英语经典美文（大全15篇）

　　在学习、工作乃至生活中，大家都写过美文吗？在网络时代人们接触到的信息越来越多，微小说等很多网络文章也被笼统的列入美文行列。那么你真的知道要怎么写美文吗？以下是小编整理的英语经典美文，欢迎大家分享。

英语经典美文（大全15篇）

英语经典美文1

　　[美文欣赏]

　　Failure doesn't mean you are a failure,

　　It does mean you haven't succeeded yet.

　　Failure doesn't mean you have accomplished nothing,

　　It does mean you have learned something.

　　Failure doesn't mean you have been a fool,

　　It does mean you had a lot of faith.

　　Failure doesn't mean you've been disgraced,

　　It does mean you were willing to try.

　　Failure doesn't mean you don't have it,

　　It does mean you have to do something in a different way.

　　Failure doesn't mean you are inferior,

　　It does mean you are not perfect.

　　Failure doesn't mean you've wasted your life,

　　It does mean you have a reason to start afresh.

　　Failure doesn't mean you should give up,

　　It does mean you must try harder.

　　Failure doesn't mean you'll never make it,

　　It does mean it will take a little longer.

　　Failure doesn't mean God has abandoned you,

　　It does mean God has a better idea.

　　[参考译文]

　　失败并不代表你是个失败者

　　它只表明你尚未成功

　　失败并不代表你一无所获

　　它只表明你吸取了一次教训

　　失败并不代表你很愚蠢

　　它只表明你信心百倍

　　失败并不代表你无脸见人

　　它只表明你百折不回

　　失败并不代表白费功夫

　　它只表明你的方法仍待改进

　　失败并不代表你低人一等

　　它只表明你也并非完人

　　失败并不代表你浪费了生命

　　它只表明你有理由重新开始

　　失败并不代表你应该放弃

　　它只表明你要加倍努力

　　失败并不代表成功永远不属于你

　　它只表明你可能需要付出更多的时间

　　失败并不代表上帝已经将你抛弃

　　它只表明上帝还有更好的'主意

英语经典美文2

　　卡夫卡说，“受难”是这个世界和积极因素之间惟一的联系。当我们用不屈服的.人生态度面对生命中的磨难时，我们才不会在生命的快乐中缺席。是的，只要坚持，希望的翅膀终有一天会张开，飞翔天上。

　　A little girl—the 20th of 22 children, was born prematurely and hersurvival was doubtful.

　　When she was 4 years old, she contracted double pneumonia andscarlet fever, which left her with a paralysed left leg. At age 9, she removed the metal leg brace she had been dependenton and began to walk without it. By 13 she had developed a rhythmic walk, which doctors said was amiracle. That same year she decided to become a runner. She entered arace and came in last.

　　For the next few years every race she entered, she came in last.Everyone told her to quit, but she kept on running.

　　One day she actually won a race, and then another. From then on shewon every race she entered.

　　Eventually this little girl—Wilma Rudolph, went on to win three Olympic gold medals.

　　Winner never quit!

英语经典美文3

　　A fib 小小的谎言

　　I was six years old, my sister, Sally Kay, was a submissive three-year-old girl. For some reasons, I thought we needed to earn some money. I decided we should "hire out" as maids. We visited the neighbors, offering to clean houses for them for a quater cents. Reasonable as our offer was, there were no takers. But one neighbor telephoned my mother to let her know what Mary Alice and Sally Kay were doing.

　　Mother had just hung up the phone when we came first into the back door into the kitchen of our apartement. "Girls," mother asked, "why were you two going around the neighborhood telling people you would clean their houses?" Mother wasn't angry with us. In fact, we learned afterwards she was amused that we had came up with such an idea.

　　But, for some reason, we both denied having done any such thing. Shocked and terribly hurt that her dear little girls could be such "boldfaced (厚颜无耻的) liars" . Mother then told us that Mrs. Jones had just called and told her we had been to her house and said we would clean it for a quater cents .

　　Faced with the truth, we admitted what we had done. Mother said we have fibed, we have not told the truth. She was sure that we knew better. She tried to explain why a fib (小谎) hurt, but she didn't feel that we really understood.

　　Years later, she told us that the lesson she came up with for trying to teach us to be truthful would probably have been found upon by child psychologists. The idea came to her in a flash, and a tender-hearted mother told us it was the most difficult lesson she ever taught us. It was a lesson we never forgot. After admonishing(警告，劝告) us, mother cheerfully begain preparing for lunch. As we monching on sandwhiches, she asked:" Would you two like to go to see the movies this afternoon?"

　　"Wow, would we ever?" We wondered what movie would be playing. Mother said:"The Matinee".

　　"Oh, fatastic! We would be going to see The Matinee, would we lucky?" We got bathed and all dressed up. It was like getting ready for a birthday party. We hurried outside the apartment, not wanting to miss the bus that would take us downtown. On the landing, Mom stunned (使震惊) us by saying, "Girls, we are not going to the movies today." We didn't hear her right.

　　"What?" we objected. "What do you mean? Aren't we going to The Matinee? Mommy, you said that we are going to the Matinee. " Mother stooped and gathered us in her arms. I couldn't understand why there were tears in her eyes. We still had the time to get the bus, but hugging us, she gently explained this is a fib felt like. "It is important that what we say is true ," Mom said. "I fibbed to you just now and it felt awful to me. I don't ever want to fib again and I'm sure you don't want to fib again either. People must be able to believe each others. Do you understand? "

　　We assured her that we understood. We would never forget. And since we had learned a lesson, why not go to the movie to see The Matinee. There were still time. Not today. Mother told us. We would go another time. That is how over fifty years ago, my sister and I learned to be truthful. We have never forgotten how much a fib can be hurt.

