當今,部分英語專業(yè)學生在英語聽說讀寫等基本技能上與英語文化素養(yǎng)上都存在不足,而解決這一問題最好的辦法就是英語經(jīng)典美文誦讀。下面小編整理了英文版美文，希望大家喜歡!

　　英文版美文：我為什么想要個妻子Why I want a life

　　I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up after my children, a wife who will pick up after me. I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended, replaced when need be, and who will see to it that my personal things are kept in their proper place so that I can find what I need the minute I need it. I want a wife who cooks the meals, a wife who is a good cook. I want a wife who will plan the menus, do the necessary grocery shopping, prepare the meals, serve them pleasantly, and then do the cleaning up while I do my studying. I want a wife who will care for me when I am sick and sympathize with my pain and loss of time from school. I want a wife to go along when our family takes a vacation so that somesone can aomtinue to care for me and my children when I need a rest and change of scene.

　　我想要個妻子，她要會照料我的生活，把家里搞得既干凈又整潔。一位會照顧我的孩子，照顧我的妻子。我想要個妻子，她會把我的衣服洗十凈，熨燙好，縫補好，該更新的時候會幫我以新替舊，還會把我私人用品放在合適的地方，保證我需要的時候隨時就能找到。我想要個妻子，她要會安排菜單，采購雜物，準備飲食，適時開飯，然后，我在作研究的時候，她要收拾房間。我想要個妻子，在我生病的時候，她會照料我，關心我的病痛，同情我推掉了學校里的課。我想要個妻子，我們一一家人出去度假的時候，她一路上繼續(xù)不忘照顧我和孩子們，讓我們休息好，玩得開心。

　　I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife's duties. But I want a wife who will listen to me when I feel the need to explain a rather difficult point I have come across in my course of studies. And I want a wife who type my papers for me when I have written them.

　　我想要個妻子，她不會整天嘮嘮叨叨，拿那些亂七八糟的事來煩我。但是，當我在工作或研究中遇到什么難題或不開心的時候，我想要個妻子，她會耐心地聽我解釋，聽我傾訴。我想要個妻子，我寫出論文來的時候，她能替我打字。

　　I want a wife who will take care of the details of my social life. When my wife and I are invited out by my friends, I want a wife who will take care of the babysitting arrangements. When I meet people at school that I like who will have the house clean, will prepare a special meal, serve it to me and my friends, and not interrupt when I talk about things that interest me and my friends. I want a wife who will have arranged that the children are fed and ready for bed before my guests arrive so that the children do not bother us. I want a wife who takes care of the needs of my guests so that they feel comfortable, who makes sure that they have an sahtray, that they are offered a second helping of the food, that their wine glasses are replenished when necessary, that their coffee is served to them as they like it. And I want a wife who knows that sometimes I need a night out by myself.

　　我想要個妻子，她會全面料理我的社交生活。當我和妻子受朋友邀請外出的時候，我想要個妻子來照顧孩子。如果我在學校里碰到我喜歡的人，想跟他們快樂一番，我想要個妻子，她會把家里打掃干凈，燒出可口的飯菜招待我和我的朋友，而我和朋友快快樂樂聊著感興趣的話題的時候，她又不會來打攪我們。我想要個妻子，她會在我的客人到來之前，安排孩子們吃飯，讓他們睡覺，以免孩子們打攪我們。我想要個妻子，她能細心招待我的客人，令他們感覺舒適，保證他們有煙灰缸用，飯前有開胃小食品，吃完了有第二份，酒杯空了，需要的話會及時再斟滿，想要咖啡的人會有熱咖啡喝。我想要個妻子，她有色明白有時候我需要一個晚上獨自一個人外出。

　　When I am through with school and have a job, I want my wife to quit working and remain at home so that my wife can more fully and completely take care of a wife's duties.

　　等我上完學，有了工作，我想要個妻子，她要辭掉工作，待在家里，以便能夠完全徹底地履行她做妻子的義務和職責。

　　My God, who wouldn't want a wife?

