英语短文章

　　People often wonder why historians go to so much trouble to preserve millions of books, documents and records.

　　Why do we have libraries? What good are these documents and history books? Why do we record and save the actions of men, the negotiations1 of government officials and the events during wars?

　　We do it because, sometimes, the voice of experience can cause us to stop, look and listen. Sometimes, past records, when understood in the right way, can help us decide what to do and what not to do. If we are ever to create lasting peace, we must seek its origins in human experience and in the records of human history.

　　From the stories of courage and devotion of men and women, we create the inspirations of youth. History records the suffering, the self-denial2, the devotion, and the heroic deeds of people in the past. These records can help us when we are confused and when we really need peace.

　　The main purpose of history is to create a better world. History gives a warning to those who promote war, and inspiration to those who seek peace.

　　In short, history helps us learn. Yesterdays records can keep us from repeating yesterdays mistakes. And from the pieces of mosaic4 assembled5 by historians come the great murals6 which represent the progress of mankind.

　　A Nail Or A Fly?

　　An old gentleman whose eyesight was failing came to stay in a hotel room with a bottle of wine in each hand. On the wall there was a fly which he took for a nail. So the moment he hung them on, the bottles fell broken and the wine spilt all over the floor. When a waitress discovered what had happened, she showed deep sympathy for him and decided to do him a favor.

　　So the next morning when he was out taking a walk in the roof garden, she hammered a nail exactly where the fly had stayed.

　　Now the old man entered his room. The smell of the spilt wine reminded him of the accident. When he looked up at the wall, he found the fly was there again! He walked to it carefully and slapped it with all his strength. On hearing a loud cry, the kind-hearted waitress rushed in. To her great surprise, the poor old man was there sitting on the floor, his teeth clenched and his right hand bleeding!

　　The first snow came. How beautiful it was, falling so silently all day long, all night long, on the mountains, on the meadows, on the roofs of the living, on the graves of the dead! All white save the river, that marked its course by a winding black line across the landscape; and the leafless trees, that against the leaden sky now revealed more fully the wonderful beauty and intricacies of their branches. What silence, too, came with the snow, and what seclusion! Every sound was muffled, every noise changed to something soft and musical. No more tramping hoofs, no more rattling wheels! Only the chiming of the sleigh-bells, beating as swift and merrily as the hearts of children.

　　By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow 作者：亨利.沃兹沃思.朗费罗

　　翻译：

　　初雪降临，多么美啊！它整日整夜那么静静地飘着，落在山岭上，落在草地上，落在世人的屋顶上，落在逝者的坟墓上。在一片白茫茫之中，只有河流在美丽的画面上划出一道弯弯曲曲的黑线；还有那叶儿落净的树木，映衬着铅灰色的天空，更显得枝丫交错，姿态万千。初雪飘落时，是何等的.宁谧，何等的幽静！一切声响都趋沉寂，一切噪音都化作柔和的音乐。再也听不见马蹄得得，再也听不见车轮辚辚！唯有雪橇的铃铛，奏出和谐的乐声，那明快欢乐的节拍犹如孩子们心房的搏动。

　　Baby frogs went on a picnic in the woods. Getting out of the pond for the first time, they sang merrily.

　　Then, they found a cow grazing in a field. Oh, my! What is that? It is huge! All of them wondered what kind of animal it was. Let's ask Daddy.

　　They returned home in a hurry and shouted, Daddy, we saw a strange animal. What kind of animal was it?

　　It had large horns on its head and its body was way bigger than you. Even if we all add up our power, we can not defeat that animal.

　　The father was curious what the animal looked like. Really? Was it bigger than my stomach? Yes. Much bigger than that!

　　The father frog blew up his stomach largely, Well, now, I'm as big as the animal, right? No, you are as big as the animal's heel. The father puffed himself up deeply and blew up his stomach enormously.

　　How about now? Am I as big as the animal, huh? No, not even. Thinking he could not be outdone, the father frog puffed up his stomach even more.

　　The father frog's stomach was blown up as big as he could get. Right at that very moment, the father frog's stomach burst with a bang.

　　Behind every successful person, there will be efforts, and the efforts behind the inspirational, inspiring as a motive, so that it can be successful.

　　Some people say that he is a star, perhaps not, back when the road seems, spicy humor humorous playfulness that once bitter tears and heart, and it is obvious that unruly confrontation and fry a grassroots and the fate of the flash; he is a star, when he asked the passion on the fate of the split lock by force with the high spirited heart, in the name of the dream to pluck the stars on the occasion, what is he not a star?

　　He was a single show on the stage - Show Luo.

　　When I was a child, I liked Show Luo very much. He was very imposing on stage. So I wished to be a star when I was young, but my voice was thick and the dance was rotten. It's not a star material.

　　From then on, I thought of Show Luo. Even when he was young, he had no astrology. Even though he was despise and black and fat, he was scolded into a pig. Even though he wrote a letter to a schoolgirl for the first time, he was called back, well, it's up to you. Even after the debut has been ordered to minimize the occurrence of more sharply, producers expressed his doubts, how can you be discovered as a singer? You have to stay in the studio, I won't let the music go! ... Even if is full of sarcasm and ridicule, he was abruptly survived. But those who smile, helpless when Coptis meal, who can really understand!