晨读英语美文篇

1、星火书业 晨读英语美文100篇六级Passage 1. knowledge and VirtueKnowledge is one thing, virtue is another; good sense is not conscience, refinement is not humilitynor is largeness and justness of view faith. Philosophy, however enlightened, however profound, gives no command over the passions, no influential motive

2、s, no vivifying principles. Liberal Education makes not the Christian, not the Catholic, but the gentleman.It is well to be a gentleman, it is well to have a cultivated intellect, a delicate taste, a candid, equitable, dispassionate mind,a noble and courteous bearing in the conduct of lifethese are

3、the connatural qualities of a large knowledge; they are the objects of a University.I am advocating, I shall illustrate and insist upon them; but still, I repeat, they are no guarantee for sanctity or even for conscientiousness, and they may attach to the man of the world, to the profligate, to the

4、heartless, pleasant, alas, and attractive as he shows when decked out in them. Taken by themselves, they do but seem to be what they are not; they look like virtue at a distance, but they are detected by close observers, and in the long run; and hence it is that they are popularly accused of pretens

5、e and hypocrisy, not, I repeat, from their own fault, but because their professors and their admirers persist in taking them for what they are not, and are officious in arrogating for them a praise to which they have no claim. Quarry the granite rock with razors, or moor the vessel with a thread of

6、silk, then may you hope with such keen and delicate instruments as human knowledge and human reason to contend against those giants, the passion and the pride of man.Passage 2. “Packing” a Person A person, like a commodity, needs packaging. But going too far is absolutely undesirable. A little exagg

7、eration, however, does no harm when it shows the persons unique qualities to their advantage. To display personal charm in a casual and natural way, it is important for one to have a clear knowledge of oneself. A master packager knows how to integrate art and nature without any traces of embellishme

8、nt, so that the person so packaged is no commodity but a human being, lively and lovely. A young person, especially a female, radiant with beauty and full of life, has all the favor granted by God. Any attempt to make up would be self-defeating. Youth, however, comes and goes in a moment of doze. Pa

9、ckaging for the middle-aged is primarily to conceal the furrows ploughed by time. If you still enjoy lifes exuberance enough to retain self-confidence and pursue pioneering work, you are unique in your natural qualities, and your charm and grace will remain. Elderly people are beautiful if their riv

10、er of life has been, through plains, mountains and jungles, running its course as it should. You have really lived your life which now arrives at a complacent stage of serenity indifferent to fame or wealth. There is no need to resort to hair-dyeing； the snow-capped mountain is itself a beautiful sc

11、ene of fairyland. Let your looks change from young to old synchronizing with the natural ageing process so as to keep in harmony with nature, for harmony itself is beauty, while the other way round will only end in unpleasantness. To be in the elders company is like reading a thick book of deluxe ed

12、ition that fascinates one so much as to be reluctant to part with. As long as one finds where one stands, one knows how to package oneself, just as a commodity establishes its brand by the right packaging. Passage 3. Three Passions I Have Lived for Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, h

13、ave governed my life:the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions, like great winds, have blown me hither and thither, in a wayward course over a deep ocean of anguish, reaching to the very verge of despair.I have sought love, first

14、, because it brings ecstasyecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of my life for a few hours for this joy. 00:47.70I have sought it, next, because it relieves loneliness 00:52.19that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness 00:57.46looks over the rim of the

15、world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. 01:04.12I have sought it, finally, because in the union of love I have seen, 01:10.02in a mystic miniature, 01:11.89the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. 01:17.90This is what I sought, and though it might seem too g

16、ood for human life, 01:23.92this is whatat lastI have found. 01:28.08With equal passion I have sought knowledge. 01:32.12I have wished to understand the hearts of men. 01:36.06I have wished to know why the stars shine . 01:40.44A little of this, but not much, I have achieved. 01:45.37Love and knowle

17、dge, so far as they were possible, led upward toward the heavens. 01:53.35But always pity brought me back to earth. 01:56.96Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. 02:01.67Children in famine, victims tortured by oppressors, helpless old people 02:08.23a hated burden to their sons, 02:10.97a

