篇1：英语经典晨读美文
The Song of the River
河之歌
W.S Maugham
毛姆
You hear it all along the river. You hear it, loud and strong, from the rowers as they urge the junk with its high stern, the mast lashed alongside, down the swift running stream. You hear it from the trackers, a more breathless chant, as they pull desperately against the current, half a dozen of them perhaps if they are taking up wupan, a couple of hundred if they are hauling a splendid junk, its square sail set, over a rapid.
沿河上下都可以听见那歌声。它响亮而有力，那是船夫，他们划着木船顺流向下，船尾翘得很高，桅杆系在船边。它也可能是比较急促的号子，那是纤夫，他们拉纤逆流而上。如果拉的是小木船，也许就只五六个人;如果拉的是扬着横帆的大船过急滩，那就要200来人。
On the junk, a man stands amidships beating a drum incessantly to guide their efforts, and they pull with all their strength, like men possessed, bent double; and sometimes in the extremity of their travail they craw on the ground, on all fours, like the beasts of the field. They strain, strain fiercely, against the pitiless might of the stream.
船中央站着一个汉子不停地击鼓助威，引导他们加劲。于是他们使出全部力量，像着了魔似的，腰弯成两折，有时力量用到极限就全身趴在地上匍匐前进，像田里的牲口。
The leader goes up and down the line and when he sees one who is not putting all his will into the task he brings down his split bamboo on the naked back. Each one must do his utmost or the labour of all is vain. And still they sing a vehement, eager chant, the chant of the turbulent waters.
领头的在纤绳前后跑来跑去，见到有人没有全力以赴，竹板就打在他光着的背上。每个人都必须竭尽全力，否则就要前功尽弃。就这样他们还是唱着激昂而热切的号子，那汹涌澎湃的河水号子。
I do not know words can describe what there is in it of effort. It serves to express the straining heart, the breaking muscles, and at the same time the indomitable spirit of man which overcomes the pitiless force of nature. Though the rope may part and the great junk swing back, in the end the rapid will be passed; and at the close of the weary day there is the hearty meal...
我不知道词语怎样能描写出其中所包括的拼搏，它表现的是绷紧的心弦，几乎要断裂的筋肉，同时也表现了人类克服无情的自然力的顽强精神。他们使劲，拼命使劲，对抗着水流无情的威力。虽然绳子可能扯断，大船可能倒退，但最终险滩必将通过，在筋疲力尽的一天结束时可以痛快地吃上一顿饱饭…..
But the most agonizing song is the song of the coolies who bring the great bales from the junk up the steep steps to the town wall. Up and down they go, endlessly, and endless as their toil rises their rhythmic cry. He, aw --ah, oh. They are barefoot and naked to the waist. The sweat pours down their faces and their song is a groan of pain.
然而最令人难受的却是苦力的歌，他们背负着船上卸下的大包，沿着陡坡爬上城墙。他们不停地上上下下，随着无尽的劳动响起有节奏的喊声：嗨，呦——嗬，嗨。他们赤着脚，光着背，汗水不断地从脸上流下。
It is a sigh of despair. It is heart-rending. It is hardly human. It is the cry of souls in infinite distress, only just musical, and that last note is the ultimate sob of humanity. Life is too hard, too cruel, and this is the final despairing protest. That is the song of the river.
他们的歌是痛苦的失望的叹息，听来令人心碎，简直不像是人的声音。它是灵魂在无尽悲戚中的呼喊，只不过有着音乐的节奏而已。那终了的一声简直就是人性泯灭的低泣。生活太艰难、太残酷，这喊声正是最后绝望的这就是河之歌。
篇2：英语经典晨读美文
The Living Seas
The ocean covers three quarters of the earth's 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 earth's crust were made level,ocean water would form a blanket over 8,000 feet deep.
The oceans contribute immeasurably to the earth's 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 ocean's 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. It's a range thatcovers nearly one quarter of the earth's 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 it's 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. It's literally parting the waves for today'sundersea explorers. And it's 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.
富有生命的海洋
海洋占地球表面四分之三。地球上维持生命的氧气，90%产生于海洋，整个天气体系变化的动力也是海洋。地球上的海水超过4亿5千万立方英里，每立方英里含有的矿物超过1亿5千万吨。
海洋如此广大浩翰，如此分布辽阔，地球表层如果使之平整起来，那么海水可以形成深8，000多英尺的覆盖层。
海洋对地球上的维持生命系统做出了不可估量的贡献，同时又是一座尚未打开的宝库，储有食物、矿物、能源和具有很大考古价值的东西。
先进的常压潜水衣可以使研究人员下沉到1，500英尺的深度。但海洋的平均深度超过12，000英尺。现在正是在这个深度才发现了惊人的情况，这些发现在不久以前是不可能办到的。
这个深度的海中完全是漆黑一片，每平方英寸的压力超过8吨，潜水机器人在这里发现了巨大的峡谷，比美国科罗拉多大峡谷深3倍。这里火山之多，大大超过陆地上的火山，也曾有过规模大到和罗得岛一样的山崩，还有猛烈的海底风暴，这种风暴在海面上一点也觉察不到，却剧烈地改变着水下的景观。 ，就在这些海洋中发现了地球上惟一的地质构成——一条使喜马拉雅相形见绌的大山脉，这条山脉覆盖了地球表面几乎四分之一。
上述那些发现都是来自探索这条水下山脉不到十分之一的地区所见到的。
地球是我们所知有海洋存在的行星。海洋是地球构成的部分，而正是这部分我们知道得最少，这一覆盖地球四分之三的水域我们所知的情况还不如我们对远离地球24万英里的月球所知道的多。
人类已涉足月球，但对海面以下3万5千英尺地球最深邃的地方却从未涉足过。
技术正在改变这一切，它正在劈波斩浪为今日的水下探索者开路。它正在创造机会使幻想、求知欲和高深莫测的事情转化成实实在在的知识。
把技术当作服务于社会的工具适当地加以掌握，它就是克服各地人民所面临的经济与社会问题的希望所在。技术历来都是如此。
人类生活的最早遗物就是工具。我们远古的祖先使用那些工具来认识世界改造、世界使之日趋完善。今天的情况也还是如此。
深海是尚待探索的最后一个领域。
篇3：英语经典晨读美文
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!”
【参考译文】
事情发生在丹麦的一个富有画意的客栈里。这种客栈专逢迎游客，通用英语。我和父亲这次旅行也是办事，也游乐，空闲的时候，玩得很痛快。
父亲说：“可惜你 妈不能来。如果能带她来逛逛，多好。”
父亲年轻时到过丹麦。我问他，“从你上次来，有多久了?”
“哦，差不多三十年了。我记得那时就住在这家小客栈里。”
父亲四下望望，回忆道：“那些日子真美……”他忽然住口不言，脸色转白。我顺着他的眼光看去，只见房间那边有个女人正端着托盘在客人面前上酒。她从前可能很美，但是现在已经发胖，头发也很乱。我问父亲：“你认识她吗?”
他说：“从前认识。”
女人走到我们的桌前。问道“要酒吗?”
我说：“我们要啤酒。”她点点头，去了。
父亲掏出手巾擦额，低声说道：“她真变了!谢天谢地，幸而她没认出我来。我认识她在你的妈妈之前，那时候我是学生，假期旅行到这里。她年轻漂亮，非常可爱。我爱她到了极点，她也爱我。”
我很不高兴地冲口问道：“妈晓得她的事吗?”
“当然知道。”父亲略感不安地望着我。我都替他难为情。
我说：“爸爸，你用不着……”
“哦，我要告诉你，我不要你乱猜。她的父亲反对我们相爱。我是外国人，又没有好前途，还要依靠父亲。我写信给父亲说要结婚，父亲就不寄钱来。我只好回家。但是我又和她见了一次面，告诉她我要回美国去借结婚的钱，过几个月就来找她。”
“我们知道，”他接着说，“她父亲可能会拆看我们的信件，所以商量好我只寄给她一张纸，上面写个日期，那是要她在某处和我见面的时间，然后我们就结婚。后来我回家去，借到钱把日期寄给她。”
“她收到了信，回信道，‘我准来。’但是她没来。后来我才知道她已在两个星期前嫁给一位当地客栈的老板了。她没有等我。”
父亲又说：“感谢上帝，她没有等我，我回家去，遇见了你 妈妈，我们始终极为快乐。常把这一段年轻时的恋爱作为笑谈。”
那个女人把啤酒送到我们面前。
她问我：“你们从美国来的吗?”
