四级阅读美文（共12篇）由网友“粉红西红柿”投稿提供，下面是小编整理过的四级阅读美文，欢迎您阅读分享借鉴，希望对您有所帮助。
篇1：四级阅读美文
四级阅读美文
Barbie’s fate
‵Barbie, beware. The ‵iconic plastic doll｜is ‵often mutilated｜at the ‵hands of young girls, according to research published｜by British academics.
“The ‵girls we survey｜see Barbie torture｜as a ‵legitimate play activity, and see the ‵torture as a｜ ‵‘cool’ activity,” said Agnes Nairn, one of the University｜of Bath researchers. The ‵types of mutilation are ‵varied｜and ‵creative, and ‵range from removing the hair｜to decapitation, burning, breaking｜and ‵even microwaving.
Researchers from the university’s ‵marketing｜and ‵psychology departments｜questioned ‵100 children｜about their attitudes｜to a ‵range of products｜as part of a study｜on ‵branding. They found｜ ‵Barbie provoked the ‵strongest reaction, with youngsters reporting｜“‵rejection, ‵hatred and ‵violence”, Nairn said. “The ‵meaning of ‘Barbie’｜went ‵beyond an expressed antipathy; ‵actual physical violence｜and torture towards the doll｜was ‵repeatedly reported.” she said.
While boys ‵often expressed nostalgia｜and affection toward GI Joe, ‵renouncing Barbie｜appeared to be a ‵rite of passage｜for ‵many girls,① Nairn said.
“The ‵most readily expressed reason｜for ‵rejecting Barbie｜was that she was ‵babyish, and girls saw her｜as representing their younger childhood｜ ‵out of which they felt｜they had now grown,” she said.
Nairn said｜many girls saw Barbie｜as an ‵inanimate object｜ ‵rather than a treasured toy.
“Whilst for an ‵adult｜the delight the child felt in ‵breaking, ‵mutilating｜and ‵torturing their dolls｜is ‵deeply disturbing, from the child's point of view｜they were ‵simply being imaginative｜in disposing of an ‵excessive commodity｜in the ‵same way｜as one might crush cans｜for recycling,” she said.
Manufacturer Mattel, which sells 94 ‵million Barbies｜a year worldwide, said the doll remained｜the “‵No. 1 fashion doll brand”.
Mattel U.K. said｜that despite the findings｜of “this ‵very small group of children, we know｜that there are ‵millions of girls in the U.K.｜and ‵across the world｜that love and enjoy playing with ‵Barbie｜and will ‵continue to do so｜in the future.” [330 words]
芭比娃娃的命运
芭比娃娃，小心点。根据英国研究人员公布的调查结果，这只塑料娃娃经常受到年轻女孩的虐待。
英国巴斯大学研究人员艾格尼丝·奈恩说：“我们调查的那些女孩都认为虐待芭比娃娃没有什么不对，而且还觉得自己这样做挺酷的。”虐待芭比的方式多种多样，而且很有创意，有的把芭比娃娃的头发给剃了，有的把她的头给卸了，有的烧它、把它的身体折断，甚至有人把它放进微波炉里。
巴斯大学营销系和心理学系的研究人员对100个儿童进行了调查，调查主要是针对他们对一系列产品的态度，这也是品牌研究的一个部分。调查结果表明，孩子们对芭比娃娃的反应最为强烈，据奈恩介绍，“排斥、厌恶和暴力”是被用的最多的评价字眼。她说，“芭比所遭受的已经不仅仅是孩子们的反感了，暴力和‘酷刑’对于这个娃娃来说已是家常便饭。”
“当男孩们对于‘美国大兵’念念不忘时，和芭比娃娃说再见则是很多女孩告别童年时代的标志。”
奈恩说，“女孩们不喜欢芭比最直接的一个原因就是，觉得芭比太孩子气，就像自己童年时的样子，而她们觉得自己已经不再是小女孩了，芭比娃娃已经不适合自己。”
奈恩说很多女孩都觉得芭比娃娃死气沉沉的，没有一点生气，根本不把她当成宝贝。
她说，“在大人们看来，孩子以虐待、蹂躏玩具娃娃为乐实在是太不正常了，但是站在孩子们的角度想想，他们觉得自己只是在处理一个多余的东西，这就和把铁罐压扁以便回收的.道理是一样的。”
芭比娃娃的生产商麦特尔公司介绍，芭比娃娃仍然是时尚娃娃的第一品牌。她每年的全球销售量达到9400万。
麦特尔公司说，尽管这个调查发现有一小部分孩子不喜欢芭比娃娃，但是我们知道在英国乃至全世界，有几百万的女孩都很喜欢芭比，她们把她当作自己的朋友，而且会一直对芭比娃娃‘宠爱有加’。
英语标准美文100篇 002Competition
It is a plain fact that we are in a world where competition is going on in all areas and at all levels.This is exciting.Yet, on the other hand, competition breeze a pragmatic attitude.People choose to learn things that are useful,and do things that are profitable.Todays' college education is also affected by this general sense of utilitarianism. Many college students choose business nor computing programming as their majors convinced that this professions are where the big money is. It is not unusual to see the college students taking a part time jobs as a warming up for the real battle.I often see my friends taking GRE tests, working on English or computer certificates and taking the driving licence to get a licence. Well, I have nothing against being practical. As the competition in the job market gets more and more intense, students do have reasons to be practical. However, we should never forget that college education is much more than skill training. Just imagine, if your utilitarianism is prevails on campus, living no space for the cultivation of students' minds,or nurturing of their soul. We will see university is training out well trained spiritless working machines.If utilitarianism prevails society, we will see people bond by mind-forged medicals lost in the money-making ventures;we will see humality lossing their grace and dignity, and that would be disastrous.I'd like to think society as a courage and people persumed for profit or fame as a horese that pulls the courage.Yet without the driver picking direction the courage would go straight and may even end out in a precarious situation .A certificate may give you some advantage, but broad horizons, positive attitudes and personal integrities ,these are assets you cannot acquire through any quick fixed way.In today's world, whether highest level of competition is not of skills or expertise , but vision and strategy. Your intellectual quality largely determinds how far you can go in your career.
