一生必讀的英文散文

　　英文散文，美而樸素，只有多讀，多理解英文地道的描述，才能真正讀懂英文散文。下面是小編給大家帶來的，供大家欣賞。

　　：with tolerance 寬容之心

　　It is curious that our own offenses should seem so much less heinous than the offenses of others. I suppose the reason is that we know all the circumstances that have occasioned them and so manage to excuse in ourselves what we cannot excuse in others. We turn our attention away from our own defects, and when we are forced by untoward events to consider them, find it easy to condone them. For all I know we are right to do this; they are part of us and we must accept the good and bad in ourselves together.

　　讓人奇怪的是，和別人的過錯比起來，我們自身的過錯往往不是那樣的可惡。我想，其原因應該是我們知曉一切導致自己犯錯的情況，因此能夠設法諒解自己的錯誤，而別人的錯誤卻不能諒解。我們對自己的缺點不甚關注，即便是深陷困境而不得不正視它們的時候，我們也會很容易就寬恕自己。據我所知，我們這樣做是正確的。缺點是我們自身的一部分，我們必須接納自己的好和壞。

　　But when we come to judge others, it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge hem, but by an image that we have formed of ourselves from which we have left out everything that offends our vanity or would discredit us in the eyes of the world. To take a trivial stance: how scornful we are when we catch someone out telling a lie; but who can say that he has ever told not one, but a hundred?

　　但是當我們評判別人的時候，情況就不同了。我們不是通過真實的自我來評判別人，而是用一種自我形象來評判，這種自我形象完全摒棄了在任何世人眼中會傷害到自己的虛榮或者體面的東西。舉一個小例子來說：當覺察到別人說謊時，我們是多麼地蔑視他啊!但是，誰能夠說自從未說過謊?可能還不止一百次呢。

　　There is not much to choose between men. They are all a hotchpotch of greatness and tininess, of virtue and vice, of nobility and baseness. Some have more strength of character, or more opportunity, and so in one direction or another give their instincts freer play, but initially they are the same. For my part, I do not think I am any better or any worse than most people, but I know that if I set down every action in my life and every thought that has crossed my mind, the world would consider me a monster of depravity. The knowledge that these reveries are common to all men should inspire one with tolerance to oneself as well as to others. It is well also if they enable us to look upon our fellows, even the most eminent and respectable, with humor, and if they lead us to take ourselves not too seriously.

　　人和人之間沒什麼大的差別。他們皆是偉大與渺小，善良與邪惡，高尚與低俗的混合體。有的人性格比較堅毅，機會也比較多，因而這個或那個方面，能夠更自由地發揮自己的稟賦，但是人類的潛能卻都是相同的。至於我自己，我認為自己並不比大多數人更好或者更差，但是我知道，假如我記下我生命中每一次舉動和每一個掠過我腦海的想法的話，世界就會將我視為一個邪惡的怪物。每個人都會有這樣的怪念頭，這樣的認識應當能夠啟發我們寬容自己，也寬容他人。同時，假如因此我們得以用幽默的態度看待他人，即使是天下最優秀最令人尊敬的人，而且假如我們也因此不把自己看得過於重要，那是很有裨益的。

　　：Life inspiring 生活的啟示

　　A daughter complained to her father about her life and how things were so hard for her, She did not know she was going to make it and want to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.

　　有一個女孩向她父親抱怨她的生活，她覺得凡事都很艱難，不知該怎樣挺過去，想放棄。她厭倦了不斷的抗爭和奮鬥，似乎一個問題剛剛解決，另一個問題馬上呈現。

　　Her father, a cook, took her to the kitchen, He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire .Soon the pots came to a boil. In one he placed carrots, in the second he placed eggs, and in the last he placed ground coffee beans. He led them sit and boil, without saying a word.

　　她的父親是個廚師，他把她帶到了廚房。他在三個壺裡分別裝滿了水，然後放到高溫的火上燒。很快，壺裡的水被煮開了。他往第一個壺裡放了些胡蘿蔔，往第二個壺裡放了幾個雞蛋，在最後一個壺裡放了些磨碎的咖啡豆，然後，一句話也沒說，他由著水把它們煮沸。

　　The daughter sucked her teeth and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. In about twenty minutes he turned off the burners, He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out and placed it in a mug. Turning to her he asked," Darling, what do you see?"

