英语名篇名段背诵.doc

英语名段背诵精华 Best of times 最好的时代It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.Excerpt from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens翻译：这是一个最好的时代，也是一个最坏的时代；这是明智的年代，这是愚昧的年代；这是信任的纪元，这是怀疑的纪元；这是光明的季节，这是黑暗的季节；这是希望的春日，这是失望的冬日；我们面前应有尽有，我们面前一无所有；我们都将直上天堂，我们都将直下地狱 双城记注释wisdomwizdm: 智慧，明智的行为，学识 epochi:pk, epk: 新纪元，时代，时期incredulityinkridju:liti: 怀疑 despair: to lose all hope 绝望，失望 作者简介Charles Dickens (1812-1870), 查尔斯.狄更斯，英国大名鼎鼎的作家，是19世纪英国现实主义文学的主要代表人物之一。他笔耕一生，靠勤奋和汗水创造出双城记、大卫.科波菲尔等世界文学名著。其作品在艺术上以妙趣横生的幽默、细致入微的心理分析，以及现实主义描写与浪漫主义气氛的有机结合而著称。英语名段背诵精华 Equality and greatness 平等与伟大Between persons of equal income there is no social distinction except the distinction of merit. Money is nothing: character, conduct, and capacity are everything. Instead of all the workers being leveled down to low wage standards and all the rich leveled up to fashionable income standards, everybody under a system of equal incomes would find her or his own natural level. There would be great people and ordinary people and little people, but the great would always be those who had done great things, and never the idiot whose mothers had spoiled them and whose fathers had left a hundred thousand a year; and the little would be persons of small minds and mean characters, and not poor persons who had never had a chance. That is why idiots are always in favour of inequality of income (their only chance of eminence), and the really great in favour of equality.By George Bernard Shaw翻译： 收入相当的人除了品性迥异以外没有社会差别。金钱不能说明什么：性格、行为、能力才代表一切。在收入平等制度下，每个人将会找到她或他正常的地位，而不是所有的工人被划到应拿低工资阶层，所有的富人被划到应得高收入的阶层。人有卓著伟人，平庸之辈和碌碌小人之别，然伟人总是那些有所建树之人，而非从小深受母亲溺爱、父亲每年留下一大笔钱之人；碌碌小人总是那些心胸狭窄，品德卑劣之人，而不是那些从未获取机会的穷人。愚蠢之众总是赞成收入不平等（他们职能凭借这种机会才能为人所知），而真正伟大之人则主张平等相待，原因就在于此。注释distinctiondistikn: the condition or fact of being dissimilar or distinct; difference 区别，差别meritmerit: 功绩，荣誉，价值eminenceeminns: a position of great distinction or superiority 卓越 作者简介George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) 萧伯纳，英国戏剧家，1856年7月26日生于爱尔兰都柏林。1885年萧伯纳开始戏剧创作。到1949年为止，共完成剧本51部。1925年获得诺贝尔文学奖。英语名篇名段背诵精华 Great expectation 远大前程下面这段文字选自查尔斯.狄更斯的远大前程（1860-1861）As the night was fast falling, and as the moon, being past the full, would not rise early, we held a little council: a short one, for clearly our course was to lie by at the first lonely tavern we could find. So, they plied their oars once more, and I looked out for anything like a house. Thus we held on, speaking little, for four or five dull miles. It was very cold, and, a collier coming by us, with her gallery-fire smoking and flaring, looked like a comfortable home. The night was as dark by this time as it would be until morning; and what light we had, seemed to come more from the river than the sky, as the oars in their dipping stuck at a few reflected stars.Except from Great Expectations by Charles Dickens翻译：天黑得很快，偏巧这天又是下弦月，月亮不会很早升起。我们就稍稍商量了一下，可是也用不着多讨论，因为情况是明摆着的，再划下去我们一遇到冷落的酒店就得投宿。于是他们又使劲打起浆来，我则用心寻找岸上是否隐隐约约有什么房屋的模样。这样又赶了四五英里路，一路上好不气闷，大家简直不说一句话。天气非常冷，一艘煤船从我们近旁驶过，船上厨房里生着火，炊烟缕缕，火光荧荧，在我们看来简直就是个安乐家了。