以高中生的对英文的掌握程度，个人觉得应该是看一些外国的，这种日常生活的小故事和沟通案例比较好，英国的散文他由于文化的差异，本来理解就困难，更何况对于高中生来说很多的词汇它都没有掌握，他更看不懂是什么意思啊，里面还涉及到一些地方性的英语使用方法就像我们的这种方言，可能说课本上出现的都是标准的普通话，但是说这些诗歌的散文有时候就会出现这种缩略语，类似于中国的诗歌里面的这种简称，或者说对地名的一个古代的称谓，这就很难去理解了。
我觉得高中提高阅读就是选择自己喜爱的领域找原版书看。一定不要名著，因为词太难而且不太常用，当然死磕的大神可以坚持。我推荐几本我爱看的。首先入门选择
学生首选 ，口语化 简单易懂也很有趣。重点是你有同感。flat tire（原来车胎破了没气可以这样表达）
简爱 不错 我高中看得就是这个
建议读 书虫 系列的书，词汇量小，但是又可以增加一定的词汇量，提起自身阅读兴趣。 书本以故事为主，我以前特怕阅读，到大二时一个学期看了40多本，于是单词量和阅读都变得强了许多。
新概念英语2（可以考虑背诵其中的文章） 21世纪英语报（21century teens） 疯狂英语阅读版 美国版读者杂志（Reader） 空中英语教室 China Daily 关于英语差的问题，其实和坚持有关。每天都要和英语有接触，如果是应试的目的，就不能怕做英语题，尤其是完型和阅读。高中刚毕业，我对此深有感触啊……有的时候，适当逼一逼自己，会有一定的效果的。 做题的话，推荐一下《五年三年》，别看书厚，效果很好。每天坚持一点点，三年，肯定英语水平提高。注意讲解一定要细看。 另外，可以下一点英语的文章来听。不一定要完全听懂的，主要是练耳朵，找语感，而且，比较正宗的口音会影响你的发音，从而口语也可以提高
书虫系列的如《雾都孤儿》、《双城记》什么的都挺不错的。
五年高考 三年模拟 作者：曲一线主编 出 版 社： 首都师范大学出版社 出版时间： 2008-6-1 开本： 大16开 I S B N ： 9787810648233 定价：￥ 我做过物理的，好多高考题。
如下第一场：Little Red Riding Hood家 Mum： (妈妈拿着一个篮子，把桌紫的水果放在篮子里） Little Red Riding Hood:(唱着歌，欢快地跑进来）Hi,mummy, what are you doing? Mum： （一边把水果放在篮子里，心事重重地说）Grandma is ill. Here are some apples and bananas for Grandma. Take them to Grandma. Little Red Riding Hood：（边提起篮子，边点头说）Ok! Mum： （亲切地看着Little Red Riding Hood说） Be good. Be careful. Little Red Riding Hood： Yes ,mummy．Goodbye, mummy. Mum： Bye-bye. Darling. 第二场：在路上 (一阵轻快的音乐远而近，Little Red Riding Hood挎著篮子蹦跳跳地跳到花草旁) Little Red Riding Hood： Wow！Flowers, how beautiful! （放下篮子采花）One flower ,o flowers, three flowers. Wolf：（随着一阵低沉的音乐，Wolf大步地走上台）I am wolf. I am hungry. (做找东西状,东张西望) Here is a little red riding hood. Hi! Little Red Riding Hood. Where are you going? (做狡猾的样子和Little Red Riding Hood打招呼) Little Red Riding Hood：(手摸辫子，天真地回答)To Grandma’s．Grandma is ill. Wolf：（自言自语）I' ll eat Grandma. But……（对Little Red Riding Hood说）Hey, look! 6 little baby ducks. Little Red Riding Hood：(和6只鸭子随着音乐翩翩起舞) Wolf：（悄悄地藏到大树后） Little Red Riding Hood：（停止跳舞）Hello! Baby ducks，how are you? Six Ducks：We’ re fine．Thank you． Where are you going? Little Red Riding Hood：To Grandma’s．Oh, I must go, bye. Six Ducks：Goodbye． 第三场：Grandma家 Grandma： （喘着气出场，颤颤悠悠地走到床前，吃力地坐到床边，喘了几口，打几个哈欠，慢吞吞地躺倒在床上。） Wolf：（从树后出来，边走边说）I am very hungry now. (做找寻的样子)Where is Grandma’ s house? (高兴地对观众说)Aha , it’s here.(敲门)Bang, Bang, Bang． Grandma： Who is it？ Wolf：（装出Little Red Riding Hood的声音，一边得意地摇动尾巴，一边说）It’s me. Little Red Riding H ood. Grandma： (边说边起床) Come in, e in. Wolf：(得意洋洋地走到床边) Grandma , I’ll eat you. Grandma： （惊慌失措地抓紧衣服，瞪着眼睛，边叫迫从床上滚到地上） 灰狼把外婆吞到了肚子里。 Wolf：（得意地拍拍肚子，翘起大拇指）Yummy！I’ll sleep. Little Red Riding Hood：(高兴地敲门)Grandma．Grandma． Wolf：(装扮成Grandma的声音) Who is it？ Little Red Riding Hood：It’s me。Little Red Riding Hood. What a strange noise! Wolf：Come in， Come in. Little Red Riding Hood：(蹦跳着进来，把篮子放在桌紫，走到床前一看，跳回几步)Oh! What are big ears! Wolf：I can listen to your sweet voice. Little R
动漫之家
Chris 充满自信 Alex 保护者 Claire 聪明的 Ketherine 神圣 Amber 宝石 很多呢，这几个是比较好用的，推荐。名字不建议起的太拗口，会不好用。
建议去书店英语专柜找书虫系列的英语读物！貌似都是名著 可是是中英对译的 ！蛮有帮助！
你是学生么，可以上你学校的电子资源看看，能不能连上IEEE，上面什么文章都有
阅读经典美文可以丰富学生的知识,巩固学习成果;可以提高学生的阅读能力和写作能力;可以学生的审美能力和陶冶情操。我精心收集了关于高中生英语美文，供大家欣赏学习!关于高中生英语美文篇1 从民族荣誉看奥运 Two weeks ago while at a soccer match in Houston, the woman beside me said she was in London last year and "the Olympics will be a mess", or at least that was a polite paraphrase. It had been clear from my pink freckled skin and my lack of enthusiasm for using the word "awesome" that I was from elsewhere. Asking me if I was a Brit, the woman then shared her expectation of the British ability to deliver . I muttered quietly, and it has to be said not with great confidence, that it will be good. I wish that I had been beside my American friend watching television on Friday. With virtually the whole nation, I was amazed, amused and filled with awe at British creativity and achievement. My own whingeing about tickets and our failings as a nation were simply superseded by the delight of history, spectacle and a parachuting monarch. I was proud to be British. Yet pride can be a difficult thing. 早上好。两周前，在休斯敦的一场 足球 赛上，我旁边一位女士说，她去年到过伦敦，“伦敦奥运会将是一塌糊涂”，或者可以这样委婉地解释。从我长有雀斑的粉色肤色和很少用“酷毙了”这个词，可以明确判断我非英国人。那女士问了我是否是英国人，然后和我分享了她对英国递送能力的期许。我喃喃自语，这不得不说缺少强大信心，但是会好的。我真希望周五那天，和我的美国朋友一起看的电视。事实上，我对英国整个民族的创造力和成就，感到惊奇、愉悦和敬畏。我对无门票的牢骚和对失败国家的抱怨，立刻被厚重的历史、精彩绝伦的表演和跳伞女王带来的愉悦代替。我身为英国人，很骄傲。然而骄傲会是个艰难事。 The early church theologian, St Augustine, said that it was "pride that changed angels into devils. It is humility that makes men as angels". Certain types of pride can lead to unhealthy nationalistic fervor, arrogance and even aggression. But pride is a complex thing, often expressing itself differently in different cultures and genders. Jane Austin famously distinguished between pride and vanity, suggesting, "Pride relates more to our opinion of ourselves, vanity, to what we would have others think of us". It seems to me that pride is healthy if woven with modesty, self deprecating humour and an honesty that sometimes we don't get it right. Perhaps most importantly it is the attitude that does not grasp selfishly at power and status but shares its gifts with all. 早期的____神学家奥古斯丁曾说过，“骄傲使天使堕落为恶魔，谦虚使凡人成为天使”。某些骄傲会引起危险的民族主义狂热、傲慢自大、甚至挑衅攻击。然而骄傲很复杂，不同的 文化 ，不同的性别对其表述不一。简•奥斯汀对骄傲和虚荣有过极好地区分，她说，”骄傲更多的是我们对自己的评价;虚荣，则是期望别人对自己的评价“。在我看来，如果骄傲和谦虚、自嘲、诚实并存，那么骄傲是可取的，但有时我们很难做到。也许最重要的是态度，有那种无私放弃权利和地位，与众人分享自己天赋的态度。 At the heart of the opening ceremony, pride was earthed by the message that this is for everyone, symbolised supremely by the stepping aside of the great Olympians to allow young people to light the flame. This comes not from vanity but confidence. Former President Jimmy Carter picked up on this confidence when he commented, "A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity." So in all that is to come I want to take pride in my nation, my family, others and even myself in a way that names and celebrates that which is good, while still refusing to use the word awesome. 在开幕式间，骄傲被这一切属于大家这一信息掩埋，年轻人取代伟大的奥运会选手点亮奥运圣火，便是最高的象征。这不是虚荣，而是自信。美国前总统吉米•卡特评论这一现象时，他重拾这种信心，他说，”一个强大的国家，犹如一个强大的人，能温文尔雅、坚定不移、深思熟虑、自我克制和乐于助人。一个软弱的国家，犹如一个软弱的人，必须咆哮怒嚎、自我吹嘘、轻率鲁莽和做些 其它 显示出不安的事情”。因此，我对自己国家感到骄傲，对自己家庭感到骄傲，对他人感到骄傲，甚至对自己命名和庆祝美好事物的方式感到骄傲，尽管仍旧拒绝使用“酷毙了”这个词。 关于高中生英语美文篇2 老年人的照料 J. K. Galbraith once said, "Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable." He could have been speaking of the decisions we keep putting off about how we pay for future care of the elderly. Yet the urgent need for decisions was underlined this week by the Office for National Statistics. It revealed that already one in six of us is over 65, with 430,000 over 90. That compares with just 13,000 nonagenarians in 1911. But finding resources is not the only thing we should think about. Every day now we seem to hear about instances of neglect or worse on the part of some carers. .加尔布雷斯曾说过：“政治不是有关可能性的艺术，它要么给人带来灾难，要么让人难以接受。”也许加尔布雷斯谈论的是我们迟迟不肯做出为年长者将来的护理进行开销的决定。不过，本周国家统计局强调了做出这一决定的紧迫性。因为该局发布的数据显示，有六分之一的人口年龄在65岁以上，其中90岁以上的有43万人。