英语标准美文100篇 008
Chinese Undergraduates in the US
Each year, elite American universities and liberal arts colleges, such as Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Amherst and Wellesley, offer a number of scholarships to Chinese high school graduates to study in their undergraduate programs. Four years ago, I received such a scholarship from Yale.
What are these Chinese undergrads like? Most come from middle-class families in the big urban centers of China. The geographical distribution is highly skewed, with Shanghai and Beijing heavily over-represented. Outside the main pool, a number of Yale students come from Changsha and Ningbo,swhereseach year American Yale graduates are sent to teach English.
The overwhelming majority of Chinese undergraduates in the US major in science, engineering or economics. Many were academic superstars in their high schools - gold medallists in international academic Olympiads or prize winners in national academic contests. Once on US campuses, many of them decide to make research a lifelong commitment.
Life outside the classroom constitutes an important part of college life. At American universities the average student spends less than thirteen hours a week in class. Many Chinese students use their spare time to pick up some extra pocket money. At Yale, one of the most common campus jobs is washing dishes in the dining halls. Virtually all Chinese undergraduates at Yale work part-time in the dining halls at some point in their college years. As they grow in age and sophistication, they upgrade to better-paying and less stressful positions. The more popular and interesting jobs include working as a computer assistant, math homework grader, investment office assistant and lab or research assistant. The latter three often lead to stimulating summer jobs.
Student activities are another prominent feature of American college life. Each week there are countless student-organized events of all sorts - athletic, artistic, cultural, political or social (i.e. just for fun). New student organizations are constantly being created, and Chinese undergrads contribute to this ferment. Sport looms much larger on US campuses than in China. At Yale, intramural sports from soccer to water polo take place all year long; hence athletic talent is a real social asset. One of the Chinese students at Yale several years ago was a versatile sportsman. His athletic talents and enthusiastic participation in sporting events, combined with his other fine qualities, made him a popular figure in his residential college.
英语标准美文100篇 017I Want to Know
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!
It doesn’t interest me if the story you’re telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
It doesn’t interest me who you are, how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, without moving to hide it
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
I want to know if you can see beauty , if you can source your life from god’s presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
英语标准美文100篇 027Beauty
there were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that have nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart.
I have thought about her often over the years and how she struggled in a society that places an incredible premium on looks, class, wealth and all the other fineries of life. She suffered from a disfigurement that cannot be made to look attractive. I know that her condition hurt her deeply.
Would her life have been different had she been pretty? Chances are it would have. And yet there were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that had nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart. Her words came from a wounded but loving heart, very much like all hearts, but she had more of a need to be aware of it, to live with it and learn from it. She possessed a fine-tuned sense of beauty. Her only fear in life was the loss of a friend.
It is said that the true nature of being is veiled. The labor of words, the expression of art, the seemingly ceaseless buzz that is human thought all have in common the need to get at what really is so. The hope to draw close to and possess the truth of being can be a feverish one. In some cases it can even be fatal, if pleasure is one's truth and its attainment more important than life itself. In other lives, though, the search for what is truthful gives life.
The truth of her life was a desire to see beyond the surface for a glimpse of what it is that matters. She found beauty and grace and they befriended her, and showed her what is real.
英语标准美文100篇 080Work and Pleasure
To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they must all be real. It is no use starting late in life to say: “I will take an interest in this or that.” Such an attempt only aggravates the strain of mental effort. A man may acquire great knowledge of topics unconnected with his daily work, and yet hardly get any benefit or relief. It is no use doing what you like; you have got to like what you do. Broadly speaking, human beings may be divided into three classes: those who are toiled to death, those who are worried to death, and those who are bored to death. It is no use offering the manual labourer, tired out with a hard week’s sweat and effort, the chance of playing a game of football or baseball on Saturday afternoon. It is no use inviting the politician or the professional or business man, who has been working or worrying about serious things for six days, to work or worry about trifling things at the weekend.
It may also be said that rational, industrious useful human beings are divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly, those whose work and pleasure are one. Of these the former are the majority. They have their compensations. The long hours in the office or the factory bring with them as their reward, not only the means of sustenance, but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and most modest forms. But Fortune’s favoured children belong to the second class. Their life is a natural harmony. For them the working hours are never long enough. Each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidays when they come are grudged as enforced interruptions in an absorbing vocation. Yet to both classes the need of an alternative outlook, of a change of atmosphere, of a diversion of effort, is essential. Indeed, it may well be that those whose work is their pleasure are those who most need the means of banishing it at intervals from their minds.
工作和娱乐
要想获得真正的快乐与安宁，一个人应该有至少两三种爱好，而且必须是真正的爱好。到晚年才说“我对什么什么有兴趣”是没用的，这只会徒然增添精神负担。一个人可以在自己工作之外的领域获得渊博的知识，不过他可能几乎得不到什么好处或是消遣。做你喜欢的事是没用的，你必须喜欢你所做的事。总的来说，人可以分为三种：劳累而死的、忧虑而死的、和烦恼而死的。对于那些体力劳动者来说，经历了一周精疲力竭的体力劳作，周六下午让他们去踢足球或者打棒球是没有意义的。而对那些政治家、专业人士或者商人来说，他们已经为严肃的事情操劳或烦恼六天了，周末再让他们为琐事劳神也是没有意义的。
也可以说，那些理性的、勤勉的、有价值的人们可分为两类，一类，他们的工作就是工作，娱乐就是娱乐；而另一类，他们的工作即娱乐。大多数人属于前者，他们得到了相应的补偿。长时间在办公室或工厂里的工作，回报给他们的不仅是维持了生计，还有一种强烈的对娱乐的需求，哪怕是最简单的、最朴实的娱乐。不过，命运的宠儿则属于后者。他们的生活很自然和谐。对他们来说，工作时间永远不嫌长。每天都是假日，而当正常的假日来临时，他们总是埋怨自己所全身心投入的休假被强行中断了。不过，有些事情对两类人是同样至关重要的，那就是转换一下视角、改变一下氛围、将精力转移到别的事情上。确实，对那些工作即是娱乐的人来说，最需要隔一段时间就用某种方式把工作从脑子里面赶出去。
篇2：英语四级阅读美文
Is It Smart to Marry for Money
为钱结婚明智吗
(1) 0ver at our fellow WSJ blog, The Wallet, there's a provocative Q & A with the authors of a new book called smart Girl Marry Money, a satirical self-help book which has a serious mission: to get women and men to talk more about marriage and finances.
