經典英語美文欣賞（通用多篇）

英語經典美文3：生活的藝術 篇一

The art of living is to know when to hold fast and when to let go. For life is a paradox: it enjoins us to cling to its many gifts even while it ordains their eventual relinquishment. The rabbis of old put it this way: “A man comes to this world with his fist clenched, but when he dies, his hand is open.”

生活的藝術在於懂得什麼時候追求，什麼時候放棄。因爲生活就是一個矛盾體：它要我們緊緊抓住它賜予我們的生命之禮，然後最終又讓它們從我們手中跑掉。老先生們說：“人們緊握着拳頭來到這個世界上，離開這個世界時卻攤開了雙手。”

Surely we ought to hold fast to life, for it is wondrous, and full of a beauty that breaks through every pore of God’s own earth. We know that this is so, but all too often we recognize this truth only in our backward glance when we remember what was and then suddenly realize that it is no more.

當然我們應該緊緊把握生活，因爲它美妙得不可思議，充滿了從上帝的每個毛孔裏蹦出來的美。我們都清楚這一點，但我們常常只有在回首往事時纔會想去過去，纔會突然意識到過去永遠地消逝了，纔會承認這個道理。

We remember a beauty that faded, a love that waned. But we remember with far greater pain that we did not see that beauty when it flowered, that we failed to respond with love when it was tendered.

我們都記得美的褪去，愛的老去。但我們更痛苦地記得美正豔時，我們卻沒有發現，愛正濃時，我們卻沒有迴應。

Here then is the first pole of life’s paradoxical demands on us: Never too busy for the wonder and the awe of life. Be reverent before each dawning day. Embrace each hour. Seize each golden minute.

這就是生活對我們自己自相矛盾要求的第一步：永遠不要因爲忙碌而忽略了它的奇妙和莊嚴。對即將到來的每一天，我們都要心懷敬意，擁抱沒一小時，抓住每一分鐘。

Hold fast to life.。. but not so fast that you cannot let go. This is the second side of life’s coin, the opposite pole of its paradox: we must accept our losses, and learn how to let go.

抓住生活，但不要抓得太緊，以至你放不下手。這就是生活像硬幣一樣也有另一面，也是生活矛盾的另一極：我們必須接受放棄，並且學會怎樣讓它過去。

This is not an easy lesson to learn, especially when we are young and think that the world is ours to command, that whatever we desire with the full force of our passionate being can, nay, will be ours. But then life moves along to confront us with realities, and slowly but surely this truth dawns upon us.

學會這些並非易事。特別是年少輕狂的時候，我們自認爲是世界的主宰者，認爲只要充滿激情地全力追求，就可以得到一切。然而，事實並非如此。只有在面對種種現實時，我們纔會漸漸沒明白這個道理。

At every stage of life we sustain losses—and grow in the process. We begin our independent lives only when we emerge from the womb and lose its protective shelter. We enter a progression of schools, then we leave our mothers and fathers and our childhood homes. We get married and have children and then have to let them go. We confront the death of our parents and our spouses. We face the gradual or not so gradual waning of our strength. And ultimately, as the parable of the open and closed hand suggests, we must confront the inevitability of our own demise, losing ourselves as it were, all that we were or dreamed to be.

在人生的各個階段，我們都會蒙受損失——並且在這一過程中成長。只有在脫離母體。失去庇護所時，我們纔會開始獨立的生活。我們不斷地升學，接着又離開父母，離開兒時的故鄉。繼而，我們結婚生子，然後又放手讓自己的子女出去闖蕩。隨着父母和配偶的相繼離世，我們也逐漸或者很快衰老。最終，正如雙手張開與緊握這一寓言所說，我們必須面對自身的死亡，失去原來的自我，失去我們擁有過或者憧憬過的一切。

經典英語美文： If I knew（假如我知道 篇二

If I knew it would be the last time I'd see you fall asleep,

假如我知道這是最後一次看到你進入夢鄉，

I would tuck you in more tightly and “pray the lord ， your soul to keep”。

我會給你掖緊被子，並“祈求上的，讓你的靈魂常在”。

If I knew it would be the last time I'd see you walk out the door,

假如我知道這將是你最後一次邁出家門，

I would give you a hug and kiss you, and call you back for more.

