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美文是新文学领域最亮丽的一方新土地,具有可意会难言说的韵味。下面小编整理了英语经典美文，希望大家喜欢!
Winners and Winners
胜利者和胜利者
As a high school coach, I did all I could to help my boys win their games. I rooted as hard for victory as they did.
作为一名高中篮球教练，我竭尽全力体帮我的学生在比赛中取得胜利。我全力支持他们在比赛中取胜，他们也刻苦训练。
A dramatic incident, however, following a game in which I officiated as a referee, changed my perspective on victories and defeats. I was refereeing a league championship basketball game in New Rochelle, New York, between New Rochelle and Yonkers High. New Rochelle was coached by Dan O'Brien, Yonkers by Les Beck. The gym was crowded to capacity, and the volume of noise made it impossible to hear. The game was well played and closely contested. Yonkers was leading by one point as I glanced at the clock and discovered there were but 30 seconds left to play.
然而，在一场我所裁判的比赛之后发生了一件富有戏剧性的偶然事件。这件事改变了我对胜败的看法。那是一次蓝球冠军联赛，当时，我在纽约州的新罗谢尔市给新罗谢尔和扬克斯两个队之间的比赛作裁判。新罗谢尔队的教练是丹奥布赖恩，而扬克斯队的教练是莱斯?贝克。体育馆内座无虚席，呼声震天。比赛顺利进行，两队比分接近，扬克斯队仅以一分的优势领先。我一下时钟，距离比赛结束仅剩三十秒。
Yonkers, in possession of the ball, passed off — shot — missed. New Rochelle recovered — pushed the ball up court — shot. The ball rolled tantalizingly around the rim and off. The fans shrieked.
扬克斯队控球在手，传球、投篮，但是没投中。新罗谢尔队重新控球，将球向场地的另一个方向传球，然后投篮。观众急切地盯着球，球沿着篮球筐边急速旋转，最终又落了下来。球迷们尖声喊叫。
New Rochelle, the home team, recovered the ball, and tapped it in for what looked like victory. The tumult was deafening. I glanced at the clock and saw that the game was over. I hadn't heard the final buzzer because of the noise. I checked with the other official, but he could not help me.
主队新罗谢尔队重新把球夺过来，把球拨进篮筐，似乎已经赢得了比赛的胜利。人群的呼喊声震耳欲聋。我一下时钟，已经过了比赛结束时间。由于声音太大，我没有听到终场信号声。我向另外一名工作人员核对时间，但是他说不清楚。
Still seeking help in this bedlam, I approached the timekeeper, a young man of 17 or so. He said, "Mr. Covino, the buzzer went off as the ball rolled off the rim, before the final tap-in was made."
我仍然在混乱中求助，我走近计时员——一个大约17岁的年轻人。他告诉我：“科维诺先生，当球滚出篮筐时，终场信号发出了，在最后球又被拨进篮筐之前。”
I was in the unenviable position of having to tell Coach O'Brien the sad news. "Dan," I said, "time ran out before the final basket was tapped in. Yonkers won the game."
“丹，在最后那个球被拨进篮筐之前，时间已经到了。”我无可奈何地告诉奥布赖恩教练，“扬克斯队赢了。”
His face clouded over. The young timekeeper came up. He said, "I'm sorry, Dad. The time ran out before the final basket."
他脸色阴沉了下来。那个年轻的计时员走上前，说：“爸爸，对不起。在最后一个球投中之前时间就已经到了。”
Suddenly, like the sun coming out from behind a cloud, Coach O'Brien's face lit up. He said, "That's okay, Joe. You did what you had to do. I'm proud of you."
突然间，奥布赖恩教练的脸色就像太阳拨开了乌云，转晴了，他说：“没关系，乔。你做了你应该做的，我为你感到骄傲。”
Turning to me, he said, "Al, I want you to meet my son, Joe." The two of them then walked off the court together, the coach's arm around his son's shoulder.
他把脸转向我，说：“埃尔，我介绍一下我的儿子，乔。“奥布赖恩教练把胳膊搭在儿子的肩膀上，两个人一起离开了球场。
The Story of the Fishing King
捕鱼国王的故事
It begins with the king as a boy, having to spend the night alone in the forest to prove his courage so he can become king.
故事是这样开始的：一个将要成为国王的年轻人要在森林里独自一人度过一晚，以证明他有勇气，能够成为一个国王。
Now while he is spending the night alone he's visited by a sacred vision. Out of the fire appears the holy grail, symbol of God's divine grace. And a voice said to the boy,
当他独自度过那个夜晚时，他眼前出现了神的幻象。圣杯--神的仁慈与恩典的象征--出现在火中。一个声音对他说：
You shall be the keeper of the grail so that it may heal the hearts of men.
“你将成为圣杯的保管人，它能治愈人类心灵的创伤。“
But the boy was blinded by greater visions of a life filled with power and glory and beauty.
但是年轻人被更大的幻象蒙蔽了双眼，那里充满权利、辉煌与美女。
And in this state of radical amazement he felt for a brief moment not like a boy, but invincible, like God,
在这种令人惊愕的极端想法的控制中，他一时间觉得自己不是一个年轻人，而是像神一样，不可战胜。
... So he reached into the fire to take the grail,
所以当他伸出手去拿圣杯时，
... And the grail vanished,
圣杯消失了，
... leaving him with his hand in the fire to be terribly wounded.
