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英语四级必背的文章摘抄

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英语四级必背的文章摘抄
  英语四级必背的文章摘抄

Collecting 收藏

People tend to amass possessions, sometimes without being aware of doing so. Indeed they can have a delightful surprise when they find something useful which they did not know they owned. Those who never have to move house become indiscriminate collectors of what can only be described as clutter. They leave unwanted objects in drawers, cupboards and attics for years, in the belief that they may one day need just those very things. As they grow old, people also accumulate belongings for two other reasons, lack of physical and mental energy, both of which are essential in turning out and throwing away, and sentiment. Things owned for a long time are full of associations with the past, perhaps with relatives who are dead, and so they gradually acquire a value beyond their true worth.

Some things are collected deliberately in the home in an attempt to avoid waste. Among these I would list string and brown paper, kept by thrifty people when a parcel has been opened, to save buying these two requisites. Collecting small items can easily become a mania. I know someone who always cuts sketches out from newspapers of model clothes that she would like to buy, if she had the money. As she is not rich, the chances that she will ever be able to afford such purchases are remote; but she is never sufficiently strongminded to be able to stop the practice. It is a harmless habit, but it litters up her desk to such an extent that every time she opens it; loose bits of paper fall out in every direction.

Collecting as a serious hobby is quite different and has many advantages. It provides relaxation for leisure hours, as just looking at one's treasures is always a joy. One does not have to go outside for amusement, since the collection is housed at home. Whatever it consists of, stamps, records, first editions of books, china, glass, antique furniture, pictures, model cars, stuffed birds, toy animals, there is always something to do in connection with it, from finding the right place for the latest addition, to verifying facts in reference books. This hobby educates one not only in the chosen subject, but also in general matters which have some bearing on it. There are also other benefits. One wants to meet like-minded collectors, to get advice, to compare notes, to exchange articles, to show off the latest find. So one's circle of friends grows. Soon the hobby leads to travel, perhaps to a meeting in another town, possibly a trip abroad in search of a rare specimen, for collectors are not confined to any one country. Over the years, one may well become an authority on one's hobby and will very probably be asked to give informal talks to little gatherings and then, if successful, to larger audiences. In this way self-confidence grows, first from mastering a subject, then from being able to talk about it. Collecting, by occupying spare time so constructively, makes a person contented, with no time for boredom.

人们喜欢收藏东西,有时并没有意识到自己在这样做。确实,一旦无意之中从自己的收藏品中找到某件有用的东西时,可以给人一种惊喜的感觉。那些从来不必搬家的人们成了一种无所不容的收藏家。他们专门收藏那些只能被称作杂货的东西。他们在抽屉里、碗柜中、阁楼上堆放着一些不用的东西,一放就是好几年,相信总有一天需要的正好是那些东西。人们年老之后也喜欢收藏东西,不过是出于两个不同的原因:一是体力、精力均告不佳,这二者是清除无用的东西必不可少的因素;另一个原因是感情因素。东西搁得时间久了,便会充满着与过去岁月的联系,比方说与死去的亲戚有关。因此这些东西慢慢获得了一种超出它本身的价值。

居家度日,有目的地收藏某些东西是为了防止浪费。这些东西中我想举出线绳和包装纸为例。节俭的人们打开包裹后便把这两样必备的东西收藏起来,省得日后去买。收集小玩艺儿很容易着迷。我认识一个人,她总喜欢从报纸上剪下流行服装的图样,等以后有钱时去买服装。由于她并不富裕,她买得起这些服装的可能性十分渺茫。但她又缺乏足够坚强的意志把这一收集活动停下来。这种习惯无害,只是把写字台里堆得满满当当,以致每次打开抽屉总能带出许多纸片四处飞扬。

