当今,部分英语专业学生在英语听说读写等基本技能上与英语文化素养上都存在不足,而解决这一问题最好的办法就是英语经典美文诵读。下面小编整理了英文版美文，希望大家喜欢!

英文版美文：我为什么想要个妻子Why I want a life

I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up after my children, a wife who will pick up after me. I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended, replaced when need be, and who will see to it that my personal things are kept in their proper place so that I can find what I need the minute I need it. I want a wife who cooks the meals, a wife who is a good cook. I want a wife who will plan the menus, do the necessary grocery shopping, prepare the meals, serve them pleasantly, and then do the cleaning up while I do my studying. I want a wife who will care for me when I am sick and sympathize with my pain and loss of time from school. I want a wife to go along when our family takes a vacation so that somesone can aomtinue to care for me and my children when I need a rest and change of scene.

我想要个妻子，她要会照料我的生活，把家里搞得既干净又整洁。一位会照顾我的孩子，照顾我的妻子。我想要个妻子，她会把我的衣服洗十净，熨烫好，缝补好，该更新的时候会帮我以新替旧，还会把我私人用品放在合适的地方，保证我需要的时候随时就能找到。我想要个妻子，她要会安排菜单，采购杂物，准备饮食，适时开饭，然后，我在作研究的时候，她要收拾房间。我想要个妻子，在我生病的时候，她会照料我，关心我的病痛，同情我推掉了学校里的课。我想要个妻子，我们一一家人出去度假的时候，她一路上继续不忘照顾我和孩子们，让我们休息好，玩得开心。

I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife's duties. But I want a wife who will listen to me when I feel the need to explain a rather difficult point I have come across in my course of studies. And I want a wife who type my papers for me when I have written them.

我想要个妻子，她不会整天唠唠叨叨，拿那些乱七八糟的事来烦我。但是，当我在工作或研究中遇到什么难题或不开心的时候，我想要个妻子，她会耐心地听我解释，听我倾诉。我想要个妻子，我写出论文来的时候，她能替我打字。

I want a wife who will take care of the details of my social life. When my wife and I are invited out by my friends, I want a wife who will take care of the babysitting arrangements. When I meet people at school that I like who will have the house clean, will prepare a special meal, serve it to me and my friends, and not interrupt when I talk about things that interest me and my friends. I want a wife who will have arranged that the children are fed and ready for bed before my guests arrive so that the children do not bother us. I want a wife who takes care of the needs of my guests so that they feel comfortable, who makes sure that they have an sahtray, that they are offered a second helping of the food, that their wine glasses are replenished when necessary, that their coffee is served to them as they like it. And I want a wife who knows that sometimes I need a night out by myself.

我想要个妻子，她会全面料理我的社交生活。当我和妻子受朋友邀请外出的时候，我想要个妻子来照顾孩子。如果我在学校里碰到我喜欢的人，想跟他们快乐一番，我想要个妻子，她会把家里打扫干净，烧出可口的饭菜招待我和我的朋友，而我和朋友快快乐乐聊着感兴趣的话题的时候，她又不会来打搅我们。我想要个妻子，她会在我的客人到来之前，安排孩子们吃饭，让他们睡觉，以免孩子们打搅我们。我想要个妻子，她能细心招待我的客人，令他们感觉舒适，保证他们有烟灰缸用，饭前有开胃小食品，吃完了有第二份，酒杯空了，需要的话会及时再斟满，想要咖啡的人会有热咖啡喝。我想要个妻子，她有色明白有时候我需要一个晚上独自一个人外出。

When I am through with school and have a job, I want my wife to quit working and remain at home so that my wife can more fully and completely take care of a wife's duties.

等我上完学，有了工作，我想要个妻子，她要辞掉工作，待在家里，以便能够完全彻底地履行她做妻子的义务和职责。

My God, who wouldn't want a wife?

我的天哪，谁不想要个妻子?

英文版美文：独居所感The rewards of living a solitary life

The other day an acquaintance of mine, a gregarious and charming man, told me he had found himself unexpectedly alone in New York for an hour or two between appointments. He went to the Whitney and spent the "empty" time looking at things in solitary bliss. For him it proved to be a shock nearly as great as falling in love to discover that he could enjoy himself so much alone.

前儿天，我的一位善于社交、令人喜爱的朋友告诉我，在纽约没有约会的一两个小时感到莫名的孤单。他“没有活动的”时候就去惠特尼山，欣赏四周的美景，享受上天赐予的独居时光。他发现自己独处也能自得其乐时感到不胜惊讶，其惊讶程度之强烈并不啻于坠人爱河的感觉。

Loneliness is most acutely felt with other people, for with others,even with a lover sometimes, we suffer from our differences of taste, temperament,mood. Human intercourse often demands that we soften the edge of perception, or withdraw at the very instant of personal truth for fear of hurting, or of being inappropriately present, which is to say naked, in a social situation. Alone we can afford to be wholly whatever we are, and to feel whatever we feel absolutely. That is a great luxury!

和其他人在一起时也能强烈地感受到孤独，因为和其他人甚至是爱人在一起时，我们有时也会因为双方的品味、秉性以及心情的差异而感到痛苦。人际交往常常需要我们收敛锋芒，坦白地讲，当我们担心在社交场合道出实情会伤害他人或者不合时宜时，应该适时打住。独处时，我们可以尽情地保留本色，尽情地回应自己的感受。这是多么奢侈的事情啊!

For me the most interesting thing about a solitary life, and mine has been that for the last twenty years, is that it becomes increasingly rewarding. When I can wake up and watch the sun rise over the ocean, as I do most days, and know that I have an entire day ahead, uninterrupted, in which to write a few pages, take a walk with my dog, lie down in the afternoon for a long think (why does one think better in a horizontal position?), read and listen to music, I am flooded with happiness.

