伴随经济全球一体化进程的不断加快,英语已经成为国际化的重点语言交流工具,全面提高学生的英语应用能力已经成为一种必然的发展需求。本文是简单的优秀英语故事，希望对大家有帮助!

简单的优秀英语故事：Tagger Shoots Woman

A 58-year-old woman, mother of three, grandmother of eight, was shot twice in the head Friday night. She was driving to the Wal-Mart east of Pasadena. Only a block from her home, she saw two kids spray-painting graffiti on a new building. She honked at the kids. They continued to tag the building. She honked again. Then she got out of her car and started yelling at them to stop it. They turned around and shouted obscenities at her. She got back into her car, telling the boys that she was calling the police.

She did not notice another car behind her. The car pulled up next to her. The passenger window rolled down, and two shots were fired. The two boys, who had been watching, walked over to the woman’s car. One opened the driver’s door and grabbed her purse. The other opened the passenger door and dug through the glove compartment. Then they calmly got into their friend’s car and left the scene.

It is said, “If good people are silent, evil will win.” This woman was not silent, yet evil won. The police caught a 19-year-old who they think fired the shots. He will be tried. If convicted, he will go to prison for 20 years, where he will get free food, housing, and medical care. And where he’ll learn how to commit other crimes.

But because the prisons are so overcrowded, he will probably get out in 10 years. So, at the age of about 30, he will be out committing more crimes, while three children and eight grandchildren will never get to grow older with their grandma. For bravely speaking up, she was put down. People say that what goes around, comes around. But how often does that happen to cold-blooded murderers?

简单的优秀英语故事：Too Soft on Crime

No one knows for sure, but some experts estimate that half of the crimes committed in the US go unreported. Half of those reported never result in the criminal being found. Half of those in which the criminal is found never result in convictions. Half of the convictions result in reduced or full sentences. Half of the full sentences eventually become reduced sentences because of "good behavior" or overcrowded prisons that result in early releases.

“The problem,” said Wyatt Earp, a retired police officer, “is that punishment is not swift enough or severe enough. All they get is a slap on the wrist. Too many judges are soft on criminals. We need to change the law so that there is an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. Even criminals understand physical pain.

“If I were president, I would do many things to teach these punks a lesson. Prisons would have no heat and no air-conditioning. Let the jerks freeze in the winter and bake in the summer. They would get one peanut butter and jelly sandwich for breakfast, for lunch, and for dinner. This way we don’t have to worry about prisoners using utensils to injure guards or other inmates, or dig out of prison. And no crunchy or organic peanut butter either—only the cheap stuff. Their onlybeverage would be water—no soda, milk, coffee, or tea. And no fancy bottled water, either. Their water would be straight from the faucet.”

简单的优秀英语故事：In Harm’s Way

A new invention, called “Arm Yourself,” is in arcades in Japan. It is a mechanical arm-wrestling machine. In the old days, fairs and carnivals usually had a “Test Your Strength” contest that required a player to swing a small sledge hammer as hard as he could to ring a bell and get a prize. The Japanese invention also challenges a player’s strength. Players can set it to four different levels: Baby, Girl, Man, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The mechanical arm operates at half-strength for the first 10 seconds: “Baby,” for example, would be “Half-Baby,” or 50-percent full-strength, for 10 seconds initially.

“This gives the human time to evaluate his mechanical opponent, and usually allows him to win,” says the inventor. But after 10 seconds elapse, the mechanical arm instantly achieves full strength, so that weak Baby suddenly becomes strong Baby. “That comes as a surprise to the human,” said the inventor. “If you watch the human compete, you will see a look of surprise come over his face at the machine’s sudden burst of strength. It’s funny to see!”

Unfortunately for some players, the look of surprise is followed by the look of pain, as the steel and plastic arm breaks their flesh and blood arm! Two players recently went to the hospital. The inventor said that he wouldn’t put a warning sign on the machine.

“It’s not the machine’s fault,” he said. “Humans often think that they’re smarter, faster, and stronger than they actually are. I think it’s a good lesson that they are learning. Many refuse to combat the machine at the Baby or Girl level because they think that they’re equal to the Man or Arnold level. They don’t know their limitations. They’re proud and foolish, and some of them have to pay the price for their pride.”

简单的优秀英语故事：No Doughnuts for Old Folks

In New York, the residents at a senior center have been receiving free doughnuts and other baked goods for years. The sweets are donated by bakeries and other shops that have leftovers that are not quite fresh enough to sell. The seniors devour the sweets. But the city council hasdecided that these sweets are no good for the seniors. It just passed a law forbidding free day-old sweets for the senior center.

“We want our seniors to live as long as possible, and these sweets can only contribute toobesity. With obesity come high blood pressure, circulation problems, and diabetes. So we are doing this for their own good,” said Karl Rove, a city council member.

The senior citizens are having none of this. They immediately called Rove and other council members to protest this ban. “Who are these people to tell us what to eat?” asked Doug Fairbanks, a resident at the center. “I’ll bet every one of them has a doughnut several times a week. Where do they get this attitude? They act like they are our parents.

“Instead, they are elected officials who are supposed to do the will of the people. And there isn’t one person in this senior center who has complained about the free doughnuts. If they’re concerned about seniors, are they going to prohibit all the seniors in the whole town from eating doughnuts? They can’t just pick on us if they’re interested in the health of all seniors.

“People get a little bit of power and it goes straight to their heads. We are starting a petition to recall all the council members who voted for this law.”