However mean your life is, meet it and live it，do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poor-house. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man's abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace. The town's poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any. May be they are sim* great enough to receive without misgiving. Most think that they are above being supported by the town; but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means, which should be more disreputable. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends, Turn the old, return to them. Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.
英语阅读：Butterflies
There was a time in my life when beauty meant something special to me. I guess that would have been when I was about six or seven years old, just several weeks or maybe a month before the orphanage turned me into an old man.
I would get up every morning at the orphanage, make my bed just like the little soldier that I had become and then I would get into one of the two straight lines and march to breakfast with the other twenty or thirty boys who also lived in my dormitory.
After breakfast one Saturday morning I returned to the dormitory and saw the house parent chasing the beautiful monarch butterflies who lived by the hundreds in the azalea bushes strewn around the orphanage.
I carefully watched as he caught these beautiful creatures, one after the other, and then took them from the net and then stuck straight pins through their head and wings, pinning them onto a heavy cardboard sheet.
How cruel it was to kill something of such beauty. I had walked many times out into the bushes, all by myself, just so the butterflies could land on my head, face and hands so I could look at them up close.
When the telephone rang the house parent laid the large cardboard paper down on the back cement step and went inside to answer the phone. I walked up to the cardboard and looked at the one butterfly who he had just pinned to the large paper. It was still moving about so I reached down and touched it on the wing causing one of the pins to fall out. It started flying around and around trying to get away but it was still pinned by the one wing with the other straight pin. Finally it's wing broke off and the butterfly fell to the ground and just quivered.
I picked up the torn wing and the butterfly and I spat on it's wing and tried to get it to stick back on so it could fly away and be free before the house parent came back. But it would not stay on him.
The next thing I knew the house parent came walking back out of the back door by the garbage room and started yelling at me. I told him that I did not do anything but he did not believe me. He picked up the cardboard paper and started hitting me on the top of the head. There were all kinds of butterfly pieces going everywhere. He threw the cardboard down on the ground and told me to pick it up and put it in the garbage can inside the back room of the dormitory and then he left.
( 2 )
I sat there in the dirt, by that big old tree, for the longest time trying to fit all the butterfly pieces back together so I could bury them whole, but it was too hard to do. So I prayed for them and then I put them in an old torn up shoe box and I buried them in the bottom of the fort that I had built in the ground, out by the large bamboos, near the blackberry bushes.
Every year when the butterflies would return to the orphanage and try to land on me I would try and shoo them away because they did not know that the orphanage was a bad place to live and a very bad place to die.
One afternoon about a week before Christmas, my family of four piled into our minivan to run an errand, and this question came from a small voice in the back seat: "Dad," began my five-year-old son, Patrick, "how come I"ve never seen you cry?"
Just like that. No preamble. No warning. Surprised, I mumbled something about crying when he wasn"t around, but I knew that Patrick had put his young finger on the largest obstacle to my own peace and contentment -- the dragon-filled moat separating me from the fullest human expression of joy, sadness and anger. Sim* put, I could not cry.
I am scarcely the only man for whom this is true. We men have been conditioned to believe that stoicism is the embodiment of strength. We have traveled through life with stiff upper lips, secretly dying within.
For most of my * life I have battled depression. Doctors have said much of my problem is physiological, and they have treated it with medication. But I know that my illness is also attributable to years of swallowing rage, sadness, even joy.
Strange as it seems, in this world where macho is everything, drunkenness and depression are safer ways for men to deal with feelings than tears. I could only hope the same debilitating handicap would not be passed to the next generation.
So the following day when Patrick and I were in the van after playing at a park, I thanked him for his curiosity. Tears are a good thing, I told him, for boys and girls alike. Crying is God"s way of healing people when they"re sad. "I"m glad you can cry whenever you"re sad," I said. "Sometimes daddies have a harder time showing how they feel. Someday I hope to do better."
Patrick nodded. In truth, I held out little hope. But in the days before Christmas I prayed that somehow I could connect with the dusty core of my own emotions.