我过去20年来，一直过着独居生活，对我来说，这种生活最有趣的一点就是它变得越来越令人受益匪浅。我清晨醒来，看着旭日从海上升起，大多数日子我都是这样过的，知道我接下来的这一整天都不会受到打扰，这段时间里我可以写几页文章，可以牵着小狗散步，可以在午后躺下沉思(为什么人在水平位置更善于思考?)，可以阅读，可以听音乐，这时我的内心就会洋溢着幸福。

I’m lonely only when I am overtired, when I have worked too long without a break, when from the time being I feel empty and need filling up. And I am lonely sometimes when I come back home after a lecture trip, when I have seen a lot of people and talked a lot, and am full to the brim with experience that needs to be sorted out.

我只有在疲劳过度，长时间工作、半刻不曾消停，感到一时空虚、需要充实时，我才会感到孤单寂寞。有时当我演讲完回到家，当我见了很多人，说了很多话，需要整理自己丰富的经历的时候，我会感到孤单寂寞。

Then for a little while the house feels huge and empty, and I wonder where my self is hiding. It has to be recaptured slowly by watering the plants and perhaps,by looking again at each one as though it were a person.

有那么一会儿，我会感觉房间硕大无比、空荡荡的，我都不知道自己身在何处。我会灌溉植物，也许，像看着真人一样再次看看这些植物，喂养两只猫咪，做一顿美食，这样慢慢地就会捕捉到自我。

It takes a while, as I watch the surf blowing up in fountains at the end of the field, but the moment comes when the world falls away, and the self emerges again from the deep unconscious, bringing back all I have recently experienced to be explored and slowly understood, when I can converse again with my hidden powers, and so grow, and so be renewed, till death do us part.

我会花点工夫看着田野尽头泉水处波浪起伏。然而，当世界退去，本我会从内心深处的潜意识中再次浮现，重拾最近的体验，慢慢了解;那时我再度与潜藏的力量对话，这样慢慢成长，不断更新自我，直到死亡把我们分开。

英文版美文：英国人的幽默The English humour

Fun seems to be the possession of the English race.Fun is JohnBulll's idea of humour，and there is no intellectualjudgment in fun.Everybody understands it be-cause it is practical.More than that，it unites allclasses and sweetens even political life.To studythe elemental form of English humour，you must look to the school-boy.It begins with the practical joke，and unless there is something of his natureabout it，it is never humour to an Englishman.Inan English household，fun is going all the time.The entire house resounds witn it.The father comes home and the whole family contribute to theamusement;puns，humorous uses of words，little things that are meaningless nonsense，if you like，fly round，and every one enjoys them thoroughly for just what they are.The Scotch are devoid ofthis trait，and the Americans seem to be，too.

逗乐儿似乎是英国人的秉性，是典型的英国人所说的幽默，不需区分智力高下。它切合实际，人人都懂。不仅如此，它把各阶层人士联系在一起，甚至还使政治生活变得盎然有趣。要研究英国幽默的基础形式，你必须观察其教科书。教科书都是以切合实际的玩笑开头，如果这个玩笑无关于英国人本性，在英国人看来，就无幽默可言。在一个英国家庭里，逗乐儿无时不在进行，整幢屋子其乐融融。父亲回家了，全家人各显其能，津津乐道;双关语、俏皮话、大实话、空话废话满天飞，人人尽情享受。苏格兰人没有这种性格，美国人恐怕也没有。

If I had the power to give humour to the na-tions I would not give them drollery，for that isimpractical;I would not give them wit，for that isaristocratic，and many minds cannot grasp it;but Iwould be contented to deal out fun，which has nointellectual element，no subtlety，belongs to oldand young，educated and uneducated alike，and isthe natural form of the humour of the Englishman.

如果我有权给予此民族幽默的特质，那么我就不给予他们诙谐的本领，因为那不切实际;我也不给予他们风趣的风格，因为那过于贵族派头，以致多数人无法理解;我要心满意足地给予他们逗乐儿的本事，即不分智力高下，没有隐晦曲折，无论老少或受教育与否都能享受的英国式的自然幽默。

Let me tell you why the Englishman speaksonly one language.He believes with the strongest conviction that his own tongue is the one that allpeople ought to speak and will come in time tospeak，so what is the use of learning any other?Hebelieves，too，that he is appointed by Providenceto be a governor of all the rest of the human race.From our Scottish standpoint we can never see anEnglishman without thinking that there is oozing from every pore of his body the conviction that he belongs to a governing race.It has not been his de-sire that large portions of the world should be un-der his care，but as they have been thrust uponhim in the proceedings of a wise Providence，hemust discharge his duty.This theory hasn't en-deared him to others of his kind，but that isn't amatter that concerns him.He doesn't learn anyother language because he knows that he couldspeak it only so imperfectly that other people would laugh at him，and it would never do that aperson of his importance in the scheme of the uni-verse should be made the object of ridicule.

让我告诉诸位为什么英国人只讲一种语言。因为英国人坚信，英语是各国人民都应该讲、而且迟早都会讲的语言，因此，学其他语言有什么用?他还认为，上帝已委派他成为全人类的主宰。从苏格兰人的立场来看，英国人每一个毛孔都散发着他是属于统治民族的信念。他虽然不想杷各国人民置于自己的监护之下，但是，既然贤明的上帝让他这样做，他就必须尽到责任。这种理论没有使他对其他人、包括对和他一样的人变得亲切可爱，但那不关他的事。他之所以不学其他语言，因为他知道自己说得很糟，唯恐别人耻笑，而像他那样重要的人是万万不能成为别人的笑柄的。