初中生必读英语美文精选

从周作人提出美文主张的具体文学语境(他的知识构成与文学关注等)来看,在冲淡平和的美学外衣之下,他的美文写作其实别有一种现代性反思的文化功能。下面是本站小编带来的初中生必读英语美文，欢迎阅读!

父亲节和母亲节

People in the United States honor their parents with two special days:Mother's Day,on the second Sunday inMay,and Father's Day,on the third Sunday in June.

Mother's Day was proclaimed a day for national observance by President Woodrow Wilson in Jarvis from Grafton,West Virginia,had started the idea to have a day to honor was the one who chose the second Sunday in May and also began the custom of wearing a carnation.

In 1909, from Spokane,Washington,thought of the idea of a day to honor wanted to honorher own father,William r her mother died,he had the responsibility of raising a family of five sons and a 1910,the first Father's Day was observed in tor Margaret Chase Smith helped to establish Father's Day as a national commemorative day,in 1972.

These days are set aside to show love and respect for raise their children and educate them to be responsible give love and care.

These two special days are celebrated in many different Mother's Day people wear carnations.A red one symbolizes a living mother.A white one shows that the mother is people attend religious services to honor is also a day when peolple whose parents are dead visit the these days families get together at home,as well as in often have outdoor barbecues for Father's e are days of fun and good feelings and memories.

Another traditon is to give cards and gdren make them in people make their own e are valued more than the ones bought in is not the value of the gift is important,but it is "the thought that counts"ting card stores,florists,candy makers,bakeries,telephone companies,andother stores do a lot of business during these holidays.

美国人以两个特殊的日子向他们的父母表示敬意：这就是每年5月份第二个星期日的母亲节和6月份第三个星期日的父亲节。母亲节作为一个全国性的节日是伍德罗.威尔逊总统于1915年宣布的。西弗吉尼亚州格拉弗顿区的安.贾维斯女士首先想到应该有一个特殊的日子向母亲致以敬意。是她选择了五月份的第二个星期日，也是由她开始了佩戴康乃馨的习俗。

1909年，华盛顿州斯波坎市的多德夫人想到应该为父亲设置一个特殊的日子以示敬意。她想向自己的父亲—威廉斯.斯马特表示感激之情。她母亲去世之后，是父亲担起了养活五子一女的责任。1910年，第一个父亲节在斯波坎市诞生。参议员玛格丽特.切斯.史密斯于1972年帮助把父亲节推广成为全国性节日。

这两天是儿女向父母表示一片爱心和敬重之情的日子。父母们把孩子们带大，教育他们成为有责任感的公民，并给予他们爱心和关怀。

人们用各种形式来庆贺这两个特殊的日子。在母亲节那天，人们佩戴康乃馨。佩戴红色康乃馨表示母亲依然健在，佩戴白色康乃馨则表示母亲已经去世。许多人参加宗教仪式以向父母致意，或者去公墓缅怀逝去的父母。在这两天，家家都会聚在餐馆或家中。人们也常在父亲节那天举办露天烧烤聚会。这是充满欢歌笑语、美好情感和无限回忆的日子。

另一个传统习俗是赠送卡片和礼物。孩子们在学校亲手制作，许多成年人也自制礼物。这些亲手制作的礼物比那些花钱买来的更有价值。礼物的贵贱并不重要，“重要的是对父母的拳拳之心”。贺卡店、花店、糖果店、面包房、电话公司，以及许多其他商店在节日里会大做生意。

洛克非勒家族信条

They are the principles on which my wife and I have tried to bring up our family are theprinciples in which my father believed and by which he governed his life are theprinciples,many of them ,whichI learned at my mother's knee.

They point the way to usefulness and happiness in life, to courage and peace in death.

If they mean to you what they mean to me, they may perhaps be helpful also to our sons fortheir guidance and inspiration.

Let me state them:

I believe in the supreme worth of the individual and in his right to life ,liberty and the pursuit ofhappiness.

I believe that every right implies a responsibility;every opportunity ,an obligation ;everypossession,a duty.

I believe that the law was made for the man and not man for the law;that government is theservant of people and not their master.

I believe in the dignity of the labor,whether with head or hand;that the world owes no man aliving but that it owes every man an opportunity to make a living.

I believe that thrift is essential to wellordered living and that economy is a prime requisite of asound financial structure,whether in government,business or personal affairs.

I believe that truth and justice are fundamental to an enduring social order.

I believe in the sacredness of a promise,that a man's word should be as good as his bond,thecharacter--not wealth or power or position--is of supreme worth.

I believe that the rendering of useful service is the common duty of mankind and that only inthe purifying fire of sacrifice is the dross of selfishness consumed and the greatness of thehuman soul set free.

I believe in an all-wise and all-loving God,named by whatever name,and that the individual'shighest fulfillment,greatest happiness and widest usefulness are to be found in living inharmory with His will.

I believe that love is the greatest thing in the world;that it alone can overcome hate;that rightcan and will triumph over might.