英语经典美文4

　　Passage1. Knowledge and Virtue

　　Knowledge is one thing, virtue is another; good sense is not conscience, refinement is not humility, nor is largeness and justness of view faith. Philosophy, however enlightened, however profound, gives no command over the passions, no influential motives, no vivifying principles. Liberal Education makes not the Christian, not the Catholic, but the gentleman. It is well to be a gentleman, it is well to have a cultivated intellect, a delicate taste, a candid, equitable, dispassionate mind, a noble and courteous bearing in the conduct of life—these are the connatural qualities of a large knowledge;they are the objects of a am advocating, I shall illustrate and insist upon them;but still, I repeat, they are no guarantee for sanctity or even for conscientiousness,and they may attach to the man of the world, to the profligate,to the heartless, pleasant, alas, and attractive as he shows when decked out in by themselves, they do but seem to be what they are not;they look like virtue at a distance, but they are detected by close observers, and in the long run;and hence it is that they are popularly accused of pretense and hypocrisy,not, I repeat, from their own fault,but because their professors and their admirers persist in taking them for what they are not,and are officious in arrogating for them a praise to which they have no the granite rock with razors, or moor the vessel with a thread of silk,then may you hope with such keen and delicate instruments as human knowledgeand human reason to contend against those giants, Passage 2. “Packing” a Person

英语经典美文5

　　To see the golden sun and the azure sky, the outstretched ocean, to walk upon the green earth, and to be a lord of a thousand creatures to look down giddy precipices or over distant flowery vales, to see the world spread out under one's finger in a map, to bring the stars near, to view the smallest insects in a microscope, to read history and witness the revolutions of empires and the succession of generations, to hear the glory of Sidon and Tyre of Babylon and Susa, as of a fade pageant and to say all these were and are now nothing. to think that we exist in such a point of time, and in such a corner of space, to be at once spectators and a part of the moving scene to watch the return of the seasons, of spring and autumn, to hear—

　　The stock dove plain amid the forest deep,

　　That drowsy rustles to the sighing gale.

　　—to traverse desert wildness, to listen to the dungeon's gloom,or sit in crowded theatres and see life itself mocked, to feel heat and cold,pleasure and pain right and wrong,truth and falsehood, to study the works of art and refine the sense of beauty to agony, to worship fame and to dream of immortality, to have read Shakespeare and Beloit to the same species as Sir Isaac Newton to be and to do all this and then in a moment to be nothing to have it all snatched from one like a juggler's ball or a phantasmagoria...

　　我们看到金色的太阳，蔚蓝的天空，广阔的海洋；我们漫步在绿油油的大地上，做万物的主人；我们俯视令人目眩心悸的悬崖峭壁，远眺鲜花盛开的山谷；我们把地图摊开，任意指点全球；我们把星辰移到眼前观看，还在显微镜下观察极其微小的生物，我们学历史，亲自目睹帝国的兴亡，时代的交替；我们听人谈论西顿、推罗、巴比伦和苏撒的勋业，如同听一番往昔的盛会，听了以后，我们说这些事确实发生过，但现在却是过眼云烟了；我们思考着自己生活的时代，生活的地区；我们在人生的`活动舞台上既当观众，又当演员；我们观察四季更迭，春秋代序，我们听见了——

　　野鸽在浓密的树林中哀诉，

　　树林随微风的叹息而低语。

　　——我们横越大漠；我们倾听了子夜的歌声；我们光顾灯火辉煌的厅堂，走下阴森森的地牢，或者坐在万头攒动的剧院里观看生活本身受到的摩拟；我们亲身感受炎热和寒冷，快乐和痛苦，正义和邪恶，真理和谬误；我们钻研艺术作品，把自己的美感提高到极其敏锐的程度；我们崇拜荣誉，梦想不朽；我们阅读莎士比亚，或者把自己和牛顿爵士视为同一族类，正当我们面临这一切，从事这一切的时候，自己却在一刹那之间化为虚无，眼前的一切像是魔术师手中的圆球，像是一场幻影，一下子全都消失得无影无踪……

英语经典美文6

　　冬爷爷来了，树上的叶子掉光了，北风呼啸着;大地一片萧条的景象。河里结着厚厚的冰。人们围着围巾戴着手套，穿着各款的棉袄，但还是难以抵挡寒冷的侵袭脸都冻得红扑扑的。

　　If winter comes, the leaves on the trees drop light, the north wind whistling, The earth a depression spectacle. The river caked with thick ice. People around scarf wearing gloves, wearing sections of the cotton-padded jacket, but still difficult to resist invasion of cold cold red face.

　　你看冬天是一个滴水成冰，哈气成霜的季节。冬天酝酿着一个银色的梦。冬姑娘的礼物—雪花，给小朋友带来了欢乐。瞧，小朋友穿着大衣有的在滑雪，有的在打雪仗，有的在堆雪人，还有的.在拍雪景，把银装素裹的世界永远留下来。

　　Winter is a DiShuiChengBing, HaQi into frost season. Winter ferment a silvery dream. Winter girl gift - snowflakes, give children brought joy. Lo, children overcoated some in the skiing, some in snowball fights, some is in a snowman, and still working on the snow, silver-coated world forever stay.

　　冬天的雪花从天空慢慢地飘下来，真像一朵朵梅花啊！落在地上白茫茫的，人踩在上面，就咯吱咯吱响，像欢快的歌唱。

　　Snowflakes drifting down from the sky slowly, really like pieces of plum flower！ Fall on the ground, the white people trample on top, and squeak cheerful singing, like.