(1)在《华尔街日报》网上博客“The Wallet”中，新书《聪明女孩嫁给钱》的两位作者与读者之间进行了颇有争议的问答。这是一本讽刺性自助书籍，它的一个重大使命就是：让女人和男人多谈谈婚姻和财务状况。
The book came into being when the two working-mom authors, Ford and Drake, M.D., met while picking up their young children from preschool. (2)They noticed that the moms who were able to spend the most time with their kids were the “moms who hadn't necessarily taken their careers seriously and married someone with money,” said Dr. Drake in the interview. “It became a joke that if we were smart, we would have married for money.”
这本书的两位作者福特和德雷克都是上班族妈妈。她们从幼儿园接孩子的时候碰上了，这本书就这样诞生了。(2)德雷克在接受采访时说，她们注意到，能花最多时间和孩子在一起的妈妈们并不一定是在事业上兢兢业业的人，而是嫁给了有钱人的女性。她说：“聪明的话就嫁有钱人这个说法曾一度成了笑话。”
The authors aren't saying that every woman should aspire to marry a rich guy. But they argue that marriage shouldn't just be about love---it should also be an economic partnership (as marriage traditionally was for centuries.) Women and men should be more upfront about marriage and money, instead of entering marriage starry-eyed without considering the financial future.
两位作者的意思并不是说，每个女性都应该立志嫁给有钱人。不过她们说，婚姻并不是光有爱情就够了，还应该是经济上的伙伴关系(就像几百年来婚姻的传统模式一样)。女性和男性应该在婚姻和金钱的问题上更加坦率，而不是在没有考虑财务未来的情况下就满脑子幻想地步入婚姻的殿堂。
Dr. Drake, in the interview, also asserted that women shouldn't abandon their careers, in case of a spouse's illness or divorce. “It's an important asset,” she said. (The full Q & A can be found here.)
德雷克在采访中还主张，女性不应该放弃自己的事业，以防伴侣生病或是夫妻二人离婚。她：“这是一项重要的资产。”
The interview struck a chord for me: I happen to know quite a few women, especially back in New York, for whom the net worth of their potential spouses or at least their earning potential-was an important factor in determining suitability for marriage. I'm not saying these women married solely for money, but it was a key consideration. Now, after having children---or in some cases, after marriage none of these women work.
这个采访让我深有同感：我碰巧认识很多女性，特别是在纽约的时候，对她们来说，潜在伴侣的净资产――或至少他们的赚钱潜力，是决定是否适合婚嫁的重要因素。我并不是说，这些女性纯粹为了钱而结婚，而是说钱是一个重要的考虑因素。现在，这些人在有了孩子之后(有些人在婚后)没有一个在工作。
Readers, do you know women or men who have married for money? How important, honestly, were financial considerations when evaluating your partner?
读者朋友们，你们认识为了钱而结婚的女性或男性吗?坦白地讲，金钱因素在评估另一半时有多重要?
四六级句型讲解
1. Over at our fellow WSJ blog, The Wallet, there's a provocative Q & A with the authors of a new book called “Smart Girls Marry Money,” a satirical self-help book which has a serious mission: to get women and men to talk more about marriage and finances.
本句是一个复合句，主句是Over at...there's a provocative Q & A..., 其中The Wallet是前面WSJ blog的同位语。a satirical self-help book是作同位语结构。which引导限制性定语从句，修饰book。冒号后面的内容是对mission的解释说明。
语法重点：同位语，定语从句
2. They noticed that the moms who were able to spend the most time with their kids were the “moms who hadn't necessarily taken their careers seriously and married someone with money,” said Dr. Drake in the interview.
本句是一个复合句。 said Dr. Drake in the interview前的内容是said的宾语。其中that引导宾语从句，作notice的宾语。其中两个who分别引导两个限制性定语从句，修饰moms。
语法重点：宾语从句，定语从句
篇3：英语四级美文中英文阅读
The Importance of Being Honest
假如没了诚信，我一天也不会快乐
In the busy city of New York， such an astonishing thing that ever happened.
在繁华的纽约，曾经发生了这样一件震撼人心的事情。
On a Friday night， a poor young artist stood at the gate of the subway station， playing his violin. Though the music was great， people were quickly going home for the weekend. In this case， many of them slowed down their paces and put some money into the hat of the young man.
星期五的傍晚，一个贫穷的年轻艺人仍然像往常一样站在地铁站门口，专心致志地拉着他的小提琴。琴声优美动听，虽然人们都急急忙忙地赶着回家过周末，但还是有很多人情不自禁的放慢了脚步，时不时地会有一些人在年轻艺人跟前的礼帽里放一些钱。
The next day， the young artist came to the gate of the subway station， and put his hat on the ground gracefully. Different than the day before， he took out a large piece of paper and laid it on the ground and put some stones on it. Then he adjusted the violin and began playing. It seemed more pleasant to listen to.
第二天黄昏，年轻的艺人又像往常一样准时来到地铁门口，把他的礼帽摘下来很优雅地放在地上。和以往不同的是，他还从包里拿出一张大纸，然后很认真地铺在地上，四周还用自备的小石块压上。做完这一切以后，他调试好小提琴，又开始了演奏，声音似乎比以前更动听更悠扬。
Before long， the young violinist was surrounded with people， who were all attracted by the words on that paper. It said， “Last night， a gentleman named George Sang put an important thing into my hat by mistaken. Please come to claim it soon.”
不久，年轻的小提琴手周围站满了人，人们都被铺在地上的那张大纸上的字吸引了，有的人还踮起脚尖看。上面写着：“昨天傍晚，有一位叫乔治-桑的先生错将一份很重要的东西放在我的礼帽里，请您速来认领。”
Seeing this， it caused a great excitement and people wondered what it could be. After about half an hour， a middle-aged man ran there in a hurry and rushed through the crowd to the violinist and grabbed his shoulders and said， “Yes， it's you. You did come here. I knew that you're an honest man and would certainly come here.”
