十分钟英语美文

if i were a boy againand gentle as courage, nothing so cruel and pitiless as cowardice,” syas a wise author. we too often borrow trouble, and anticipate that may never appear.” he fear of ill exceeds the ill we fear.” dangers will arise in any career, but presence of mind will often conquer the worst of them. be prepared for any fate, and there is no harm to be freared. if i were a boy again, i would look on the cheerful side. life is very much like a mirror if you smile upon it, i smiles back upon you; but if you frown and look doubtful on it, you will get a similar look in return. inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owner, but of all that come in contact with it. “ who shuts love out ,in turn shall be shut out from love.” if i were a boy again, i would school myself to say no more often. might write pages on the importance of learning very early in life to gain that point where a young boy can stand erect, and decline doing an unworthy act because it is unworthy. if i were a boy again, i would demand of myself more courtesy towards my companions and friends, and indeed towards strangers as well.the mallest courtesies along the rough roads of life are like the little birds that sing to us all winter long, and make that season of ice and snow more endurable. finally, instead of trying hard to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, i would , if i were a boy again, i would still try harder to make others happy. 假如我又回到了童年，我就要培养勇气。一位明智的作家曾说过：“世上没有东西比勇气更温文尔雅，也没有东西比懦怯更残酷无情。” 我们常常过多地自寻烦恼，杞人忧天。“怕祸害比祸害本身更可怕。”凡事都有危险，但镇定沉着往往能克服最严重的危险。对一切祸福做好准备，那么就没有什么灾难可以害怕的了。 假如我又回到了童年，我就要事事乐观。生活犹如一面镜子：你朝它笑，它也朝你笑；如果你双眉紧锁，向它投以怀疑的目光，它也将还以你同样的目光。 内心的欢乐不仅温暖了欢乐者自己的心，也温暖了所有与之接触者的心。“谁拒爱于门外，也必将被爱拒诸门外。” 假如我又回到了童年，我就要养成经常说“不”字的习惯。一个少年要能挺得起腰，拒绝做不应该做的事，就因为这事不值得做。我可以写上好几页谈谈早年培养这一点的重要性。 假如我又回到了童年，我就要要求自己对伙伴和朋友更加礼貌，而且对陌生人也应如此。在坎坷的生活道路上，最细小的礼貌犹如在漫长的冬天为我们歌唱的小鸟，那歌声使冰天雪地的寒冬变得较易忍受。 最后，假如我又回到了童年，我不会力图为自己谋幸福，好像这就是人生唯一的目的；与之相反，我要更努力为他人谋幸福。three days to see 假如拥有三天光明 helen keller海伦.凯勒 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 twenty-four hours, but always we were interested in discovering just how the doomed man 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 up thinking, wondering what we should do under similar circumstances. what associations should we crowd into those last hours as mortal beings what happiness should we find in reviewing the past, 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 a gentleness, a 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 come. there are those, of course, who would adopt the epicurean motto of “eat, drink, and be merry,” most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death. 我们都读过这样一些动人的故事，故事里主人公将不久于人世。长则一年，短则24小时。但是我们总是很想知道这个即将离开人世的人是决定怎样度过他最后的日子的。当然，我所指的是有权作出选择的自由人，不是那些活动范围受到严格限制的死囚。 这一类故事会使我们思考在类似的处境下，我们自己该做些什么？在那临终前的几个小时里我们会产生哪些联想？会有多少欣慰和遗憾呢？ 有时我想，把每天都当作生命的最后一天来度过也不失为一个很好的生命法则。这种人生态度使人非常重视人生的价值。每一天我们都应该以和善的态度、充沛的精力和热情的欣赏来度过，而这些恰恰是在来日方长时往往被我们忽视的东西。当然，有这样一些人奉行享乐主义的座右铭——吃喝玩乐，但是大多数人却不能摆脱死亡来临的恐惧。most of us 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 task, hardly aware of our listless attitude towards life. the same lethargy, i am afraid, characterizes the use of 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 adult 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 sound hazily, without concentration, and with little appreciation. it is the same old story of not being grateful for what we 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 adult life. darkness would make him more appreciative of sight; silence would teach him the joys of sound. now and then i have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. recently i was visited by a very good friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and i asked her what she had observed. “nothing in particular,” she replied. i might have been incredulous had i not been accustomed to such responses, for long ago i became convinced that the seeing see little. 我们大多数人认为生命理所当然，我们明白总有一天我们会死去，但是我们常常把这一天看得非常遥远。当我们身体强壮时，死亡便成了难以相象的事情了。我们很少会考虑它，日子一天天过去，好像没有尽头。所以我们为琐事奔波，并没有意识到我们对待生活的态度是冷漠的。 我想我们在运用我们所有五官时恐怕也同样是冷漠的。只有聋子才珍惜听力，只有盲人才能认识到能见光明的幸运。对于那些成年致盲或失陪的人来说尤其如此。但是那些听力或视力从未遭受损失的人却很少充分利用这些幸运的能力，他们对所见所闻不关注、不欣赏。这与常说的不失去不懂得珍贵，不生病不知道健康可贵的道理是一样的。 我常想如果每一个人在他成年的早些时候，有几天成为了聋子或瞎子也不失为一件幸事。黑暗将使他更珍惜光明；沉寂将教他知道声音的乐趣。 有时我会试探我的非盲的朋友们，想知道他们看见了什么。