英語作為一門國際通用語，在21世紀已經向著多元化、多功能化的方向發展，其中也在了散文上。小編精心收集了英文優美散文，供大家欣賞學習!
英文優美散文：幸福的悖論
The Paradox of Happiness
What is the definition of "happiness?"Is it material wealth filled with fancy cars, a dream house,exteravagant furs and jewelry? Or is happiness simply having a roof over your head? Food in the fridge?Having a child? A pet?A swimming pool?A designer Gucci bag?Parents?Grandchildren?Love?Money?The perfct job?Winning the Lottery?
According to the American Heritage Dictionary,"happiness"is derived from the Middle English word hap—meaning"Luck."But does happiness really have anything to do with"luck?"Based on this description,one could assume that if you avoide* * **tal traffic accident but got fired by coming late to work,you would be filled with"happiness?"Is it luck or what you make of it?Maybe,"happiness"is exactly defined by its indirect alias:happiness-perhaps,happiness is in fact defined by the fortune thatwe permit to happen.
Do you recall a time—let's say when you were about 5 years old—what defined happiness back then?Was it getting a puppy for Christmas?
Or maybe,you were a child of divorce;and all you wanted was for Mom and Dad to get back together again?Then as you got older,you were hoping that someone would ask you to the prom that would've made your day,maybe your life for the moment.During college,good grades made you happy,but it was short-lived.Becaust in the real world,you had to look for a job,and competition was stark.It's an employer's world you thought.But then, you got the perfect job—now you could be happy—or could you?
Life requires more than just what we want. Inevitably,one must understand to truly find"happiness,"he must make his own happiness "happen".Sounds a bit redundant,but truthfully,there is no set guidelines that will bring one happiness.There is no "magic wand"we can wave to bring joy into our lives.Human nature thrives on the thrill of the chase.We dream and we hope for the next big brea—it is the grand adventure of licing.
We are hopeless creatures of comfort.We like having and accumulating things.Whether one admits to it or not,to a certain degree,we all try to keep up with"the Jones".We work so we can pay our rents,mortgages, credit card debts,school loans,car payments...the list goes on and on.And at some point,we realize,that aside from having most of what we want,we still arem't happy.Now since we've learned to adapt to new standards which we've created for ourselves,we find that we have less time,less patience,less sleep,which equates to more stress,more worry and more aggravation.So,is happiness honestly juest comprised of"things"?
Sometimes,we virtually reade our lives for not only basic necessities,but for excessive items and services as well.We become so obsessed with finding happiness,that we lose sight of the fact that happiness is within—always.Certainly you've heard of individuals trying to "find themselves",or"rediscover themselves".The reason they are attempting these innovantive approaches is because they are seeking inner happiness.But the point has been missed:Happiness is already there.
Disappointments and reagedies in life will come and go,but happiness never leaves you.The human's capacity to be resilient to reials is unfathomable.We can lose our jobs,but be grateful for our spouses.We can lose our homes to nature,but be thankful to alive.
Happiness is a perception of each indivdual.We are instincively compelled to find fault in our lives.By human nature,we begin our "fault-find-ing"mission the moment we're capable of free-thinking.It is then,that we lose sense of self-worth and the bigger picture of vitality altogether.Stuck in the patterns of the happiness paradox,we simply cannot find where our happiness has gone.
It's not a matter of bargaining,it's not an issue of money or fame—instead,happiness is what you resolve to accept.If we live through optimis-tic hope;if we dare to dream;if we empower ourselves to fully live;then we have regained our sense of happiness,There is no in berween.There is no other replacement.We only have one physical life to live—we have no choice but to make the most of it.
“幸福”是什么?幸福是擁有豪華的汽車、夢想的居室、名貴的裘皮和珠寶等物質上的富足嘛?或者，幸福其實很簡單——有遮風避雨的住所，冰箱里有食物，有孩子、寵物、游泳池、Gucci的包，有父母、子孫、有愛情、金錢和理想的工作，彩票中獎了呢?
在《美國傳統字典》中，幸福是從中古英語“Hap”一詞演變而來，“Hap”意為“好運”。幸福真的與“好運”有關聯嗎?基于此，想想看，如果你在一場必死無疑的交通事故中幸免于難，卻因此遲到，導致被老板炒魷魚。對此，我們應該感到“幸福”嗎?這是好運嗎?還是要看個人如何看待你能回憶起你5歲時對幸福的理解嗎?那時，幸福是從圣誕樹上摘下的一只小狗嗎?或者爸爸媽媽離婚了，你唯一的愿望就是他們能和好如初，重新生活在一起?當你漸漸長大，你希望有人會邀請你參加舞會，希望所有的日子都凝固在那一天，那一刻。上大學期間，考試得了高分讓你無比開心，但這種幸福感畢竟是短暫的。因為在現實中，你得找一份工作，而社會競爭也相當激烈。于是，你就會想，這是一個雇主的世界。隨后，你找到了一份理想的工作——現在的你很開心，是嗎?
