英语美文背诵文选100篇

英语美文背诵文选100篇

1. The First Snow

The first snow came. How beautiful it was, falling so silently all day long, all night long, on the mountains, on the meadows, on the roofs on the living, on the graves of the dead! All white save the river, that marked its course be a winding black line across the landscape; and the leafless tress, that against the leaden sky now revealed more fully the wonderful beauty and intricacies of their branches. What silence, too, came with the snow, and what seclusion! Every sound was muffled, every noise changed to something soft and musical. No more tramping hoofs, no more rattling wheels! Only the chiming of sleigh-bell, beating as swift and merrily as the hearts of children. (118 words)

From Kavanagh

By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

2. The Humming-bird

Of all animals being this is the most elegant in form and the most brilliant in colors. The stones and metals polished by our arts are not comparable to this jewel of Nature. She has placed it least in size of the order of birds. "maxime Miranda in minimis." Her masterpiece is this little humming-bird, and upon it she has heaped all the gifts which the other birds may only share. Lightness, rapidity, nimbleness, grace, and rich apparel all belong to this little favorite. The emerald, the ruby, and the topaz gleam upon its dress. It never soils them with the dust of earth, and in its aerial life scarcely touches the turf an instant. Always in the air, flying from flower to flower, it has their freshness as well as their brightness. It lives upon their nectar, and dwells only in the climates where they perennially bloom. (149 words)

From Natural History

By George Louise Buffon

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3. Pines

The pine, placed nearly always among scenes disordered and desolate, bring into them all possible elements of order and precision. Lowland trees may lean to this side and that, though it is but a meadow breeze that bends them or a bank of cowlips from which their trunks lean aslope. But let storm and avalanche do their worst, and let the pine find only a ledge of vertical precipice to cling to, it will nevertheless grow straight. Thrust a rod from its last shoot down the stem; it shall point to the center of the earth as long as the tree lives. It may be well also for lowland branches to reach hither and thither for what they need, and to take all kinds of irregular shape and extension. But the pine is trained to need nothing and endure everything. It is resolvedly whole, self-contained, desiring nothing but rightness, content with restricted completion. Tall or short, it will be straight. (160 words)

From Modern Painters

By John Ruskin

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4. Reading Good Books

Devote some of your leisure, I repeat, to cultivating a love of reading good books. Fortunate indeed are those who contrive to make themselves genuine book-lovers. For book lovers have some noteworthy advantages over other people. They need never know lonely hours so long as

they have books around them, and the better the books the more delightful the company. From good books, moreover, they draw much besides entertainment. They gain mental food such as few companions can supply. Even while resting from their labors they are, through the books they read, equipping themselves to perform those labors more efficiently. This albeit they may not be deliberately reading to improve their mind. All unconsciously the ideas they derive from the printed paged are stored up, to be worked over by the imagination for future profit.

(135 words)

From Self-Development

By Henry Addington Bruce

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5. On Etiquette

Etiquette to society is what apparel is to the individual. Without apparel men would go in shameful nudity which would surely lead to the corruption of morals; and without etiquette society would be in a pitiable state and the necessary intercourse between its members would be interfered with by needless offences and troubles. If society were a train, the etiquette would be the rails along which only the train could rumble forth; if society were a state coach, the etiquette would be the wheels and axis on which only the coach could roll forward. The lack of proprieties would make the most intimate friends turns to be the most decided enemies and the friendly or allied countries declare war against each other. We can find many examples in the history of mankind. Therefore I advise you to stand on ceremony before anyone else and to take pains not to do anything against etiquette lest you give offences or make enemies. (160 words)

by William Hazlitt

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6. An Hour Before Sunrise

An hour before sunrise in the city there is an air of cold. Solitary desolation about the noiseless streets, which we are accustomed to see thronged at other times by a busy, eager crowd, and over the quiet, closely shut buildings which throughout the day are warming with life. The drunken, the dissipated, and the criminal have disappeared; the more sober and orderly part of the population have not yet awakened to the labors of the day, and the stillness of death is over streets; its very hue seems to be imparted to them, cold and lifeless as they look in the gray, somber light of daybreak. A partially opened bedroom window here and there bespeaks the heat of the weather and the uneasy slumbers of its occupant; and the dim scanty flicker of a light through the blinds of yonder windows denotes the chamber of watching and sickness. Save for that sad light, the streets present no signs of life, nor the houses of habitation. (166 words)