我會親吻你，擁抱你，一遍遍地喚着你回來。

If I knew it would be the last time I'd hear your voice lifted up in praise.

假如我知道這將是最後一次聽到你在讚揚中高亢的聲音，

I would video tape each action and word ， so I could play them back day after day.

我會記錄下你每一句言語，每一個動作，這樣我可以日日地不停播放。

If I knew it would be the last time I could spare an extra minute or so to stop and say“I love you, ”instead of assuming you would know I do.

假如我知道這將是最後一次說“我愛你”，我會留出時間或者停下手頭的工作告訴你，而不會自負的認爲你已經知道。

If I knew it would be the last time I would be there so share you day,

假如我知道這是最後的光陰，我會在你身邊。

I'm sure you'll have so many more, so I can let just this one slip away.

我總以爲你還有很多的時光，所以總讓這天靜靜地流走。

For surely there's slways tomorrow to make up for an oversight, and certainly there's another chance to make everthing right.  因爲我總認爲還有明天可以去彌補遺漏，我們還有下一次機會會使所有的事變得美好。

There will always be another day, to say “I love you”， and certainly there's another chance to say our“anything I can do?”

總想還有另一個時刻，說“我愛你”，也總認爲還有下一個機會，去說“你有什麼要幫忙的嗎？”

But, just in case I might be wrong, and today is all I get,  然而，萬一我錯了，我只能擁有今天，

I'd like to say how much I love you, and I hope we never forget.

我好想說一千一萬遍“我愛你”，讓我們永生不忘。

Tomorrow is not promised to anyone, young or old alike, and today may be the last chance you get to hold your love tight.

明天從沒給任何人承諾，不過是年輕人還是老年人。今天也許是你最後一次機會緊緊擁抱你的愛人。

So, if you'er waiting for tomorrow, why not do it today?

所以，如果你等待明天，爲什麼不在今天行動？

For, if tomorrow never comes, you'll surely regret the day.。.  因爲，如果明天用不到來，你必將爲今天而後悔……

That you didn't take that extra time for a smile, a huge, or a kiss, and you were too busy to grant someone, what turned out to be their one last wish.

你後悔沒有抽出更多的時間去擁抱、微笑、親吻。後悔自己太過忙碌，沒有能幫別人實現他最後的心願。

that you love them very much and you'll always hold them dear.  所以，緊緊擁抱你的愛人吧，就在今天，對他們耳語，你深深的愛他們，並永遠珍惜他們。

Take time to say“I'm sorry”， “please forgive me”， “thank you”or“”it's okay.

抽出一些時間說“對不起”、“請原諒”、“謝謝”或者“沒關係”吧。

And if tomorrow never comes, you'll have no regrets about today.

即使明天永遠不能到來，你也不會爲今天而後悔。

經典英語美文： A father and a son（父子倆 篇三

Passing through the Atlanta airport one morning, I caught one of those trains that take travelers from the main terminal to their boarding gates. Free, sterile and impersonal, the trains run back and forth all day long. Not many people consider them fun, but on this Saturday I heard laughter.

一天早晨去亞特蘭大機場，我看見一輛列車載載着旅客從航空集散站抵達登記處。這類免費列車每天單調、無味地往返其間，沒人覺得有趣。但這個週六我卻聽到了笑聲。

At the front of the first car – looking out the window at the track that lay ahead – were a man and his son.

在頭節車廂的最前面，坐着一個男人和他的兒子。他們正透過窗戶觀賞着一直往前延伸的鐵道。

We had just stopped to let off passengers, and the doors wee closing again. “Here we go! Hold on to me tight!” the father said. The boy, about five years old, made sounds of sheer delight.