这时夜已透黑，看来就要这样一直黑到天明，我们仅有的一点光亮似乎不是来自天空，而是来自河上，一桨又一桨的，搅动着那寥寥几颗倒映在水里的寒星。注释councilkaunsil: 讨论，会议 taverntv(:)n: 酒馆，客栈piled their oars: 使劲划起桨来 collierkli: 运煤船gallery-fire: 厨房Great expectations, 原意是指一笔遗产，中文译为远大前程（也有的译作孤星血泪）。这个译名给读者一种印象，即作品的主人翁是有远大前程的。而事实上，这个“远大前程”是带有讽刺意义的。这部作品的主题决非仅仅是写孤儿皮普想当上等人的理想幻灭的故事，如果这样理解，就领会错了狄更斯创作这部作品的意义。皮普生活在姐姐家里，生活艰苦，他的理想是当一名像姐夫一样的铁匠，他没有想当上等人。后来他之所以想当上等人是因为环境的改变。狄更斯的哲学思想之一是环境对人思想的影响。不同的环境可以造就不同的人。皮普的人生发展过程是符合一般人性理论的。英语名篇名段背诵精华 The Doer of Deeds 有作为的人 美国前总统尼克松在他的领导者（Leader）一书中引用了如下的话：It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumphs of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.Except from The Honorable People by Theodore Roosevelt真正令人尊敬的并非那些评论家和那些指出强者是如何跌倒、实干家本该做得更好的人。荣誉属于那些亲临竞技场，满脸污泥、汗水和鲜血的人。他们不懈地努力，他们曾犯过过错，并一再失败。因为付出即意味着犯错和失败。他们满怀激情地努力做事，执着不懈，将生命奉献于崇高的事业。他们为经过艰辛努力最终取得的伟大成就而自豪，如果失败，他们也败得荣耀。因而，这样的人永远不应与那些不知道胜利、也从未失败过的冷淡而胆怯的灵魂相提并论注释arenari:n: 竞技场，舞台 valiantly: 勇猛地，英勇地enthusiasminju:zizm: 狂热，热心，积极性作者简介Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), 西奥多.罗斯福，政治家，经济学家，美国第26届总统。罗斯福总统是一个热衷于户外生活的人，而在他的全部政策中，保护美国自然资源的政策具有最持久的意义。英语名篇名段背诵精华 Thoughts in a grave yard 墓园沉思面对墓园那各式各样的十字架，总会使人思绪无尽。生与死，在永恒的两极相通：正因为人之难免一死，我们才更感受到那“生命中不可承受之轻”的沉重 When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, even inordinate desire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart melts with compassion; when I see the tomb of the parents of themselves, I consider the vanity of grieving for those whom we must quickly follow: when I see kings lying by those who deposed them, when I consider rival wits placed side by side, or the holy men that divided the world with their contests and disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind. When I read the several dates of the tombs, of some that died yesterday, and some six hundred years ago, I consider that great when we shall all of us be contemporaries, and make our appearance together.Excerpt from Westminster Abbey by Joseph Addison翻译： 当我瞻仰伟人的坟墓，心中所有的嫉妒顿时烟消云散；当我读到美人的悼文，所有的非分之想顷刻消失殆尽；当我遇见在墓碑旁悲痛欲绝的父母亲，我的心中也满怀同情；当我看到那些父母亲自己的坟墓，我不禁感慨：既然我们很快都要追随逝者的脚步，悲伤又有何用。当我看到国王与那些将他们废黜的人躺在一起，当我想到那些争斗一生的智者，或是那些通过竞争和争执将世界分裂的圣人们被后人并排葬在一起，我对人类的那些微不足道的竞争、内讧和争论感到震惊和悲伤。当我看到一些坟墓上的日期，有的死于昨日，而有的死于六百年前，我不禁想到，有那么一天我们都会在同一个时代同时出现在世人眼前。注释inordinatein:dinit: exceeding reasonable limits; immoderate过分的，无节制的deposedipuz: to remove from office or power免职；废黜作者简介Joseph Addison (1672-1719) 约瑟夫.艾迪生，英国散文家、诗人、剧作家及政治家。艾迪生的名字在文学史上常常与他的好朋友理查德.斯蒂尔一起被提起，两人最重要的贡献是创办两份著名的杂志闲谈者与旁观者。英语名篇名段背诵精华 I have as much soul as you 我的心灵一样丰富这段文字是无需多言的绝对经典。I tell you I must go! I retorted, roused to something like passion. Do you think I can stay to become nothing to you? Do you think I am an automaton?-a machine without feelings? and can bear to have my morsel of bread snatched from my lips, and my drop of living water dashed from my cup? Do you think, because I am poor, obscure, plain, and little, I am soulless and heartless? You think wrong!