From Boz

By Charles Dickens

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7. The Importance of Scientific Experiments

The rise of modern science may perhaps be considered to date as far as the time of Roger Bacon, the wonderful monk and philosopher of Oxford, who lived between the years 1214 and 1292. He was probable the first in the middle ages to assert that we must learn science by observing and experimenting on the things around us, and he himself made many remarkable discoveries. Galileo, however who lived more than 300 years later (1564 to 1642), was the greatest of several great men, who in Italy, France, Germany or England, began by degrees to show how many

important truths could be discovered by well-directed observation. Before the time of Galileo, learned men believed that large bodies fall more rapidly towards the earth than small ones, because Aristotle said so. But Galileo, going to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, let fall two unequal stones, and proved to some friends, whom he had brought there to see his experiment, that Aristotle was in error. It is Galileo's sprit of going direct to Nature, and verifying our opinions and theories by experiment, that has led to all the great discoveries of modern science.

(196 words)

From Logic

By William Stanley Jevons

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8. Address at Gettysburg

Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, ca n long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate-we cannot consecrate-we cannot hallow-this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, heave consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that form these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. (268 words)

By Abraham Lincoln

9. A Little Girl (1)

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 shi in watching the cloud to which her strange song or incantation and went towards her. Over her head, high up in the blue, a lark that was soaring towards the same gauzy could 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 uncommonly lovely. (159 words)

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10. A Little Girl (2)

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 tome 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. (129 words)

(302 words)

From Aylwin

by Theodore Watts-Dunton

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11. Choosing an Occupation

Hodeslea, Eastbourne,

November 5, 1892

Dear Sir,

I am very sorry that the pressure of other occupations has prevented me form sending an earlier reply to your letter.

In my opinion a man's first duty is to find a way of supporting himself, thereby relieving other people of the necessity of supporting him. Moreover, the learning to so work of practical value in the world, in an exact and careful manner, is of itself, a very important education the effects of which make themselves felt in all other pursuits. The habit of doing that which you do not dare about when you would much rather be doing something else, is invaluable. It would have saved me a frightful waste of time if I had ever had it drilled into me in youth.

Success in any scientific career requires an unusual equipment of capacity, industry, and energy. If you possess that equipment, you will find leisure enough after your daily commercial work is over, to make an opening in the scientific ranks for yourself. If you do not, you had better stick to commerce. Nothing is less to be desired than the fate of a young man who, as the Scotch proverb says, in 'trying to make a spoon spoils a horn," and becomes a mere hanger-on in literature or in science, when he might have been a useful and a valuable member of Society in other occupations.

I think that your father ought to see this letter. (244 words)

Yours faithfully

T.H. Huxley

From Life and Letters of Thomas Henry Huxley

By Leonard Huxley

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12. An Important Aspect of College Life

It is perfectly possible to organize the life of our colleges in such a way that students and teachers alike will take part in it; in such a way that a perfectly natural daily intercourse will be established between them; and it is only by such an organization that they can be given real vitality as places of serious training, be made communities in which youngsters will come fully to realize how interesting intellectual work is, how vital, how important, how closely associated with all modern achievement-only by such an organization that study can be made to seem part of life itself. Lectures often seem very formal and empty things; recitations generally proved very dull and unrewarding. It is in conversation and natural intercourse with scholars chiefly that you find how lively knowledge is, how it ties into everything that is interesting and important, how intimate a part it is of every thing that is interesting and important, how intimate a part it is of everything that

is "practical" and connected with the world. Men are not always made thoughtful by books; but they are generally made thoughtful by association with men who think. (195 words)

By Woodrow Wilson

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13. Night (1)

Night has fallen over the country. Through the trees rises the red moon, and the stars are scarcely seen. In the vast shadow of night the coolness and the dews descend. I sit at the open window to enjoy them; and hear only the voice of the summer wind. Like black hulks, the shadows of the great trees ride at anchor on the billowy sea of grass. I cannot see the red and blue flowers, but I know that they are there. Far away in the meadow gleams the silver Charles. The tramp of horses' hoofs sounds from the wooden bridge. Then all is still save the continuous wind or the sound of the neighboring sea. The village clock strikes; and I feel that I am not alone.