　　我的天哪，誰不想要個妻子?

　　英文版美文：獨居所感The rewards of living a solitary life

　　The other day an acquaintance of mine, a gregarious and charming man, told me he had found himself unexpectedly alone in New York for an hour or two between appointments. He went to the Whitney and spent the "empty" time looking at things in solitary bliss. For him it proved to be a shock nearly as great as falling in love to discover that he could enjoy himself so much alone.

　　前兒天，我的一位善于社交、令人喜愛的朋友告訴我，在紐約沒有約會的一兩個小時感到莫名的孤單。他“沒有活動的”時候就去惠特尼山，欣賞四周的美景，享受上天賜予的獨居時光。他發(fā)現(xiàn)自己獨處也能自得其樂時感到不勝驚訝，其驚訝程度之強烈并不啻于墜人愛河的感覺。

　　Loneliness is most acutely felt with other people, for with others,even with a lover sometimes, we suffer from our differences of taste, temperament,mood. Human intercourse often demands that we soften the edge of perception, or withdraw at the very instant of personal truth for fear of hurting, or of being inappropriately present, which is to say naked, in a social situation. Alone we can afford to be wholly whatever we are, and to feel whatever we feel absolutely. That is a great luxury!

　　和其他人在一起時也能強烈地感受到孤獨，因為和其他人甚至是愛人在一起時，我們有時也會因為雙方的品味、秉性以及心情的差異而感到痛苦。人際交往常常需要我們收斂鋒芒，坦白地講，當我們擔心在社交場合道出實情會傷害他人或者不合時宜時，應該適時打住。獨處時，我們可以盡情地保留本色，盡情地回應自己的感受。這是多么奢侈的事情啊!

　　For me the most interesting thing about a solitary life, and mine has been that for the last twenty years, is that it becomes increasingly rewarding. When I can wake up and watch the sun rise over the ocean, as I do most days, and know that I have an entire day ahead, uninterrupted, in which to write a few pages, take a walk with my dog, lie down in the afternoon for a long think (why does one think better in a horizontal position?), read and listen to music, I am flooded with happiness.

　　我過去20年來，一直過著獨居生活，對我來說，這種生活最有趣的一點就是它變得越來越令人受益匪淺。我清晨醒來，看著旭日從海上升起，大多數(shù)日子我都是這樣過的，知道我接下來的這一整天都不會受到打擾，這段時間里我可以寫幾頁文章，可以牽著小狗散步，可以在午后躺下沉思(為什么人在水平位置更善于思考?)，可以閱讀，可以聽音樂，這時我的內(nèi)心就會洋溢著幸福。

　　I’m lonely only when I am overtired, when I have worked too long without a break, when from the time being I feel empty and need filling up. And I am lonely sometimes when I come back home after a lecture trip, when I have seen a lot of people and talked a lot, and am full to the brim with experience that needs to be sorted out.

　　我只有在疲勞過度，長時間工作、半刻不曾消停，感到一時空虛、需要充實時，我才會感到孤單寂寞。有時當我演講完回到家，當我見了很多人，說了很多話，需要整理自己豐富的經(jīng)歷的時候，我會感到孤單寂寞。

　　Then for a little while the house feels huge and empty, and I wonder where my self is hiding. It has to be recaptured slowly by watering the plants and perhaps,by looking again at each one as though it were a person.

　　有那么一會兒，我會感覺房間碩大無比、空蕩蕩的，我都不知道自己身在何處。我會灌溉植物，也許，像看著真人一樣再次看看這些植物，喂養(yǎng)兩只貓咪，做一頓美食，這樣慢慢地就會捕捉到自我。

　　It takes a while, as I watch the surf blowing up in fountains at the end of the field, but the moment comes when the world falls away, and the self emerges again from the deep unconscious, bringing back all I have recently experienced to be explored and slowly understood, when I can converse again with my hidden powers, and so grow, and so be renewed, till death do us part.

