英语六级美文欣赏
一：The wisdom of one word 改变一生的邂逅
Isn’t it amazing how one person, sharing one idea, at the right time and place can change the course of your life’s history? This is certainly what happened in my life. When I was 14, I was hitchhiking from Houston, Texas, through El Paso on my way to California. I was following my dream, journeying with the sun. I was a high school dropout with learning disabilities and was set on surfing the biggest waves in the world, first in California and then in Hawaii, where I would later live.
Upon reaching downtown El Paso, I met an old man, a bum, on the street corner. He saw me walking, stopped me and questioned me as I passed by. He asked me if I was running away from home, I suppose because I looked so young. I told him, "Not exactly, sir," since my father had given me a ride to the freeway in Houston and given me his blessings while saying, "It is important to follow your dream and what is in your heart, Son.”
The bum then asked me if he could buy me a cup of coffee. I told him, "No, sir, but a soda would be great." We walked to a corner malt4 shop and sat down on a couple of swiveling stools while we enjoyed our drinks.
After conversing for a few minutes, the friendly bum told me to follow him. He told me that he had something grand to show me and share with me. We walked a couple of blocks until we came upon the downtown El Paso Public Library.
We walked up its front steps and stopped at a small information stand. Here the bum spoke to a smiling old lady, and asked her if she would be kind enough to watch my things for a moment while he and I entered the library. I left my belongings with this grandmotherly figure and entered into this magnificent hall of learning.
The bum first led me to a table and asked me to sit down and wait for a moment while he looked for something special amongst the shelves. A few moments later, he returned with a couple of old books under his arms and set them on the table. He then sat down beside me and spoke. He started with a few statements that were very special and that changed my life. He said, "There are two things that I want to teach you, young man, and they are these:
"Number one is to never judge a book by its cover, for a cover can fool you." He followed with, "I’ll bet you think I m a bum, don t you, young man?"
I said, "Well, uh, yes, I guess so, sir."
"Well, young man, I’ve got a little surprise for you. I am one of the wealthiest men in the world. I have probably everything any man could ever want. I originally come from the Northeast and have all the things that money can buy. But a year ago, my wife passed away, bless her soul, and since then I have been deeply reflecting upon life. I realized there were certain things I had not yet experienced in life, one of which was what it would be like to live like a bum on the streets. I made a commitment to myself to do exactly that for one year. For the past year, I have been going from city to city doing just that. So, you see, don’t ever judge a book by its cover, for a cover can fool you.
"Number two is to learn how to read, my boy. For there is only one thing that people can’t take away from you, and that is your wisdom." At that moment, he reached forward, grabbed my right hand in his and put them upon the books he d pulled from the shelves. They were the writings of Plato and Aristotle-immortal classics from ancient times.
The bum then led me back past the smiling old woman near the entrance, down the steps and back on the streets near where we first met. His parting request was for me to never forget what he taught me.
Bum n. 游荡者, 游民, 闹饮 adj. 无价值的 vi. 过游民生活, 免费得到, 流浪 vt. 乞讨
如果一个人，在适当的时候和地方因为一句话而改变了他的人生历程，你会感到惊异和不可思议吗？然而这的确是千真万确的，它就发生在我14岁那年。那时，我正在从得克萨斯州的休斯敦，经由爱坡索市前往加利福尼亚州去的旅途中。日出即行，日落即息；痴痴地追寻着我的梦想。我本来在读高中，也许我天生就不是读书的材料，因此我不得不中途辍学。随即我决心要到世界上最大的海浪上去冲浪，先准备到加利福尼亚州，再到夏威夷，然后我准备就在那里住下来。
在刚进入爱坡索市区的时候，我看到有一个老头，一个流浪者，坐在街道的拐角处。他看见了走路的我，当我就要从他的旁边走过去时，他拦住了我，并开口向我发问。他问我是不是偷着从家里跑出来的，我想他这么问我一定是看我太年轻，觉得我太嫩的缘故。"不完全是，先生，"因为是我爸爸开车把我送到休斯敦的高速公路上的，他还一边为我祝福，一边说："儿子，追寻你的梦想和心中的憧憬非常重要。"
然后那个流浪者问我他能请我喝咖啡吗？我回答说："不，先生，一杯汽水就可以了。"
于是，我们走进街道拐角处的一家酒吧，坐在一双转椅上，喝着饮料。
