優秀經典英文美文欣賞

　　閱讀是外語學習者獲取和交流資訊的重要手段之一,是讀者潛在的一種交際能力。下面是小編帶來的，歡迎閱讀!

　　篇一

　　Feed Your Mind***充實你的思想***

　　Since the pre-historic times，man has had an urge to satisfy his needs. Be it hunger，shelter or search for a mate，he has always manipulated the circumstances to the best of his advantages. Probably this might be the reason why we human are the most developed of all living species on the earth，and probably also in the universe. As we climbed the steps of evolution with giant leaps，we somehow left behind common sense and logical thinking—we forgot that we have stopped thinking ahead of times.

　　If you are hungry，what do you do?Grab a piece of your favorite meal and stay quiet after that?Just like your stomach，even your mind is hungry. But it never lets you know，because you keep it busy thinking about your dream lover，favorite star and many such absurd things. So it silently began to heed to your needs and never let itself grow. When mind looses its freedom to grow，creativity gets a full stop. This might be the reason why we all sometimes think“What happens next?”，“Why can‘t I think?”，“Why am I always given the difficult problems?”Well this is the aftermath of our own karma of using our brain for thinking of not-so-worthy things.

　　Hunger of the mind can be actually satiated through extensive reading. Now why reading and not watching TV?Because reading has been the most educative tool used by us right from the childhood. Just like that to develop other aspects of our life，we have to take help of reading. You have innumerable number of books in this world which will answer all your“How to?”questions. Once you read a book，you just don‘t run your eyes through the lines，but even your mind decodes it and explains it to you. The interesting part of the book is stored in your mind as a seed. Now this seed is unknowingly used by you in your future to develop new ideas. The same seed if used many times，can help you link and relate a lot of things，of which you would have never thought of in your wildest dreams!This is nothing but creativity. More the number of books you read，your mind will open up like never before. Also this improves your oratory skills to a large extent and also makes a significant contribution to your vocabulary. Within no time you start speaking English or any language fluently with your friends or other people and you never seem to run out of the right words at the right time.

　　Actually，I had a problem in speaking English fluently，but as I read，I could improve significantly. I am still on the path of improvement to quench my thirst for satisfaction. So guys do join me and give food for your thoughts by reading，reading and more reading. Now what are you waiting for?Go，grab a book，and let me know!

　　Deepak Chandrasekaran

　　篇二

　　Weakness or Strength ***將弱項變為強項***

　　Sometimes our biggest weakness can become your biggest strength. Take，for example，the story t of one 10-year-old boy who decided to study judo despite the fact that the had lost his left arm in a devastating car accident.

　　The boy began lesson with an old Japanese judo master. The boy was dong well，so he couldn‘t understand why，after three months of training，the master had taught him only one move.

　　“Mister，”the boy finally said，“shouldn‘t I be learning more moves?”

　　“This is the only move you know，but this is the only move you‘ll ever need to know，”the master replied.

　　Not quite understanding，but believing in his teacher，the boy kept training.

　　Several months later，the master took the boy to his first tournament.

　　To his surprise，，the boy easily won his first two matches. The third match proved to be more difficult，but after some time，his opponent became impatient and charged;the boy deftly used his one move to win the match. Still amazed by his success，the boy was now in the finals.

　　This time，his opponent was bigger，stronger，and more experienced. For a while，the boy appeared to be overmatched.

　　Concerned that the boy might get hurt，the referee called a time-out. He was about to stop the match when the master intervened.“No，”his master insisted，“let him continue.”

　　Soon after the match resumed，his opponent made a critical mistake：he dropped his guard. Instantly，the boy used his move to pin him. The boy had won the match and the tournament. He was the champion.

　　On the way home，the boy and his master reviewed every move in each and every match. Then the boy summoned the courage to ask what was really in his min.

　　“Mister，how did I win the tournament with only one move?”

　　“You won for two reasons，”the master answered.“First，you‘ve almost mastered one of the most difficult throws in all of judo. Second，the only known defense for that move is for your opponent to grab your left arm.”

