英语背诵美文经典
英语背诵美文经典 一
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln, the son of a poor family, was born in Kentucky on February 12, 1809. He
spent his childhood in hard work, helping his father on their small farm. His mother,
whom he loved dearly, died in 1818. Happily for him, his father's second wife was kind to
him too. When she saw that Abraham liked reading, she did all she could to help him. But
the family was poor and the boy could not get many books. Abraham Lincoln later said
himself that he only went to school a little now and a little then. His whole school
education added up to no more than one year.
As a young man he was a storekeeper and later a postmaster. He studied law in his spare
time and became a lawyer. He was active in politics was strongly against slavery. In all
his political work, he thought of building a free state for all the people.
In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States. Then he worked still
harder for freedom for the slaves. Soon the Southern States rebelled. They set up a state
of their own, where they would be free to keep Negroes as slaves . Lincoln said that it
was not right for the South to break away from the Union. Fighting broke out between the
North and the South. This was the American Civil War. The war lasted four years before
the North won in the end. The nation was reunited and the slaves were set free.
In 1864, Lincoln was elected President of the United States for the second time. But his
enemies, the slave owners in the South and the bankers in big cities, who had grown rich
on the work of the slave, could not let Lincoln continue his work.. He, who led the
United States through these years, Washington April 14, 1865,at a theatre in Washington,
D.C. and died early the next morning. The whole nation was in deep sorrow at this news,
for the people had come to love him as an inspiring leader and a wise, warm-hearted,
honest man.
About seventeen months before his death, at the opening of a memorial to the many men who
lost their lives fighting for the freedom of the Negroes, Abraham Lincoln told his people
that the living must finish the work of those dead; that they must fight for freedom for
all-Negroes and whites; that America must strengthen government of the people, by the
people and for the people.
Today, Abraham Lincoln is regarded as one of the greatest of all American presidents.
Abraham Lincoln
亚伯拉罕·林肯
Kentucky
n.肯塔基(美国州名)
childhood
n.幼年(时代)，童年
dearly
adv.深爱地；热切地
now and then
时而，不时
education
n.教育；培养
add up to
总计
no more than
不过，仅仅
storekeeper
n.(美)零售店店主
postmaster
n.邮政局(所)长
law
n.法律，法令
spare
adj.空闲的；多余的
spare time
余暇
lawyer
n.律师；法学家
slavery
n.奴隶制度
think of
考虑；关心；想起
elect
vt.选举；推选
president
n.总统
freedom
n.自由
slave
n.奴隶
southern
adj.南方的，南部的
rebel
vi.造反；反叛
set up
建立；创立；竖立
Negro
n.黑人 adj.黑人的
break away from
脱离(政党等)；打破
the Union
联邦(美利坚合众国)
break out
(战争等)突然发生
last
vi.持续；耐久
nation
n.国家；民族
reunite
vt.&vi.重新统一
banker
n.银行家
sorrow
n.悲痛；遗憾
inspire
vt.鼓舞；激励
inspiring
adj.鼓舞人心的
leader
n.领袖；领导人
wise
adj.聪明的；英明的
warm-hearted
adj.热情的；亲切的
opening
n.开放；开始
memorial
n.纪念物；纪念碑
strengthen
vt.&vi.加强；变强
regard
vt.看待；当作
regard...as...
认为...是...
George Washington
乔治·华盛顿
hatchet
n.斧头
delight
n.快乐
chop
vt.&vi.砍，伐
crash
n.(树倒下的)哗啦声
cherry
n.樱桃
anger
n.发怒
dozen
n.一打，十二个
英语背诵美文经典二
HOW MARX LEARNED FOREIGN LANGUAGES
Karl Marx was born in Germany, and German was his native language. When he was still a
young man, he was forced to leave his homeland for political reasons. He stayed in
Belgium for a few years; then he went to France. Before long he had to move on again. In
1849, he went to England and made London the base for his revolutionary work.
Marx had learned some French and English at school. When he got to England, he found that
his English was too limited. He started working hard to improve it. He made such rapid
progress that before long he began to write articles in English for an American
newspaper. In fact, his English in one of these articles was so good that Engles wrote
him a letter and praised him for it. Marx wrote back to say that Engels' praise had
greatly encouraged him. However, he went on to explain that he was not too sure about two
things--the grammar and some of the idioms.
These letters were written in 1853. In the years that followed, Marx kept on studying
English and using it. When he wrote one of his great works, The Civil War in France, he
had mastered the language so well that he was bale to write the book in English.
In the 1870's, when Marx was already in his fifties, he found it important to study the
situation in Russia, so he began to learn Russian. At the end of six months he had
learned enough to read articles and reports in Russian.In one of his books, Marx gave
some advice on how to learn a foreign language. He said when a person is learning a
foreign language; he must not always be translating everything into his own language. If
he does this, it shows he has not mastered it. He must be able to use the foreign
language, forgetting all about his own. If he can not do this, he has not really grasped
the spirit of the foreign language and can not use it freely.
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