无论是在学校还是在社会中,大家都看过一些经典的散文吧?散文不讲究音韵,不讲究排比,没有任何的束缚及限制。那么,你会写散文吗?熟读唐诗三百首,不会作诗也会吟,以下是爱岗敬业的小编老李给家人们整理的6篇英语散文的相关文章,希望对大家有一些参考价值。
In former days, there was a wealthy merchant, who owned billion acres of fertile land, a considerable sum of property, and multiple compounds (estates). He was the acknowledged leader at home and had four wives.
从前,有一位富有的商人,家有良田万顷,大量财富和多处庄园。在家里,他说一不二。他有四位爱人。
He had the greatest affection on the fourth wife, who enjoyed the beautiful brows and face---a fairy in his eyes. To amuse her, the merchant gave her a life of luxury, bought her fashionable blouses and boots, and took her out to dine on delicious food. Each of their marriage anniversary, he would celebrate.
他最钟爱他最小的妻子,她有着姣好的面容,在他眼里简直就是个仙女。为了讨好她,商人给她最奢华的人生,给她买时髦的衣裳,吃美味的佳肴。他们的每个结婚纪念日都要庆祝。
He was also fond of his third wife very much. She was ******* poet with great literacy and dignity. To approve of her, he gave her prevailing poetry as a present, visited the museum with her to see the antiques and went to the concert to enjoy the music of great musicians and pianists. He was very proud of her and introduced her and showed her to his friends. Nevertheless, he was always in great fear that she might go elsewhere with some other guys.
商人也很爱第三们妻子。她是一位业余诗人。她喜欢风雅,知书达理,端庄典雅。为了满足她的`个人爱好,商人送她流行诗集,陪她参观博物馆的古董,听著名音乐爱的音乐会。他为她感到骄傲,把她介绍给朋友们,并常把好作为在朋友面前炫耀的资本。但他同时也忧心忡忡,怕她跟其他男人跑了。
His second spouse too, won his preference. As a cashier, she was keen and capable and energetic in commercial issues. Wherever he faced critical problems, he always turned to his second wife. And she’d always attempted to help him cope with the problems such as ash collection or conflicts with clients. Hence, to thank his second wife, he went to excursion with her for entertainment every several years.
当然,商人也爱第二位妻子。她是个管账的。生意上的事,她既热心又能干。每每遇到棘手的问题,他就会向她求助,而她也总能尽力帮他解决诸如筹钱,或与顾客之间的争执等事情。因此,作为答谢,商人每隔几年都会跟她出去游玩消遣。
His first wife was a very conservative and faithful partner. She was a woman of goodness and honesty. As a housewife, she made a great contribution to nourishing children and caring husband and doing homework. Accidentally, she appeared to be little clumsy and ignorant. Although the merchant had prejudice towards her, she maintained her patience to wait for him to come back to her. She was a woman of great breadth of mind.
商人的第一个妻子是一个保守的人,也是一位忠诚的伴侣。她善良诚实。作为一个家庭主妇,她照顾丈夫,养育儿女,做家务活。偶尔,她略有些笨拙和木讷。尽管商人对她有成见,她也不恼,很有耐心地等丈夫回心转意。看来,她是一个胸怀宽广的女子。
After many years, the merchant felt deadly ill of abusing alcohol. He knew it couldn’t cure. He was pale and stiff. When he reelected on his life-time, he couldn’t help yelling, “Now, I have four wives . But when I die I’ll be solitary. How lonely I will be!”
几年以后,商人因酗酒病重,他自知无法治愈,将不久于人世。他脸色苍白,身体僵硬。当他回顾自己的一生,不禁叫道:“现在我虽然有四个妻子相伴,但死后却要孤零零一人。多寂寞啊!”
Suffering from the sting of the body, he asked the fourth wife, “I have attached to you the most affection, and bought pretty clothes to you and spent every festival with you. Now I am dying, will you follow me?” “Pardon? I am not a self- sacrificing saint. No way!” The fourth wife who was sipping tea idly in her fur coat, defied him The answer made the merchant fiercely disappointed on her conscience.
忍着剧痛,他问***:“我最疼您,给您买最漂亮的衣服,每个节日都陪您过。现在我就要离开这个世界了,您愿意陪我而去吗?”“什么?我又不是圣人!绝对不可能!”此刻,她正身穿裘皮大衣,悠闲地喝着茶。商人对***的回答非常地失望。
Then he asked the third wife, “Do you remember our romantic experience? Now that I am dying, will you follow me?” the third wife glimpsed against him, “No” she denied. “I couldn’t bear the tedious life in hell. I deserve a better life. Consequently, it is of necessity that I marry other guys afterwards.” Then she was calculating the route of other millionaire’s home.