　　The boy‘s biggest weakness had become his biggest strength.

　　Everyday English

　　篇三

　　The Importance of Doing Things Badly***草草行事的重要性***

　　I. A. Williams was born in England and educated at Cambridge. After World War I he served as a correspondent for the London Times. Williams wrote several books on eighteenth-century poetry and drama，published widely in journals and magazines，and published collections of his own poetry. The following article first appeared in London‘s The Outlook in 1923.

　　Perhaps the greatest threat to productivity in both work and play is the fear of doing things badly or wrong. This article offers some comfort. Williams points out that there are many things worth doing badly，and that our lives are enriched and our personalities enhanced by these activities. Two central examples，sports and music，are valuable to most people in proportion to how enthusiastically they do them，rather than how well.

　　Charles Lamb wrote a series of essays upon popular fallacies. I do not，at the moment，carry them very clearly in my memory;but，unless that treacherous servant misleads me more even than she usually does，he did not write of one piece of proverbial so-called wisdom that has always seemed to me to be peculiarly pernicious. And this saw，this scrap of specious advice，this untruth masquerading as logic，is one that I remember to have had hurled at my head at frequent intervals from my earliest youth right up to my present advanced age. How many times have I not been told that“If a thing is worth doing at all，it is worth doing well”?

　　Never was there a more untruthful word spoken in earnest. For the world is full of things that are worth doing，but certainly not worth doing well. Was it not so great a sage as Herbert Spencer[1] who said to the young man who had just beaten him at billiards，“Moderate skill，sir，is the sign of a good eye and a steady hand，but skill such as yours argues a youth misspent”?Is any game worth playing supremely well，at the price of constant practice and application?

　　Against the professional player I say nothing;he is a public entertainer，like any other，and by his skill in his particular sport he at least fulfills the first social duty of man—that of supporting himself and his family by his own legitimate exertions. But what is to be said of the crack amateur?To me he seems one of the most contemptible of mankind. He earns no money，but devotes himself，for the mere selfish pleasure of the thing，to some game，which he plays day in day out;he breaks down the salutary distinction between the amateur and the professional;eventually his skill deserts him，and he leaves behind him nothing that is of service to his fellow men—not a brick laid，not an acre ploughed，not a line written，not even a family supported and educated by his labor.

　　It is true that he has provided entertainment for a certain number of persons，but he has never had the pluck to submit himself to the test by which we demand that every entertainer should justify his choice of a calling—the demonstration of the fact that the public is willing to pay him for his entertainment . And，when his day is over，what is left，not even to the world，but to himself?Nothing but a name that is at once forgotten，or is remembered by stout gentlemen in clubs.

　　The playing of games，certainly，is a thing which is not worth doing well.

　　But that does not prove that it is not worth doing at all，as the proverb would，by implication，persuade us. There is nothing more agreeable and salutary than playing a game which one likes，and the circumstance of doing it badly interferes with the pleasure of no real devotee of any pastime. The man who minds whether or not he wins is no true sportsman—which observation is trite，but the rule it implies is seldom observed，and comparatively few people really play games for the sheer enjoyment of the playing. Is this not proved by the prevalence and popularity of handicaps?Why should we expect to be given points unless it be that we wish to win by means other than our own skill?

　　“Ah!but，”my reader may say，“the weaker player wants to receive points in order that he may give the stronger one a better game.”Really，I do not believe that that is so. Possible，sometimes，a strong and vainglorious player may wish to give points，in order that his victory may be the more notable. But I do not think that even this is the true explanation. That，I suspect，was given to me the other day by the secretary of a lawn-tennis tournament，in which I played.“Why all this nonsense of handicaps?Why not let us be squarely beaten，and done with it?”I asked him.“Because，”He replied，“if we did not give handicaps，none of the less good players would enter.”Is that not a confession that the majority of us have both realized the true value doing a trivial thing badly，for its own sake，and must needs have our minds buoyed and cheated into a false sense of excellence?