18、nd the whole world of loneliness, poverty, and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. 02:19.28I long to alleviate the evil, but I cannot, and I too suffer. 02:25.73This has been my life. 02:28.36I have found it worth living, and would gladly live it again 02:32.52if the chance were offere

19、d me.00:01.43Passage 4. A Little Girl 00:05.59Sitting on a grassy grave, beneath one of the windows of the church, was a little girl. 00:14.23With her head bent back she was gazing up at the sky and singing, 00:19.37while one of her little hands was pointing to a tiny cloud 00:24.08that hovered like

20、 a golden feather above her head. 00:28.56The sun, which had suddenly become very bright, shining on her glossy hair, 00:35.01gave it a metallic luster, and it was difficult to say what was the color, dark bronze or black. 00:43.26So completely absorbed was she in watching the cloud to which her str

21、ange song or incantation seemed addressed, 00:52.40that she did not observe me when I rose and went towards her. 00:57.00Over her head, high up in the blue, 01:00.50a lark that was soaring towards the same gauzy cloud was singing, as if in rivalry. 01:07.09As I slowly approached the child, 01:10.05I

22、 could see by her forehead, which in the sunshine seemed like a globe of pearl, 01:16.28and especially by her complexion, that she uncommonly lovely. 01:22.19Her eyes, which at one moment seemed blue-gray, at another violet, 01:27.33were shaded by long black lashes, curving backward in a most peculi

23、ar way, 01:33.25and these matched in hue her eyebrows, 01:36.53and the tresses that were tossed about her tender throat were quivering in the sunlight. 01:42.43All this I did not take in at once; 01:45.28for at first I could see nothing but those quivering, glittering, changeful eyes turned up into

24、my face. 01:53.26Gradually the other features, especially the sensitive full-lipped mouth, 01:59.06grew upon me as I stood silently gazing. 02:02.45Here seemed to me a more perfect beauty than had ever come to me in my loveliest dreams of beauty. 02:09.79Yet it was not her beauty so much as the look

25、 she gave me that fascinated me, melted me.00:00.87Passage 5 Declaration of Independence 00:07.00When in the Course of human events, 00:10.39it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands 00:15.75which have connected them with another, 00:17.93and to assume among the powers of t

26、he earth, 00:21.22the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Natures God entitle them, 00:28.33a decent respect to the opinions of mankind 00:32.16requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 00:38.08We hold these truths to be self-evident,

27、that all men are created equal, 00:44.74that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, 00:50.21that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. 00:55.47That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, 01:00.39deriving their just powers from

28、the consent of the governed, 01:05.31That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, 01:10.67it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, 01:15.38and to institute new Government, 01:17.90laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such fo

29、rm, 01:24.35as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. 01:30.37Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established 01:35.51should not be changed for light and transient causes; 01:39.34and accordingly all experience has shown, 01:42.62that mankind are more d

30、isposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, 01:48.64than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. 01:53.89But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, 01:58.16pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them 02:03.63under absolute Despotism,

31、 it is their right, it is their duty, 02:08.88to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. 02:15.56Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; 02:20.58and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. 02

32、:28.49The history of the present King of Great Britain George III 02:34.00is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, 02:38.82all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. 02:45.49To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. 00:01.38Passag

33、e 6. A Tribute to the Dog00:06.08The best friend a man has in the world may turn against him and become his enemy.00:13.42His son or daughter that he has reared with loving care may prove ungrateful.00:20.31Those who are nearest and dearest to us,00:23.59those whom we trust with our happiness and ou

34、r good name,00:27.64may become traitors to their faith.00:30.70The money that a man has he may lose.00:33.77It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most.00:38.36A mans reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action.00:44.27The people who are prone to fall on their knees t

35、o do us honor when success is with us00:51.05may be the first to throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud upon our heads.00:58.50The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world,01:05.61the one that never deserts him,01:08.45the one that never proves ungrat

36、eful or treacherous, is his dog.01:13.81A mans dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness.01:21.14He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely,01:27.93if only he may be near his masters side.01:31.75He will kiss the hand th

37、at has no food to offer;01:35.15he will lick the wounds and sores that come from encounter with the roughness of the world.01:41.05He will guard the sleep of his pauper master as if he were a prince.01:46.42When all other friends desert, he remains.01:50.13When riches take wings and reputation falls

