英語必背文章

　　背誦法自古以來被認為是一種高效的語文教學方法,是我國傳統英語教育的寶貴經驗之一。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!

　　1

　　We Are on a Journey

　　人在旅途

　　Wherever you are,and whoever you may be, there is one thing in which you and I are just alike, at this moment, and in all the moments of our existence. We are not at rest; we are on a journey. Our life is not a mere fact; it is a movement, a tendency, a steady, ceaseless progress towards an unseen goal. We are gaining something, or losing something, every day. Even when our position and our character seem to remain precisely the same, they are changing. For the mere advance of time is a change. It is not the same thing to have a bare field in January and in July. The season makes the difference. The limitations that are childlike in the child are childish in the man.

　　無論你現在身處何方,也無論你是何等人物，此時此刻，以及我們生命中的任一瞬間，你我之間都有一點相同之處。那就是，我們並未停歇，而仍在旅途。我們的人生並不僅僅是一種存在的事實,而是一種運動，一種趨勢，一種堅定不移而沒有停息地朝向某個看不見的目標前行的過程。每一天，我們都有所得,也有所失。即使我們的地位和品性看似與原來無異，但實際上它們正在改變，因為時間的推移本身就是一種改變。同一片荒野，在一月和七月是不同的，季節造成了這種差異。智慧上的不足，在孩子身上被視為天真無邪，而對於成人來說則是一種幼稚的表現。

　　Everything that we do is a step in one direction or another. Even the failure to do something is in itself a deed. It sets us forward or backward. The action of the negative pole of a magnetic needle is just as real as the action of the positive pole. To decline is to accept the other alternative.

　　我們所做的每件事都是朝著某一個方向邁出的一步。甚至無為，其本身也是一種作為，它使我們前進或後退。一根磁針的磁極作用，無論正負都是一樣的真實。拒絕也是一種接受，只不過是另外一種選擇罷了。

　　Are you richer today than you were yesterday? No? Then you are a little poorer. Are you better today than you were yesterday? No? Then you are a little worse. Are you nearer to your port today than you were yesterday? Yes, you must be a little nearer to some port or other; for since your ship was first launched upon the sea of life you have never been still for a single moment; the sea is too deep, you could not find an anchorage if you would; there can be no pause until you come into port.

　　你今天比昨天富有嗎?沒有，那說明你變窮了點。你今天比昨天過得好嗎?沒有，那麼你的情況變糟了一點。你今天比昨天更接近你的港口了嗎?是的，那麼你一定距某個港口更近了。因為，自從你駛入人生之海，你的航船至今尚未停歇片刻。這片海洋太深了，縱使你想找到一個拋錨停泊之處也難以求得。因此，在駛入港口之前，你無法稍作歇息。

　　2

　　Application and Perseverance

　　實踐與堅持

　　The greatest results in life are usually attained by simple means, and the exercise of ordinary qualities. The common life of every day, affords ample opportunities for acquiring experience of the best kind.

　　人生最大的收穫往往是通過最簡單的方法或對常識的準確應用而獲得的。每一個平凡的日子都會為我們提供許多機會， 並使我們的閱歷有所增強。

　　Fortune has often been blamed for her blindness. Those who look into practical life will find that fortune is usually on the side of the industrious, as the winds and waves are on the side of the best navigators. In the pursuit of even the highest branches of human inquiry, the commoner qualities are found the most useful,such as common sense, attention, application, and perseverance.

　　人們常常認為：機會是可遇而不可求的。而那些懂得細心觀察生活的人往往會發現：機會總是更偏向於勤勉的人，正如海風與波浪經常會與航海家做伴一樣。哪怕是在對人類事業的最高追求上，實踐也是最有效的途徑之一。當然，頑強的毅力也是必不可少的。

　　Genius may not be necessary, though even genius of the highest sort does not disdain the use of these ordinary qualities. The very greatest men have been among the least believers in the power of genius, and as worldly wise and persevering as successful men of the commoner sort. Some have even defined genius to be only common sense intensified. A distinguished teacher and president of a college spoke of it as the power of making ef forts. John Foster held it to be the power of lighting one's own fire.

　　天賦並不是獲取成功的制勝法寶，即便是天才也同樣會意識到常識的重要性。事實上，一些偉大人物往往是那些最不相信天賦的人。真正的智者和成功人士也並非在哪一方面特別出眾，甚至他們曾被認為是缺少天賦的人。沒錯，他們之所以能夠獲得成功正是憑藉著紮實的基本功，對基本常識的強化訓練。一位校長兼優秀教師曾說過，他的成功源自不懈的努力。約翰•福斯特則把這種力量稱之為“點燃生活的火焰”。

　　Newton's was unquestionably a mind of the very highest order, and yet, when asked by what means he had worked out his extraordinary discoveries, he modestly answered, "By always thinking unto them." At another time he thus expressed his method of study: "I keep the subject continually before me, and wait till the first dawnings open slowly by little and little into a full and clear light." It was in Newton's case, as in every other,only by diligent application and perseverance that his great reputation was achieved.