There sre the principles,however formulated,for which all good men and women throughout theworld,irrespective of race or creed,education,social position or occupation,are standing,and forwhich many of them are suffering and dying.

These are the principles upon which alone a new world recognizing the bortherhood of man thefatherhood ofGod can be established.

这些信条是我太太和我努力用以持家育子的原则。它们是我父亲深信不疑并籍以安身立命的原则。其中有很多是我在母亲膝前学到的原则。

这些信条指出了一条活得快乐有用、死得勇敢安详的道路。

如果它们对你的意义正如对我的一样,它们或许也将有助于我们的子女从中获得引导和启发。

让我陈述如下:

我相信个人至高无上的价值及生存、自由与追求幸福的权利。

我相信每一项权利都伴随着一种职责;每一个机会都伴随着一份义务;每一次都拥有都伴随着一种责任。

我相信法律是为人制订,人却并非为法律而存在;政府是人民的仆人,而非人民的主人。

我相信劳动的尊严,不论是脑力或体力劳动;世界不应给予任何人生计,但它应给予每人一个谋生的机会。

我相信俭朴是井然有序的生活所必须;节约是健全的财务结构之必要,不论是政府、企业或个人事物皆是如此。

我相信真理与正义是社会秩序长久维系的基础。

我相信诺言的神圣,一句承诺应该如同契约一般有效;品格——而非财富、权势或地位——具有至为崇高的价值。

我相信报效社会是人类共同的责任;惟有在牺牲奉献的炼火中,自私自利的渣滓才能烧毁,而人类灵魂的伟大也才能发挥出来。

我相信全能博爱的上帝,不论其名称为何;而个人最高的成就,最大的幸福以及最大的作用都在符合上帝意旨的生活中才能找到。

我相信爱是世界上最伟大之物;惟有爱能够克服仇恨;公理能够而且必将战胜强权。

不管如何阐述,这些就是全世界所有善良的男女——不分种族、信仰、教育、社会地位或职业——所共同坚持的原则,而为了这些原则,他们当中许多人正饱受煎熬或濒临死亡。

惟有在这些信条的基础上 ,一个认同人类手足情和上帝慈父爱的世界才能建立起来。

微尘与栋梁

It is curious that our own offenses should seem so much less heinous than the offenses ofothers. I suppose the reason is that we know all the circumstances that have occasioned themand so manage to excuse in ourselves what we cannot excuse in others. We turn our attentionaway from our own defects, and when we are forced by untoward events to consider them,find it easy to condone them. For all I know we are right to do this; they are part of us and wemust accept the good and bad in ourselves together.

But when we come to judge others, it is not by ourselves as we really are that we judge them,but by an image that we have formed of ourselves fro which we have left out everything thatoffends our vanity or would discredit us in the eyes of the world. To take a trivial instance:how scornful we are when we catch someone out telling a lie; but who can say that he hasnever told not one, but a hundred?

There is not much to choose between men. They are all a hotchpotch of greatness andlittleness, of virtue and vice, of nobility and baseness. Some have more strength of character,or more opportunity, and so in one direction or another give their instincts freer play, butpotentially they are the same. For my part, Ido not think I am any better or any worse thanmost people, but I know that if I set down every action in my life and every thought that hascrossed my mind, the world would consider me a monster of depravity. The knowledge thatthese reveries are common to all men should inspire one with tolerance to oneself as wellas toothers. It is well also if they enable us to look upon our fellows, even the most eminent andrespectable, with humor, and if they lead us to take ourselves not too seriously.

让人奇怪的是，和别人的过错比起来，我们自身的过错往往不是那样的可恶。我想，其原因应该是我们知晓一切导致自己犯错的情况，因此能够设法谅解自己的错误，而别人的错误却不能谅解。我们对自己的缺点不甚关注，即便是深陷困境而不得不正视它们的时候，我们也会很容易就宽恕自己。据我所知，我们这样做是正确的。缺点是我们自身的一部分，我们必须接纳自己的好和坏。

但是当我们评判别人的时候，情况就不同了。我们不是通过真实的自我来评判别人，而是用一种自我形象来评判，这种自我形象完全摒弃了在任何世人眼中会伤害到自己的虚荣或者体面的东西。举一个小例子来说：当觉察到别人说谎时，我们是多么地蔑视他啊!但是，谁能够说自从未说过谎?可能还不止一百次呢。

人和人之间没什么大的差别。他们皆是伟大与渺小，善良与邪恶，高尚与低俗的混合体。有的人性格比较坚毅，机会也比较多，因而这个或那个方面，能够更自由地发挥自己的禀赋，但是人类的潜能却都是相同的。至于我自己，我认为自己并不比大多数人更好或者更差，但是我知道，假如我记下我生命中每一次举动和每一个掠过我脑海的想法的话，世界就会将我视为一个邪恶的怪物。每个人都会有这样的怪念头，这样的认识应当能够启发我们宽容自己，也宽容他人。同时，假如因此我们得以用幽默的态度看待他人，即使是天下最优秀最令人尊敬的人，而且假如我们也因此不把自己看得过于重要，那是很有裨益的。