我們停下來等候旅客下車，之後，車門關上了。“走吧。拉緊我！”父親說。兒子大約5歲吧，一路喜不自禁。

I know we’re supposed to avoid making racial distinctions these days, so I hope no one will mind if I mention that most people on the train were white, dressed for business trips or vacations – and that the father and son were black, dressed in clothes that were just about as inexpensive as you can buy.

車上坐的多半是衣冠楚楚，或公差或度假的白人，只有這對黑人父子穿着樸素簡單。我知道如今我們不該種族歧視，我希望我這樣描述沒人介意。

“Look out there!” the father said to his son. “See that pilot? I bet he’s walking to his plane.” The son craned his neck to look.

“快看！”父親對兒子說：“看見那位飛行員了嗎？我敢肯定是去開飛機的。。”兒子伸長脖子看。

As I got off, I remembered some thing I’d wanted to buy in the terminal. I was early for my flight, so I decided to go back.

下了車後我突然想起還得在航空集散站買點東西。離起飛時間還早，於是我決定再乘車回去。

I did – and just as I was about to reboard the train for my gate, I saw that the man and his son had returned too. I realized then that they hadn’t been heading for a flight, but had just been riding the shuttle.

正準備上車的時候，我看到那對父子也來了。我意識到他們不是來乘飛機的，而是特意來坐區間列車的。

“I want to ride some more!”

“我還想再坐一會兒！”

“More?” the father said, mock-exasperated but clearly pleased. “You’re not tired?”

“再坐一會兒！”父親嗔怪模仿着兒子的語調，“你還不累？”

“This is fun!” his son said.

“真好玩！”兒子說。

“All right,” the father replied, and when a door opened we all got on.

“好吧，”父親說。車門開了，我們都上了車。

There are parents who can afford to send their children to Europe or Disneyland, and the children turn out rotten. There are parents who live in million-dollar houses and give their children cars and swimming pools, yet something goes wrong. Rich and poor, black and white, so much goes wrong so often.

我們很多父母有能力送孩子去歐洲，去狄斯尼樂園，可孩子還是墮落了。很多父母住豪華別墅，孩子有車有游泳池，可孩子還是學壞了。富人、窮人，黑人、白人，那麼多人都輕易學壞了。

“Where are all these people going, Daddy?” the son asked.

“爸爸，這些人去哪？”兒子問。

“All over the world,” came the reply. The other people in the air port wee leaving for distant destinations or arriving at the ends of their journeys. The father and son, though, were just riding this shuttle together, making it exciting, sharing each other’s company.

“世界各地。”父親回答。機場來來往往的人流或準備遠行，或剛剛歸來。這對父子卻在乘坐區間列車，享受着父子間的親情與陪伴。

So many troubles in this country – crime, the murderous soullessness that seems to be taking over the lives of many young people, the lowering of educational standards, the increase in vile obscenities in public, the disappearance of simple civility. So many questions about what to do. Here was a father who cared about spending the day with his son and who had come up with this plan on a Saturday morning.

我們正面臨許多問題：犯罪、越來越多的年輕人變得冷漠無情、文化水平下降、公共場合卑劣猥褻上升、起碼的禮貌喪失，等等。我們有那麼多的問題要處理。而這裏。這位父親卻很在意花上一天陪伴兒子，並在這樣一個星期六的早上，提出這個計劃。

The answer is so simple: parents who care enough to spend time, and to pay attention and to try their best. It doesn’t cost a cent, yet it is the most valuable thing in the world.

其實答案很簡單：父母願意花時間，願意關注，願意盡心盡職。這不要花一分錢，可這卻是世間無價之寶。

The train picked up speed, and the father pointed something out, and the boy laughed again.

火車加速了。父親指着窗外說着什麼，兒子直樂。