见此情景，人群之间引起一阵骚动，都想知道这是一份什么样的东西。过了半小时左右，一位中年男人急急忙忙跑过来，拨开人群就冲到小提琴手面前，抓住他的肩膀语无伦次的说：“啊!是您呀，您真的来了，我就知道您是个诚实的人，您一定会来的。”
The young violinist asked calmly， “Are you Mr. George Sang?”
年轻的小提琴手冷静地问：“您是乔治-桑先生吗?”
The man nodded. The violinist asked， “Did you lose something?”
那人连忙点头。小提琴手又问：“您遗落了什么东西吗?”
“Lottery. It's lottery，” said the man.
那位先生说：“奖票，奖票”。
The violinist took out a lottery ticket on which George Sang's name was seen. “Is it?” he asked.
小提琴手于是掏出一张奖票，上面还醒目地写着乔治-桑，小提琴手举着彩票问：“是这个吗?”
George nodded promptly and seized the lottery ticket and kissed it， then he danced with the violinist.
乔治-桑迅速地点点头，抢过奖票吻了一下，然后又抱着小提琴手在地上跳起了舞。
The story turned out to be this： George Sang is an office clerk. He bought a lottery ticket issued by a bank a few days ago. The awards opened yesterday and he won a prize of $500，000. So he felt very happy after work and felt the music was so wonderful， that he took out 50 dollars and put in the hat. However the lottery ticket was also thrown in. The violinist was a student at an Arts College and had planned to attend advanced studies in Vienna. He had booked the ticket and would fly that morning. However when he was cleaning up he found the lottery ticket. Thinking that the owner would return to look for it， he cancelled the flight and came back to where he was given the lottery ticket.
原来事情是这样的，乔治-桑是一家公司的小职员，他前些日子买了一张一家银行发行的奖票，昨天上午开奖，他中了50万美元的奖金。昨天下班，他心情很好，觉得音乐也特别美妙，于是就从钱包里掏出50美元，放在了礼帽里，可是不小心把奖票也扔了进去。小提琴手是一名艺术学院的学生，本来打算去维也纳进修，已经定好了机票，时间就在今天上午，可是他昨天整理东西时发现了这张奖票，想到失主会来找，于是今天就退掉了机票，又准时来到这里。
Later someone asked the violinist： “At that time you were in needed to pay the tuition fee and you had to play the violin in the subway station every day to make the money. Then why didn't you take the lottery ticket for yourself?”
后来，有人问小提琴手：“你当时那么需要一笔学费，为了赚够这笔学费，你不得不每天到地铁站拉提琴。那你为什么不把那50万元的奖票留下呢?”
The violinist said， “Although I don't have much money， I live happily; but if I lose honesty I won't be happy forever.”
小提琴手说：“虽然我没钱，但我活得很快乐;假如我没了诚信，我一天也不会快乐。”
Through our lives， we can gain a lot and lose so much. But being honest should always be with us. If we bear ourselves in a deceptive and dishonest way， we may succeed temporarily. However， from the long-term view， we will be a loser. Such kind of people are just like the water on the mountain. It stands high above the masses at the beginning， but gradually it comes down inch by inch and loses the chance of going up.
在人的一生中，我们会得到许多，也会失去许多，但守信用却应是始终陪伴我们的。如果以虚伪、不诚实的方式为人处世，也许能获得暂时的“成功”，但从长远看，他最终是个失败者。这种人就像山上的水，刚开始的时候，是高高在上，但逐渐逐渐地它就越来越下降，再没有一个上升的机会。
1.英语四级阅读长篇阅读技巧
2.英语四级阅读猜词有什么技巧
3.英语四级阅读推理题答题技巧
4.英语四级快速阅读的方法
5.英语四级阅读技巧分享
6.英语四级阅读练习题
7.20英语四级阅读试题练习
8.英语四级提高阅读能力的方法
9.英语四级阅读理解做题技巧
10.英语四级阅读理解压轴预测题
篇4：四级阅读备考之美文欣赏
四级阅读备考之美文欣赏
阅读是英语一个非常重要的题型，本文为大家提供美文一篇，助大家备考。祝大家取得好的四级成绩。
War in Laces
The frail, dark-eyed young woman was vying for the greatest accolade in musicthe hotly contested Prix de Rome for the year 1913. The field had been narrowed to five composers whose cantatas were to be evaluated by a vote of 36 members of the Academie des Beaux-Arts. One critic attending the final judging of the cantatas contrasted contestant Lili Boulanger with the rest of the competitors:
Perched over the piano like jockeys over the necks and withers of their horses, the intrepid composers spurred on their accompanists and desperately flailed away at the performers. Then the superiority of the eternal feminine became apparent to the audience. Compared to her hot-blooded colleagueswho apparently believed that their hour had comethe young girl, who had just as much reason to be nervous and impatient, showed the most perfect poise. She had a modest and unaffected attitude, her eyes lowered to the score.
Another witness reported that the three singers with the composer s sister Nadia at the piano, were directed by Lili Boulanger, standing nearby, a slender shadow in a white dress, so simple, calm, serious and smiling as to be unforgettable.
But as far as the judging was concerned, the outcome was by no means a sure thing. On the previous day, the preliminary vote by a panel of eight had given Lili Boulanger s cantata a scant majority of five votes. Now it was up to the 36 to decide. After considering the merits of the candidates and other prizes they had won, the members voted. Of the 36, 31 voted in favor of Lili Boulanger and her cantata on the basis of intelligence of subject, correctness of performance, sensitivity and warmth, poetic feeling, and intelligent, colorful orchestration.
篇5：四级美文
四级美文
Secrets of Student
The kids at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techiniques that others can readily learn.Here,according to the education experts and students themselves,are the secrets of straight—A student.
1. Set Priorities. Top students brook no intusions on study time.Once the books are open or the computer is booted up.,phone calls go unanwered,TV shows unwatched,snacks ignored.Study is business:business before recreation.
2. Study anywhere----or everywhere. Study times were strictly a matter of personal preference,Some worked late at night when the house was quiet.Others woke early.Still others studied as soon as they came home from school when the work was fresh in their minds.All agrred,however,on the need for consistency.
