英语美文中长篇

语文学教学不应局限于英美文学,应研究和评介各英语国家的优秀作家和作品。下面是我带来的英语长篇美文阅读，欢迎阅读!

Just two for breakfast 两个人的早餐

When my husband and I celebrated our 38th wedding anniversary at our favorite restaurant, Lenny, the piano player, asked, "How did you do it?"

I knew there was no simple answer, but as the weekend approached, I wondered if one reason might be our ritual of breakfast in bed every Saturday and Sunday.

It all started with the breakfast tray my mother gave us as a wedding gift. It had a glass top and slatted wooden side pockets for the morning paper the kind you used to see in the movies. Mother loved her movies, and although she rarely had breakfast in bed, she held high hopes for her daughter. My adoring bridegroom took the message to heart.

Feeling guilty, I suggested we take turns. Despite grumblings -- "hate crumbs in my bed" ---Sunday morning found my spouse eagerly awaiting his tray. Soon these weekend breakfasts became such a part of our lives that I never even thought about them. I only knew we treasured this separate, blissful time read, relax, forget the things we should remember.

Sifting through the years, I recalled how our weekends changed, but that we still preserved the ritual. We started our family (as new parents, we slept after breakfast more than we read), but we always found our way back to where we started, just two for breakfast, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.

When we had more time, my tray became more festive. First it was fruit slices placed in geometric pattern; then came flowers from our garden .This arranger of mine had developed a flair for decorating, using everything from amaryllis to the buds of a maple tree. My husband said my cooking inspired him. Mother would have approved. Perhaps it was the Saturday when the big strawberry wore a daisy hat that I began to think, how can I top this? One dark winter night I woke with a vision of a snowman on a tray. That Sunday I scooped a handful of snow and in no time had my man made. With a flourish I put a miniature pinecone on his head.

As I delivered the tray, complete with a nicely frozen snowman, I waited for a reaction. There was none but as I headed down the stairs I heard a whoop of laughter and then, "You've won! Yes, sir, you've won the prize!"

Put time where love is 舍得为爱付出时间

During my 25 years as a marital therapist, I have seen hundreds of people disappointed over unfulfilling relationships. I have seen passion turn to poison. I have grieved with patients for the love they lost or never found.

"We seemed to love so much, but now it's gone," one woman lamented to me. "Why do I feel so lonely every night even when he is right there beside me? Why can't marriage be more than this?"

It can. I was once invited to the 60th-anniversary celebration of a remarkable couple. I asked the husband, Peter, if he ever felt lonely and wondered where the love between him and Lita had gone. Peter laughed and said, "If you wonder where your love went, you forgot that you are the one who makes it. Love is not out there; it's in here between Lita and me."

I know we can love deeply, tenderly and lastingly. I have seen such love, and I have felt such love myself. Here are the law I have discovered for such lasting and loving relationships---put time where love is.

A fulfilling marriage begins when two people make time together their No.1 priority. If we hope to find love, we must first find time for loving.

Unfortunately, current psychology rests on the model of the independent ego. To make a lasting marriage we have to overcome self-centeredness. We must go beyond what psychologist Abraham Maslow called "self-actualization" to "us-actualization". We have to learn to put time where love is.

Many couples have experienced a tragic moment that taught them to value their time together. One husband related how he sat trapped in his car after a crash. His wife was outside, crying and banging on the window. "I thought I was going to die before we had enough time together." He told me. "Right then I promised to make the time to love my wife. Our time is our own now, and those hours are sacred."

I am nature's greatest miracle. 我是自然界最伟大的奇迹

I am nature's greatest miracle.

Although I am of the animal kingdom, animal rewards alone will not satisfy me. Within me burns a flame, which has been passed from generations uncounted and its heat is a constant irritation to my spirit to become better than I am, and I will. I will fan this flame of dissatisfaction and proclaim my uniqueness to the world.

None can duplicate my brush strokes, none can make my chisel marks, none can duplicate my handwriting, none can produce my child, and, in truth, none has the ability to sell exactly as I. Henceforth, I will capitalize on this difference for it is an asset to be promoted to the fullest.

I am nature's greatest miracle.

Vain attempts to imitate others no longer will I make. Instead will I place my uniqueness on display in the market place. I will proclaim it, yea, I will sell it. I will begin now to accent my differences; hide my similarities. So too will I apply this principle to the goods I sell. Salesman and goods, different from all others, and proud of the difference.