　　無可爭議，牛頓的頭腦是最高才智的頭腦，但當我們問及他是通過什麼方法取得了如此重大的發現時，他非常謙虛地答道：“全靠對那些問題不斷地深思。”另一次，他這樣表述他的研究方法：“我從未停止探索的腳步，當我看到第一縷曙光後，堅定的信念支 持著我最終看到了清晰的世界。”正是通過勤奮和實踐，牛頓才最 終獲得了不朽的名譽和偉大的成就。

　　Dalton,the chemist,repudiated the notion of his being "a genius," attributing everything which he had accomplished to simple industry and accumulation. John Hunter said of himself, "My mind is like a beehives; but full as it is of buzz and apparent confusion, it is yet full of order and regularity, and food collected with incessant industry from the choiceset stores of nature. "

　　英國化學家道爾頓對世人稱他為“天才”的做法進行了批判。 他認為自己之所以能獲得成功完全憑藉自身的不懈努力和對知識的不斷積累。約翰•亨特也曾說過：“我的思想如同一個蜂箱，常常嗡嗡作響，甚至還會出現混亂，但通過不懈的努力，嗡嗡聲已經消失了，蜜蜂們也都恢復了正常的秩序，而且還學會了如何從大自 然的寶庫中尋找食物。”

　　We have, indeed, but to glance at the biographies of great men to find that the most distinguished inventors, artists, thinkers, and workers of all kinds, owe their success, in a great measure, to their indefatigable industry and application.

　　我們同樣可以在諸多人物傳記中看到：大多數傑出人物，無論是發明家、藝術家、思想家、工人，還是社會各界人士，都無一例外地將自己的成就歸功於勤奮和實踐。

　　3

　　服從

　　The very in the creed of common sense is Obedience.

　　生的第一信條就是:學會服從。

　　Perform your work with a whole heart.

　　在工作中，你必須做到全心投入。

　　Revolt may be sometimes necessary, but the man who tries to mix revolt and obedience is doomed to disappoint himself and everybody with whom he has dealings. To flavor work with protest is to fail absolutely.

　　當然，我們必定要有做出反抗的時候。不過，如果一個人始終在反抗與服從這兩種情緒中掙扎，並試圖將兩者混合在一起，那麼他不僅會使自己感到失望，也會使身邊的人感到失望。如果一個人對工作充滿牴觸情緒，那麼他必定會一事無成。

　　When you revolt, climb, hike, get out, defy, tell everybody and everything to go to hades! That disposes of the case. You thus separate yourself entirely from those you have served, no one misunderstands you have declared yourself.

　　當你的內心充滿了憤懣的情緒時，千萬不要將這種情緒發洩 到他人身上!只有這樣你才不會眾叛親離，才不會被他人誤解。 否則的話只會使事情變得更糟。

　　The man who quits in disgust when ordered to perform a task which he considers menial or unjust may be a pretty good fellow, but the malcontent who takes your order with a smile and then secretly disobeys is a dangerous proposition. To pretend to obey, and yet carry in your heart the spirit of revolt is to do half hearted, slipshod work. If revolt and obedience are equal in power, your engine will then stop on the center and you benefit no one, not even yourself.

　　如果一個人面對繁重的工作依然能夠泰然處之，那麼他必定是個好員工;如果一個人表面上笑著接受你的命令，背地裡卻不服從，那麼這種情況顯然很危險。如果你假裝服從，而內心卻充滿牴觸情緒，那麼你必定會對工作表現得漫不經心。更何況，當服從與牴觸情緒共同出現時，你的能力必定會被這兩種力量所抵消。這一結果對任何人而言都不是件好事。

　　The spirit of obedience is the controlling impulse that dominates the receptive mind and the hospitable heart.

　　我們必須通過一種自制力，使自己的思想與內心完全接受服從心理。

　　There are boats that mind the helm and there are boats that do not. Those that do not, get holes knocked in them sooner or later. To keep off the rocks, obey the rudder.

　　一些人的思想之舟中有一個舵手，而另外一些人的思想之舟卻沒有舵手來掌握方向。顯然，後者極易覆舟。因而，我們必須按照“蛇手”的要求去做,這樣才能夠避開暗礁險灘。

　　Obedience is not to slavishly obey this man or that, but it is that cheerful mental state which responds to the necessity of the case, and does the thing without any back talk unuttered or expressed.

　　服從並不是指讓我們像奴隸那樣俯首帖耳，而是要以一種愉悅的心情來接受必須去做的事情。這樣一來，當我們去做某件事時才不會表現得悶不吭聲或喋喋不休。

　　The man who has not learned to obey has trouble ahead of him every step of the way. The world has it in for him continually, because he has it in for the world.The man who does not know how to receive orders is not fit to issue them to others. But the individual who knows how to execute the orders given him is preparing the way to issue orders, and better still to have them obeyed.

　　一個不懂得服從的人必定會四處碰壁，他與世界為敵，世界必定也會與他為敵!一個不懂得服從的人根本不配讓他人服從自己。反之，越是懂得服從的重要性的人，越有權利得到他人的服從。