"I was wondering if Patrick would sing a verse of "Away in a Manger" during the service on Christmas Eve," the church youth director asked in a message left on our answering machine.
My wife, Catherine, and I struggled to contain our excitement. Our son"s first solo.
Catherine delicately broached the possibility, reminding Patrick how beautifully he sang, telling him how much fun it would be. Patrick himself seemed less convinced and frowned. "You know, Mom," he said, "sometimes when I have to do something important, I get kind of scared."
Grownups feel that way too, he was assured, but the decision was left to him. His deliberations took only a few minutes.
"Okay," Patrick said. "I"ll do it."
From the time he was an infant, Patrick has enjoyed an unusual passion for music. By age four he could pound out several bars of Wagner"s Ride of the Valkyries on the piano.
For the next week Patrick practiced his stanza several times with his mother. A rehearsal at the church went well. Still, I could only envision myself at age five, singing into a microphone before hundreds of people. When Christmas Eve arrived, my expectations were limited.
“Can I see my baby?” the happy new mother asked.
When the bundle was nestled in her arms and she moved the fold of cloth to look upon his tiny face, she gasped. The doctor turned quickly and looked out the tall hospital window. The baby had been born without ears.
Time proved that the baby’s hearing was perfect. It was only his appearance that was marred. When he rushed home from school one day and flung himself into his mother’s arms, she sighed, knowing that his life was to be a succession of heartbreaks.
He blurted out the tragedy. “A boy, a big boy...called me a freak.”
He grew up, handsome for his misfortune. A favorite with his fellow students, he might have been class president, but for that. He developed a gift, a talent for literature and music.
“But you might mingle with other young people,” his mother reproved him, but felt a kindness in her heart.
The boy’s father had a session with the family physician... “Could nothing be done?”
“I believe I could graft on a pair of outer ears, if they could be procured,” the doctor decided. Whereupon the search began for a person who would make such a sacrifice for a young man.
Two years went by. One day, his father said to the son, “You’re going to the hospital, son. Mother and I have someone who will donate the ears you need. But it’s a secret.”
The operation was a brilliant success, and a new person emerged. His talents blossomed into genius, and school and college became a series of triumphs.
Later he married and entered the diplomatic service. One day, he asked his father, “Who gave me the ears? Who gave me so much? I could never do enough for him or her.”
“I do not believe you could,” said the father, “but the agreement was that you are not to know...not yet.”
The years kept their profound secret, but the day did come. One of the darkest days that ever pass through a son. He stood with his father over his mother’s casket. Slowly, tenderly, the father stretched forth a hand and raised the thick, reddish brown hair to reveal the mother had no outer ears.
“Mother said she was glad she never let her hair be cut,” his father whispered gently, “and nobody ever thought mother less beautiful, did they?”
REMEMBER...
Real beauty lies not in the physical appearance,
but in the heart.
Real treasure lies not in what can be seen,
but what cannot be seen.
Real love lies not in what is done and known,
but in what that is done but not known.
——于英语阅读 (菁华3篇)
One afternoon about a week before Christmas, my family of four piled into our minivan to run an errand, and this question came from a small voice in the back seat: "Dad," began my five-year-old son, Patrick, "how come I"ve never seen you cry?"
Just like that. No preamble. No warning. Surprised, I mumbled something about crying when he wasn"t around, but I knew that Patrick had put his young finger on the largest obstacle to my own peace and contentment -- the dragon-filled moat separating me from the fullest human expression of joy, sadness and anger. Sim* put, I could not cry.
I am scarcely the only man for whom this is true. We men have been conditioned to believe that stoicism is the embodiment of strength. We have traveled through life with stiff upper lips, secretly dying within.
For most of my * life I have battled depression. Doctors have said much of my problem is physiological, and they have treated it with medication. But I know that my illness is also attributable to years of swallowing rage, sadness, even joy.
Strange as it seems, in this world where macho is everything, drunkenness and depression are safer ways for men to deal with feelings than tears. I could only hope the same debilitating handicap would not be passed to the next generation.