我说：“是的。”
她笑道：“美国是好地方。”
“是的。那边有许多你们的同胞。你有没有想过要去?”
她说：“我不想，现在不想。我想过一次，那是很久以前的事了，但是我留在了此地。此地好得多。”
我们喝完啤酒就出来。一出客栈，我就问父亲：“爸，你叫她等你的日期到底是怎样写的?”
他停下来，拿出一个信封，在上面写了几个字。他说：“这样写的，12/11/13，这当然是1913年12月11日。”
我叫道：“不对!在丹麦和欧洲任何国家都不是这样写的!他们先写日子，后写月份。所以那个日期不是12月11日，而是11月12日!”
父亲抬起手摸了摸脸，叫道“那么她是去过了!因为我没有到，所以她嫁了别人!”他沉默了一会儿，说道：“也好。我希望她快乐，她似乎很快乐。”
我们再往前走时，我又冲口说：“幸而如此，不然你不会遇见妈妈。”
父亲伸手搂着我的肩膀，很温暖地向我笑道：“小伙子，我是锦上添花，要不然我也不会有你了。”
篇4：英语经典晨读美文
Promise of Bluebirds
The Pennsylvania-landscape was in severe wintry garb as our car sped westover the interstate Ul The season was wrong, butI couldn't get bluebirds outof my head.
Only three weeks before, at Christmas, Dad had given me a nesting box he'dmade: He had a special feeling for the brilliant creatures, and each spring heeagerly awaited their return. Now I wondered, will he ever see one again?
It was a heart attack. Dad's third.
When I got to the hospital at 2 a.m., he was losing the fight. As the familyhovered at his bedside, he drifted in and out of consciousness.
Once he looked up at.Mom sitting beside the bed holding his hand. “Theywant me to let go,” he said, ':but I can't. I don't want to.“Mom patted his arm. ”Just hold on to me,“ she murmured.
The next morning the cardiologist met us in the waiting room. ”He's stillfighting,“the doaor said. ”I've never seen such strengthMy youngest brother was only five when Ileft home 30 years ago. Relation-ships between my brothers- and sisters had become -frayed because of dis-tance and commitments to our own families. But Dad needed his childrennow, so we stayed at the hospital. During the long vigil, we reminisced aboutour years at home.
A miner, Dad had not had an easy life. He and Mom raised six kids at a timewhen coal miners eamed as little as 25 cents a ton, and he loaded nine tonsa day. Even now, I'm sure we don't know most of the sacrifices they madefor us.
I remembered Dad's hard hat, its carbide lamp showing a fine pall of coaldust. Dad's graygreen eyes seemed large and wise as an owl's in his black-ened face. They often sparkled with devilment when they met yours inconversation. .
Each evening he came home, eager to take up his crosscut saw or clawhammer. Dad could chock a piece of walnut on his lathe and deffly tum outa beautiful salad bowl for Mom. He could build a cherry fold-top desk withfine, dovetailed drawers as easily as he could fashion a fishing-line threaderout of an old ballpoint pen.
Dad bought our plain, two-story house from the coal company and immedi~ately began to remodel it. Our house was the first on the hill to have anindoor bathroom and hot water. He spent one summer digging out the clay-filled foundation to install a coal furnace. We children no longer shivered inour bed-rooms on cold winter mornings.
We loved to watch him work. When Dad needed something, we ran to getit. If we called it a “thingamabob he would say, ”That's a nail set“ (thetool for sinking the head of a nail below the surface of the wood). ”It has aname. Use it.“Dad carried a spirit of craftsmanship into every job and expeaed the samefrom all six children. Each job had its claim on your best efforts. And evertool had its name. Those were his principles, and we lived by them just aSDad did.
His playful spirit would set us to giggling-like the time he was buildingfireplace in the back yard. He sent us to look for the ”stone-bender“ he needeto make the comer stones fit more evenly. ”Guess I'll have to bend theiamyself,“ he said when we retumed empty-handed. We saw the sparkle in.bijeyes, and knew we'd been had.
Sitting in the hospitalwaitting room, I thought back to an afteon in Dad'sworkshop several years ago..He was retired by then, but he kept busy building beautiful furniture, now for his children's homes. A volunteer naturalist,I was eager to tell him about the help bluebirds needed.
When the early settlers had cleared forests for farmland, I explained, blueLbirds flourished, nesting in fence-posts and orchard trees. But their habitatwas disappearing, and now the birds needed nesting boxesDad listened as-I spoke, his hands gently moving a finegrained sand-paperover a piece of oak. I asked him if he would like to build a box. He said hewould think about it.
Several weeks later he invited me into his workshop. There, on his workbench,sat three well-crafted bluebird nesting boxes. ”Think the birds willlike themT'
he asked.
“As much as I do,”I replied, hugging him. Dad put up the boxes, and thenext spring bluebirds nested in his yard. He was hooked.
Dad became quite an expert on the species. Bluebirds, he would say, areharbingers of hope and triumph, renowned for family loyalty. A pair willhave two or three broods a year, the earlier young sometimes helping to feedthe later nestlings.
The presence of his children must have boosted Dad's spirits after his attackbecause he grew stronger and left the hospital on Valentine's Day WhenI visited my parents at the end of March, Dad was confined to the downstairs.
But I noticed that he paused longer and longer at the windows facing theback yard. I knew what he was hoping to see. And one day a bright flash ofcolor circled the nesting box closest to our house.
“Well, it's about time the rascals showed, don't you think?” Dad said.
Sporting a resplendent blue head, back, wings and tail, a male bluebird sanghis courtship song so passionately that we dubbed him “Caruso,” after theItalian tenor. A female appeared, but rejected the nesting box. Caruso foundanother in the field below the yard. He circled the new box, singing feverishly.
She remained aloof on a distant perch.
Dad was walking more and more each day as the love story unfolded. Icould see strength coming back into his wiry frame.
One day Caruso battled a rival for the female's attentions. Then she foughtan even more vehement battle with another female. Afterward she resumedher haughty. stance while he fervently continued with his rapturous repertoire.
Suddenly one exquisite morning, when the sky mirrored Caruso's courtingraiment, she flew back to the box nearest the house and inspected itthoroughly. Caruso hovered nearby and sang blissfully as she finally acceptedhim.
Shortly thereafter she proceeded to lay one egg a day until there were six.
Caruso fluttered outside, defending the nest while she incubated.
Dad was now well enough to go outside, but he still couldn't reach the back-yard. He asked us to check inside the nesting box once a day. When we'dreturn, the questions came. “Is she on the nest?” he asked. “Have the eggshatched? Did you see that showboat what's-his-name?”“Caruso, Dad,” I replied. “He has a name, you know.” Dad's sly grin re:
flected the devilment that had returned to his eyes.
When the eggs hatched, we marveled at the herculean efforts Caruso andhis mate expended to capture insects for their brood. Nestlings must be fedevery 20 minutes.
Near the end of May, the fledglings left the nest. By then Dad was able towalk to the fields beyond and see what other bluebird news there might be.
Mom and I would watch him from the kitchen window. “He gave some-thing to those bluebirds,” she said quietly one day. “Now they've given itback.”