3. Get organized.Don’t waste time lookin for a pencil or missing paper.Keep everything right where one could prut one’s hands on it.Even students who don’t have a private study area remain organized.A backpack or drawer keeps essential supplies together and cuts down on timewasting searches.
4. Learn how to read.The secret of good reading is to be an active reader---one who continually asks qustions that lead to a full understanding of the authour’s message.
5. Schedule your time.Even the best students procrastinate sometimes.But when that happens,they face up to it.”if you want A’s ,you make sure to hit the deadline.”says Christi Anderson,a top student at Lyman High School.
6. Take a good notes---and use them.Reading the text book is important ,but the teacher is going to test you on what he or she emphasized.That’s what you find in your notes.
篇6：四级晨读美文
四级晨读美文
厕所文化（Toilet Culture）
Staying at a certain place long enough . Everybody needs to know where the toilet is. I tried to find one when I first visited the Divinity School Library， the oldest school in Yale University： I tried to find the signs with words such as WC， Ladies， Bathroom， and Washroom. I used all the knowledge I had about toilet， but I could not find one. My common sense told me that it was impossible not to find one in the library， so I kept trying. Eventually I found a door on which was a single word： WOMEN.
任何人在一个地方停留一段时间，就需要知道厕所在哪里。当我第一次到耶鲁大学神学院图书馆时——神学院是耶鲁大学最老的学院，我就想找厕所。我首先找“WC”，“Ladies”，“Bathroom”和“Washroom”等字样，我几乎用了我学过有关厕所的所有词汇，但还是没有找到。生活常识告诉我，在这么大的图书馆没有厕所是不可能的，我又继续寻找，最后找到标有“WOMEN”字样的门。
Although it did not look at all like a toilet， I assumed it must be one. And because I couldn't wait any longer， I had to try it. As I opened the door， I was sure I made a mistake， so I came out immediately. For what I had entered was a room much larger than my living room in Beijing， with a standing lamp by an antique-like table on a beautiful green carpet. On one side of the room， there was a very decent brown sofa， above which there was a wall mirrored up to the ceiling. There were two other sofas， by the side of the table. In one corner was a clothes hanger and in another corner was a big pot of green plants. It looked like a sitting room or lobby in a hotel. There was no sign of a toilet. But it was the only possible place a toilet could be. Then I remembered that there was another door in the room， so I went back in and opened the door. And there it was！ What relief！ I found it at last！ The toilet room was only half the size of the outer room. It had only two seats with two sinks. What luxury“！ It was like a two-room flat.
尽管从外表上看一点也不像厕所，但是直觉告诉我，这就是厕所。我确实也憋不住了，不得不去试一下。当我推开门时，我认定我弄错了，立即退了出来。因为我看到的房间比我在北京的客厅还要大。房间里铺着漂亮的绿色地毯，古色古香的桌子旁有一个落地台灯。房间的一侧放着一个相当漂亮的棕色长沙发，沙发上方有一个覆盖了一面墙的大镜子顶着天花板。房间的另一侧在桌子旁是一对单人沙发。房间的一角放着衣架，另一角放着一个种有绿色植物的大花盆，看上去像个豪华宾馆的休息室，一点不像厕所，但是这又是惟一可能是厕所的地方。纳闷时我记起这个房间里还有一个门，我决然走进去，把门打开。如释重负！我终于找到了厕所。它只有外面休息室一半大小的面积，有两个便座和两个洗手池、这太奢侈了！像是个两居室住所。
After I relieved myself， another question occurred to me： since it was impossible for such a big library to have only one toilet， I had to ask someone about toilets. A “Rest Room” is also a toilet. The “rest” had only one seat and it was unisex. Both women and men could use it by locking the door from the inside.
完恭后，我又想，这么大的一个图书馆不可能只有这么一个厕所，我不得不去请教别人。“休息室”，是厕所的另一代词。它只有一个便座，而且是不分性别的.，谁进去只要把门反锁上就可专用。
To refer to a toilet as a “rest room” is miles apart from the Chinese idea of a toilet. I never related the “rest room” with a “toilet”。 Here at Yale， when I use a toilet designated “women”， I feel myself a queen and enjoy looking at myself in a large mirror to see if I am properly attired. And when using a “rest room”， I do have a feeling of rest， because it is clean and has a window with a beautiful view.
“休息室”与中文厕所的概念相距十万八千里。我从没把“休息室”与“厕所”联系在一起。而在耶鲁，当我使用标？quot；women“的厕所时，真有点像当上了皇后的感觉，在休息室大镜子前面自我欣赏一番，整理二下自己的衣着。当我使用”休息室“时，确实领会到休息的实在含意，因为休息室窗明几净，窗外景色迷人。
My experience with the toilet at Yale has enlightened me as to why American visitors often asked for the toilet when they arrived at our university： they may have needed to relieve themselves but they may have needed more to make sure that they were presentable before meeting our president. It is a kind of moment of privacy that they need. I can imagine how disappointed they must have been when they found no mirrors in our toilets！ Their toilets have more functions than ours.
在耶鲁大学使用厕所的经历，使我明白了为什么以前美国来宾到我们学校时，总会问“厕所在哪里？”，现在回想起来，她们有可能是要使用厕所，但更需要的是在去见校长前，梳理化妆一番。她们需要一点“隐私”的时间。我可以想象，当她们发现我们的厕所里没有镜子时，会多么沮丧。她们的厕所功能远比我们的多。
篇7：四级主题美文
最新四级主题美文
Experiencing Scotland 苏格兰的风情
Scotland is a unique and austere place, laden with history, where you can find aristocratic palaces and castles, as well as the traditional parades in national costumes. It has some of the most beautiful cities in Europe, a living testimony of a proud and splendid past.
In order to see and discover the true soul of Scotland today, what forged the character of this splendid region, we have to go towards the northern regions, to the Grampian Mountains. Beautiful and unspoiled, it was difficult to farm. The Scots subdued the environment with simple spades and strong arms.
The history of this ancient struggle, and its people's ancient love affair with the hard land, is enclosed within the walls of the Angus Folk Museum. You are able to get a feel of the typical rural atmosphere of times past from the everyday artifacts displayed here.