最近我的一位非常要好的朋友来看我，她刚刚在树林里走了很长时间，我问她看见了什么。“没什么特别的，”她回答说。如不是我早已习惯了这样的回答，我也许不会轻易相信，因为很久以前我就相信了有眼人看不见什么。genius at work 天才在工作 henry ford didn’t always pay attention in school. one day ,he and a friend took a watch apart. angry and upset, the teacher told him both to stay after school. their punishment was to stay until they had fixed the watch. but the teacher did not know young ford’s genius. in ten minutes, this mechanical wizard had repaired the watch and was on this way home.. ford was always interested in how things worked. he once plugged up the spout of a teapot and placed it on the fire. then he waited to see what would happen. the water boiled and, of course, turned to steam. since the steam had no way to escape, the teapot exploded. the explosion cracked a mirror and broke a window. the young inventor was badly scalded ford’s year of curiosity and tinkering paid off. he dreamed of a horseless carriage. when he built one, the world of transportation was changed forever. 亨利.福特在学校里常常心不在焉。有一天，他和一个小朋友把一块手表拆开了。老师很生气，让他们放学后留下来，把表修好才能回家。当时这位老师并不知道小福特的天才。只用了十分钟，这位机械奇才就把手表修好，走在回家的路上了。 福特对各种东西的工作原理总是很感兴趣。曾有一次，他把茶壶嘴用东西堵住，然后把茶壶放在火炉上。他便站在一边等候着会出现什么情况。当然，水开后变成了水蒸气。因为水蒸气无处逸出，茶壶便爆炸了，因而打碎了一面镜子和一扇窗户。这个小发明家也被严重地烫伤了。 多年后，福特的好奇心和他的动手能力使他得到了回报。他曾经梦想着去制造一辆无马行进的车。他造成了一辆这样的车后，运输界发生了永久性的变化。love your life 热爱生活 henry david thoreau/享利.大卫.梭罗 however mean your life is,meet it and live it ;do not shun it and call it hard names.it is not so bad as you are.it looks poorest when you are richest.the fault-finder will find faults in paradise.love your life,poor as it is.you may perhaps have some pleasant,thrilling,glorious hourss,even in a poor-house.the setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man's abode;the snow melts before its door as early in the spring.i do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there,and have as cheering thoughts,as in a palace.the town's poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any.may be they are simply great enough to receive without misgiving.most think that they are above being supported by the town;but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means.which should be more disreputable.cultivate poverty like a garden herb,like sage.do not trouble yourself much to get new things,whether clothes or friends,turn the old,return to them.things do not change;we change.sell your clothes and keep your thoughts. 不论你的生活如何卑贱，你要面对它生活，不要躲避它，更别用恶言咒骂它。它不像你那样坏。你最富有的时候，倒是看似最穷。爱找缺点的人就是到天堂里也能找到缺点。你要爱你的生活，尽管它贫穷。甚至在一个济贫院里，你也还有愉快、高兴、光荣的时候。夕阳反射在济贫院的窗上，像身在富户人家窗上一样光亮；在那门前，积雪同在早春融化。我只看到，一个从容的人，在哪里也像在皇宫中一样，生活得心满意足而富有愉快的思想。城镇中的穷人，我看，倒往往是过着最独立不羁的生活。也许因为他们很伟大，所以受之无愧。大多数人以为他们是超然的，不靠城镇来支援他们；可是事实上他们是往往利用了不正当的手段来对付生活，他们是毫不超脱的，毋宁是不体面的。视贫穷如园中之花而像圣人一样耕植它吧！不要找新的花样，无论是新的朋友或新的衣服，来麻烦你自己。找旧的，回到那里去。万物不变，是我们在变。你的衣服可以卖掉，但要保留你的思想。the country maid and her milk can 村姑和牛奶罐 a country maid was walking along with a can of milk upon her head,when she fell into the following train of reflections."the money for which i shall sell this milk will enable me to increase my stock of eggs to three hundred,these eggs,allowing for what may prove addle,and what may be destroyed by vermin,will produce at least two hundred and fifty chickens.the chickens will be fit to carry to market just at the time when poultry is always dear;so that by the new year i cannot fail of having money enough to purchase a new gown.green-let me consider-yes,green becomes my complexion best .and green it shall be, in this dress i will go to the fair,where all young fellows will strive to have me for a parter;but no-i shall refuse every one of them,and with a disdainful toss turn from them." transported with this idea,she could not forbear acting with her head the thought that passed in her mind,when down came the can of milk!and all her imaginary happiness vanished in a moment. 一个村姑头上顶着一罐牛奶在路上行走。走着走着，她的脑子里浮现出一连串的幻想：“我卖了这罐牛奶后，用这笔钱买鸡蛋，这样我有的鸡蛋可以增加到300个。用这300个鸡蛋孵小鸡，这就算有坏的、生虫的，至少也能孵出250只小鸡。等小鸡长大后，正好能赶上卖个好市价；那么到了新年，我就能有钱买一件新晚装。买一件绿色的——让我好好想想——对，绿色与我的肤色最相衬。我穿上这件衣服去赶集，所有的年轻小伙子都会抢着邀请我做舞伴；但是不行——我要轻蔑地把头一扬，转身过去不理他们，让他们人人都碰个钉子。 她想得得意忘形，情不自禁地把头一扬，刹那间，牛奶罐跌了下来！她幻想的一切幸福间破灭了。

YouthYouth 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 enthusiasm 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. 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，恢宏的想象，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、勇气和力量的信号，你就青春永驻，风华常存。