38、 to pieces,01:54.62he is as constant in his love as the sun in its journeys through the heavens.02:00.53If fortune drives the master forth, an outcast in the world, friendless and homeless,02:07.09the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than that of accompanying him,02:12.12to guard him against da

39、nger, to fight against his enemies.02:16.18And when the last scene of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace,02:22.08and his body is laid away in the cold ground,02:25.69no matter if all other friends pursue their way,02:29.52there by the grave will the noble dog be found,02:33.35his h

40、ead between his paws, his eyes sad but open in alert watchfulness,02:39.70faithful and true even in death.00:00.42Passage 7. Knowledge and Progress00:03.71Why does the idea of progress loom so large in the modern world?00:09.18Surely because progress of a particular kind is actually taking place aro

41、und us00:14.76and is becoming more and more manifest.00:17.49Although mankind has undergone no general improvement in intelligence or morality,00:23.40it has made extraordinary progress in the accumulation of knowledge.00:28.11Knowledge began to increase as soon as the thoughts of one individual00:3

42、4.23could be communicated to another by means of speech.00:37.85With the invention of writing， a great advance was made,00:41.89for knowledge could then be not only communicated but also stored.00:47.15Libraries made education possible, and education in its turn added to libraries:00:54.36the growth

43、 of knowledge followed a kind of compound interest law,00:58.09which was greatly enhanced by the invention of printing.01:01.37All this was comparatively slow until, with the coming of science,01:06.40the tempo was suddenly raised.01:08.26Then knowledge began to be accumulated according to a systema

44、tic plan.01:13.29The trickle became a stream;01:16.14the stream has now become a torrent.01:18.33Moreover, as soon as new knowledge is acquired, it is now turned to practical account.01:24.89What is called “modern civilization” is not the result of a balanced development of all mans nature,01:31.78b

45、ut of accumulated knowledge applied to practical life.01:35.72The problem now facing humanity is:01:39.00What is going to be done with all this knowledge?01:41.85As is so often pointed out, knowledge is a two-edged weapon01:46.77which can be used equally for good or evil.01:50.05It is now being used

46、 indifferently for both.01:53.23Could any spectacle, for instance, be more grimly weird01:56.95than that of gunners using science to shatter mens bodies while, close at hand,02:01.87surgeons use it to restore them?02:03.95We have to ask ourselves very seriously what will happen if this twofold use o

47、f knowledge,02:10.29with its ever-increasing power, continues. 00:00.76Passage 8. Address by Engels00:05.79On the 14th of March, at a quarter to three in the afternoon,00:11.91the greatest living thinker ceased to think.00:15.97He had been left alone for scarcely two minutes,00:19.79and when we came

48、 back we found him in his armchair,00:24.28peacefully gone to sleepbut forever.00:27.89An immeasurable loss has been sustained both by the militant proletariat of Europe and America,00:35.77and by historical science, in the death of this man.00:40.47The gap that has been left by the departure of thi

49、s mighty spirit00:45.51will soon enough make itself felt.00:48.80Just as Darwin discovered the law of development of organic nature,00:54.04so Marx discovered the law of development of human history:00:59.51the simple fact, hitherto concealed by an overgrowth of ideology,01:05.09that mankind must fi

50、rst of all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing,01:11.33before it can pursue politics, science, art, religion, etc.;01:17.13that therefore the production of the immediate material means of subsistence01:22.48and consequently the degree of economic development attained by a given people01:28.06or du

51、ring a given epoch form the foundation upon which the state institutions,01:34.08the legal conceptions, art, and even the ideas on religion,01:39.22of the people concerned have been evolved, and in the light of which they must, therefore,01:45.36be explained, instead of vice versa, as had hitherto b

52、een the case.01:51.37But that is not all.01:52.90Marx also discovered the special law of motion governing the present-day capitalist mode of production02:01.00and the bourgeois society that this mode of production has created.02:05.81The discovery of surplus value suddenly threw light on the problem,02:11.28in trying to solve which all previous investigations,02:15.66of both bourgeois economists and socialist critics, had bee