英語名篇優(yōu)美的段落閱讀
英語的段落的學習也是很重要的，因為在學習的過程也可以學習到很多東西，所以小編今天就給大家?guī)砹擞⒄Z的優(yōu)美段落，有機會的可以多多參考一下
英語優(yōu)美段落一
What Is Happiness?
"Are you happy?" I asked my brother, Ian, one day.
"Yes. No. It depends on what you mean," he said.
"Then tell me," I said, "when was the last time you think you were happy?"
"April 1967," he said.
It served me right for putting a serious question to someone who has joked his way through life. But Ian's answer reminded me that when we think about happiness, we usually think of something extraordinary, a 1)pinnacle of 2)sheer delight. And those pinnacles seem to get rarer the older we get.
For a child, happiness has a magical quality. I remember making hide-outs in newly cut 3)hay, playing 4)cops and robbers in the woods, getting a speaking part in the school play. Of course, kids also experience lows, but their delight at such peaks of pleasure as winning a race or getting a new bike is 5)unreserved.
In the teenage years, the concept of happiness changes. Suddenly it's conditional on such things as excitement, love, popularity and whether that zit will clear up before a 6)prom night. I can still feel the agony of not being invited to a party that almost everyone else was going to. But I also recall the ecstasy of being plucked from obscurity at another event to dance with a 7)John Travolta look-alike.
In 8)adulthood the things that bring 9)profound joy - birth, love, marriage - also bring responsibility and the risk of loss. Love may not last, loved ones die. For adults, happiness is complicated.
My dictionary defines happy as "lucky" or "fortunate", but I think a better definition of happiness is "the capacity for enjoyment". The more we can enjoy what we have, the happier we are. It's easy to overlook the pleasure we get from loving and being loved, the company of friends, the freedom to live where we please, even good health.
I added up my little moments of pleasure yesterday. First there was sheer bliss when I shut the last lunchbox and had the house to myself. Then I spent an 10)uninterrupted morning writing, which I love. When the kids came home, I enjoyed their noise after the quiet of the day.
You never know where happiness will turn up next. When I asked friends what makes them happy, some mentioned 11)seemingly 12)insignificant moments. "I hate shopping," one friend said. "But there's this clerk who always chats and really cheers me up."
Another friend loves the telephone. "Every time it rings, I know someone is thinking about me."
We all experience moments like these. Too few of us register them as happiness.
While happiness may be more complex for us, the solution is the same as ever. Happiness isn't about what happens to us; it's about how we perceive what happens to us. It's the 13)knack of finding a positive for every negative, and viewing a 14)set-back as a challenge. It's not wishing for what we don't have, but enjoying what we do possess.
什么是幸福?
“你幸福嗎?”一天我問我的兄弟伊恩。
“又幸福，又不幸福。這要看你指的是什么，”他說。
“那么告訴我，”我說，“你最近一次感到幸福是什么時候?”
“1967年4月，”他說。
向一個游戲人生的人提問這么嚴肅的問題，我真是自討苦吃。但是伊恩的話啟發(fā)了我，當我們考慮幸福的時候，我們通常想到一些不同尋常的事情和愉快無比的時刻，而隨著年齡的增長，這種時刻是越來越少。
對于孩子來說，幸福充滿了魔力。我記得在新割下的草堆里捉迷藏，在樹林里扮演警察和強盜，在校劇中擔當有臺詞的角色。當然孩子也有情緒低落的時候，但是當贏了賽跑或得到一輛新自行車時，他們流露出快樂是無可比擬、沒有任何保留的。
到了少年時期，幸福觀發(fā)生了變化。突然間幸福有了條件，例如：刺激、愛情、名氣以及舞會前青春痘是否能消除等。我還能感受到因未被邀請去參加一個幾乎人人有份的晚會所體會到的痛苦;我還記得在另一次活動中因與一位酷似約翰·屈沃塔的人跳舞而大出風頭的那份激動心情。
成年時，能帶來深深歡樂的事情(如出生、愛情和婚姻)，同時也帶來了責任和失去的危險。愛情也許難以持久;心愛的人也許會離開人世。對于成年人來說，幸福是復雜的。我的字典把幸福定義為“幸運”或“好運”。但是我想幸福更好的定義是“享受的能力”。我們越能享受所擁有的一切，我們就越幸福。從愛與被愛、友情、隨心所欲擇地而居、甚至到擁有的健康，其中獲得的快樂很容易被我們忽視了。
我總結了一下我昨天的幸福時刻：首先是我合上最后一個午餐飯盒，獨自在家時的那種無比幸福;然后過了一個寫作不受干擾的上午，令我愉快;等到孩子們回家，我享受安靜的一天過后他們吵鬧的聲音。
你永遠無法知道下一次幸福何時來臨。我問朋友們什么能使他們感到幸福，一些人舉出一些似乎不太重要的時刻。“我不喜歡購物，”一位朋友說，“但那里有一個愛聊天的售貨員，讓我感到很愉快。”
另一位朋友喜歡接電話。“每次電話鈴聲響，我就知道有人正想著我呢。”
我們都經(jīng)歷過類似的事，但視之為幸福的人寥寥無幾。
雖然幸福對我們來說也許更錯綜復雜，但是獲得幸福的途徑永遠是一樣的。幸福不在于我們的遭遇如何，而在于我們?nèi)绾慰创庥龅降氖虑椤＿@是化消極為積極、將挫折看作挑戰(zhàn)的訣竅。幸福不是憑空許愿，而是享受擁有。
英語優(yōu)美段落二
A Great Friendship
—Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
Thomas Jefferson and James Madison met in 1776. Could it have been any other year? They worked together starting then to 1)further the American Revolution and later to shape the new 2)scheme of government. From that work sprang a friendship perhaps 3)incomparable in 4)intimacy and the trustfulness of 5)collaboration and 6)indurations. It lasted 50 years. It included pleasure and 7)utility but over and above them, there were shared purpose, a common end and an enduring goodness on both sides. Four and a half months before he died, when he was 8)ailing, debt-ridden, and worried about his 9)impoverished family, Jefferson wrote to his longtime friend. His words and Madison's reply remind us that friends are friends until death. They also remind us that sometimes a friendship has a bearing on things larger than the friendship itself, for has there ever been a friendship of greater public 10)consequence than this one?