-I have as much soul as you,-and full as much heart! And if God had gifted me with some beauty and much wealth, I should have made it as hard for you to leave me, as it is now for me to leave you. I am not talking to you now through the medium of custom, conventionalities, nor even of mortal flesh;-it is my spirit that addresses your spirit; just as if both has passed through the grave, and we stood at Gods feet, equal,-as we are!Excerpt from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte翻译： “我告诉你我非走不可！”我回驳着，感情很有些冲动。“你难道认为，我会留下来甘愿做一个对你来说无足轻重的人？你以为我是一架机器一架没有感情的机器？能够容忍别人把一口面包从我嘴里抢走，把一滴生命之水从我杯子里泼掉？难道就因为我一贫如洗、默默无闻、长相平庸、个子瘦小，就没有灵魂和心肠了？你想错了！我的心灵跟你一样丰富，我的心胸跟你一样充实！要是上帝赐予我一点姿色和财富，我会使你难以离开我，就像现在我很难离开你一样。我不是根据习俗、常规，甚至也不是血肉之躯同你说话，而是我的灵魂同你的灵魂在对话，就仿佛我们两人穿过坟墓，站在上帝脚下，彼此平等，本来就如此！” 注释retortrit:t: to present a counterargument to 反驳，反击 automaton:tmtn: 机器人morselm:sl: a small piece of food（食物）一口，少量 snatchsnt: 攫取dash: 泼溅 mortalm:tl: 人类的obscurebskju: of undistinguished or humble station or reputation 身份卑微的conventionalityknvennliti: the rules of conventional social behavior 惯例，俗套，老一套grave: 墓穴，坟墓 作者简介Charlotte Bronte (1816-1854) 夏洛蒂.勃朗特的简.爱通过简.爱的自述，描绘了一个出身贫苦家庭、长相平凡、无依无靠的家庭女教师的曲折遭遇。简成为纯洁、热情、坦率、爱好真理、敢于追求幸福的女性的象征，因而形象鲜明。作品成功之处还在于作者对人性的描述中，我们隐约看到了自己或卑劣或美丽的人性，而觉得心有戚戚焉。英语名篇名段背诵精华 Letter to a Young Friend 给年轻朋友的一封信婚姻就像个杯子，提供个容器，把男人和女人放在一起，依靠相互的渗透，让这本来很苦的生活散出点香味儿来。My dear friendI know of no Medicine fit to diminish the violent natural inclination you mention; and if I did, I think I should not communicate it to you. Marriage is the proper Remedy. It is the most natural State of Man, and therefore the state in which you will find solid Happiness. Your Reason against entering into it at present appears to be not well founded. The Circumstantial Advantages you have in view by Postponing it, are not only uncertain, but they are small in comparison with the Thing itself, the being married and settled. It is the Man and Woman united that makes the complete human Being, Separate she wants his force of Body and Strength of Reason; he her Softness, Sensibility and acute Discernment. Together they are most likely to succeed in the World. A single man has not nearly the value he would have in that State of Union. He is an incomplete Animal. He resembles the odd Half of a Pair of Scissors.If you get a prudent, health wife, your Industry in your Profession, with her good Economy, will be a Fortune sufficient.Your Affectionate FriendExcept from Advice to a Friend on Choosing a Mistress by Benjamin Franklin翻译：亲爱的朋友：我知道没有药物能够消除你们所提到的那种疯狂的自然倾向；即使我知道,我想我也不该告诉你。婚姻是适当的药物。它是人类最本能的状态, 因此是一种最幸福的生活状态。你拒绝现在进入婚姻殿堂的理由显的不够充分。你认为推迟婚姻可能存在好处，不仅不一定实现，而且，那些利益跟婚姻本身以及婚后的安定相比起来就微不足道了。男人和女人只有联合起来才能组成完整的人。女人缺乏男人的力量和周密的推理，而男人缺乏女人的温柔、感性和敏锐的洞察力。因此当男人和女人联合起来，就能够无往不胜。单身和离婚生活的男男女女不可能具有婚姻生活中的价值，是一种不完善的动物。他简直好比半把剪刀-孤掌难鸣。如果你拥有一位健康而谨慎的妻子，你的辛勤工作，加上她的勤俭节约，必定会创造充足的财富。您真挚的朋友 注释circumstantial advantages: 可能的利益 he her softness: 男人缺乏女人的温柔作者简介Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)本杰明.富兰克林，资本主义精神最完美的代表，18世纪美国最伟大的科学家，著名的政治家和文学家。独立战争爆发后，他参加了第二届大陆会议和独立宣言的起草工作。 英语名篇名段背诵精华The meaning of life生命的意义生命的意义是什么？这似乎已成为千古的话题，每个人在无意间或寂寞时往往会想起这个永恒的话题。这是许多人共有的心路历程。