《新概念英语》历来受到英语教师和学习者的青睐,可在英语的听、说、读、写上最大限度地发挥自己的潜能。下面是小编带来的经典新概念英语美文阅读，欢迎阅读!

经典新概念英语美文阅读篇一

American Revolution

美国革命

The American Revolution was not a revolution in the sense of a radical or total change. It was not a sudden and violent overturning of the political and social framework, such as later occurred in France and Russia, when both were already independent nations.

美国革命从发生根本和彻底变化的意义上说其实并不算是一场革命。这次革命并不是对政治和社会框架的一次突然和猛烈的颠覆，诸如后来在已经是独立国家的法国和俄国所爆发的革命那样。

Significant changes were ushered in, but they were not breathtaking. What happened was accelerated evolution rather than outright revolution. During the conflict itself people went on working and praying, marrying and playing. Most of them were not seriously disturbed by the actual fighting, and many of the more isolated communities scarcely knew that a war was on.

革命带来了重大的变化，但并非翻天覆地，所发生的只是进化的加速，而不是一场彻底的革命。在冲突期间，人们仍然上班、做礼拜、结婚、玩耍。大多数人并没有受到实际战斗的严重影响。许多较闭塞的社区对这场战争几乎一无所知。

America's War of Independence heralded the birth of three modern nations. One was Canada, which received its first large influx of English-speaking population from the thousands of loyalists who fled there from the United States. Another was Australia, which became a penal colony now that America was no longer available for prisoners and debtors. The third newcomer -- the United States -- based itself squarely on republican principles.

美国独立战争宣布了三个现代国家的诞生，其中一个是加拿大。加拿大的第一大批讲英语的流入人口来自于成千上万英王的效忠者，这些人从美国逃到了加拿大。另一个国家是澳大利亚，因为美国不再是容纳罪犯和欠债者的国度了，澳大利亚就变成了一个惩治罪犯的殖民地。第三个国家就是美国，它完全建立在共和原则基础上。

Yet even the political overturn was not so revolutionary as one might suppose. In some states, notably Connecticut and Rhode Island, the war largely ratified a colonial self-rule already existing. British officials, everywhere ousted, were replaced by a home-grown governing class, which promptly sought a local substitute for king and Parliament.

然而即使政治上的颠覆也不如人们可能想象的那样具有革命性。在一些州，特别是康涅狄格和罗德岛，战争基本上只是承认了已经存在的殖民地的自治。四处被驱逐的英国官员都被本土的统治阶级所替代，这个统治阶级迅速地寻求地方权力机关来替代国王和议会。

经典新概念英语美文阅读篇二

Types of Speech

言语的类型

Standard usage includes those words and expressions understood, used, and accepted by a majority of the speakers of a language in any situation regardless of the level of formality. As such, these words and expressions are well defined and listed in standard dictionaries.

标准用法包括那些为使用这种语言的大多数人在任何场合下理解、使用和接受的词和短语，而不论该场合是否正式。这些词和短语的意义已很确定并被列入了标准词典中。

Colloquialisms, on the other hand, are familiar words and idioms that are understood by almost all speakers of a language and used in informal speech or writing, but not considered appropriate for more formal situations.

相反，俗语是指那些几乎所有讲这种语言的人都理解并在非正式的口头或书面中使用，却不适用于更正规的一些场合的词和短语。

Almost all idiomatic expressions are colloquial language. Slang, however, refers to words and expressions understood by a large number of speakers but not accepted as good, formal usage by the majority. Colloquial expressions and even slang may be found in standard dictionaries but will be so identified. Both colloquial usage and slang are more common in speech than in writing.

几乎所有的习惯用语都属于俗语，然而俚语指的是为很多讲这种语言的人理解但大多数人不把它们列入好的、正式用法之内的词和短语;俗语甚至俚语都可能在标准字典中查到，但是字典中会标明它们的性质。俗语和俚语词汇的应用都是口头较多、笔头较少。

Colloquial speech often passes into standard speech. Some slang also passes into standard speech, but other slang expressions enjoy momentary popularity followed by obscurity. In some cases, the majority never accepts certain slang phrases but nevertheless retains them in their collective memories. Every generation seems to require its own set of words to describe familiar objects and events.