(128 words)

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14. Night (2)

How different it is in the city! It is late, and the crowd is gone. You step out upon the balcony, and lie in the very bosom of the cool, dewy night as if you folded her garments about you. Beneath lies the public walk with trees, like a fathomless, black gulf, into whose silent beloved spirit clasped in its embrace. The lamps are still burning up and down the long street. People go by with grotesque shadows, now foreshortened, and now lengthening away into the darkness and vanishing, while a new one springs up behind the walker, and seems to pass him revolving like the sail of a windmill. The iron gates of the park shut with a jangling clang. There are footsteps and loud voices; --a tumult; --a drunken brawl; --an alarm of fire; --then silence again. And now at length the city is asleep, and we can see the night. The belated moon looks over the roofs, and finds no one to welcome her. The moonlight is broken. It lies here and there in the squares, and the opening of the streets-angular like blocks of white marble. (195 words)

(323 words)

By Nathanial Hawthorne

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15. An October Sunrise (1)

I was up the next morning before the October sunrise, and away through the wild and the woodland. The rising of the sun was noble in the cold and warmth of it; peeping down the spread of light, he raised his shoulder heavily over the edge of gray mountain and wavering length of upland. Beneath his gaze the dew-fogs dipped and crept to the hollow places, then stole away in line and column, holding skirts and cling subtly at the sheltering corners where rock hung over grass-land, while the brave lines of the hills came forth, one beyond other gliding.

The woods arose in folds, like drapery of awakened mountains, stately with a depth of awe, and memory of the tempests. Autumn's mellow hand was upon them, as they owned already, touched with gold and red and olive, and their joy towards the sun was less to a bridegroom than a father. (152 words)

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16. An October Sunrise (2)

Yet before the floating impress of the woods could clear itself, suddenly the gladsome light leaped over hill and valley, casting amber, blue, and purple, and a tint of rich red rose, according to the

scene they lit on, and the curtain flung around; yet all alike dispelling fear and the coven hoof of darkness, all on the wings of hope advancing, and proclaiming, "God is here!" Then life and joy sprang reassured from every crouching hollow; every flower and bud and bird had a fluttering sense of them, and all the flashing of God's gaze merged into soft beneficence.

So, perhaps, shall break upon us that eternal morning, when crag and chasm shall be no more, neither hill and valley, nor great unvintaged ocean; when glory shall not scare happiness, neither happiness envy glory; but all things shall arise, and shine in the light of the Father's countenance, because itself is risen. (153 words)

(305 words)

By Richard D. Blackmore

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17. Of Studies (1)

Studies serve for delight, for ornamental, and for ability. Their chief use for delight, in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar. They perfect nature, natural plants, that need proyning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. (157 words)

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18. Of Studies (2)

Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted; others to swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; an if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. (170 words)

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19. Of Studies (3)

Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores. Nay there is no stond or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out by fit studies: like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if a man's wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one

thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers' cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt. (163 words)

(490 words)

By Francis Bacon

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20. Books (1)

The good books of the hour, then, --I do not speak of the bad ones—is simply the useful or pleasant talk of some person whom you cannot otherwise converse with, printed for you. Very useful often, telling you what you need to know; very pleasant often, as a sensible friend's present talk would be. These bright accounts of travels; good-humoured and witty discussion of questions; lively or pathetic story-telling in the form of novel; firm fact-telling, by the real agents concerned in the events of passing history; --all these books of the hour, multiplying among us as education becomes more general, are a peculiar characteristic and possession of the present age: we ought to be entirely thankful for them, and entirely ashamed of ourselves if we make no good use of them. But we make the worse possible use, if we allow them to usurp the place of true books: for, strictly speaking, they are not books at all, but merely letters or newspapers in good print. Our friend's letter may be delightful, or necessary, today: whether worth keeping or not, is to be considered. (189 words)

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21. Books (2)

The newspaper may be entirely proper at breakfast time, but assuredly it is not reading for all day. So though bound up in a volume, the long letter which gives you so pleasant an account of the inns, the roads, and weather last year at such a place, or which tells you that amusing story, or gives you the real circumstances of such and such events, however valuable for occasional reference, may not be, in the real sense of the word, a "book" at all, nor, in the real sense, to be "read". A book is essentially not a talked thing, but a written thing; and written, not with the view of mere communication, but of permanence. The book of talk is printed only because its author cannot speak to thousands of people at once; if he could, he would-the volume is mere multiplication of his voice. You cannot talk to your friend in India; if you could, you would; you write instead: that is mere conveyance of voice. But a book is written, not to multiply the voice merely, not to carry it merely, but to preserve it. (190 words)