相比之下，1911年90岁以上的老人仅有万。但找到更多护理人员资源并非我们唯一考虑的事情。现在我们似乎每天都能听到护理人员玩忽职守或比这更严重的事情。 What is going wrong? Last week in Newcastle someone told me about her elderly father. He's in his 80s and receives care at home. The care is good. However, the carer has the greatest difficulty completing her tasks because her elderly client wants her to stop and talk to him all the time. Could this be a clue to the one thing needful? Caring is more and more task-focused with little time for chatting. Yet the talking is valuable in itself, and in conversation, other things are learnt, which if not acted on lead to bigger problems. But job descriptions increasingly squeeze out the possibility of simply talking. It looks like dead or wasted time. Then disasters follow. Christians are reminded of the importance of making this sort of time for others in two ways. 到底哪儿出了问题?上周在纽卡斯特，一位女士把她年迈的父亲的情况告诉了我。老父亲已是80多岁高龄，在家接受护理。护理人员干得很出色，但她完成工作时遇到的最大难题便是老父亲一直希望她能放下手头的活儿，陪他 说说 话。这有可能为我们需要的答案提供一条线索吗?护理工作越来越讲求护理人员对工作的专注度，因此，护理人员几乎没有时间与客户聊天。但谈话本身是具有价值的，并且在交谈中，护理人员与客户能相互了解到其他东西，但如果不对其加以限制，这就会引发更大的问题。在有关护理工作的描述中，闲聊的可能性越来越小，因为这样的聊天看似无关紧要实则能发现致命的问题，抑或这看起来是在浪费时间。闲聊之后，也许客户会发现护理人员资质不够。有人提醒基督徒可以用两种方式腾出时间与他人交谈的重要性。 There is the example of Jesus. He engages in conversation with those he helps, because that is an important part of the care. As he talks he helps others understand why a need has to be met and he gives confidence to those who are helped. But there is a second way in which Christians are actively trained to make time for one another. It's incorporated into the principal act of worship, the communion service. Just before receiving the sacrament of bread and wine, the priest invites the congregation to share the peace of Christ with one another by shaking hands with those around them. It's a short, unscripted moment when the flow of the liturgy is put on hold and people take time out to notice and greet one another. And what is done in the context of the liturgy, breaks the ice for a conversation to be picked up over coffee afterwards. The exchange of peace and the after service gathering is a way the Church fashions its members in the importance of simply making time for somebody else, and to talk. There must surely be a way of enabling this to happen again in those institutions and at those points where the elderly are cared for and where time for conversation is not always valued. The danger is that in pursuit of what is most cost-effective, such time is more likely to be factored out than factored in. 方法 一，举个耶稣的例子，他与获得其帮助的人们交谈，因为交谈是护理中一个重要的组成部分。当与他们交谈时，耶稣帮助他们明白为何人们的需要必须得到满足，同时他会给予他们信心。不过基督徒常练习使用第二种方式，从而为彼此腾出时间。这种方式在最重要的礼拜仪式——圣餐之中得到了运用。在大家接受面包和酒的圣餐前，神父会请大家与周围的人握手，以共享基督的平静。这种简短的时刻事先并无征兆，同时礼拜的流程被搁置一边，这样人们就可以细心留意并相互问候身边的人。有了这样的问候，之后品尝咖啡的时间里，大家交谈起来也不会冷场。这样的平静共享及之后的咖啡聚会是教堂感化其教员的方式，它让人们明白为他人腾点时间来交谈的重要性。肯定有办法还能让人们在圣餐时刻交谈，让年老者在接受护理的时候与护理人员交谈，而这样的交谈时间往往不被看重。所以，危险在于，当人们追求护理成本效益最大化时，谈话时间更有可能出局，而不是被列为考虑因素。 关于高中生英语美文篇3 左手利益,右手道德 It was Bob Diamond, recently of Barclays, who defined business culture as "how people behave when no one is watching." Speaking in a lecture sponsored by the Today programme last year, he declared that business corporations like Barclays had to learn how to be better citizens. Leaving on one side the irony of all this, what is remarkable is not that he said it, but that so many other people are saying it too. Open any edition of the Harvard Business Review or look in the comment pages of the Financial Times, and there it is. "What is wrong with the culture of business and how do we put it right?" they're all asking each other. 近来，巴克莱银行的鲍勃?戴蒙德把 企业文化 形容成“在无人注意时做出的举动”。去年，他在由“今日”节目主办的演讲中称，像巴克莱银行这样的商业公司必须学会如何成为更好的公民。不去讨论他说出此话有多么讽刺，让人惊讶的不是他说了这句话，而是许多人也都这么说。翻开任一版本的《哈佛商业评论》或者浏览《金融时报》的评论网页，这句话随处可见。“企业文化到底出了什么问题，该如何改正?”人们纷纷询问彼此。 The Labour MP Jon Cruddas quoted with approval a theologian last year who'd said that our basic choice was between a neoliberal and a neo-Aristotelian view of the good society. Neoliberal means relying on the free market and the pursuit of self-interest as the driving force, not just in business but in life. We are familiar enough with that. But what about Aristotle, where does he come in? The memory of this ancient Greek philosopher is invoked whenever people talk about virtue and good citizenship, for it is to him primarily that we owe our notions of how we should behave when no one is watching. We should, he said, behave virtuously, and he classified virtue under four headings, the so-called cardinal virtues. They are, in whatever order you like, justice, prudence, temperance and courage. These, said Aristotle, were the personal qualities that ancient Athenians needed, in order to be good citizens of democratic Athens to make it work. The many people who are saying that the internal culture of business badly needs reform of its values to make it work, are really talking about the Aristotelian virtues, or something like them. How you behave when nobody's watching depends on qualities of character, acquired by good example and by practice. 去年，工党议员乔恩·克鲁达斯引用了他所赞成的一位神学家的言论：我们最根本是要在新自由主义的优质社会和新亚里斯多德主义的优质社会中做出选择。新自由主义意味着依靠自由市场，不仅在商业中，还在生活中把追逐个人利益作为驱动力。这已为我们所熟知。而亚里斯多德有何由来呢?每当人们谈论美德和优秀公民素养时，我们就会想起这位古代希腊哲学家，因为他最关注的就是当无人注意时人们缺少该如何言行的概念。他提倡为人正直，并把美德分为了四个标题，即所谓的基本美德。它们是坚忍 正义、审慎、节制与勇气(排序不分先后)。亚里斯多德说这些是古代雅典人必须具备的品格，这样才能成为一个良好的公民，使民主政体的雅典发展下去。许多人都说企业亟需改革内在文化价值观才能继续运作，他们正是在谈论亚里斯多德式的美德，或者和它类似的东西。当无人留意时，你的行为取决于你通过学习和实践所获得的品质。 One place where these ideas are being systematically thought through, is in what is called Catholic Social Teaching. Business people are slowly becoming more aware of it, including people who do not normally look towards Rome for anything. It provides, so to speak, the theoretical basis for a ready-made architecture of virtue. And it says a business culture based on virtue would strive towards serving the common good rather than just self-interest, and would even work better. As well as Aristotle, it owes a lot to the philosopher Thomas Aquinas, who Christianised the four cardinal virtues by adding three more: faith, hope and charity. Can the bottom line of successful modern business be humanised by taking all these virtues into its culture, rather than just profit and the maximising of shareholder value? An increasing number of people seem to think it has no alternative. 天主教社会教学对这些思想进行了系统性的思考。商业人士开始慢慢注意到了它，包括一些不去借鉴任何 经验 的人。这门课程可以说提供了一个即成的道德建筑的理论基础。以道德为基础的企业文化会努力去为大众谋求福祉，还不仅只是为了一已私利。这样的企业会更加成功。不仅是亚里士多德，哲学家托马斯·阿奎那也为这一理论做了不少贡献。他把四项基本美德加上信、望、爱，做为____所信奉的美德。成功的现代企业能不再一味谋利、不断增加股东价值，而是把这些美德全部加入自身文化，使其更加人性化吗?越来越多的人认为现代企业要想成功，它们就别无选择。 看了“关于高中生英语美文”的人还看了： 1. 高中生优秀英语美文摘抄 2. 高中生英语美文摘抄 3. 适合高中生的英语美文摘抄大全 4. 高中生优秀英语美文摘抄大全 5. 适合高中的励志英语美文摘抄 6. 高中励志英语美文摘抄精选
英语散文的发展历程十分曲折,散文大家风格多变,兼之中英语言个性殊异,若要成功地把英语散文大家的作品翻译到中文,既须了解英语散文发展的概况,又须注意保证气韵逻辑通畅,文气沛然,才能传神译出,曲尽其妙,令汉语读者获得相同或相近的审美感受。下面我为大家带来晨读英语散文精选，欢迎大家阅读!