伤心的商人继而问第三个妻子:“您记得我们的浪漫经历吗?如今,我将不久于人世,您愿意陪我而去吗?”“不!”她拒绝道,“我无法忍受乏味的人生,我有权享受好的人生。因此,不久以后我会改嫁他人。”此刻,她正考虑着去其他富翁家的路线呢。
The answer also hurt the merchant, and then he resorted to his second life. “You’ve always facilitated me out. Now I barely beg you once more. When I die, will you follow me?” “I am sorry” she frowned, claiming, “I can only attend your funeral ceremony” the answer came like a bolt of thunder and the merchant felt like being discarded. Then she was modifying the items of business contract.
第三位妻子的回答也伤害了他,他再转向第二位妻子,问道:“您过� 现在我想再请您帮一次忙。我死后,您愿意随我而去?”她皱了皱眉说道,“我只能参加您的葬礼仪式。”这句话犹如晴天霹雳,商人彻底觉得被抛弃了。此刻,她正在修改一个商业合同的条款。
Then voice wept: “we are bound couple. I will go alongside wherever you go” the merchant awoke, stoking his wife’s coarse palm. She was so lean. Thinking of her fatigue year after year, he was greatly touched and said miserably. “I should have treasured you before!” she was doing the laundry for rim,
这是时,一个声音哭泣道:“我愿意随您一同离去。无论您到哪里,我都跟着您。”商人猛然惊醒,抚摸着大老婆粗糙的手掌。她是那么消瘦,又想到她年复一年,日夜操劳,一时心痛不已。商人悲痛地说:“我以前应该好好地珍惜您啊!此刻,大老婆正在为他洗衣服。
Virtually, we all respectively have four wives in our lives. The fourth tender wife represents our body. Despite the fact we spend time making it look good, it will distract from us when we die. Our third wife is our possessions, remarkable fame or noble status. When we die, they all go to eternal collapse. The second wife is out family, friends, college and acquaintance. Regardless how code we have relied on them, when we are alive, what can do for us is coming to the funeral at the almost. The first wife in fact is our holy soul, which is often neglected in our pursuit of material and welt. It is actually the only thing that follows us wherever we go. We should cultivate it now, otherwise, we will possibly feel regret in the end.
其实,我们每个人的一生都有四位妻子相伴。最小的娇弱的妻子**我们的躯体。即使我们花时间去装扮她,我们死后它终会弃我们而去。第三位妻子**我们的财产、显赫的名声或尊贵的地位。一旦我们撒手**,它终究会烟消云散。第二位妻子**我们的家人、朋友、同事或熟人。我们活着的时候,无论多么亲近,他们最多也只能到幕前送我们最后一程。第一位妻子则是我们的圣洁的灵魂。当我们沉迷于追求物质、金钱或感官享受的时候,她常常会被遗忘在一旁。实际上,她才是唯一与我们永远相伴的。我们就应该从现在开始悉心照顾好她,而不是等到临终之际才悔恨不已。
挖掘黄金
When I was a young boy in Santa Cruz, California I used to help my Grandfather in the fields by his home. This was not his land but back in those days it was not unusual to barter with the neighbours to worked it for them so he could grow the vegetables that he loved. He would then share them with the neighbour for payment. He grew corn, beans, peas, zucchini, cucumbers and garlic. And nobody could grow bigger dahlias than my Grandfather.
在我很小的时候,我的祖父家住在加利福尼亚的圣克鲁斯城,我常常去祖父家附近的田地里帮他干农活。尽管那块田地是属于祖父的邻居,但在那个时候,邻居之间作实物交易是很常见的,所以祖父也能在那块田地种上自己喜爱的农作物。而作为报酬,在收割时祖父就与邻居们一同分享果实。祖父通常种植玉米、大豆、豌 豆、南瓜、黄瓜和大蒜。祖父的'农艺很高超,就连他种的大丽花长得也要比邻居们种的高大许多。
As I worked along side him he used to love to tell this story of a named Giuseppe (Joe) and his wife who moved to a new farm with their three sons. They were settling into the new community when a nearby farmer told Joe that there was gold in the dirt of his new property. Joe took that statement as that there was actual gold in the land. He thought to himself, “I have three healthy sons, I will tell them about it”。 Indeed he told his sons that there was gold to be found in their new property. Needless to say his sons actually took charge of their personal enterprise right on their own land. They had visions of what they would do when they found gold. Each son had a different vision. For as young as they were, they set up quite a professional approach in the digging for gold.