　　女兒咂巴著牙齒髮出聲響，不耐煩地等著，對父親的行為感到很納悶。大約二十分鐘後，父親關掉了火爐，把胡蘿蔔撈出來，放到一個碗裡。又把雞蛋揀出來放進另一個碗裡，接著把咖啡用勺子舀出來倒進一個杯子裡，然後轉過頭來，對她說，“親愛的，你看到的是什麼?”

　　"Carrots, eggs, and coffee." she replied.

　　“胡蘿蔔、雞蛋和咖啡。”她答道。

　　He brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots, she did and noted that they were soft .He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee .She smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma.

　　父親把她帶近了這些東西，要她去摸胡蘿蔔，她摸了之後，注意到，它們變柔軟了。然後，他又要她去拿一個雞蛋並把它敲破，在把殼剝掉之後，她觀察了這個煮熟的雞蛋。最後，父親要她飲一口咖啡。嘗著芳香四溢的咖啡，她微笑起來。

　　"What does it mean, Father?" she humbly asked.

　　“這是什麼意思，父親?”她謙遜地問道。

　　He explained that each of them had faced the same adversity, boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. But after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and weak. The egg had being fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water. its inside became hardened ,The ground coffee beans were unique ,however ,After they were in the boiling water ,they had changed the water .

　　父親解釋說，這三樣東西面臨著同樣的逆境——煮沸的水。但它們的反應卻各不相同。胡蘿蔔本是硬的，堅固而且強度大，但受到煮沸的水的影響後，它變得柔軟而脆弱。雞蛋本來易碎，薄薄的外殼保護著內部的液體。但是在經歷過煮沸的水以後，它的內部卻變得堅硬。不過，最獨特的卻是磨碎的咖啡豆，當它們被放入煮沸的水之後，它們卻改變了水。

　　"Which are you?" he asked his daughter.

　　“哪一個是你呢?”他問女兒。

　　When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

　　當逆境找上你時，你該如何應對呢? 你是胡蘿蔔、雞蛋，還是咖啡豆?

　　：Industry significance 勤勞的意義

　　The significant inscription found on an old key "If I rest, I rust" would be an excellent motto for those who are afflicted with the slightest taint of idleness. Even the most industrious might adopt it with advantage to serve as a reminder that, if one allows his faculties to rest, like the iron in the unused key, they will soon show signs of rust and, ultimately, cannot do the work required of them.

　　在一把舊鑰匙上發現了一則意義深遠的銘文——如果我休息，我就會生鏽。對於那些懶散而煩惱的人來說，這將是至理名言。甚至最為勤勉的人也以此作為警示：如果一個人有才能而不用，就像廢棄鑰匙上的鐵一樣，這些才能就會很快生鏽，並最終無法完成安排給自己的工作。

　　Those who would attain the heights reached and kept by great men must keep their faculties polished by constant use, so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge, the gate that guard the entrances to the professions, to science, art, literature, agriculture --- every department of human endeavor.

　　有些人想取得偉人所獲得並保持的成就，他們就必須不斷運用自身才能，以便開啟知識的大門，即那些通往人類努力探求的各個領域的大門，這些領域包括各種職業：科學，藝術，文學，農業等。

　　Industry keeps bright the key that opens the treasury of achievement. If Hugh Miller, after toiling all day in a quarry, had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation, he would never have become a famous geologist. The celebrated mathematician, Edmund Stone, would never have published a mathematical dictionary, never have found the key to science of mathematics, if he had given his spare moments to idleness. Had the little Scotch lad, Ferguson, allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside instead of calculating the position of the stars by a string of beads, he would never have become a famous astronomer

　　勤奮使開啟成功寶庫的鑰匙保持光亮。如果休米勒在採石場勞作一天後，晚上的時光用來休息消遣的話，他就不會成為名垂青史的地質學家。著名數學家愛德蒙斯通如果閒暇時無所事事，就不會出版數學詞典，也不會發現開啟數學之門的鑰匙。如果蘇格蘭青年弗格森在山坡上放羊時，讓他那思維活躍的大腦處於休息狀態，而不是藉助一串珠子計算星星的位置，他就不會成為著名的天文學家。

　　Labor vanquishes all --- not inconstant, spasmodic, or ill-directed labor, but faithful, unremitting, daily effort toward a well-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so is eternal industry the price of noble and enduring success.

　　勞動征服一切。這裡所指的勞動不是斷斷續續的，間歇性的或方向偏差的勞動，而是堅定的，不懈的，方向正確的每日勞動。正如要想擁有自由就要時刻保持警惕一樣，要想取得偉大的，持久的成功，就必須堅持不懈地努力。