經典高中英語美文摘抄
英語美文題材豐富,涉及面廣,大多蘊涵人生哲理。引導學生欣賞美文,不僅能提高他們的閱讀理解能力,而且能使他們得到美的薰陶,從而提高學生對周圍事物的認識。本文是經典高中英語美文，希望對大家有幫助!
經典高中英語美文：沃爾瑪發跡妙訣
How did a peddler of cheap shirts and fishing rods become the mightiest corporation in America?The short version of Wal-Mart’s rise to glory goes something like this:In 1979 it racked up a billion dollars in sales. By 1993 it did that much business in a week;by 2001 it could do it in a day.
It’s a stunning tale - one that propelled Wal-Mart from rural Arkansas, where it was founded in 1962,to the top of the Fortune 500 this year. Sam Walton, Wal-Mart’s founder,pushed sales growth relentlessly while squeezing costs with sophisticated information technology.He exhorted employees to sell better with the“ten foot rule” ***greet customers if they are that close***.He was, in other words, an early evangelist forthe first commandment of today’s economy: Service rules.Wal-Mart, in fact, is the first service company to rise to the top of the Fortune 500.When Fortune first published its list of the largest companies in America in 1955, Wal-Mart didn’t even exist.That year General Motors was America’s biggest company, and in every year that followed, either GM or another mighty industrial, Exxon, was NO. 1.
Wal-Mart’s achievement caps a bigger economic shift - from producing goods to providing services.Manufacturing’s share of U.S. employment peaked in 1953, at 35%.It has been declining steadily since. In the decade that will end in 2010,the Bureau of Labor Statistics figures that goods producing industries will create 1.3 million new jobs,compared to 20 million for service industries.To look at it another way, today there are about four times as many people working in service jobs as in other kinds of jobs.And even within manufacturing, services are an increasingly large share of operations.
As America got richer consumption got more complicated. With more income to throw around,people started spending more on services movies and travel, mortgages to buy houses, insurance to protect those houses,the occasional decadent weekend at a luxury hotel.Economists call this a shift in the demand pattern;Fortune calls it the main reason that 64 of this year’s top 100 are service companies.Over the next few years, only three of the ten fastest growing occupations ***software engineers, nurses,and computer support*** pay middle class salaries.The rest could be called, well, Wal-Mart kinds of jobs - cashiers, retail assistants, food service, and so on. In short, the service economy is delivering more good jobs than ever before.
一個出售廉價襯衣和釣魚竿的商販是如何成為美國實力最強的公司的?沃爾瑪百貨公司的發跡史可以濃縮為以下三個階段：1979年它全年的銷售額為10億美元;到1993年,一週就能達到這個數額;在2001年僅需一天之功。
這是一個驚人的傳奇故亊——這家1962年始創於阿肯色州鄉村地區的沃爾瑪百貨公司在今年一躍登上了〈財禽>500強的榜首。公司創始人薩姆·沃爾頓一面千方百計提高銷售額， 一面以先進的資訊科技降低成本。他以嚴格的"10英尺規則” ***向在這距離之內的顧客致意***鼓勵員工提高銷售業績。換句話說，他是當今經濟戒律——服務規則——的第一位傳道者。事實上，沃爾瑪百貨公司是第一個躍居***財富>500強榜首的服 務業公司。1955年，當《財富〉雜誌第一次公佈美國最大公司的排名時，沃爾瑪甚至尚未問世。那一年，通用汽車公司是美國最 大的公司，此後不是通用汽車公司就是另一個大公司——埃克 森公司獨佔鰲頭。
沃爾瑪的成就還標誌著一個更重要的經濟轉變——從生產商品向提供服務的轉變。1953年美國製造業的就業人數佔總 就業人數的比例達到歷史最高點——35%。從此就開始逐年下降。根據勞工統計局的資料，到2010年底的未來10年間，製造業將創造130萬個就業機會，而服務業創造的就業機會將高達 2000萬個。換一個角度看，今天在服務業中工作的人數大約是其他行業的4倍。即使在製造業中，服務在業務經營中所佔的比例也越來越大。
隨著美國人富裕程度的曰益增高，消費也變得越來越複雜。人們開始把更多的錢花在接受服務方面看電彩、旅遊、抵押 貸款買房、為房屋保險、偶爾到豪華飯店度個奢侈的週末。經濟學家稱這種現象為需求變化;〈財富〉雜誌則認為這是本年度評出的100家最大公司中有64家是服務業公司的主要原因。在未來幾年中，10種發展最快的職業中只有3種***軟體工程、護士 和電腦支援***能夠提供中等收入。其餘都可稱作沃爾瑪式的職業——收銀員、售貨員、食品服務，以及諸如此類的職業。總之， 同過去相比，服務業正在提供更多相當不錯的就業機會。
經典高中英語美文：葛底斯堡演說
Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation,conceived in liberty,and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now, we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation,or any nation soconceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of thatwar.We have come to dedicate a portionof that field as a final resting-place for those who heregave their lives that that nation might live. Itis altogether fitting and proper that we should dothis.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate，we cannot consecrate，we cannot hallow，thisground. The bravemen, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above ourpower to add or detract.The world will little note nor long remember what we say here,but it cannever forget what they did here.It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to theunfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.It is rather forus to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us，that from these honored deadwe take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure ofdevotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall no have died in vain; that thisnation,under God, shall have a new birth of freedom;and that government of the people, by thepeople, and for thepeople, shall not perish from the earth.