晨读英语散文：生活的道路
The lives of most men are determined by their environment. They accept the circumstancesamid which fate has thrown them not only with resignation but even with good will. They arelike streetcars running contentedly on their rails and they despise the sprightly flivver thatdashes in and out of the traffic and speeds so jauntily across the open country. I respectthem;they are good citizens, good husbands, and good fathers, and of course somebody hasto pay the taxes; but I do not find them exciting. I am fascinated by the men, few enough in allconscience, who take life in their own hands and seem to mould it to their own liking. It may bethat we have no such thing as free will, but at all events we have the illusion ofit. At acrossroad it does seem to us that we might go either to the right or the left and, the choiceonce made, it is difficult to see that the whole course of the world's history obliged us to takethe turning we did.
对于大多数人来说，生活是由环境决定的。他们在命运的拨弄面前，不仅逆来顺受，甚至还能随遇而安。这些人犹如街上的有轨电车，满足于在自己的轨道上运行;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。我尊重这些人;他们是守法的公民、尽职的丈夫、慈祥的父亲。当然，总得有人缴纳种种税款;可是，我并不觉得他们使人振奋。另有些人把生活掌握在自己手里，似乎在按照自己的意愿创造生活，尽管这样的人寥若晨星，他们却深深地吸引了我。自由意志这玩意儿对我们来说也许纯属子虚乌有;但不管怎么说，它确实存在于我们的幻想之中。每逢站在十字路口，我们好像能在左右两条道路中任选其一，可一旦选定之后，却又很难认识到那实际是世界历史的整个进程左右了我们的转折点。
I never met a more interesting man than Mayhew. He was a lawyerin Detroit. He was an able anda successful one. By the time he was thirty-five he had a large and a lucrative praaice, he hadamassed a competence, and he stood on the threshold of a distinguished career. He had ana cute brain, anattractive personality, and uprightness. There was no reason why he shouldnot become, financially or politically, a power in the land. One evening he was sitting in his clubwith a group of friends and they were perhaps a little worse (or the better) for liquor. One ofthem had recently come from Italy and he told them of a house he had seen at Capri, a houseon the hill, overlooking the Bay of Naples, with a large and shady garden. He described to themthe beauty of the most beautifulisland in the Mediterranean.
我从未见到过比梅休更有意思的人了。他是底特律的一名律师，为人能干，事业上也很成功。35岁时就门庭若市，收入可观，累累胜诉，声名昭着，前程似锦。他头脑灵活，性格招?喜欢，为人又很正直，在这个国家里不变得有钱或有势才怪呢。一天晚上，他与一些朋友在俱乐部聚会。喝了酒之后，他们也许有点醉意(或更清醒)了，其中一人刚从意大利回来，跟大家谈起了在卡普里岛看到的一幢房子。那是一幢坐落在小山上的房屋，还有个绿叶成荫的大花园。从屋里望出去，那不勒斯湾尽收眼底。他娓娓动听地把地中海这个最美的岛屿夸了一番。
"It sounds fine," said Mayhew. "Is that house for sale?"
“听起来倒真不错!”梅休说，“那房子卖不卖?”
"Everything is for sale in Italy."
“在意大利什么东西都卖。”
"Let's send'em a cable and make an offer for it."
“我们打个电报，出个价把那房子买下来。”
"What in heaven's name would you do with a house in Capri?"
“天哪!你买卡普里的一所房子干什么用啊?”
"Live in it," said Mayhew.
“住呗!”梅休说。
He sent for a cable form, wrote it out, and dispatched it. In a few hours the reply came offer was accepted.
他叫人取来一张电报单，填好后就发了出去。没过几小时，回电来了，买卖成交。
Mayhew was no hypocrite and he made no secret of the fact that he would never have done sowild a thing if he had been sober, but when he was he did not regret it. He was neither animpulsive nor an emotional man, but a very honest and sincere one. He would never havecontinued from bravado in a course that he had come to the conclusion was unwise. Hemade up his mind to do exactly as he had said. He did not care for wealth and he had enoughmoney on which to live in Italy. He thought he could do more with life than spend it oncomposing the trivial quarrels of unimportant people.
梅休绝对不是伪君子。他毫不隐讳地承认，如果当时头脑清醒的话，他决不至于做出如此轻率的事。但此刻他清醒了，也决不反悔。他不是个一冲动就鲁莽从事的人，也不多愁善感。他为人十分正直、诚恳。无论干什么，只要意识到所干的并不明智，他就马上会停下来，从不会因一时逞能而一味蛮干下去。他决心不折不扣地履行自己的诺言。
He had no definite plan. He merely wanted to get away from a life that had given him allit hadto offer. I suppose his friends thought him crazy; some must have done all they could todissuade him. He arranged his affairs, packed up his ffirniture, and started.
梅休并不在乎钱财，他有的是钱，足够在意大利花的。他想使生活过得更有价值，不愿再把这大好年华浪费在调停芸芸众生因区区小事引起的吵闹中。他没有明确的计赳。他只是想抛弃这已不能再使他满意的生活。我想他的朋友们一定以为他疯了。有些人肯定是费尽唇舌劝他千万别这么做。可是他安排好手头的事务，把家具装了箱，毅然上路了。
Capri is a gaunt rock of austere outline, bathed in a deep blue sea; but its vineyards, greenand smiling, give it a soft and easy grace. It is friendly,remote, and debonair. I find it strangethat Mayhew should have settled on this lovely island, for I never knew a man more insensibleto beauty I do not know what he sought there: happiness, freedom, or merely leisure; I knowwhat he found. In this place which appeals so extravagantly to the senses he lived a life entirelyof the spirit. For the island is rich with historic associations and over it broods always theenigmatic memory of Tiberius the Emperor. From his windows which overlooked the Bay ofNaples, with the noble shape of Vesuvius changing colour with the changing light, Mayhew saw ahundred places that recalled the Romans and the Greeks. The past began to haunt him. All thathe saw for the first time, for he had never been abroad before, excited his fancy; and in his soulstirred the creative imagination. He was a man of energy. Presently he made up his mind towrite a history. For some time he looked about for a subject, and at last decided on the secondcentury of the Roman Empire. It was little known and it seemed to him to offer problemsanalogous with those of our own day.
卡普里岛是一块外形突兀的荒凉的岩石，沐浴在深蓝色的海洋里。但是它的葱绿的葡萄园仿佛在向人微笑，使这个海岛增添了几分令人舒爽的温柔宁静的姿色。卡普里岛远离尘嚣，却景色宜人，生气盎然。我真感到奇怪，梅休竟会找这么一个可爱的海岛定居，因为我实在不相信还有谁会比他对美更无动于衷的了。我不知道他到那儿去想追求什么，是寻幸福，求自由，或者只是为了优游岁月;但我知道他找到了什么。在这个岛上，人的感官本会受到强烈的刺激，而他却过上了纯精神的生活。因为这个岛上尽是能够勾起你联想的历史遗迹，总叫你想到提比略大帝的神秘故事。他站在窗前就能俯视那不勒斯湾。每当日移光变，维苏威火山的雄姿也随之变换色泽。此时，他凭窗远望，看到上百处残踪遗迹，因而联想起罗马和希腊的盛衰。他开始不停地思考起古代社会来。过去他从未到过国外，现在第一次开了眼界，什么都使他神驰遐想。脑海中创造性的想象联翩浮来。他是个精力充沛的人，立刻就决定要笔耕史学。他花了一些时间寻找题目，最终选定了罗马帝国的第二世纪。这个题目很少为人所知。梅休认为帝国当时存在的问题与当今社会的情况颇有巧合之处。
He began to collect books and soon he had an immense library. His legal training had taughthim to read quickly. He settled down to work. At first hehad been accustomed to foregather inthe evening with the painters, writers,and such like who met in the little tavern near the Piazza,but presently hewithdrew himself, for his absorption in his studies became more pressing. Hehad been accustomed to bathe in that bland sea and to take long walks among the pleasantvineyards, butlittle by little, grudging the time, he ceased to do so. He worked harder than hehad ever worked in Detroit. He would start at noon and work all through the night till thewhistle of the steamer that goes every morning from Capri to Naples told him that it was fiveo'clockand time to go to bed. His subject opened out before him, vaster and more significant,and he imagined a work that would put him forever beside the great historians of the past. Asthe years went by he was to be found seldom in the ways of men. He could be tempted to comeout of his house only by agame o' chess or the chance of an argument. He loved to set hisbrain against another's. He was widely read now, not only in history, but in philosophy andscience; and he was a skilful controversialist, quick, logical, and incisive.