From coastal Aberdeen in towards the interior of the Grampian Mountains there runs the Castle Trail, a road that touches on many fortresses, which are witnesses of continual revolts against the dominion of neighboring England in Scottish history.
Perhaps the most uplifting moment for Scottish autonomy is the one experienced inside this ancient abbey of Arbroath, where, in 1320; the Declaration of Independence was celebrated, at the instigation of King Robert the Bruce. He carried out the plan for autonomy drawn up by the great popular hero William Wallace, to whom cinema has dedicated the wonderful film “Braveheart”, the winner of five Oscars.
This is Glamis Castle. It is often remembered for being the residence of King Macbeth and Queen Elizabeth in her childhood. Among the most assiduous guests here are the inevitable ghosts, which are nourished, if not actually created, by ancient popular beliefs. These have been handed down over the centuries by a people inclined to live with mystery, with the forces of the supernatural.
Another attraction here is a legendary monster: the Loch Ness Monster. Is it real or imaginary, this monster, which has been nicknamed Nessie, has collected a good 3000 sightings over the last 50 years? To fuel the debate about the monster, and perhaps also curiosity about the lake, a price of 500,000 pounds sterling has been put on Nessie's head.
The true flag of Scotland, tartan, is recognisable from the brightly coloured plaid patterns which are used to distinguish the various clans. Over the last few decades this fabric has made a comeback and is part of the daily life of this country.
The typical Scottish garment, the kilt, is de rigeur when the Scots play the Great Highland bagpipes, especially when they march in parades.
Bagpipes and dancing open the competitions of local sporting events, which are called Highland Gatherings. The games, which have strange rules, involve a spirit that has more to do with brute force than with athletics.
感受苏格兰
苏格兰是一个独特的地方，自然条件虽不得天独厚，历史的厚重感却随处可见。豪门望族的府第与城堡历历在目，仪仗队的士兵也还穿着传统服装。这里有全欧洲最美的城市，诉说着苏格兰昔日的荣光。
想看看真正的苏格兰，追寻这里民族精神的源泉，就得去北部的格兰扁山区。格兰扁山区景色怡人，还没有受到现代文明的污染。格兰扁一度不适合耕作，倔强的苏格兰人，凭着双手征服了这片土地。
苏格兰先民的艰苦劳作与他们自古对这片贫瘠土地的眷恋，在这个博物馆里一览无余。这里展出的都是平常的物品，营造出往日乡间的氛围，使人油然而生怀旧之情。
从沿海的阿伯丁，有一条古堡之路，一直蜿蜒到格兰扁山区深处。沿途很多昔日的要塞，都是苏格兰在历史上不断反抗英格兰统治的见证。
苏格兰争取自治的过程中最大快人心的`时刻莫过于13在这个修道院，布鲁斯国王鼓动百姓大肆庆贺独立宣言签订。布鲁斯采纳传奇英雄威廉·华勒斯所献的计策，完成了自治大业，这个故事后来被改编成电影《勇敢的心》，该片曾摘取了五项奥斯卡奖。
这座城堡之所以名闻遐迩，却是因为曾经的两位主人——苏格兰国王麦克白与幼年时的伊丽莎白女王。如今这里最相看无厌的客人当数传说中挥之不去的幽灵，这些传说即使不是源于世代相传的民间故事，也大有借鉴化用的嫌疑。苏格兰人似乎生来就笃信超自然的力量，因此才有了这些传说。
这里游人如织的另一个原因则是尼斯湖的怪兽。真假姑且不论，这个昵称Nessie的怪兽在过去的半个世纪中已经吸引了三千余名游客。如今它头上有五十万英镑的悬赏，使得学术界的争论日益激烈，或许也会令游人的好奇日盛吧。
苏格兰格子呢是苏格兰真正的旗帜。它显著的花格子图案曾经是区分不同宗族的标志。在过去几十年里，格子呢在苏格兰再度流行，如今则已在日常生活中不可或缺。
苏格兰传统的褶裙按照礼节是应该在演奏高地风笛时穿的，尤其是列队前进的时候。
高地风笛与利尔舞揭开了高地运动盛会的序幕。运动会的比赛项目规则奇特，与其说是田径比赛，不如说是大力士的较量。
英语美文 Competition
It is a plain fact that we are in a world where competition is going on in all areas and at all levels.This is exciting.Yet, on the other hand, competition breeze a pragmatic attitude.People choose to learn things that are useful,and do things that are profitable.Todays' college education is also affected by this general sense of utilitarianism. Many college students choose business nor computing programming as their majors convinced that this professions are where the big money is. It is not unusual to see the college students taking a part time jobs as a warming up for the real battle.I often see my friends taking GRE tests, working on English or computer certificates and taking the driving licence to get a licence. Well, I have nothing against being practical. As the competition in the job market gets more and more intense, students do have reasons to be practical. However, we should never forget that college education is much more than skill training. Just imagine, if your utilitarianism is prevails on campus, living no space for the cultivation of students' minds,or nurturing of their soul. We will see university is training out well trained spiritless working machines.If utilitarianism prevails society, we will see people bond by mind-forged medicals lost in the money-making ventures;we will see humality lossing their grace and dignity, and that would be disastrous.I'd like to think society as a courage and people persumed for profit or fame as a horese that pulls the courage.Yet without the driver picking direction the courage would go straight and may even end out in a precarious situation .A certificate may give you some advantage, but broad horizons, positive attitudes and personal integrities ,these are assets you cannot acquire through any quick fixed way.In today's world, whether highest level of competition is not of skills or expertise , but vision and strategy. Your intellectual quality largely determinds how far you can go in your career.
英语美文 Chinese Undergraduates in the US
Each year, elite American universities and liberal arts colleges, such as Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Amherst and Wellesley, offer a number of scholarships to Chinese high school graduates to study in their undergraduate programs. Four years ago, I received such a scholarship from Yale.
What are these Chinese undergrads like? Most come from middle-class families in the big urban centers of China. The geographical distribution is highly skewed, with Shanghai and Beijing heavily over-represented. Outside the main pool, a number of Yale students come from Changsha and Ningbo,swhereseach year American Yale graduates are sent to teach English.
