英语名篇佳作100篇背诵手册(中英文对照版)

英语名篇佳作100篇背诵手册Content1 If I Were a Boy Again42 Ways of Communication53 The Fight against Youth Smoking64 The Value of Time75 Touchy Topics76 What Money Is For?87 I Dread the End of the Year98 Education a Means to an End109 Air Jordan1010 On My Mothers Birthday1111 The Polar Bears1112 Blood, Toil, Sweat and Tears1213 Science a Way of Thinking1314 Are These the Best Years of Your Life?1415 Abraham Lincoln1516 Autumn the Harvest Season1517 All Work and No Play Makes Jack a Dull Boy1618 Sleep and Your Life1619 Accurate or Polite?1720 Sweet and Low1821 The Media1822 What Is the Best Time to Exercise for Energy?1923 Advertising2024 How to Behave in an Interview2025 Television2126 The Importance of English2227 Dont Give Up2328 Football2329 How to Solve Personal Problems2430 Song2531 Colour and Life2532 The Personal Qualities of a Teacher2633 Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan2734 Crowded EarthBillions More Coming2835 Grandmas Childhood2836 Something Better than Money2937 Companionship of Books3038 Inaugural Speech by HKSAR Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa(I)3139 Inaugural Speech by HKSAR Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa23240 The Fountain3341 Active Play or Passive Entertainment?3342 Collectinga Serious Hobby3443 On Idleness3544 Time Spent in a Bookshop3645 Only a Madman Would Live in a City3746 Living a Long Life3847 Bill Gates Tips on the Makings of a Good Manager ( I )3948 Bill Gates Tips on the Makings of a Good Manager (2)4049 Gettysburg Address4150 Candle in the Wind4151 Youth4252 Pain and Growth4353 Four Freedoms4454 Knowing the Consequences of Choice (I)4555 Knowing the Consequences of Choice (2)4656 Secrets of Straight-A Students (I)4757 Secrets of Straight-A Students (II)4758 Bill Clintons Remark at Beijing University (I)4859 Bill Clintons Remark at Beijing University (II)4960 A Red, Red Rose5161 How to Avoid Foolish Opinions5162 Cloning5263 The Delights of Books5364 Exercises and Energy5365 Friendship5466 First Snow5567 The Generation Gap5568 Greening Our Future (I)5669 Greening Our Future (II)5770 When We Two Parted5871 The Nature of Happiness5972 Kindness to Animals5973 Reading for Pleasure6074 Freedom6175 Spell of the Rising Moon6276 Winners6377 Losers6478 Peace in the Atomic Age6579 Three Days to See6680 The Daffodils6781 The Aim of a University Education (I)6882 The Aim of a University Education (II)6883 Work Done for Humanity6984 Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death7085 The Declaration of Independence7186 The Glamor of Hollywood7187 Every Living Person Has Problems7288 Crime7389 Spring, the Resurrection Time7490 Stopping by Woods on a Snowing Evening7591 Glories of the Storm (I)7692 Glories of the Storm (II)7693 The Ugly Americans7794 Cambridgethe University Town7895 Civilization and History7996 The United Nations8097 The Enchantment of Creeks8198 I Have a Dream (I)8299 I Have a Dream (II)83100 She Walks in Beauty84 1 If I Were a Boy AgainIf I were a boy again, I would practise perseverance oftener, and never give up a thing because it was hard or inconvenient. If we want light, we must conquer darkness. Perseverance can sometimes equal genius in its results. There are only two creatures, says a proverb, who can surmount the pyramidsthe eagle and the snail.If I were a boy again, I would school myself into a habit of attention; 1 would let nothing come between me and the subject in hand. I would remember that a good skater never tries to skate in two directions at once. The habit of attention becomes part of our life, if we begin early enough. I often hear grown-up people say, I could not fix my attention on the lecture or book, although I wished to do so, and the reason is, the habit was not formed in youth.If I were to live my life over again, I would pay more attention to the cultivation of the memory. I would strengthen that faculty by every possible means, and on every possible occasion. It takes a little hard work at first to remember things accurately; but memory soon helps itself, and gives very little trouble. It only needs early cultivation to become a power.If I were a boy again, I would look on the cheerful side. Life is very much like a mirror: if you smile upon it, it smiles back upon you; but if you frown and look doubtful on it, you will get a similar look in return.Inner sunshine warms not only the heart of the owner, but of all that come in contact with it. Who shuts love out, in turn shall be shut from love.If I were a boy again, 1 would school myself to say No oftener. 