　　我爱冬天，更爱美丽的雪景。雪，也是冬天的象征。冬季如果少了雪花，那就只能叫冬天，不能叫冬季。你知道这为什么吗？那是因为，春雨、烈日、秋风、雪花是春夏秋冬的使者。如果少了使者，人们不由得产生一种想法：今年的冬天怎么来的这么突然？

　　I love the winter, the more love beautiful snow. Snow, is also the symbol of winter. Winter if less snow, it can only be called winter, cant call winter. You know why is this？ That is because, under burming sun, rain, wind, snow is chun xia qiu dongs messenger. If less angel, people cannot produce a kind of idea: the winter of this year how come so suddenly？

　　我爱冬天，但我更注重它的使者——雪花。俗话说：瑞雪兆丰年。雪让农民伯伯笑容更加灿烂。雪也给小朋友们带来独有的快乐。

　　I love the winter, but I more notice its angel - snowflakes. As the saying goes: good harest. Snow lets the farmer uncle smile more splendid. Snow also give children bring unique joy.

　　啊！我爱你冬天，更爱你——雪。

英语经典美文7

　　[美文欣赏]

　　The lives of most men are determined by their enviroment.They accept the circumstances amid which fate has thrown them not only resignation but even with good will.They are like streetcars running contendedly 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 respct 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. I am fasinated 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 world's history obliged us to take the turning we did.

　　[参考译文]

　　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.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，他们是好公民、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。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，但我却被他们深深的吸引着。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。

英语经典美文8

　　If we look at the sky on a perfectly fine summer‘s day we shall find that the blue colour is the most pure and intense overhead, and when looking high up in a direction opposite to the sun. Near the horizon it is always less bright, while in the region immediately around the sun it is more or less yellow.

　　The reason of this is that near the horizon we look through a very great thickness of the lower atmosphere, which is full of the larger dust particles reflecting white light, and this diluter the pure blue of the higher atmosphere seen beyond,And in the vicinity of the sun a good deal of the blue light is reflected back into space by the finer dust, thus giving a yellowish tinge to that which reaches us reflected chiefly from the coarse dust of the lower atmosphere.

　　At sunset and sunrise, however, this last effect is greatly intensified, owing to the great thickness of the strata of air through which the light reaches us. The enormous amount of this dust is well shown by the fact that then only we can look full at the sun, even when the whole sky is free from clouds and there is no apparent mist. But the sun’s rays then reach us after having passed, first, through an enormous thickness of the higher strata of the air, the minute dust of which reflects most of the higher strata of the air, the minute dust of which reflects most of the blue rays away from us, leaving the complementary yellow light to pass on,Then, the somewhat coarser dust reflects the green rays, leaving a more orange-coloured light to pass on; and finally some of the yellow is reflected, leaving almost pure red. But owing to the constant presence of air currents, arranging both the dust and vapour in strata of varying extent and density ,and of high or low clouds which both absorb and reflect the light in varying degrees, we see produced all those wondrous combinations of tints and those gorgeous ever-changing colours which are a constant source of admiration and delight to all who have the advantage of an uninterrupted view to the west and who are accustomed to watch for those not infrequent exhibitions of nature’s kaleidoscopic colour painting.

　　With every change in the altitude of the sun the display changes its character; and most of all when it has sunk below the horizon, and owing to the more favourable angles a larger quantity of the coloured light is reflected toward us, Especially when there is a certain amount of cloud is this the case. These, so long as the sun was above the horizon, intercepted much of the light and colour, but when the great luminary has passed away from our direct vision, his light shines more directly on the under sides of all the clouds and air strata of different densities; a new and more brilliant light flushes the western sky, and a display of gorgeous ever-changing tints occurs which are at once the delight of the beholder and the despair of the artist.

　　And all this unsurpassable glory we owe to--dust!

英语经典美文9

　　“Do you like my dress？"she asked of a passing stranger。"My mommy made it just for me。"She said with a tear in her eye。

　　"你喜欢我的连衣裙吗？“她问一位正走过她身边的陌生人。”我妈妈专给我做的。”她说道，眼里冒出了泪珠。

　　"Well，I think it's very pretty，so tell me little one，why are you crying？"

　　“嗯，我认为你的裙子真漂亮。告诉我，小姑娘，你为什么哭呢？”

　　With a quiver in her voice the little girl answered。"After Mommy made me this dress，she had to go away。"

　　小姑娘声音有些颤抖，回答道：“我妈妈给我做完这条裙子后就不得不离开了。”

　　"Well，now，"said the lady，"with a little girl like you waiting for her，I'm sure she'll be right back。"

　　“哦，是这样，”陌生的女士说，“有你这样一个小姑娘等着她，我敢肯定她很快就会回来的。”

　　"No Ma'am ，you don't understand，"said the child through her tears，"my daddy said she's up in heaven now with Grandfather。"

　　“不，女士，您不明白，”女孩透过泪水说，“我爸说她现在和我爷爷在天堂里。”

　　Finally the woman realized what the child meant，and why she was crying。Kneeling down she gently cradled the child in her arms and together they cried for the mommy that was gone。

　　女士终于明白孩子的意思了，也明白她为什么哭泣。她跪下，温柔地把女孩搂在怀里，她们一起为离去的妈妈哭泣。

　　Then suddenly the little girl did something that the woman thought was a bit strange。She stopped crying，stepped back from the woman and began to sing。She sang so softly that it was almost a whisper。 It was the sweetest sound the woman had ever heard，almost like the song of a very small bird。

　　忽然小姑娘又做了件让女士感到有点奇怪的事。她停住了哭泣，从女士怀抱中抽出身，向后退了一步，然后开始唱歌。她唱得如此轻柔，几乎像章晨低语。这是女士听到过的最甜美的声音，简直就像一只非常小的小鸟在吟唱。

　　After the child stopped singing she explained to the lady，"My mommy used to sing that song to me before she went away，and she made me promise to sing it whenever I started crying and it would make me stop。"