蓝知更鸟的希望
我们的汽车奔驰西行越过州界，宾夕法尼亚州一派严冬景象，时令不正常，可是我对蓝知更鸟一直不能忘怀。
就在三周前圣诞节那天，爸爸把他自己制作的一个鸟巢箱给了我。他对这些色彩鲜艳的小生灵怀有特殊的感情，每年春天他都热切地期待它们归来。现在，我不知道他是否还能再见到一只。
心脏病发作，这是爸爸第三次犯病了。
凌晨两点我到了医院，他浑身瘫软无力，家人守候在床边，他时而失去知觉，时而神志清醒。
有一次，他抬头望着坐在床边握着他手的妈妈说：“他们想要我松手，可是我不能松，我不想松。”
妈妈拍着他胳膊低声说：“攥住我吧。”
第二天早晨，心病学专家?候诊室遇见我们，这位大夫说：“他仍在搏斗，我从来没有见过意志这样坚强的。”
30年前我离开家的时候，最小的弟弟才五岁。后来因为我们居住相距甚远，而且都忙于自己的小家庭，所以兄弟姊妹之间的关系不够亲近。但是如今爸爸需要他的孩子们，因此我们来到医院，在长时间守夜期间，我们回忆起在家时的岁月。
爸爸，一名矿工，以前没有过安逸的生活。他和妈妈养育六个小孩，而当时煤矿工人收入非常低，生产一吨煤炭只挣25美分，他一天要挖九吨。就是现在，我肯定我们也不知道他们为我们做出了多少牺牲。
我记得爸爸质地很硬的帽子，帽子上燃烧碳化物的照明灯上覆盖着一层细细的煤炭粉末。在爸爸黝黑的面庞上，一双灰绿的眼睛像猫头鹰的眼睛一样，显得很大而充满智慧。在交谈时与你的目光相遇，他眼睛里经常闪耀着恶作剧的神情。
每天傍晚他回到家，就饶有兴致地拿起横切锯或爪形拔钉锤。他能在车床上卡上一块胡桃木，熟练地给妈妈制作一个漂亮的盛色拉的碗。他能利用旧圆珠笔制作钓鱼穿线用具，同样能毫不费力地制作带有精巧楔形榫抽屉的樱桃木的、桌面可折叠书桌。
爸爸从煤炭公司买了一所简易两层楼住宅，然后立即进行改造。
我们这所住宅是小山上第一家设有室内浴室和使用热水的，他用了一个夏季的时间挖掘全都是粘土的地基，装起了煤炉，冬天寒冷的早晨，我们孩子们在卧室里再也不冻得发抖了。
我们喜欢看着他干活，爸爸需要什么东西，我们跑着去取，如果我们把那件东西叫作“某东西”，他总说：“那是敲钉子的工具(把钉子楔进木头里的工具)”，“它有个名字，叫它的名字。”
爸爸干什么活儿都讲究技艺，而且希望所有六个孩子也同样做。
每一件活儿都要求你尽努力，并且每件工具都有名称。这些是他的原则，正如爸爸按照这些原则办事一样，我们也按照这些原则办事。
他爱开玩笑的态度常使我们咯咯发笑。像那一次，他在后院修建壁炉，派我们去寻找他所需要的所谓石头折弯机，以便把边角石块砌得更平稳。我们空手而回，他说：“看来我只得自己把石头弄弯喽。”我们看到他眼睛里闪耀的神色，于是知道我们受骗了。
我坐在医院候诊室里，回想起几年前在爸爸车间里的一个下午，那时他已经退休，但是还不断地忙着制造漂亮家具，是给他几个孩子家里制作的,作为一个自愿研究动物的人，我迫切地要把蓝知更鸟需要的帮助告诉他.
我解释道，早来的移民砍伐森林开垦农田的时候，1蓝知更鸟就成群结认地在篱笆桩和果园树上筑巢，但是它们酣栖息衄越来越少，如今，蓝知更鸟急切需我沈话时爸爸着，向手接住二张细粒沙纸在二块栎来上轻轻地摩擦，我问他是否愿意制作巢箱，他说他愿意考虑。
几个星期后，他邀请我到车间去，在工作台上放着三个制作精巧的蓝知更鸟巢箱。“你认为鸟儿喜欢它们吗?”他问道。 …“像我一样，非常喜欢。”我紧紧拥抱着他回答说。爸爸支架起巢箱，于是第二年春天蓝知更鸟便在他院里落了户，而他也迷上了蓝知更鸟。
爸爸成了这种鸟的行家里手，他常说蓝知更鸟是希望和成功的预言者，它们家族成员的忠诚出了名，一对蓝知更鸟一年下两三窝蛋，早孵出的幼鸟有时帮助喂后来出壳的雏鸟。
爸爸犯病后他的孩子们都来了，这一定提高了他的情绪，所以他精力刚刚恢复就在情人节那天出院了。我于三月底去看望父母，爸爸被安置在楼下，可是我注意到，他在窗前向后院伫立的时间越来越长了。我知道他盼望看到什么。一天，有个色彩鲜明闪亮的东西，在紧靠我们房屋的巢箱周围盘旋。
“喔，大概坏家伙们该露面了，你认为是不?”爸爸说。
一只雄蓝知更鸟炫耀着华丽蓝色的头、背、翅膀和尾巴，唱着求爱的歌，他唱得那样充满感情，我们仿照意大利男高音歌手的名字给他起了绰号叫“卡鲁索”。出来了一只雌鸟，但是她拒不进入巢箱。卡鲁索发现另一只雌鸟在院子下方田地里，于是他围绕着那个新巢箱狂热地唱歌，可是她远远地停在栖木上。
随着爱情故事的展开，爸爸一天天越来越能走路了，我看到他瘦长结实的身体逐渐强健起来。
有一天，卡鲁索为了吸引雌鸟的注意和一个对手交战。她却同另一只雌鸟进行更加激烈的战斗。后来，他使出浑身解数，继续热情地进行吸引对方的狂喜表演，她却恢复了傲慢的姿态。
突然，一个气候宜人的上午，天空中映出卡鲁索求爱的衣饰，她飞回离房屋最近的巢箱，并且进行了彻底检查。由于她终于接受了他的要求，卡鲁索在附近翩翩飞舞，极其快乐地唱着歌。
此后不久，她开始一天下一个蛋，直到下了六个，她孵蛋时卡鲁索在外边振翅保护巢箱。
这时爸爸已经恢复到能走出房门，但是还不能走到后院。他要求我们一天检查一次巢箱，我们回来时他提出许多问题，他问道：“她在窝里吗?”“蛋孵化了吗?…‘你们看见那个叫什?名字的家伙表演了吗?”
卡鲁索，爸爸，”我回答说，“你知道，他有名字。”爸爸满脸滑稽地咧着嘴笑，他的眼睛里又表现出爱开玩笑的神情。
小鸟出壳后，卡鲁索和他的配偶付出极其巨大的努力为幼鸟捉虫，我们对此感到惊奇，幼鸟每20分钟必须喂一次。
将近五月底，刚会飞的小鸟离开巢箱，那时爸爸能够走到田野里更远的地方，去看看其他蓝知更鸟可能有什么新闻了。我和妈妈常从厨房窗口望着他。“他给了那些蓝知更鸟一些东西，”有一天她轻轻地说，“现在他们已经回报。”
篇5：英语经典晨读美文
The Blanket
By Floyd Dell
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.”
“Yes,” she said. “It’s a fine blanket.” She felt the wool and repeated in surprise, “A fine blanket—I’ll say it is!” She turned to Dad and said to him coldly, “That blanket really cost something.”
Dad cleared his throat and said, “I wanted him to have the best. . . .”
“It’s double, too,” she said, as if accusing Dad.
“Yes,” said Granddad, “it’s double—a fine blanket for an old fellow to be going away with.”
17 The boy went suddenly into the house. He was looking for something. He could hear that girl scolding Dad. She realized how much of Dad’s money—her money, really—had gone for the blanket. Dad became angry in his slow way. And now she was suddenly going away in a huff. . . .
As Petey came out, she turned and called back, “All the same, he doesn’t need a double blanket!” And she ran off up the path.
Dad was looking after her as if he wasn’t sure what he ought to do.
“Oh, she’s right,” Petey said. “Here, Dad”—and he held out a pair of scissors. “Cut the blanket in two.”
Both of them stared at the boy, startled. “Cut it in two, I tell you, Dad!” he cried out. “And keep the other half.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” said Granddad gently. “I don’t need so much of a blanket.”
“Yes,” the boy said harshly, “a single blanket’s enough for an old man when he’s sent away. We’ll save the other half, Dad. It’ll come in handy later.”
“Now what do you mean by that?” asked Dad.
“I mean,” said the boy slowly, “that I’ll give it to you, Dad— when you’re old and I’m sending you—away.”
