大学英语美文十篇

大学英语背诵文选十篇

1. The Happy door

Happiness is like a pebble dropped into a pool to set in motion an ever-widening circle of ripples. As Stevenson has said, being happy is a duty.

There is no exact definition of the word happiness. Happy people are happy for all sorts of reasons. The key is not wealth or physical well-being, since we find beggars, invalids and so-called failures, who are extremely happy.

Being happy is a sort of unexpected dividend. But staying happy is an accomplishment, a triumph of soul and character. It is not selfish to strive for it. It is, indeed, a duty to ourselves and others.

Being unhappy is like an infectious disease. It causes people to shrink away from the sufferer. He soon finds himself alone, miserable and embittered. There is, however, a cure so simple as to seem, at first glance, ridiculous; if you don’t feel happy, pretend to be!

It works. Before long you will find that instead of repelling people, you attract them. You discover how deeply rewarding it is to be the center of wider and wider circles of good will.

Then the make-believe becomes a reality. You possess the secret of peace of mind, and can forget yourself in being of service to others.

Being happy, once it is realized as a duty and established as a habit, opens doors into unimaginable gardens thronged with grateful friends.

(232words) 2. Thrift

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!

(224 words) 3. Advice to a Young Man----Robert Jones Burdette

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 son. 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.

(252 words) 4. Frankness ----Robert E. Lee

You must study to be frank with the world: frankness is the child of honesty and courage. Say just what you mean to do, on every occasion. If a friend asks a favor, you should grant it, if it is reasonable; if not, tell him plainly why you cannot. You would wrong him and wrong yourself by equivocation of any kind.

Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or keep one. The man who requires you to do so is dearly purchased at a sacrifice. Deal kindly but firmly with all your classmates. You will find it the policy which wears best. Above all, do not appear to others what you are not.

If you have any fault to find with any one, tell him, not others, of what you complain. There is no more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to do one thing before a man’s face and another behind his back. We should say and do nothing to the injury of any one. It is not only a matter of principle, but also the path of peace and honor.

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