So the following day when Patrick and I were in the van after playing at a park, I thanked him for his curiosity. Tears are a good thing, I told him, for boys and girls alike. Crying is God"s way of healing people when they"re sad. "I"m glad you can cry whenever you"re sad," I said. "Sometimes daddies have a harder time showing how they feel. Someday I hope to do better."
Patrick nodded. In truth, I held out little hope. But in the days before Christmas I prayed that somehow I could connect with the dusty core of my own emotions.
"I was wondering if Patrick would sing a verse of "Away in a Manger" during the service on Christmas Eve," the church youth director asked in a message left on our answering machine.
My wife, Catherine, and I struggled to contain our excitement. Our son"s first solo.
Catherine delicately broached the possibility, reminding Patrick how beautifully he sang, telling him how much fun it would be. Patrick himself seemed less convinced and frowned. "You know, Mom," he said, "sometimes when I have to do something important, I get kind of scared."
Grownups feel that way too, he was assured, but the decision was left to him. His deliberations took only a few minutes.
"Okay," Patrick said. "I"ll do it."
From the time he was an infant, Patrick has enjoyed an unusual passion for music. By age four he could pound out several bars of Wagner"s Ride of the Valkyries on the piano.
For the next week Patrick practiced his stanza several times with his mother. A rehearsal at the church went well. Still, I could only envision myself at age five, singing into a microphone before hundreds of people. When Christmas Eve arrived, my expectations were limited.
One afternoon about a week before Christmas, my family of four piled into our minivan to run an errand, and this question came from a small voice in the back seat: "Dad," began my five-year-old son, Patrick, "how come I"ve never seen you cry?"
Just like that. No preamble. No warning. Surprised, I mumbled something about crying when he wasn"t around, but I knew that Patrick had put his young finger on the largest obstacle to my own peace and contentment -- the dragon-filled moat separating me from the fullest human expression of joy, sadness and anger. Sim* put, I could not cry.
I am scarcely the only man for whom this is true. We men have been conditioned to believe that stoicism is the embodiment of strength. We have traveled through life with stiff upper lips, secretly dying within.
For most of my * life I have battled depression. Doctors have said much of my problem is physiological, and they have treated it with medication. But I know that my illness is also attributable to years of swallowing rage, sadness, even joy.
Strange as it seems, in this world where macho is everything, drunkenness and depression are safer ways for men to deal with feelings than tears. I could only hope the same debilitating handicap would not be passed to the next generation.
So the following day when Patrick and I were in the van after playing at a park, I thanked him for his curiosity. Tears are a good thing, I told him, for boys and girls alike. Crying is God"s way of healing people when they"re sad. "I"m glad you can cry whenever you"re sad," I said. "Sometimes daddies have a harder time showing how they feel. Someday I hope to do better."
Patrick nodded. In truth, I held out little hope. But in the days before Christmas I prayed that somehow I could connect with the dusty core of my own emotions.
"I was wondering if Patrick would sing a verse of "Away in a Manger" during the service on Christmas Eve," the church youth director asked in a message left on our answering machine.
My wife, Catherine, and I struggled to contain our excitement. Our son"s first solo.
Catherine delicately broached the possibility, reminding Patrick how beautifully he sang, telling him how much fun it would be. Patrick himself seemed less convinced and frowned. "You know, Mom," he said, "sometimes when I have to do something important, I get kind of scared."
Grownups feel that way too, he was assured, but the decision was left to him. His deliberations took only a few minutes.
"Okay," Patrick said. "I"ll do it."
From the time he was an infant, Patrick has enjoyed an unusual passion for music. By age four he could pound out several bars of Wagner"s Ride of the Valkyries on the piano.
For the next week Patrick practiced his stanza several times with his mother. A rehearsal at the church went well. Still, I could only envision myself at age five, singing into a microphone before hundreds of people. When Christmas Eve arrived, my expectations were limited.