I am a unique creature of nature.

I am rare, and there is value in all rarity; therefore, I am valuable. I am the end product of thousands of years of evolution; therefore, I am better equipped in both mind and body than all the emperors and wise men who preceded me.

But my skills, my mind, my heart, and my body will stagnate, rot, and die lest I put them to good use. I have unlimited potential. Only a small portion of my brain do I employ; only a paltry amount of my muscles do I flex. A hundredfold or more can I increase my accomplishments of yesterday and this I will do, beginning today.

Nevermore will I be satisfied with yesterday's accomplishments nor will I indulge, anymore, in self-praise for deeds which in reality are too small to even acknowledge. I can accomplish far more than I have, and I will, for why should the miracle which produced me end with my birth? Why can I not extend that miracle to my deeds of today?

I am nature's greatest miracle.

I am not on this earth by chance. I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply all my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy.

I will increase my knowledge of mankind, myself, and the goods I sell, thus my sales will multiply. I will practice, and improve, and polish the words I utter to sell my goods, for this is the foundation on which I will build my career and never will I forget that many have attained great wealth and success with only one sales talk, delivered with excellence. Also will I seek constantly to improve my manners and graces, for they are the sugar to which all are attracted.

I am nature's greatest miracle.

I will concentrate my energy on the challenge of the moment and my actions will help me forget all else. The problems of my home will be left in my home. I will think naught of my family when I am in the market place for this will cloud my thoughts. So too will the problems of the market place be left in the market place and I will think naught of my profession when I am in my home for this will dampen my love.

There is no room in the market place for my family, nor is there room in my home for the market. Each I will divorce from the other and thus will I remain wedded to both. Separate must they remain or my career will die. This is a paradox of the ages.

I am nature's greatest miracle.

I have been given eyes to see and a mind to think and now I know a great secret of life for I perceive, at last, that all my problems, discouragements, and heartaches are, in truth, great opportunities in disguise. I will no longer be fooled by the garments they wear for mine eyes are open. I will look beyond the cloth and I will not be deceived.

I am nature's greatest miracle.

No beast, no plant, no wind, no rain, no rock, no lake had the same beginning as I, for I was conceived in love and brought forth with a purpose. In the past I have not considered this fact but it will henceforth shape and guide my life.

I am nature's greatest miracle.

And nature knows not defeat. Eventually, she emerges victorious and so will I, and with each victory the next struggle becomes less difficult.

I will win, and I will become a great salesman, for I am unique.

I am nature's greatest miracle.

