英语美文题材丰富,涉及面广,大多蕴涵人生哲理。引导学生欣赏美文,不仅能提高他们的阅读理解能力,而且能使他们得到美的熏陶,从而提高学生对周围事物的认识。本文是经典高中英语美文，希望对大家有帮助!

经典高中英语美文：沃尔玛发迹妙诀

How did a peddler of cheap shirts and fishing rods become the mightiest corporation in America?The short version of Wal-Mart’s rise to glory goes something like this:In 1979 it racked up a billion dollars in sales. By 1993 it did that much business in a week;by 2001 it could do it in a day.

It’s a stunning tale - one that propelled Wal-Mart from rural Arkansas, where it was founded in 1962,to the top of the Fortune 500 this year. Sam Walton, Wal-Mart’s founder,pushed sales growth relentlessly while squeezing costs with sophisticated information technology.He exhorted employees to sell better with the“ten foot rule” (greet customers if they are that close).He was, in other words, an early evangelist forthe first commandment of today’s economy: Service rules.Wal-Mart, in fact, is the first service company to rise to the top of the Fortune 500.When Fortune first published its list of the largest companies in America in 1955, Wal-Mart didn’t even exist.That year General Motors was America’s biggest company, and in every year that followed, either GM or another mighty industrial, Exxon, was NO. 1.

Wal-Mart’s achievement caps a bigger economic shift - from producing goods to providing services.Manufacturing’s share of U.S. employment peaked in 1953, at 35%.It has been declining steadily since. In the decade that will end in 2010,the Bureau of Labor Statistics figures that goods producing industries will create 1.3 million new jobs,compared to 20 million for service industries.To look at it another way, today there are about four times as many people working in service jobs as in other kinds of jobs.And even within manufacturing, services are an increasingly large share of operations.

As America got richer consumption got more complicated. With more income to throw around,people started spending more on services movies and travel, mortgages to buy houses, insurance to protect those houses,the occasional decadent weekend at a luxury hotel.Economists call this a shift in the demand pattern;Fortune calls it the main reason that 64 of this year’s top 100 are service companies.Over the next few years, only three of the ten fastest growing occupations (software engineers, nurses,and computer support) pay middle class salaries.The rest could be called, well, Wal-Mart kinds of jobs - cashiers, retail assistants, food service, and so on. In short, the service economy is delivering more good jobs than ever before.

一个出售廉价衬衣和钓鱼竿的商贩是如何成为美国实力最强的公司的?沃尔玛百货公司的发迹史可以浓缩为以下三个阶段：1979年它全年的销售额为10亿美元;到1993年,一周就能达到这个数额;在2001年仅需一天之功。

这是一个惊人的传奇故亊——这家1962年始创于阿肯色州乡村地区的沃尔玛百货公司在今年一跃登上了〈财禽>500强的榜首。公司创始人萨姆·沃尔顿一面千方百计提高销售额， 一面以先进的信息技术降低成本。他以严格的"10英尺规则” (向在这距离之内的顾客致意)鼓励员工提高销售业绩。换句话说，他是当今经济戒律——服务规则——的第一位传道者。事实上，沃尔玛百货公司是第一个跃居(财富>500强榜首的服 务业公司。1955年，当《财富〉杂志第一次公布美国最大公司的排名时，沃尔玛甚至尚未问世。那一年，通用汽车公司是美国最 大的公司，此后不是通用汽车公司就是另一个大公司——埃克 森公司独占鳌头。

沃尔玛的成就还标志着一个更重要的经济转变——从生产商品向提供服务的转变。1953年美国制造业的就业人数占总 就业人数的比例达到历史最高点——35%。从此就开始逐年下降。根据劳工统计局的数据，到2010年底的未来10年间，制造业将创造130万个就业机会，而服务业创造的就业机会将高达 2000万个。换一个角度看，今天在服务业中工作的人数大约是其他行业的4倍。即使在制造业中，服务在业务经营中所占的比例也越来越大。

随着美国人富裕程度的曰益增高，消费也变得越来越复杂。人们开始把更多的钱花在接受服务方面看电彩、旅游、抵押 贷款买房、为房屋保险、偶尔到豪华饭店度个奢侈的周末。经济学家称这种现象为需求变化;〈财富〉杂志则认为这是本年度评出的100家最大公司中有64家是服务业公司的主要原因。在未来几年中，10种发展最快的职业中只有3种(软件工程、护士 和电脑支持)能够提供中等收入。其余都可称作沃尔玛式的职业——收银员、售货员、食品服务，以及诸如此类的职业。总之， 同过去相比，服务业正在提供更多相当不错的就业机会。

经典高中英语美文：葛底斯堡演说

Fourscore and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation,conceived in liberty,and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now, we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation,or any nation soconceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of thatwar.We have come to dedicate a portionof that field as a final resting-place for those who heregave their lives that that nation might live. Itis altogether fitting and proper that we should dothis.