1 might write pages on the importance of learning very early in life to gain that point where a young boy can stand erect, and decline doing an unworthy act because it is unworthy.If I were a boy again, I would demand of myself more courtesy towards my companions and friends, and indeed towards strangers as well. The smallest courtesies along the rough roads of life are life the little birds that sing to us all winter long, and make that season of ice and snow more endurable.Finally, instead of trying hard to be happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, if I were a boy again, try still harder to make others happy. Words: 428 2 Ways of CommunicationWhen you speak, write a letter, or make a telephone call, your words carry a message. People communicate with words. But do you know people also communicate without words? A smile on your face shows you are happy or friendly. Tears in your eyes tell others that you are sad. When you raise your hand in class, the teacher knows you want to say something or ask questions. You shake your head and people know you are saying No. You nod and people know you are saying Yes.Other things can also carry messages. For example, a sign at the bus stop helps you to know which bus to take. A sign on the wall of your school helps you to find the library. Signs on the doors tell you where to go in or out. Have you ever noticed that there are a lot of signs around you and that you receive messages from them all the time?People can communicate in many other ways. An artist can use his drawings to tell about beautiful mountains, the blue seas and many other things. Books are written to tell you about all the wonderful things in the world and what other people are thinking about. Words: 2083 The Fight against Youth SmokingSince I took office Ive done everything in my power to protect our children from harm. Weve worked to make their streets and their schools safer, to give them something positive to do after school and before their parents get home. Weve worked to teach our children that drugs are dangerous, illegal and wrong.Today, I want to talk to you about the historic opportunity we now have to protect our nations children from an even more deadly threat: smoking. Smoking kills more people every day than AIDS, alcohol, car accidents, murders, suicides, drugs and fires combined. Nearly 90 percent of those smokers lit their first cigarette before they turned 18. Consider this: 3,000 children start to smoke every day illegally, and 1,000 of them will die sooner because of it.This is a national tragedy that every American should be honor-bound to help prevent. For more than five years weve worked to stop our children from smoking before they start, launching a nationwide campaign to educate them about the dangers of smoking, to reduce their access to tobacco products, and to severely restrict tobacco companies from advertising to young people. If we do these, well cut teen smoking by almost half over the next five years. That means if we act now, we have it in our power to stop 3 million children from smokingand to save a million lives as a result.4 The Value of TimeTime, says the proverb, is money. This means that every moment well-spent may put some money into our pockets. If our time is usefully employed, it will either turn out some useful and important piece of work which will fetch its price in the market, or it will add to our experience and increase our capacities so as to enable us to earn money when the proper opportunity comes. Let those, who think nothing of wasting time, remember this.Our life is nothing more than our time. To kill time is therefore a form of suicide. We are shocked when we think of death, and we spare no pains, no trouble, and no expense to preserve life. But we are too often indifferent to the loss of an hour or of a day, forgetting that our life is the sum total of the days and of the hours we live. A day or an hour wasted is therefore so much life forfeited. Our life is a brief span measuring some seventy or eighty years in all. But nearly one third of this has to be spent in sleep; some years have to be spent over our meals; some in making journeys on land and voyages by sea; some in merrymaking; some in watching over the sick-beds of our nearest and dearest relatives. Now if all these years were to be deducted from the term over which our life extends, we shall find about twenty or thirty years at our disposal for active work. Whoever remembers this can never willingly waste a single moment of his life.All time is precious; but the time of our childhood and of our youth is more precious than any other portion of our existence. For those are the periods when alone we can acquire knowledge and develop our capacities. If we allow these morning hours of life to slip away, we shall never be able to recoup the loss. Just as money laid out at interest doubles and trebles itself in time, so the precious hours of childhood and youth, if properly used, will yield us incalculable advantages. Words: 358forfeit / 5fR:fIt/ 5 Touchy TopicsImmediately after introductions are made there is