著名英语短文片段

阅读经典美文可以丰富学生的知识,巩固学习成果;可以提高学生的阅读能力和写作能力。我精心收集了关于经典英文短文，供大家欣赏学习!

Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and suppleknees; 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 tempera-mental predominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite for adventure over thelove 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 spring back to dust.

Whether 60 or 16, there is in every human being's heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing childlike appetite of 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, cheer, courage and power from men and from the Infinite, so long are you young.

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at 20, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at 80.

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。

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，捕捉乐观信号，你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉年轻。

A punctual person is in the habit of doing a thing at the proper time and is never late in keepingan appointment. The unpunctual man，on one hand，never does what he has to do at theproper time. He is always ina hurry and in the end loses both time and his good name. There isa proverb that says, "Time flies never to be recalled". This is very true. A lost thing may befound again，but lost time can never be regained. Time is more valuable than material things.

In fact，time is life itself. The unpunctual man is for ever wasting and mismanaging his mostvaluable assets as well as the assets of others'. The unpunctual person is always complainingthat he finds no time toanswer letters or return calls or keep appointments promptly. But theman who really has a great deal to do is very careful with his time and seldom complainsbecause he lacks it. He knows that he can not get through his huge amount of work unless hefaithfully attends to every piece of work when it has to be attended to ...

Failure to be punctual in keeping one's appointments is a sign of disrespect towards others. Ifa person is invited to dinner and arrives later than the appointed time，he keeps all the otherguests waiting for him.Usually this will be regarded as a great disrespect to the host and allother guests present. Unpunctuality，moreover，is very harmful when it comes to doing one'sduty，whether public or private. Imagine how it would be if those who are put in charge ofimportant tasks failed to be at their proper place at the appointed time.A man who is known tobe habitually unpunctual is never trusted by his friends or fellow men.And the unpunctual manis a source of annoyance both to others and to himself.

论守时

一个守时的人养成了按时做事的习惯，这样的人言必信，行必果。 另一方面，不守时的人却从不按时完成他应该做的事情。他总是匆匆忙忙的，到头来却既浪费了时间、又败坏了自己的名誉。 有句谚语说道："光阴一去不复返。" 此话千真万确。 一件东西丢了可能找回来，而弄丢了时间可就永远找不回来了。 时间较之财富更加珍贵。

实际上，时间本身就是生命! 因此，那些不守时的人是在不停地浪费自己的宝贵财富，同时也是在浪费他人的珍贵财产。那些不守时的人总是在抱怨，说自己没有时间去写回信、没有时间回电话、或者没有时间按时赴约。 然而那些真正有大量事情要处理的人则会非常仔细地安排时间，很少抱怨说时间不够用。 他们知道，除非自己按时处理好应处理的每一件事情，否则他们是不可能做完这一大堆事情的…… 赴约不守时是对他人极大的不尊重。

如果一个人应邀去参加晚宴，却没有按时出席，就会让其他的客人等他一个人。 这是对主人和其他客人极大的不尊重。 履行义务的时候--无论是公事还是私事--不守时是非常有害的。设想一下，如果把一件重大使命委托给一个不守时的人，结果他没有在恰当的时间和地点完成这项任务，那么结果会怎么样呢? 如果一个人以不守时而"闻名"，他怎么可能得到朋友和同事的信任! 不守时的人既惹别人生气，又弄得自己不快活。

To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and theymust all be real. It is no use starting late in life to say: “I will take an interest in this or that.”Such an attempt only aggravates the strain of mental effort. A man may acquire greatknowledge of topics unconnected with his daily work, and yet hardly get any benefit or relief.It is no use doing what you like; you have got to like what you do. Broadly speaking, humanbeing may be divided into three classes: those who are toiled to death, those who are worriedto death, and those who are bored to death. It is no use offering the manual laborer, tiredout with a hard week’s sweat and effort, the chance of playing a game of football or baseballon Saturday afternoon. It is no use inviting the politician or the professional or businessman, who has been working or worrying about serious things for six days, to work or worryabout trifling things at the weekend.