"人不可以选择出身，但可以改变命运。"这是倪振年常说的一句给他人励志的话。下面我整理了英语长篇励志美文，希望大家喜欢!英语长篇励志美文摘抄 My Father’S Evening Star 父亲的金星 by William O. Douglas 威廉.奥维尔.道格拉斯 During moments of sadness or frustration, I often think of a family scene years ago in the town of Yakima, Washington. I was about seven or eight years old at the time. Father had died a few years earlier. Mother was sitting in the living room talking to me, telling me what a wonderful man Father was. 悲伤或受挫的时候，我常常想起几年前在华盛顿州亚基马城家中的一幕。那时我大约七八岁，父亲几年前去世了，母亲坐在客厅里向我描述父亲是多么了不起。 She told me of his last illness and death. She told me of his departure from Cleveland, Washington, to Portland, Oregon, for what proved to be a fatal operation. His last words to her were these: “If I die it will be glory, if I live it will be grace.” 她讲到他最后一次生病去世的情景，讲到他在离开华盛顿州的克利夫兰赶往俄勒冈州的波特兰做手术，正是这次手术要了他的命。临终前，父亲对母亲说：“我死了，是天国的荣耀;我活着，是上帝的恩惠。” I remember how those words puzzled me. I could not understand why it would be glory to die. It would be glory to live, that I could understand. But why it would be glory to die was something I did not understand until later. 我记得那些话曾让我多么困惑，因为我无法理解死亡为什么是一种荣耀。活着是一种荣耀倒还可以理解，但为什么死了会是一种荣耀，我直到后来才明白。 Then one day in a moment of great crisis I came to understand the words of my father. “If I die it will be glory, if I live it will be grace.” That was his evening star. The faith in a power greater than man. That was the faith of our fathers. 有一天在危急关头，我终于领悟了父亲的遗言。“我死了，是天国的荣耀;我活着，是上帝的恩惠。”那是他的金星，即信仰一种比人类更伟大的力量，这也是我们祖先的信仰 A belief in a God who controlled man in the universe, that manifested itself in different ways to different people. It was written by scholars and learned men in dozens of different creeds. But riding high above all secular controversies was a faith in One who was the Creator, the Giver of Life, the Omnipotent. 相信上帝主宰宇宙中的人类，并以各种方式向形形色色的人证实自身的存在。学者和有学问的人在各种信条中曾予以记载，而让人在一切世俗论战中获得成功的秘诀是相信上帝创造了世界和生命，是无所不能的神。 Man’s age-long effort has been to be free. Throughout time he has struggled against some form of tyranny that would enslave his mind or his body. So far in this century, three epidemics of it have been let loose in the world. 人类长久以来努力为自由而奋斗，不断与某种奴役其身心的独裁形式作斗争。半个世纪已经爆发了三次由独裁滋生的传染病。 We can keep our freedom through the increasing crisis of history only if we are self-reliant enough to be free—dollars, guns, and all the wondrous products of science and the machine will not be enough. “This night thy soul shall be required of thee.” 只有当我们能自立，足以享有自由时，才能在历史上不断升级的危机中牢牢地把握自由——金钱、武器、科学和机器制造的所有令人叹为观止的产品都不足以保障我们的自由。“今夜必要你的灵魂。” These days I see America identified more and more with material things, less and less with spiritual standards. 这些日子我发觉美国越来越沉溺于物质享受，却越来越疏离于道德标准 These days I see America drifting from the Christian faith, acting abroad as an arrogant, selfish, greedy nation, interested only in guns and dollars, not in people and their hopes and aspirations. 这些日子我眼见美国偏离____的信仰，在海外的所作所为使其沦为一个傲慢、自私、贪婪、只对武器和金钱感兴趣的国家……而不关注国民及其希望与追求 These days the words of my father come back to me more and more. We need his faith, the faith of our fathers. We need a faith that dedicates us to something bigger and more important than ourselves or our possessions. Only if we have that faith will we be able to guide the destiny of nations, in this the most critical period of world history. 这些日子我越来越回想起父亲的话。我们需要他那样的信仰，我们祖先的信仰;我们需要一种信仰鞭策自己投身于比发展自身与积聚私产更重要的事业。只有具备这种信仰，我们才能在世界历史最关键的时期决定国家的命运。 英语长篇励志美文鉴赏 What Does God Say to Me? 上帝对我说了什么? by Dame Edith Evans 伊迪丝.埃文斯夫人 I believe that good is stronger than evil. I have found that if applied with complete faith, it can obliterate evil. 我相信善可以压倒恶，并发现如果我们完全相信善的力量，便能以善除恶。 Knowledge like this gives one great strength in time of oppression or tyranny. I believe that hatred is destructive. It is not always easy or possible to love people, nations, or ideas, but at least, I say to myself, Do not hate them: try to turn thoughts toward God. Someone once said, “It is better to love the good than hate the bad.” 