There was a silence. Then Dad went over to Granddad and stood before him, not speaking. But Granddad understood. He put out a hand and laid it on Dad’s shoulder. And he heard Granddad whisper, “It’s all right, son. I knew you didn’t mean it. . . .” And then Petey cried.
But it didn’t matter—because they were all crying together.
【中文译文】：
一床双人毛毯
(美) 弗罗伊德?戴尔
晴朗的九月的夜晚，银色的月光洒落在溪谷上。此时，十一岁的彼得没有观赏月亮，也没感觉到微微的凉风吹进厨房。他的思绪全在厨房桌上那条红黑相间的毛毯上。那是爸爸送给爷爷的离别礼物。他们说爷爷要走。他们是这么说的。
彼得不相信爸爸真会把爷爷送走。可是现在离别礼物都买好了。爸爸今天晚上买的。今晚是他和爷爷在一起的最后一个晚上了。
吃完晚饭，爷孙俩一块洗碗碟，爸爸走了，和那个就要与他成亲的女人一起走的，不会马上回来。洗完碗碟，爷孙走出屋子，坐在月光下。
“我去拿口琴来给你吹几支老曲子。”爷爷说。一会儿，爷爷从屋里出来了，拿来的不是口琴，而是那床毛毯。
那是条大大的双人毛毯。“这毛毯多好!”老人轻抚着膝头的毛毯说，“你爸真孝，给我这老家伙带这么床高级毛毯走。你看这毛，一定很贵的。以后冬天晚上不会冷了。那里不会有这么好的毛毯的。”
爷爷总这么说，为了避免难堪，他一直装着很想去政府办的养老院的样子，想象着，离开温暖的家和朋友，去哪个地方与许多其他老人一起共度晚年。可彼得从没想到爸爸真会把爷爷送走，直到今晚看到爸爸带回这床毛毯。
“是床好毛毯，”彼得搭讪着走进小屋。他不是个好哭的孩子，况且，他已早过了好哭鼻子的年龄了。他是进屋给爷爷拿口琴的。
爷爷接琴时毛毯滑落到地上。最后一个晚上了，爷孙俩谁也没说话。爷爷吹了一会儿，然后说，“你会记住这支曲子。”
月儿高高挂在天边，微风轻轻地吹过溪谷。最后一次了，彼得想，以后再也听不到爷爷吹口琴了，爸爸也要从这搬走，住进新居了。若把爷爷一个人撇下，美好的夜晚自己独坐廊下，还有什么意思!
音乐停了，有那么一会儿工夫，爷孙俩谁也没说话。过了一会儿，爷爷说，“这只曲子欢快点。彼得坐在那怔怔地望着远方。爸爸要娶那个姑娘了。是的，那个姑娘亲过他了，还发誓要对他好，做个好妈妈。
爷爷突然停下来，“这曲子不好，跳舞还凑合。“怔了一会儿，又说，”你爸要娶的姑娘不错。有个这么漂亮的妻子他会变年轻的。我又何必在这碍事，我一会儿这 病一会儿那疼，招人嫌呢。况且他们还会有孩子。我可不想整夜听孩子哭闹。不，不!还是走为上策呀!好，再吹两支曲子我们就觉，睡到明天早晨，带上毛 毯走人。你看这支怎么样?调子有些悲，倒很合适这样的夜晚呢。“
他们没有听到爸爸和那个瓷美人正沿溪谷的小道走来，直到走近门廊，爷孙俩才听到她的笑声，琴声嘎然而止。爸爸一声没吭，姑娘走到爷爷跟前恭敬地说：“明天早晨不能来送您，我现在来跟您告别的。“
“谢谢了，“爷爷说。低头看着脚边的毛毯，爷爷弯腰拾起来，“你看，”爷爷局促地说，“这是儿子送我的离别礼物。多好的毛毯!”
“是不错。”她摸了一下毛毯，“好高级呀!”她转向爸爸，冷冷地说，“一定花了不少钱吧。”
爸爸支吾着说，“我想给他一床的毛毯。”“哼，还是双人的呢。”姑娘没完地纠缠毛毯的事。
“是的，”老人说，“是床双人毛毯。一床一个老家伙即将带走的毛毯。”彼得转身跑进屋。他听到那姑娘还在唠叨毛毯的昂贵，爸爸开始慢慢动怒。姑娘走了，彼得出屋时她正回头冲爸爸喊“甭解释，他根本用不着双人毛毯。”爸爸看着她，脸上有种奇怪的表情。
“她说得对，爸爸，”彼得说，“爷爷用不着双人毛毯。爸爸，给!”彼得递给爸爸一把剪刀，“把毛毯剪成两块。”
“好主意，”爷爷温和地说，“我用不着这么大的毛毯。”
“是的，”彼得说，“老人家送走时给床单人毛毯就不错了。我们还能留下一半，以后迟早总有用处。”
“你这是什么意思?”爸爸问。
“我是说，”彼得慢腾腾地说，“等你老了，我送你走时给你这一半。”
大家都沉默了。好半天，爸爸走到爷爷面前呆呆地，没有一句话。爷爷望着儿子喃喃地说：“没关系，孩子，我知道你不是这么想的……我知道……”这时，彼得哭了。
但没什么，因为爷爷，爸爸都哭了，哭成了一团……
篇6：英文晨读美文
英文晨读美文推荐
Between the preparation and the work, the apprenticeship and the actual dealing with a task or an art, there comes, in the experience of many young men, a period of uncertainty and wandering which is often misunderstood and counted as time wasted, when it is, in fact, a period rich in full and free development. It is as natural for ardent and courageous youth to wish to know what is in life, what it means, and what it holds for its children, as for a child to reach for and search the things that surround and attract it.
Behind every real worker in the world is a real man, and a man has a right to know the conditions under which he must live, and the choices of knowledge, power, and activity which are offered him. In the education of many men and women, therefore, there comes the year of wandering; the experience of traveling from knowledge to knowledge and from occupation to occupation. The forces which go to the making of a powerful man can rarely be adjusted and blended without some disturbance of relations and conditions.
This disturbance is sometimes injurious, because it affects the moral foundations upon which character rests; and for this reason the significance of the experience in its relation to development ought to be sympathetically studied. The birth of the imagination and of the passions, the perception of the richness of life, and the consciousness of the possession of the power to master and use that wealth, create a critical moment in the history of youth, —a moment richer in possibilities of all kinds than comes at any later period. Agitation and ferment of soul are inevitable in that wonderful moment.
There are times when agitation is as normal as is self-control at other and less critical times. The year of wandering is not a manifestation of aimlessness, but of aspiration, and that in its ferment and uncertainty youth is often guided to and finally prepared for its task.
篇7：英语晨读美文
随着网络文化的发展，美文的概念已经不限定于某种文体，或某类内容。网络文化是一种开放、自由的文化，给美文的概念也赋予了更多的开放自由的`元素，好散文是美文，好诗歌是美文，好小说是美文，好论文是美文，一条写得好的手机短信，或一段能让人会心而笑的笑话也是美文，用通俗的讲法，写的好的文章，就是美文。下面我们来看一下适合晨读的英语美文吧。
英语晨读美文范文一：
One day thirty years ago Marseilles lay in the burning sun. A blazing sun upon a fierce August day was no greater rarity in southern France than at any other time before or since.
Everything in Marseilles and about Marseilles had stared at the fervid sun, and had been stared at in return, until a staring habit had become universal there. Strangers were stared out of countenance by staring white houses, staring white streets, staring tracts of arid road, staring hills from which verdure was burnt away. The only things to be seen not fixedly staring and glaring were the vines drooping under their loads of grapes. These did occasionally wink a little, as the hot air barely moved their faint leaves. The universal stare made the eyes ache.
Towards the distant blue of the Italian coast, indeed, it was a little relieved by light clouds of mist slowly rising from the evaporation of the sea, but it softened nowhere else. Far away the dusty vines overhanging wayside cottages, and the monotonous wayside avenues of parched trees without shade, dropped beneath the stare of earth and sky. So did the horses with drowsy bells, in long files of carts, creeping slowly towards the interior; so did their recumbent drivers, when they were awake, which rarely happened; so did the exhausted laborers in the fields. Everything that lived or grew was oppressed by the glare; except the lizard, passing swiftly over rough stone walls, and cicada, chirping its dry hot chirp, like a rattle. The very dust was scorched brown, and something quivered in the atmosphere as if the air itself were panting. Blinds, shutters, curtains, awnings, were all closed and drawn to deep out the stare.