当我在一旁帮祖父干农活时,他总爱给我讲一个名叫乔的一家人的故事。故事是这样的:乔带着妻子和他们的三个儿子搬到了一个新的农场。当乔一家人住进一个新杜区以后,附近的一位农夫告诉乔说他的地里有黄金。乔昕后以为这片土地有真的黄金存在,就在心里暗想我有三个健壮的儿子,我应该把这件事告诉他们。"于是,乔告诉他的儿子说,在他们家的这块新地产上可以找到黄金。不必说,他的儿子们立刻去地里挖掘黄金了,就好像把这件事当成了自己的事业一样。他们幻想着找到黄金以后去做什么,但每一个人都有各自不同的梦想。因为他们如此年轻,还提出一个相当专业的挖掘黄金的方法。
They began in one corner with a certain width and kept going until they got to the end. Once they got to the property line they would start another swath and go back the other direction. They began to realize that digging for gold was fun! This procedure went on for about six months and they still weren through going through the whole property.
他们先从一个角落开始挖掘,并以特定的一个宽度继续向前挖,一直挖到这块土地的尽头。他们渐渐觉得挖掘黄金这件事充满了无穷的乐趣!就这样不知不觉,他们连续挖了六个月,仍然陶醉在拥有黄金以后的美梦里。
Meanwhile Joe thought he would plant some crops in the area where the dirt had been turned thoroughly. He planted corn, tomatoes, potatoesand onions. His sons continued to dig through the soil, determined to find gold. As more dirt was available. Joe planted more crops. An interesting point here is that Joe had never farmed before but it had always been a dream of his to do so.
与此同时,乔有了新的想法,他打算在这些彻底翻新过的土地上种一些农作物。于是,他开始种玉米、西虹柿、马铃薯和洋葱。而他的儿子们仍在这块土地上继续不停地挖掘着,一心想找到黄金。随着可利用的土地越来越多,乔的农作物也越种越多。有趣的是,乔以前从来不会种田,那似乎是他所不敢想象的,然而现在他却做到了。
He was 11 and went fishing every chance he got from the dock at his family's cabin.
他11岁那年,只要一有机会,就会到他家小屋的码头上钓鱼。
On the day before the bass season opened, he and his father were fishing early in the evening. Then he tied on a small silver lure and practiced casting. When his peapole doubled over, he knew something huge was on the other end. His father watched with admiration as the boy skillfully worked the fish alongside the dock.
鲈鱼季节开放的前一天晚上,他和父亲早早开始垂钓。他系上鱼饵,练习如何抛线。当鱼杆向下弯的时候,他知道线的另一端一定钓到了一条大鱼。父亲看着他技巧纯熟地在码头边沿和鱼周旋,眼神充满赞赏。
Finally, he lifted the exhausted fish from the water. It was the largest one he had ever seen, but is was a bass.
最后他将筋疲力尽的鱼提出水面。这是他所见过的最大的一条,还是一条鲈鱼。
The father lit a match and looked at his watch. It was 10 P.M.----two hours before the season opened. He looked at the fish, then at the boy.
父亲檫着一根火柴,看了看表。十点了---离开禁还有两个小时。他看了看鱼,又看了看男生。
"You'll have to put it back, son." he said.
“您得把它放回去,孩子。”父亲说道。
"Dad!" cried the boy.
“爸爸!”男生叫道。
"There will be other fish," said his father.
“还有其他的鱼嘛。”父亲说道。
"Not as big as this one," cried the boy.
“但没这么大。”男生叫道。
He looked around the lake. No others were anywhere around in the moonlight. He looked again at his father. Even though no one had seen them, nor could anyone ever know what time he caught the fish, the boy could tell by the clarity of his father's voice that the decision was not negotiable. He slowly worked the hook out of the lip of the huge bass and lowered it into the black water. The boy suspected that he would never again see such a great fish.
男生环视了一遍湖。月光下附近没有其他人。他又看了看他父亲。从父亲不可动摇的语气中,他知道这个决定没有商量余地,即使没有人看到他们,更无从得知他们何时钓到了鱼。他慢慢地将鱼钩从大鲈鱼的唇上取下,然后蹲下将鱼放回水中。男生想,他可能再也看不到这么大的鱼了。
That was 34 years ago. Today, the boy is a successful architect in New York City. He takes his own son and daughters fishing from the same dock.