usually a period of time in which impersonal or trivial subjects are discussed. This type of conversation, called small talk, is important because it often helps to keep conversations and can lead into interesting discussions.Usually people start small talk by asking about things like family, work, school or sports. They ask each other questions like Do you live in this area? Do you have any brothers or sisters? Where do you work? What school do you go to? and Do you like sports?. It is also common for people to ask such questions as Where do you come from? How do you like living here? and What do you do?. These are polite questions. They are not personal or private. But it is uncommon and considered impolite to ask questions about a persons salary, such as How much money do you make?. They dont ask how much money someone paid for something, for example, How much does your house cost?. It is OK to ask children how old they are, but it is not polite to ask older people about their age, especially women. It is not polite to ask people questions about politics or religion either unless you know them very well. People dont ask unmarried people, Why are you single?, and they dont ask a married couple with no children, Why dont you have any children?. These are generally considered too personal for first meetings. Words: 249 6 What Money Is For?Money is a blessing when it is used rightly. The same is true of all other good things. They bless if used well; they curse when abused. Many people do not seem to know what money is for. They want it above all things. But they want it to spend chiefly on themselves.Some boys appear to think that money is to buy good clothes and foods, toys and amusements. Some also seem to think that money is to buy leisure with. They consider that the highest happiness is to live without work. But that is not at all what money is for. We should get nearer the truth than that.Money is our circulating medium in trade. Families need it to buy things they must have. In this way society exists, and the world of traffic prospers. Money means food, clothing, dwelling schools, books, wise recreation, and the means of doing good.Of course money is not something to hoard. Its value is in its use. A million gold dollars would have been worth no more than a million stones to Robinson Crusoe on his island home. There was nothing to buy, and therefore, no use for money. And so money that is simply hoarded is of no value. It does not purchase the necessaries of life, nor relieve those who are in want. That is not what money is for. The Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil. That is money sought for its own sake is the cause of all sorts of evillying, stealing, cheating, robbery, and even murder. This is the best reason for avoiding the love of money. Words: 284 7 I Dread the End of the YearI dread to come to the end of the year, said a friend to me recently, it makes me realize I am growing old.William James, the great psychologist, said that most men are old fogies at twenty-five. He was right. Most men at twenty-five are satisfied with their jobs. They have accumulated the little stock of prejudices that they call their principles , and closed their minds to all new ideas; they have ceased to grow.The minute a man ceases to growno matter what his yearsthat minute he begins to be old. On the other hand, the really great man never grows old.Goethe passed out at eighty-three, and finished his Faust only a few years earlier; Gladstone took up a new language when he was seventy. Laplace, the astronomer, was still at work when death caught up with him at seventy-eight. He died crying, What we know is nothing; what we do not know is immense.And there you have the real answer to the question, When is a man old?Laplace at seventy-eight died young. He was still unsatisfied, still sure that he had a lot to learn.As long as a man can keep himself in that attitude of mind, as long as he can look back on every year and say, I grew, he is still young.The minute he ceases to grow, the minute he says to himself, I know all that I need to know, that day youth stops. He may be twenty-five or seventy-five, it makes no difference. On that day he begins to be old. Words: 2748 Education a Means to an EndEducation is not an end, but a means to an end. In other words, we do not educate children only for the purpose of educating them; our purpose is to fit them for life. As soon as we realize this fact, we will understand that it is very important to choose a good way of education which will really prepare children for life.In many modem countries it has for some time been fashionable to think that, by free education for all whether rich or poor, clever or stupid one can solve all the problems of society and build a perfect nation. But we can already see that free education for all