However mean your life is, meet it and live it，do not shun it and call it hard names. It is not so bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault-finder will find faults in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. You may perhaps have some pleasant, thrilling, glorious hours, even in a poor-house. The setting sun is reflected from the windows of the alms-house as brightly as from the rich man's abode; the snow melts before its door as early in the spring. I do not see but a quiet mind may live as contentedly there, and have as cheering thoughts, as in a palace. The town's poor seem to me often to live the most independent lives of any. May be they are sim* great enough to receive without misgiving. Most think that they are above being supported by the town; but it often happens that they are not above supporting themselves by dishonest means, which should be more disreputable. Cultivate poverty like a garden herb, like sage. Do not trouble yourself much to get new things, whether clothes or friends, Turn the old, return to them. Things do not change; we change. Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts.
英语阅读：Butterflies
There was a time in my life when beauty meant something special to me. I guess that would have been when I was about six or seven years old, just several weeks or maybe a month before the orphanage turned me into an old man.
I would get up every morning at the orphanage, make my bed just like the little soldier that I had become and then I would get into one of the two straight lines and march to breakfast with the other twenty or thirty boys who also lived in my dormitory.
After breakfast one Saturday morning I returned to the dormitory and saw the house parent chasing the beautiful monarch butterflies who lived by the hundreds in the azalea bushes strewn around the orphanage.
I carefully watched as he caught these beautiful creatures, one after the other, and then took them from the net and then stuck straight pins through their head and wings, pinning them onto a heavy cardboard sheet.
How cruel it was to kill something of such beauty. I had walked many times out into the bushes, all by myself, just so the butterflies could land on my head, face and hands so I could look at them up close.
When the telephone rang the house parent laid the large cardboard paper down on the back cement step and went inside to answer the phone. I walked up to the cardboard and looked at the one butterfly who he had just pinned to the large paper. It was still moving about so I reached down and touched it on the wing causing one of the pins to fall out. It started flying around and around trying to get away but it was still pinned by the one wing with the other straight pin. Finally it's wing broke off and the butterfly fell to the ground and just quivered.
I picked up the torn wing and the butterfly and I spat on it's wing and tried to get it to stick back on so it could fly away and be free before the house parent came back. But it would not stay on him.
The next thing I knew the house parent came walking back out of the back door by the garbage room and started yelling at me. I told him that I did not do anything but he did not believe me. He picked up the cardboard paper and started hitting me on the top of the head. There were all kinds of butterfly pieces going everywhere. He threw the cardboard down on the ground and told me to pick it up and put it in the garbage can inside the back room of the dormitory and then he left.
( 2 )
I sat there in the dirt, by that big old tree, for the longest time trying to fit all the butterfly pieces back together so I could bury them whole, but it was too hard to do. So I prayed for them and then I put them in an old torn up shoe box and I buried them in the bottom of the fort that I had built in the ground, out by the large bamboos, near the blackberry bushes.
Every year when the butterflies would return to the orphanage and try to land on me I would try and shoo them away because they did not know that the orphanage was a bad place to live and a very bad place to die.
——于环保的英语作文 (菁华3篇)
There are still many problems of environmental protection in recent years。 One of the most serious problems is the serious pollution of air， water and soil。 the polluted air does great harm to people’s health。 The polluted water causes diseases and death。 What is more， vegetation had been greatly reduced with the rapid growth of modern cities。
To protect the environment， governments of many countries have done a lot。 Legislative steps have been introduced to control air pollution， to protect the forest and sea resources and to stop any environmental pollution。 Therefore， governments are playing the most important role in the environmental protection today。
In my opinion， to protect environment， the government must take even more concrete measures。 First， it should let people fully realize the importance of environmental protection through education。 Second， much more efforts should be made to put the population planning policy into practice， because more people means more people means more pollution。 Finally， those who destroy the environment intentionally should be severely punished。 We should let them know that destroying environment means destroying mankind themselves。
