英语经典晨读美文

英语经典晨读美文

英语经典晨读美文1

It happened in one of those picturesque Danish taverns that cater to tourists and where English is spoken. I was with my father on a business-and-pleasure trip, and in our leisure hours we were having a wonderful time. “It's a pity your mother couldn't come,” said Father. “It would be wonderful to show her around.”

He had visited Denmark when he was a young man. I asked him, “How long is it since you were here?”

“Oh, about 30 years. I remember being in this very inn, by the way.” He looked around, remembering. “Those were gracious days-” He stopped suddenly, and I saw that his face was pale. I followed his eyes and looked across the room to a woman who was setting a tray of drinks before some customers. She might have been pretty once, but now she was stout and her hair was untidy. “Do you know her?” I asked. “I did once,” he said.

The woman came to our table. “Drinks?” she inquired. “We'll have beer,” I said. She nodded and went away. “How she has changed! Thank heaven she didn't recognize me,” muttered Father mopping his face with a handkerchief. “I knew her before I ever met your mother, ”he went on. “I was a student, on a tour. She was a lovely young thing, very graceful. I fell madly in live with her, and she with me.”

“Does Mother know about her?” I blurted out, resentfully. “Of course,” Father said gently. He looked at me a little anxiously. I felt embarrassed for him. I said, “Dad, you don't have to-”

“Oh, yes, I want to tell you. I don't want you wondering about this. Her father objected to our romance. I was a foreigner. I had no prospects, and was dependent on my father. When I wrote Father that I wanted to get married he cut off my allowance. And I had to go home. But I met the girl once more, and told her I would return to America, borrow enough money to get married on, and come back for her in a few months.”

“We know,” he continued, “that her father might intercept a letter, so we agreed that I would simply mail her a slip of paper with a date on it, the time she was to meet me at a certain place; then we'd married. Well, I went home, got the loan and sent her the date. She received the note. She wrote me:” I'll be there.“ But she wasn't. Then I found that she had been married about two weeks before, to a local innkeeper. She hadn't waited.”

Then my father said,“ Thank God she didn't. I went home, met your mother, and we've been completely happy. We often joke about that youthful love romance.” The woman appeared with our beer. “You are from America?” she asked me. “Yes,” I said.

She beamed. “A wonderful country, America.”

“Yes, a lot of your countrymen have gone there. Did you ever think of it?”

“Not me. Not now,” she said. “I think so one time, a ling time ago. But I stay here. It much better here.”

We drank our beer and left. Outside I said,“ Father, just how did you write that date on which she was to meet you?”

He stopped, took out an envelope and wrote on it. “Like this,” he said. “12/11/73, which was, of course, December 11, 1973.” “No!” I exclaimed. “It isn't in Denmark or any European country. Over here they write the day first, then the month. So that date wouldn't be December 11 but the 12th of November!” Father passed his hand over his face. “So she was there!” he exclaimed. “And it was because I didn't show up that she got married.” He was silent a while. “Well,” he said.“I hope she's happy. She seems be.”

As we resumed walking I blurted out, “It is a lucky thing it happened that way. You wouldn't have met Mother.” He put his arm around my shoulders, looked at me with a heart-warming smile, and said, “I was doubly lucky, young fellow, for otherwise I wouldn't have met you, either!”

英语经典晨读美文2

Petey hadn't really believed that Dad would be doing It - sending Granddad away. “Away” was what they were calling it.Not until now could he believe it of his father. But here was the blanket that Dad had bought for Granddad, and in the morning he'd be going away. This was the last evening they'd be having together. Dad was off seeing that girl he was to marry. He would not be back till late, so Petey and Granddad could sit up and talk. It was a fine September night, with a silver moon riding high. They washed up the supper dishes and then took their chairs out onto the porch. “I'll get my fiddle,” said the old man, “and play you some of the old tunes.”

But instead of the fiddle he brought out the blanket. It was a big double blanket, red with black stripes. “Now, isn't that a fine blanket!” said the old man, smoothing it over his knees. “And isn't your father a kind man to be giving the old fellow a blanket like that to go away with? It cost something, it did-look at the wool of it! There'll be few blankets there the equal of this one!”

It was like Granddad to be saying that. He was trying to make it easier. He had pretended all along that he wanted to go away to the great brick building-the government place. There he'd be with so many other old fellows, having the best of everything. . . . But Petey hadn't believed Dad would really do it, not until this night when he brought home the blanket. “Oh, yes, it's a fine blanket,” said Petey. He got up and went into the house. He wasn't the kind to cry and, besides, he was too old for that. He'd just gone in to fetch Granddad's fiddle.