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22. Books (3)

The author has something to say which he perceives to be true and useful, or helpfully beautiful. So far as he knows, no one has yet said it; so far as he knows, no one else can say it. He is bound to say it, clearly and melodiously if he may; clearly, at all events. In the sum of his life he finds this to be the thing, or group of things, manifest to him; --this the piece of true knowledge, or sight, which his share of sunshine and earth has permitted him to seize. He would fain set it down for ever; engrave it on rock, if he could; saying, "this is the best of me; for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved and hated, like another; my life was as the vapour, and is not; but this I saw and knew: this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory, " That is his "writing"; it is, in his small human way, and with whatever degree of true inspiration is in him, his inscription, or scripture. That is a "Book". (186 words)

(565 words)

By John Ruskin

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24. The Value of Time (1)

"Time" 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. There can thus be no doubt that time is convertible into money. Let those who think nothing of wasting time, remember this; let them remember that an hour misspent is equivalent to the loss of a bank-note; an that an hour utilized is tantamount to so much silver or gold; and then they will probably think twice before they give their consent to the loss of any part of their time. Moreover, 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 of an hour wasted is therefore so much life forfeited. Let us bear this in mind, and waste of time will appear to us in the light of a crime as culpable as suicide itself. (250 words)

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25. The Value of Time (2)

There is a third consideration which will also tend to warn us against loss of time. Our life is a brief span measuring some sixty or seventy years in all, but nearly one half of this has to be spent in sleep; some years have to be spent over our meals; some over dressing and undressing; some in making journeys on land and voyages by sea; some in merry-making, either on our own account or for the sake of others; some in celebrating religious and social festivities; some in watching over the sick-beds of our nearest and dearest relatives. Now if all these years were to be deducted from the tern over which our life extends we shall find about fifteen or twenty years at our disposal for active work. Whoever remembers this can never willingly waste a single moment of his life. "It is astonishing" says Lord Chesterfield "that anyone can squander away in absolute idleness one single moment of that portion of time which is allotted to us in this world. Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it!" (187 words)

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26. The Value of Time (3)

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 faculties and capacities. If we allow these morning hours of life to slip away unutilized, we shall never be able to recoup the loss. As we grow older, our power of acquisition gets blunted, so that the art or science which is not acquired in childhood or youth will never be acquired at all. 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. "Every moment you lose" says Lord Chesterfield "is so much character and advantage lost; as on the other hand, every moment you now employ usefully is so much time wisely laid out at prodigious interest."

A proper employment of time is of great benefit to us from a moral point of view. Idleness is justly said to be the rust of the mind and an idle brain is said to be Satan's workshop. It is mostly when

you do not know what to do with yourself that you do something ill or wrong. The mind of the idler preys upon itself. As Watt has said:

In works of labour or of skill

Let me be busy too;

For Satan finds some mischief still

For idle hands to do. (249 words

(686 words)

By Robert William Service

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27. Spring The Resurrection Time

Springs are not always the same, In some years, April bursts upon our Virginia hills in one prodigious leap—and all the stage is filled at once, whole choruses of tulips, arabesques of forsythia, cadenzas of flowering plum. The trees grow leaves overnight.

In other years, spring tiptoes in. It pauses, overcome by shyness, like my grandchild at the door, peeping in, ducking out of sight, giggling in the hallway. "I know you're out there," I cry. "Come in!" And April slips into arms.

The dogwood bud, pale green, is inlaid with russet markings. With in the perfect cup a score of clustered seeds are nestled. Once examined the bud in awe: Where were those seeds a month ago The apples display their milliner's scraps of ivory silk, rose-tinged. All the sleeping things wake up-primrose, baby iris, blue phlox. The earth warms-you can smell it, feel it, crumble April in your hands.

The dark Blue Mountains in which I dwell, great-hipped, big-breasted, slumber on the western sky. And then they stretch and gradually awaken. A warm wind, soft as a girl's hair, moves sailboat clouds in gentle skies. The rain come-good rains to sleep by-and fields that were dun as oatmeal turn to pale green, then to Kelly green.