目前环保还存在着许多问题。最严重的问题就是空气、水和土壤的严重污染。污染的空气对人类的健康十分有害。污染的水引起疼病，造成死亡。更有甚者，随着现代社会的迅速扩建，植被大大的减少。
为了保护环境，各国*做了超多的工作。采用了立法措施控制大气污染，保护森林资源和海洋资源，制止任何环境污染。因此，在当今的环保中*起着最重要的作用。
我的看法是，为了保护环境，*应当采取更具体的'措施。首先，应当透过教育的方法使人们充分謒到环境保护的重要性。第二，应更加努力把计划生育政策付诸实施，因为人口多就意味着污染严重。最后，要严惩那些故意破坏环境者。使他们破坏环境就是毁灭人类自我。
Many people are active in fighting against unfair treatment to colored people， women ， animals and so on。 Right now I am talking about fighting for respect to our environment。 Though the environment doesn’t have a mouth to deprecate what humans have done to her， she retaliates through action。 In the early years the Chinese cut down large quantities of trees， at the source of the yellow river， which led to the disappearance of big forests and terrible floods。
As a result，the Huangtu plateau which was once covered with grass and forests was turned into barrens that supported fewer plants。 Another example was in several developed countries。 Because many chemical factories discharged poisonous gas without filtering it， cities were covered with so much poisonous gas that people were killed by the air they breathed in。 What horrible scene! What we are suffering is only a small part of what the nature once suffered。 If we don’t take action to show respect to the environment， we will have to face an increasingly awful situation。 Measures should be taken to protect the environment on which we are relying。
First governments should forbid destroying vegetation， rivers and lakes， oceans， as and the atmosphere as well。 Second voices should be made to announce the public of the importance of protecting the environment。 Third enterprises should pay special attention to the effect they have on the environment and work out solutions for the problems。 Only by changing the way we treat the environment can we get along well with it。 Only by saving the environment can we save ourselves。
With the development of our society， energy in the world bees more and more limited， so it is quite important for us to save energy and to protect our environment。 As a student， there are a lot of methods we can do to save energy at home。 For example， first， we can turn off the light as well as other appliances when we are not using them。 Second， recycle the waste water， paper and other waste so that we can reuse them。 What's more， it is suggested to use public transportation more instead of private cars。
Above all， everyone can make a great contribution to our environment。 I hope I can learn more to develop new and clear energy， like energy from the wind and solar。
——于寒假英语日记 (菁华3篇)
My winter holidays plans
My winter holidays plans me studying for my English I will make great efforts to learn English. Persist in listening to half hours of English every day. I will accomplish the school assignment that the teacher arranges best with the quickest speed. I can not forget to take the body exercise certainly also I may take the body exercise coming drawing out 30- - 1 hours in time in every day. I play with the once com*r coming certainly may draw out one small Duan time watch one meeting TV or. Certainly need only 1 hour. This it is my winter holidays to plan!
It is a special day today. My mother sent one hundred basket of red bayberries. I like to eat red bayberries. It tastes nice. When they arrived in Shanghai, they were still fresh. But most of them would be sent to my mother’s business friends. I chose the best basket of red bayberries to eat. I put the rest in my refrigerator,Red bayberry is my hometown’s special product. It is well-known in china. Many people like to eat it.
My Happy Times During .I often go to see my grandma and grandpa during winter vacation.They are both seventy years old and live in the country happily.I can do many interesting things there.I am used to getting up early in the morning and breathing the fresh air in the countryside.After snow,I would like to skate and ski with my friends.When night comes,I am used to sitting by the fire and listening to grandma telling me many funny stories.And I tell her some new things happening in the city.When I have to go back,I am always reluctant to go.I really feel happy living in the country.
——儿童英语阅读材料含翻译 (菁华3篇)
A Clever Panda 聪明的熊猫
A little panda picks up a pumpkin and wants to take it home. But the pumpkin is too big. The panda can’t take it home.
一只小熊猫摘了一只大南瓜，想把它拿回家。但是这只南瓜太大了，她没有办法把这么大的南瓜带回家。
Suddenly she sees a bear riding a bike toward her. She watches the bike. “I know! I have a good idea.” she jumps and shouts happily, “I can roll a pumpkin. It’s like a wheel.”
突然她看见一只狗熊骑着一辆自行车朝她这边来。她看着自行车，跳着说：“有了！我有办法了。我可以把南瓜滚回家去。南瓜好像车轮。
So she rolls the pumpkin to her home. When her mother sees the big pumpkin, she is surprised, “Oh, my God! How can you carry it home?” the little panda answers proudly, “I can’t lift it, but I can roll it.” Her mother smiled and says，“What a clever girl!”