The overwhelming majority of Chinese undergraduates in the US major in science, engineering or economics. Many were academic superstars in their high schools - gold medallists in international academic Olympiads or prize winners in national academic contests. Once on US campuses, many of them decide to make research a lifelong commitment.
Life outside the classroom constitutes an important part of college life. At American universities the average student spends less than thirteen hours a week in class. Many Chinese students use their spare time to pick up some extra pocket money. At Yale, one of the most common campus jobs is washing dishes in the dining halls. Virtually all Chinese undergraduates at Yale work part-time in the dining halls at some point in their college years. As they grow in age and sophistication, they upgrade to better-paying and less stressful positions. The more popular and interesting jobs include working as a computer assistant, math homework grader, investment office assistant and lab or research assistant. The latter three often lead to stimulating summer jobs.
Student activities are another prominent feature of American college life. Each week there are countless student-organized events of all sorts - athletic, artistic, cultural, political or social (i.e. just for fun). New student organizations are constantly being created, and Chinese undergrads contribute to this ferment. Sport looms much larger on US campuses than in China. At Yale, intramural sports from soccer to water polo take place all year long; hence athletic talent is a real social asset. One of the Chinese students at Yale several years ago was a versatile sportsman. His athletic talents and enthusiastic participation in sporting events, combined with his other fine qualities, made him a popular figure in his residential college.
英语美文 I Want to Know
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!
It doesn’t interest me if the story you’re telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
It doesn’t interest me who you are, how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, without moving to hide it
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
I want to know if you can see beauty , if you can source your life from god’s presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
英语美文 Beauty
there were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that have nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart.
I have thought about her often over the years and how she struggled in a society that places an incredible premium on looks, class, wealth and all the other fineries of life. She suffered from a disfigurement that cannot be made to look attractive. I know that her condition hurt her deeply.
Would her life have been different had she been pretty? Chances are it would have. And yet there were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that had nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart. Her words came from a wounded but loving heart, very much like all hearts, but she had more of a need to be aware of it, to live with it and learn from it. She possessed a fine-tuned sense of beauty. Her only fear in life was the loss of a friend.
It is said that the true nature of being is veiled. The labor of words, the expression of art, the seemingly ceaseless buzz that is human thought all have in common the need to get at what really is so. The hope to draw close to and possess the truth of being can be a feverish one. In some cases it can even be fatal, if pleasure is one's truth and its attainment more important than life itself. In other lives, though, the search for what is truthful gives life.
The truth of her life was a desire to see beyond the surface for a glimpse of what it is that matters. She found beauty and grace and they befriended her, and showed her what is real.
英语美文 New Theories on Keeping Slim
Year after year cook books and diet books are the biggest seller, how not to eat it once you’ve learned how to cook it. To sell a diet book you need some crazy idea of what to eat or not to eat. Here’s a peanut butter diet book, the ice cream diet book, the bikini diet, none of these books agrees on what you should or shouldn’t eat.
The Atkins Diet has been popular for year, Atkins make nutritionists mad by saying you can eat just about all the fat you want, as long as you don’t eat many carbohydrates, sugar and bread. I like Atkins because I cook with butter. The Scarsdale Diet was a popular fad for several years, it's a chart in here indicating what you ought to weigh. It Says a woman five feet four ought weigh between 110 and 123 pounds. If you’re a man five foot eight, Doctor Tarnower said you should weigh between 137 and 153 pounds. Well I’m a man five foot eight, who weighs between 205 and 206 pounds, according to him I should be six feet six inches tall.
Doctor Phil has a new book out, looks good but I’d be afraid Doctor Phil’s diet might make bald. The Pritikin Diet, everything is non-fat milk in these diets. That’s why kids aren’t drinking milk anymore: tastes like fat-free dishwater. They only have charts listing things you could eat, like half a piece of celery of 4.5 grams of applesause. Is there anyone who knows what a gram of applesauce look like?
This is the most popular book these days, the South Beach Diet Book. There are some surprises in here, it ahs a list of foods to avoid and one of them is apples. Maybe that’s because apples are bad for the doctor’s business, “an apple a day keeps a doctor without pay.”
You’ve all seen the diet ads at the back of bad magazines, before after, she took Hydroxycut to lose weight. Before, midpoint, after, boy, she’s had that bathing suit a long while. If I really wanted to lose weight though I know what I’d do, I’d cut my eyebrows.
篇8：四级晨读美文
Gump, gifted with a low IQ which lets him be adorably childlike even as he grows up, leads a very charmed life: a mother who loves him immensely and who sleeps with the school principal in order to make sure her child has the best education, a miraculous incident that eliminates the need for him to have braces for his legs, a childhood girlfriend who remains faithful to him till the end, surviving Vietnam with a medal, and, in general, a propensity for turning everything that happens to him into good.
I wonder what the movie is trying to say. From one perspective, it implies that intelligence (as measured by IQs and the general idea of what “smart” is) is a very unnecessary trait. But I think one can look beyond that and say that childlike innocence, which can be considered stupid, has its rewards. Throughout the movie, Gump is in situations where he is harassed by other people but he never takes offense (except, of course, when his girl Jenny is being abused) at any of the insults thrown at him. He is indeed not completely stupid, even though he is portrayed as such, since he can re-assemble guns at high speed, run like crazy, play ping-pong like a maniac, and so on.
The fact that Gump doesn't take offense, I think, is what keeps him content. He becomes a millionaire, but gives most of the money away. He is honest and open and this, along with his Alabama accent, endears him to the audience. But this gets tiresome after a while (especially after 2 hours). I thought the movie was overly long, but that's the only negative thing I have to say.
The traditional male heroes that we have had are all dysfunctional in some respect or another and we are lost without heroes, as Bloom points out. Gump is a new kind of a role-model; he's A Nice Boy and everyone knows they're hard to find. As one reviewer said: “Today the last American hero is a Tom Hanks character with a small IQ”.
Forest Gump is the runaway hit movie of this summer.