俗语用法经常地被接受为标准用法。一些俚语也变成了标准用法，但另外一些俚语只经历了短暂的流行，而后就被弃之不用了。有时候，多数人从来不接受某些俚语，但是他们把这些俚语保存到集中记忆中。每一代人似乎都需要独有的一套词汇来描述熟知的物体和事件。

It has been pointed out by a number of linguists that three cultural conditions are necessary for the creation of a large body of slang expressions. First, the introduction and acceptance of new objects and situations in the society; second, a diverse population with a large number of subgroups; third, association among the subgroups and the majority population.

很多语言学家指出，大量俚语的形成需要三个文化条件：第一，对社会中新事物的引入和接受;第二，一个由大量子群构成的多样化人口;第三，各子群与多数人口之间的联系。

Finally, it is worth noting that the terms "standard" "colloquial" and "slang" exist only as abstract labels for scholars who study language. Only a tiny number of the speakers of any language will be aware that they are using colloquial or slang expressions. Most speakers of English will, during appropriate situations, select and use all three types of expressions.

最后需要提到的是，“标准语”、“俗语”和“俚语”这些术语只是对研究语言的专家才有用的抽象标签。不论何种语言，只会有很小一部分使用者能够意识到他们是在使用俗语或俚语。讲英语的多数人能够在适当的场合中选择使用所有这三种语言类型。

经典新概念英语美文阅读篇三

Suburbanization

郊区化

If by "suburb" is meant an urban margin that grows more rapidly than its already developed interior, the process of suburbanization began during the emergence of the industrial city in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Before that period the city was a small highly compact cluster in which people moved about on foot and goods were conveyed by horse and cart.

如果“郊区”指的是比已建好的城市内部发展更为迅速的城市边缘地带，那么郊区化在1825年至1850年工业化城市出现期间就开始了。在这之前，城市只是高度密集的小聚居群，在这里人们靠步行走动，商品靠马车运送。

But the early factories built in the 1830's and 1840's were located along waterways and near railheads at the edges of cities, and housing was needed for the thousands of people drawn by the prospect of employment. In time, the factories were surrounded by proliferating mill towns of apartments and row houses that abutted the older, main cities. As a defense against this encroachment and to enlarge their tax bases, the cities appropriated their industrial neighbors. In 1854, for example, the city of Philadelphia annexed most of Philadelphia County. Similar municipal maneuvers took place in Chicago and in New York.

但是建于18世纪三四十年代的早期工厂位于城边的航道和铁路附近，而被工作前景吸引到这里的成千上万的人们需要住房。渐渐地，在与旧有的主要城区相毗邻的地方，不断涌现出由排房和公寓楼组成的工人聚居区，包围了工厂。作为对这种侵蚀的自卫，也为了扩大税基，城市吞并了工业化的临近地带，比如1854年费城的城区就兼并了费县的绝大部分地区。相似的城市化也发生在芝加哥和纽约。

Indeed, most great cities of the United States achieved such status only by incorporating the communities along their borders. With the acceleration of industrial growth came acute urban crowding and accompanying social stress -- conditions that began to approach disastrous proportions when, in 1888, the first commercially successful electric traction line was developed. Within a few years the horse-drawn trolleys were retired and electric streetcar networks crisscrossed and connected every major urban area, fostering a wave of suburbanization that transformed the compact industrial city into a dispersed metropolis.

事实上，今天很多美国的大城市就是靠吞并它们附近的边缘地区而变成大都会的。随着工业化的加速发展，城市里出现了严重拥挤和随之而来的社会压力。当1888年第一条商业化成功的电气化铁轨被制造出来时，压力开始接近危机的程度。几年之内，马车就被废弃了，电车网相互交织连接着各个重要的城区，从而形成了一种郊区化的潮流，即密集的工业城市转变成了分散的都市。

This first phase of mass-scale suburbanization was reinforced by the simultaneous emergence of the urban Middle Class, whose desires for homeownership in neighborhoods far from the aging inner city were satisfied by the developers of single-family housing tracts.

此时城市中产阶级的出现进一步加强了第一波大规模郊区化。这些中产阶级希望在远离老旧城市的地区拥有住宅，单一家庭住宅地区的开发者满足了他们的愿望。