All this reminds me of a theme that runs through my head like a line of music. Its message is profoundly simple, and profoundly mysterious also: Life goes on. That is all there is to it. Everything that is, was; and everything that is, will be. (259 words)

by James J. Kilpatrick

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27. Spell of the Rising Moon

As the moon lifted off the ridge it gathered firmness and authority. Its complexion changed from red, to orange, to gold, to impassive yellow. It seemed to draw light out of the darkening earth, for as it rose, the hills and valleys below grew dimmer. By the time the moon stood clear of the horizon, full chested and round and the color of ivory, the valley were deep shadows in the landscape. The dogs, reassured that this was the familiar moon, stopped barking.

The drama took an hour. Moonrise is slow and serried with subtleties. To watch it, we must slip into an older, more patient sense of time. To watch the moon move inexorably higher is to find an unusual stillness within ourselves. Our imaginations become aware of the vast distances of space, the immensity of the earth and the huge improbability of our own existence. We feel small but privileged.

Moonlight shows us none of life's harder edges. Hillsides seem silken and silvery, the oceans still and blue in its light. In moonlight we become less calculating, more drawn to our feelings.

(184 words)

by Peter Steinhart

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28. The Enchantment of Creeks (1)

Nearly everybody has a creek in his past, a confiding waterway that rose in the spring of youth.…….

My creek wound between Grandfather's apricot orchard and a neighbor's hillside pasture. It banks were shaded by cottonwoods and redwood trees and a thick tangle of blackberries and wild grapevines. On hot summer days the quiet water flowed clear and cold over gravel bars where I fished for trout.

Nothing historic ever happens in these recollected creeks. But their persistence in memory suggests that creeks are bigger than they seem, more a part of our hearts and minds than mighty rivers.

Creek time is measured in the lives of strange creatures, in sandflecked caddis worms under the rocks, sudden gossamer clouds of mayflies in the afternoon, or minnows of darting like silvers of inspiration into the dimness of creek fate. Mysteries float in creeks' riffles, crawl over their pebbled bottoms and slink under the roots of trees.

While rivers are heavy with sophistication and sediment, creeks are clear, innocent, boisterous, full of dream and promise. A child can wade across them without a parent's cautions. You can go it along, jig for crayfish, swing from ropes along the bank. Creeks belong to childhood, drawing you into the wider world, teaching you the curve of the earth. (214 words)

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29. The Enchantment of Creeks (2)

Above all, a creek offers the mind a chance to penetrate the alien universe of water, of tadpoles and trout. What drifts in creek water is the possibility of other worlds inside and above our own. Poet Robert Frost wrote: "It flows between us, over us, and with us. And it is time, strength, tone, light, life, and love.

Creeks lead one on, like perfume on the wind. A creek is something that disappears around a bend, into the ground, into the next dimension. To follow a creek is to seek new acquaintance with life.

I still find myself following creeks. In high mountain meadows I'll trace their course into the limegreen grass and deep glacial duff, marveling at the sparkle of quartz and mica. The pursuit liquefies my citified haste and lifts weight from my shoulders. Once, in the California desert, as hummingbirds darted from cactus blossoms, I heard the babble of rushing water. My ears led me over dusty hillsides and sown scabrous ravines to an unexpected ribbon of clear, cold water, leaping from rock to rock, filling little pools. The discovery seemed Biblical. It filled me with joy. (191 words)

(405 words)

by Peter Steinhart

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30. "Why Measure Life in Heartbeats "

If one realizes that our time on this earth is but a tiny fraction of that within the cosmos, then life calculation in years may not be as important as we think. Why measure life in heartbeats When life is so dependent on such an unreliable function as the beating f the heart, then it is fragile indeed. The only thing that one can depend upon with absolute certainty is death.

I believe that death may be the most important part of life. I believe that life is infinitesimally brief

in relation to the immensity of eternity. I believe, because of my religious faith, that I shall "return to the Father" in an afterlife that is beyond description. I believe that though my life was short in years, it was full in experience, joy, love and accomplishment; that my own immortality will reside in the memories of my loved ones left behind, mother, brother, wife, children, dear friends.

I believe that I will die with loved ones close by and, one hopes, achieve that great gift of God-death in peace, and with dignity. (184 words)

by John A. Macdonald

陈擎红《英语背诵散文》

31. If I were a Boy Again (1)

If 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 pyramids -the eagle and the snail."