　　小女孩唱完后解释说：“妈妈离去前经常给我唱这支歌，她让我答应她我一哭就唱这支歌，这样我就不哭了。”

　　"See，"she exclaimed，"it did，and now my eyes are dry！"

　　“您瞧，”她惊叫道，“真管用，现在我的眼睛里没有眼泪了！”

　　As the woman turned to go，the little girl grabbed her sleeve，"Ma'am，can you stay just a minute？I want to show you something。"

　　女士转身要走时，小女孩抓住她的衣袖：“女士，您能再停留一小会儿吗？我想给您看点东西。”

　　"Of course，"she answered，"what do you want me to see？"

　　“当然可以，”她回答，“你想要我看什么呢？”

　　Pointing to a spot on her dress，she said，"Right here is where my mommy kissed my dress，and here，"pointing to another spot，"and here is another kiss， and here，and here。Mommy said that she put all those kisses on my dress so that I would have her kisses for every booboo'that made me cry。"

　　小女孩指着裙子上的一处，说：“就在这里，我妈妈亲了我的裙子，还有这里，”她指着另外一处，“这里有另外一个吻，还有这里，这里。妈妈说她把所有这些吻都留在我的连衣裙上，这样我遇到什么事哭了，就会有她的亲吻。”

　　Then the lady realized that she wasn't just looking at a dress，no，she was looking at a mother…who knew that she was going away and would not be there to kiss away the hurts that she knew her daughter would get。

　　这时，女士意识到在她眼前的不是一件连衣裙，不是的，她在凝视一位母亲……这位母亲知道她将离去，无法随时守候在女儿身边，吻去她知道女儿必然会遇到的种种伤心事。

　　So she took all the love she had for her beautiful little girl and put them into this dress，that her child now so proudly wore。

　　所以她将所有对她美丽女儿的.爱倾注在这件连衣裙上。现在，女儿如此骄傲地穿在身上。

　　She no longer saw a little girl in a simple dress。 She saw a child wrapped…in her mother's love。

　　她看到的不再是身穿一件简单的连衣裙的小女孩。她看到的是一个……被妈妈的爱裹着的孩子。

英语经典美文10

　　Sitting on a grassy grave, beneath one of the windows of the church, was a little girl.With her head bent back she was gazing up at the sky and singing, while one of her little hands was pointing to a tiny cloud that hovered like a golden feather above her head. The sun, which had suddenly become very bright, shining on her glossy hair, gave it a metallic luster, and it was difficult to say what was the color, dark bronze or black. So completely absorbed was she in watching the cloud to which her strange song or incantation seemed addressed, that she did not observe me when I rose and went towards her.Over her head, high up in the blue, a lark that was soaring towards' the same gauzy cloud was singing, as if in rivalry. As I slowly approached the child, I could see by her forehead, which, in the sunshine seemed like a globe of pearl, and especially by her complexion, that she was uncommonly lovely. Her eyes, which at one moment seemed blue-gray, at another violet, were shaded by long black lashes, curving backward in a most peculiar way, and these matched in hue her eyebrows, and the tresses that were tossed about her tender throat and were quivering in the sunlight. All this I did not take in at once; for at first I could see nothing but those quivering, glittering, changeful eyes turned up into my face. Gradually the other features, especially the sensitive full-lipped mouth, grew upon me as I stood silently gazing. Here seemed to me a more perfect beauty than had ever come to me in my loveliest dreams of beauty. Yet it was not her beauty so much as the look she gave me that fascinated me, melted me.

　　在教堂的一扇窗下长满绿草的坟堆上，坐着个小女孩。她仰着头，望着天空，唱着歌儿。她的小手指点着一朵飘浮在她头顶的金色羽毛般的小彩云。突然间，阳光显得格外灿烂，照在她光泽的头发上，给它涂上一层金属似的光彩，很难说出它突竟是什么颜色，是深褐色，还是黑色。她是那么全神贯注地望着彩云，她那奇妙的歌声，或可说是喃喃自语，似乎是对着那彩云而发的'。因而她没有注意到我站起身来朝她走去。在她上空高高的蓝天里，一只展翅飞向那朵轻盈透明的彩云的云雀也在歌唱，似乎在与她比赛。我慢步向小女孩走去，她那在阳光下如同珍珠一样圆润的前额，特别是她那肤色，使我感到她真是异常可爱。媳耶黑黑的长睫毛非常别致地朝后弯曲着，掩映着一双一会儿象是蓝灰色的，一会儿又象是紫罗兰色的眼睛。她的长睫毛同她的眉毛和头发色泽调和，披拂在她娇嫩的脖子上的发绺，在阳光里轻轻飘动。我并没有马上领略到这一切，因为我一开始只注意了那双闪闪发光、富于表情、盯着我看的眼睛。我伫立在一边默默地注视着她，才渐渐地看清了她容貌的其他部分，特别是那张灵敏而又丰满的小嘴。呈现在我眼苎的这一美的形象似乎比我在最美好的梦境中所见过的更美。然而，与其说是她的美丽，不如说是她朝我看的那种眼神，更使我着迷，更使我陶醉.

英语经典美文11

　　It is a plain fact that we are in a world where competition is going on in all areas and at all levels.

　　This is exciting.

　　Yet, on the other hand, competition breeze a pragmatic attitude.

　　People choose to learn things that are useful,and do things that are profitable.

　　Todays' college education is also affected by this general sense of utilitarianism.

　　Many college students choose business nor computing programming as their majors convinced that this professions are where the big money is.

　　It is not unusual to see the college students taking a part time jobs as a warming up for the real battle.

　　I often see my friends taking GRE tests, working on English or computer certificates and taking the driving licence to get a licence.

