唯美英語(yǔ)小短文
對(duì)于初中生來(lái)講，英語(yǔ)閱讀能力是英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)過(guò)程中一種較高的能力水平要求。小編精心收集了唯美英語(yǔ)小短文，供大家欣賞學(xué)習(xí)!
唯美英語(yǔ)小短文篇1
Lighthouses
The first navigational lights in the New World were probably lanterns hung at harbor entrances.The first lighthouse was put up by the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1716 on Little BrewsterIsland at the entrance to Boston Harbor. Paid for and maintained by "light dues" levied on ships,the original beacon was blown up in 1776. By then there were only a dozen or so truelighthouses in the colonies. Little over a century later, there were 700 lighthouses.
The first light erected on the West Coast in the 1850's featured the same basic New Englanddesign: a Cape Cod dwelling with the tower rising from the center or standing close by. In NewEngland and elsewhere, though, lighthouses reflected a variety of architectural styles. Sincemost stations in the Northeast were built on rocky eminences, enormous towers were not therule. Some were made of stone and brick, others of wood or metal. Some stood on pilings orstilts; some were fastened to rock with iron rods. Farther south, from Maryland through theFlorida Keys, the coast was low and sandy. It was often necessary to build tall towers there -massive structures like the majestic Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, lighthouse, which was lit in1870. At 190 feet, it is the tallest brick lighthouse in the country.
Notwithstanding differences in appearance and construction, most American lighthousesshared several features: a light, living quarters and sometimes a bell (or later, a foghorn).Theyalso had something else in common: a keeper and, usually, the keeper's family. The keeper'sessential task was trimming the lantern wick in order to maintain a steady,bright flame. Theearliest keepers came from every walk of life -they were seamen,farmers, mechanics, roughmill hands - and appointments were often handed out by local customs commissioners aspolitical plums. After the administration of lighthouses was taken over in 1852 by the UnitedStates Lighthouse Board, an agency of the Treasury Department,the keeper corps graduallybecame highly professional.
唯美英語(yǔ)小短文篇2
First Inaugural Address
We observe today not a victory of party, but a celebration of freedom, symbolizing an end, as well as a beginning; signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath our forebears prescribed nearly a century and three quarters ago.
In your hands, my fellow citizens, more than in mine, will rest the final success or failure of our course. Since this country was founded, each generation of Americans has been summoned to give testimony to its national loyalty. The graves of young Americans who answered the call to service surround the globe.
Now the trumpet summons us again, not as a call to bear arms, though arms we need; not as a call to battle, though embattled we are; but a call to bear the burden of a long twilight struggle, year in and year out, “rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation”, a struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself.
Can we forge against these enemies a grand and global alliance, North and South, East and West, that can assure a more fruitful life for all mankind? Will you join in that historic effort?
In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility. I welcome it. I do not believe that any of us would exchange places with any other people or any other generation. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will light our country and all who serve it. And the glow from that fire can truly light the world.
And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.
My fellow citizens of the world, ask not what America will do for you, but what together we can do for the freedom of man.
Finally, whether you are citizens of America or citizens of the world, ask of us here the same high standards of strength and sacrifice which we ask of you. With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth, God’s work must truly be our own.
譯文：
就職演講(節(jié)選)
今天我們慶祝的不是政黨的勝利，而是自由的勝利。這象征著一個(gè)結(jié)束，也象征著一個(gè)開(kāi)端;意味著延續(xù)也意味看變革。因?yàn)槲乙言谀銈兒腿艿纳系勖媲埃x了我們的先輩在170多年前擬定的莊嚴(yán)誓言。
公民們，我們方針的最終成敗與其說(shuō)掌握在我手中，不如說(shuō)掌握在你們手中。自從合眾國(guó)建立以來(lái)，每一代美國(guó)人都曾受到召喚去證明他們對(duì)國(guó)家的忠誠(chéng)。響應(yīng)召喚而獻(xiàn)身的美國(guó)青年的墳?zāi)贡榧叭颉?/p>
現(xiàn)在，號(hào)角已再次吹響---不是召喚我們拿起武器，雖然我們需要武器;不是召喚我們?nèi)プ鲬?zhàn)，雖然我們嚴(yán)陣以待。它召喚我們?yōu)橛永杳鞫缲?fù)起漫長(zhǎng)斗爭(zhēng)的重任，年復(fù)一年，從希望中得到歡樂(lè)，在磨難中保持耐性，對(duì)付人類共同的敵人---專制、社團(tuán)、疾病和戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)本身。
為反對(duì)這些敵人，確保人類更為豐裕的生活，我們能夠組成一個(gè)包括東西南北各方的全球大聯(lián)盟嗎?你們?cè)敢鈪⒓舆@一歷史性的努力嗎?