他开始收集有关着作，不久就有了大量藏书。搞法律时受的训练教会了他如何快速阅读。他着手工作了。起初，，他惯于在黄昏时分到市场附近的一个小酒店和聚在那里的画家、作家等文人墨客共同消磨一段时光，但不久他就深居简出了，因为研究工作日趋紧张，使他抽不出时间。一开始他也常到温和的海水中去洗澡，不时在可爱的葡萄园之间散步。但由于舍不得时间，渐渐地他不再洗澡，也不散步了。他干得要比在底特律卖力得多，常常是正午开始工作，彻夜不眠，待到汽笛一鸣，才恍然意识到已是清晨五点，从卡普里到那不勒斯的船只正要起锚出航，该是睡觉的时候了。他的主题在他面前展开了，涉及的内容越来越广泛，意义越来越重大。他在遐想，一旦巨着完成，他将跻身于历代伟大的史学家之列，永垂史册。时间一年年过去，人们很少看到他与外界来往，只有一场棋赛或是一次辩论，才能诱使他走出家门。他就是爱与人斗智。现在他已博览群书，不仅读历史，还读哲学与科学。他能争善辩，思路敏捷，说理逻辑严密，批判尖锐辛辣。
But he had good-humour and kindliness; though he took a very human pleasure in victory, hedid not exult in it to your mortification.
但他心地是善良的。当然，每逢胜利他也免不了满腔欢欣与快乐，这是人之常情。不过他并不沾沾自喜，而让别人下不了台。
When first he came to the island he was a big, , with thick black hair and a blackbeard, of a powerful physique; but gradually his skin became pale and waxy; he grew thin andfrail. It was an odd contradiction in the most logical of men that, though a convinced andimpetuous materialist,he despised the body; he looked upon it as a vile instrument which hecould force to do the spirit's bidding. Neither illness nor lassitude prevented him from going onwith his work. For fourteen years he toiled uluemittingly. He made thousands and thousands ofnotes. He sorted and classified them. Hehad his subjea at his finger ends, and at last was readyto begin. He sat down to write. He died.
当他初到海岛时，个子高大结实，一头浓密的黑发和一把黑胡须，是一个身强力壮的人。但渐渐地他的皮肤日见苍白，人也瘦弱了。尽管他是一个坚定不移的、甚至近于偏激的唯物论者，却不把肉体放在眼里。这在一位最讲究逻辑的人身上，可真是自相矛盾得叫人不可思议。他把肉体视为微不足道的工具，认为他可以驱使肉体去完成精神赋予的使命。病魔和疲劳都不能使他停止工作。整整14年，他埋头苦干，锲而不舍，做了千万条注释，又把这些注释分门别类整理有序。对于自己的主题，他了如指掌，终于万事俱备，他坐下来去写那煌煌巨着。然而他死了。
The body that he, the materialist, had treated so contumeliously took its revenge on him.
这位唯物论者曾极度蔑视肉体，如今肉体对他进行了报复。
That vast accumulation of knowledge is lost for ever. Vain was that ambition,surely not anignoble one, to set his name beside those of -Gibbon and Mommsen . His memory is treasuredin the hearts of a few friends, fewer,alas! as the years pass on, and to the world he isunknown in death as he was in life.
那长年累月积累起来的知识也随着他的死而化为乌有。他曾想与吉本和蒙森齐名。这雄心无疑是高尚的，然而如今只是一场空。几个朋友还怀念着他，可叹的是，随着岁月的流逝，记得他的人也越来越少。在这个大干世界上，他死后默默无闻，犹如他生前一样。
And yet to me his life was a success. The pattern is good and complete. Hedid what he wanted,and he died when his goal was in sight and never knew the bitterness of an end achieved.
然而，在我看来，他的一生是成功的。他的生活道路是完美的。因为他干了他想干的事。当目标在望时，他与世长辞，因而也就幸免了达到目标后的心酸与痛苦。
晨读英语散文：琴匣子中的生趣
The turning point of my life was my decision to give up a promising business career and studymusic. My parents, although sympathetic, and sharing my love of music, disapproved of it as aprofession. This was understandable in view of the family background. My grandfather hadtaughtmusic for nearly forty years at Springhill College in Mobile and, though much beloved andrespected in the community, earned barely enough to provide for his large family. My fatheroften said it was only the hardheaded thriftiness of my grandmother that kept the wolf at bay. As a consequence of this example in the family, the very mention of music as a professioncarried with it a picture of a precarious existence with uncertain financial rewards. My parentsinsisted upon college instead of a conservatory of music, and to college I went-quite happily,as I remember, for although Iloved my violin and spent most of my spare time practicing, I hadmany other interests.
我生活的转折点是我决定不做发迹有望的商人而专攻音乐。我父母虽然同情我，也像我一样热爱音乐，却反对我以音乐为职业。考虑到我的家庭情况，他们的这种态度是完全可以理解的。我祖父在莫比尔的斯普林希尔学院教授音乐达40年之久，深受学院师生的热爱和敬重，他的工资却几乎不够维持一大家人的生活。父亲常说若不是祖母精明能干，克勤克俭，一家人非挨饿不可。所以在我们家，只要一提起音乐这个行当，大家就会想起那收入微薄、朝不保夕的苦日子。父母坚持要我上大学，不准我进音乐学院，我也就上了大学。我记得自己当时还挺高兴，因为虽然我热爱小提琴，大部分课余时间都花在练琴上，但我还有许多其他的爱好。
Before my graduation from Columbia, the family met with severe financial reverses and I felt itmy duty to leave college and take a job. Thus was I launched upon a business career-which Ialways think of as the wasted years.
不等尊从哥伦比亚大学毕业，家庭经济严重恶化，我感到自己有责任退学找工作，就这样我投身子商界——事后我每次想起这段经历都觉得是虚度了年华。
Now I do not for a moment mean to disparage business. My whole point is that it was not forme. I went into it for money, and aside from the satisfaction of being able to help the family,money is alll got out of it. It was not enough. I felt that life was passing me by. From beingmerely discontented I became acutely miserable. My one ambition was to save enough toquit and go to Europe to study used to get up at dawn to practice before I left for"downtown," distracting my poor mother by bolting a hasty breakfast at the last of lunching with my business associates, I would seek out some cheap cafe, order ameager meal and scribble my harmony exercises. I continued to make money, and finally, bitby bit, accumulated enough to enable me to go abroad. The family being once more solvent,and my help no longer necessary, I resigned from my position and, feeling like a man releasedfrom jail, sailed for Europe. I stayed four years, worked harder than I had ever dreamed ofworking before and enjoyed every minute of it.
我从来无意贬低经商，我的意思是它不适合我。我经商只是为了挣钱。除了能补贴家用给我带来一点满足以外，我从这项职业得到的唯一东西就是钱。这是不够的。我感到年华似水从我身边流走。对职业的不满使我痛苦不堪。我唯一的抱负就是积攒足够的钱，然后改行，到欧洲去学音乐。于是，我天天黎明即起，练习小提琴，再去“商业区”上班，几乎来不及囫囵吞下仓促准备的早餐，搞得我可怜的妈妈惶恐不安。我不与商界同事共进午餐，总爱找个便宜的餐馆，随便混上一顿，信手写些和声练习曲.。我不停地挣钱，终于，一分一分地攒够了出国的钱。这时，家庭经济情况也好转了，不再需要我的帮助。我辞去商务，感到自己像出狱的犯人一样自由，乘船去了欧洲，一去就是四年。我学习要比从前想象的刻苦得多，然而生活得很快乐。
"Enjoyed" is too mild a word. I walked on air. I really lived. I was a freeman and I was doingwhat I loved to do and what I was meant to do.
“快乐”一词还不足以表达我的心情。我是乐不可支，飘飘欲仙了。我过着真正的生活。我是个自由人，做我爱做的、命中注定要做的事情。
If I had stayed in business I might be a comparatively wealthy man today, but I do not believeI would have made a success of living. I would have given up all those intangibles, those innersatisfactions that money can never buy, and that are too often sacrificed when a man'sprimary goal is finanaal success.
假如我一直经商，今天可能已经成了一个相当富有的人，但我认为我那时的生活并没有带来成功;为了金钱我可能放弃了一切无形的东西，放弃了精神上的种种乐趣，那是金钱永远买不来的，一个人要是把获取金钱当做主要的奋斗目标，他的精神乐趣就常常被牺牲了。
When I broke away from business it was against the advice of practically all my friends andfamily. So conditioned are most of us to the association of success with money that thethought of giving up a good salary for an idea seemed little short of insane. If so, all I can say is'Gee , it's great to be crazy."
我毅然脱离商业，几乎违背了所有的亲友的劝告。我们大多数人习惯把成功与金钱连在一起。那种为理想而放弃高薪的念头简直会被人认为是疯子的念头。如果真是如此，我倒要说一声：“咦!疯子真了不起!”
Money is a wonderful thing, but it is possible to pay too high a price for it.
下面是我为大家带来英语晨读经典美文，希望大家喜欢!
