最新四級主題美文
Experiencing Scotland 蘇格蘭的風情
Scotland is a unique and austere place, laden with history, where you can find aristocratic palaces and castles, as well as the traditional parades in national costumes. It has some of the most beautiful cities in Europe, a living testimony of a proud and splendid past.
In order to see and discover the true soul of Scotland today, what forged the character of this splendid region, we have to go towards the northern regions, to the Grampian Mountains. Beautiful and unspoiled, it was difficult to farm. The Scots subdued the environment with simple spades and strong arms.
The history of this ancient struggle, and its people's ancient love affair with the hard land, is enclosed within the walls of the Angus Folk Museum. You are able to get a feel of the typical rural atmosphere of times past from the everyday artifacts displayed here.
From coastal Aberdeen in towards the interior of the Grampian Mountains there runs the Castle Trail, a road that touches on many fortresses, which are witnesses of continual revolts against the dominion of neighboring England in Scottish history.
Perhaps the most uplifting moment for Scottish autonomy is the one experienced inside this ancient abbey of Arbroath, where, in 1320; the Declaration of Independence was celebrated, at the instigation of King Robert the Bruce. He carried out the plan for autonomy drawn up by the great popular hero William Wallace, to whom cinema has dedicated the wonderful film "Braveheart", the winner of five Oscars.
This is Glamis Castle. It is often remembered for being the residence of King Macbeth and Queen Elizabeth in her childhood. Among the most assiduous guests here are the inevitable ghosts, which are nourished, if not actually created, by ancient popular beliefs. These have been handed down over the centuries by a people inclined to live with mystery, with the forces of the supernatural.
Another attraction here is a legendary monster: the Loch Ness Monster. Is it real or imaginary, this monster, which has been nicknamed Nessie, has collected a good 3000 sightings over the last 50 years? To fuel the debate about the monster, and perhaps also curiosity about the lake, a price of 500,000 pounds sterling has been put on Nessie's head.
The true flag of Scotland, tartan, is recognisable from the brightly coloured plaid patterns which are used to distinguish the various clans. Over the last few decades this fabric has made a comeback and is part of the daily life of this country.
The typical Scottish garment, the kilt, is de rigeur when the Scots play the Great Highland bagpipes, especially when they march in parades.
Bagpipes and dancing open the competitions of local sporting events, which are called Highland Gatherings. The games, which have strange rules, involve a spirit that has more to do with brute force than with athletics.
感受蘇格蘭
蘇格蘭是一個獨特的地方，自然條件雖不得天獨厚，歷史的厚重感卻隨處可見。豪門望族的府第與城堡歷歷在目，儀仗隊計程車兵也還穿著傳統服裝。這裡有全歐洲最美的城市，訴說著蘇格蘭昔日的榮光。
想看看真正的蘇格蘭，追尋這裡民族精神的源泉，就得去北部的'格蘭扁山區。格蘭扁山區景色怡人，還沒有受到現代文明的汙染。格蘭扁一度不適合耕作，倔強的蘇格蘭人，憑著雙手征服了這片土地。
蘇格蘭先民的艱苦勞作與他們自古對這片貧瘠土地的眷戀，在這個博物館裡一覽無餘。這裡展出的都是平常的物品，營造出往日鄉間的氛圍，使人油然而生懷舊之情。
從沿海的阿伯丁，有一條古堡之路，一直蜿蜒到格蘭扁山區深處。沿途很多昔日的要塞，都是蘇格蘭在歷史上不斷反抗英格蘭統治的見證。
蘇格蘭爭取自治的過程中最大快人心的時刻莫過於1320年在這個修道院，布魯斯國王鼓動百姓大肆慶賀獨立宣言簽訂。布魯斯採納傳奇英雄威廉·華勒斯所獻的計策，完成了自治大業，這個故事後來被改編成電影《勇敢的心》，該片曾摘取了五項奧斯卡獎。
這座城堡之所以名聞遐邇，卻是因為曾經的兩位主人——蘇格蘭國王麥克白與幼年時的伊麗莎白女王。如今這裡最相看無厭的客人當數傳說中揮之不去的幽靈，這些傳說即使不是源於世代相傳的民間故事，也大有借鑑化用的嫌疑。蘇格蘭人似乎生來就篤信超自然的力量，因此才有了這些傳說。
這裡遊人如織的另一個原因則是尼斯湖的怪獸。真假姑且不論，這個暱稱Nessie的怪獸在過去的半個世紀中已經吸引了三千餘名遊客。如今它頭上有五十萬英鎊的懸賞，使得學術界的爭論日益激烈，或許也會令遊人的好奇日盛吧。
蘇格蘭格子呢是蘇格蘭真正的旗幟。它顯著的花格子圖案曾經是區分不同宗族的標誌。在過去幾十年裡，格子呢在蘇格蘭再度流行，如今則已在日常生活中不可或缺。
蘇格蘭傳統的褶裙按照禮節是應該在演奏高地風笛時穿的，尤其是列隊前進的時候。
高地風笛與利爾舞揭開了高地運動盛會的序幕。運動會的比賽專案規則奇特，與其說是田徑比賽，不如說是大力士的較量。
英語美文 Competition
It is a plain fact that we are in a world where competition is going on in all areas and at all levels.This is exciting.Yet, on the other hand, competition breeze a pragmatic attitude.People choose to learn things that are useful,and do things that are profitable.Todays' college education is also affected by this general sense of utilitarianism. Many college students choose business nor computing programming as their majors convinced that this professions are where the big money is. It is not unusual to see the college students taking a part time jobs as a warming up for the real battle.I often see my friends taking GRE tests, working on English or computer certificates and taking the driving licence to get a licence. Well, I have nothing against being practical. As the competition in the job market gets more and more intense, students do have reasons to be practical. However, we should never forget that college education is much more than skill training. Just imagine, if your utilitarianism is prevails on campus, living no space for the cultivation of students' minds,or nurturing of their soul. We will see university is training out well trained spiritless working machines.If utilitarianism prevails society, we will see people bond by mind-forged medicals lost in the money-making ventures;we will see humality lossing their grace and dignity, and that would be disastrous.I'd like to think society as a courage and people persumed for profit or fame as a horese that pulls the courage.Yet without the driver picking direction the courage would go straight and may even end out in a precarious situation .A certificate may give you some advantage, but broad horizons, positive attitudes and personal integrities ,these are assets you cannot acquire through any quick fixed way.In today's world, whether highest level of competition is not of skills or expertise , but vision and strategy. Your intellectual quality largely determinds how far you can go in your career.