It may also be said that rational, industrious, useful human beings are divided into twoclasses: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly, thosewhose work and pleasure are one. Of these the former are the majority. They have theircompensations. The long hours in the office or the factory bring with them as their reward, notonly the means of sustenance, but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and mostmodest forms. But Fortune’s favored children belong to the second class.Their life is a naturalharmony. For them the working hours are never long enough. Each day is a holiday,andordinary holidays when they come are grudged as enforced interruptions in an absorbingvacation. Yet to both classes the need of an alternative outlook, of a change of atmosphere, ofa diversion of effort, isessential. Indeed, it may well be that those whose work is their pleasureare those who most need the means of banishing it at intervals from their minds.

工作和娱乐

要想真正生活得幸福和平安，一个人至少应该有两三种业余爱好，而且必须是真正的爱好。到了晚年才开始说“我要培养这个或那个兴趣”是毫无用处的，种这种尝试只会增加精神上的负担。在与自己日常工作无关的领域中，一个人可以获得渊博的知识，但却很难有所收益或得到放松。做自己喜欢的事是无益的，你得喜欢自己所做的事。广而言之，人可以分为三个类别：劳累而死的人，忧虑而死的人和无聊而死的人。对于那些体力劳动者来说，一周辛苦的工作使他们精疾力竭，因此在周六下午给他们提供踢足球或者打棒球的机会是没有意义的。对于政界人士，专业人士或者商人来说，他们已经为棘手的事务操劳或者烦恼了六天，因此在周末请他们为琐事劳神同样毫无意义。

或者可以这么说，理智的，勤奋的，有用的人可以分为两类：对第一类人而言，工作就是工作，娱乐就是娱乐;对于第二类人而言，工作和娱乐是合二为一的。很大一部分人属于前者。他们可以得到相应的补偿。在办公室或工厂里长时间的工作，不仅带给他们维持生计的金钱，还带给他们一种渴求娱乐的强烈欲望，哪怕这种娱乐消遣是以最简单，最淳朴的方式进行的。而第二类人则是命运的宠儿。他们的生活自然而和谐。在他们看来，工作时间永远不够多，每天都是假期;而当正常的假日到来时，他们总会抱怨自己有趣的休假被强行中断。然而，有一些东西对于这两类人来说都十分必要，那就是变换一下视角，改变一下氛围，尝试做点不同的事情。事实上，那些把工作看作娱乐的人可能是需要以某种方式将工作不时地驱赶出自己的大脑。

英语短篇美文欣赏是一种欣赏能力的培养，也是一种提高英语作文能力的途径。以下是我整理的英语短篇美文3篇，供大家学习和品读.

英语美文小短文欣赏篇一

铺满钻石的土地Acres of Diamonds

There was a farmer in Africa who was happy and content. He was happy because he was content. He was content because he was happy.

从前在非洲有一位快乐而满足的农夫。他因满足而快乐，同时也因快乐而感到满足。

One day a wise man came to him and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along them.

有一天，一位智者向他走来并告知他关于钻石的荣耀，以及随之而来权力。

The wise man says, “If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could have your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist you could probably own your own country.” And then he went away.

智者说，“如果你拥有一块拇指般大的钻石，你就能换到一座属于自己的城市;如果你拥有一块拳头般大的钻石，你就可能会拥有一个属于自己的国家。”说完他便离开了。

That night the farmer couldn't sleep. He was unhappy and he was discontent. He was unhappy because he was discontent, and he was discontent because he was unhappy.

那一晚，农夫难以入睡，他开始变得不快乐而且不满足起来。他因不满足而不快乐，同样也因为不快乐而变得不满足。

The next morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm, took care of his family and went in search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all through Europe and couldn’t find any. When he got to Spain, he was emotionally, physically and financially broke. He got so disheartened that he threw himself into the Barcelona River and committed suicide.

第二天早上，他卖掉了自己的农场，安顿好了他的家人便踏上了寻找钻石之路。他寻遍了整个非洲但却一无所获。他找遍整个欧洲还是一无所获。当他到达西班牙的时候，他已精神崩溃、周身疲惫、钱财耗尽。绝望之下，他跳进了巴塞罗那河，自杀了。

Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at a stream that ran through the farm. Across the stream, the rays of the morning sun hit a stone and made it sparkle like a rainbow.

而在他的家乡，买下他农场的那个人此时正在小溪边给骆驼饮水。潺潺的溪水流经了整个农场。清晨的阳光穿过溪水照射在一块石头上，折射的光芒好像是一道彩虹。

He thought it would look good on the mantelpiece. He picked up the stone and put it in the living room. That afternoon the wise man came and saw the stone sparkling. He asked, "Is Hafiz back?"