英语晨读经典美文：窗口
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the ftuid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.
两个病重的男人住在同一间病房。其中一个每天下午需要在床上坐起来一个小时，以便排出肺部的流质食物。他的床靠着这间房子的唯一一扇窗户。另一个人则只能平躺在床上度日。
The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military anda whole lot of things. Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.
他们能连续说上好几个小时的话。他们谈论各自的妻子和家人、他们的家、他们的工作、他们参军的经历，还有好多其他的事情。每天下午，当靠着窗户的那个人能坐起来的时候，他总是向他的室友描绘他看到的窗外发生的所有事情。
The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color ofthe world outside.
睡在另一张床上的人开始盼望着那些—小时的生活。每当那时，他的生活就会因窗外的一切活动和多姿多彩而感到开阔和愉快。
The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.
从窗口望去是一个公园，里面有一个可爱的池塘。鸭子和天鹅在水中嬉戏，孩子们则在划模型船，年轻的恋人手挽手在绚丽多彩的花丛中散步，远处是城市地平线上美丽的风景。
As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.
靠窗的这个人用优美的语言详细描绘这些的时候，房子另一端的那个人就会闭上眼睛想象那些栩栩如生的情景。
One warm aftemoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window pojrtrayed it with descriptive words.
一个温和的下午，窗口的那个人描绘了经过此处的阅兵。尽管另一个人听不到乐队演奏，但他却能看到。当窗口那个人用生动的语言描绘的时候，他则用心在看。
Days and weeks passed. one morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for theirbaths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.
一天天过去了’一周周过去了。一天早晨，当值白班的护士为他们提来洗澡水，看到的却是窗口那个男人的尸体，他已经在睡梦中安然去世了.她很悲伤，便叫医院的值班人员把尸体抬走了。
As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.
一到合适的时机，另一个人便问他能否搬到窗口那儿去。护士很乐意为他作了调换，在确信他觉得舒适后，就离开了。
Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. He strained to slowly tum to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.
缓慢地痛苦地，他用一个胳膊肘支撑着自己起来，想第一次亲眼看看外面的真实世界。他竭尽全力慢慢地朝床边的窗口望去看到的却只是一面墙。
The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate to have described such wonderful things outside this nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see thewall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."
这个人问护士是什么促使他过世的室友描绘出窗外那么丰富的世界的。护士回答说，那个人是个盲人，甚至连墙都看不见。她说：“也许他只是想鼓励你。”
英语晨读经典美文：生命中小小的一部分
When he told me he was leaving I felt like a vase which has just smashed. There were pieces of me all over the tidy, tan tiles. He kept talking, telling me why he was leaving, explaining it was for the best, I could do better, it was his fault and not mine. I had heard it before many times and yet somehow was still not immune; perhaps one did not become immune to such blow.
当他告诉我他要离开的时候，我感觉自己就像花瓶裂成了碎片，跌落在干净的茶色瓷砖地板上。他一直在说话，解释着为什么要离开，说什么这是最好的选择，我可以做得更好，都是他的错，与我无关。虽然这些话我已经听上好几千遍了，可每次听完都让我很受伤，或许在这样巨大的打击面前没有人能做到无动于衷。
He left and I tried to get on with my life, I filled the kettle and put it on to boil, I took out my old red mug and filled it with coffee watching as each coffee granule slipped in to the mug. That was what my life had been like, endless omissions of coffee granules, somehow never managing to make that cup of coffee.
他走了，我尝试着继续过自己的生活。我把水壶装满水烧上，取出我那只红色的旧马克杯，倒入咖啡，看着咖啡粉末一点点地落A杯子里。这正是我现在生活的鲜活写照，不断地往下掉咖啡粉末，却从来没有真正地泡成一杯咖啡。
Somehow when the kettle piped its finishing waming I pretended not to hear it. That's what Mike's leaving had been like, sudden and with an awful finality. I would rather just wallow in uncertainty than have things laughed at myself. Imagine geffing all philosophical and sentimental about a mug of coffee. I must be getting old.
水开了，水壶发出警报声，我假装没有听见。迈克的离去也是一样，突如其来，并且无可挽回。要知道，我宁愿忍受分与不分的煎熬，也不愿意以这样的方式被宣判“死刑”。想着想着我就哑然失笑，自己竟然为一杯咖啡有如此多的人生感怀，我自己一定是老了。
And yet it was a young woman who stared back at me from the mirror. A young woman full of promise and hope, a young woman with bright eyes and full lips just waiting to take on the world. I never loved Mike anyway. Besides there are more important things. More important than love, I insist to myselffirmly. The lid goes back on the coffee just like closure on the whole Mike experience.
可镜子里回瞪着我的那个女孩还是那么年轻啊!她明目皓齿，充满了前途与希望，光明的未来在向她招手。没关系的，反正我也从来没有爱过迈克。何况，生命中还有比爱更重要的东西在等待着我，我对自己坚持说。我将咖啡罐的盖子盖好，也将所有关于迈克的记忆尘封起来。
He doesn't haunt my dreams as I feared that night. Instead I am flying far across fields and woods, looking down on those below I fall to the ground and it is only when I wake up that I realize I was shot by a hunter, brought down by the burden of not the bullet but the soul of the man who shot it. I realize later, with some degree of understanding, that Mike was the hunter holding me down and I am the bird that longs to fly. The next rught my dream is similar to the previous
nights, but without the fly free until I meet another bird who flies with me in perfect harmony. I realize with some relief that there is a bird out there for me, there is another person, not necessarily a lover perhaps just a friend, but there is someone out there who is my soul mate. I think about being a broken vase again and realize that I have glued myself back together, what Mike has is merely a little part of my time in earth, a little understanding of my physicalbeing. He has only, a little piece ofme.
那天晚上，出乎意料的是，他并没有进入到我的梦中。在梦里，我飞过田野和森林，俯瞰着大地。突然间，我掉了下来……醒来后才发现原来自己被猎人打中了，但是令我坠落的不是他的子弹，而是他的灵魂。我后来才渐渐明白，原来迈克就是那个使我坠落的猎人，而我是那只渴望飞翔的小鸟。到了第二天晚上，我仍然做了类似的梦，但是猎人不见了，我—直在自由地飞翔，直到遇上另外一只小鸟和我比翼双飞。我开始意识到，总有那么一只鸟，那么一个人在前面等我，这个人可能是我的爱人，可能只是朋友，但一定是知我懂我的人，这令我感觉如释重负。我想起自己曾经觉得像花瓶一样裂开了，这才意识到原来自己已经把自己修理好了.迈克只是我生命过程中的小小过客，他仅仅了解我的表面而已，他仅仅是我生命中小小的一部分
保持晨读的良好习惯，是提高 英语阅读 水平的最好 方法 ，下面是我为大家带来三篇英语经典晨读美文，希望大家喜欢!
I think that, from a biological standpoint, human life almost reads like a poem.
我以为，从生物学角度看，人的一生恰如诗歌。
It has its own rhythm and beat, its internal cycles of growth and decay.
人生自有其韵律和节奏，自有内在的生成与衰亡。
No one can say that a life with childhood, manhood and old age is not a beautiful arrangement;
人生有童年、少年和老年，谁也不能否认这是一种美好的安排，
the day has its morning, noon and sunset, and the year has its seasons, and it is good
一天要有清晨、正午和日落，一年要有四季之分，如此才好。
that it is so. There is no good or bad in life, except what is good according to its own season.
人生本无好坏之分，只是各个季节有各自的好处。
And if we take this biological view of life and try to live according to the seasons, no one but a conceited fool or an impossible idealist can deny that human life can be lived like a poem.
如若我们持此种生物学的观点，并循着季节去生活，除了狂妄自大的傻瓜和无可救药的理想主义者，谁能说人生不能像诗一般度过呢。
Wherever you are, and whoever you maybe, there is one thing in which you and I are just alike at this moment, and in all the moments of our existence. We are not at rest; we are on a journey, our life is a movement, a tendency, a steady, ceaseless progress towards an unseen goal. We are gaining something, or losing something, everyday. Even when our position and our character seem to remain precisely the same, they are changing. For the mere advance of time is a change. It is not the same thing to have a bare field in January and in July, the season makes the difference. The limitations that are childlike in the child are childish in the man.
无论你在何处，无论你是何人，此刻，而且在我们生命的每时每刻，你与我有一点是类似的。我们不是在休息，我们在旅途中。生命是一种运动，一种趋势，一个稳步、持续的通往一个未知目标的过程。每天，我们都在获得，或失去。尽管我们的地位和性格看起来好像一点都没变，但是它们在变化。因为时光的流逝本身是一种变化。在一月和七月拥有一片贫瘠的土地是不同的，是季节本身带来了变化。孩童时可爱的缺点到了成人时便成了幼稚。
Everything that we do is a step in one direction or another, even the failure to do something is in itself a deed. It sets us forward or backward. The action of the negative pole of a magnetic needle is just as real as the action of the positive pole. To decline is to accept – the other alternative.
我们做的每件事都是迈向一个或另外一个方向，甚至“什么都没做”本身也是一种行为，它让我们前进或倒退。一棵磁针的阴极的作用与阳极是一样的。拒绝即接受??接受反面。
Are you nearer to your port today than you were yesterday? Yes, -- you must be a little nearer to some port or other; for since your ship was first lunched upon the sea of life, you have never been still for a single moment; the sea is too deep, you could not find an anchorage if you would. There can be no pause until you come into port.