Grant it but a chink or a keyhole, and it shot in like a white-hot arrow.
英语晨读美文范文二：
Each spring brings a new blossom of wildflowers in the ditches along the highway I travel daily to work. There is one particular blue flower that has always caught my eyes.
I've noticed that it blooms only in the morning hours, the afternoon sun is too warm for it. Every day for approximately two weeks, I see those beautiful flowers. This spring, I started a wildflower garden in our yard. I can look out of the kitchen window while doing the dishes and see the flowers. I've often thought that those lovely blue flowers from the ditches would look great in that bed alongside other wildflowers. Everyday I drove past the flowers thinking, “I'll stop on my way home and dig them.” “Gee, I don't want to get my good clothes dirty...” Whatever the reason, I never stopped to dig them. My husband even gave me a folding shovel one year for my trunk to be used for that expressed purpose. One day on my way home from work, I was saddened to see that the highway department had mowed the ditches and the pretty blue flowers were gone. I thought to myself, “Way to go, you waited too long. You should have done it when you first saw them blooming this spring.”
A week ago we were shocked and saddened to learn that my oldest sister-in-law has a terminal brain tumor. She is 20 years older than my husband and unfortunately, because of age and distance, we haven’t been as close as we all would have liked. I can not help but see the connection between the pretty blue flowers and the relationship between my husband's sister and us. I do believe that God has given us some time left to plant some wonderful memories that will bloom every year for us. And yes, if I see the blue flowers again, you can bet I'll stop and transplant them to my wildflower garden.
英语晨读美文范文三：
I have known very few writers, but those I have known, and whom I respect, confess at once that they have little idea where they are going when they first set pen to paper.
They have a character, perhaps two; they are in that condition of eager discomfort which passes for inspiration; all admit radical changes of destination once the journey has begun; one, to my certain knowledge,spent nine months on a novel about Kashmir, then reset the whole thing in the Scottish Highland. I never heard of anyone making an “outline”, as we were taught at school. In the breaking and remaking,in the timing, interweaving,beginning again, the writer comes to discern things in his material which were not consciously in his mind when he began. This organic process, often leading to moments of extraordinary self-discovery, is of an indescribable fascination. A blurred image appears; he adds a brushstroke and another, and it is gone; but something was there, and he will not rest till he has captured it.
Sometimes the passion within a writer outlives a book he has written. I have heard of writers who read nothing but their own books; like adolescents they stand before the mirror, and still cannot understand the exact outline of the vision before them. For the same reason, writers talk endlessly about their own books, digging up hidden meanings, super-imposing new ones, begging response from those around them. Of course a writer doing this is misunderstood: he might as well try to explain a crime or a love affair. He is also, incidentally, an unforgivable bore. This temptation to cover the distance between himself and the reader, to study his image in the sight of those who do not know him, can be his undoing:he has begun to write to please.
A young English writer made the pertinent observation a year or two back that the talent goes into the first draft, and the art into the drafts that follow. For this reason also the writer, like any other artist,has no resting place, no crowd or movement in which he may take comfort, no judgment from outside which can replace the judgment from within. A writer makes order out of the anarchy of his heart; he submits himself to a more ruthless discipline than any critic dreamed of, and when he flirts with fame, he is taking time off from living with himself, from the search for what his world contains at its inmost point.
篇8：晨读英语美文
What is life? What is the purpose of life? Purpose cannot say unimportant, the purpose decides the direction of life, but life is not equal to the purpose, life is still toward the purpose of the whole process, life is a process! Ah, this is the simplest and most unnoticed mistake. The goal of life is our eternal tomorrow, our life is always today, is now, is fleeting now!
The person who has the goal is the person who lives meaningfully, the person who can value the process of life itself and grasp the process is the person who lives fully and truthfully -- “never live a lifetime!” It should be both objective and process quality. The goal is to say, aim high, start from the province, people will get the ideal education. However, many people live for a lifetime. In the end, they do not have the pleasure of life process and enjoy life, which is a lack of life consciousness and introspection. The ups and downs of life, the realization of each situation, not pleased by external gains not saddened by personal losses, gain and loss are the blessings of life.
Life is full of ups and downs. But we often use a kind of benefit coordinate to judge the condition of life. The forward is positive, the back is negative, the rise is superior, and the sinking is bad. In fact, life is far more complex than this coordinate, and the life interest in the ups and downs is far from being a single one.
People are eager to get promoted, to cherish their fame, and to expect the speed of their goals. Life in this way, the process of life more and more neglected, become a kind of look forward to return to pay, to target cost, even the computer can unwanted files, just because of the need to speed up! Acceleration is the commonest common behavior in economic society, because the benefit is directly related to the speed. We also remember that “time is money, benefit is life”, and life here is the life of enterprises and social groups, not people! If the pursuit of social benefits becomes the personal life process, that is what we often call alienation; The disease of life process rhythm is another kind of life state, when it is the realm of the individual life to emit light, disease has the beauty of disease, slow and gentle beauty.
Wang wei has a famous sentence: “the grass withered eagle eye disease, the snow to the horse's hoof light.” The flash of life is not necessarily the time when the grass grows; When life is good, it is not always the step back. Similarly, du fu's famous sentence: “the fine rain fish out, the breeze swallow the slope.” In the smooth and slow, write out the life calm, also write the love and joy of life. In his life, du fu did not have a chance to rise to the ground, but his soothing and peaceful life felt through thousands of years, slowly like rain, moistening our hearts.
篇9：晨读英语美文
The art of living is to know when to hold fast and when to let go. For life is 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.
生活的艺术是要懂得何时紧紧抓住，何时学会放弃。因为人生就是一对矛盾，它促使我们牢牢抓住人生的很多赐予，但同时又注定了我们对这些给予最终的放弃。老一辈犹太学者是这样说的：人来到这个世界的时候拳头是紧握的，而当离开的时候，手却是松开的。
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 it was and then suddenly realize that it is no more.
当然，我们应该仅仅抓住生活，因为生活是神奇的，是充满着美的——上帝创造的大地的每一个空间都充斥着至美。我们都知道这点，但我们却常常在回首往事之时才明白这个道理，然后突然意识到逝去的时光已经一去不复返了。
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.
我们追忆逝去的美丽，残缺的爱情，但是更令人痛心的回忆是当繁花盛开之时错过了欣赏它的美丽；当爱情眷顾之时却未能做出回应。
This 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, ill, be ours.
学会（珍爱美好的事物）是不容易做到的。尤其是我们年轻时，认为世界是由我们掌握的，只要我们自己满腔热情，全力以赴的去追求，我们想要的东西就能够——不，是一定能够得到。
But then life moves along to confront us with realities, and slowly but surely this second truth dawns upon us. At every stage of life we sustain losses—and grow in the process.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.
随着我们的成长，生活使我们不得不面对现实，而第二种真理逐渐被我们所感知，所理解。 在人生的每一个阶段，我们都要承受损失，在这个过程中我们慢慢的长大. 最终，正如松手和握拳的比喻那样：我们自己也得走向不可抗拒的死亡，失去了原有的自我，失去了以往的或梦想过的一切。
The insight gleaned from that experience is really as commonplace as was the experience itself: life’s gifts are precious--but we are too heedless of them.
我们在阅历中所积累起来的洞察力就像我们的经历本身一样的平凡生活的赐予是可贵的，可是我们却常常忽视了它们的存在。
Here then is the first pile 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.
生命中有太多似非而是的矛盾，以下是第一种矛盾给我们的启迪：不要过于忙碌而忽略领悟生命的神奇，失掉对生命的敬畏。在破晓时分怀抱虔诚心情迎接每一天，拥抱每一个时辰，把握好黄金般的每一分钟。
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.