　　Well, I have nothing against being practical.

　　As the competition in the job market gets more and more intense, students do have reasons to be practical.

　　However, we should never forget that college education is much more than skill training.

　　Just imagine, if your utilitarianism is prevails on campus, living no space for the cultivation of students' minds,or nurturing of their soul.

　　We will see university is training out well trained spiritless working machines.

　　If utilitarianism prevails society, we will see people bond by mind-forged medicals lost in the money-making ventures;we will see humality lossing their grace and dignity, and that would be disastrous.

　　I'd like to think society as a courage and people persumed for profit or fame as a horese that pulls the courage.

　　Yet without the driver picking direction the courage would go straight and may even end out in a precarious situation .

　　A certificate may give you some advantage, but broad horizons, positive attitudes and personal integrities ,these are assets you cannot acquire through any quick fixed way.

　　In today's world, whether highest level of competition is not of skills or expertise , but vision and strategy.

　　Your intellectual quality largely determinds how far you can go in your career.

英语经典美文12

　　Japan"s Voluntary Shut-Ins 日本的自闭现象

　　TOKYO -- Akiko Abe has barely seen her 25-year-old son in six years, yet they live in the same small house. He leaves his room only when he"s sure his parents are out or asleep, she said. She can tell when he has used the kitchen, and she knows he goes to the living room to watch television and use the computer at night.

　　She has waited patiently for him to tire of his isolation, sometimes standing outside his door and talking, to herself as much as to him. But, afraid that many more years would pass like this, she finally approached an organization that works with shut-ins by making home visits. "It will be difficult, because he won"t open his door," she said quietly.

　　As many as a million Japanese -- most of them young men -- are considered shut-ins, either literally cloistered in their rooms or refusing to work and avoiding all social contact for periods ranging from six months to more than 10 years. Forty-one percent live reclusively for one to five years, according to a government survey.

　　Some shut-ins suffer from such illnesses as depression, agoraphobia or schizophrenia. But experts say the vast majority shut themselves up at home for six months or more without showing any other signs of neurological or psychiatric disorder.

　　The seriousness of the problem has increased dramatically over the past decade as Japan"s economy has slid into recession, bringing record unemployment rates and little job security as companies restructure or go bankrupt.

　　Psychologists and other mental health experts here say that Japan has the biggest problem of this type in the world, and that it is growing. They give a long list of reasons why young men are dropping out of society, including a declining birthrate, which means there are more families with only one son on whom they place all their hopes in this patrilineal society. Also, boys grow up without male role models because their fathers are working all the time. Psychologists also cite Japan"s "culture of shame," which makes people fear how they"re perceived if they have a problem fitting in.

　　Japan"s wealth makes it possible for people to cut themselves off from society. Young adults live at home much longer than they do in the United States, traditionally until marriage. Teens and adults who drop out of school or leave work are simply supported by their parents.

　　"When I was young, there was no question that you would have to go to work," said Abe, 61, who asked that her son, who refused to talk to a visitor, not be named. "Now, families have enough money so that the children don"t need to find jobs right away." In an attempt to get their son to communicate with them, Abe and her husband have decided that from now on, they are not going to slip an envelope under his door with his $400 monthly allowance.

　　Shut-ins -- 70 to 80 percent of whom are men -- often sleep much of the day and are up all night, watching television, using the Internet and popping out to the 24-hour convenience stores that are located in most neighborhoods and sell all kinds of microwaveable packaged meals. Japan"s convenience store culture caters to the solitary life -- providing everything for the person eating alone, living alone.

　　"In Japan, it"s easy for anybody to live with walls around themselves," said Seiei Muto of the Tokyo Mental Health Academy. "And with the number of children declining, you play alone, eat alone, study alone."

　　Muto and other mental health workers talk about the decline of communication skills, the increasing anonymity of urban Japan and the collapse of a cooperative society. "If a child is walking down the street, it would be rare for someone to ask the child, "Where are you going?" " Muto said.

　　Others say the problem has deep historical and cultural roots. "Japan is a rich country, but we have no identity, no confidence, no ability to communicate with others," said Tadashi Yamazoe, a professor of clinical psychology at Kyoto Gakuen University. "Japanese have a passive personality."

　　But most people say it is a modern phenomenon, evidence of a great generation gap between those who built Japan"s postwar economic success, and their children, who cannot expect lifetime employment in today"s weak economy and say they do not want it anyway.

　　"In Japan there has been only one path, and today an increasing number of people are not on it," said Noki Futagami, who began the nonprofit New Start Foundation to work with shut-ins. "It"s easy to say that academic background is not everything. But the parents cannot suggest another path because they don"t know one."

　　The existence of large numbers of shut-ins in many ways encapsulates the social problems of modern Japan and the wrenching period it is now going through. The Japanese word for the phenomenon -- hikikomori -- translates as withdrawal, and it is becoming increasingly familiar. It is the subject of television documentaries and newspaper and magazine articles.

　　Many adult shut-ins start as school dropouts.For a country obsessed with education, there is a surprisingly high number of dropouts. A record 134,000 elementary and junior high students were absent from school for at least 30 straight days during the 20xx-01 school year, more than twice the number 10 years ago.

　　Abe said her son"s school years were normal, but in high school he failed the university entrance exam. That is not unusual; most who fail study for another year and try again. Abe"s son said he was going to study on his own instead of enrolling in a cram school, and that began his withdrawal.

　　The family has tried to keep the problem hidden, not even talking about it to relatives, much less neighbors.

　　But Futagami said this means the family is shutting itself in as well, making the problem worse.

　　"There are things parents can and cannot do," he said. "They should be more open and get help from others, nurture social ties. I regard this as an illness stemming from society. Nobody helps these people, so they accumulate."