那是34年前的事了。现在,男生是纽约的一个成功的建筑师,他带着自己的儿女仍然在同一个码头上钓鱼。
And he was right. He has never again caught such a magnificent fish as the one he landed that night long ago. But he does see that same fish---again and again---every time he comes up against a question of ethics.
他猜得没错。自那次以后,他再也没有钓上过那么大的鱼了。但每次他面临道德难题而举棋不定的时候,他的眼前再三浮现出那条鱼。
For, as his father taught him, ethics are simple * of right and wrong. It is only the practice of ethics that is difficult. Do we do right when no one is looking? Do we refuse to cut corners to get the design in on time? Or refuse to trade stocks based on information that we know we aren't supposed to have?
他父亲曾告诉他,道德即是简单的对和错的问题,但要付诸行动却很难。在没人瞧见的时候,我们是否仍遵循道德准则?为了将图纸按时完成,我们是不是也会走捷径?或者在明知道不可以的情况下,仍将公司股份卖掉?
We would if we were taught to put the fish back when we were young. For we would have learned the truth. The decision to do right lives fresh and fragrant in our memory.
在我们还小的时候,如果有人教导我们把鱼放回去,我们会这样做,因为我们还在学习真理。正确的决定在我们的记忆里变得深刻而清晰。
It is a story we will proudly tell our friends and grandchildren. Not about how we had a chance to beat the system and took it, but about how we did the right thing and were forever strengthened.
这个故事我们可以骄傲地讲给朋友和子孙们听,不是关于如何**和战胜某种体制,而是如何做正确的决定,从而变得无比坚强。
In the eternal universe, every human being has a one-off chance to live --his existence is unique and irretrievable, for the mold with which he was made, as Rousseau said, was broken by God immediately afterwards.
在茫茫宇宙间,每个人都只有一次生存的机会,都是一个独一无二、不可重复的存 在。正像卢梭所说的,上帝把您造出来后,就把那个属于您的特定的模子打碎了。
Fame, wealth and knowledge are merely worldly possessions that are within the reach of anybody striving for them. But your experience of and feelings about life are your own and not to be shared. No one can live your life over again after your death. A full awareness of this will point out to you that the most important thing in your existence is your distinctive individuality or something special of yours. What really counts is not your worldly success but your peculiar insight into the meaning of life and your commitment to it, which add luster to your personality.
名声、财产、知识等等是身外之物,人人都可求而得之,但没有人能够代替您感受 人生。您死之后,没有人能够代替您再活一次。如果您真正意识到了这一点,您就会明 白,活在世上,最重要的事就是活出您自己的特色和滋味来。您的人生是否有意义,衡 量的标准不是外在的成功,而是您对人生意义的独特领悟和坚守,从而使您的自我闪放 出个性的光华。
It is not easy to be what one really is. There is many a person in the world who can be identified as anything either his job, his status or his social role that shows no trace about his individuality. It does do him justice to say that he has no identity of his own, if he doesn't know his own mind and all his things are either arranged by others or done on others' sugg estions; if his life, always occupied by external things, is completely void of an inner world. You won't be able to find anything whatever, from head to heart, that truly belongs to him. He is, indeed, no more than a shadow cast by somebody else or a machine capable of doing business.
真正成为自己不是一件容易的事。世上有许多人,您说他是什么都行,例如是一种 职业,一个身份,一个角色,惟独不是他自己。如果一个人总是按别人的意见人生,没 有自己的**思索,总是为外在事务忙碌,没有自己的内心人生,那么,说他不是他自 己就一点儿也没有冤枉他。因为确确实实,从他的头脑到他的心灵,您在其中已经找不 到丝毫真正属于他自己的东西了,他只是别人的一个影子或一架办事的机器罢了。
生活之路
The lives of most men are determined by their environment. They accept the circumstances amid which fate has thrown them not only resignation but even with good will. They are like streetcars running contentedly on their rails and they despise the sprightly flitter that dashes in and out of the traffic and speeds so jauntily across the open country. I respect them; they are good citizens, good husbands, and good fathers, and of course somebody has to pay the taxes; but I do not find them exciting.
