

Memories flashed through his mind like an old newsreel.

往事像新闻影片一样闪过他的头脑。

"Jack, did you hear me?"

“杰克，听见我说话了吗?”

"Oh sorry, Mom. Yes, I heard you. It's been so long since I thought of him." Jack said.

“啊，对不起，妈妈。听见了。我已经好长时间没有想到过他了。”杰克说。

"Well, he didn't forget you. Every time I saw him he'd ask how you were doing. He'd reminisce about the many days you spent with him," Mom told him. “

但是，他可从没忘记你。每次我见到他，他都问起你最近的情况。他会回忆起和你一起度过的许多日子。”妈妈说道。

"He spent a lot of time teaching me things he thought were important… Mom, I'll be there for the funeral," Jack said. “

他花了很多时间来教我学习那些他认为重要的东西…妈妈，我会回去参加他的葬礼的。”杰克说。

Jack kept his word and attended Mr. Belser's funeral.

杰克履行了他的诺言，参加了贝尔瑟先生的葬礼。

The night before he returned home Jack and his Mom went to see Mr. Belser's old house one more time.

在回去的前一天晚上，杰克和他的妈妈又一次来到了贝尔瑟先生的老房子。

Standing in the doorway Jack paused for a moment. It was like crossing over into another dimension, a leap through space and time. Every step held memories. Every picture, every piece of furniture...Jack stopped suddenly.

杰克在门口站了一会儿。那种感觉就像是穿越时空、回到了从前。每一个台阶都盛满了回忆。每张照片，每件家具…突然，杰克停了下来。

"What's wrong, Jack?" his Mom asked.

“怎么了，杰克?”妈妈问。

"The box is gone," he said.

“那个盒子不见了。”他说。

"What box?" Mom asked.

“什么盒子?”妈妈问。

"There was a small gold box that he kept locked on top of his desk. I must have asked him a thousand times what was inside. All he'd ever tell me was, 'The thing I value most.' Now I'll never know what was so valuable to him," Jack said.

“在他的桌子上面，放着一个小小的，总是上着锁的金盒子。我问过他无数次那盒子里面有什么东西。他总是告诉我说‘那是我最珍视的东西’。我现在永远也没法知道他最珍视的是什么东西了。”杰克说。

It had been about two weeks since Mr. Belser died. One day Jack discovered a parcel list in his mailbox.

贝尔瑟先生去世两周后的一天，杰克在邮箱里发现了一张包裹单。

Early the next day Jack retrieved the package. The handwriting was difficult to read, but the return address caught his attention. Mr. Harold Belser," it read.

第二天一大早，杰克取回了包裹。包裹上的字迹很难辨认，但是寄信人地址却吸引了他的注意："哈罗德o贝尔瑟先生。

Jack tore it open. There inside was the gold box and an envelope. Jack's hands shook as he read the note inside.

杰克拆开了包裹，里边是那个金盒子，还有一封信。看着信的内容，杰克的手颤抖了。

"Upon my death please forward this box to Jack Bennett. It's the thing I value most in my life." His heart raced as tears filled his eyes. Jack carefully unlocked the box. There inside he found a beautiful gold pocket watch.

“在我死后，请把这个盒子转交给杰克?贝内特。这是我一生中最珍视的东西。"杰克的心跳加快，眼里噙满了泪水。他小心翼翼地打开盒子，里面是一块漂亮的金怀表。

He opened the cover. Inside he found these words engraved: "Jack, Thanks for your time! — Harold Belser."

他打开了表盖，里面刻着下面的文字：“杰克，感谢和你在一起的时间!哈罗德?贝尔瑟”。

"The thing he valued most...was...my time."

他最珍视的东西…是…我的时间。”

Jack held the watch for a few minutes, then called his office and cleared his appointments for the next two days…he needed some time to spend with his wife and son.

杰克拿着表想了一会儿，然后给办公室打了电话，把接下来两天的工作预约全部取消了。他需要一点儿时间陪妻子和儿子。

You 超凡卓越的你

Consider… YOU. In all time before now and in all time to come, there has never been and will never be anyone just like you. You are unique in the entire history and future of the universe. Wow! Stop and think about that. You're better than one in a million, or a billion, or a gazillion…

试想一下……你!一个空前绝后的你，不论是以往还是将来都不会有一个跟你一模一样的人。你在历史上和宇宙中都是独一无二的。哇!想想吧，你是万里挑一、亿里挑一、兆里挑一的。

You are the only one like you in a sea of infinity!!!

在无穷无尽的宇宙中，你是举世无双的!!!

You're amazing! You're awesome! And by the way, TAG, you're it. As amazing and awesome as you already are, you can be even more so. Beautiful young people are the whimsey of nature, but beautiful old people are true works of art. But you don't become "beautiful" just by virtue of the aging process.

你是了不起的!你是卓越的!没错，就是你。你已经是了不起的，是卓越的，你还可以更卓越更了不起。美丽的年轻人是大自然的奇想，而美丽的老人却是艺术的杰作。但你不会因为年龄的渐长就自然而然地变得“美丽”。

Real beauty comes from learning, growing, and loving in the ways of life. That is the Art of Life. You can learn slowly, and sometimes painfully, by just waiting for life to happen to you. Or you can choose to accelerate your growth and intentionally devour life and all it offers. You are the artist that paints your future with the brush of today.Paint a Masterpiece.

真正的美丽源于生命里的学习、成长和热爱。这就是生命的艺术。你可以只听天由命,慢慢地学，有时候或许会很痛苦。又或许你可以选择加速自己的成长，故意地挥霍生活及其提供的一切。你就是手握今日之刷描绘自己未来的艺术家。画出一幅杰作吧!

God gives every bird its food, but he doesn't throw it into its nest. Wherever you want to go, whatever you want to do, it's truly up to you.

上帝给了鸟儿食物，但他没有将食物扔到它们的巢里。不管你想要去哪里，不管你想要做什么，真正做决定的还是你自己。

Reflections on Life

人生凝眸

You are the only one in a sea of infinity!

在无穷无尽有宇宙中，你是独一无二的。

Your dearest possession is life, and it is given to you but once.

你所拥有的一切中最宝贵的便是生命，而属于你的生命只有这一次。

Life gives every one his opportunities, but it doesn't send them into his hands.

生命给每个人提供了机遇送到他手里。

Wherever you want to go, whatever you want to do, it's truly up to you.

不管你想要去哪里，想要做什么，真正做决定的还是你自己。

You are the artist that paints your future with the brush of today!

你就是手握今日之画笔描绘自己未来的艺术家。