大學英語四級美文閱讀

　　閱讀經典美文可以豐富學生的知識,鞏固學習成果。下面是小編帶來的大學英語四級美文閱讀，歡迎閱讀!

　　精選

　　不要降低自己的標準

　　Suppose a child comes home with a report card with five As and one B. Usually the first thinghis parents will say is "Why the B?" What do you think will go through the child’s mind? Did hetry for the B? Or should his parents congratulate the child for the B and accept a lowerstandard? Not at all.

　　What the child is really looking for acknowledgement and encouragement for the effort ingetting the five As. A parent after acknowledging and praising the As, can make clear hisexpectations of seeing all six As and offer help if needed. If we lower our standards, thechances are pretty good that the performance next time would drop to those expectations.

　　Similarly at work, an employee does 100 things right and one thing wrong. Guess what theboss picks on.

　　Acknowledge the positive but don't lower your standards.

　　假如一個孩子帶回家一張五個A，一個B的成績單，他的父母親首先通常會這樣問：“為什麼得了個B?”你認為孩子心裡會怎麼想?難道他是爭取得個B嗎?或者父母親應該祝賀孩子得了個B，並接受這較低的標準嗎?根本不是。

　　孩子真正盼望的是，他因努力而獲得的五個A能得到承認和鼓勵。父親或母親可以在承認和讚揚這些A之後，表明想要看到六個A的願望，並表示如果需要，可以提供幫助。如果我們降低自己的標準，那麼下一次的成績很可能低於那些期望。

　　同樣，在工作上，一個僱員做了100件正確事而做了一件錯事，猜猜老闆會挑出哪件事。

　　承認積極面，但不要降低自己的標準。

　　閱讀

　　女人為什麼撒謊?

　　If you think your woman would never lie to you, guess again. From little white lies to the moreserious variety, most women will curtail the truth at some point in a relationship. Hermotivation for lying can stem from wanting to protect your feelings or, sure enough, to saveher own butt.

　　One day, when a seamstress was sewing while sitting close to a river, her thimble fell into theriver. When she cried out, the Lord appeared and asked, 'My dear child, why are you crying?'The seamstress replied that her thimble had fallen into the water and that she needed it to helpher husband in making a living for their family. The Lord dipped His hand into the water andpulled up a golden thimble set with sapphires.

　　'Is this your thimble?' the Lord asked The seamstress replied, 'No.'

　　The Lord again dipped into the river. He held out a golden thimble studded with rubies.

　　'Is this your thimble?' the Lord asked. Again, the seamstress replied, 'No.'

　　The Lord reached down again and came up with a leather thimble.

　　'Is this your thimble ?' the Lord asked. The seamstress replied, 'Yes.' The Lord was pleasedwith the woman's honesty and gave her all three thimbles to keep, and the seamstress wenthome happy.

　　Some years later, the seamstress was walking with her husband along the riverbank, and herhusband fell into the river and disappeared under the water. When she cried out, the Lordagain appeared and asked her, 'Why are you crying?' 'Oh Lord, my husband has fallen into theriver!'

　　The Lord went down into the water and came up with George Clooney. 'Is this your husband?'the Lord asked.

　　'Yes,' cried the seamstress. The Lord was furious. 'You lied! That is an untruth!' Theseamstress replied, 'Oh, forgive me, my Lord. It is a misunderstanding. You see, if I had said'no' to George Clooney, you would have come up with Brad Pitt.

　　Then if I said 'no' to him, you would have come up with my husband. Had I then said 'yes,' youwould have given me all three. Lord, I'm not in the best of health and would not be able to takecare of all three husbands, so THAT' S why I said 'yes' to George Clooney.

　　And so the Lord let her keep him.

　　The moral of this story is:

　　Whenever a woman lies, it's for a good and honorable reason, and in the best interest ofothers. That's our story, and we're sticking to it.

