英文美文欣賞

1、The remembrance of lilacs 紫丁香的回憶The family had just moved to Rhode Island, and the young woman was feeling a little melancholy on that Sunday in May. After all, it was Mother's Day - and 800 miles separated her from her parents in Ohio.She had called her mother that morning t

2、o wish her a happy Mother's Day, and her mother had mentioned how colorful the yard was now that spring had arrived. As they talked, the younger woman could almost smell the tantalizing aroma of purple lilacs hanging on the big bush outside her parents' back door.Later, when she mentioned to

3、 her husband how she missed those lilacs, he popped up from his chair. "I know where we can find you all you want," he said. "Get the kids and c'mon."So off they went, driving the country roads of northern Rhode Island on the kind of day only midMay can produce: sparkling sun

4、shine, unclouded azure skies and vibrant newness of the green growing all around. They went past small villages and burgeoning housing developments, past abandoned apple orchards, back to where trees and brush have devoured old homesteads.Where they stopped，dense thickets of cedars and ju nipers and

5、 birch crowded the roadway on both sides. There wasn't a lilac bush in sight."Come with me," the man said. "Over that hill is an old cellar hole，from somebody's farm of years ago, and there are lilacs all round it. The man who owns this land said I could poke around here anyti

6、me. I'm sure he won't mind if we pick a few lilacs."Before they got halfway up the hill, the fragrance of the lilacs drifted down to them, and the kids started running. Soon, the mother began running, too, until she reached the top.There，far from view of passing motorists and hidden fro

7、m encroaching civilization, were the towering lilacs bushes, so laden with the huge, cone-shaped flower clusters that they almost bent double. With a smile, the young woman rushed up to the nearest bush and buried her face in the flowers, drinking in the fragrance and the memories it recalled.While

8、the man examined the cellar hole and tried to explain to the children what the house must have looked like, the woman drifted among the lilacs. Carefully, she chose a sprig here, another one there, and clipped them with her husband's pocket knife. She was in no hurry, relishing each blossom as a

9、 rare and delicate treasure.Finally, though, they returned to their car for the trip home. While the kids chattered and the man drove, the woman sat smiling, surrounded by her flowers, a faraway look in her eyes.When they were within three miles of home, she suddenly shouted to her husband, "St

10、op the car. Stop right here!"The man slammed on the brakes. Before he could ask her why she wanted to stop, the woman was out of the car and hurrying up a nearby grassy slope with the lilacs still in her arms. At the top of the hill was a nursing home and, because it was such a beautiful spring

11、 day, the patients were outdoors strolling with relatives or sitting on the porch.The young woman went to the end of the porch, where an elderly patient was sitting in her wheelchair, alone, head bowed, her back to most of the others. Across the porch railing went the flowers, in to the lap of the o

12、ld woman. She lifted her head, and smiled. For a few moments, the two women chatted, both aglow with happiness, and then the young woman turned and ran back to her family. As the car pulled away, the woman in the wheelchair waved, and clutched the lilacs."Mom," the kids asked, "who wa

13、s that? Why did you give her our flowers? Is she somebody's mother?" The mother said she didn't know the old woman. But it was Mother's Day，and she seemed so alone，and who wouldn't be cheered by flowers? "Besides," she added，"I have all of you, and I still have my

14、 mother, even if she is far away. That woman needed those flowers more than I did."This satisfied the kids, but not the husband. The next day he purchased half a dozen young lilacs bushes and planted them around their yard, and several times since then he has added more.I was that man. The youn

15、g mother was, and is, my wife. Now, every May, our own yard is redolent with lilacs. Every Mother's Day our kids gather purple bouquets. And every year I remember that smile on a lonely old woman's face, and the kindness that put the smile there.Keep Your Dream 守護(hù)你的夢(mèng)想你在童年時(shí)代曾懷有

16、過(guò)什么偉大的夢(mèng)想嗎？是否為此而做出過(guò)嘗試與努力？其實(shí)，無(wú)論夢(mèng)想是大是小，只要跟隨自己的心，堅(jiān)定地走下去，終會(huì)有所收獲I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events. The last time I was there he introduced me by saying: “I want to tell you a story. It all goes back to a story about a youn

17、g man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boys high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he

18、wanted to be and do when he grew up.“That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew

19、 a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.“He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, See

20、me after class.“The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, Why did I receive an F? The teacher said, This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources . Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of

21、money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later youll have to pay large stud fees . Theres no way you could ever do it. Then the teacher added, If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.“The boy went home and th

22、ought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you. Finally, after a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all. He stated, You can