作为一种严肃的业余爱好的收藏活动完全是另外一回事,它具有许多益处。它可以使人在闲暇中得到休息,因为欣赏自己收藏的珍品总会充满了乐趣。人们不必走到户外去寻求娱乐,因为收藏品都是存放在家中。不管收藏品是什么,邮票、唱片、头版书籍、瓷器、玻璃杯、老式家具、绘画、模型汽车、鸟类标本,还是玩具动物,从为新增添的收藏品寻找摆放位置到核对参考书中的事实,总归有事可做。这种爱好不仅能使人从选择的专题中受到教育,而且也能从与之有关的一般事物中获得长进。除此之外,还有其他的益处。收藏者要会见情趣相投的收藏者,以获取教益、交流经验、交换收藏品、炫耀自己的最新收藏。朋友的圈子就这样不断扩太。用不了多久,有这种爱好的人便开始旅行,也许是去另一个城市参加会议,也可能是出国寻找一件珍品,因为收藏家是不分国籍的。一人积了多年经验会成为自己这种爱好的权威,很可能应邀在小型集会上作非正式的讲话。如果讲得好,可能向更多的人发表演说。这样,你自信心不断增强,先是因为掌握了一门学问,接下来是因为能够就此发表见解。收藏活动通过富有建设性地利用业余时间使人感到心满意足,不再有无聊之日。

  英语四级必背的文章鉴赏

What Is Immortal

何为不朽

To see the golden sun, the azure sky, the outstretched ocean; to walk upon the green earth, and be lord of a thousand creatures ; to look down yawning precipices or over distant sunny vales; to see the world spread out under one's feet on a map ; to bring the stars near; to view the smallest insects through a microscope; to read history, and consider the revolutions of empire and the successions of generations; to hear the glory of Tyre, of Sidon, of Babylon, and of Susa, and to say all these were before me and are now nothing; to say I exist in such a point of time, and in such a point of space; to be a spectator and a part of its evermoving scene; to witness the change of seasons, of spring and autumn, of winter and summer; and to feel hot and cold, pleasure and pain, beauty and deformity, right and wrong; to be sensible to the accidents of Nature; to consider the mighty world of eye and ear; to listen to the stock-dove's notes amid the forest deep ; to journey over moor and mountain; to hear the midnight sainted choir; to visit lighted halls,or the cathedral's gloom, or sit in crowded theatres and see life itself mocked ; to study the works of art and refine the sense of beauty to agony; to worship fame, and to dream of immortality; to look upon the Vatican, and to read Shakespeare; to gather up the wisdom of the ancients, and to pry into the future; to listen to the trump of war, and the shout of victory; to question history as to the movements of the human heart; to seek for truth; to plead the cause of humanity; to overlook the world as if time and Nature poured their treasures at our feet — to be and to do all this and then in a moment to be as nothing — to have it ail snatched from us as by a juggler's trick, or a phantasmagoria!

我们看到金色的太阳,蔚蓝的天空,广阔的海洋;我们漫步在绿油油的大地之上,做万物的主人;我们俯视令人目眩心悸的悬崖峭壁,远眺鲜花盛开的山谷;我们在地图上指点世界江山;我们把星辰移到眼前观看,在显微镜下观察极其微小的生物;我们学习历史,研考帝国的兴亡、时代的交替;我们听人谈论推罗、西顿、巴比伦和苏撒的丰功伟绩,然后说:这些事确实发生过,但现在却是过眼云烟了;我们思考着自己生活在这样的一个时代、生活在宇宙间这样的一个角落;在人生的活动舞台上,我们既当观众、又当演员;我们观察四季更迭、春秋代序、冬夏交替;感受炎热寒冷、欢乐痛苦、美丽残缺和是非对错;敏锐地感知大自然的变迁,用眼和耳去认知这个浩荡的宇宙;聆听野鸽在浓密的树林中哀诉;翻越荒野峻岭;倾听午夜圣诗的合唱;拜访那灯火辉煌的礼堂和幽静肃穆的大教堂,或坐在人头攒动的剧院里,观看生活本身受到的模仿嘲弄;我们钻研艺术作品,把自己的美感升华为凄美;我们崇拜荣誉,梦想不朽;观望梵蒂冈,赏阅莎士比亚;集聚古人的智慧以知未来;倾听战争的号角和胜利的呐喊;质疑历史如同考究人心的运作;寻求真理;思辩人性;俯瞰世界,有如时空万灵将其宝物尽都倾于脚前一正当我们面临这一切、从事这一切的时候,自己却在一刹那之间化为虚无,眼前的一切,像是魔术师的把戏,像是一场幻影,一下子全都消失得无影无踪!