在闲聊了几分钟后，这个和蔼可亲的老流浪汉要我跟他走。他告诉我说他有一样大东西给我看，要与我分享。我们走过了几个街区，来到了爱坡索市的公立图书馆。
我们沿着它前面的台阶向上走，在一处小小的咨询台前停了下来。老流浪汉向一位笑容可掬的老太太说了几句话，并问她是否愿意在他和我进图书馆时帮忙照看一下我的行李。我把行李放在那位老奶奶般的人那里，走进了那座宏伟的学习殿堂。
老流浪汉先把我带到一张桌子前，让我坐下来稍等片刻，而他则到那些林立的书架中去寻找那个特别重要的东西去了。不一会儿，他腋下夹着几本旧书回来了。他把书放到桌子上，然后他在我的身边坐了下来，打开了话匣子，出口便不凡，其话语非常特别，改变了我一生的命运。他说："年轻人，我想教你两件事，就是：第一是切记不要从封面来判断一本书的好坏，因为封面有时也会蒙骗你。"他接着说道："我敢打赌，你一定认为我是个老流浪汉，是不是？年轻人。"
我说："嗯，是的，先生，我想是的。"
"嗯，年轻人，我要给你一个小惊喜：其实我是这个世界上最富有的人之一，人们梦寐以求的任何东西我几乎都有。我最初从美国东北部来，凡是金钱能买到的东西，我全都有。但是一年前，我妻子死了，愿上帝保祐她的在天之灵，从那以后，我开始深深地反思人生的意义。我意识到，生活中有些东西我还没有体验过，其中之一就是做一个沿街乞讨的流浪汉滋味如何。于是我对自己发誓要像流浪汉一样活一年。在过去的一年里，我从一个城市流浪到另一个城市，就像流浪汉一样生活。所以，你看，切记不要从封面来判断一本书的好坏，因为封面有时也会蒙骗你。"
"第二，我的孩子，是要学会如何读书。因为这个世界上只有一种东西是别人无法从你的身上拿走的，那，就是你的智慧！"说到这，他俯身向着我，抓住我的右手放在他从书架中找到的书上。那是柏拉图和亚里士多德的著作--从古至今已经流传了几千年的不朽的经典。
二： To be or not to be
Outside the Bible, these six words are the most famous in all the literature of the world. They were spoken by Hamlet when he was thinking aloud, and they are the most famous words in Shakespeare because Hamlet was speaking not only for himself but also for every thinking man and woman. To be or not to be, to live or not to live, to live richly and abundantly and eagerly, or to live dully and meanly and scarcely. A philosopher once wanted to know whether he was alive or not, which is a good question for everyone to put to himself occasionally. He answered it by saying: "I think, therefore am."
But the best definition of existence ever saw did another philosopher who said: "To be is to be in relations." If this true, then the more relations a living thing has, the more it is alive. To live abundantly means simply to increase the range and intensity of our relations. Unfortunately we are so constituted that we get to love our routine. But apart from our regular occupation how much are we alive? If you are interest-ed only in your regular occupation, you are alive only to that extent. So far as other things are concerned--poetry and prose, music, pictures, sports, unselfish friendships, politics, international affairs--you are dead.
Contrariwise, it is true that every time you acquire a new interest--even more, a new accomplishment--you increase your power of life. No one who is deeply interested in a large variety of subjects can remain unhappy; the real pessimist is the person who has lost interest.
Bacon said that a man dies as often as he loses a friend. But we gain new life by contacts, new friends. What is supremely true of living objects is only less true of ideas, which are also alive. Where your thoughts are, there will your live be also. If your thoughts are confined only to your business, only to your physical welfare, only to the narrow circle of the town in which you live, then you live in a narrow cir-conscribed life. But if you are interested in what is going on in China, then you are living in China~ if you’re interested in the characters of a good novel, then you are living with those highly interesting people, if you listen intently to fine music, you are away from your immediate surroundings and living in a world of passion and imagination.
To be or not to be--to live intensely and richly, merely to exist, that depends on ourselves. Let widen and intensify our relations. While we live, let live!
三、Dreams 梦想
When we were young, we had dreams and expectations. We imagine things; we keep thinking about what we want to be, what we want to do, what makes us proud and happy and what will we become.
We grew up, and things seemed like having their own way. We accept our success or failures and we move on. The rapid change, the need to do the urgent things, the works, the pressures and the failures, all kill part of our visions.
Things have changed, but they cannot really take away the dreams. We still have to dream on, to visualize our desires, our wants, our vision of our future, even when we are considered too old for such things.
Cornell Sanders started his business when he was sixty, and started the whole successful KFC business. The main thing is not the age whether being too old, or too young, but it is the desire to dream on, and the courage to realize it.