生活向我們索要的遠比我們想要的多。一個人必須明白，要想真正找到幸福，他就必須讓自己幸福。可能聽起來有些多余，但確是如此——生活中，沒有能代來幸福的現成的指南，也沒有揮一揮就能帶來歡樂的魔棒。人性在追求幸福的刺激中不斷升級、完善。我們夢想著，期望著下一個大的轉變——這就是生活中的大冒險了。
我們是無助的享樂者，喜歡擁有和積攢東西。不論人們承認與否，一定程度上，我們都在相互攀比。我們之所以工作，是因為要付房租，償還抵押貸款，還清信用卡透支費用，償付助學貸款，買車，等等。此類費用接連而至，讓我們應接不暇。于是，我們會突然意識到，盡管擁有了想要的一切，我們仍然不幸福。自從適應了自己定下的新生活標準，我們的時間短了，耐性沒了，睡眠少了，但壓力大了，焦慮多了，脾氣也暴躁了。鑒于此，幸福真的是由“物質”組成的嗎?
事實上，有時，我們不僅用生命交換生活必需品，還用生命交換多余的物質享受和服務。我們這般沉迷于追求幸福，卻忽略了一個事實——幸福一直就在我們心中。當然，你一定聽過這樣的事，即有些人一直都在苦苦“找尋自我”或“重新發現自我”。他們創新嘗試的理由只不過是想找尋心靈深處的幸福。但他們忽略了一點，即幸福從頭至尾到在心中。
失望和悲傷在生命中交替輪回，但幸福從不會舍你而去。人類對困難的適應能力無可限量。我們可以失去工作，但會為擁有愛人而感恩不已;我們可以流離失所，但會為活著而心存感激。
幸福是個人的一種感知。我們本能地受限于外界，找尋著生活的瑕疵，出于人的天性，我們從有能力自由思考的那刻起，就開始對生活吹毛求疵。也就在那時，我們失去了對自我價值的認知，也失去了生命的活力，陷于幸福的矛盾中，找不到幸福的方向。
幸福是你決定去接受的東西，沒有任何商量的余地，它于金錢或名譽毫無瓜葛。只要我們活在樂觀希望之中，敢于大膽夢想，活得簡單純粹，那么，我們就會重新擁有幸福的感覺。那種感覺并非懸于幸于不幸之間的真空地帶，也無任何替代品。我們只能活一次——除了好好活著，我們別無選擇。
英文優美散文：天空的顏色
If we look at the sky on a perfectly fine summer‘s day we shall find that theblue colour is the most pure and intense overhead，and when looking high up in adirection opposite to the sun. Near the horizon it is always less bright，whilein the region immediately around the sun it is more or less yellow. The reasonof this is that near the horizon we look through a very great thickness of thelower atmosphere，which is full of the larger dust particles reflecting whitelight，and this diluter the pure blue of the higher atmosphere seen beyond，And inthe vicinity of the sun a good deal of the blue light is reflected back intospace by the finer dust，thus giving a yellowish tinge to that which reaches usreflected chiefly from the coarse dust of the lower atmosphere. At sunset andsunrise，however，this last effect is greatly intensified，owing to the greatthickness of the strata of air through which the light reaches us. The enormousamount of this dust is well shown by the fact that then only we can look full atthe sun，even when the whole sky is free from clouds and there is no apparentmist.
But the sun’s rays then reach us after having passed，first，throughan enormous thickness of the higher strata of the air，the minute dust of whichreflects most of the higher strata of the air，the minute dust of which reflectsmost of the blue rays away from us，leaving the complementary yellow light topass on，Then，the somewhat coarser dust reflects the green rays，leaving a moreorange-coloured light to pass on;and finally some of the yellow isreflected，leaving almost pure red. But owing to the constant presence of aircurrents，arranging both the dust and vapour in strata of varying extent anddensity，and of high or low clouds which both absorb and reflect the light invarying degrees，we see produced all those wondrous combinations of tints andthose gorgeous ever-changing colours which are a constant source of admirationand delight to all who have the advantage of an uninterrupted view to the westand who are accustomed to watch for those not infrequent exhibitions of nature‘skaleidoscopic colour painting. With every change in the altitude of the sun thedisplay changes its character;and most of all when it has sunk below thehorizon，and owing to the more favourable angles a larger quantity of thecoloured light is reflected toward us，Especially when there is a certain amountof cloud is this the case. These，so long as the sun was above thehorizon，intercepted much of the light and colour，but when the great luminary haspassed away from our direct vision，his light shines more directly on the undersides of all the clouds and air strata of different densities;a new and morebrilliant light flushes the western sky，and a display of gorgeous ever-changingtints occurs which are at once the delight of the beholder and the despair ofthe artist. And all this unsurpassable glory we oweto——dust!