　　In a few recent cases, socially withdrawn young men have committed shocking crimes, including a 27-year-old who kidnapped a 9-year-old girl in 1990 and kept her in his room for nine years. His mother, who lived downstairs, was never permitted to enter his room.

　　"In America, the child"s room belongs to the parents and is seen as being rented out to the kid," noted one of the actors appearing in a new play on shut-ins. "The child can be displaced for guests." This is a remarkable concept in Japan, where the norm is that teens or young adults can forbid their parents from entering their rooms.

　　As the problem gets more national attention, parent support groups, counseling centers and mental health clinics have geared up to help families. Home visits over the course of months and sometimes years bring many people out of their rooms.

　　But finding a job after having spent several years as a shut-in is extremely difficult. To provide work experience, Futagami"s New Start organization runs a welfare center for the elderly, a restaurant and coffee shop.

　　Takeshi Watanabe, a counselor with the Tokyo Mental Health Academy, and Yasutaka Masuko, 28, seem like brothers. For 10 years Watanabe visited Masuko once a week at the home Masuko refused to leave. Masuko said he doesn"t remember anything specific causing him to drop out of school during his second year of junior high. "Maybe I was feeling pressure," he said. For a while he became physically ill when people came to see him.

　　But Watanabe"s steady visits, their shared interest in music and eventually Masuko"s purchase of a computer slowly convinced Masuko that he could go out. The turning point was soccer. He wanted so badly to go to the games of his favorite team -- an interest encouraged by Watanabe -- that he bought a season ticket, and before the first game practiced going outside.

　　"For night games I went early in the morning to get a good seat," he said. "I made friends because I was in the same place every game."

　　Masuko has taken other big steps. He got his high school degree through a correspondence course and is now enrolled at Nihon University, majoring in philosophy and education. He said there are many other former shut-ins there, and they often talk.

　　He also found a part-time job at a loan collection company.

　　An understanding society is critical to dealing with the problem, Watanabe said. The mental health clinic in a Tokyo suburb where he works has cultivated about a dozen business establishments in the immediate neighborhood, where they have introduced themselves and the young men who come by.

　　"We wanted them to understand we are not a cult," Watanabe said. At the bike shop, coffee shop and 7-Eleven, people started to talk to them, started to say, "Hi, how"s it going?" They got emotional support from the neighborhood and some shopkeepers hired them to work two to three hours per week, he explained.

　　"Many people feel nostalgic about Japanese traditions and the warmth that is harder to find today," Watanabe said.

　　阿部秋子尽管与儿子同住在一间小房子里，六年来，他只在父母外出或者睡觉的时候才出门。她只知道他什么时候用过厨房，还知道他在客厅看过电视，在晚上使用过电脑，可是她却没能和自己25岁的儿子见上几次面。

　　她耐心地等待着有一天儿子终于会厌烦这种自我封闭，有时她就站在他的门口说话，既是对他说也是对自己说。但是她很害怕再过上几年这样的日子，于是她终于向一家自闭症患者援助中心求助，这个组织可以提供家访服务。“这可能会很麻烦，因为他不愿意开门，”她小声地说道。

　　日本有将近一百万人患有自闭症，其中大多数是年轻人。他们把自己幽禁在房间里，不愿意去工作，把自己完全与外界隔离开来，少则半年，多的超过10年。根据一项政府调查表明，41%的患者把自己一人关禁起来一到五年不等。

　　一些自闭者患有沮丧、旷野恐惧或者精神分裂等症状。但是专家们表示，大多数的自闭病人在呆在家里半年或更长的时间里，都没有出现任何神经或精神上的失调症状。随着日本的经济开始走下坡路，经济萧条导致了居高不下的失业率，而由于公司重组或者破产员工的饭碗也是朝不保夕，自闭现象在过去十年里也变得更加严重。

　　心理学家和心理健康专家们都一致认为自闭现象在日本尤其严重，并且有增长的趋势。他们列出了一大串的理由来解释为什么年轻人会幽居寡出，与世隔绝。这些理由包括低出生率，这表明在这个父系社会里，越来越多的家庭只有一个孩子，家长们把他们所有的希望都寄托在这个孩子身上。同时，由于父亲长时间在外工作，男孩在成长过程中缺乏可模仿的男性模范角色。心理学者同时指出日本文化中的羞耻感，在出现问题的时候，人们都害怕不能被社会所接纳而极力隐瞒。

　　日本的富有也使日本国民可以脱离社会生存。日本的年轻成人呆在家里的时间远比美国人的长，传统上他们在结了婚以后才自立门户。对退学或失业的孩子，他们的父母完全有能力把他们养在家里。

　　“在我年轻的时候，我必须要出去找工作谋生”，现年61岁的阿部秋子说。她的儿子拒绝和来访者交谈，她请求不要把她儿子的名字写出来，“现在，每家每户都有足够的钱，他们的子女也不必急着去找工作。”尝试着让他们的儿子以后和他们进行交流，阿部秋子夫妇俩决定停止儿子每月400美金的零用钱，那还是夫妇俩用信封装好从儿子的门缝里塞进去的。

　　70%到80%的自闭症患者是男性，他们经常昼伏夜出，白天就蒙头大睡，晚上才出来活动，看电视、上网，或者跑到外面24小时营业的便利店。这些便利店在每个街区都有，可以提供各式各样的速食食品，只要放进微波炉烤一烤就可以吃。日本的便利店文化迎合了独居生活的需要——里面的东西可以满足一个人独吃独住的一切需求。

　　“在日本，人们很容易生活在自己修筑的墙里面，孤独地生活着”，东京精神健康研究所的武藤清英说，“随着兄弟姐妹数量的减少，你就自然成了孤家寡人，你只好一个人玩，一个人吃，一个人学习。”