于是她把那瓜滚回家。当她妈妈看到这只大南瓜的时候，很惊讶：“天啊！这么食的南瓜！你是怎么把它带回家来的？”小熊猫自豪地说；“我拎不动它，可是我能滚动它啊！”她妈妈微笑着说：“真聪明啊！”
I Can’t Cook It 我没法煮它
It’s sunny day in spring. Miss Cat is fishing. Suddenly the fishing rod moves. “Great! Oh, it’s so heavy!” Miss Cat says happily.
这是春天里一个阳光明媚的日子，猫小姐在河边钓鱼。突然鱼竿动了动。“太棒了！哇，好重啊！”猫小姐高兴地喊着。
The fish is plucked out of the river. “Oh, a big fish! How big the fish is!” She cheers. But she puts the fish into the river and goes on fishing.
鱼被拉出来了。“啊！一条大鱼！这条大鱼可真大呀！”她欢呼道。但是她却把鱼放回河里，又继续钓鱼。
At the time Mr. Horse goes by and sees it. “Why do you set it free?” He asks. “Because my pot is too small, I can’t cook it,” Miss Cat says.
这时候马先生路过，看见这一切，就问她：“为什么你把鱼放了？” “因为我的锅太小。我没办法烧这么大的鱼。”猫小姐回答说。
The Ox and the Dog 牛和狗
An ox and a dog serve for the same farmer.
一头牛和一只狗同时为一个农夫工作。
One day the dog arrogantly says: “How grand I am! In the daytime, I watch out for the cattle in the meadows; at night, I guard the house. But you…”
一天, 狗骄傲地说着；‘我是多么重要啊！白天我在牧场看护家群，晚上我看家。而你呢…..?”
“Me? How about me?” the ox says
“我？我怎么啦？“牛反问。
“You can only plough or draw a cart,” the dog slightly says.
“你只会犁地或是拉车。”狗轻微地说。
“Yes. It’s true,” the ox says. “But if I don’t plough, what do you guard?”
“是的。你说得没有错，”牛回答道。“但是如果没有我犁地，你看护什么呢？”
fail the exam名落孙山
In the Song Dynasty (宋朝) there was a joker called Sun Shan (孙山). 宋朝有一个很幽默的人，他叫孙山。
One year he went to take the imperial examination, and came bottom of the list of successful candidates. 有一年他去参加考试，公布名单时他是最后一名。
Back in his hometown, one of his neighbor asked him whether the neighbor's son had also passed. 回到家，他的邻居向他打听自己的儿子考得怎么样。
Sun Shan said, with a smile:"Sun Shan was the last on the list. Your son came after Sun Shan." 孙山笑着对邻居说：“孙山考了最后一名，你儿子的名字还在孙山的后面呢。”
The people used this idiom to indicate failing in an examination or competition.人们用“名落孙山”来比喻考试没有考上或者选拔没有被录取。
It is never too late to mend.亡羊补牢
Once upon a time, there was a shepherd who kept several sheep.从前有个人，养了几只羊。
One morning, the shepherd discovered that one of his sheep was missing.It turned out that, during the night, a wolf had stolen his sheep through a hole in the sheep pen.一天早上，他发现少了一只羊。原来羊圈破了个窟窿，夜间狼从窟窿里钻进来把羊叼走了。
His neighbor suggested to him: "You should fix the pen and cover the hole right away." 邻居劝告他说：“赶快把羊圈修一修，堵上那个窟窿吧。”
But the shepherd said: "The sheep is already lost, so I don't need to repair it." And so he rejected the neighbor's suggestion.他说：“羊已经丢了，还修羊圈干什么呢？”他没接受邻居的劝告。
The next morning, he discovered that another sheep was missing.Once again, the wolf stole the sheep through the hole in the fence.第二天早上，他去放羊，发现又少了一只羊。原来狼又从窟窿里钻进来把羊叼走了。
