英語四級備考短文閱讀

　　英語四級備考過程中，閱讀短文可以提升自己的閱讀能力。接下來小編為你整理了，一起來看看吧。

　　一

　　Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

　　這些大人們，靠他們自己什麼也弄不懂，還得老是不斷地給他們作解釋，這真叫孩子們膩味。

　　So then I chose another profession, and learned to pilot airplanes.

　　後來，我只好選擇了另外一個職業，我學會了開飛機。

　　I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me.

　　世界各地我差不多都飛到過。的確，地理學幫了我很大的忙。

　　At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable.

　　我一眼就能分辨出中國和亞里桑那。要是夜裡迷失了航向，這是很有用的。

　　In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence.

　　這樣，在我的生活中，我跟很多嚴肅的人有過很多的接觸。

　　I have lived a great deal among grown-ups.

　　我在大人們中間生活過很長時間。

　　I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them.

　　我仔細地觀察過他們，但這並沒有使我對他們的看法有多大的改變。

　　Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted, I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One, which I have always kept.

　　當我遇到一個頭腦看來稍微清楚的大人時，我就拿出一直儲存著的我那第一號作品來測試測試他。

　　I would try to find out, so, if this was a person of true understanding.

　　我想知道他是否真的有理解能力。

　　But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say: " That is a hat.

　　"可是，得到的回答總是："這是頂帽子。"

　　Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or primeval forests, or stars.

　　我就不和他談巨蟒呀，原始森林呀，或者星星之類的事。

　　I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties.

　　我只得遷就他們的水平，和他們談些橋牌呀，高爾夫球呀，政治呀，領帶呀這些。

　　And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.

　　於是大人們就十分高興能認識我這樣一個通情達理的人。

　　二

　　In the United States, 36 states currently allow capital punishment for serious crimes such asmurder. Americans have always argued about the death penalty. Today, there is a seriousquestion about this issue: Should there be a minimum age limit for executing criminals? Inother words, is it right for convicted murderers who kill when they are minors — that is, underthe age of 18 — to receive the death penalty?

　　目前美國有36個州允許對謀殺等嚴重犯罪處以死刑。美國人一直為死刑判罰爭論不休。現在重要的問題是：處決罪犯是否應該有最小年齡限制?換句話說，不滿18歲的未成年人犯謀殺罪是否要被處以死刑?

　　In most other countries of the world, there is no capital punishment for minors. In the UnitedStates, though, each state makes its own decision. Of the 36 states that allow the deathpenalty, 30 permit the execution of minors. In the state of South Carolina, a convictedmurderer was given the death penalty for a crime he committed while he was a minor.

　　世界上大部分國家的未成年人判罰中都不包括死刑。但是在美國，每個州可以自行決定。美國36個州中有30個州允許對未成年人處以死刑。在南卡羅來納州，一名未成年人因犯謀殺罪被處以死刑。

　　In 1977, when he was 17 years old, James Terry Roach and two friends cruelly murdered threepeople. Roach's lawyer fought the decision to execute him. The young murderer remained onDeath Row for ten years while his lawyer appealed to the governor. The lawyer argued that it iswrong to execute a person for a crime he committed while he was a minor. In the UnitedStates, the governor of a state has the power to change a sentence from the death penalty tolife in prison. Nonetheless, the governor of South Carolina refused to stop the execution.Roach was finally executed in 1986.

　　1977年，17歲的詹姆斯·特瑞·羅奇和兩個朋友殘忍地殺害了三個人。羅奇的律師反對死刑判決。他的律師向州長提出上訴，上訴的10年時間裡這名年輕的謀殺犯被關在死囚牢房裡。律師認為，因未成年時犯下的罪行而被處以死刑是錯誤的。美國各州州長有權將死刑判罰改為終身監禁。但是，南卡羅來納州州長拒絕阻止死刑。羅奇最終在1986年被執行死刑。

　　三

　　I will persist until I succeed. 　　堅持不懈。直到成功。

　　In the Orient young bulls are tested for the fight arena in a certain manner. Each is brought to the ring and allowed to attack a picador who pricks them with a lance. The bravery of each bull is then rated with care according to the number of times he demonstrates his willingness to charge in spite of the sting of the blade. Henceforth will I recognize that each day I am tested by life in like manner. If I persist, if I continue to try, if I continue to charge forward, I will succeed.

　　在古老的東方，挑選小公牛列競技場格鬥有一定的程式、它們被帶進場地，向手持長矛的鬥牛士攻擊，裁判以它受激後再向鬥牛士進攻的次數多寡來評定這隻公牛的勇敢程度。從今往後。我須承認，我的生命每天都在接受類似的考驗。如果我堅韌不拔，勇往直前，迎接挑戰。那麼我一定會成功。

　　I will persist until I succeed. 　　堅持不懈。直到成功。

　　I was not delivered unto this world in defeat, nor does failure course in my veins. I am not a sheep waiting to be prodded by my shepherd. I am a lion and I refuse to talk, to walk, to sleep with the sheep. I will hear not those who weep and complain, for their disease is contagious. Let them join the sheep. The slaughterhouse of failure is not my destiny.

　　我不是為了失敗才來到這個世界上的，我的血管裡也沒有失敗的血液在流動。我不是任人鞭打的羔羊，我是猛獅，不與羊群為伍。我不想聽失意者的哭泣，抱怨者的牢騷，這是羊群中的瘟疫，我不能被它傳染。失敗者的屠宰場不是我命運的歸宿。