優秀文章摘抄英文版

　　英語是國際經濟、技術、資訊等交流中應用最廣泛的語言，也是我國基礎教育中最主要的外語課程。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!

　　1

　　dear girls,

　　我親愛的孩子們，

　　you're so young right now, but i hope these letters will be helpful to you one day when you're older. there is so much i wish i could ask my mother now that i am a grown woman. there is so much we never got to talk about. i'm planning on being around for you well into your lives and adulthood, but even so, i think having these letters will be useful in some way. who knows how things might change down the road, and at least you'll have your 34-year-old mother's thoughts down on paper.

　　你們現在如此稚嫩，但我希望將來某一天等你們長大了，這封信將會對你們有幫助。作為一個成年女人，我也有很多想問我媽媽的問題，有很多我和她從未談及過的事情。在你們的成長中，我會在你們身邊幫你們過好生活長大成人，但即使這樣，我認為這封信也能通過其他方式使你們獲益。誰也不知道將來會發生什麼，但至少你們會有我這個34歲的母親把想法寫下來供你們參考。

　　anyway, i want this letter to be about beauty and my relationship to it. i feel this enormous responsibility, as a mother of two little girls, to lead you down a path that is relatively healthy when it comes to beauty and self image. in a lot of women's eyes i've probably already failed in that respect due to the amount of pink-princess-barbie mess cluttering up vera's room right now.

　　不管怎麼樣，我希望談談關於美以及我對美的看法。作為一個有兩個女兒的母親，在談到美和自身形象的問題，我有重要的責任為你們引導相對健康的認識之路。雖然在許多女人眼裡，我這方面做得並不值得稱讚，因為現在在vera的房間裡還亂糟糟地塞滿了卡哇伊的芭比娃娃。

　　but i will say this about barbie ***and all the rest of that princess garbage***: i played with that stuff for a solid decade when i was growing up and here i am now at a healthy weight with a healthy outlook about my body and image. i have a masters degree and have a successful career and a published book. if barbie were really so damaging to my femininity and self-image i highly doubt i could list all of the latter as accomplishments.

　　但對於芭比娃娃***以及系列相關的公主垃圾玩具***我想說的是，我小時候玩了整整十年的洋娃娃，現在我是一個擁有體重標準、保持健康外貌的女性，我獲得了碩士學位，我事業成功還出版了一本書。如果芭比娃娃真的對我的女性特質和個人形象有破壞性的影響，那麼我真是非常懷疑我列出的那些成就是怎麼來的。

　　but i get it too. it's hard for women to maintain a healthy self-image. it's hard not to obsess over our weight and to wish we could afford more stylish clothes. it's hard not to covet someone else's hair or hips or eyelashes, and to spend inordinate amounts of time trying to achieve looks that we were never suited for in the first place.

　　但是我也懂，對女人來講保持健康的形象很不容易。想要不被體重困擾，不奢求自己能有經濟能力購買更時尚的衣服，這真的很難;不覬覦別的女生的髮型、翹臀和睫毛，不在自己身上無節制的花時間試圖讓自己駕馭那些完全不適合的造型，這些也都太難了。

　　i have girlfriends around whom i have to brace myself to see, because even though i love them, just being around them makes me self-conscious. i look at old pictures of my mother and wonder why i've never been able to be as skinny as she was. and then i have friends who are thinner than their mothers ever were. we women go round and round in circles, holding hands and trying to be one another sometimes.

　　我身邊有一群女性朋友，雖然我很愛她們，但每次跟她們接觸我都需要打起精神，只是和她們待在一起我都會覺得不自然。看著我媽媽的老照片，我總是納悶為什麼自己永遠不能像她那麼骨感，然後我發現身邊有朋友比她媽媽年輕時還要瘦。我們女人總在轉圈圈，有時還牽著彼此的手試著扮演對方的角色。

　　men like to think we dress and style ourselves for them, but why would we when they hardly notice? i've never tried so hard to look good as when i know i'm about to meet up with a stylish girlfriend. it's she who will notice my slimmed down waist or the thinnest, little bracelet on my arm.