"The friendship which has 11)subsisted between us now half a century, the harmony of our political 12)principles and pursuits have been sources of constant happiness to me through that long period. It's also been a great 13)solace to me to believe that you're 14)engaged in 15)vindicating to 16)posterity the course that we've pursued for preserving to them, in all their purity, their blessings of self-government, which we had assisted in acquiring for them. If ever the earth has beheld a system of administration 17)conducted with a single and 18)steadfast eye to the general interest and happiness of those committed to it, one which, protected by truth, can never know 19)reproach, it is that to which our lives have been devoted. Myself, you have been a 20)pillar of support throughout life. Take care of me when dead and be assured that I shall leave with you my last 21)affections." (Feb 17, 1826)
A week later Madison replied--
"You cannot look back to the long period of our private friendship and political harmony with more 22)affecting 23)recollections than I do. If they are a source of pleasure to you, what aren't they not to be to me? We cannot 24)be deprived of the happy 25)consciousness of the pure devotion to the public good with which we 26)discharge the trust committed to us and I 27)indulge a confidence that 28)sufficient evidence will find its way to another generation to ensure, after we are gone, whatever of justice may be 29)withheld 30)whilst we are here."
偉大的友誼
——托馬斯·杰斐遜和詹姆斯·麥迪遜
托馬斯·杰斐遜和詹姆斯·麥迪遜相識于1776年。為什么偏偏是這一年呢?當時他們開始共同努力推動美國革命，后來又一同為政府擬訂新草案。在這些合作中孕育出的友誼是親密無間、信誠以托、堅不可摧的。這份友誼維持了五十年。當中包含有歡樂，有協(xié)作，他們更志同道合地朝共同的目標邁進，歷經(jīng)多年從不間斷地令彼此受益。在離開人世前四個半月時，杰斐遜重病在身，債臺高筑，并為家庭的貧困感到憂心如焚，于是他提筆給這位知交好友寫了封信。從他的信以及麥迪遜的回復中，我們可以看到：這兩個朋友是一生之交;并且有時候，他們之間的友情意義之大更超越了友情本身，這份友誼給大眾帶來的深遠影響是前所未有的。
“你我之間的友誼迄今已經(jīng)走過了半個世紀，我們在政治原則與追求上取得的協(xié)調(diào)在過去的漫漫歲月中為我?guī)砹嗽丛床粩嗟目鞓贰Ｎ腋械揭淮蟀参康氖?，我相信你還在兢兢業(yè)業(yè)地致力于造福子孫后代的事業(yè)——這份事業(yè)我們曾為他們爭取過，我們也努力要把他們透明自治的優(yōu)良體制流傳下去。希望這世界上有一種治理制度，在執(zhí)行的時候?qū)ｉT有堅定不移的一只眼睛來審視它，監(jiān)護大眾利益和為之奮斗者的幸福，建立在真理基礎上的制度將永遠與責難無緣，我們一生所致力的也正在這里。我自己，還有你，畢生都為此鼎力支持。請你照顧我的身后之事，也請相信，我的友情永遠和你同在。”(1826年2月17日)
一個星期后，麥迪遜寫了回信——
“在過去的漫長歲月中，你我的友誼與一致的政治觀，總令我在回想時心中無比感動。它們?yōu)槟銕須g樂，對我又何嘗不是如此?我們肩負人民的信任，為大眾福利鞠躬盡瘁，從中獲得的幸福感是難以泯滅的。我堅信，無論當前對我們的評判怎樣，我們的一切貢獻，身后的下一代人必將給予公斷。”
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