　　武藤清英和一些精神康复的工作人员还谈到了自闭现象的其他成因，比如说交流能力的匮乏，日本城市里人们彼此距离的疏远，及集体合作精神的崩溃等。“如果一个小孩在街道上游荡，几乎没有路人会上去问他‘你要去哪里呀?’”武藤清英说。

　　但也有人认为这个问题有着深远的历史与文化根源。“日本是个富裕的国家，但是我们却有身份危机，我们缺乏自信，不懂与他人交流”，东京学园大学的临床心理学教授山添忠说，“日本人的性格都很消极被动。”

　　但是大多数的人认为这只是个现代病，证明两代人之间已经有了一道无法逾越的鸿沟，与亲手缔造战后日本经济繁荣的父辈相比，他们的子女根本不指望能在经济疲软的今天找到铁饭碗，他们甚至不在乎有没有工作。

　　“在日本只有一条路可以走，可现在越来越多的人都不在这条路上走，”二神轩这样说道，他创办了新生基金会，一个帮助自闭症患者的非赢利机构，“大家都说学历背景其实并不重要，说起来很容易，可是家长们又不能提出其他更好的出路。”

　　自闭现象的流行其实浓缩了日本的很多社会问题，日本经济的不景气也使这个问题显得特别尖锐。日语把这现象称为闭居，翻译过来就是遁世。这个词现在在日本很流行，常在电视、报纸和杂志等媒体中报道。

　　很多成年人的自闭首先从退学开始。

　　对极端重视教育的日本来说，日本的辍学率也是相当惊人。日本中小学在20xx年度就有134,000人次旷课一个月以上，这个数字是10年前的两倍多。

　　阿部秋子说她儿子在学校的表现还算正常，但在高中升大学的考试中考砸了。这本来也不是很出奇的事情，大多数失败的考生都会复读一年再考一次。阿部秋子的儿子说他宁愿自习也不愿意参加备考班，从此他就开始了遁世。

　　夫妇俩试图掩盖这件事情，从没跟亲戚们讲起，邻居们也自然无从得知。

　　但是二神轩说，这就意味着这个家庭也把自己封闭起来，这只会使问题恶化。“处理这些问题有些是家长们可以做的，有些却是不能做的，”他说，“他们应该更加开放，从外界寻求帮助，培养社会关系。我认为这是由于社会弊端在作怪，没有人愿意帮助这些人，所以这些人的人数也随之增长。”

　　近期的一些例子中，遁离社会的年轻人犯下了令人发指的罪行，其中有一个27岁的男子，于1990年绑架了个年仅9岁的小女孩，然后把她困在自己房间里长达9年之久。而住在楼下的母亲却从来不容许进入他的房间。

　　“在美国，孩子的房间是父母的财产，他们就好像把房间租给孩子一般，”一位演员这样说到，他刚参加了一部反映自闭现象的戏剧演出，“当有客人来时，小孩的房间可以准做客房。”而在日本，青少年和年轻成年人完全可以把父母赶出他们的房间，这在日本已经是个深入人心的观念。

　　这个问题越来越引起全国的关注，家长援助组织、咨询中心和心理健康医疗所等机构组织了各种活动援助那些家庭。几个月甚至几年的`家访，他们终于使很多患者带出了他们的家门。

　　但是，自闭症患者在闲置多年后再继续找工作会变得特别困难。为了给他们提供工作经历，二神轩的新生基金会开了一个老人福利中心、一家餐馆和咖啡店。

　　渡边武是东京精神健康研究院的顾问，他与28岁的康隆雅子看上去象是兄弟一般。十年来，渡边武每周对康隆雅子进行一次家访，而康隆雅子却不肯离开自己的家门。康隆雅子回忆说，他其实记不清是哪件具体的事情让他在初二时退学。“也许是我感到压力吧，”他说。在一段时间里，只要有人来看他，他就会觉得浑身不舒服。

　　渡边武持之以恒的家访发现俩人在音乐方面有共同的爱好，最终康隆雅子买下了一台电脑，而康隆雅子也慢慢地被说服，他其实是可以出去面对的。转折点是一场足球比赛。康隆雅子非常想看一场他喜爱球队的比赛，渡边武也一直鼓励他喜欢足球运动，他还买下了整个赛季的球票，在赛季开始前他们练习一起走出家门。

　　“比赛在晚上举行，我早上就去了，这样就能占个好位置，”他说，“由于我每次都坐在同一个位置上，我还结交了一些朋友。”

　　康隆雅子在其他方面也取得了很大的进步，他通过函授课程获得了高中学历，现在已被日本大学录取，所学的专业是哲学与教育。他说在这里还有很多以前的自闭症患者，他们经常一起交流。

　　他同时还在一家商账追收公司找到了一份兼职。

　　渡边武说，一个理解宽容的社会对这个问题的处理是很重要的。他在东京郊外的那家精神健康诊所已经在周边地区开了十几家的店铺，他们向人们介绍自己和在店里工作的前自闭症患者。

　　“我们要让他们明白我们并不是什么邪教组织，”渡边武说。在自行车店、咖啡店和7-11连锁店里，人们开始跟他们交谈，开始会问，“嘿，最近怎么样啊?”他们得到了邻居们的精神支持，一些店主还雇佣他们在店里每周工作2到3小时，他解释说。

　　“大家都很怀念日本过去的传统，而过去人与人间的温情现在也很难找到了!”渡边武说道。

英语经典美文13

　　In the late years of the Qin Dynasty (秦朝,221 - 206BC), Xiang Yu (项羽) launched a rebellion.

　　秦朝末年，项羽发动了叛乱。

　　After crossing the Zhang River (漳河), Xiang Yu ordered his soldiers to sink all the boats and break their cooking pots.