Life is never just being. It is becoming, a relentless flowing on. Our parents live on through us, and we will live on through our children. The institutions we build endure, and we will endure through them. The beauty we fashion cannot be dimmed by death. Our flesh may perish, our hands will wither, but that which they create in beauty and goodness and truth lives on for all time to come.Dont spend and waste your lives accumulating objects that will only turn to dust and ashes. Pursue not so much the material as the ideal, for ideals alone invest life with meaning and are of enduring worth. Add love to a house and you have a home. Add righteousness to a city and you have a community. Add truth to a pile of red brick and you have a school. Add religion to the humblest of edifices and you have a sanctuary. Add justice to the far-flung round of human endeavor and you have civilization. Put them all together, exalt them above their present imperfections, add to them the vision of humankind redeemed, forever free of need and strife and you have a future lighted with the radiant colors of hope. By J. B. Priestly翻译：生命从来不仅仅是存在。它是一个逐渐变化发展的过程，它无情地流逝着。我们的父母通过我们二延续生命，而我们则通过我们的子女而延续它。我们建立的制度、习俗会延续下去，而我们也会通过他们延续。我们创造的美丽不会因死亡而变得暗淡。我们的肉体可能会消亡，我们的双手将干枯，但是人们用美丽、善良和正直所创造的一切将永葆生机。不要消耗并浪费你的生命去积累那些只会化作尘土与灰烬的东西。不要过分地追求物质，而是应将理想作为目标，只有理想才能赋予生命以意义并具有历久不衰的价值。将爱赋予一座房子，你便会拥有一个家。将正义赋予一座城市，你将赢得全城的居民。将真理赋予那一堆红砖，你便拥有一所学校。给最简陋的大厦添加宗教信仰，你便拥有一座圣殿。将公正赋予久远而漫长的整个人类事业，你会拥有文明。把上面这些汇合成一个整体，改善他们目前尚不完善的方面，赋予到人类赎罪自新的憧憬里，使其永远地摆脱贫困和争斗的煎熬，这样，你会拥有一个被绚丽希望点亮的未来。注释relentlessrilentlis:无情的，不宽容的 perishperi: t使毁灭；摧毁edificeedifis: 大厦，大建筑物 sanctuarysktjuri:避难所exaltigz:lt,eg-: 加强，增加的效果或加强，增高作者简介John Boynton Priestley (1894-1984) 约翰.博因顿.普里斯特利（1894-1984），英国剧作家、小说家、批评家，其作品广泛为英语国家所知。1929年出版代表作流浪汉小说好伙伴，1931年与诺布洛克合作将其改编成同名剧本，后又拍成影片，并于1974年改编为音乐剧，于是成为当时最有吸引力的剧作家之一。英语名篇名段背诵精华 Did You Deal With Fortune Fairly 你对命运公平吗你是否感叹过命运对你不公？你是否从未想过站在命运的立场上问问自己：你对命运公平吗？Most people complain of fortune, few of nature; and the kinder they think the latter has been to them, the more they murmur at what they call the injustice of the former.Why have not I the riches, the rank, the power, of such and such, is the common expostulation with fortune; but why have not I the merit, the talents, the wit, or the beauty, of such and such others, is a reproach rarely or never made to nature.The truth is, that nature, seldom profuse, and seldom niggardly, has distributed her gifts more equally than she is generally supposed to have done. Education and situation make the great difference. Culture improves, and occasions elicit, natural talents. I make no doubt but that there are potentially, if I may use that pedantic word, many Bacons, Lockes, Newtons, Caesars, Cromwells, and Mariboroughs at the ploughtail, behind counters, and, perhaps, even among the nobility; but the soil must be cultivated, and the season favourable, for the fruit to have all its spirit and flavour.If sometimes our common parent has been a little partial, and not kept the scales quite even; if one preponderates too much, we throw