爱华网阅读经典美文可以让学生穿越时空与作者展开灵魂的交流,在不断提升的精神境界中让生命之树得以枝繁叶茂。下面小编整理了简单的英语美文诵读，希望大家喜欢!
简单的英语美文诵读摘抄
Life Struggle生命的拼搏
Once upon a time in a land far far away, there was a wonderful old man who loved everything. Animals, spiders, insects...
One day while walking through the woods the nice old man found a cocoon of a butterfly. He took it home.
A few days later, a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther.
Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.
The butterfly then emerged easily.
But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.
It never was able to fly.
What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were Nature's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were allowed to go through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been.
And we could never fly.
从前，在一个非常非常遥远的国度，有一位心地善良的老人。他喜爱一切东西，动物啦、蜘蛛啦、昆虫啦。
一天，这位善良的老人在树林里散步的时候，发现了一个蝴蝶的茧。他把茧带回了家。
几天后，茧裂开了一道小缝。老人几小时地坐在那里，看着蝴蝶挣扎着让自己的身体从小缝中挤出来。后来，蝴蝶破茧好象停了下来，没有什么进展了。看来蝴蝶好象是撑到了最后，再也不可能前进了。
看到这里，老人决定帮助蝴蝶。于是他找出一把剪刀，把茧剩余的部分剪破了。
这样，蝴蝶就轻易地从茧中脱出来了。
但是，蝴蝶的身子肿胀着，翅膀又小又皱。老人继续观察着蝴蝶，因为他期望着这样一个时刻的到来：蝴蝶的翅膀会变大，大到能支持它的身体，而蝴蝶的身体届时也会缩小。可是什么也没有发生。事实上，这只蝴蝶的余生中就只能拖着臃肿的身体和萎缩的翅膀爬来爬去了。
它永远也不能飞起来了。
在好心和匆忙间，老人并不理解，蝴蝶破茧而出时需要的那种束缚和挣扎其实是大自然用来将蝴蝶的体液挤到翅膀中的方法，这样，蝴蝶一旦能从茧中脱出，就能准备好飞翔了。
有时候，挣扎正是我们生活中所需要的。如果我们能得以毫无障碍地走过一生，这会使我们软弱。我们就不可能变得强壮。
重要的是，我们就不可能腾飞。
简单的英语美文诵读鉴赏
Louder than Anything You Can Say行胜于言
I teach economics at UNLV three times per week. Last Monday, at the beginning of class, I cheerfully asked my students how their weekend had been. One young man said that his weekend had not been so good. He had his wisdom teeth removed. The young man then proceeded to ask me why I always seemed to be so cheerful.
我在内华达大学拉斯维加斯分校教经济学，每周上三次课。上周一，在刚开始上课的时候，我兴致勃勃地问学生们周末过得怎么样。一个男生说，他的周末不太愉快，因为他的智齿被拔掉了，结果让他痛了一整天。然后，他又问我为何我总能保持那么快乐的心情。
His question reminded me of something I'd read somewhere before: "Every morning when you get up, you have a choice about how you want to approach life that day," I said. "I choose to be cheerful."
他的问题使我想起了一句不知出处的话：“每天早上，当你起床的时候，你可以选择如何面对一天的生活”，我说：“我选择快乐。”
"Let me give you an example," I continued, addressing all sixty students in the class. "In addition to teaching here at UNLV, I also teach out at the community college in Henderson, 17 miles down the freeway from where I live. One day a few weeks ago I drove those 17 miles to Henderson. I exited the freeway and turned onto College Drive. I only had to drive another quarter mile down the road to the college. But just then my car died. I tried to start it again, but the engine wouldn't turn over. So I put my flashers on, grabbed my books, and marched down the road to the college.
“我给你们举个例子吧，”我对着全班六十个学生继续说道，“除了在这儿上课，我还在一所社区大学任教，那儿离我家17英里。几周前的一天，我驾车前往那所学校，驶离高速公路后，我转入了校园区。在只差400多米就到学校的时候，我的汽车抛锚了。我努力重新发动引擎，但就是不行。我只好把指示灯打亮，然后抓起课本直奔学校。”
"As soon as I got there I called AAA and arranged for a tow truck to meet me at my car after class. The secretary in the Provost's office asked me what has happened. 'This is my lucky day,' I replied, smiling.
我一到学校就马上打电话给汽车协会，让他们在我下课后开辆拖车过来。院长办公室的秘书问我发生了什么事。“今天我真走运。”我笑着答道。
"'Your car breaks down and today is your lucky day?' She was puzzled. 'What do you mean?'
“你的车坏了，你还说今天走运?”她一脸的困惑。“你什么意思啊?”
"'I live 17 miles from here.' I replied. 'My car could have broken down anywhere along the freeway. It didn't. Instead, it broke down in the perfect place: off the freeway, within walking distance of here. I'm still able to teach my class, and I've been able to arrange for the tow truck to meet me after class. If my car was meant to break down today, it couldn't have been arranged in a more convenient fashion.'