　　我會花點工夫看著田野盡頭泉水處波浪起伏。然而，當世界退去，本我會從內(nèi)心深處的潛意識中再次浮現(xiàn)，重拾最近的體驗，慢慢了解;那時我再度與潛藏的力量對話，這樣慢慢成長，不斷更新自我，直到死亡把我們分開。

　　英文版美文：英國人的幽默The English humour

　　Fun seems to be the possession of the English race.Fun is JohnBulll's idea of humour，and there is no intellectualjudgment in fun.Everybody understands it be-cause it is practical.More than that，it unites allclasses and sweetens even political life.To studythe elemental form of English humour，you must look to the school-boy.It begins with the practical joke，and unless there is something of his natureabout it，it is never humour to an Englishman.Inan English household，fun is going all the time.The entire house resounds witn it.The father comes home and the whole family contribute to theamusement;puns，humorous uses of words，little things that are meaningless nonsense，if you like，fly round，and every one enjoys them thoroughly for just what they are.The Scotch are devoid ofthis trait，and the Americans seem to be，too.

　　逗樂兒似乎是英國人的秉性，是典型的英國人所說的幽默，不需區(qū)分智力高下。它切合實際，人人都懂。不僅如此，它把各階層人士聯(lián)系在一起，甚至還使政治生活變得盎然有趣。要研究英國幽默的基礎形式，你必須觀察其教科書。教科書都是以切合實際的玩笑開頭，如果這個玩笑無關于英國人本性，在英國人看來，就無幽默可言。在一個英國家庭里，逗樂兒無時不在進行，整幢屋子其樂融融。父親回家了，全家人各顯其能，津津樂道;雙關語、俏皮話、大實話、空話廢話滿天飛，人人盡情享受。蘇格蘭人沒有這種性格，美國人恐怕也沒有。

　　If I had the power to give humour to the na-tions I would not give them drollery，for that isimpractical;I would not give them wit，for that isaristocratic，and many minds cannot grasp it;but Iwould be contented to deal out fun，which has nointellectual element，no subtlety，belongs to oldand young，educated and uneducated alike，and isthe natural form of the humour of the Englishman.

　　如果我有權(quán)給予此民族幽默的特質(zhì)，那么我就不給予他們詼諧的本領，因為那不切實際;我也不給予他們風趣的風格，因為那過于貴族派頭，以致多數(shù)人無法理解;我要心滿意足地給予他們逗樂兒的本事，即不分智力高下，沒有隱晦曲折，無論老少或受教育與否都能享受的英國式的自然幽默。

　　Let me tell you why the Englishman speaksonly one language.He believes with the strongest conviction that his own tongue is the one that allpeople ought to speak and will come in time tospeak，so what is the use of learning any other?Hebelieves，too，that he is appointed by Providenceto be a governor of all the rest of the human race.From our Scottish standpoint we can never see anEnglishman without thinking that there is oozing from every pore of his body the conviction that he belongs to a governing race.It has not been his de-sire that large portions of the world should be un-der his care，but as they have been thrust uponhim in the proceedings of a wise Providence，hemust discharge his duty.This theory hasn't en-deared him to others of his kind，but that isn't amatter that concerns him.He doesn't learn anyother language because he knows that he couldspeak it only so imperfectly that other people would laugh at him，and it would never do that aperson of his importance in the scheme of the uni-verse should be made the object of ridicule.

　　讓我告訴諸位為什么英國人只講一種語言。因為英國人堅信，英語是各國人民都應該講、而且遲早都會講的語言，因此，學其他語言有什么用?他還認為，上帝已委派他成為全人類的主宰。從蘇格蘭人的立場來看，英國人每一個毛孔都散發(fā)著他是屬于統(tǒng)治民族的信念。他雖然不想杷各國人民置于自己的監(jiān)護之下，但是，既然賢明的上帝讓他這樣做，他就必須盡到責任。這種理論沒有使他對其他人、包括對和他一樣的人變得親切可愛，但那不關他的事。他之所以不學其他語言，因為他知道自己說得很糟，唯恐別人恥笑，而像他那樣重要的人是萬萬不能成為別人的笑柄的。