　　男人以為我們穿衣服打扮自己是為了給他們看，但為什麼當男人幾乎不去注意這些時我們依然樂此不疲呢?在我知道自己馬上將會見一個時髦的女性朋友之前，我就會非常非常努力地打扮自己，讓自己看起來容光煥發。而她也肯定會注意到我苗條的腰線和手臂上纖細精巧的手鐲。

　　and i have no doubt that the two of you, veronica and juliette, will endlessly compare yourselves to each other. you will wonder why one of you got longer legs or shinier hair or bigger breasts or thicker eyelashes. i know this, not because i know sisters, but because i know women. the thing i'll tell you, the thing to remember is this: not even the prettiest of us feel settled. the girl you think looks the most perfect in all the world is probably the girl who wants to change herself more than anyone else.

　　毫無疑問，我親愛的女兒維多妮卡和朱麗葉，你們以後也會無止境地相互比較。你們會鬱悶為什麼對方的腿比自己長，頭髮比自己亮，胸部比自己豐滿或者她有更濃密的睫毛。我懂這些，不是因為我瞭解姐妹關係，而是我瞭解女人。我要告訴你們而你們必須牢記的一件事是：即使最漂亮的女人也沒有安全感，在你眼裡最完美的女孩或許比任何人都想改變自己。

　　2

　　和多年老友重聚這種感覺真好

　　old friends. they finish your sentences, they remember the cat that ran away when you were twelve, and they tell you the truth when you’ve had a bad haircut. but mostly, they are always there for you—whether it’s in person or via late night phone calls—through good times and bad. but as the years pass, it becomes increasingly difficult to see each other, to make new memories. fortunately, my high school girlfriends and i vowed long ago not to let this happen. we vowedto have reunions.

　　老朋友。他們會接完你沒說完的句子，他們記得在你十二歲時跑掉的那隻貓，如果你剪了一個很糟糕的髮型，他們會跟你說實話。但主要的是，不論是在美好抑或糟糕的日子裡，他們總會在你身邊——或是面對面交流，或是深夜與你通電話。但是隨著年月流逝，彼此越來越難見到對方，也越來越難製造新的回憶了。幸運的是，很早以前，我與我的一幫高中女友們曾立下誓言不讓這樣的事發生。我們許諾一定要重聚。

　　a few months ago, we met up for a three-day weekend in the american southwest. we grew up together in maine and have said for years that we should have an annual event, yet it’s often postponed or canceled due to schedule conflicts. not this year.

　　幾個月前的一個週末，我們在美國西南部聚了三天。我們一起在緬因州長大，這幾年來一直都在說我們應該有個一年一度的聚會，但通常都因為日程計劃衝突而延遲或取消。今年終於如願了。

　　four of us-two from san francisco, one from boston, and one from seattle-boarded planes bound for santa fe, new mexico, where one of the ganglives and works for an art gallery. two years ago, she moved there-escaped, rather-from the film industry in new york city, where she led a life that felt too fast, too unfulfilling. the artist in her longed for vibrant landscapes and starry moonlit skies. she wanted to drive a truck on dusty roads, a trusty dog at her side, riding shotgun. she got all that and found love, too. she is happy.

　　我們一行四人——兩個來自舊金山，一個來自波士頓，還有一個來自西雅圖——登上了飛往新墨西哥州聖菲的航班。我們這幫人中有一個住在聖菲，為那裡的一家畫廊工作。兩年前，她搬到那裡——更準確地說是從紐約的電影業中——逃離出來。她當時覺得在紐約生活節奏太快，太沒有成就感。她那藝術家的本性向往生機盎然的自然景緻和繁星點綴的月夜。她希望能在塵土飛揚的路上開著卡車，有隻忠誠的狗坐在前排的乘客座位，陪伴她左右。這一切都實現了，她還找到了愛情。她是幸福快樂的。

　　the rest of us-still big city folks-converged on her like a cyclone straight out of the pages of a girlfriend novel. chattering and memory swapping, we were fifteen again in a space of five minutes. naturally, we relived some of the stories of our youth-angst and all-but we also brought much more to the gathering this time. we were new people. we were wives and girlfriends to someone back home. we were businesswomen, artists and writers. we were no longer girls, no longer post-college grads. we were women.