The blanket slid to the floor as the old man took the fiddle and stood up. He tuned up for a minute, and then said, “This is one you'll like to remember.”

Petey sat and looked out over the gully. Dad would marry that girl. Yes, that girl who had kissed Petey and fussed over him, saying she'd try to be a good mother to him, and all. . . .

The tune stopped suddenly. Granddad said, “It's a fine girl your father's going to marry. He'll be feeling young again with a pretty wife like that. And what would an old fellow like me be doing around their house, getting in the way? An old nuisance, what with my talks of aches and pains. It's best that I go away, like I'm doing. One more tune or two, and then we'll be going to sleep. I'll pack up my blanket in the morning.”

They didn't hear the two people coming down the path. Dad had one arm around the girl, whose bright face was like a doll's. But they heard her when she laughed, right close by the porch. Dad didn't say anything, but the girl came forward and spoke to Granddad prettily: “I won't be here when you leave in the morning, so I came over to say good-bye.”

“It's kind of you,” said Granddad, with his eyes cast down. Then, seeing the blanket at his feet, he stooped to pick it up. “And will you look at this,” he said. “The fine blanket my son has given me to go away with.”

英语经典晨读美文3

The ocean covers three quarters of the earths surface, produces 90 percentof allits life-supporting oxygen, and is the driving force behind the entireweather system. There are over 450 million cubic miles of sea water on theearth; and each cubic mile contains over 150 million tons of minerals. So vast and so pervasive is the sea that if the earths crust were made level,ocean water would form a blanket over 8,000 feet deep. The oceans contribute immeasurably to the earths life support system aswell as provide an untapped storehouse of food, minerals, energy, and ar-chaeological treasureAdvanced atmospheric diving suits permit researchers to descend to depthsof l,500 feet.

Yet the oceans average depth is greater than 12,000 feet. It is atthese depths that remarkable discoveries are being made, discoveries whichonly a short time ago would have been impossible. In that depth, where darkness is absolute and pressure exceeds eight tons persquare inch, robotic submersibles have discovered enormous gorges, fourtimes deeper than the Grand Canyon Here, too, are volcanoes that vastlyoutnumber those on land.

Landslides the size of Rhode Island have beenrecorded, as well as raging undersea storms that go completely unnoticed oitthe surface while dramatically rearranging the underwater landscapes. And under these seas the largest single geological feature on earth hasbeen found-a mountain range that dwarfs the Himalayas. Its a range thatcovers nearly one quarter of the earths surface. All these discoveries have come from the exploration ofless than one-tenthof this undersea mountain range.

The earth is the only planet we know that has an ocean. The ocean is tlielargest feature on earth. Yet its the one feature we know the least about. Weknow more about the moon 240,000 miles away than we know about thethree-fourths of the earth covered with water. Man has set foot on the moon,but not on the most remote part of the earth, 35,000 feet under the sea. Technology is changing all that. Its literally parting the waves for todaysundersea explorers.

And its bringing about the opportunity to transformvision, curiosity and wonder into practical knowledge. Properly managed as a tool to serve society, technology is the best hopefor overcoming economic and social problems facing people everywhere. Italways has been.

The earliest relics of human life are tools. And our ancientancestors used these tools to understand and change the world around themand make it better. The same is true today. The deep sea is the last frontier left to explore.

To other Europeans, the best known quality of the

British,and in particular of the English, is “reserved”.A reserved person is one who does not talk very much tostrangers,does not show much emotion, and seldom gets excited.It is difficult to get to know a reserved person:he never tells you anything about himself,and you may work with him for years without ever knowing where he lives,how many children he has, and what his interests are.English people tend to be like that.Closely related to English reserve is Englis modesty.Within their hearts, the English are perhaps no less conceited than anybody else,but in their relations with others they value at least a show of modesty.Self－praise is felt to be impolite.If a person is, let us say,very good at tennis and someone asks him if he is a good player,he will seldom reply “Yes,”because people will think him conceited.He will probably give an

answer like,“I’m not bad,” or “I think I’m very good,” or “Well, I’m very keen on tennis.”Even if he had managed to reach the finals in last year’s local championships,he would say it in such a way as to suggest that it was only due to a piece of good luck.Since reserve and modesty are part of his own nature,the typical English tends to expect them in others.He secretly looks down on more excitable nations,and likes to think of himself as more reliable than they are.He doesn’t trust big promises and open shows of feelings,especially if they are expressed in flowery language.He doesn’t trust self－praise of any kind.This applies not only to what other people may tell him about themselves orally,but to the letters they may write to him.To those who are fond of flowery expressions,the Englishman may appear uncomfortably cold.