23、keep the F and Ill keep my dream. ”Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, “I tell you this story because you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the fireplace.” He added, “The best part of the stor

24、y is that two years ago that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week. When the teacher was leaving, he said, Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids dreams. Fortunately y

25、ou had enough gumption not to give up on yours. ”“Dont let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what,” Monty at last concluded.Cherish the rest of your life珍愛(ài)余生What would you do if you only had a short time to live?我們似乎每天都被瑣事纏身，有忙不完的事情，以至于在忙忙碌碌之中迷失了自己，分辨不清什

26、么才是生活中最重要的東西。停下來(lái)問(wèn)問(wèn)自己，如果你僅剩半年時(shí)光，你將如何處理生活的輕重緩急，你將如何度過(guò)？It's hard, from within the storm of every day life, to see things with real perspective, to know what's important and what's simply pressing on our consciousness right now, demanding attention.We have people emailing us for information

27、and requesting action, we have phone calls and visitors and a long to-do list and a million chores and errands to run and all of the slings and arrows of our daily reality and yet, what is important?Ask yourself this: if you suddenly found out you only had 6 months to live (for whatever reason), wou

28、ld the thing in front of you matter to you?Would those 20 emails waiting for a response matter? Would the paperwork waiting to be processed matter? Would the work you're doing matter? Would the meetings you're supposed to have matter? Would a big car and nice house and high-paying job and co

29、ol computer and mobile device and nice shoes and clothes matter?I'm not saying they wouldnt matter but it's important to ask yourself if they would.What would matter to you?For many of us, it's the loved ones in our lives. If we don't have loved ones maybe it's time we started fi

30、guring out why, and addressing that. Maybe we haven't made time for others, for getting out and meeting others and helping others and being compassionate and passionate about others. Maybe we have shut ourselves in somehow. Or maybe we do have loved ones in our lives, but we dont seem to have th

31、e time we want to spend with them.When was the last time you told your loved ones you loved them? Spent good quality time with them, being in the moment?For many of us, doing work that matters would matter. That might mean helping others, or making a vital contribution to society, or creating someth

32、ing brilliant and inspiring, or expressing ourselves somehow. Its not the money that matters, but the impact of the work. Are you doing work that matters?For many of us, experiencing life would matter really being in the moment, finding passion in our lives, seeing the world and traveling, or just s

33、eeing the world thats around us right now, being with great people, doing amazing things, eating amazing food, playing.These are just a few ideas but what would matter to you?I highly recommend that you spend at least a little time now, and regularly, thinking about this question figuring out what r

34、eally matters and living a life that shows this.How do you live a life that puts a great emphasis on what matters? Start by figuring out what matters, and what doesn't. Then eliminate as much as you can of the stuff that doesn't matter, or at least minimize it to the extent possible. Make ro

35、om for what does matter.Make the time for what does matter today. Put it on your schedule, and don't miss that appointment. Make those tough decisions because choosing to live a life that is filled with the important stuff means making choices, and theyre not always easy choices. But it matters.

36、Spend time with your significant other, show them how important they are. Take the time to cuddle with your child, to read with her, to play with her, to have good conversations with her, to take walks with her. Take time to be in nature, to appreciate the beauty of the world around us. Take time to

37、 savor the little pleasures in life.Because while you might not have only 6 months to live, I'm here to break the news to you: you really do only have a short time to live. Whether that's 6 months, 6 years or 60 it's but the blink of an eye.The life you have left is a gift. Cherish it. E

38、njoy it now, to the fullest. Do what matters, now.A Gift from Heart來(lái)自內(nèi)心的禮物The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings.世界上最難的算術(shù)題是如何清點(diǎn)我們的祝福。According to legend, a young man while roaming the desert came across a spring of delicious crystal-clear wate

39、r. The water was so sweet, he filled his leather canteen so he could bring some back to a tribal elder who had been his teacher.據(jù)傳說(shuō)，一個(gè)年輕的男子在漫游沙漠途中看到一泉如水晶般清澈而可口的水。水的味道非常甜美，于是他灌滿了他的皮水壺，這樣就可以帶一些回去，送給曾經(jīng)是他老師的部落長(zhǎng)老。After a four-day journey he presented the water to the old man who took a deep drink, smiled warmly and thanked his student lavishly for the sweet water. The young man returned to his village with a happy heart.經(jīng)過(guò)四天的旅程，他把水呈獻(xiàn)給老人。老人深飲一口，和藹地笑了笑，并深切感激學(xué)生贈(zèng)予他甜美的水。年輕人懷著愉快的心情回到了村莊。Later, the teacher let another stud