　　我們其餘幾人——仍然是大城市居民——像是從女性小說的頁面中直接跳出來的一股旋風似地向她襲去。我們聊天、分享回憶，彷彿在短短的五分鐘內又重返十五歲。我們自然而然地重溫了年輕時候的故事——憂愁悵惘等種種情感——但我們給這次聚會帶來的還不止這些。我們是有著全新身份的人。我們是家裡那位的妻子或女友。我們是女商人、藝術家及作家。我們不再是小女孩，也不再是剛畢業的大學生。我們已成為女人。

　　i shared an air mattress that night with my friend from boston, the one who calls me, while rubbernecking in traffic, to catch up on her cell phone, to tell me of her life and love. on the next mattress was a gal from san francisco, newly single and enjoying her independence. our host, the artist, shared her bedroom that weekend with a married dot-commer from san francisco. yes, we are different, but we are also the same. the years of our youth say so.

　　那天晚上，我與來自波士頓的朋友共睡一張充氣床。路上交通堵塞時，她會邊看熱鬧邊給我打電話閒聊，說說她的生活及愛情。旁邊的另一張床上睡的是來自舊金山的朋友，她剛剛恢復單身，正享受著一個人的生活。我們的主人——那位藝術家,那個週末與來自舊金山，就職it行業的一位已婚姐妹同住一間房。是的，我們變得不同了，但我們又仍然未變。我們的青春歲月可以證明這一切。

　　3

　　誰是你的守護天使?

　　once upon a time there was a child ready to be born. so one day he asked god,"they tell me you are sending me to earth tomorrow but how am i going to live there being so small and helpless?"

　　從前，有個孩子馬上就要誕生了。因此有一天他問上帝：“聽說明天你就送我去人間了，但是，我這麼弱小和無助，我在那兒怎麼生活呢?”

　　god replied,"among the many angels, i chose one for you. she will be waiting for you and will take care of you."

　　上帝答道：“在眾多的天使中，我特別為你挑了一位。她會守候你、無微不至地照顧你。”

　　but the child wasn't sure he really wanted to go."but tell me, here in heaven, i don't do anything else but sing and smile, that's enough for me to be happy."

　　小孩還是拿不準自己是否真的想去。“但是在天堂，我除了唱唱笑笑外，什麼也不做。這就足以讓我感到幸福了。”

　　"your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you every day. and you will feel your angel's love and be happy."

　　“你的天使每天會為你唱歌，為你微笑。你會感受她的愛，並且因此而幸福。”

　　"and how am i going to be able to understand when people talk to me,"the child continued,"if i don't know the language that men talk?"

　　“如果我不懂人類的語言，他們對我說話時，我怎麼聽得懂呢?”孩子繼續問道。

　　god patted him on the head and said,"your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak."

　　上帝輕輕地拍了一下孩子的腦袋說：“你的天使會對你說最最美麗、最最動聽的話語，而這些都是你從未聽過的。她會不厭其煩地教你說話。”

　　"and what am i going to do when i want to talk to you?"

　　“如果我想與你說話怎麼辦?”

　　but god had an answer for that question too."your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray."

　　上帝胸有成竹地回答：“你的天使會將你的雙手合攏，教你如何祈禱。”

　　"i've heard that on earth there are bad men, who will protect me?"

　　“聽說塵世有很多壞蛋，誰來保護我呢?”

　　"your angel will defend you even if it means risking her life!"

　　“即使冒著生命危險，你的天使也會保護你的。”

　　"but i will always be sad because i will not see you anymore,"the child continued warily.

　　“但是見不到你，我會難過的。”小孩小心翼翼說道。