初中生英語美文背誦

　　我國英語教材收錄了大量中華民族的文化瑰寶——經典美文。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!

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　　亞瑟王之死

　　The great days of the Round Table were over when 150 knights left to search throughoutBritain for the Grail. But it was Sir Modred, a knight who was either Arthur’s nephew or hisillegitimate son, finally destroyed the fellowship of the Round Table. While Arthur was fightingLancelot in France, Modred seized his kingdom and attempted to marry Guinevere. Arthurquickly returned to Britain and a war broke out between the forces of the two men. Arthur killedModred in battle but he himself was badly wounded.

　　Facing death, Arthur ordered one of his knights Bedivere to throw Excalibur into a lake, so thatthe sword could not fall into the wrong hands. Then Bedivere carried Arthur on his shouldersand brought him to the edge of the lake. There they saw a boat with a number of fairies in it.The boat took him away to the island of Avalon, the land of heroes. People believe that Arthurwill return when Britain again needs him to defeat the nation’s enemies and to bring peace andsecurity to the land.

　　自從亞瑟王的150名圓桌騎士離開亞瑟，到各地尋找聖盃，亞瑟王的朝廷就冷落了下來。但最後使騎士們散夥的，是亞瑟的外甥***一說私生子***莫德雷德。正當亞瑟在法國與朗斯洛作戰時，莫德雷德篡奪了王位，甚至要娶圭內維爾為妻。亞瑟匆忙返回與莫德雷德對陣。亞瑟殺死莫德雷德，自己也身負重傷。

　　臨終時，亞瑟命令拜德維爾爵士把神劍埃克斯卡利伯投入湖中，使之不致落入惡人之手。然後拜德維爾爵士將亞瑟背到湖邊。這時他們看到一條小船駛來，裡面有幾個仙女。仙女們將亞瑟王載到阿瓦隆島，那裡是英雄們的修養地。人們相信，在不列顛需要的時候，亞瑟王會回來打敗敵人，給人民帶來和平與安全。

　　閱讀

　　特利斯特拉姆與伊索德

　　Tristram ***Tristan*** , one of the Knights of the Round Table, was the nephew of King Mark ofCornwall. His mother died after giving birth to him and he was brought up at the court of KingMark, and became a skilful hunter and harper. Tristram fought and killed Sir Marhaus, thebrother of queen of Ireland and he himself was wounded. He was sent to Ireland to be cured ofhis wound. Owing to his skill with the harp the king of Ireland kindly received him and told hisdaughter Isoud ***Isolt or Isolde*** to take care of him. Tristram and Isoud fell in love. When thequeen discovered the guest was the knight who had killed her brother, Tristram had to returnto Cornwall.

　　After a time, King Mark, who felt jealous of Tristram and wanted to get rid of him, sent him toIreland to ask for him the hand of Isoud. Tristram, having killed a poisonous dragon forIreland, asked the king to allow his daughter to marry King Mark as a reward for his service.Isoud and her maid Bragwaine returned with Tristram by ship to Cornwall. Bragwaine hadreceived from Isoud’s mother a magic liquid to be given to King Mark. The liquid could makethe man and woman who drank it love each other for the rest of their lives. On the voyageTristram and Isoud found the liquid and drank it without knowing its effect. Mark and Isoudwere married, but the love affair between Tristram and Isoud continued until Mark discovered it.Tristram had to leave Mark’s court.

　　While fighting in Brittany, Tristram fell in love with another Isoud ***Isou the White Hand*** andmarried her. Later, Tristram was wounded by a poisoned arrow. Feeling that he was dying, hesent for Isoud of Ireland to come to cure him. If she came, the ship that brought her was to seta white sail, if not, a black sail. When the ship returned, however, his jealous wife told him thesail was black. In despair, Tristram turned his face to the wall and died. Isoud of Ireland foundher lover died, lay down by his side and also died.

　　特利斯特拉姆***或稱特里斯坦***是圓桌騎士之一。他是康沃爾國王馬克的外甥，出生後母親死去，在舅舅的宮中長大，擅長打獵與彈奏豎琴。在一場角鬥中，特利斯特拉姆殺死了愛爾蘭王后的兄弟馬豪斯爵士，但同時他自己也受了傷。他被送往愛爾蘭療傷，由於他善彈豎琴，受到愛爾蘭國王的善待，國王叮囑女兒伊索德特別看護他。結果兩人墜入愛河。後來王后發現客人是殺死自己兄弟的騎士，特利斯特拉姆不得不返回康沃爾。

　　過了一段時間，馬克國王出於妒忌，派特利斯特拉姆去愛爾蘭代他向伊索德求婚，想假他人之手除掉特利斯特拉姆。特利斯特拉姆到愛爾蘭後，為當地殺死一條毒龍，然後要求國王答應將女兒嫁給馬克做報答。伊索德和他的使女布萊格溫與特利斯特拉姆同船前往康沃爾。行前伊索德的母親給布萊格溫一瓶藥水，要她送給馬克國王。男女同飲這瓶藥水會相親相愛，白頭偕老。特利斯特拉姆和伊索德發現了這瓶藥水，並不知道其效用，就一起喝了下去。伊索德嫁給了馬克，但暗中卻愛著特利斯特拉姆。馬克後來發現了他們的戀情，特利斯特拉姆不得不離開馬克的宮廷。