紧紧抓住生命但是不要过于执着而不懂得放手。这是生命之道的另一个层面，矛盾的另一极：我们必须接受失去，并且学会放弃。
篇10：晨读英语美文
In the international marathon invitational tournament, the little-known Japanese player yamada has unexpectedly won the world championship. When the reporter asked him why he had achieved such a remarkable feat, he said: ”wisdom has triumphed over our opponents.“
This a yamada explained in his autobiography that he's ”wisdom“ : every time before the game, I have to drive circuitry of the game, read it carefully and draw more prominent signs of along the way, such as the first signs of a bank; The second sign is a big tree; The third sign is a red house, which is always drawn to the end of the race. After the game started, I raced to the first goal with the speed of 100 meters, and after reaching the first goal, I rushed to the second goal at the same speed. Forty miles of the race, I broke down into a few small goals to easily run out. At first, I did not understand this truth, I put my forty kilometers and aiming at the end of the line of the flag, the result when I ran to 10 kilometers of exhausted, I was in front of the distant journey scares.
In real life, we are do things by halves, why, often not because of difficult, but think success is too far away from us, to be exact, we don't give up because of failure, but because of who I am tired and lost.
篇11：晨读英语美文
One day, the time management expert lectured to a group of business school students.
He made a demonstration at the scene, which left a lasting impression on the students.
Standing in front of students with high iqs, he said, let's take a quiz. Take out a one-gallon jar and set it on the table in front of him. Then he took out a bunch of fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them in a jar. When the jar was over the top of the jar and no more rocks could fit in, he asked, ”is the jar full?“ All students should say: ”full!“ . The time management expert replied, ”really?“ He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He poured some of the gravel in, and tapped the glass bottle wall to fill the gap between the stones. ”Is the jar full now? “He asked the second time. But this time the students understood, ”probably not,“ one student said. ”Good! Experts say. He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of sand. The sand is filled with all the gaps between the rock and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, “is this jar full?” “No! ”Shouted the students. Once again he said, “good! Then he took a pitcher of water and poured it into the jar until it was flat. Looking up at the students, he asked, ”what is the point of this illustration?“ One eager student raised his hand and said, ”no matter how tight your schedule is, if you work hard, you can do more!“ ”No!“ The time management expert said, ”that's not what it really means. This example tells us that if you didn't blow up the rock first, you couldn't put it in the bottle anymore. So, what are the big rocks in your life? Spend time with the people you love, your beliefs, education, dreams? Remember to deal with these big rocks first, otherwise, you can't do it all your life!
So tonight, perhaps this morning, you are reading this essay, and you have tried to ask yourself this question: what is the “big rock” in my life? Then, please put them in the bottle of your life first. It is better to be busy with dreams than to lose your dreams by being busy!
篇12：晨读英语美文
The love of beauty is an essential part of all healthy human nature. It is a mortal quality. The absence of it is not an assured ground of condemnation, but the presence of it is an invariable sign of goodness of heart. In proportion to the degree in which it is felt will probably be the degree in which nobleness and beauty of character will be attained.
爱美及是整个健全人性不可或缺之一部分。它是一种道德品质。缺乏这种品质并不能作为受到责难的充分理由，但是拥有这种品质则是心灵美好的永恒标志。品德的高尚与美好所达到的程度可能与对美的感受程度成正比。
Natural beauty is an all-pervading presence. The universe is its temple. It unfolds into the numberless 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 the precious 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 so precious, and so congenial to our tenderest and noblest feelings, that it is painful to think of the multitude of people living in the midst of it and yet remaining almost blind to it.
大自然的美无处不在，整个宇宙就是美的殿堂。美，在春日百花中绽放；美，在绿叶嫩枝间摇曳；美，在深海幽谷里游弋；美，在奇石与贝壳的缤纷色彩中闪烁。不只是这些细微之物，还有海洋，山川，云彩，繁星，日升日落 – 一切都是洋溢着美。这样的美是如此珍贵，与我们最温柔，最高尚的情愫是如此相宜。然而，想到很多人置身于美之中，却几乎对它熟视无睹，真是令人痛心不已。
All persons should seek to become acquainted with the beauty in nature. There is not a worm we tread upon, nor a leaf that dances merrily as it falls before the autumn winds, but calls for our study and admiration. The power to appreciate beauty not merely increases our sources of happiness – it enlarges our moral nature, too. Beauty calms our restlessness and dispels our cares. Go into the fields or the woods; spend a summer day by the sea or the mountains, and all your little perplexities and anxieties will vanish. Listen to sweet music, and your foolish fears and petty jealousies will pass away. The beauty of the world helps us to seek and find the beauty of goodness.
所有的人都应该去认识大自然之美。没有一条我们踩过的小虫，没有一片在秋风拂掠之际飞舞的树叶不值得我们研究与赞赏。欣赏美的能力不仅增加了我们快乐的来源，也加强了我们德性的修养。美使我们不安的心平静下来，也驱散了我们的忧虑。到田野或森林去，在夏日的海边或山上呆上一天，那么你所有微不足道的困惑与焦虑都会烟消云散。倾听悦耳的音乐，你那愚蠢的恐惧与狭隘的嫉妒都会过去。世界之美将有助于我们找到为善之美。
篇13：晨读英语美文
There are roughly three New Yorks. There is, first, the New York of the man or woman who was born here, who takes the city for granted and accepts its size and its turbulences as natural and inevitable. Second, there is the New York of the commuter—the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night. Third, there is the New York of the person who was born somewhere else and came to New York in quest of something.
大致说来有三个纽约。首先是那些土生土长的男男女女的纽约，他们对这座城市习以为常，认为它有这样的规模和喧嚣，乃是自然而然、不可避免的。其次是家住郊区、乘公交车到市内上班的人们的纽约--这座城市每到白天就被如蝗的人群吞噬进去，每到晚上又给吐出来。第三是外来人的纽约，他们生于他乡，到纽约来寻求机缘。
Of these three trembling cities the greatest is the last—the city of final destination, the city that is a goal. It is this third city that accounts for New York’s high-strung disposition, its poetic deportment, its dedication to the arts, and its incomparable achievements.
在这三座充满骚动的城市中，最了不起的是最后一座--那座被视为最终归宿的城市，视为追寻目标的城市。正是由于这第三座城市，纽约才有了紧张的秉性、诗人的气质、对艺术的执着追求、无与伦比的成就。
Commuters give the city its tidal restlessly; natives give it solidity and continuity; but the settlers give it passion. And whether it is a farmer arriving from Italy to set up a small grocery store in a slum, or a young girl arriving from a small town in Mississippi to escape the indignity of being observed by her neighbors, or a boy arriving from the Corn Belt with a manuscript in his suitcase and a pain in his heart, it makes no difference; each embraces New York with the intense excitement of first love, each absorbs New York with the fresh eyes of an adventurer, each generates heat and light to dwarf the Consolidated Edison Company.
上班族给纽约带来了潮汐般时涨时落的骚动，当地人保证了纽约的稳固和持续发展，而外来人则赋予纽约以激情。无论是从意大利来到贫民窟开小杂货店的农夫，还是从密西西比州某小镇跑出来躲避邻居的淫秽目光的年轻姑娘，还是从玉米地带1满怀酸楚地拎着手稿跑来的小伙子，情况都没有什么两样：每个人都怀着初恋的激情拥抱纽约，每个人都以冒险家的新奇目光审视纽约，每个人散发出的光和热，足以令爱迪生联合电气公司相形见绌。
篇14：晨读英语美文
One of the major pleasures in life is appetite, and one of our major duties should be to preserve it.
渴望乃生活之一大乐事，而心怀渴望则成为一项重要的任务。
Appetite is the keenness of living; it is one of the senses that tell you that you are still curious to exist, that you still have an edge on your longings and want to bite into the world and taste its multitudinous flavors and juices.
渴望意味着对生活充满热情，这种感觉表明你依然希冀生活，热衷梦想，向往探索世界，历尽世间百味百态。
By appetite, of course, I don’t mean just the lust for food, but any condition of unsatisfied desire, any burning in the blood that proves you want more than you’ve got, and that you haven’t yet used up your life.
当然，我所说的“渴望”不单指对食物的欲望，而指所有欲求未满的状态，及血液中燃烧的激情，这炽热的激情证明你希望收获更多，你的生命力并未耗尽。
Wilde said he felt sorry for those who never got their heart’s desire, but sorrier still for those who did.