英語美文 Chinese Undergraduates in the US
Each year, elite American universities and liberal arts colleges, such as Yale, Harvard, Columbia, Amherst and Wellesley, offer a number of scholarships to Chinese high school graduates to study in their undergraduate programs. Four years ago, I received such a scholarship from Yale.
What are these Chinese undergrads like? Most come from middle-class families in the big urban centers of China. The geographical distribution is highly skewed, with Shanghai and Beijing heavily over-represented. Outside the main pool, a number of Yale students come from Changsha and Ningbo,swhereseach year American Yale graduates are sent to teach English.
The overwhelming majority of Chinese undergraduates in the US major in science, engineering or economics. Many were academic superstars in their high schools - gold medallists in international academic Olympiads or prize winners in national academic contests. Once on US campuses, many of them decide to make research a lifelong commitment.
Life outside the classroom constitutes an important part of college life. At American universities the average student spends less than thirteen hours a week in class. Many Chinese students use their spare time to pick up some extra pocket money. At Yale, one of the most common campus jobs is washing dishes in the dining halls. Virtually all Chinese undergraduates at Yale work part-time in the dining halls at some point in their college years. As they grow in age and sophistication, they upgrade to better-paying and less stressful positions. The more popular and interesting jobs include working as a computer assistant, math homework grader, investment office assistant and lab or research assistant. The latter three often lead to stimulating summer jobs.
Student activities are another prominent feature of American college life. Each week there are countless student-organized events of all sorts - athletic, artistic, cultural, political or social (i.e. just for fun). New student organizations are constantly being created, and Chinese undergrads contribute to this ferment. Sport looms much larger on US campuses than in China. At Yale, intramural sports from soccer to water polo take place all year long; hence athletic talent is a real social asset. One of the Chinese students at Yale several years ago was a versatile sportsman. His athletic talents and enthusiastic participation in sporting events, combined with his other fine qualities, made him a popular figure in his residential college.
英語美文 I Want to Know
It doesn’t interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart’s longing.
It doesn’t interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dreams, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn’t interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life’s betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain!
It doesn’t interest me if the story you’re telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. if you can be faithful and therefore be trustworthy.
It doesn’t interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done for the children.
It doesn’t interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away. I want to know if you can be alone with yourself, and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
It doesn’t interest me who you are, how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
I want to know if you can sit with pain, without moving to hide it
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, be realistic, or to remember the limitations of being human.
I want to know if you can see beauty , if you can source your life from god’s presence. I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of a lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, “Yes!”
英語美文 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.
英語美文 New Theories on Keeping Slim
Year after year cook books and diet books are the biggest seller, how not to eat it once you’ve learned how to cook it. To sell a diet book you need some crazy idea of what to eat or not to eat. Here’s a peanut butter diet book, the ice cream diet book, the bikini diet, none of these books agrees on what you should or shouldn’t eat.
The Atkins Diet has been popular for year, Atkins make nutritionists mad by saying you can eat just about all the fat you want, as long as you don’t eat many carbohydrates, sugar and bread. I like Atkins because I cook with butter. The Scarsdale Diet was a popular fad for several years, it's a chart in here indicating what you ought to weigh. It Says a woman five feet four ought weigh between 110 and 123 pounds. If you’re a man five foot eight, Doctor Tarnower said you should weigh between 137 and 153 pounds. Well I’m a man five foot eight, who weighs between 205 and 206 pounds, according to him I should be six feet six inches tall.
Doctor Phil has a new book out, looks good but I’d be afraid Doctor Phil’s diet might make bald. The Pritikin Diet, everything is non-fat milk in these diets. That’s why kids aren’t drinking milk anymore: tastes like fat-free dishwater. They only have charts listing things you could eat, like half a piece of celery of 4.5 grams of applesause. Is there anyone who knows what a gram of applesauce look like?
This is the most popular book these days, the South Beach Diet Book. There are some surprises in here, it ahs a list of foods to avoid and one of them is apples. Maybe that’s because apples are bad for the doctor’s business, “an apple a day keeps a doctor without pay.”
You’ve all seen the diet ads at the back of bad magazines, before after, she took Hydroxycut to lose weight. Before, midpoint, after, boy, she’s had that bathing suit a long while. If I really wanted to lose weight though I know what I’d do, I’d cut my eyebrows.