If I were a boy again, I would school myself into a habit of attention; I 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. (213 words)

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32. If I were a Boy Again (2)

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, I would school myself to say "No" oftener. I 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 like 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 happy, as if that were the sole purpose of life, I would, if I were a boy again, try still harder to make others happy. (211 words)

(424 words)

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33. Ways of Communication

When 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 your 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 area 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.

(204 words)

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34. Touchy Topics

Immediately 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 " these are polite questions. They are not personal or private. But it is uncommon and considered impolite to ask questions about a person's salary, such as "How much money do you make " They don't 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 old 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 don't ask unmarried people, "Why are you single ", and they don't ask a married couple with no children, "Why don't you have any children " these are generally considered too personal for first meetings. (219 words)

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(放前)35. What Money Is For (1)

Money is a blessing when it is used rightly. The same is true of all other good things. They bless id 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 id 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. (153 words)

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36. What Money Is For (2)

Of course money is not something to hoard. It 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 id the root of all evil". That is, money sought for its own sake is the cause of all sorts of evil -lying, stealing, cheating, robbery, and even murder. This is the best reason for avoiding the love of money. (127 words)

(280 words)

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37. Education—a Means to an End (1)

Education 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 education which will really prepare children for life.

In many modern 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. (165 words)

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38. Education—a Means to an End (2)

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 so such work, the professors have to waste 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 one's work, or to laugh at someone else's. Only such a type of education can be called valuable to society. (172 words)

(337 words)

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39. Blood, Toil, Sweat and Tears (1)

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 blood, toil, sweat and tears. We have before us an ordeal of the most grievous kind. We have before us many, many months of struggle and suffering.

You ask, what is our policy I say it is to wage war by land, sea and air. War with all our might and with all the strength God has given up, and to wage war against a monstrous tyranny never surpassed in the dark and lamentable catalogue of human crime. That is our policy.

(160 words)

by Winston Churchill

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40. Blood, Toil, Sweat and Tears (2)

You ask, what is our aim I can answer in one word. It is victory. Victory at all costs-victory in spite of all terrors-victory, however long and hand the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.

Let that be realizes. No survival for the British Empire, no survival for all that the British Empire has stood for, no survival for the urge, the impulse of the ages, that mankind shall move forward toward his goal.

I take up my task in buoyancy and hope. I feel sure that our cause will not be suffered to fail among men.

I feel entitled at this juncture, at this time, to claim the aid of all and to say, "Come then, let us go forward together with our united strength." (132 words)

(292 words)

by Winston Churchill

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41. Science—a Way of Thinking

Many scientists, from their earlier work, have enough knowledge to make good guesses as to the solution of a problem they are working on. In making new discoveries, they may use the trial-and-error method, they may draw on past experiences, or they may try to find out that others have discovered. They may design new investigations and new ways of testing their results. Scientists have to train themselves to use their brains efficiently; that is, they train themselves to think.

For example, when Thomas A. Edison was trying to make an electric lamp, he needed a substance for the filament inside the bulb that would glow brightly without burning up quickly. He tried more than thousand different filaments before he found one that he could use. After each trial he thought about how the new substance had acted. He kept notes and compared results. After he had experimented for a long time, someone asked Mr. Edison if he were not discouraged at the waste of time. He replied, "I have not been wasting time. I have found one thousand materials that won't work. Now I can look for others." Edison's statement is all-important. Above all, scientists demand to know when and where they are wrong. A good question to ask in science is not "Am I right " but "Am I wrong "

Scientists spend many years of study, training themselves in using their brains and the tools of investigation. They also use each other's work. Issac Newton, a British scientist, who lived over 300 years ago, said he saw further than others because he stood on the shoulders of giants.

(269 words)

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42. Accurate or Polite

"How far is it to the nest town " The American asked a man standing by the edge of the road. In some countries, because the man realizes that the traveler is tired and eager to reach his destination, he will politely say, "Just down the road." He thinks this is more encouraging, gentler, and therefore the wanted answer. So the American drives through the night, getting more and more angry, feeling "tricked". He thinks the man deliberately lied to him, for obviously he must have known the distance quite well.

If conditions had been reversed, the American would have felt he was "cheating" the driver if he had said the nest town was close when he knew it was really 50 miles further on. Although he, too, would be sympathetic to the weary driver, he would say, "You have a good way to go yet; it is at least 50 miles." The driver might be disappointed, but he would know what to expect.