只留下他一个人，手在火中被严重烧伤。
Now as this boy grew older, his wound grew deeper.
随着年龄的增长，他的伤口也越来越深。
Until one day, life for him lost its reason.
直到有一天，他的生活中没有了理智。
... He had no faith in any man, not even himself.
他不再相信任何人，即使是他自己。
... He couldn't love or feel loved.
他不能爱，也感受不到爱。
... He was sick with experience.
他对生存感到厌恶。
He began to die.
他开始走向死亡。
One day a fool wandered into the castle and found the king alone. And being a fool, he was simple minded, he didn't see a king. He only saw a man alone and in pain. And he asked the king,
一天，一个四处游荡的傻子走进城堡，发现国王独自一人。因为他是一个头脑简单的傻子，所以在他看来，国王只不过是一个独自承受伤痛的人。于是，他问国王：
What ails you friend?
“朋友，是什么让你如此痛苦?“
The king replied,
国王回答道：
I'm thirsty. I need some water to cool my throat.
“我口渴了，需要一点水润一下喉咙。“
So the fool took a cup from beside his bed, filled it with water and handed it to the king.
于是傻子从他身边的床上拿了一个杯子，装满水递给国王
As the king began to drink, he realized his wound was healed. He looked in his hands and there was the holy grail, that which he sought all his life. And he turned to the fool and said with amazement,
当国王开始喝水时，他意识到他的伤口愈合了。他一下自己手中的杯子，正是他一生苦苦找寻的那只圣杯。他把头转向傻子，吃惊的问道：
How can you find that which my brightest and bravest could not?
“你是怎么找到这只连我最聪明和最勇敢的手下都找不到的杯子的?“
And the fool replied,
傻子答道：
I don't know. I only knew that you were thirsty.
“我不知道，我就知道你口渴。
Eating the Cookie
吃小饼干
One of my patients, a successful businessman, tells me that before his cancer he would become depressed unless things went a certain way. Happiness was "having the cookie." If you had the cookie, things were good. If you didn't have the cookie, life wasn't worth a damn.
我有一位病人，他是一个成功的商人，告诉我，在他患癌症之前，凡事如果没有确定下来他就忧心忡忡。对他而言，幸福是“拥有小甜饼”。如果你拥有了小甜饼，一切都一帆风顺。如果你没有小甜饼，生活就一文不值。
Unfortunately, the cookie kept changing. Some of the time it was money, sometimes power, sometimes sex. At other times, it was the new car, the biggest contract, the most prestigious address.
不幸的是，小甜饼总是不断变换着，有时是金钱，有时是权力，有时是欲望。在其他时候，它是一辆新车、一份数额最大的合同、或者一个享有声望的通讯地址。
A year and a half after his diagnosis of prostate cancer he sits shaking his head ruefully. "It's like I stopped learning how to live after I was a kid. When I give my son a cookie, he is happy. If I take the cookie away or it breaks, he is unhappy. But he is two and a half and I am forty-three. It's taken me this long to understand that the cookie will never make me happy for long. The minute you have the cookie it starts to crumble or you start to worry about it crumbling or about someone trying to take it away from you. You know, you have to give up a lot of things to take care of the cookie, to keep it from crumbling and be sure that no one takes it away from you. You may not even get a chance to eat it because you are so busy just trying not to lose it. Having the cookie is not what life is about."
在他被诊断出患有前列腺癌的一年半之后，他坐在那里，悲天悯人地摇着头，说：“长大以后，我好像就不知道怎样生活了。当我给我儿子一个小甜饼时，他心花怒放。如果我拿走甜饼或者是小甜饼碎了，他就闷闷不乐。不同的是，他只有两岁半，而我已经43了。我花了这么长的时间才明白小甜饼并不能使我长久感到幸福。从你拥有小甜饼的那一刻，它就开始破碎，或者你就开始担心它会破碎，抑或你开始担心别人拿走它。为了守护你的小甜饼，为了防止它破碎或者确定别人不会从你手中夺走它，你不得不放弃许多东西。你忙于不让自己失去它，甚至没有时间享受它。拥有小甜饼并不是生活的全部内容。”
My patient laughs and says cancer has changed him. For the first time he is happy. No matter if his business is doing well or not, no matter if he wins or loses at golf. "Two years ago, cancer asked me, 'Okay, what's important? What is really important?' Well, life is important. Life.
我的病人笑着说癌症已经改变了他。不论他的生意是否一帆风顺，不论他在打高尔夫球时是输是赢，他有生以来第一次感到幸福。“两年前，癌症问我‘什么重要?什么才真正的重要?’对，生命重要。生命。
Life any way you can have it, life with the cookie, life without the cookie. Happiness does not have anything to do with the cookie; it has to do with being alive. Before, who made the time?" He pauses thoughtfully. "Damn, I guess life is the cookie."
生命，无论如何你拥有生命。有小甜饼也罢，没有小甜饼也罢，幸福与小甜饼并非息息相关，而是与生命的存在有关。可是，时光一去不复返，谁又能让时光倒流呢?”他停顿了一下，若有所思，说：“该死，我觉得生命就是那块小甜饼”。
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