这人心想：若是将这块石头摆在壁炉架上一定会十分漂亮。于是，他捡起石头并把它放到客厅里。当天下午，那个智者又出现了。他看到闪闪发光的石头，便问道：“哈夫兹(旧主人)回来了吗?”

The new owner said, "No, why do you ask?" The wise man said, "Because that is a diamond. I recognize one when I see one." The man said, "No, that's just a stone I picked up from the stream. Come, I'll show you. There are many more.' They went and picked some samples and sent them for analysis. Sure enough, the stones were diamonds. They found that the farm was indeed covered with acres and acres of diamonds.

新主人回答说：“没有啊!你为什么会这么问?”智者回答道：“因为这石头是一块钻石，我一眼就能识别。”新主人说：“不是!这只是我从溪水中捡起的一块石头。不信，你就跟我来，那里还有好多呢!” 于是两人走到小溪边，捡了一些石头送去验证。毫无疑问，这些石头确实是钻石!他们还发现这整个农场蕴藏着大量的钻石。

英语美文小短文欣赏篇二

你多大年纪how old are you

if we did not know our age, some of us would appear to be very young, and some of us would seem very old.

如果不知道年龄，我们中的某些人会变得很年轻，而某些人会变得苍老。

sometimes, people use age as a convenient excuse. “i am too old to start something new,” or, “i couldn’t learn that at my age.” other people, though, go on to achieve their greatest accomplishments in life in later years.

有时人们只是用年龄作为一个方便的借口。“我太老了，不能从头来过。”或者说：“我这把年纪学不会了。”还有些人能够在生命的后期完成最伟大的成就。

take, for example, colonel harland sanders who started franchising his chicken outlets when he was 65 years old, duanwenw.com up to the age of 90 years old he traveled 250000 miles a year visiting kfc franchises. he didn’t let age stand in his way!

比如桑德斯上校65岁时开始授权推出他的炸鸡，到90岁时仍然每天长途跋涉二十五万英里检查肯德基特许经营店。他不仅克服了自身经营上的困难，更重要的上他没让年龄成为拦路虎。

feeling lead to attitudes, attitudes become beliefs, and beliefs become the basis for actions.

感觉导致态度，态度变成信仰，信仰变成行动的根本。

it is not important how old you are;

多大年纪并不重要

it is how you feel, how you think, duanwenw.com

重要的是你之所想你之所感

and what you do that is important.

以及你之所为

to quote satchel paige, “how old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was?”

撒切尔.佩吉说过：“忘记你多大，你想多大就是多大。”

适合初中生的英语美文篇三

an individual human life should belike a river生命应该像条河

whether sixty or sixteen, there is the desire of wonders, the endless pure desire of what’s next and the joy of the game of living in every human being’s heart.

无论是60岁还是16岁,你都要保持永不衰竭的好奇心、永不熄灭的求知欲和享受在某某心里仍留有一席之地的乐趣。

in the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station: it receives messages of beauty, hope, pleasure, courage and power from men, and all these things keep you young.

在你我的心中有一座无线电台:它能接收到人间万物传递来的美好、希望、欢乐、鼓舞和力量,而所有这些会让你青春焕发。

an individual human life should be like a river —small at first, narrowly contained within its banks and rushing passionately duanwenw.com past rocks and over waterfalls. gradually, the river grows wider and the banks fall back, the water flows more quietly. in the end, without any visible break, they come together in the sea and painlessly lose their individual being.

生命应当像条河,开始是涓涓细流,受两岸的限制而变得狭窄,而后奔腾咆哮,翻过危岩,飞越瀑布;渐渐地河面变得开阔,河岸也随之向两边隐去,最后水流平缓,汇入大海之中,个人就这样毫无痛苦地消失了。

youth means courage over shyness and the adventurous spirit of deserting the love of ease. duanwenw.com this often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. 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 passion wrinkles the soul. worry, fear and self-distrust bow the heart and turn the spirit back into dust.

青春意味着战胜懦弱胆小的勇气和摒弃安逸的冒险精神。往往一个60岁的老者比一个20岁的青年更多一点这种劲头。人老不仅仅是岁月流逝所致,更主要的是不思进取的结果。光阴可以在肌肤上留下印记,而热情之火的熄灭则在心灵上刻下皱纹。烦恼、恐惧、缺乏自信会扭曲人的灵魂,并将青春化为灰烬!