四六級作文及翻譯

最新四級晨讀主題美文

April Fool's Day

While popular in the U.S., the April Fool's Day tradition is even more prevalent in European countries, such as France and Great Britain. Although the roots of the traditional trickings are unclear, the French and the British both have claims on the origin of the celebration.

One theory holds that the first April Fool's Day was on April 1 of the year when King of France instituted the new calendar. This new system placed the day that had formerly been the first day of a new year on April 1. Many people were reluctant to adjust to the new calendar and continued to celebrate New Year's Day on what had become the first day of April. Thus, they become the first April fools. Others began to give gag gifts on the day to mock the foolishness of those who continued to celebrate the new year on April 1.

An English story about the day, however, holds that it began sometime during the 1200s. At the time, King John of England was in the habit of making a road out of nearly every path he walked regularly. The citizens of one particular farm village were aware of this. To avoid having their green meadows and pastures disturbed with one of the king's roads, they built a fence that prevented the king from walking through their countryside. The king sent a group of messengers to inform the villagers that they must remove the barrier. Upon hearing that the king was planning to do this, however, the villagers developed a plan of their own. When community of lunatics, with people behaving in a bizarre manner, throwing things and running around wildly. The messengers, alarmed at what they had found, reported to King John that these people were so mad as to be beyond punishment. So, the villagers saved their farmland by tricking the Great Britain, tradition only allows April Fool's tricks from midnight to noon on April 1. Those who try to play tricks in the afternoon become the fools themselves.

愚人節

愚人節的習俗在美國是很流行的,在歐洲國家如法國和英國就更是如此了. 雖然這種愚弄人習俗的起源不甚清楚,但法國人和英國人卻都聲稱這種慶祝活動是由他們開始的.

有一種說法是,第一個愚人節始於法國新曆法實行那年的4月1日,在這一天法國 國王宣佈實行新曆法.這種新曆法將過去的新的一年第一天定在4月1日.很多人卻不願意按新的歷法行事,還繼續在 根據新的歷法已經是4月的第一天慶祝新年,於是他們就成了第一批愚人.另一些人開始在這一天送惡作劇的禮物來 取笑那些繼續在4月1日慶祝新年的人.

關於這一天,英國的一個故事則說它是始於13世紀的某一天.那時,英格蘭的 約翰國王習慣於將他經常走的幾乎每一條小道都修成一條路.有一個鄉村的居民知道了這個情況.爲了保護他們 綠色的草地和牧場免受國王修路所造成的破壞,他們修了一道籬笆來阻擋國王在他們的鄉間穿行.國王派了一隊 使者去通報村民們必須拆除障礙.在聽到國王打算這麼做時,村民們也想出了自己的辦法.當使者到達時,他們 看到這兒的`人像一羣瘋子似的,樣子怪誕,亂扔東西,四下瘋跑.使者們驚訝於他們看到的情景,向約翰國王報告說, 這些人瘋得厲害根本沒法處罰.村民們就這樣騙過了國王,保護了自己的農田.在英國,按習俗在4月1日只允許從半夜 到中午的這段時間可以搞愚人的惡作劇,到下午還這麼做的人就成了愚人了.

英語標準美文Beauty

there were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that have nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart.

I have thought about her often over the years and how she struggled in a society that places an incredible premium on looks, class, wealth and all the other fineries of life. She suffered from a disfigurement that cannot be made to look attractive. I know that her condition hurt her deeply.

Would her life have been different had she been pretty? Chances are it would have. And yet there were a sensitivity and a beauty to her that had nothing to do with looks. She was one to be listened to, whose words were so easy to take to heart. Her words came from a wounded but loving heart, very much like all hearts, but she had more of a need to be aware of it, to live with it and learn from it. She possessed a fine-tuned sense of beauty. Her only fear in life was the loss of a friend.

It is said that the true nature of being is veiled. The labor of words, the expression of art, the seemingly ceaseless buzz that is human thought all have in common the need to get at what really is so. The hope to draw close to and possess the truth of being can be a feverish one. In some cases it can even be fatal, if pleasure is one's truth and its attainment more important than life itself. In other lives, though, the search for what is truthful gives life.

The truth of her life was a desire to see beyond the surface for a glimpse of what it is that matters. She found beauty and grace and they befriended her, and showed her what is real.

英語標準美文Work and Pleasure

To be really happy and really safe, one ought to have at least two or three hobbies, and they must all be real. It is no use starting late in life to say: “I will take an interest in this or that.” Such an attempt only aggravates the strain of mental effort. A man may acquire great knowledge of topics unconnected with his daily work, and yet hardly get any benefit or relief. It is no use doing what you like; you have got to like what you do. Broadly speaking, human beings may be divided into three classes: those who are toiled to death, those who are worried to death, and those who are bored to death. It is no use offering the manual labourer, tired out with a hard week’s sweat and effort, the chance of playing a game of football or baseball on Saturday afternoon. It is no use inviting the politician or the professional or business man, who has been working or worrying about serious things for six days, to work or worry about trifling things at the weekend.

It may also be said that rational, industrious useful human beings are divided into two classes: first, those whose work is work and whose pleasure is pleasure; and secondly, those whose work and pleasure are one. Of these the former are the majority. They have their compensations. The long hours in the office or the factory bring with them as their reward, not only the means of sustenance, but a keen appetite for pleasure even in its simplest and most modest forms. But Fortune’s favoured children belong to the second class. Their life is a natural harmony. For them the working hours are never long enough. Each day is a holiday, and ordinary holidays when they come are grudged as enforced interruptions in an absorbing vocation. Yet to both classes the need of an alternative outlook, of a change of atmosphere, of a diversion of effort, is essential. Indeed, it may well be that those whose work is their pleasure are those who most need the means of banishing it at intervals from their minds.

工作和娛樂

要想獲得真正的快樂與安寧，一個人應該有至少兩三種愛好，而且必須是真正的愛好。到晚年才說“我對什麼什麼有興趣”是沒用的，這隻會徒然增添精神負擔。一個人可以在自己工作之外的領域獲得淵博的知識，不過他可能幾乎得不到什麼好處或是消遣。做你喜歡的事是沒用的，你必須喜歡你所做的事。總的來說，人可以分爲三種：勞累而死的、憂慮而死的、和煩惱而死的。對於那些體力勞動者來說，經歷了一週精疲力竭的體力勞作，週六下午讓他們去踢足球或者打棒球是沒有意義的。而對那些政治家、專業人士或者商人來說，他們已經爲嚴肅的事情操勞或煩惱六天了，週末再讓他們爲瑣事勞神也是沒有意義的。

也可以說，那些理性的、勤勉的、有價值的人們可分爲兩類，一類，他們的工作就是工作，娛樂就是娛樂；而另一類，他們的工作即娛樂。大多數人屬於前者，他們得到了相應的補償。長時間在辦公室或工廠裏的工作，回報給他們的不僅是維持了生計，還有一種強烈的對娛樂的需求，哪怕是最簡單的、最樸實的娛樂。不過，命運的寵兒則屬於後者。他們的生活很自然和諧。對他們來說，工作時間永遠不嫌長。每天都是假日，而當正常的假日來臨時，他們總是埋怨自己所全身心投入的休假被強行中斷了。不過，有些事情對兩類人是同樣至關重要的，那就是轉換一下視角、改變一下氛圍、將精力轉移到別的事情上。確實，對那些工作即是娛樂的人來說，最需要隔一段時間就用某種方式把工作從腦子裏面趕出去。