王尔德曾说过，对未能梦想成真者，他深表惋惜；而对心愿已遂者，他则倍感遗憾。
Appetite, to me, is this state of wanting, which keeps one’s expectations alive.
对我来说，渴望就是这种想往的状态，它总是让人满怀期待。
In wanting a peach, or a whisky, or a particular texture or sound, or to be with a particular friend.
因此，对我来说，渴望的最大乐趣之一在于心怀想往，而非心满意足，比如，想往一只密桃，一瓶威士忌，一块特质布料，或一种美妙的声音，亦或期望与朋友团聚。
For in this condition, of course, I know that the object of desire is always at its most flawlessly perfect.
因为，我知道在这种情况下，心中渴求之物总是完美无缺的。
Which is why I would carry the preservation of appetite to the extent of deliberate fasting, simply because I think that appetite is too good to lose, too precious to be bludgeoned into insensibility by satiation and over-doing it.
怀着这种渴望，我特意安排了斋戒。原因很简单，我觉得渴望是极好的事，不能丧失，它弥足珍贵，不能饱食生腻，耗费过度使其沦为麻木无知之境。
Fasting is an act of homage to the majesty of appetite. So I think we should arrange to give up our pleasures regularly—our food, our friends, our lovers—in order to preserve their intensity, and the moment of coming back to them.
禁是对欲望的神圣的一种膜拜。所以，我认为我们应该安排不时地放弃一些享乐之事—食物，朋友，爱人，这样的话我们才能保持我们对他们的浓烈感情，才能保留与他们重聚的那一刻。
For this is the moment that renews and refreshes both oneself and the thing one loves. Sailors and travelers enjoyed this once, and so did hunters, I suppose. Part of the weariness of modern life may be that we live too much on top of each other, and are entertained and fed too regularly.
因为，这一刻让我们自己和我们钟情之物都焕然一新，充满新鲜感。我想不管是水手，游客还是猎人都曾有过这种体会。或许现代生活的一部分令人厌倦之处就在于我们的生活太接近彼此了，我们的娱乐，我们的饮食都太有规律了。
Too much of anything—too much music, entertainment, happy snacks, or time spent with one’s friends—creates a kind of impotence of living by which one can no longer hear, or taste, or see, or love, or remember. Life is short and precious, and appetite is one of its guardians, and loss of appetite is a sort of death.
任何一样东西—-音乐、娱乐、零食、与朋友在一起的时光---若是太多，就会形成一种无趣的生活，这种生活中，人们再也不能去听，去品尝，去看，去爱，去记忆。生命是如此短暂如此珍贵，而欲望就是它的一名守护者，失去欲望生命就近乎死亡。
So if we are to enjoy this short life we should respect the divinity of appetite, and keep it eager and not to much blunted.
因此，如果我们想要享受我们短暂的一生，我们就应该尊重欲望的神圣，让它保持热切程度不被磨钝。
篇15：晨读英语美文
Where shall you seek beauty, and how shall you find her unless she herself be your way and your guide? And how shall you speak of her except she be the weaver of your speech?
如果美不以自身为途径，为向导，你们到哪里，又如何能找到她呢？如果她不是你们言语的编织者，你们又如何能谈论她呢？
The aggrieved and the injured say, “Beauty is kind and gentle. Like a young mother half-shy of her own glory she walks among us.” And the passionate say,” Nay, beauty is a thing of might and dread. Like the tempest she shakes the earth beneath us and sky above us.” The tired and the weary say, “Beauty is of soft whisperings. She speaks in our spirit. Her voice yields to our silences like a faint light that quivers in fear of the shadow.” But the restless say,” We have heard her shouting among the mountains, and with her cries came the sound of hoofs, and the beating of wings and the roaring of lions.”
伤心痛苦者说：“美是善良而温柔的。她像一位因自己的荣耀而半含羞涩的年轻母亲，走在我们的身边。” 热情奔放者说：“不，美是强烈而令人惊畏的。她如暴风雨般震动我们脚下的大地，摇撼我们头上的天空。” 疲惫怠倦者说：“美是温柔的低语，她在我们的心中诉说。她的声音波动在我们的沉默中，犹如一道微弱的光在对阴影的恐惧中颤抖。” 但活泼好动者说：“我们曾听到她在山谷中大声呼叫，随其呐喊而来的是足蹄踏地、翅膀拍击和雄狮怒吼的声音。
At night the watchmen of the city say,” Beauty shall rise with the dawn from the east.” And at noon-time the toilers say,” We have seen her leaning over the earth from the windows of the sunset.” In winter say the snowbound, “She shall come with the spring leaping upon the hills.” And in the summer heat the reapers say,” We have seen her dancing with the autumn leaves, and we saw a drift of snow in her hair.”
夜晚，城市的守夜人说：“美将与晨光一同从东方升起。” 正午，辛勤劳作者和长途跋涉者说：“我们曾看到她透过黄昏之窗眺望大地。” 严冬，困在风雪中的人说：“她将与春同至，雀跃于山峦之间。” 酷暑，收割庄稼的人说：“我们曾看到她与秋叶共舞，雪花点缀于她的发梢。”
All these things have you said of beauty, yet in truth you spoke not of her but of needs unsatisfied, and beauty is not a need but an ecstasy. It is not a mouth thirsting nor an empty hand stretched forth, but rather a heart enflamed and a soul enchanted. It is not the image you would see nor the song you would hear, but rather an image you see though you close your eyes and a song you hear though you shut your ears. It is not sap within the furrowed bark, nor a wing attached to a claw, but rather a garden for ever in bloom and a flock of angels for ever in flight. Beauty is life when life unveils her holy face.
你们谈到关于美的所有这些，实际并非关于她本身，而是关于你们未被满足的需求，但美并不是一种需求，而是心醉神迷的欣喜。她不是焦渴的唇，也不是伸出的空空的手，而是一颗燃烧的心，一个充满喜悦的灵魂。她不是你们想看到的形象，也不是你们想听到的歌声，而是你们闭上眼睛看到的形象，堵住耳朵听到的歌声。她不是伤残树皮下的树液，也不是悬在利爪下的翅膀。而是一座鲜花永远盛开的花园，一群永远在天空飞翔的天使。 当生命摘去遮盖她圣洁面容的面纱时，美就是生命
篇16：晨读英语美文
A man may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company, whether it be of books or of men.
通常看一个人可知道他的为人,以及所阅读的书物以类聚,因为有一个人为伴,也有人以书为伴,朋友,我们都应该以最好的陪伴,无论是书友还是的`人。
A good book may be among the best of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversity or distress. It always receives us with the same kindness; amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.
一本好书就像是一个最好的朋友。它始终不渝,过去如此,现在仍然如此,永远不会改变。它是最有耐心、最令人愉快的伴侣。它不背弃我们临到我们身处逆境,还是痛苦。它友善款待我们﹐始终如一很有趣,也教导我们,在青年时死亡、与慰解我们的年龄。
Men often discover their affinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book just as two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration which both entertain for a third. There is an old proverb, ‘Love me, love my dog.” But there is more wisdom in this:” Love me, love my book.” The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel, and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. They live in him together, and he in them.
男人经常发现彼此之间亲密无间的相互爱为一本书正如两个人有时发现朋友共同仰慕另外一人而为娱乐的三分之一。古谚说:“爱我,也爱我的狗。”但有更多的智慧在这个:“爱我,爱我的书。”这本书是真实和高雅的联系纽带。人们能思考、感觉和彼此同情通过他们最喜爱的作家。他们住在他里面、他也住在一起。
A good book is often the best urn of a life enshrining the best that life could think out; for the world of a man’s life is, for the most part, but the world of his thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, the golden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become our constant companions and comforters.
一本好书常常是最好的缸生活其中规定生活最美好的东西能有什么,因为世界上一个人的生命是什么,最主要的是,但是整个世界他的思想。因此,最好的书是金玉良言的金色的思想的宝库;珍惜的,就会成为我们忠实的伴侣和永恒的慰藉。
Books possess an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products of human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author’s minds, ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time have been to sift out the bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive e but what is really good.