　　在队渡过漳河之后，项羽命令士兵把所有的船只都凿破，沉到河底，再把煮饭锅完全打碎。

　　He distributed each soldier three days' rations and warned them that there was no way return; the only thing they could do to survive was to fight against the enemy.

　　项羽给每个人只发三天的.粮食，然后再上战场，这样做，是为了向大家表示“宁死不退”的决心。

　　After nine furious war, the Qin army was finally defeated.

　　果然，经过九次的激烈奋战，项羽的队终于打败了秦国的队。

　　This idiom is used to reveal one's strong determination to achieve one's goal at any cost.

　　后来，我们使用“破釜沉舟”比喻：下定决心，不达目的绝不罢休的精神。

英语经典美文14

　　The north wind whizzing in the ear, now it is winter, the memory of a snow-white winter.

　　It was so fast in winter, in a trance, the shadow of the sunny summer was still shaking, and the golden yellow of the autumn had not yet gone.

　　It is coming, the footsteps are so light and light that they can't hear the sound.

　　It was white in the air and white; the flakes of snowflakes falling in the sky were white; it was white in the air. In winter, it looks like a white spirit, circling in the sky.

　　The south is no snow, I remember last year, there was snow, snow drifting profusely and disorderly fall, we run wild in the snow snowball fight together, in the snow in front, we like a naughty child, showing their innocence.

　　It was early in the morning, heavy fog, wind, sun signs are ready, and the warm lights cast little light, hands in his pockets, memories of the past, enjoy the warmth of the winter.

英语经典美文15

　　Message in a Body

　　Have you completely lost your mind? I asked myself as I walked down the hall to the office of my boss. In my right hand I clutched the resignation letter I had typed the night before.

　　No, you haven"t, the small part of me that wasn"t scared to death whispered back. Remember what happened a few months ago?

　　Oh yes, I remembered it well.

　　I had worked for the same company for over a decade, my dedication and long hours finally paying off when I was promoted to upper management while still young. I had tons of responsibilities, and there were deadlines and daily crises. The stacks of paper on my desk grew taller as the weeks passed, and phone calls, faxes and e-mails dominated my life. I took great pride in my work, and mailed home some business cards to my parents so they could see the title under my name.

　　One by one, relationships with friends dwindled as I lived and breathed my job. It had become my whole life, and I gave it 110 percent. I pumped myself up with caffeine during the day and took over-the-counter sleep aids to fall asleep at night. I had five kinds of headache remedies and dozens of antacids in my purse as I pushed myself beyond my limits. I started keeping a pad and pen near my bed so I could take notes during those middle-of-the-night anxiety attacks that started to plague me.

　　Finally, my body said, No more! I had taken three days off and planned to go to Florida and soak in the tranquility of sun, ocean and beach, but the morning I was scheduled to leave I couldn"t even get up. My body refused to move. I was utterly exhausted and drained. I slept all day, getting up only to eat before collapsing back into bed. The next day the same thing happened. I tried to bribe my body by imagining a dazzling mental slide show of our vacation, but my body said, Thanks, but no thanks. I need to be where I am.

　　By the third day I was scared. After forty-eight hours of almost nonstop sleep I was still exhausted and unwilling to move, so I called my doctor, and his office worked me into their schedule.

　　I lay on the examining table while a technician ran blood tests. I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror and was shocked - an older woman stared back at me. Who are you? I wondered. She didn"t answer. The doctor came back in and pronounced me the healthiest sick person he had ever seen. "You have hyperstress," he said, and wrote a prescription.

　　"What am I supposed to take?" I asked. In a barely legible scrawl he had written on the pad: "Get a different job."

　　That day I made a promise to myself: I will carve out time for myself every day. When the clock says it"s 5 p.m., I will leave, no matter what.

　　The first day back at work I had to force myself to do it, and was actually shocked when the sky didn"t fall. What a revelation!

　　I started walking my dogs again, trying to pay them back for all the times I"d left them. I picked up my journal, blew dust off the cover and began writing. Words came slowly at first, then more freely as my inner voice was finally allowed to speak. During the next three months it said: quit your job, over and over again.

　　I"d been working since I was seventeen, part-time to put myself though college, and then full-time immediately after graduation. Now I had a strong feeling there was a person under all those diplomas and titles who was literally dying to get out. So, with no firm plans for the future, I gave a thirty-day notice and then spent that month alternating between panic, regret and hysteria. The real shocker - that I was easily replaceable - came when the company filled my position two weeks after my notice. The last day on the job I looked into the bathroom mirror and asked: Who are you?

　　The silence was deafening.

　　Suddenly, I had no job on which to hang my identity; I was putting all my trust in the great unknown, and I was truly scared. But there was also a strange, previously unknown faith buoying me up, telling me, Don"t be afraid. Everything will work out. Believe in yourself! I clung to that like a frightened child to her mother"s hand.

　　Finally, I was free to embark on my journey of self-discovery. After a while, I realized I"d never really forgotten who I was - I had just covered it up with work, work and more work. As I took long, slow walks in the woods, I rediscovered my inner core. I listened to my body and slept when it was tired, ate when it was hungry. I reconnected with friends, read dozens of books and wrote in my journal.

　　That faith did not fail me. Two months later, a friend heard of a low-stress job and helped me get an interview. I got the job - and a hefty pay cut as well - but I don"t regret it for a second. That eight-week sabbatical changed my life and taught me that a life without balance isn"t worth living - it isn"t even livable! I felt a profound gratefulness to my body for sending me such a clear message.

　　I had dipped my hand in the well of restoration, and I will never forget it. I had finally learned to define myself from the inside out, rather than the outside in.

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