學英語應該背誦的文章
英語課文背誦是學習英語的一種有效的方法,是知識輸入的一種有效途徑,它不但可以幫助學生們掌握大量的英語基礎知識,還可以培養學生們豐富的語感。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!
1
A-level Disillusionment
A等級幻滅
Anne Barrie's "Do We Over-educate Our Children?" reminded me that the German authorGunter Grass once said that failing his school leaving exams was a blessing without which hewould never have achieved the position he now holds.
安妮·巴瑞的《我們是不是給我們的孩子太多的教育了?》使我想到德國作家君特·格拉斯曾經說過的，他沒有通過中學畢業考試是一件幸事，否則他就永遠不可能取得現有的地位。
I wonder how many other great men and women owe their success to having failed in theiracademic careers.
不知道有多少其他偉人和名人們將所取得的成就歸功於他們在學業上的失敗。
I was a schoolgirl in the 1960s - the time when it was believed that the future wealth of thecountry depended on the education of the young:
60年代，我還是一名中學女生，那是一個認為國家未來的富足寄託於年輕人的教育的時代：
money was plentiful, new universities sprang up and great myths evolved to lure young peopleinto the academic life.
資金充裕，不斷有新的大學出現，教育神話的巨大誘惑使年輕人都追求學業上的成就。
Three years later, I obtained a first-class degree in mathematics.
3年後，我獲得了數學的頭等學位。
For some months there had been pressure to try for a further degree - the more post-graduate students there are, the more financial benefits exist for us.
好幾個月裡，我面臨著研讀更高學位的壓力&&研究生越多，經濟利益就會越多。
My fellow postgraduates and I knew nothing of the outside world, and happily believed thatacademic life for another three years would enhance us in the eyes of future employers:
我和我的研究生同學們絲毫不瞭解外面的世界，高枕無憂地認為學業上再深造三年能增加我們在未來老闆眼裡的價值。
and so I went to London and began work for a doctorate.
於是我到了倫敦，開始攻讀博士學位。
Here, for the first time, I came across "mature students" - people who had left school at 16and, years later, taken A-levels at technical colleges and come to university.
在那裡我第一次遇到了“成熟的學生”，他們十六歲就離開了學校，幾年後在技術學院參加了A等級課程考試，然後上了大學。
Having chosen their subject with great care, and being more mature, they found a joy in theircourses unknown to most of us.
他們的專業是經過深思熟慮後選擇的，他們更成熟，能在所修的課程中獲得大多數我們這樣的學生無法體會到的樂趣。
I have been working now for several years:
現在我已經工作好幾年了，
life has been very different from what I had been led to expect.
現實生活和我們在學校的環境下所期待的樣子完全不同。
However, it is too late to change: the state of understanding will not pay to reeducate peoplecompletely.
不過，現在做出改變已經太晚了，醒悟並不能給我們帶來完全的再教育。
As I think back, I regret that I did not fail my A-levels.
回想起來，我真後悔當年沒有讓我的A等級課程考試不及格。
2
Zen and the Art of Burglary
禪宗與盜竊藝術
If people ask me what Zen is like, I will say that it is like learning the art of burglary.
如果有人問我禪宗是什麼，我會告訴他禪宗就像是盜竊藝術。
The son of a burglar saw his father growing older and thought, "If he is unable to carry on his profession, who will be the breadwinner of the family, except myself?
竊賊的兒子看著他的父親一天天變老，心想，“要是父親不能繼續他的行當，除了我之外還有誰能承擔起養家餬口的重任呢?
I must learn the trade." He intimated the idea to his father, who approved of it.
我要學會這門手藝。”他把自己的這個想法給父親說了，父親同意了。
One night the father took the son to a big house, broke through the fence, entered the house, and, opening one of the large chests, told the son to go in and pick out the clothing, as soon as the son get into it, the father dropped the lid and securely applied the lock.
一天晚上，父親把兒子帶到了一座大房子，鑽過籬笆進入了房子。父親開啟一個大櫃子，吩咐兒子進去偷些衣服出來。
The father now came out to the courtyard and loudly knocked at the door, waking up the whole family; then he quietly slipped away by the hole in the fence.
兒子剛進去，父親就蓋上了櫃子的蓋子，並牢牢地鎖上了櫃子。他來到院子裡，大聲地敲門，把這家人全給吵醒了。接著，父親悄悄地從籬笆的洞裡鑽了出去。
The residents got excited and lighted candles, but they found that the burglar had already gone.
