英文散文佳作赏析三篇中英对照
英文散文佳作赏析：《生命的三分之一》
生命的三分之一
One Third of Our Lifetime
一个人的生命究竟有多大的意义，这有什么标准可以衡量吗？提出一个绝对的标准当然很困难；但是，大体上看一个人对待生命的态度是否严肃认真，看他对待劳动、工作等等的态度如何，也就不难对这个人的存在意义做出适当的估计了。
What is the significance of life? Is there any gauge to measure it? It would be very difficult, of course, trying to advance an absolute standard. However, the significance of one's existence can more or less be rated by examining his attitude toward life and work.
古来一切有成就的人，都很严肃的对待自己的生命，当他活着一天，总要尽量多劳动、多工作、多学习，不肯虚度年华，不让时间白白的浪费掉。我国历代的劳动人民以及大政治家、大思想家等等都莫不如此。
Since ancient times all people of accomplishment are very serious about their lives. While they are alive, even if there is only one day left to live, they try to work as hard as they can and learn as much as possible, never letting a single day slip by without any gain. This is true of the working people as well as of the great statesmen and great thinkers in our history.
班固写的《汉书食货志》上有下面的记载：“冬，民既人；妇人同巷相从夜绩，女工一月得四十五日。”
In the chapter “Foods and Goods" of The Chronicles of the Han Dynasty, the great historian Ban Gu states:"In winter people stay indoors. Women get together to spin hemp threads at night. They manage to work forty-five days in a month."
这几句读起来很奇怪，怎么一月能有四十五天呢？再看原文底下颜师古做了注解，他说：“一月之中，又得夜半为十五日，共四十五日。
”It sounds strange. How come there are forty-five days in a month? Let us look at its annotations given by Yanshigu:"They gain half a day 's time every night and, they have forty-five days in a month."
这就很清楚了。原来我国的古人不但比西方各国的人更早地懂得科学地、合理地计算劳动日；而且我们的古人老早就知道对于日班和夜班的计算方法。
Now it’s clear. Our ancestors had, earlier than the westerners, learned how to calculate workdays accurately and reasonably. They had also learned how calculate day shift and night shift as well.
一个月本来只有三十天，古人把每个夜晚的时间算作半天，就多了十五天。从这个意义张说来，夜晚的时间实际上不就等于生命的三分之一吗？
It is common knowledge that there are only thirty days in a month. Counting the time of one night for half a day, our forefathers managed to expend the month by fifteen days. In this sense the night time gained amounts to one third of our lives, doesn't it?
对于这三分之一的生命，不但历代的劳动者如此重视，而且有许多大政治家也十分重视。班固在《汉书刑法志》里还写道：
This one third of life is not only treasured by the working people but also by the great statesmen in our history. In the chapter "Criminal Law" of The Chronicles of the Han Dynasty, Ban Gu also states:
“秦始皇躬操文墨，昼断狱，夜理书。”
"The First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty set a good example in being industrious, disposing of lawsuits during the day and reading at night ,"This is about how he tried to find time to read at night.
有的人一听说秦始皇就不喜欢他，其实秦始皇毕竟是中国历史上的一个伟大的人物，班固对他也还有一些公平的评价。这里写的是秦始皇在夜间看书学习的情形。
To some people the The First Emperor of the Qin isn’t a pleasant name to recall but there is no denying that he was a great figure in the history of China. Even BanGu has an impartial opinion of him.
据刘向的《说苑》所载,春秋战国时有许多国君都很注意学习。
Liu Xiang, the great scholar of the Han Dynasty ,cites in his historical Anecdotes many princes of the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States period who paid great attention to learning.
为什么古人对于夜晚的时间都这样重视，不肯轻易放过呢？我认为这就是他们对待自己生命的三分之一的严肃认真的态度，这正是我们所应该学习的。
Why did the people in the set such great store by the night time? I think this is positive proof of their attitude toward the one third of their lives. This is exactly what we should learn from them.
我之所以想利用夜晚的时间，向读者同志们做这样的谈话，目的也不过是要大家引起注意珍惜这三分之一的生命，是大家在整天的劳动，工作以后，以轻松的心情，领略一些古今有用的知识而已。
My intention of writing this little essay tonight is to call the readers’ attention to the one third of his lifetime so that , after working for a whole day, he can sit relaxed at home, browsing through and appreciating the useful knowledge of the past and of the present.