The ability to dream on is one of the fine qualities of human race that other species do not possess. So dream on, and put a deadline: make it a giant dream, a tiny one, an old everlasting one, a new-found one, a hobby-related one, a change of life one, a religious one, a stupid one, a stroke of genius one, or just whatever... just continue to dream on... Then, Just Go and Do It!
四：We Were Dear to Each Other 相亲相爱
Stray birds of summer come to my window to sing and fly away.
And yellow leaves of autumn,which have no songs,flutter and fall there with a sign.
O Troupe of little vagrants of the world,leave your footprints in my words.
The world puts off its mask of vastness to its lover.
It becomes small as one song,as one kiss of the eternal.
It is the tears of the earth that keep her smiles in bloom.
The mighty desert is burning for the love of a blade of grass who shakes her head and laughs and flies away.
If you shed tears when you miss the sun,you also miss the stars.
The sands in your way beg for your song and your movement,dancing water,Will you carry the burden of their lameless?
Her wishful face haunts my dreams like the rain at night.
Once we dreamt that we were strangers.
We wake up to find that we were dear to each other.
夏天的飞鸟,飞到我的窗前唱歌,又飞去了。
秋天的黄叶,它们没有什么可唱,只叹息了一声,飞落在那里。
世界上的一小队小小的漂泊者呀,请留下你们的脚印在我的文字里。
世界对着它的爱人,把它浩瀚的面具揭了下来。
它变小了,小如一首歌,小如一回永恒的吻。
是大地的泪点,使她的微笑保持着青春不谢。
无垠的沙漠热烈地追求一叶绿草的爱,她摇摇头笑着飞开了。
如果你因失去了太阳而流泪,那么你也将将失去群星了。
跳着舞的流水呀,在你途中的泥沙,要求你的歌声,你的欢跳.你肯挟痂足的泥沙而俱下么?
她的热切的脸,如夜雨似的,搅扰着我的梦魂。
有一次,我们梦见大家都是不认识的。
我们醒了,却知道我们是相亲相爱的。
五:Prometheus 普罗米修斯
Prometheus was a Titan ．In the war between Zeus the giants he had stood on the side of the new Olympian gods．Out of the clay he made the first man，to whom Athena gave soul and holy breath．Prometheus spent a lot of time and energy in creating the gift of fire．The fire raised man above all animals ．Later，there held a joint meeting of gods and men．The meeting was to decide what part of burnt animals should be given to gods and what to men．Prometheus cut up an ox and divided it into two parts：under the skin he placed the fresh，and under the fat he put the bones，for he knew the selfish Zeus loved fat．
Zeus saw through the trick and felt displeased at the Prometheus' favor towards men．So in a masterful way he took away the gift of fire from mankind．However，Prometheus managed to steal fire from heaven and secretly brought it down to men．Flying into an anger at this unjustified act of rebellion，Zeus let the other gods chain Prometheus to a rock on Mountain Caucasus，where a hungry eagle ever tore at his liver which ever grew again．His period of pain was to be thirty-thousand years．Prometheus faced his bitter fate firmly and never lost courage before Zeus．At last Heracles made Prometheus and Zeus restore to friend ship，when Heracles came over in search of the golden apple and killed the eagle and set the friend of mankind free．
普罗米修斯
普罗米修斯是泰坦巨人之一。在宙斯与巨人的战争中，他站在新的奥林波斯山神一边。他用粘土造出了第一个男人。雅典娜赋予了这个男人灵魂和神圣的生命。普罗米修斯还花费了很多时间和精力创造了火，并将之赠予人类。火使人成为万物之灵。在这之后，举行了第一次神与人的联席会议。这个会议将决定烧烤过的动物的哪一部分该分给神，哪一部分该给人类。普罗米修斯切开一头牛，把它分成两部分：他把肉放在皮下，将骨头放在肥肉下。因为他知道自私的宙斯爱吃肥肉。宙斯看穿了他的把戏。普罗米修斯偏袒人类，这使宙斯感到不快。因此，他专横地把火从人类手中夺走。然而，普罗米修斯设法窃走了天火，偷偷地把它带给人类。宙斯对他这种肆无忌惮的违抗行为大发雷霆。他令其他的山神把普罗米修斯用锁链缚在高加索山脉的一块岩石上。一只饥饿的老鹰天天来啄食他的肝脏，而他的肝脏又总是重新长出来。他的痛苦要持续三万年。而他坚定地面对苦难，从来不在宙斯面前丧失勇气。最后，海格立斯使普罗米修斯与宙斯恢复了他们的友谊，找到了金苹果，杀死了老鹰，因而解救了人类的老朋友。
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