你今天比昨天更加接近你的目标了吗?是的，你肯定是离一个或另一个码头或更近一些了。因为自从你的小船从生命的海洋上启航时，你没有哪一刻是停止的。大海是这样深，你想抛锚时找不到地方。在你驶入码头之前，你不可能停留。
How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he sometimes thinks he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people—first of all for those upon whose smiles and well-being our own happiness is wholly dependent, and then for the many, unknown to us, to whose destinies we are bound by the ties of sympathy. A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving. I am strongly drawn to a frugal life and am often oppressively aware that I am engrossing an undue amount of the labor of my fellowmen. I regard class distinctions as unjustified and, in the last resort, based on force. I also believe that a simple and unassuming life is good for everybody, physically and mentally.
我们这些肉体凡胎是多么奇怪啊!每个人来到这个世上都只作短暂停留，究竟为了什么目的却无从知晓，虽然有时觉得自己好像有所感悟。但是，无需深入思考，仅从日常生活就可明白，人是为他人而存在的——首先是为这样一些人：他们的欢笑、健康和福祉与我们的幸福息息相关;其次是为那些为数众多的陌生人，因为同情他们，使得我们与他们的命运联系在了一起。每一天，我都上百次地提醒自己，我的精神和物质生活都是建立在他人(包括生者和死者)的劳动基础上，对于我已经得到和正在得到的一切，我必须尽力给以相同程度的回报。我深深向往一种俭朴的生活，由于经常意识到自己占用了同胞太多的劳动而心有不安。我认为阶级区分是不正当的，其最终的达成方式常常诉诸暴力。我还认为，无论是在身体上还是心理上，过一种简单而不铺张浪费的生活对每个人都有好处。
I do not at all believe in human freedom in the philosophical sense. Everybody acts not only under external compulsion but also in accordance with inner necessity. Schopenhauer’s saying, “A man can do what he wants, but not want what he wants,” has been a very real inspiration to me since my youth; it has been a continual consolation in the face of life’s hardships, my own and others’, and an unfailing wellspring of tolerance. This realization mercifully mitigates the easily paralyzing sense of responsibility and prevents us from taking ourselves and other people all too seriously; it is conducive to a view of life which, in particular, gives humor its due. 我完全不相信哲学意义上的人的自由。每个人的行为不仅受外在力量的约束，还要与内在需求协调一致。叔本华说：“人可以任意而为，却不能心想事成。”这句话从我年轻时起就一直深深地启发着我。在面对生活的艰辛时——无论是我自己还是他人的艰辛，这句话总能不断地给我安慰，成为永不枯竭的忍耐的源泉。这一认识能够仁慈地缓和那份令人几欲崩溃的责任感，并防止我们太把自己或者他人当回事，还有助于形成一种尤其幽默的人生观。
这篇文章我给大家分享10篇适合八年级学生的英语作范文，方便不会写英语作文的同学作为参考。
（一）My Home Town我的家长
My home town is a beautiful place. It stands beside a wide river and is rich in fish and rice.
But in the old days it was a poor and backward little town. Many people had no work. They lived a hard life.
In 1949 my hometown was liberated. Since then great changes have taken place there. The streets have been widened. Factories, schools, hospitals, cinemas and theatres have sprung up one after another. The life of the people is greatly improved.
I love my hometown. All the more I love its people. They are working hard so as to make it still richer and more beautiful.
（二）My Friend我的朋友
I’m Lisa ,Lily is my best have long straight has short curly of us like singing and dasncing .We like to do the same we also have some differences,She is more outgoing than me,She is good at sports and I am good at is also funnier than me and often makes me am very happy to be fiends with her.
（三）The visit to the Great Wall参观长城
My name is Xiaoming and I like traveling very much. Last summar， I went to the Great Wall with my family.
It was fine that day. We went there by bus early in the morning. When we got there， there were many other visitors there. When my family and I went onto the Great Wall， we saw beautiful scenery. We all were amazed by how beautiful it was. We took quite a few photos there.
We had a good time there. The time flew by， and soon we had to go back. I was tired after traveling， but I really enjoyed visiting the Great Wall！
（四）My dream job我梦想的职业
When I grow up ，I’m going to be a have been eagerto do something benificialto the I think it' suitablefor me to be a journalist.
To realisemy dream， I will study 's more，I am going to write articlesfor magazines and newspaper in my free time， so I can know more about the job.
If I work hard enough，my dream will come ture.
（五）My Favourite Season我最喜欢的季节
There are four seasons in a first season is spring. In spring, almost everything comes back to life. The snow begins to melt, the trees sprout and the grass turns is warm so that it's a good time to go hiking outdoors. After spring, itis summer. Summer is my favorite season,because I can swim quite often. The third one is autumn. In autumn, the weather is cool and comfortable. Farmers may be the busiest people, because autumn is a time of is the last season of the year. In winter, the weather is very cold. In the north, it usually snows. Children can play games or make snowmen after snow. It seems very funny. But, because of the cold weather, I don't like winter very much. What's your favorite season?
（六）The Beauty of The Autumn美丽的秋天
Ah! Autumn is finally here!
Garden, chrysanthemum competing opened! There are white the light yellow of ... .... Colorful chrysanthemums flourish in light wind, as if GREeting them with people! Sweet-scented osmanthus trees out of the light yellow flowers. A wind blowing, a fresh wind into the nose, ah, really incense!
Fields, the endless golden rice, just like the earth covered with a layer of gold to the carpet. Farmers are busy on the busy man under, while cutting rice, while rice into basket. Face expression of joy and happiness.
（七）My future我的未来
Hello, everyone! What will you be in the future? I think I will be a policeman. Maybe you will ask me why. Let me tell you. To be a policeman is very hard, and this job is very dangerous, but it is exciting. I like it very much. My father is a policeman. I want to be a policeman like him. I will study hard from now on. And I will do more exercise, such as running,, boxing, swimming, climbing the mountains and so on. I believe that my dream will come true. And I hope your dream will come true.
（八）Good Manners有礼貌
Good manners are important to a student. I am a student with good manners. I never throw paper on the ground. When I meet teachers , I always greet them with a sweet smile. I never speak loudly in the library, either. When I take a bus, I always wait in line and take my turn to get on bus. On the bus, I often give my seat to elder people.
（九）My favorate sports我最喜欢的运动
Basketball is my favorate sports. Different people love different sports,and in the GAME, the ethletic according to his or her talent take part in the different games. But , for me i love basketball so much!
First, basketball game is a team game,so every body have to support and coporation together that can finish this game , basketball game is a way for relax. it's good for body and good for mind 's a good exercise to everybody, it is good to our health.
In all ，basketball game is my favorate sports.
（十）Mother's day母亲节
Mother's day is a day to celebrate with all the mothers. It is a time to show our thanks to our mother. On my mother's day, I gave my mother a present and thanked her for taking care of me every day. Then I asked her to take a rest for the day and I do the housework for her. In the evening, I took my mother to a restaurant to celebrate mother's day.
一些经典的英语短文特别适合八年级的同学练习英语阅读能力，下面我为大家带来八年级英语阅读短文，欢迎大家阅读!
In 1963 a Lancaster bomber crashed on Wallis Island, a remote place in the South Pacific, a long way west of Samoa. The plane wasn't too badly damaged, but over the years, the crash was forgotten and the wreck remained undisturbed. Then in 1989, twenty-six years after the crash, the plane was accidentally rediscovered in an aerial survey of the island. By this time, a Lancaster bomber in reasonable condition was rare and worth rescuing. The French authorities had the plane packaged and moved in parts back to France. Now a group of enthusiasts are going to have the plane restored. It has four Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, but the group will need to have only three of them rebuilt. Imagine their surprise and delight when they broke open the packing cases and found that the fourth engine was sweet as honey -- still in perfect condition. A colony of bees had turned the engine into a hive and it was totally preserved in beeswax!
在1963的兰开斯特轰炸机坠毁在沃利斯岛，一个偏远的地方在南太平洋，萨摩亚以西很远的地方。飞机损坏的程度并不严重，但是，多年来，事故已被遗忘，残骸仍然不受干扰。然后在1989，二十六年后坠毁，飞机被意外地发现了在航测的岛。到这个时候，状况良好的兰开斯特轰炸机实属罕见，值得抢救。法国政府让人把飞机包装和部分地搬回法国。一群热心人去修复这架飞机。它有四个劳斯莱斯梅林发动机，但是他们只需要三的重建。想象的惊奇和兴奋--当他们拆开包装箱时，他们发现第四台发动机就像蜂蜜一样甜--发动机完好无损。一群蜜蜂把发动机当作了蜂房和它完全保存在蜂蜡!
Last Christmas, the circus owner, Jimmy Gates, decided to take some presents to a children's hospital. Dressed up as Father Christmas and accompanied by a 'guard of honour' of six pretty girls, he set off down the main street of the city riding a baby elephant called Jumbo. He should have known that the police would never allow this sort of thing. A policeman approached Jimmy and told him he ought to have gone along a side street as Jumbo was holding up the traffic. Though Jimmy agreed to go at once, Jumbo refused to move. Fifteen policemen had to push very hard to get him off the main street. The police had a difficult time, but they were most amused. 'Jumbo must weigh a few tons,' said a policeman afterwards, 'so it was fortunate that we didn't have to carry him. Of course, we should arrest him, but as he has a good record, we shall let him off this time.'