Whether to be accurate or polite leads to many misunderstandings between people of different cultures. If you are aware of the situation in advance, it is sometimes easier to recognize the problem. (195 words)

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43. The Importance of English (1)

There are thousands of languages in the world. Each language seems to be the most important to those who speak it as their native language. This is not strange at all, seeing that it is the language they learned at their mothers' knees and may be the only language many of them will ever know all their lives.

The importance of a language can be judged according to several things. The first is the number of native speakers that a language happens to have. The second is how widely the native speakers are distributed over the world. Next comes the cultural, economic and political influence of those who speak it as their mother tongue.

There can be no doubt now that English is one of the world's most widely used languages. People use a language in three ways: as a native language, as a second language, or as a foreign language. English is spoken as a native language by nearly 300 million people: in the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, some Caribbean countries, and South Africa. As a second language, English is often necessary for official business, education, information and other activities in a great many countries such as India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Singapore, and the Philippines. It is one of the few "working" languages of the United Nations and is more frequently used than the others. (228 words)

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44. The Importance of English (2)

It is said that English has become the language of the international trade and transport. Most planes traveling from one country to another use it to talk with airports. All ships sailing on the oceans call for help by radio in it. It has been said that 60 percent of the world's radio broadcasts and 70 percent of the world's mail are in English. At international sports meets, at meetings of scientists from different countries, and at talks of writers and artists from the corners of the earth, English is the language most commonly used and most widely understood.

English has in fact become the language of international cooperation in science and technology. The most advanced results in space, nuclear and computer research are published in it. A scientist who speaks and writes English is in close touch with the scientists in other countries than one who doesn't. (148 words)

(376 words)

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45. Don't Give Up

If we should ever accomplish anything in life, let us not forget that we must persevere. If we would learn our lessons in school, we must be diligent and not give up whenever we come to anything difficult. We shall find many of our lessons very hard, but let us consider that the harder they are the better they will do us if we will persevere and learn them thoroughly.

But there are some among us who are ready to give up when they come to a hard example in mathematics, and say, "I can't do this." They never will if they feel so. "I can't " never did anything worthwhile; but "I'll try" accomplish wonders. Let us remember that we shall meet with difficulties al through life. They are in the pathway of everyone. If we will only try and keep trying, we shall be sure to conquer and overcome every difficulty we meet with. If we have a hard lesson today, let us strive to learn it well and then we shall be prepared for a harder one tomorrow. And if we learn to master hard lessons in school, it will prepare us to overcome the hard things that we shall meet in life, when our school days are over. (212 words)

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46. Colour and Life (1)

What is your favourite colour Do you like yellow, orange, red If you do, you must be an optimist, a leader, an active person who enjoys life, people and excitement. Do you prefer greys and blues Then you are probably quiet, shy, and you would rather follow than lead. You tend to be a pessimist. At least, this is what psychologists tell us, and they should know, because they have been seriously studying the meaning of colour preference, as well as the effect that colours have on human beings. They tell us, among other facts, that we do not choose our favourite colour as we grow up-we are born with our preference. If you happen to love brown, you did so, as soon as you opened your eyes, or at least as soon as you could see clearly. (139 words)

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47. Colour and Life (2)

Colours do influence our moods—there is no doubt about it. A yellow room makes most people feel more cheerful and more relaxed than a dark green one; and a red dress brings warmth and cheer to the saddest winter day. On the other hand, black is depressing. A black bridge over the Thames River, near London, used to be the scene of more suicides than any other bridge in the area-until it was repainted green. The number of suicide attempts immediately fell sharply; perhaps it would have fallen even more if the bridge had been done in pink or baby blue.

Light and bright colours make people not only happier but more active. It is an established fact that factory workers work better, harder, and have fewer accidents when their machines are painted rather than black or grey. (140 words)

(279 words))

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48. Companionship of Books (1)

A many may usually be known by the books he reads as well as by the company he keeps; for there is a companionship of books as well as of men; and one should always live in the best company.

A good book may be among the best friends. It is the same today that it always was, and it will never change. It is the most patient and cheerful of companions. It does not turn its back upon us with the same kindness; amusing and instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us in age.

Books posses an essence of immortality. They are by far the most lasting products on human effort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of no account with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when they first passed through their author's minds ages ago. What was then said and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from the printed page. The only effect of time has been to sift out the bad products; for nothing in literature can long survive but what is really