　　如果你認為你的女人從不會對你撒謊，請再仔細考慮一下。大部分女人，小到善意的謊言，大到更為嚴重的假話，都會在牽涉到某種關係的某一點時掩飾真相。她的撒謊動機也許是想要保護你的情感，或者是，可以相當肯定地說，維護她自身的利益。

　　有一天，一個女裁縫坐在河邊幹活時，不小心把頂針掉進了河裡。當她大聲哭喊時，上帝出現了，問她：“我親愛的孩子，你為什麼哭啊?”女裁縫回答說，她的頂針掉進河裡了，她很需要這個頂針，好用它來幫助丈夫為一家人謀生。上帝把手伸進河裡，撈上來一個金燦燦的鑲嵌著藍寶石的頂針。

　　“這是你的頂針嗎?”上帝問道。女裁縫回答：“不是。”

　　上帝又把手伸進河裡。他這次手上拿著的是一個金燦燦的鑲嵌著紅寶石的頂針。

　　“這是你的頂針嗎?”上帝問道。女裁縫再次回答：“不是。”

　　上帝再次把手伸進河裡，這次他手上拿的是一枚皮製頂針。

　　“這是你的頂針嗎?”上帝問道。女裁縫回答：“是的。”上帝很為女人的誠實高興，就把三個頂針都給了她，女裁縫高高興興地回了家。

　　幾年以後，女裁縫和丈夫沿著河岸走著，突然她的丈夫掉進了河裡，消失在水下。女裁縫大哭的時候，上帝又出現了，問她：“你為什麼哭啊?”“主啊，我的丈夫掉進河裡了!”

　　上帝到了河裡，把喬治·克魯尼救了上來。“這是你的丈夫嗎?”上帝問道。

　　“是的，”女裁縫喊道。上帝大怒。“你撒謊!那不是真話!”女裁縫回答道，“噢，我的主，請寬恕我。這是一個誤會。你瞧，如果我對喬治說：‘不’，你會再救上來一個布萊德·皮特。

　　那麼如果我對他說‘不’，你又會把我丈夫救上來。如果我說‘是的’，你會把他們三個都給我。主啊，我身體不太好，不能把三個丈夫都照顧好啊，所以我就對喬治-克魯尼說‘是’了。”

　　而上帝因此就讓女裁縫留著喬治做丈夫了。

　　這個故事的寓意是：

　　不管一個女人何時撒謊，那是為了一個善意的和高尚的理由，而且是對別人最有利的。這就是我們要講的故事，而且我們對此堅信不疑。

　　學習

　　聊齋志異故事-邂逅封三娘

　　Lady Fan was gentle and beautiful. One day, accompanied by an attendant on an outing tothe Water and Moon Monastery, she encountered the warm and equally beautiful Lady Feng. Asthey found an affinity between each other, on deqarting Lady Fan invited Lady Feng to visit herhome some day. Back home Lady Fan missed her newly made friend terribly and soon fell ill. Onthe ninth day of the ninth nonth of the lunar calendar, the Double Ninth Festival, Lady Fan andher attendant came to the family garden to enjoy flowers. There she saw Lady Feng looking ather from outside the garden wall. Overjoyed, Lady Fan met Meng Anren, a young, handsomeand talented scholar from a impoverished family. Helped by Lady Feng, Lady Fan and the youngscholar entered betrothal. Unfortunately, a rich local bully also had his eyes on Lady Fan andforced a marriage proposal on Lady Fan's parents, who saw no choice but to accept. The daybefore the wedding, Lady Fan hanged herself in her room. The heartbroken young scholar, onhearing the news, rushed to her tomb and wailed uncontuollably. Suddenly, he heard LadyFeng's voice from behind, "If you dig up the tomb, I can bring her back to life." He did as shesaid, and carried the dead Lady Fan back to his place. Whth Lady Feng's magic medicine LadyFan indeed came to life and the two lovers married. Before Lady Feng left, she disclosed her realidentity——a fox fairy.

　　範十一娘，心地善良，有傾國傾城之貌。一日在丫環的陪同下去水月寺遊玩，遇上美麗熱情的封三娘，二人見面都很喜歡對方。分別時，十一娘約封三娘去她家玩。十一娘回家後，日夜想念相信封三娘，日久天長，鬱郁成疾。重陽節這天，丫環扶十一娘在花園賞花，忽見封三娘正攀牆向園內張望，於是被請進園來，並住下。十一孃的病就此好了。

　　來年春天，她倆結伴郊遊。十一娘碰見年輕英俊的貧寒秀才孟安仁，在封三娘幫助下，訂了婚約，有一顯貴相中十一娘，十一娘父母懼怕權勢，同意了這門親事。就在迎親前一天，十一娘自縊。孟安仁聽到噩耗，萬分悲痛，夜晚到十一娘墳上大哭。忽聽三娘在背後說：“你快挖開墳，我有辦法。”孟安仁挖開墳將十一娘揹回家中。經封三娘調藥相救，十一娘甦醒了，二人遂成婚，封三娘辭別時說出自己是狐仙。