英语美文摘抄范文下载

1. Thrift

[导读]本文论述了节俭这一美德的重要。文章围绕论点展开，层次分明。

这篇文章也是sunny最喜欢的文章之一，非常深入！（选取任意两个段落背诵）Thrift is the foundation of all greatness. It is applied not only to money matters, but to everything else in life—the wise use of one's time, ability, and energy. In short, thrift is the scientific management of one's money, of one's time, of one's affairs, and of one's self.

Thrift is the best word for us. It makes fortune. It uplifts character. It improves the quality of the individual. The exercise of thrift has a very healthful reaction upon all the other faculties. The habit of thrift denotes self-control. It is a proof that a man is not a hopeless victim of his weakness. It is a proof that he is the master of himself as well as of his finances.

Thrift is an educator. A thrifty man thinks and plans. He has a program. He has a certain amount of independence. If you have cultivated thrift, it means that you have the ability to control your desires and that you are developing some of the grandest human qualities—self-reliance, independence, prudence, and foresight.

We know that all great nations are founded on thrift. The ancient Roman Empire degenerated and came to an end when it ceased to be thrifty. Yet thrift does not require superior courage. It needs no fervent resolution, but only a little patient self-denial. And BEGIN is its device!

[注释]

thrift: n. economy; frugality. 节俭；俭约。fortune: n. a great deal of money or property. 钱财

uplift v.: improve. 提高；Healthful reaction: helpful reaction. 有助的反应

faculty: n. ability. 能力victim: n. person sacrificed. 牺牲者

finances: n. money; private income. 钱财；个人所得

thrifty: adj. economical; frugal. 节俭的

program: n. plan of what is to be done. 计划

grandest human qualities: noblest character. 最高尚的品德

self-reliance: n. reliance on one‟s own power.自恃prudence: n.

caution. 谨慎

foresight: n. power to see or realize beforehand. 先见degenerate: v. decline. 衰颓

fervent resolution: Intense determination. 非常的决心self-denial: n. self-control. 克己

2. Advice To A Young Man

[导读]罗伯特·伯德特（Robert Jones Burdette）的作品逻辑严密，层层推进，富有感染力。（选出任意一段进行背诵）

Remember, my son, you have to work. Whether you handle a pick or a pen, a wheel-barrow or a set of books, digging ditches or editing a paper, ringing an auction bell or writing funny things, you must work. If you look around you will see the men who are the most able to live the rest of their days without work are the men who work the hardest. Don't be afraid of killing yourself with overwork. It is beyond your power to do that on the sunny side of thirty. They die sometimes, but it is because they quit work at six in the evening, and do not go home until two in the morning. It‟s the interval that kills, my s on. The work gives you an appetite for your meals; it lends solidity to your slumbers, it gives you a perfect and grateful appreciation of a holiday.

There are young men who do not work, but the world is not proud of them. It does not know their names, even it simply speaks of them as “old So-and-So‟s boy”. Nobody likes them; the great, busy world doesn‟t know that they are there. So find out what you want to be and do, and take off your coat and make a dust in the world. The busier you are, the less harm you will be apt to get into, the sweeter will be your sleep, the brighter and happier your holidays, and the better satisfied will the world be with you.

[注释]

son: young man. 年轻人pick n: a sharp-pointed iron tool used in digging. 锄头wheel-barrow n: a small vehicle with one wheel and two handles, used for moving small loads. 手推车

a set of books: a set of accounts. 一套帐簿ditch n: a channel dug in the ground. 沟

paper: newspaper. 报纸

auction n: a public sale in which goods are sold to the highest bidder. 拍卖