篇9：四级晨读美文
It is a plain fact that we are in a world where competition is going on in all areas and at all levels.This is exciting.Yet, on the other hand, competition breeze a pragmatic attitude.People choose to learn things that are useful,and do things that are profitable.Todays' college education is also affected by this general sense of utilitarianism. Many college students choose business nor computing programming as their majors convinced that this professions are where the big money is. It is not unusual to see the college students taking a part time jobs as a warming up for the real battle.I often see my friends taking GRE tests, working on English or computer certificates and taking the driving licence to get a licence. Well, I have nothing against being practical. As the competition in the job market gets more and more intense, students do have reasons to be practical. However, we should never forget that college education is much more than skill training. Just imagine, if your utilitarianism is prevails on campus, living no space for the cultivation of students' minds,or nurturing of their soul. We will see university is training out well trained spiritless working machines.If utilitarianism prevails society, we will see people bond by mind-forged medicals lost in the money-making ventures;we will see humality lossing their grace and dignity, and that would be disastrous.I'd like to think society as a courage and people persumed for profit or fame as a horese that pulls the courage.Yet without the driver picking direction the courage would go straight and may even end out in a precarious situation .A certificate may give you some advantage, but broad horizons, positive attitudes and personal integrities ,these are assets you cannot acquire through any quick fixed way.In today's world, whether highest level of competition is not of skills or expertise , but vision and strategy. Your intellectual quality largely determinds how far you can go in your career.
篇10：四级晨读美文
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!
It doesn’t interest me if the story you’re telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
It doesn’t interest me who you are, how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, without moving to hide it
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
I want to know if you can see beauty , if you can source your life from god’s presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
篇11：四级晨读美文
Each year, elite American universities and liberal arts colleges, such as Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Amherst and Wellesley, offer a number of scholarships to Chinese high school graduates to study in their undergraduate programs. Four years ago, I received such a scholarship from Yale.
What are these Chinese undergrads like? Most come from middle-class families in the big urban centers of China. The geographical distribution is highly skewed, with Shanghai and Beijing heavily over-represented. Outside the main pool, a number of Yale students come from Changsha and Ningbo,swhereseach year American Yale graduates are sent to teach English.
The overwhelming majority of Chinese undergraduates in the US major in science, engineering or economics. Many were academic superstars in their high schools - gold medallists in international academic Olympiads or prize winners in national academic contests. Once on US campuses, many of them decide to make research a lifelong commitment.
Life outside the classroom constitutes an important part of college life. At American universities the average student spends less than thirteen hours a week in class. Many Chinese students use their spare time to pick up some extra pocket money. At Yale, one of the most common campus jobs is washing dishes in the dining halls. Virtually all Chinese undergraduates at Yale work part-time in the dining halls at some point in their college years. As they grow in age and sophistication, they upgrade to better-paying and less stressful positions. The more popular and interesting jobs include working as a computer assistant, math homework grader, investment office assistant and lab or research assistant. The latter three often lead to stimulating summer jobs.
Student activities are another prominent feature of American college life. Each week there are countless student-organized events of all sorts - athletic, artistic, cultural, political or social (i.e. just for fun). New student organizations are constantly being created, and Chinese undergrads contribute to this ferment. Sport looms much larger on US campuses than in China. At Yale, intramural sports from soccer to water polo take place all year long; hence athletic talent is a real social asset. One of the Chinese students at Yale several years ago was a versatile sportsman. His athletic talents and enthusiastic participation in sporting events, combined with his other fine qualities, made him a popular figure in his residential college.
篇12：四级晨读美文
To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they must all be real. It is no use starting late in life to say: “I will take an interest in this or that.” Such an attempt only aggravates the strain of mental effort. A man may acquire great knowledge of topics unconnected with his daily work, and yet hardly get any benefit or relief. It is no use doing what you like; you have got to like what you do. Broadly speaking, human beings may be divided into three classes: those who are toiled to death, those who are worried to death, and those who are bored to death. It is no use offering the manual labourer, tired out with a hard week’s sweat and effort, the chance of playing a game of football or baseball on Saturday afternoon. It is no use inviting the politician or the professional or business man, who has been working or worrying about serious things for six days, to work or worry about trifling things at the weekend.
It may also be said that rational, industrious useful human beings are divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly, those whose work and pleasure are one. Of these the former are the majority. They have their compensations. The long hours in the office or the factory bring with them as their reward, not only the means of sustenance, but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and most modest forms. But Fortune’s favoured children belong to the second class. Their life is a natural harmony. For them the working hours are never long enough. Each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidays when they come are grudged as enforced interruptions in an absorbing vocation. Yet to both classes the need of an alternative outlook, of a change of atmosphere, of a diversion of effort, is essential. Indeed, it may well be that those whose work is their pleasure are those who most need the means of banishing it at intervals from their minds.
工作和娱乐
要想获得真正的快乐与安宁，一个人应该有至少两三种爱好，而且必须是真正的爱好。到晚年才说“我对什么什么有兴趣”是没用的，这只会徒然增添精神负担。一个人可以在自己工作之外的领域获得渊博的知识，不过他可能几乎得不到什么好处或是消遣。做你喜欢的事是没用的，你必须喜欢你所做的事。总的来说，人可以分为三种：劳累而死的、忧虑而死的、和烦恼而死的。对于那些体力劳动者来说，经历了一周精疲力竭的体力劳作，周六下午让他们去踢足球或者打棒球是没有意义的。而对那些政治家、专业人士或者商人来说，他们已经为严肃的事情操劳或烦恼六天了，周末再让他们为琐事劳神也是没有意义的。
也可以说，那些理性的、勤勉的、有价值的人们可分为两类，一类，他们的工作就是工作，娱乐就是娱乐；而另一类，他们的工作即娱乐。大多数人属于前者，他们得到了相应的补偿。长时间在办公室或工厂里的工作，回报给他们的不仅是维持了生计，还有一种强烈的对娱乐的`需求，哪怕是最简单的、最朴实的娱乐。不过，命运的宠儿则属于后者。他们的生活很自然和谐。对他们来说，工作时间永远不嫌长。每天都是假日，而当正常的假日来临时，他们总是埋怨自己所全身心投入的休假被强行中断了。不过，有些事情对两类人是同样至关重要的，那就是转换一下视角、改变一下氛围、将精力转移到别的事情上。确实，对那些工作即是娱乐的人来说，最需要隔一段时间就用某种方式把工作从脑子里面赶出去。
★ 四级晨读美文听写
★ 我大学这两年美文
★ 无奈又何妨美文
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