英文散文佳作赏析：Fame 声誉
Fame
声誉
Fame is very much like an animal chasing its own tail who, when he captures it, does not know what else to do but to continue chasing it. Fame and the delighting popularity that accompanies it, force the famous person to participate in his or her own destruction.
声誉很像一只追逐自己尾巴的动物，当它抓住了自己的尾巴后，除了再继续追逐外再不知做什么。声誉与令人兴奋的知名度相生相伴，从而使名人走向毁灭。
Those who gain fame most often gain it as a result of possessing a single talent or skill: singing, dancing, painting, or writing, etc. The successful performer develops a style that is marketed aggressively and gains some popularity.
那些声名鹊起之人多半是由于有一技之长；唱歌、跳舞、绘画或写作等。一个成功的表演者发展了一种雄踞市场的风格因而受到欢迎。
And it is this popularity that usually convinces the performer to continue performing in the same style, since that is what the public seems to want and to enjoy. But in time, the performer becomes bored singing the same songs in the same way year after year, or the painter becomes bored painting similar scenes or portraits, or the actor is tired of playing the same character repeatedly.
正是由于这种受欢迎程度才使得他继续保持这种风格，因为这种风格是大众所需要和喜爱的。但最终，歌手为年复一年地以同样的方式唱同样的歌而感到心烦，画家为画类似的风景人物而感到厌倦，演员为反复演同样的角色而疲惫不堪。
The demand of the public holds the artist hostage to his or her own success, fame. If the artist attempts to change his or her style of writing or dancing or singing, etc. the audience may turn away and look to confer changeable fame which is passing quickly on another.
公众的需求使得艺术家们固守自己的名誉。若他们企图改变自己的写作风格、唱腔、舞步等，则听众、观众便会离去，把稍纵即逝的名誉给予他人。
I believe that fame and celebrity, influence and power, success and failure, reality and illusion are all somehow neatly woven into a seamless fabric we laughingly call reality. I say to those who desperately seek fame and fortune, celebrity: good luck.
我相信名誉和声望、影响和权力、成功与失败，现实和幻想都以某种方法整齐地编织在山张无缝隙的织缎中，即我们所笑称的现实。我对那些拼命寻求名誉、财富和声望的人说：祝你好运。
But what will you do when you have caught your tail, your success, and your fame? Keep chasing it? If you do catch it, hang on for dear life because falling is not as painful as landing. See you soon famous and almost famous.
但当你抓住自己的尾巴、获得成功和赢得名誉之后你又能做什么呢?继续追逐名利吗?如果你确实抓住的话，千万抓紧了，因为下坠与落地的痛楚不一样。祝你很快成名或差不多成名!
英文散文佳作赏析：母亲的礼物 My Mother's Gift
My Mother's Gift
母亲的礼物
I grew up in a small town where the elementary school was a ten-minute walk from my house and in an age, not so long ago , when children could go home for lunch and find their mothers waiting.
我是在一个小镇上长大的，从镇上的小学校到我家， 只需步行10分钟。离当前不算太太久远的那个时代 ， 小学生可以回家吃午饭，而他们的母亲，则会老早在家等候着。
At the time, I did not consider this a luxury, although today it certainly would be. I took it for granted that mothers were the sandwich-makers, the finger-painting appreciators and the homework monitors. I never questioned that this ambitious, intelligent woman, who had had a career before I was born and would eventually return to a career, would spend almost every lunch hour throughout my elementary school years just with me.
这一切对如今的孩子来说，无疑是一种奢望了，可是那时的我，却并不以为然。 我觉得做母亲的给她的孩子制作三明治，鉴赏指画，检查他们的家庭作业，都是理所当然的事。我从来没有想过：像我母亲这样一个颇有抱负又很聪明的女人，在我降生之前，她有一份工作，而且后来她又谋了份差事，可是，在我上小学那几年，她却几乎天天陪着我吃午饭，一同打发午餐时的`每一分钟。
I only knew that when the noon bell rang, I would race breathlessly home. My mother would be standing at the top of the stairs, smiling down at me with a look that suggested I was the only important thing she had on her mind. For this, I am forever grateful.
