英语专业大一背诵篇目学习资料

英语专业大一背诵篇

目

A Tale of Two Cities (excerpt)

狄更斯在《双城记》一书的开头就说，“这是一个最好的时代，也是一个最坏的时代”。

妙哉斯言！这段文字中多个平行句所表达的希望与绝望、光明与黑暗、理想与现实一直深深

地打动读者。文中句型的反复、形式上的对偶、内容上的对比、总体结构上的平行（排比），

都值得我们细细体味。

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.

——Charles Dickens

[注释]：

wisdom: a wise outlook, plan, or course of action 智慧，明智的行为，学识

epoch: a particular period of history, especially one considered remarkable or noteworthy age, era,

period 新纪元，时代，时期

incredulity: the state or quality of being incredulous; disbelief 怀疑

despair: to lose all hope 绝望，失望

查尔斯·狄更斯（1812—1870），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。他笔耕一生，靠勤奋和汗水创作出《大卫·科波菲尔》、《双城记》等世界名著。他的作品以妙趣横生的幽默、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。

(85 words)

Spring Song

布莱克的诗读起来朗朗上口，有音乐的美感，充满感性，喜欢的人很多。希望你也喜欢。

Spring is coming, spring is coming,

Birdies, build your nest;

Weave together straw and feather,

Doing each your best.

Spring is coming, spring is coming,

Flowers are coming too:

Pansies, lilies, daffodillies

Now are coming through.

Spring is coming, spring is coming,

All around is fair,

Shimmer and quiver on the river,

Joy is everywhere.

——William Blake

[注释]：

straw : a single stalk of threshed grain 稻草，麦秆

pansies, lilies, daffodillies: 三色紫罗兰、百合花、喇叭水仙花

sahimmer : to shine with a subdued, flickering light 微光

quiver : to shake with a slight, rapid, tremulous movement 颤抖，振动

William Blake，布莱克（1757—1827），英国诗人，著有诗集《天真之歌》(1789)《经验之

歌》（1794）。他最重要的绘画有《坎特伯雷香客》和《雅各的梦》。Youth

20 世纪初塞缪尔·厄尔曼写的这篇不足500 字的短文《青春》一直为世人倾倒，过了

这么多年它的魅力依旧。因为它给予了一种启示，教我们如何美好地生活。Youth is not a time of life; it is a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips and supple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of the imagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of the deep

springs of life.

Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over

timidity of the appetite, for adventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of sixty more than a boy of twenty. Nobody grows old merely by a number of years. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

Whether sixty or sixteen, there is in every being’s heart the lure of wonder, the unfailing child-like appetite of what’s next, and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station; so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from the infinite, so long are you young.

When the aerials are down, and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice of pessimism, then you are grown old, even at twenty, but as long as your aerials are up, to catch the waves of optimism, there is hope you may die young at eighty.

——Samuel Ullman

[注释]：

rosy cheeks: 玫瑰花般的脸颊

supple: readily bent; pliant 柔软的

vigor : physical or mental strength, energy, or force 精力，活力

temperamental : excessively sensitive or irritable; moody 心情变化快的，喜怒无常的predominance : the state or quality of being predominant; preponderance 优势

timidity : shy 胆怯的，害羞的

appetite : 食欲，胃口，欲望，爱好

desert : 放弃，遗弃

wrinkle: to draw up into wrinkles; pucker 起皱

enthusiasm : great excitement for or interest in a subject or cause 狂热，热心，积极性wireless : 无线的

infinite : having no limits 无限的，无穷的

aerial : 天线