大多数人的生活被他们身处的环境所决定。他们不仅接受既定的命运,而且顺从命运的安排。他们就像街上的有轨电车一样,在他们既定的轨道上行驶,而对于那些不时出没于车水马龙间和欢快地奔驰在旷野上的廉价小汽车却不屑一顾。我尊重他们,他们是好市民、好丈夫和好父亲。当然,总得有些人来支付税收,但是,他们并没有令人激动的地方。
I am fascinated by the men, few enough in all conscience, who take life in their own hands and seem to mould it in to their own liking. It may be that we have no such thing as free will, but at all events, we have the illusion of it. At a cross-road it does seem to us that we might go either to the right or to the left and, the choice once made, it is difficult to see that the whole course of the worlds history obliged us to take the turning we did.
另外有一些人,他把生活掌握在自己的手里,可以按照自己的喜好去创造生活,尽管这样的人少之又少,但我却被他们深深地吸引着。可能世界上并没有诸如自由意志这样的事情,但是无论怎样,我们总有关于自由意志的幻想。当我们处在一个十字路口时,我们似乎可以决定向左走还是向右走,可是一旦做出选择,我们却很难意识到,实际上是世界历史的全部进程强迫我们做出了那样的选择。
As a little boy, there was nothing I liked better than Sunday aftemoons at my grandfather's farm in western Pennsylvania. Surrounded by miles of winding stonewalls, the house and barn provided endless hours of fun for a city kid like me. I was used to parlors neat as a pin that seemed to whisper, "Not to be touched!"
我小时候最喜欢在爷爷的农场里度过每个星期天的下午。爷爷的农场在宾夕法尼亚州西部。农场四周都围**绵延几英里的石墙。房子和谷仓给我这个城市男生带来了无穷的快乐时光。我习惯了城里整洁的客厅,似乎在低声说:“不要摸!”。
I can still remember one afternoon when I was eight years old. Since my first visit to the farm, I'd wanted more than anything to be allowed to climb the stonewalls surrounding the property. My parents would never approve. The walls were old; some stones were missing, others loose and crumbling. Still, my yearning to scramble across those walls grew so strong. One spring afternoon, I summoned all my courage and entered the living room, where the adults had gathered after dinner.
我仍能记得我8岁那年一天下午的情景。因为我第一次去农场,所以我很想上那农场四周的那些石墙。可我的父母是绝不会同意的。这些墙年深日 ,有的石头不见了,有的石头松动倒塌了。然而,我渴望这些墙的欲望非常强烈。一个春天的下午,我鼓足勇气,走进客厅,大人们午饭后都聚在这里。
"I, uh, I want to climb the stonewalls," I said hesitantly. Everyone looked up. "Can I climb the stonewalls?" Instantly a chorus went up from the women in the room. "Heavens, no!" they cried in dismay. "You'll hurt yourself!" I wasn't too disappointed; the response was just as I'd expected. But before I could leave the room, I was stopped by my grandfather' s booming voice. "Hold on just a minute," I heard him say, "Let the boy climb the stonewalls. He has to learn to do things for himself."
“我,呃,我想爬那石墙,”我犹豫地说道。大家都抬起头。“我能去爬那些石墙吗?”屋里的女人们马上齐声叫了起来。“天哪,不能!”她们惊慌地叫首,“您会伤着自己的!”我并没有太失望,我早就预料会是这样的回答。但还没等我离开客厅,爷爷低沉的声音拦住了我。“等一会儿,”我听到他说“让孩子爬那些石墙吧。他必须学会自己做一些事。”
"Scoot," he said to me with a wink, "and come and see me when you get back." For the next two and a half hours I climbed those old walls and had the time of my life. Later I met with my grandfather to tell him about my adventure. I'll never forget what he said. "Fred," he said, grinning, "you made this day a special day just by being yourself. Always remember, there's only one person in this whole world like you, and I like you exactly as you are."
“快走吧,”他对我眨眨眼说。“您回来后找我。”接下来的两个半小时,我爬**这些古老的石墙,别提有多肝硬变。后来,我把自己冒险经历告诉了爷爷。我永远也不会忘记他说过的话。“弗雷德,”他咧着嘴笑道。“您做了一回自己,您让这个日子因此而变得不同凡响。永远记住,整个世界只有一个您,而且我喜欢真实的您。”
Many years have passed since then, and today I host the television program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, seen by millions of children throughout America. There have been changes over the years, but one thing remains the same: my message to children at the end of almost every visit, "There's only one person in this whole world like you, and people can like you exactly as you are."
***过去了,现在我主持的电视节目《罗杰斯先生的街坊四邻》,全**几百万儿童都会收看。几年过后,节目已经发生了一些变化,但有一点没变:几乎每期节日后我都会传递给孩子这样一个信息,“这个世界上只有一个您,人们都喜欢真实的您。”