is not enough: we find in such countries a far larger number of people with university degrees than there are jobs for them to fill. Because of their degree, they refused to do what they think low work; and in fact, work with hands is thought to be dirty and shameful in such countries.But we have to understand that the work of a completely uneducated farmer is more important than that of a professor in a way: we can live without education, but we die if we have no food. If no one cleaned our streets and took the rubbish away from our houses, we should get terrible diseases in our towns. In countries where there are no servants because nobody is willing to do such work, the professors have to waste much of their time doing housework.In fact, when we say that all of us must be educated to fit us for life, it means that we must be educated in such a way that, firstly, each of us can do whatever job is suited to his brain and ability, and secondly, that we can realize that all jobs are necessary to society, and that it is very bad to be unwilling to do ones work, or to laugh at someone elses. Only such a type of education can be called valuable to society. Words: 3459 Air JordanSports fans all over the world recognize the name of Michael Jordan. From Taiwan to Tennessee, kids wear clothes with his picture on them. Jerseys with his number 23 on the front, jackets with the Bulls logo on the back, and Air Jordan athletic shoes all reflect the fame of this superstar. Michael Jordan has become the most famous attraction of the worlds favorite spectator sport.Michael Jordan was born in 1963 in Brooklyn, New York. Growing up, Michael did not look like a future superstar. He was very shy and didnt like to talk to other people about himself. He was also very short. He showed little promise of having a future career in basketball. When he tried out for the freshman team in high school, Michael didnt make it. The next year, however, after a large growth spurt, he made the team. The rest is history.Michaels road to fame began at the University of North Carolina. He brought an acrobatic style to the game that few had seen before. Michael used his quickness and strength to reach the basket again and again. He became famous for his powerful slam dunk. Basketball fans from all over the world began to take notice. One reporter wrote that when Michael went up to dunk the basketball, it looked like he could fly. He was given the nickname “Air Jordan”. Words: 23110 On My Mothers BirthdayClad in all their brightest green, This day the verdant fields are seen;The tuneful birds begin their lay, To celebrate thy natal day.The breeze is still, the sea is calm, And the whole scene combines to charm;The flowers revive, this charming May Because it is thy natal day.The sky is blue, the day serene, And only pleasure now is seen;The rose, the pink, the tulip gay, Combine to bless thy natal day.11 The Polar BearsWhen did you last see a polar bear? On a trip to a zoo, perhaps? If you had attended a winter activity in New York a few years ago, you would have seen a whole polar bear club. These Polar Bears are people who meet frequently in the winter to swim in freezing cold water. That day, the air temperature was 3 , and the water temperature was a bit higher. The members of the Polar Bear Club at Coney Island, New York, are usually about the age of 60. Members must satisfy two requirements. First, they must get along with everyone else in the group; this is very important because there are so many different kinds of people in the club. Polar Bears must also agree to swim outdoors at least twice a month from November through February-Doctors do not agree about the medical effect of cold water swimming. Some are worried about the dangerous condition in which the bodys temperature drops so low that finally the heart stops.The Polar Bears themselves are satisfied with the benefits of cold-water swimming. They say that their favorite form of exercise is very good for the circulatory system because it forces the blood to move fast to keep the body warm. Cold-water swimmers usually turn bright red after a few minutes in the water.The main benefits of cold-water swimming are probably mental. The Polar Bears love to swim year-round; they find it fun and relaxing. As one 70-year-old woman says, When I go into the water, I pour my troubles into the ocean and let them float away.” Words:274 12 Blood, Toil, Sweat and Tears In this crisis I think I may be pardoned if I do not address the House at any length today, and I hope that any of my friends and colleagues or former colleagues who are affected by the political reconstruction will make all allowances for any lack of ceremony with which it has been necessary to act. I say to the House as I said to Ministers who have joined this government, I have nothing to offer but blo