八十七年前，我們的先輩們在這個大陸上創立了一個新的國家,她孕育於自由的理念之中,奉行一切人生來平等的原則。
現在，我們正在進行一場偉大的內戰，以考驗這個國家,或者任何一個孕育於自由和奉行上述原則的國家是否能夠長久存在下去。 我們在這場戰爭中的一個偉大戰場上集會。我們來到這裡，就是要把這個戰場的一部分奉獻給那些為了國家的生存而捐軀的人們，使其成為他們最後的安息之所。我們這樣做是完全應該而且是非常恰當的。
但是，從更廣泛的意義上來說，這塊土地我們不能夠奉獻，不能夠聖化，不能夠神化。那些曾在這裡戰鬥過的勇士們,活著的和死去的，已經把這塊土地聖化了，這遠不是我們微薄的力量所能增減的。我們今天在這裡所說的話，全世界不大會注意，也不會長久地記住，但是勇士們在這裡的豐功偉績,全世界卻永遠不會忘記。毋寧說，倒是我們這些還活著的人，應該在這裡把自己奉獻給勇士們 已經如此崇高地向前推進但尚未完成的事業。倒是我們應該在這 裡把自己奉獻於仍然留在我們面前的偉大任務我們要從這些 光榮的犧牲者身上汲取更多的獻身精神，來完成他們已經完全徹底為之獻身的事業;我們要在這裡下定最大的決心,不讓這些烈士們白白犧牲;我們要使國家在上帝福佑下得到自由的新生，要使這個民有、民治、民享的政府永世長存。
經典高中英語美文：愛美
The love of beauty is an essential part of all healthy human nature. It is a moral quality.Theabsence of it is not an assured ground of condemnation, but the presence of it is aninvariable sign of goodness of heart. In proportion to the degree in which it is felt willprobably be the degree in which nobleness and beauty of character will be attained.
Natural beauty is an all pervading presence. The universe is its temple. It unfolds into thenumberless flowers of spring. It waves in the branches of trees and the green blades of grass.It haunts the depths of the earth and the sea. It gleams from the hues of the shell and theprecious stone. And not only these minute objects but the oceans, the mountains, the clouds,the stars, the rising and the setting sun - all overflow with beauty. This beauty is soprecious, and so congenial to our tenderest and noblest feelings, that it is painful to think ofthe multitude of people living in the midst of it and yet remaining almost blind to it.
All persons should seek to become acquinted with the beauty in nature. There is not a wormwe tread upon, nor a leaf that dances merrily as it falls before the autumn winds, but calls forour study and admiration.The power to appreciate beauty not merely increases our sourcesof happiness -it enlarges our moral nature, too. Beauty calms our restlessness and dispels ourcares. Go into the fields or the woods, spend a summer day by the sea or the mountains, andall your little perplexities and anxieties will vanish. Listen to sweet music, and your foolish fearsand petty jealousies will pass away. The beauty of the world helps us to seek and find thebeauty of goodness.
愛美乃是健全人性不可或缺的一部分。它是道德的一種品質。缺乏這種品質並不能作為責難的真正理由，但是擁有 這種品質則是心靈美好的永恆標誌。品德之高尚與完美所達到的程度可能與愛美的感受程度成正比。
大自然之美無處不在。整個宇宙就是其殿堂。美，在春曰 百花中綻放;美，在綠葉嫩枝間搖曳;美，在深海幽谷裡遊弋;美，在奇石與貝殼的繽紛色彩中閃爍。不只是這些細微之物，甚至大洋大川，雲朵繁星，曰出曰落--切都洋溢著美。這樣的美如此珍貴，與我們最溫柔、最高尚的情感是如此相宜。然而，想到很多人置身於美，卻幾乎對它視若無睹，真是令人痛心不已。
所有的人都應該去感知大自然之美。我們所踩過的小蟲以及秋風拂掠之際飄落飛舞的樹葉，皆值得我們探究與讚賞。具有欣賞美的能力不僅可以使我們快樂的源泉汩汩噴湧——它也可以拓展我們的德性。美，撫平我們心中的不安，也驅散了我們的憂慮。走進田野或樹林，在夏曰的海濱或山間度過一天的時光，那麼你所有微不足道的困惑和焦慮都會煙消雲散。傾聽美妙的音樂，你那愚蠢的恐懼與瑣碎的猜忌都會消逝無蹤。世間萬物之美總會有助於我們探尋與發現善良之美。