在漫長(zhǎng)的世界歷史中，只有少數(shù)幾代人在自由處于最危急的時(shí)刻被賦予保衛(wèi)自由的責(zé)任。我不會(huì)推卸這一責(zé)任，我歡迎這一責(zé)任。我不相信我們中間有人想同其他人或其他時(shí)代的人交換位置。我們?yōu)檫@一努力所奉獻(xiàn)的精力、信念和忠誠(chéng)，將照亮我們的國(guó)家和所有為國(guó)效勞的人，而這火焰發(fā)出的光芒定能照亮全世界。
因此，美國(guó)同胞們，不要問(wèn)國(guó)家能為你們做些什么、而要問(wèn)你們能為國(guó)家做些什么。
全世界的公民們，不要問(wèn)美國(guó)將為你們做些計(jì)人，而要問(wèn)我們共同能為人類的自由做些什么。
最后，不論你們是美國(guó)公民還是其他國(guó)家的公民，你們應(yīng)要求我們獻(xiàn)出我們同樣要求于你們的高度力量和犧牲。問(wèn)心無(wú)愧是我們唯一可靠的獎(jiǎng)賞，歷史是我們行動(dòng)的最終裁判，讓我們走向前去，引導(dǎo)我們所熱愛(ài)的國(guó)家。我們祈求上帝的福佑和幫助，但我們知道，確切地說(shuō)，上帝在塵世的工作必定是我們自己的工作。
唯美英語(yǔ)小短文篇3
Gettysburg Address
Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now, we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us---that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
譯文：
在葛底斯堡的演說(shuō)
87年前，我們的先輩們?cè)谶@個(gè)大陸上創(chuàng)立了一個(gè)新國(guó)家，它孕育于自由之中，奉行一切人生來(lái)平等的原則?，F(xiàn)在我們正從事一場(chǎng)偉大的內(nèi)戰(zhàn)，以考驗(yàn)這個(gè)國(guó)家，或者任何一個(gè)孕育于自由和奉行上述原則的國(guó)家是否能夠長(zhǎng)久存在下去。我們?cè)谶@場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)中的一個(gè)偉大戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)上集會(huì)。烈士們?yōu)槭惯@個(gè)國(guó)家能夠生存下去而獻(xiàn)出了自己的生命，我們來(lái)到這里，是要把這個(gè)戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)的一部分奉獻(xiàn)給他們作為最后安息之所。我們這樣做是完全應(yīng)該而且是非常恰當(dāng)?shù)摹?/p>
但是，從更廣泛的意義上來(lái)說(shuō)，這塊土地我們不能夠奉獻(xiàn)，不能夠圣化，不能夠神化。那些曾在這里戰(zhàn)斗過(guò)的勇士們，活著的和去世的，已經(jīng)把這塊土地圣化了，這遠(yuǎn)不是我們微薄的力量所能增減的。我們今天在這里所說(shuō)的話，全世界不大會(huì)注意，也不會(huì)長(zhǎng)久地記住，但勇士們?cè)谶@里所做過(guò)的事，全世界卻永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)忘記。毋寧說(shuō)，倒是我們這些還活著的人，應(yīng)該在這里把自己奉獻(xiàn)于勇士們已經(jīng)如此崇高地向前推進(jìn)但尚未完成的事業(yè)。倒是我們應(yīng)該在這里把自己奉獻(xiàn)于仍然留在我們面前的偉大任務(wù)——我們要從這些光榮的死者身上汲取更多的獻(xiàn)身精神，來(lái)完成他們已經(jīng)完全徹底為之獻(xiàn)身的事業(yè);我們要在這里下定最大的決心，不讓這些死者白白犧牲;我們要使國(guó)家在上帝福佑下得到自由的新生，要使這個(gè)民有、民治、民享的政府永世長(zhǎng)存。
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