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate，we cannot consecrate，we cannot hallow，thisground. The bravemen, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above ourpower to add or detract.The world will little note nor long remember what we say here,but it cannever forget what they did here.It is for us, the living, rather, to be dedicated here to theunfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.It is rather forus to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us，that from these honored deadwe take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure ofdevotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall no have died in vain; that thisnation,under God, shall have a new birth of freedom;and that government of the people, by thepeople, and for thepeople, shall not perish from the earth.

八十七年前，我们的先辈们在这个大陆上创立了一个新的国家,她孕育于自由的理念之中,奉行一切人生来平等的原则。

现在，我们正在进行一场伟大的内战，以考验这个国家,或者任何一个孕育于自由和奉行上述原则的国家是否能够长久存在下去。 我们在这场战争中的一个伟大战场上集会。我们来到这里，就是要把这个战场的一部分奉献给那些为了国家的生存而捐躯的人们，使其成为他们最后的安息之所。我们这样做是完全应该而且是非常恰当的。

但是，从更广泛的意义上来说，这块土地我们不能够奉献，不能够圣化，不能够神化。那些曾在这里战斗过的勇士们,活着的和死去的，已经把这块土地圣化了，这远不是我们微薄的力量所能增减的。我们今天在这里所说的话，全世界不大会注意，也不会长久地记住，但是勇士们在这里的丰功伟绩,全世界却永远不会忘记。毋宁说，倒是我们这些还活着的人，应该在这里把自己奉献给勇士们 已经如此崇高地向前推进但尚未完成的事业。倒是我们应该在这 里把自己奉献于仍然留在我们面前的伟大任务我们要从这些 光荣的牺牲者身上汲取更多的献身精神，来完成他们已经完全彻底为之献身的事业;我们要在这里下定最大的决心,不让这些烈士们白白牺牲;我们要使国家在上帝福佑下得到自由的新生，要使这个民有、民治、民享的政府永世长存。

经典高中英语美文：爱美

The love of beauty is an essential part of all healthy human nature. It is a moral quality.Theabsence of it is not an assured ground of condemnation, but the presence of it is aninvariable sign of goodness of heart. In proportion to the degree in which it is felt willprobably be the degree in which nobleness and beauty of character will be attained.

Natural beauty is an all pervading presence. The universe is its temple. It unfolds into thenumberless flowers of spring. It waves in the branches of trees and the green blades of grass.It haunts the depths of the earth and the sea. It gleams from the hues of the shell and theprecious stone. And not only these minute objects but the oceans, the mountains, the clouds,the stars, the rising and the setting sun - all overflow with beauty. This beauty is soprecious, and so congenial to our tenderest and noblest feelings, that it is painful to think ofthe multitude of people living in the midst of it and yet remaining almost blind to it.

All persons should seek to become acquinted with the beauty in nature. There is not a wormwe tread upon, nor a leaf that dances merrily as it falls before the autumn winds, but calls forour study and admiration.The power to appreciate beauty not merely increases our sourcesof happiness -it enlarges our moral nature, too. Beauty calms our restlessness and dispels ourcares. Go into the fields or the woods, spend a summer day by the sea or the mountains, andall your little perplexities and anxieties will vanish. Listen to sweet music, and your foolish fearsand petty jealousies will pass away. The beauty of the world helps us to seek and find thebeauty of goodness.

爱美乃是健全人性不可或缺的一部分。它是道德的一种品质。缺乏这种品质并不能作为责难的真正理由，但是拥有 这种品质则是心灵美好的永恒标志。品德之高尚与完美所达到的程度可能与爱美的感受程度成正比。

大自然之美无处不在。整个宇宙就是其殿堂。美，在春曰 百花中绽放;美，在绿叶嫩枝间摇曳;美，在深海幽谷里游弋;美，在奇石与贝壳的缤纷色彩中闪烁。不只是这些细微之物，甚至大洋大川，云朵繁星，曰出曰落--切都洋溢着美。这样的美如此珍贵，与我们最温柔、最高尚的情感是如此相宜。然而，想到很多人置身于美，却几乎对它视若无睹，真是令人痛心不已。

所有的人都应该去感知大自然之美。我们所踩过的小虫以及秋风拂掠之际飘落飞舞的树叶，皆值得我们探究与赞赏。具有欣赏美的能力不仅可以使我们快乐的源泉汩汩喷涌——它也可以拓展我们的德性。美，抚平我们心中的不安，也驱散了我们的忧虑。走进田野或树林，在夏曰的海滨或山间度过一天的时光，那么你所有微不足道的困惑和焦虑都会烟消云散。倾听美妙的音乐，你那愚蠢的恐惧与琐碎的猜忌都会消逝无踪。世间万物之美总会有助于我们探寻与发现善良之美。