这样的认识在压迫和暴政时期给人巨大的力量。我相信仇恨有毁灭性的力量，热爱人民、民族或思想总是不容易或不可能，但至少我劝诫自己：“别恨他们，努力把思绪转向上帝。”有人曾说：“与其憎恶，不如扬善。” I have all of my share of the artist’s temperament, and one of our faults is that we think people are being unfair to us, or that we are suffering from other people’s jealousy — the persecution complex, in fact. The one and only way in which I have been able to clear this away is to turn my mind and thoughts to good and to God. I say, Never mind what he or she or they say, what does God say to me? Where does my life come from? Who is the source of all my qualities, and can anything prevent those qualities from being used? 我拥有艺术家的禀赋，而艺术家的缺点之一是认为自己受的待遇不公，或者苦于遭受他人嫉妒。这实际上是一种受迫害情结。而我能摆脱这种情结困扰的一种也是唯一的一种 方法 是将心灵和思想转向从善和信仰上帝。我告诫自己：“别介意他人说什么，上帝对我说了什么?我的生命从何而来?谁赐予我所有的优点——有什么能阻挡我发挥那些优点?” I believe, today, that a great flood of good would be released in the world if all of us concentrated upon following the simple commands of Christ: “Love God first, and your neighbor as yourself.” As “yourself,” I try to remember. So if I think kindly of myself, then I think kindly of my neighbor. When Christ was asked, “Who is my neighbor?” what did He say? He told the story of the Samaritan. 今天我相信，如果我们所有人都一心一意遵循耶稣质朴的教导——“首先爱上帝，然后像爱自己一样爱你的邻居”，世界便会善举如潮。我努力记住“像爱你自己一样”。所以，如果我好好为自己着想，就会好好为邻里着想。有人问耶稣：“谁是我的邻居”时，他怎么回答呢?他讲述了撒马利亚人救助落难的陌生人的 故事 。 People are always demanding of us British, “Don’t you dislike Americans?” And conversely to you Americans, “Don’t you dislike the British?” I can’t bear classing people together nationally, and liking or disliking them. People are people wherever you meet them. They are all the children of the one God. 人们总是要求我们英国人回答：“难道你们不喜欢美国人吗?”反过来问美国人：“难道你们不喜欢英国人吗?”我无法接受按国籍划分人，然后决定喜欢还是厌恶他们。不管你身在何处，遇见的人都是一样的，都是同一个上帝的孩子。 I have been asked how I felt in the Blitz. Most of the time, I was in London, terribly excited by fear. But the only way I could keep going about my work at all was by constantly assuring myself that the all-powerful God would take care of me. 有人问我闪击战期间的感受。大多数时候我在伦敦，由于恐惧而特别激动，但让我能继续工作的唯一办法根本上说就是不断让自己确信，全能的上帝会眷顾我。 On looking round the world today, one is impressed by the amount of fear that is expressed by everybody: fear of war, fear of ill health, fear of not being able to hold a job, fear of people getting ahead of you, fear of losing opportunity; fear of losing friends, lovers, advantages; fear of death. 环顾当今的现实世界，我们深感每一个人受着许多恐惧的折磨;害怕战争，害怕疾病，害怕失业，害怕落后，害怕丧失机会，害怕失去朋友、心上人、优势，害怕死亡。 We are constantly reading articles, and hearing speeches, where the writers and the speakers tell us that we must cease being so material. But what most of us want to know is how? If a busy man at his office is faced with a seemingly insuperable problem, how is he to solve this problem by other than material means? 我们经常读 文章 、听演讲，那些作者和演讲者提醒我们必须停止如此沉湎于物质追求。但我们大多数人想知道的是该怎么停止。如果一个在办公室忙碌的人碰到一个似乎无法克服的困难，该如何通过非物质手段解决呢? But, of course, the answer is so simple. Like Naaman, who said, “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel?” we tend to disregard it.It is always to turn our thoughts immediately, and with absolute confidence, away from the difficulty, and if, as I said at the beginning, one believes in the power of good, one must quietly know that the power of good will give all the right answers to the problem, even if the answer is required within a few minutes or half an hour. 当然答案很简单，正如乃缦所言：“大马士革的河亚罢拿和法珥法，岂不比以色列的一切水更好吗?”我们常常忽略了这一点，常常把思绪万分自信地立即从困难转移开。倘若如我在开始所说，人们相信善的力量，就必须明白，善的力量会恰当地解决这个问题，即使需要在几分钟或半小时之内解决它。 And when I say these things, I say them because I have proved them. In fact, throughout the ups and downs of my theatrical life, if I had not had some simple code — because I am not a highly intellectual woman — I should not be doing happily and successfully the work that I love 我谈论这些事情，是因为我已见证过这些事。实际上，我并非一个智商很高的女人，我的戏剧生涯充满了挫折，要不是我相信一种简单的信条，我决不会如此快乐地从事自己热爱的工作并获得成功。 英语长篇励志美文赏析 Spiritual Handholds on Life 生命的精神支撑 by Dr. Fred Dow Fagg, JR 小弗雷德.道.