　　Moreover it is not only such intrinsically trivial things as games that are worth doing badly. This is a truth which，oddly enough，we accept freely of some things—but not of others—and as a thing which we are quite content to do ill let me instance acting. Acting，at its best，can be a great art，a thing worth doing supremely well，though its worth，like that of all interpretative arts，is lessened by its evanescence. For it works in the impermanent medium of human flesh and blood，and the thing that the actor create—for what we call an interpretative artist is really a creative artist working in a perishable medium—is an impression upon，an emotion or a thought aroused in，the minds of an audience，and is incapable of record.

　　Acting，then，let me postulate—though I have only sketched ever so briefly the proof of my belief—can be a great art. But is anyone ever deterred from taking part in amateur theatricals by the consideration that he cannot act well?Not a bit of it!And quite rightly not，for acting is one of the things about which I am writing this essay—the things that are worth doing badly.

　　Another such thing is music;but here the proverbial fallacy again exerts its power，as it does not，for some obscure and unreasoning discrimination，in acting. Most people seem to think that if they cannot sing，or play the piano，fiddle，or sackbut，admirably well，they must not do any of these things at all. That they should not indiscriminately force their inferior performances upon the public，or even upon their acquaintances，I admit. But that there is no place“in the home”for inferior musical performances，is an untruth that I flatly deny.

　　How many sons and daughters have not，with a very small talent，given their parents—and even the less fondly prejudiced ears of their friends—great pleasure with the singing of simple songs?Then one day there comes to the singer the serpent of dissatisfaction;singing lessons are taken，and—if the pupil is of moderate talent and modest disposition—limitations are discovered. And then，in nine cases out of ten，the singing is dropped，like a hot penny. How many fathers have not banished music from their homes by encouraging their daughters to take singing lessons?Yet a home may be the fresher for singing that would deserve brickbats at a parish concert.

　　I may pause here to notice the curious exception that people who cannot on any account be persuaded to sing in the drawing-room，or even in the bath，will without hesitation uplift their tuneless voices at religious meetings or in church. There is a perfectly good and honorable explanation of this，I believe，but it belongs to the realm of metaphysics and is beyond my present scope.

　　This cursed belief，that if a thing is worth doing at all，it is worth doing well，is the cause of a great impoverishment in our private life，and also，to some extent，of the lowering of standards in our public life. For this tenet of proverbial faith has two effects on small talents：it leads modest persons not to exercise them at all，and immodest persons to attempt to do so too much and to force themselves upon the public. It leads to the decay of letter——writing and of the keeping of diaries，and，as surely，it leads to the publication of memoirs and diaries that should remain locked in the writers‘desks.

　　It leads Mr. Blank not to write verses at all—which he might very well do，for the sake of his own happiness，and for the amusement of his friends—and it leads Miss Dash to pester the overworked editors of various journals with her unsuccessful imitations of Mr. de la Mare，[2] Mr. Yeats[3]，and Dr. Bridges.[4] The result is that our national artistic life now suffers from two great needs：A wider amateur practice of the arts，and a higher，more exclusive，prfessional standard. Until these are achieved we shall not get the best out of our souls.

　　The truth is，I conceive，that there is for most of us only one thing—beyond，of course，our duties of citizenship and our personal duties as sons，or husbands，or fathers，daughters，or wives，or mothers—that is worth doing well—that is to say，with all our energy. That one thing may be writing，or it may be making steam-engines，or laying bricks. Bt after that there are hundreds of things that are worth doing badly，with only part of our energy，for the sake of the relaxation they bring us，and for the contacts which they give us wth our minds. And the sooner England realizes this，as once she did，the happier，the more contented，the more gracious，will our land be.

　　There are even，I maintain，things that are in themselves better done badly than well. Consider fishing，where one‘s whole pleasure is often spoiled by having to kill a fish. Now，if one could contrive always to try to catcha fish，and never to do so，one might—But that is aother story.

　　I. A. Williams