去年的圣诞节，马戏团老板吉米，大门，决定送些礼物给儿童医院。他打扮成圣诞老人，伴随着仪仗队的六个漂亮的女孩，他出发，沿着城里的主要街道骑大象宝宝叫做。他应该知道，警察是不会允许这种事情的。一个警察走过来告诉吉米，他应该走一条小路，因为江伯阻碍了交通。虽然吉米同意马上就走，但江伯却拒绝移动。十五个警察不得不用很大的力气把它推离主要街道。警察虽然吃了苦头，但他们还是感到很有趣。"江伯一定有好几吨重，"一个警察后来说，"值得庆幸的是它没让我们抬它走。当然，我们应该逮捕他，但由于它一贯表现很好，这次我们饶了它。"
In 1858, a French engineer, Aime Thome de Gamond, arrived in England with a plan for a twenty-one-mile tunnel under the English Channel. He said that it would be possible to build a platform in the centre of the Channel. This platform would serve as a port and a railway station. The tunnel would be well-ventilated if tall chimneys were built above sea level. In 1860, a better plan was put forward by an Englishman, William Low. He suggested that a double railway-tunnel should be built. This would solve the problem of ventilation, for if a train entered this tunnel, it would draw in fresh air behind it. Forty-two years later a tunnel was actually begun. If, at the time, the British had not feared invasion, it would have been completed. The world had to wait almost another 100 years for the Channel Tunnel. It was officially opened on March 7,1994, finally connecting Britain to the European continent.
8年级英语阅读短文
要提高英语阅读能力就要多阅读，下面我给大家提供了八年级的英语阅读短文，有兴趣的朋友一起来看一下吧!
8年级英语阅读短文一：如果有来生 我会抓住每一秒
If I had my life to live over...I would have talked less and listened more.
I would have invited friends over to dinner even if the carpet was strained and the sofa faded.
I would have taken the time to listen to my grandfather ramble about his youth.
I would never have insisted the car windows be rolled up on a summer day because my hair had just been teased and sprayed.
I would have burned the pink candle sculpted like a rose before it melted in storage.
I would have sat on the lawn with my children and not worried about grass stains.
I would have cried and laughed less while watching television - and more while watching life.
I would have gone to bed when I was sick instead of pretending the earth would go into a holding patter if I were not there for the day.
I would never have bought anything just because it was practical, would not show soil or was guaranteed to last a life time.
There would have been more "I love yous" ... more "I'm sorrys"... but mostly, given another shots at life, I would seize every minute... look at it and really see it...live it...and never give it back.
8年级英语阅读短文二：坚持你的方向
What would you do if you failed? Many people may choose to give up. However, the surest way to success is to keep your direction and stick to your goal.
On your way to success, you must keep your direction. It is just like a lamp, guiding you in darkness and helping you overcome obstacles on your way. Otherwise, you will easily get lost or hesitate to go ahead.
Direction means objectives. You can get nowhere without an objective in life.
You can try to write your objective on paper and make some plans to achieve it. In this way, you will know how to arrange your time and to spend your time properly.
And you should also have a belief that you are sure to succeed as long as you keep your direction all the time.
8年级英语阅读短文三：我所追求的生活
That must be the story of innumerable couples,and the pattern of lifeof life it offers has a homely grace.
It reminds you of a placid rivulet,meandering smoohtly through green pastures and shaded by pleasant trees,till at last it falls into the vasty sea;but the sea is so calm,so silent,so infifferent,that you are troubled suddently by a vague uneasiness.
Perhaps it is only by a kink in my nature,strong in me even in those days,that i felt in such an existence,the share of the great majority,something amiss.
I recognized its social saw its ordered happiness,but a fever in my blood asked for a wilder course.
There seemed to me something alarming in such easy my heart was desire to live more dangerously.
I was not unprepared for jagged rocks and treacherous,shoals it I could only have change-change and the exicitement of unforeseen.
中学生请多读名著。名著之所以被称为名著不是没有道理的。中外名著都可以。中国的比如《边城》《红岩》以及鲁迅的文章、书等等；外国的我比较推荐列夫托尔斯泰、莫泊桑的小说，还有《傲慢与偏见》《简爱》等。还有很多好书，以及很多名家的作品都值得读，但是看个人喜欢吧。
《冰心散文集》陕西出版集团太白文艺出版社《徐志摩散文集》陕西出版集团太白文艺出版社朱自清先生的散文代表作有：《生命的价格-七毛钱》、《航船中的文明》、《白种人-上帝的骄子》、《阿河》、《哀韦杰三君》、《旅行杂记》、《背影》、《桨声灯影里的秦淮河》、《绿》、《荷塘月色》、《月朦胧，鸟朦胧，帘卷海棠红》、《白水漈》等。
《天心月圆》台湾的作家林清玄写的，写的很清淡，但是富含一些禅语。对于我们这种未出社会的学生帮助很大。另外向你推荐看看老舍的《二马》不是散文，是小说。写的是父子二人在异国他乡的生活。可以了解上世纪中国人在外国的状况，以及外国人对中国人的看法。
可以扩展阅读的《古文观止》、《增广贤文》，这些可以扩展自己的古文阅读能力。如果对明清笔记体文学感兴趣的话，也可以看看沈复的《浮生六记》，里面记载的各种小资生活情趣，一定会刷新您的古人生活的认知的。
英语阅读能力作为一项重要的外语技能在英语教学中备受重视。我精心收集了初一英语短文，供大家欣赏学习!
To be a Chinese, we should learn how to love our country and protect her.
China is our mother,we can't injure her,we are her pride. we can't make her feel disappointed and sad.
We are flowers of our country,we should work hard, in order to devote ourselves to China.
So let's work hard together to make our country's futuremuch better!
作为一个中国人，我们应该学会如何爱我们的国家，保护她。
中国是我们的母亲，我们不能伤害她，我们是她的骄傲。我们不能让她感到失望和伤心。
我们是祖国的花朵，我们要努力工作，全心全意奉献国家。
因此，让我们共同努力，使我们国家的未来变得更好!
No one is perfect. No matter how excellent a person is, he will have disadvantages. And sometimes people will point out your so called disadvantages in their view. For example, an honest person may be thought of not easy to be outstanding in the competitive society. He should not listen to other’s opinion to change his good virtue. Take another example, someone tells you that the way you walk is not elegant. Will you change it? Do not change yourself easily. You are unique that you don’t need to change yourself easily, except some real disadvantages.
没有人是完美的。不管一个人有多么的优秀，都会有缺点。有时候别人会在他们的立场上指出你所谓的缺点。例如，一个老实的人可能会被认为很难在竞争激烈的社会里出类拨萃。他不应该听从别人的意见，改变自己的美德。再举一个例子，有人告诉你，你走路姿势不优雅。你会改变吗?不要轻易改变自己。你是独一无二的，你没必要轻易地改变自己，除非是一些真正的缺点。
I’m Tom. I’m a student in Grade 7. My school life is interesting. I like it very much. I have 5 classes in the morning and 3 classes in the afternoon. I study English, Chinese, math and some other subjects. I like English best because it’s easy and interesting. I don’t like math because I always meet difficulties in studing math. I try hard but it doesn't work at all. After class, I often play basketball with my classmates. I go to the school library for some reading twice a week. I like my school life. What about yours? Can you tell me something about it?
我叫Tom，是一名7年级学生。我的校园生活很有趣，我很喜欢。我早上有5节课，下午有3节课。我学习英语，语文，数学还有其他科目。我最喜欢英语因为它简单又有趣。我不喜欢数学因为我学习中总是遇到困难。我很努力了但是一点起色也没有。课后，我经常和同学打篮球。我每两周去学校图书馆看一次书。我喜欢我的校园生活。你的校园生活是怎么样的呢?你能够告诉我一些有关的事情吗?
Today, when I walk on the street after school, I find the street is very clean, it is very different from usual days. I am so curious, so I ask the cleaner, she tells me that many students have behaved, they don’t throw away the rubbish anymore. I think about the education about the environment last week, it works. We should protect the environment.
今天，当我放学回家走在路上的时候，我发现街道很干净，和往日很不一样。我非常好奇，因此问了下清洁工，她告诉我很多学生已经自律了，他们不再随处扔垃圾。我想起了上周关于环境的教育，确实起作用了。我们应该保护环境。
随着经济活动的全球化，英语日益成为国际交往的重要工具，英语教育的低龄化使幼儿园英语教育逐渐成为教育界的一个热点话题。本文是初一英语课外短文，希望对大家有帮助!
名落孙山
In the Song Dynasty (宋朝) there was a joker called Sun Shan (孙山).
宋朝有一个很幽默的人，他叫孙山。
One year he went to take the imperial examination, and came bottom of the list of successfulcandidates.
有一年他去参加考试，公布名单时他是最后一名。
Back in his hometown, one of his neighbor asked him whether the neighbor's son had also passed.
回到家，他的邻居向他打听自己的儿子考得怎么样。
Sun Shan said, with a smile:"Sun Shan was the last on the list. Your son came after Sun Shan."
孙山笑着对邻居说：“孙山考了最后一名，你儿子的名字还在孙山的后面呢。”
The people used this idiom to indicate failing in an examination or competition.