into the lighter a due counterpoise of vanity, which never fails to set all right. Hence it happens, that hardly any one man would, without reverse, and in every particular, change with any other.Though all are thus satisfied with the dispensations of nature, how few listen to her voice! How to follow her as a guide! In vain she points out to us the plain and direct way to truth, vanity, fancy, affection, and fashion assume her shape, and wind us through fairy-ground to folly and error.Except from Upon Affectation by Lord Chesterfield翻译：很多人抱怨命运，却很少有人抱怨自然；人们越是认为自然对他们仁爱有加，便越是嘀咕命运对他们的所谓不公。人们常常对命运发出诘难：我为何没有财富、地位、权力以及诸如此类的东西；但人们却很少或从不这样责怪过自然：我为何没有长处、天赋、机智或美丽以及诸如此类的东西。事实是，自然总是将天赋公平地分配给人们，比人们通常认为的还要不偏不倚，很少过分地慷慨，也很少吝啬。人与人之间的巨大差异是由于教育和环境使然。文化修养改良了天赋，机遇环境诱发了天赋。如果允许我用“潜在的”这个学究味浓重的词的话，我们并不怀疑在农田耕作，在柜台后营业，甚至在豪门贵族中间有很多潜在的培根们、洛克们、牛顿们、凯撒们、克伦威尔们和马尔伯勒们；但是要使果实具有它全部的品质和风味，还必须有耕耘过的泥土，必须有适宜的季节。倘若大自然有时候有那么一点偏心，没有将天平摆正；倘若有一头过重，我们就会在轻的一头投上一枚大小适当的虚荣的砝码，它每次都会将天平重新调平，从不出差错。因此就出现了这种情况：几乎没有人会毫无保留地和另一个人里里外外全部对换一下。虽然对于自然的分配，人人都感到满意；然而肯听听她的忠告的人却是如此之少!能将她当作向导而跟随其后的人又是如此之少!她徒然地为我们指出一条通向真理的笔直的坦途；而虚荣、幻想、矫情、时髦却俨然以她的面貌出现，By Winston Churchill注释niggardly nigdli: 吝啬的，小气的 pedantic pidntik: 迂腐的，学究式的preponderate pripndreit: 占优势的，超过，胜过 counterpoise kauntpiz: 平均，平衡dispensation dispensein: the act of dispensing 分配 作者简介Lord Chesterfield (1694-1773), 切斯特菲尔德勋爵，英国著名政治家、外交家及文学家。他曾就读于剑桥大学，并游学欧洲大陆，1726年继承爵位，1728年出使荷兰，曾任爱尔兰总督及国务大臣等职位。并与他同时代的文学家波普、艾略特、爱迪生、斯威夫特等国王甚密。切斯特菲尔德勋爵留给世人最宝贵的财富，是他集几十年的心血，写个儿子菲利普.斯坦霍普及教子的信。在他的谆谆教诲下，其子也成为一名杰出的外交家。英语名篇名段背诵精华 Three passions 三种激情三种激情，质朴而又十分强烈，一直支配着我的人生，即对爱的渴望、对知识的求索和对人类苦难的无限怜悯。当我读到这一句，我就深深为之吸引了。Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course, over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.I have sought love, first, because it brings ecstasy - ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of my life for a few hours for this joy. I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness - that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, in a mystic miniature, the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought, and though it might seem too good for human life, this is what - at last -I have found.With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this, but not much, I have achieved.Love and knowledge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people a hated burden to their sons, and the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer.This has been my life. I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again if the chance were offered me.Except from What I Have Lived For by Bertrand Russell翻译：有三种质朴而又十分强烈的激情一直支配着我的人生，这就是对爱的渴望、对知识的求索和对人类苦难的无限怜悯。这三种激情，有如狂飙挟我四海漂泊，游移不定，直至苦海的深渊，濒临绝望的边缘。我寻求爱，首先在于爱能带来狂喜它是如此令人心醉神迷，我愿舍弃余生来换取在片刻的欢乐；我寻求爱，还因为爱你消除孤独那种当一个颤抖的灵魂从世界的边缘透视那冰冷、荒凉的无尽深渊时感到的那种孤独；此外，我所以寻求爱，还因为在爱的交融中，我看见了圣者和诗人所预想的天堂景象的神秘缩影，这正是我心中之所求，虽然人生似乎难臻此境，我最终却不负所求。我怀着同样的激情来探索知识。我希望能够理解众人之心，我渴望了解星星缘何闪光，我也曾努力领会毕达哥拉斯赋予数的力量主宰万物流变之力。我虽未创斐然之绩，却也还算小有所成。爱和知识竭力引导着我超凡入圣，但怜悯又把我拉回了凡尘。声声悲号在我心中回响不绝。饥饿的孩子、惨遭压迫的苦难者、因依附儿子而被视为可憎重负的无助老人以及整个孤独、贫闲好痛苦的世界是对人们理想人生的嘲讽。我渴望减轻罪恶，