书籍具有不朽的本质。它是迄今为止人类不懈奋斗的珍宝。庙宇会倒塌,塑像会颓废,但是书籍却能长存人间。时间并不重要,那些伟大的思想,都永远鲜活,当他们初次闪现在作者脑海,很久以前的事了。当时的话语和思想如今依然对我们说话,透过书页。时间唯一的作用在于它筛除了糟粕,因为e的文学作品才能存留下来,但什么是真正的好。
Books introduce us into the best society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest minds that have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see them as if they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy with them, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feel as if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes which they describe.
书籍把我们引入最美好的环境,使我们与各个时代的伟大智者促膝谈心。我们听到他们在说什么,而行,我们看到,如果他们真的活了下来,我们深切同情他们的遭遇,享受,悲伤;他们的经验成为我们的,我们感到仿佛我们是在演员的措施与他们所描述的场景
篇17：晨读英语美文
What makes a home? Love and sympathy and confidence. It is a place where kindly affections exist among all the members of the family. The parents take good care of their children, and the children are interested in the activities of their parents. Thus all of them are bound together by affection, and they find their home to be the cheeriest place in the world.
组成家庭的因素是什么？答案即爱、同情和信赖。家是一个所有家庭成员凝结情感的地方。父母亲悉心照料孩子，而孩子们也对他们双亲的活动感兴趣。他们为爱所联结，因而发现家是世界上最令人感到欢乐的地方。
A home without love is no more a home than a body without a soul is a man. Every civilized person is a social being. No one should live alone. A man may lead a successful and prosperous life, but prosperity alone can by no means insure happiness. Many great personages in the world history had deep affections for their homes.
一个没有爱的家便不再称其为家，如同没有灵魂的躯体不再是人一样。每一个有修养的人都是社会性的人。没有人能够脱离社会独自生存。一个人也许过着成功而宽裕的生活，但是荣华富贵决不能保证幸福快乐。在世界历史上，许多名人都对其家庭怀有深情厚意。
Your home may be poor and humble, but duty lies there. You should try to make it cheerful and comfortable. The greater the difficulties, the richer will be your reward.
你的家也许贫穷而简陋，但那正是你的职责所在。你应该努力使其愉快和舒适。你遭遇的困难越大，所得到的报偿也就越多。
A home is more than a family dwelling. It is a school in which people are trained for citizenship. A man will not render good services to his country if he can do nothing good for his home; for in proportion as he loves his home, will he love his country. The home is the birthplace of true patriotism. It is the secret of social welfare and national greatness. It is the basis and origin of civilization.
家不仅仅是一个供家人居住的地方。它还是一个培养人们成为公民的场所。一个人假如无法对家庭做出有意义的事情，也就无法为国家提供优良的服务，因为爱家和爱国是成正比的。家庭是爱国主义精神的真正发源地，是社会福利和国家昌盛的秘诀，是文明的基础和起源。
篇18：晨读英语美文
Quogue，Long Island
16 September1962，Sunday
于奎基，长岛，星期日
1962年9月16日
My dear：
我的宝贝：
Well，here we are——but not here．You at St．Tim's，Sister in Princeton，and me in Quogue，and another brand new year is about to start for you．For me，too．I always seem to approach the autumn in the frame of mind that spring induces in most people．The excitement of new things；the new plays，the new books，new clothes，etc．，etc．，etc．At the same time the autumn for me is a season of a sweet melancholy that is hard to explain. I love the early evenings，the leaves burning，the lights in houses．
好了，我们到了——但不是到这儿。你在圣蒂姆斯，西斯特在普林斯顿，而我在奎基，对你来说崭新的一年又开始了。对于我，也是如此。我似乎总是带着一种春天在大多数人身上所激发的心情走近秋季。新生事物给人们带来的兴奋；新剧目、新书、新服装，等等，等等，等等。同时，秋天对于我则是带着美丽的忧郁的季节。这是难以用言语表达的。我爱黄昏，爱像火一样燃烧着的红艳艳的树叶，爱房屋里的灯光。
It is the beginning of a big year for you，in many respects your biggest so far．By the time June comes around you will be 18，and graduating from school．In the past week or so I have called you“Kid” but subconsciously I have been doing that because your kid days are over，or just about．I suspect that you are going through the experience of first love，and no matter what else happens，after that experience you are never a kid again．
对你来说，这是至关重要的一年的开始，从许多方面来说这是你最重要的一年。到六月份你就18岁了，将中学毕业。在过去的几周里，我称你为“小孩子”，但在潜意识里我这样做是因为你的少年时代已经过去，或正要过去。我猜想你已在经历你的初恋，不管发生什么，有过初恋的经历之后，你再也不是小孩子了。
Most of the nice things we associate with being a kid are okay——while you are still a kid．But you gain more than you lose．You gain in understanding standing，in appreciation of people，in understanding and appreciation of yourself．You begin to see the wisdom in that quotation I have so often repeated to you：to thine own self be true．Every year at this time I have repeated that quotation to you，and the time is not really too far distant when you will be passing it on to your own children．It is probably the best single piece of advice I can give you，or you can give them．
与当个孩子相关的许多美好的事物都是很不错的——然而你仍然是个孩子。但你将得到比所失去的更多的东西。你将得到理解、人们的欣赏，以及你对你自己的理解和欣赏。你将明白我常常告诉你的那句话所隐含的智慧：真诚地对待你自己。每一年的这个时候我都对你重复这句话，而且这离你把这句话告诉你的孩子们的时候也为时不远了。这句话也许是我能够给你的最好的一条建议，或许也是你能够给你的孩子们的最好的一条建议。
You have done well，and I am pleased with you，not only for what you have done，but for what you are．As Miss Finnegan said to Sister，“Wylie has the right reactions．”So good luck in your Senior Year，and always know that the old man loves you very much．
你做得很好，我对你很满意，并不只是因为你所做的那些事，而且因为你本人。就像芬尼根小姐对西斯特所说的那样“威利反应敏捷”。因此，祝你中学的最后一年交好运，并且永远记住，我这个老人非常爱你。
Always
Dad
篇19：晨读英语美文
As food is to the body, so is learning to the mind. Our bodies grow and muscles develop with the intake of adequate nutritious food. Likewise, we should keep learning day by day to maintain our keen mental power and expand our intellectual capacity. Constant learning supplies us with inex-haustible fuel for driving us to sharpen our power of reasoning, analysis, and judgment. Learning incessantly is the surest way to keep pace with the times in the information age, and reliable warrant of success in times of uncertainty.
学习之于心灵，就像食物之于身体一样。摄取了适量的营养食物，我们的身体得以生长而肌肉得以发达。 同样地，我们应该日复一日不断地学习以保持我们心智的敏锐，并扩充我们的智力容量。不断的学习提供我们用之不尽的燃料，来驱使我们磨砺我们的推理、分析和判断的能力。持续的学习是在信息时代中跟时代井驾齐驱的最稳当的方法，也是在变动的时代中成功的可靠保证。
Once learning stops, vegetation sets in. It is a common fallacy to regard school as the only workshop for the acquisition of knowledge. On the contrary, learning should be a neyer-ending process, from the cradle to the grave. With the world changing so fast, to cease learning for just a few days will make a person lag behind. What's worse, the animal instinct dormant deep in our sub-conscious will come to life. Weakening our will to pursue our noble ideas, undermining our determination to sweep away obstacles to our success and strangling our desire for the refinement of our character. Lack of learning will inevitably lead to the stagnation of the mind, or even worse, its fossilization. Therefore, to stay mentally young, we have to take learning as a lifelong career.
一旦学习停止，单调贫乏的生活就开始了。视学校为汲取知识的惟一场所是种常见的谬误。相反地，从生到死，学习应该是一种无终止的历程。 由于世界变化得如此迅速，只要学习停顿数日就能使人落后。更糟的是，蛰伏在我们潜意识深处的本能就会复活，削弱我们追求高尚理想的意志，弱化我们扫除成功障碍的决心，而且扼杀我们净化我们人格的欲望。缺少学习将不可避免地导致心灵的停滞，甚至更糟，使其僵化。因此，为了保持心态年轻，我们必须将学习当作一生的事业
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