人们用“名落孙山”来比喻考试没有考上或者选拔没有被录取。
毛遂自荐
In the Warring States Period, the State of Qin besieged the capital of the State of Zhao.
战国时代，秦国军队攻打赵国的都城。
Duke Pingyuan of Zhao planned to ask the ruler of the State of Chu personally wanted to select a capable man to go with him.
赵国的平原君打算亲自到楚国去请救兵，想挑选一个精明能干的人一同前去。
A man called Mao Sui volunteered.
有一个名叫毛遂的人，自告奋勇愿意同去。
When the negotiactions between the two states were stalled because the ruler of Chu hesitated to send troops, Mao Sui approached him, brandishing a sword. At that, the ruler of Chu agreed to help Zhao, against Qin.
平原君到楚国后，与楚王谈了半天，没有一点结果。毛遂怒气冲冲地拿着宝剑，逼近楚王，终于迫使楚王答应出兵，与赵国联合共同抵抗秦国。
This idiom means to recommend oneself.
“毛遂自荐”这个成语用来比喻自己推荐自己，不必别人介绍。
买椟还珠
A man from the state of Chu wanted to sell a precious pearl in the state of Zheng.
有个楚国人想在郑国出售一颗珍贵的珍珠。
He made a casket for the pearl out of the wood from a magnolia tree, which he fumigated with spices. He studded the casket with pearls and jade, ornamented it with red gems and decorated it with kingfisher feathers.
他用木兰为珍珠作了个匣子，用香料把匣子熏香，还用珠，玉，红宝石来加以装饰，并插上了翠鸟的羽毛。
A man of the state of Zheng bought the casket and gave him back the pearl.
一个郑国人买走了这个匣子，却把珍珠还给了他。
Too luxuriant decoration usually supersedes what really counts.
过于华丽的装饰往往会喧宾夺主。
This man from Chu certainly knew how to sell a casket but he was no good at selling his pearl. And the man of Zheng didn't know which is really valuable.
那个楚国人知道如何卖掉匣子，却不擅长出售珍珠(忽略了物品的重点，取舍不当)。至于买匣子的郑国人，他根本不懂什么才是真正有价值的。
适合七年级的英语阅读文章
英语现在已经发展成为一个在世界范围内使用最广泛的语言。英语作为英美文化信息的载体和表现形式,一度深深地烙上了英美独有的文化印记。下面我收集了英语的阅读文章，很适合七年级的同学阅读欣赏，希望同学们喜欢!
You went to the butcher's for meat, the pharmacy for aspirin, and the grocery store for food. But when I spent the summer with my Grandmother in Warwick, ., she sent me down to the general store with a list. How could I hope to find anything on the packed, jumbled shelves around me?
I walked up to the counter. Behind it was a lady like no one I'd ever seen. Fake-jewel-encrusted glasses teetered on the tip of her nose, gray hair was piled on her head.
"Excuse me," I said. She looked up.
"You're that Clements kid," she said. "I'm Miss Bee. Come closer and let me get a look at you." She pushed her glasses up her nose. "I want to be able to describe you to the sheriff if something goes missing from the store."
"I'm not a thief!" I was shocked. I was seven year too young to be a thief!
"From what I can see you're not much of anything. But I can tell you've got potential." She went back to reading her newspaper.
"I need to get these." I said, holding up my list.
"So? Go get them." Miss Bee pointed to a sign on the screen door. "There's no one here except you and me and I'm not your servant, so I suggest you get yourself a basket from that pile over there and start filling. If you're lucky you'll be home by sundown."
Sundown was five hours away. I wasn't sure I would make it.
I scanned the nearest shelf for the first item on my list: pork and beans. It took me three wall-to-wall searches before I found a can nestled between boxes of cereal and bread. Next up was toilet paper, found under the daily newspaper. Band-Aids—where had I seen them? Oh, ye next to the face cream. The store was a puzzle, but it held some surprises too. I found a new Superman comic tucked behind the peanut butter.
I visited Miss Bee a couple of times a week that summer. Sometimes she short-changed me. Other times she overcharged. Or sold me an old newspaper instead of one that was current. Going to the store was more like going into battle. I left my Grandma's house armed with my list—memorized to the letter—and marched into Miss Bee's like General Patton marching into North Africa.
"That can of beans is only twenty-nine cents!" I corrected her one afternoon. I had watched the numbers change on the cash register closely, and Miss Bee had added 35 cents. She didn't seem embarrassed that I had caught her overcharging. She just looked at me over her glasses and fixed the price.
Not that she ever let me declare victory. All summer long she found ways to trip me up. No sooner had I learned how to pronounce bicarbonate of soda and memorized its location on the shelf, than Miss Bee rearranged the shelves and made me hunt for it all over again. By summer's end the shopping trip that had once taken me an hour was done in 15 minutes. The morning I was to return to Brooklyn, I stopped in to get a packet of gum.
"All right, Miss Potential," she said. "What did you learn this summer?" That you're a meany! I pressed my lips together. To my amazement, Miss Bee laughed. "I know what you think of me," she said. "Well, here's a news flash: I don't care! Each of us is put on this earth for a reason. I believe my job is to teach every child I meet ten life lessons to help them. Think what you will, Miss Potential, but when you get older you'll be glad our paths crossed!" Glad I met Miss Bee? Ha! The idea was absurd...
Until one day my daughter came to me with homework troubles.
"It's too hard," she said. "Could you finish my math problems for me?"
"If I do it for you how will you ever learn to do it yourself?" I said. Suddenly, I was back at that general store where I had learned the hard way to tally up my bill along with the cashier. Had I ever been overcharged since?
As my daughter went back to her homework, I wondered: Had Miss Bee really taught me something all those years ago? I took out some scrap paper and started writing.
Sure enough, I had learned ten life lessons:
1. Listen well.
2. Never assume—things aren't always the same as they were yesterday.
3. Life is full of surprises.
4. Speak up and ask questions.
5. Don't expect to be bailed out of a predicament.
6. Everyone isn't as honest as I try to be.
7. Don't be so quick to judge other people.
8. Try my best, even when the task seems beyond me.
9. Double-check everything.
10. The best teachers aren't only in school.
The significant inscription found on an old key---“If I rest, I rust”---would be an excellent motto for those who are afflicted with the slightest bit of idleness. Even the most industrious person might adopt it with advantage to serve as a reminder that, if one allows his faculties to rest, like the iron in the unused key, they will soon show signs of rust and, ultimately, cannot do the work required of them.
Those who would attain the heights reached and kept by great men must keep their faculties polished by constant use, so that they may unlock the doors of knowledge, the gate that guard the entrances to the professions, to science, art, literature, agriculture---every department of human endeavor.
Industry keeps bright the key that opens the treasury of achievement. If Hugh Miller, after toiling all day in a quarry, had devoted his evenings to rest and recreation, he would never have become a famous geologist. The celebrated mathematician, Edmund Stone, would never have published a mathematical dictionary, never have found the key to science of mathematics, if he had given his spare moments to idleness, had the little Scotch lad, Ferguson, allowed the busy brain to go to sleep while he tended sheep on the hillside instead of calculating the position of the stars by a string of beads, he would never have become a famous astronomer.
Labor vanquishes all---not inconstant, spasmodic, or ill-directed labor; but faithful, unremitting, daily effort toward a well-directed purpose. Just as truly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so is eternal industry the price of noble and enduring success.
Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room‘s only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end.
They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation. And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.
The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance. As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.
One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn‘t hear the band - he could see it in his mind‘s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.
Days and weeks passed. One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.
As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone. Slowly and painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the world outside. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it for himself. He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.
The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."
A young man was getting ready to graduate from college. For many months he had admired a beautiful sports car in a dealer's showroom, and knowing his father could well afford it, he told him that was all he wanted.
As Graduation Day approached, the young man awaited signs that his father had purchased the car. Finally, on the morning of his graduation, his father called him into his private study. His father told him how proud he was to have such a fine son, and told him how much he loved him. He handed his son a beautiful wrapped gift box. Curious, but somewhat disappointed, the young man opened the box and found a lovely, leather-bound Bible, with the young man's name embossed in gold.
Angrily, he raised his voice to his father and said, "With all your money you give me a Bible?" He then stormed out of the house, leaving the Bible.
Many years passed and the young man was very successful in business. He had a beautiful home and a wonderful family, but realizing his father was very old, he thought perhaps he should go to see him. He had not seen him since that graduation day. Before he could make the arrangements, he received a telegram telling him his father had passed away, and willed all of his possessions to his son. He needed to come home immediately and take care of things.
When he arrived at his father's house, sudden sadness and regret filled his heart. He began to search through his father's important papers and saw the still new Bible, just as he had left it years ago.
With tears, he opened the Bible and began to turn the pages. As he was reading, a car key dropped from the back of the Bible. It had a tag with the dealer's name, the same dealer who had the sports car he had desired. On the tag was the date of his graduation, and the words… "PAID IN FULL".
How many times do we miss blessings because they are not packaged as we expected? I trust you enjoyed this. Do not spoil what you have by desiring what you have not; but remember that what you now have was once among the things you only hoped for. Sometimes we don't realize the good fortune we have or we could have because we expect "the packaging" to be different. What may appear as bad fortune may in fact be the door that is just waiting to be opened.