　　特利斯特拉姆到布列塔尼作戰時，又愛上了另一個叫伊索德的女人***白手的伊索德***。不久，特利斯特拉姆在戰鬥中身中毒箭，生命垂危。他派人去請愛爾蘭的伊索德為他療傷。他叮囑使者，若伊索德乘船前來，就懸白帆，若未能成行，就懸黑帆。當船返回時，他的妻子白手的伊索德出於妒忌，謊稱來船懸黑帆。特利斯特拉姆絕望而死。愛爾蘭的伊索德由於遲來一步，未能救活特利斯特拉姆，痛不欲生，倒在他的身邊死去。

　　學習

　　ir Gawain and the Green Knight

　　Sir Gawain was Arthur’s nephew. In English stories, he is always described as a brave, honestand loyal knight.

　　According to the story, King Arthur and his Round Table Knights were holding their New Year’sbanquet at Camelot when a tall knight dressed in green and riding on a green horse came in,holding a huge axe in his hand. He challenged a knight to cut his head off on condition that theknight agreed to have his head cut off a year after. Gawain accepted the challenge and cut offthe Green Knight’s head.. The knight picked up his head and rode away.

　　Soon after that, Gawain set off to look for the Green Knight to receive his cut. After goingthrough many strange adventures, on Christmas Eve Gawain came upon a beautiful castlewhere he was well entertained. He agreed to stay on till New Year’s Day since he was told thatthe Green Knight lived nearby. The lord of the castle made an agreement with Gawain that eachday he himself would go hunting, and Gawain stay in the castle, and in the evening they wouldexchange what they had got during the day.

　　For three days the lord went hunting but Gawain had to resist the temptation of the beautifullady of the castle, who gave him one kiss on the first day, two on the second, and on the thirdday three kisses and a girdle which had magic power and would save his life. Each eveningGawain exchanged the kisses with his host for animals killed in the hunt; but on the thirdevening he kept the girdle, thinking that it would protect him when he met the Green Knightand received the cut. In this way he broke his promise.

　　On the New Year’s Day, Gawain was brought to the Green Knight. He bent over for the cut hehad promised to accept. The Green Knight raised his axe and brought it down, but he stoppedhimself at the last moment, for Gawain had moved a little because of fear. The Green Knightlaughed at him. Gawain got ashamed and angry and urged the Green Knight to finish his jobquickly. The Green Knight lifted his axe to cut, but again held it in the air. He praised Gawain fornot moving this time. The third time the Green Knight made a slight cut in Gawain’s neck. Thenhe explained that he was the lord of the castle in a different form, and that the cut in the neckhad been made because Gawain was full of shame and threw the girdle away. But the GreenKnight forgives him and gave him the girdle as a gift.

　　高文爵士是亞瑟王的外甥。在英國傳說裡，他一般被描繪成一個勇敢、忠實可靠的騎士。

　　據說，在亞瑟王和圓桌騎士在卡米洛舉行的新年宴會上，一位身著綠衣、騎著綠馬的高大騎士走進大廳，手裡拿著一把巨斧。他向騎士們提出挑戰，問他們當中有誰敢於用斧頭將他的頭砍下。但誰要砍他的頭，就須答應一年後在脖子上同樣挨一斧。眾騎士中只有高文接受了這一挑戰，一斧砍下綠衣騎士的頭。騎士把頭撿起來，騎馬走了。

　　不久以後，高文爵士便出發尋找綠衣騎士，去接受那許下的一斧。他歷盡千辛萬苦，終於在聖誕節來到一座漂亮的城堡，受到城堡主人的款待。高文答應多住幾日，直到元旦，因為城堡主人告訴他綠衣騎士就住在附近。城堡主人與高文商定，他每天去打獵，高文留在城堡裡，每天晚上交換當天各自得到的東西。

　　城堡主人連續三天去打獵，早出晚歸，而高文在城堡裡卻要抵禦漂亮女主人的誘惑。女主人頭一天給他一個吻，第二天給他兩個吻，第三天給他三個吻，外加一條有魔力的腰帶，繫上它可刀槍不入。每天晚上高文用得來的吻交換主人獵殺的野獸，但在第三天晚上他把腰帶留下了。他想自己不久會去挨那一斧，有腰帶保護，也許能免受傷害。這樣，他違背了自己的誓言。

　　元旦當天，他如約來到綠衣騎士的住所，伸出脖子。綠衣騎士先虛晃了一下斧頭，高文略縮了一下頭，受到嘲笑。高文又氣又羞，催促綠衣騎士趕緊動手。綠衣騎士又虛晃了一下，這次高文紋絲未動，受到誇讚。第三斧頭落下去，只使高文受了輕傷。這時綠衣騎士向他說明了一切。其實綠衣騎士正是城堡主人變化成的。頭兩斧沒有使高文受傷，是因為頭兩天他很誠實，第三斧傷了他，是因為他私藏了腰帶。高文聽罷羞愧萬分，把腰帶丟給綠衣騎士。但綠衣騎士原諒了他，並把腰帶贈給他做禮物。