我回答到：“我住在离这儿17英里的地方。其实我的车有可能在高速公路上的什么地方就坏掉了的，但庆幸的是，没有。相反，汽车是在离开了高速公路后才抛锚，而且距离学校很近。我还赶得及上课，还能够安排拖车在课后来处理。如果我的汽车是注定了要在今天抛锚的，那在这个位置抛锚已经是非常幸运了。”
The secretary's eyes opened wide, and then she smiled. I smiled back and headed for class." So ended my story.
“那个秘书听得目瞪口呆地，然后她笑了。我也冲她笑了一下，便上课去了。”这就是我的故事。
I scanned the sixty faces in my economics class at UNLV. Despite the early hour, no one seemed to be asleep. Somehow, my story had touched them. Or maybe it wasn't the story at all. In fact, it had all started with a student's observation that I was cheerful.
我扫视了一下全班六十张脸。虽然是在大清早，但没有一个学生在打盹儿。不知道为什么，他们好像被我的故事触动了。也许触动他们的并不是故事本身。其实，从一开始有学生发现我兴致高昂的时候，他们便已经被我的快乐感染了。
Deepak Chopra has quoted an Indian wise man as saying, "Who you are speaks louder to me than anything you can say." I suppose it must be so.
著名的印度作家迪帕克·乔布拉，曾经引述过一位印度智者的名言：“你为人行事的本身，比你的语言更具说服力。”我认为这的确是真理。
简单的英语美文诵读赏析
Big Rocks 人生的大石头
One day, an expert in time management was speaking to a group of students and, to drive home a point, used an illustration those students will never forget.
一天，时间管理专家为一群学生讲课。他现场做了演示，给学生们留下了一生都难以磨灭的印象。
As he stood in front of the group of overachievers he said, "OK, time for a quiz." He pulled out a one-gallon, wide-mouth jar and set it on the table in front of him. He also produced about a dozen fist-sized rocks and carefully placed them, one at a time, into the jar. When the jar was filled to the top and no more rocks would fit inside, he asked, "Is this jar full?"
站在那些高智商高学历的学生前面，他说：“我们来做个小测验”，拿出一个一加仑的广口瓶放在他面前的桌上。随后，他取出一堆拳头大小的石块，仔细地一块放进玻璃瓶。直到石块高出瓶口，再也放不下了，他问道：“瓶子满了?”
Everyone in the class yelled, "Yes." The time management expert replied, "Really?" He reached under the table and pulled out a bucket of gravel. He dumped some gravel in and shook the jar, causing pieces of gravel to work themselves down into the spaces between the big rocks. He then asked the group once more, "Is this jar full?"
所有学生应道：“满了!”。时间管理专家反问：“真的?”他伸手从桌下拿出一桶砾石，倒了一些进去，并敲击玻璃瓶壁使砾石填满下面石块的间隙。“现在瓶子满了吗?”他第二次问道。
By this time the class was on to him. "Probably not," one of them answered. "Good!" he replied. He reached under the table and brought out a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar and it went into all of the spaces left between the rocks and the gravel. Once more he asked the question, "Is this jar full?"
但这一次学生有些明白了，“可能还没有”，一位学生应道。“很好!”专家说。他伸手从桌下拿出一桶沙子，开始慢慢倒进玻璃瓶。沙子填满了石块和砾石的所有间隙。他又一次问学生：“瓶子满了吗?”
"No!" the class shouted. Once again he said, "Good." Then he grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it in until the jar was filled to the brim. Then he looked at the class and asked, "What is the point of this illustration?" One eager student raised his hand and said, "The point is, no matter how full your schedule is, if you try really hard you can always fit some more things in it!"
“没满!”学生们大声说。他再一次说：“很好!”然后他拿过一壶水倒进玻璃瓶直到水面与瓶口平。抬头看着学生，问道：“这个例子说明什么?”一个心急的学生举手发言：“无论你的时间多少，如果你确实努力，你可以做更多的事情!”
"No," the speaker replied, "that's not the point. The truth this illustration teaches us is if you don't put the big rocks in first, you'll never get them in at all. What are the 'big rocks' in your life? Time with your loved ones, your education, your dreams, a worthy cause, teaching or mentoring others? Remember to put these big rocks in first or you'll never get them in at all."
“不!”时间管理专家说，“那不是它真正的意思，这个例子告诉我们：如果你不是先放大石块，那你就再也不能把它放进瓶子了。那么，什么是你生命中的大石头呢?也许是你的道德感、你的梦想?还有你的---切切记得先去处理这些大石块，否则，一辈子你都不能做!”
我们可曾问过自己这个问题：人一生的“大石头”是什么?找出自己人生的“大石头”，然后把它们先放进我们人生的瓶子中!