驚慌失措的這家人點亮了蠟燭，卻發現竊賊已經跑掉了。
The son, who remained all the time securely confined in the chest, thought of his cruel father.
兒子一直被牢牢地鎖在櫃子裡，想著他那無情的父親。
He was greatly mortified, then a fine idea flashed upon him.
他感到受了屈辱。突然一個點子閃現在他的腦海中。
He made a noise like the gnawing of a rat.
他發出了老鼠咬櫃子的聲音，
The family told the maid to take a candle and examine the chest.
這家人就吩咐女僕拿著蠟燭去檢視櫃子。
When the lid was unlocked, out came the prisoner, who blew out the light, pushed away the maid, and fled.
女僕一開啟櫃子的蓋子，裡面的躲著的人就跳了出來，吹滅蠟燭，推開女僕，逃走了。
The people ran after him. Noticing a well by the road, he picked up a large stone and threw it into the water.
人們在後面追趕。他看到路邊有一口井，搬起一塊大石頭，丟到了井裡。
The pursuers all gathered around the well trying to find the burglars drowning himself in the dark hole.
追趕者都聚集在井邊，想看看竊賊是不是掉進黑洞洞的井裡淹死了。
In the meantime he went safely back to his father's house.
這時候，他安全地回到了他父親的房子。
He blamed his father deeply for this narrow escape.
他斥責他父親說他差點沒能活著回來。
Said the father, "be not offended my son.
父親說，“兒呀，別生氣，
Just tell me how you got out of it." When the son told him all about his adventures, the father remarked, "There you are, you have learned the art."
告訴我你怎麼逃出來的。” 聽完兒子講述了歷險經歷，父親說，“現在好了，你已經學會了盜竊這門藝術。”
3
Down with School!
打倒學校!
School is an institution built on the axiom that learning is the result of teaching.
學校是建立在學習是教學的結果這一理念基礎上的機構。
And institutional wisdom continues to accept this axiom, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.
學院理論繼續接受這一理念，儘管有壓倒性的證據證明事實剛好相反。
Most learning happens casually, and even most intentional learning is not the result of programmed instruction.
大多數知識是在不經意間學來的。即便是有意的學習，大多也不是有組織教導的結果。
Normal children learn their first language casually, although faster if their parents pay attention to them.
正常的孩子隨意地就學會了他們的母語，雖然如果父母用心的話，他們會學得更快些。
Most people who learn a second language well do so as a result of odd circumstances and not of sequential teaching.
大多數第二語言學得好的人是在特殊的環境下學成的，而不是系統教學所致。
They go to live with their grandparents, they travel, or they fall in love with a foreigner.
他們去和祖父母一起生活，去旅行，或者愛上一個外國人。
Fluency in reading is also more often than not a result of such extra-curricular activities.
閱讀流暢也經常是課外閱讀活動的結果，
Most people read widely, and with pleasure out of school.
大多數人們在課外廣泛地閱讀，並且得到很多樂趣。
Everyone learns how to live outside school.
每個人都是在校外學會如何生活的。
We learn to speak, to think, to love, to feel, to play, to curse, to politick and to work without interference from a teacher.
我們在沒有老師干預的情況下，學會說話、思考、去愛、感受、玩、罵人、談論政治和工作。
Even children who are under a teacher's care day and night are no exception to the rule.
即使是日夜處於老師照料下的孩子也無一例外地適用該規則。
Orphans, idiots and schoolteachers' sons learn most of what they learn outside the "educational" process planned for them.
孤兒、白痴和老師的孩子學到的東西大多是從為他們設定的“教育”過程之外得來的。
Teachers have made a poor showing in their attempt at increasing learning among the poor.
教師嘗試提高窮人知識水平的努力乏善可陳。
Poor parents who want their children to go to school are less concerned about what they will learn than about the certificate and money they will earn.
沒錢的父母把他們的孩子送到學校，他們更關心孩子將來取得的證書和報酬，而不是孩子能學到什麼。
And middle-class parents entrust their children to a teacher's care to keep them from learning what the poor learn on the streets.
中產階級的父母把孩子託付給老師，是為了不讓他們學到窮人在街上學到的東西。
Increasingly, educational research demonstrates that children learn most of what teachers pretend to teach them from peer groups, from comics, from chance observations, and above all from mere participation in the ritual of school.
教育研究日益顯示，孩子們是從同齡人、漫畫、偶爾的觀察，及更重要的是學校的活動，學到了教師假裝要教給他們的大多數東西。