只记得，每当午时铃声一响，我就一口气地往家里跑。母亲总是站在门前台阶的最高层，笑盈盈地望着我--那神情分明表示：我便是母亲心目中唯一最重要的东西了。为此，我一辈子都要感谢我的母亲。
Some sounds bring it all back: the high-pitched squeal of my mother's teakettle, the rumble of the washing machine in the basement and the jangle of my dog's license tags as she bounded down the stairs to greet me. Our time together seemed devoid of the gerrymandered schedules that now pervade my life.
如今，每当我听到一些声音，像母亲那把茶壶水开时发出的尖叫声，地下室洗衣机的隆隆声，还有， 我那条狗蹦下台阶冲我摇头摆尾时它脖子上那牌照发出的撞击声，便会勾起我对往事的回忆。和母亲在一起的岁月，全然没有充斥于我的生活中的、事先排定的虚情假意的日程表。
One lunchtime when I was in the third grade will stay with me always. I had been picked to be the princess in the school play, and for weeks my mother had painstakingly rehearsed my lines with me. But no matter how easily I delivered them at home, as soon as I stepped onstage, every word disappeared from my head.
我永远忘不了在我上三年级时的那一顿午饭。在那天之前，我被学校选中，要在一个即将演出的小剧中扮演公主的角色。一连好几个礼拜，母亲总是不辞辛劳地陪着我，一起背诵台词。可是，不管在家里怎么背得滚瓜烂熟，只要一上舞台，我的脑子里就成了一片空白。
Finally, my teacher took me aside. She explained that she had written a narrator's part to the play, and asked me to switch roles. Her word, kindly delivered, still stung, especially when I saw my part go to another girl.
终于，老师把我叫到了一边。她说剧中旁白这个角色的台词已写好了，想把我替换下来当旁白。尽管老师这些话说得和和气气，可还是刺痛了我的心，特别是当我发觉自己扮演的公主角色让另外一个女孩顶替时，更是如此。
I didn't tell my mother what had happened when I went home for lunch that day. But she sensed my unease, and instead of suggesting we practice my lines, she asked if I wanted to walk in the yard.
那天回家吃午饭时我没有把这事告诉母亲。然而，母亲见我心神不定，因此没有再提练习背台词的事儿，而是问我愿意不愿意到院子里散散步。
It was a lovely spring day and the rose vine on the trellis was turning green. Under the huge elm trees, we could see yellow dandelions popping through the grass in bunches, as if a painter had touched our landscape with dabs of gold .I watched my mother casually bend down by one of the clumps. "I think I'm going to dig up all these weeds, "she said, yanking a blossom up by its roots."From now on, we'll have only roses in this garden."
那真是一个可爱的春日，棚架上蔷薇的藤蔓正在转青。在一些高大的榆树下面，我们可以看到，一丛丛黄色的蒲公英冒出草坪，仿佛是一位画家为了给眼前的美景增色而着意加上的点点金色。我看到母亲在一簇花丛旁漫不经心地弯下身来。"我看得把这些野草都拨了，"她说着，一边使劲把一丛蒲公英连根拨出。"往后咱这园子里只让长蔷薇花。"
"But I like dandelions, "I protested. "All flowers are beautiful-even dandelions. "My mother looked at me seriously."Yes, every flower gives pleasure in its own way, doesn't it?" She asked thoughtfully. I nodded, pleased that I had won her over. "And that is true of people too, "she added." Not everyone can be a princess, but there is no shame in that."
可是我喜欢蒲公英，"我不满地说，"凡是花都好看--蒲公英也不例外。"母亲严肃地看着我。"噢，这么说，每朵花都自有它令人赏心悦目的地方喽？"她若有所思地问道。我点了点头，总算说服了母亲，这使我很得意。"可是人也一样呀，"母亲接着又发话，"不见得人人都能当公主，但当不了公主并不丢脸。"
Relieved that she had guessed my pain, I started to cry as I told her what had happened. She listened and smiled reassuringly.
母亲猜到了我的苦恼，这使我的情绪安定下来。我哭了起来，把事情的经过讲给母亲听。母亲专注地听着，脸上带着安详的微笑。
"But you will be a beautiful narrator, " she said , reminding me of how much I loved to read stories aloud to her . "The narrator's part is every bit as important as the part of a princess.
"但你会成为一名顶呱呱的解说员，"母亲又说。她说平常我是多么喜欢朗诵故事给她听，还说"从哪方面看，旁白这个角色都和公主那个角色一样重要"。