故事中有生动的情节、丰富的情感,同时也蕴含着一定的语言知识。小编整理了较短的英语故事文章，欢迎阅读!

较短的英语故事文章：Body in a Barrel

George Gobel thinks that he might have helped dump his own sister’s body. George told police that recently his brother-in-law Russell had asked him to help move a big metal barrel out of his house. “I’ll buy you a case of Bud,” Russell promised. The barrel was in the master bedroom. George remembers that when he was looking at the barrel, he happened to ask Russell, “Where’s Staci?” Russell told him that she was out shopping.

Oddly, the barrel was warm to the touch. “What’s in here?” George asked. Russell said it was just some old rags and engine parts. He wanted to get rid of them because he had heard that spontaneous combustion could occur. George said that he thought it might be occurring at that very moment.

The barrel was very heavy. He asked Russell if the whole engine was inside the barrel. Russell just grunted. Once they got it outside, they rolled it to the back of Russell’s pickup truck. George helped Russell position a metal motorcycle ramp behind the truck, and they pushed the barrel slowly up into the bed of the pickup. When they finished, George told Russell that this was a “two case” move, meaning two cases of Budweiser. Russell told him no problem.

较短的英语故事文章：The Toilet Tank

Stanley had just finished brushing his teeth. He noticed water flowing into the toilet bowl. That's strange, he thought. The water continued to seep into the bowl. Stanley lifted the toilet tank top. The tank was half full, but the water was slowly rising. What in the world is going on, he wondered. He had not just flushed the toilet. He continued to watch the water rise in the tank. The water got up to the Water Line mark in the tank, where it was supposed to stop rising. But it continued to rise.

Stanley was alarmed. Is this thing going to overflow, he wondered. He went into his bedroom and grabbed some towels. When he returned to the bathroom, the toilet was silent. The water had stopped rising at one inch above the water line. But that was only about two inches below the top of the tank. That was too close for comfort. Stanley put two and two together. He had heard water running for more than a week now, but he had assumed it was his neighbor’s toilet. Now he knew it was his own.

He called Henry the handyman. Henry was a really nice guy. His rates were much cheaper than a regular plumber’s rates. Henry said he’d be over the next day. The next day, Henry arrived only 30 minutes late, which was “on time” for Henry. He tried to turn off the toilet tank shutoff valve on the bathroom wall, but the valve was “frozen.” “We don’t want to mess with that,” he told Stanley. “That valve is too easy to bust, and it would take a lot of work to put a new one on.”

较短的英语故事文章：Who Needs School

Two years after it was appointed by the governor, a panel has delivered its report on education in California. One of its findings is that half of the students who reach the ninth grade will never graduate. There were about 6 million students in California’s K-12 grades in the spring of 2006.

The report focused on problems with the education system; it did not offer any solutions. Solutions might be offered in the future, if the governor decides to appoint another panel. Meanwhile, thousands of kids 15 to 18 years old will be dropping out of school every year. Without a high school diploma, most of these kids are doomed to a lifetime of part-time work or full-time jobs that offer no security, no benefits, and no opportunity for advancement. And the cities that these kids live in will see an increase in loitering, homelessness, and crime.

As usual, the taxpayer is going to pay for the failures of the government. He is going to be asked to approve bonds that will build yet more schools, more prisons, and more housing for the homeless. These bonds, unfortunately, are like using band-aids when stitches or tourniquets are needed.

The dropouts do not see a bleak future for themselves. In the report, one student was asked why he had dropped out of the tenth grade. “School was boring,” he said. “I got a life to live. There’s women, parties, fast cars, and easy money on the street, if you know where to find it. And if things ever go south, all I gotta do is apply for welfare. They’ll put me up in an apartment, and give me food stamps and free medical care. Why do I need an education or a stupid job?”