法格博士 The view of the high Sierra Lake, nestled in the snow and rock slightly below the timber line, was beautiful from my vantage point some five hundred feet above its shimmering surface. 坐落在高山上的谢拉湖，依偎在积雪与岩石的怀抱中，岩层往上是一片森林。从高出湖面约500英尺的观景点看下去，湖面微波荡漾，美不胜收。 I was anxious to rejoin my companions and try the fishing before are afternoon shadow - edging out from the surrounding array of peaks - entirely covered the lake. 我着急与同伴再次会合，准备在午后周围群山的阴影尚未笼罩全湖之前，一起钓鱼。离错层的页岩不远，便是一条通往山谷的蜿蜒小路。 Just a short distance beyond the intervening shale, the trail zigzagged down to the valley. I disliked the thought of returning by the long, tedious trail I had ascended, and decided to chance the shale - even though part of it lay above a sheer drop-off of several hundred feet. 我不想再走上山时所走的那条漫长而乏味的小道，便决定试着走上页岩——虽然这其中一段路的下面是几百英尺的垂直峭壁。 I started working my way over the loose rock with considerable caution and had covered about half the distance when I became aware of a slight but persistent yielding of the shale under my feet. 我小心翼翼地走在松动的页岩上。大约走到一半时，我发现脚下的页岩正一点点地不断下滑。我急忙寻找可以抓住的东西。我向前一扑，抓住了一块露出地表的坚硬岩石。 Desperately, I looked for something that would offer support and lurched forward to grasp a light outcropping of solid rock just as the surface shale underfoot - loosened from its foundation by the warm noonday sun - cascaded downward and disappeared over the cliff. Several seconds passed before I heard it rattle into the lake. 就在这时，脚下被午后阳光照射的发热的页岩表层开始松动，从山上滑了下去，消失在峭壁上。几秒钟后，我听到它落进湖中的声音。稍微考虑了一下抄近路这愚蠢行为的后果后，我想办法从一个支撑点挪到另一个支撑点 Finally - after due consideration of the folly of short cuts - I managed to move from handhold to handhold and, at last, pulled myself to the trail by the aid of a dwarf juniper root. I have forgotten how many trout I caught that afternoon, but I have not forgotten the value of handhold. 最终借助一棵矮松的根将自己拉到小路上。那天下午钓了多少鲑鱼，我已经不记得了，但我绝对忘不了支撑点的重要性。 Handholds are needed also during the course of everyday life. They provide security when the things we depend upon seem to be slipping out from under us. What are the spiritual handholds I have found to be most value? 在日常生活中，支撑点也是非常重要的。当我们的依靠即将从脚下溜走时，支撑点会带给我们安全的保障。我发现的最有价值的精神支撑是什么呢? First, the teachings of the humble carpenter of Nazareth - for their insistence on the supreme worth of the individual, for their stressing of the significance of sympathetic understanding, and for their unsurpassed evidence of dauntless faith. 首先，是拿撒勒卑微的木匠的教诲——他坚决主张个人价值至上，强调同情与理解的重要性，并为坚定的信仰提供了无可厚非的证明。 Second, the conviction that, while every person should delight in making a courageous and self-reliant effort to live up to his capabilities, there are well-springs of power outside himself that can be tapped - if he will avail himself of them. 其次，尽管我们每个人都应该乐于勇敢、独立地发挥自己的能力，但也要相信，只要我们愿意，我们也能从外界获得力量之源。 Third, that the nature of this world and of the people in it is determined more by our individual vision, understanding and conduct than by any material environmental factors, and that - in other words - nothing will produce the good world but the good man. 再次，除了物质环境因素外，世界和人类的本质更多的是取决于我们个人的视野、理解和行为。也就是说，唯有出色的人才能创造出美好的世界。 These are the principal spiritual handholds I have found to possess enduring value. They offer both an exciting challenge and a calm assurance. They are the things I believe. 这些便是我所发现的精神支撑点，它们具有永恒的价值。它们给予我们的不仅是刺激的挑战，还有令人安心的承诺。这就是我信仰的一切。

建议去看一看新概念2吧~美文不是太实用，还是多看各种类别的文章比较好！~

Children’s Song 作者：R.S.托马斯Welive in our own world,A world that is too smallFor you to stoop and enterEven on hands and knees,The adult subterfuge.And though you probe and pryWith analytic eye,And eavesdrop all our talkWith an amused look,You cannot find the centreWhere we dance, where we play,Where life is still asleepUnder the closed flower,Under the smooth shellOf eggs in the cupped nestThat mock the faded blueOf your remoter heaven.孩子们的歌我们生活在自己的世界，一个对你们而言太小的世界，即使手脚并用俯下身子，你们也难以进来。成年人的托辞。即使你们用善于分析的眼睛去探究、窥视，用愉快的表情去偷听我们所有的谈话，你们仍然不能找到那个中心，在那里，我们跳舞，我们玩耍，生命仍在酣睡，在那紧闭的花朵下，在那光滑的蛋壳下，杯状的巢内的蛋，嘲笑着你们那更为遥远的天堂中褪色的忧郁。