阅读经典美文可以丰富学生的知识,巩固学习成果;可以提高学生的阅读能力和写作能力;可以学生的审美能力和陶冶情操。本文是初中英语美文，希望对大家有帮助!

初中英语美文：The science of love

Scientists are finding that, after all, love really is down to a chemical addiction between people.

OVER the course of history it has been artists, poets and playwrights(剧作家) who have made the greatest progress in humanity's understanding of love. Romance has seemed as inexplicable(费解的) as the beauty of a rainbow. But these days scientists are challenging that notion, and they have rather a lot to say about how and why people love each other.

Is this useful? The scientists think so. For a start, understanding the neurochemical pathways that regulate social attachments may help to deal with defects in people's ability to form relationships. All relationships, whether they are those of parents with their children, spouses with their partners, or workers with their colleagues, rely on an ability to create and maintain social ties. Defects can be disabling, and become apparent as disorders such as autism and schizophrenia(精神分裂症) —and, indeed, as the serious depression that can result from rejection in love. Research is also shedding light on some of the more extreme forms of sexual behaviour. And, controversially, some utopian(乌托邦的) fringe groups see such work as the doorway to a future where love is guaranteed because it will be provided chemically, or even genetically engineered from conception.

The scientific tale of love begins innocently enough, with voles. The prairie vole(野鼠) is a sociable creature, one of the only 3% of mammal species that appear to form monogamous(一夫一妻的) relationships. Mating between prairie voles is a tremendous 24-hour effort. After this, they bond for life. They prefer to spend time with each other, groom each other for hours on end and nest together. They avoid meeting other potential mates. The male becomes an aggressive guard of the female. And when their pups are born, they become affectionate(深情的) and attentive parents. However, another vole, a close relative called the montane vole, has no interest in partnership beyond one-night-stand sex. What is intriguing is that these vast differences in behaviour are the result of a mere handful of genes. The two vole species are more than 99% alike, genetically.

初中英语美文：How to Live Beautifully

In my newspaper column some months ago, I reprinted a short essay on youth by Samuel Ullman, an author unknown to me. Then I got a call from Ullman's great-grandson, Richard Ullman Rosenfield, a psychologist. He told me that he had been intrigued(好奇的) with the "spiritual journey" of the essay, especially in Japan.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur, I learned, often quoted Ullman's "Youth" essay and kept a framed copy over his desk throughout the Pacific campaign. It's believed that the Japanese picked up the work from his Tokyo headquarters.

Unlikely as it may sound, this essay, written more than 70 years ago, is the underpinning of much Japanese productivity and the basis of many businessmen's life philosophies. Many carry creased(有折痕的) copies in their wallets.

"Anyone worth his salt in Japanese business knows and uses this essay," says one longtime Japan observer, "It is our Popeye's spinach(菠菜) ," said Tatsuro Ishida, who was deputy chairman of Fujisankei Communications Group.

"It touches me at the core of my heart," says Kokichi Hagiwara, the 67-year-old chairman of Japanese/American-owned National Steel in Pittsburgh. "This kind of enthusiasm is indispensable, We must have the spirit of youth to make change."

Some Japanese leaders see the essay as a bridge between the two cultures, If Westerners can understand Japanese reverence(崇敬) for it, maybe they can better understand the Japanese businessman's quest for spiritual sustenance in the midst of material abundance.

When one of Ullman's grandsons, Jonas Rosenfield, Jr., was having dinner in Japan a few years ago, "Youth" came up in conversation, Rosenfield told his dinner companion, a Japanese business leader, that the author was his grandfather. The news was staggering.

"'You are the grandson of Samuel Ullman?' he kept repeating," says Rosenfield, head of the American Film Marketing Association. "He couldn't get over it."

Then the executive pulled a copy of "Youth" from his pocket and told Rosenfield, "I carry it with me always."

Three years ago, several hundred top businessmen and government leaders gathered in Tokyo and Osaka to celebrate their admiration of Ullman's essay. Testimonials abounded, including one from Konosuke Matsushita, founder of the Panasonic Company, who said "Youth" has been his motto for 20 years.

Someone asked, "Why don't Americans love the essay as much as we do? It sends a message about how to live beautifully to men and women, old and young alike."

Samuel Ullman was born in 1840 in Germany and came to American as a boy. He fought in the U.S, Civil War and settled in Birmingham, Alabama. He was a hardware merchant with a penchant(嗜好，倾向) for public service that continues 67 years after his death, In the last few years more than $36,000 from Japanese royalties on a book and a cassette reading of his work has gone to a University of Alabama at Birmingham scholarship fund, Not bad for a man who started writing in his 70s.

初中英语美文：The wisdom of one word

Isn't it amazing how one person, sharing one idea, at the right time and place can change the course of your life's history? This is certainly what happened in my life.

When I was 14, I was hitchhiking from Houston, Texas, through El Paso on my way to California. I was following my dream, journeying with the sun. I was a high school dropout with learning disabilities and was set on surfing the biggest waves in the world, first in California and then in Hawaii, where I would later live.

Upon reaching downtown El Paso, I met an old man, a bum(流浪汉) , on the street corner. He saw me walking, stopped me and questioned me as I passed by. He asked me if I was running away from home, I suppose because I looked so young. I told him, "Not exactly, sir," since my father had given me a ride to the freeway in Houston and given me his blessings while saying, "It is important to follow your dream and what is in your heart. Son. "

The bum then asked me if he could buy me a cup of coffee. I told him, "No, sir, but a soda would be great." We walked to a corner malt(麦芽酒) shop and sat down on a couple of swiveling stools while we enjoyed our drinks.

After conversing for a few minutes, the friendly bum told me to follow him. He told me that he had something grand to show me and share with me. We walked a couple of blocks until we came upon the downtown El Paso Public Library.

We walked up its front steps and stopped at a small information stand. Here the bum spoke to a smiling old lady, and asked her if she would be kind enough to watch my things for a moment while he and I entered the library. I left my belongings with this grandmotherly figure and entered into this magnificent hall of learning.

The bum first led me to a table and asked me to sit down and wait for a moment while he looked for something special amongst the shelves. A few moments later, he returned with a couple of old books under his arms and set them on the table. He then sat down beside me and spoke. He started with a few statements that were very special and that changed my life. He said, "There are two things that I want to teach you, young man, and they are these:

"Number one is to never judge a book by its cover, for a cover can fool you. "He followed with, "I ll bet you think I m a bum, don't you, young man?"

I said, "Well, uh, yes, I guess so, sir. "

"Well, young man, I ve got a little surprise for you. I am one of the wealthiest men in the world. I have probably everything any man could ever want. I originally come from the Northeast and have all the things that money can buy. But a year ago, my wife passed away, bless her soul, and since then I have been deeply reflecting upon life. I realized there were certain things I had not yet experienced in life,one of which was what it would be like to live like a bum on the streets. I made a commitment to myself to do exactly that for one year. For the past year. I have been going from city to city doing just that. So, you see, don t ever judge a book by its cover, for a cover can fool you.

"Number two is to learn how to read, my boy. For there is only one thing that people can t take away from you, and that is your wisdom. " At that moment, he reached forward, grabbed my right hand in his and put them upon the books he d pulled from the shelves. They were the writings of Plato and Aristotle-immortal classics from ancient times.

The bum then led me back past the smiling old woman near the entrance, down the steps and back on the streets near where we first met. His parting request was for me to never forget what he taught me.

I haven't.