英文美文五篇第一篇YouthYouth is not a time of life;it is a state of mind;it is not a matter of rosy cheeks,red lip s and supple knees;it is a matter of the will,a quality of the imagination,a vigor of th e emotions;it is the freshness of the deep springs of life.Youth means a temperamental predominance of courage over timidity,of the appetite for adventure over the love of ease.This often exists in a man of60more than a boy o f20.Nobody grows old merely by a number of years.We grow old by deserting our i deals.Years may wrinkle the skin,but to give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.Worry,fear, self-distrust bows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.Whether60or16,there is in every human being’s heart the lure of wonders,the unfail ing appetite for what’s next and the joy of the game of living.In the center of your hea rt and my heart,there is a wireless station;so long as it receives messages of beauty,h ope,courage and power from man and from the infinite,so long as you are young. When your aerials are down,and your spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and th e ice of pessimism,then you’ve grown old,even at20;but as long as your aerials are up,to catch waves of optimism,there’s hope you may die young at80.译文：青春青春不是年华，而是心境；青春不是桃面、丹唇、柔膝，而是深沉的意志，恢宏的想象，炙热的恋情；青春是生命的深泉在涌流。
青春气贯长虹，勇锐盖过怯弱，进取压倒苟安。
如此锐气，二十后生而有之，六旬男子则更多见。
年岁有加，并非垂老，理想丢弃，方堕暮年。
岁月悠悠，衰微只及肌肤；热忱抛却，颓废必致灵魂。
忧烦，惶恐，丧失自信，定使心灵扭曲，意气如灰。
无论年届花甲，拟或二八芳龄，心中皆有生命之欢乐，奇迹之诱惑，孩童般天真久盛不衰。
人人心中皆有一台天线，只要你从天上人间接受美好、希望、欢乐、勇气和力量的信号，你就青春永驻，风华常存。
、一旦天线下降，锐气便被冰雪覆盖，玩世不恭、自暴自弃油然而生，即使年方二十，实已垂垂老矣；然则只要树起天线，捕捉乐观信号，你就有望在八十高龄告别尘寰时仍觉年轻。
第二篇Three Days to See(Excerpts)All of us have read thrilling stories in which the hero had only a limited and specified time to live.Sometimes it was as long as a year,sometimes as short as24hours.But a lways we were interested in discovering just how the doomed hero chose to spend his last days or his last hours.I speak,of course,of free men who have a choice,not cond emned criminals whose sphere of activities is strictly delimited.Such stories set us thinking,wondering what we should do under similar circumstance s.What events,what experiences,what associations should we crowd into those last h ours as mortal beings,what regrets?Sometimes I have thought it would be an excellent rule to live each day as if we shoul d die tomorrow.Such an attitude would emphasize sharply the values of life.We shou ld live each day with gentleness,vigor and a keenness of appreciation which are often lost when time stretches before us in the constant panorama of more days and months and years to come.There are those,of course,who would adopt the Epicurean motto of“Eat,drink,and be merry”.But most people would be chastened by the certainty of impending death.In stories the doomed hero is usually saved at the last minute by some stroke of fortun e,but almost always his sense of values is changed.He becomes more appreciative of the meaning of life and its permanent spiritual values.It has often been noted that thos e who live,or have lived,in the shadow of death bring a mellow sweetness to everythi ng they do.Most of us,however,take life for granted.We know that one day we must die,but usu ally we picture that day as far in the future.When we are in buoyant health,death is all but unimaginable.We seldom think of it.The days stretch out in an endless vista.So we go about our petty tasks,hardly aware of our listless attitude toward life.The same lethargy,I am afraid,characterizes the use of all our faculties and senses.O nly the deaf appreciate hearing,only the blind realize the manifold blessings that lie in sight.Particularly does this observation apply to those who have lost sight and hearin g in adult life.But those who have never suffered impairment of sight or hearing seldo m make the fullest use of these blessed faculties.Their eyes and ears take in all sights and sounds hazily,without concentration and with little appreciation.It is the same ol d story of not being grateful for what we have until we lose it,of not being conscious of health until we are ill.I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind an d deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life.Darkness would make hi m more appreciative of sight;silence would teach him the joys of sound.译文：假如给我三天光明（节选）我们都读过震撼人心的故事，故事中的主人公只能再活一段很有限的时光，有时长达一年，有时却短至一日。
但我们总是想要知道，注定要离世人的会选择如何度过自己最后的时光。
当然，我说的是那些有选择权利的自由人，而不是那些活动范围受到严格限定的死囚。