  英语四级必背的文章赏析

Human Life Like a Poem

人生如诗

I think that, from a biological standpoint, human life almost reads like a poem. It has its own rhythm and beat, its internal cycles of growth and decay. It begins with innocent childhood, followed by awkward adoles­cence trying awkwardly to adapt itself to mature society, with its young passions and follies, its ideals and ambitions; then it reaches a manhood of intense activities, profiting from experience and learning more about socie­ty and human nature; at middle age, there is a slight ea­sing of tension, a mellowing of character like the ripening of fruit or the mellowing of good wine, and the gradual acquiring of a more tolerant, more cynical and at the same time a kindlier view of life; then in the sunset of our life, the endocrine glands decrease their activity, and if we have a true philosophy of old age and have ordered our life pattern according to it, it is for us the age of peace and security and leisure and contentment; finally, life flickers out and one goes into eternal sleep, never to wake up again. One should be able to sense the beauty of this rhythm of life, to appreciate, as we do in grand symphonies, its main theme, its strains of conflict and the final resolution.

我想,从生物学的观点来说,人生品味起来就像一首诗。它有其自身的韵律和节拍,有其生老病死的内在循环过程。它以天真烂漫的童年为序曲;接着便是青涩的青春期,带着青年人的热情和愚蠢、理想和抱负,羞涩、懵懂地迈向成人的世界;然后便进入一个活力充沛的成年时期,这个时期人们从阅历中获益,对社会及人性也有了更多了解;到中年之时,压力才稍为减轻,人的性格就像熟透的水果或醇厚的美酒一般,更为圆熟,这时候,对人生的态度也逐渐变得更宽容、更随性、更仁慈。此后,便到了我们的迟暮之年,内分泌腺的活动逐渐趋缓。如果我们对年老持一种真正的达观态度,并以此来安排我们的生活方式,那么,这个时期对我们来说,就是安宁、稳定、闲逸和满足的时期;最终,生命的火光摇曳不定,之后人将永远地长眠,不再醒来。人应该能够体会这种人生之韵的美,应该能够像欣赏盛大的交响乐那样,去欣赏人生的主旋律,欣赏它的冲突片断和最后的尾声。

The movements of these cycles are very much the same in a normal life, but the music must be provided by the individual himself. In some souls, the discordant note becomes harsher and harsher and finally overwhelms or submerges the main melody. Sometimes the discordant note gains so much power that the music can no longer go on, and the individual shoots himself with a pistol or jumps into a river. But that is because his original leitmo­tif has been hopelessly over-shadowed through the lack of a good self-education. Otherwise the normal human life runs to its normal end in a kind of dignified movement and procession.

这些循环过程的运动在每个常人的生命中并无二至,但是生命的乐曲须由我们每个人自己来谱写。在有些人的灵魂之中,不和谐的音符变得愈加刺耳,到最后完全盖过或是湮没了生命的主旋律。有时候,这种不和谐的音符会如此强大以至于生命的乐曲不能继续演奏,而使人饮弹自尽或者投河而亡。但那是由于缺乏良好的自我修养,人最初的主旋律就已投上了无望的阴影。否则,一t正常人的生活会以一种尊贵的方式演进而最后得赃常结束。

No one can say that a life with childhood, manhood and old age is not a beautiful arrangement; the day has its morning, noon and sunset, and the year has its sea­sons, and it is good that it is so. There is no good or bad in life, except what is good according to its own season. And if we take this biological view of life and try to live according to the seasons, no one but a conceited fool or an impossible idealist can deny that human life can be lived like a poem.

没有人能够说,由童年、成年和老年组成的人生不是一种完美的安排;就像一天有早晨、中午和晚上,一年有四季,如此存在就是美好的。人生并没有好坏之分,只要符合我们所处的阶段,生活就都是人生的大好时光。而如果我们采纳这种看待人生的生物学观点,并且,尽量依照不同的阶段来生活,那么,除了狂妄自大的蠢人或不可理喻的理想主义者之外,没有人能够否认:人生可以活得像一首诗。