晴空萬里的夏日，如果我們觀察一下天空，且背向太陽，極目仰望，就會發現頭頂上空的藍色最純凈，最濃郁。靠近天邊，色彩往往較暗淡，太陽周圍的地方則略呈黃色。這是因為我們向天邊望去時，目光要穿過極厚的低空大氣層，其中布滿顆粒較大的塵埃，反射出白光，這就沖淡了天際高空大氣層的純藍色。在太陽附近，大量藍光則由細微的塵埃反射回太空。這樣，主要由低空大氣層的粗粒塵埃反射到地面的光線，便帶有淺黃色。不過，在日出日落時，由于光線到達地面南非要穿過厚厚的大氣層，這種反射效果大大增強了。只有在這種時候，我們才可以直視太陽，即使萬里長空沒有一點云彩，不見一絲霧靄。這就充分顯示了低空塵埃的數量之大。
但是太陽的光線終于到達了地面。它們先是穿過厚度極大的高空大氣層，其中的細微塵埃把大部分藍色的光反射掉了，讓補色的黃光繼續通行。然后，粗粒塵埃又反射掉綠色的光，讓偏橙色的光繼續通行。最后，部分黃色的光也反射掉，剩下幾乎是純紅色的了。不過，由于不斷出現氣流，把法埃與水汽分層排列，廣度不均，密度各異，加上高低空常有云層，不同程度地吸收并反射陽光，我們這才看到各種奇異的色調斑剝陸離，諸多絢麗的色彩變化萬千;任何人只要有幸將西方的景致一覽無余，只要有心觀看大自然不時展現的那一幅幅瞬息萬變的彩畫，都會為之贊不絕口，喜不自勝。隨著夕陽緩緩西墜，這種景觀也不斷變幻;尤其是在太陽沉入地平線之后，由于角度更加適宜，五顏六色的光就都發射到地面上來。遇有些許云霧，更是如此。本來，只要太陽還位于地平線之上，云霧便截住了不少夕陽和色彩;而今太陽從我們的視野消失，陽關便更為直接地照射到密度各異的重重云靄與層層大氣的底部;一片嶄新的、更加燦爛的陽光染紅了西天，一幅景觀色彩絢麗，變化萬千，觀賞者固然賞心悅目，然而自嘆莫及。而我們之所以能領略如此無與倫比的美景，全應歸功于—塵埃!
英文優美散文：做鞋釘
The hardworking blacksmith Jones used to work all day in his shop and so hard working was he that at times he would make the sparks fly from his hammer.
The son of Mr. Smith, a rich neighbor, used to come to see the blacksmith everyday and for hours and hours he would enjoy himself watching how the tradesman worked.
"Young man, why don't you try your hand to learn to make shoe tacks, even if it is only to pass the time?" said the blacksmith. "Who knows, one day, it may be of use to you."
The lazy boy began to see what he could do. But after a little practice he found that he was becoming very skilled and soon he was making some of the finest tacks.
Old Mr. Smith died and the son on account of the war lost all his goods. He had to leave home and was forced to take up residence in another country. It so happened that in this village there were numerous shoemakers who were spending a lot of money to buy tacks for their shoes and even at times when they paid high prices they were not always able to get what they wanted, because in that part of the country there was a high demand for soldiers' shoes.
Our young Mr. Smith, who was finding it difficult to earn his daily bread, remembered that once upon a time he had learned the art of making tacks and had the sudden idea of making a bargain with the shoemakers. He told them that he would make the tacks if they would help to get him settled in his workshop. The shoemakers were only too glad of the offer. And after a while, Mr. Smith found that he was soon making the finest tacks in the village.
"How funny it seems," he used to say, "even making tacks can bring a fortune. My trade is more useful to me than were all my former riches."
【中文譯文】：
瓊斯是個非常勤勞的鐵匠，常常一整天都在店里工作。他工作非常努力，他的鐵錘下常常是火花飛舞。
鄰居史密斯先生很有錢，他的兒子常常來看瓊斯打鐵。他喜歡看這位工匠工作，常常一看就是幾個小時。
“年輕人，為什么不親自嘗試一下如何制作鞋釘呢，哪怕只是為了消磨時間?”鐵匠說，“沒準，有一天它會對你有幫助。”
懶懶的孩子開始想看看自己到底能做什么。然而，僅僅經過很短的練習，他便發現自己非常熟練起來，很快他就做出了最好的鞋釘。
老史密斯先生去世了，而他的兒子則因為戰爭的緣故失去了所有的財產。他不得不離開家園，在另外一個國家住了下來。巧的是，這個國家的這個地區，急需大量軍鞋，所以這個村子里有很多鞋匠，他們總是花費很多錢購買鞋釘。有時，即使付了很高的價錢，也買不到他們想要的鞋釘。
在這食不果腹的困難時刻，年輕的史密斯記起自己曾學過制鞋釘這門手藝，便突發奇想，想和這些鞋匠們做一個交易。他對他們說，如果他們可以幫助他成立一個店鋪，他就可以做鞋釘。鞋匠們對他的這一提議欣喜若狂。很快，史密斯發現他做的鞋釘是村里面最好的。
“這真是有趣，”他常常會說，“即便是做鞋釘也會帶來財富。與我以前所有的財富相比，我現在做的事情對于我來說更有用。”
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