The shepherd regretted not taking the neighbor's advice.So he plugged the hole to secure the sheep pen.他很后悔没有接受邻居的劝告，他赶快堵上那个窟窿，把羊圈修得结结实实的。
get on a gravy train 守株待兔
Once upon a time, there was a farmer.One day, while he was working in the fields, he saw a hare run into a tree stump accidentally and die of a broken neck.从前，有一个农夫。一天，在他耕田的时候，忽然跑过来一只野兔，恰好碰在一个树桩上，脖子折断死了。
The farmer took the hare home and cooked a delicious meal for himself.农夫把兔子拾回家去，美美地吃了一顿兔肉。
That night he thought: "I needn't work so hard. All I have to do is wait every day by the stump to pick up the hare that runs into it."当晚，他就想：“我何必辛辛苦苦的种地呢？每天在树桩旁等着捡撞晕的野兔就好了”。
Sofromthen on he gave up farming, and stood by the tree stump waiting for the hare to come and run into it.于是他从此不再耕种，每天在树桩旁等待野兔的到来。
Butfromthen on, he never saw another hare run into the tree stump.但是，从那以后，他再没有发现一只野兔撞在树桩上。
run in opposite directions南辕北辙
Once a man went to the south, but his carriage was heading north.一次一个人想往南走，但是他的马车却是朝北走的。
A passer-by asked him: "If you are going to the south, why is your carriage heading north?"一个过路人问他：“如果你想往南走，为什么你的马车却朝北走呢？”
The man said, "My horse is good at running, my driver is highly skilled at driving a carriage, and I am rich." 这个人说：“我的马很能跑，我的车夫善于赶车，我又很富有，所以不在乎。”
The man didn't care the direction might be wrong; the better his conditions were, the further he was far awayfromhis destination. 这个人根本没有考虑到行进的方向也许错了；他的条件越好，反而会离目的地越远。
This idiom camefromthis story tells that one's action was the opposite effect to one's intention. 这个成语比喻行动和目的正好相反。
——公共英语阅读技巧 (菁华3篇)
所谓释义性的题目，就是要求对文章中阐述的事物进行准确的解释。问题往往问该事物的特征、优点、功能、作用等，如
The main characteristics of the system is _________.
One of the advantages of living in the countryside is _________.
这类问题在阅读理解的题目中占较大的比例。因为，阅读理解的文章大多是说明文体裁。说明文就是对事物解释，定义。文章用较大的篇幅来解释，答案项要么是对这些解释的另一说法，要么是对这些解释的归纳。
这类问题虽属细节题，但不容易做。有两点要注意。
1.注意解释的准确性
干扰项往往在对文章事物的解释中，夹带"私货：，加进一些词，夸大了原文的意义，作了不合事实的引伸。
这就告诉我们，在辨别信息时，对一些对原文解释、归纳的选项，要注意其释义的准确性。特别要当心在解释时加进一些修饰词，如mainly，chiefly，whenever，Only等，使原文的意思发生细微的变化。因此有这些词的选项，多半是错误的。
2.注意归纳的准确性
问的是事物的主要特点、特征、功能，干扰项却把次要的、细节性的东西，具体事实混进选项。
这告诉我们，在做释义题，辨别选项时，要注意区分细节和结论，事实和观点。问归纳性的结论，观点时不要把具体的`细节，事实套上去。
由于阅读理解的文章绝大多数是属于说明文体裁，而说明文的主要功能是对事物、现象的解释和阐述。因此许多题目都涉及到分析和辨别事物的原因或成因。例如：
The main reason for the failure of the organization to achieve the success is that _____.
Mouthwashes are not effective cure for bad breath mainly BECause _________.
Which of the following is mentioned as one of the causes for the earthquake ______.
在做寻找事物原因的题目时，有几点要特别注意。
1.问的是主要原因或真正原因，而命题人员总把一些次要的，非直接的，非根本的原因放进选项。由于这些次要的原因也是文章中提到的，因此考生如不仔细，往往会把次要原因当作答案。
这就告诉我们，做这类题目，首先要注意问题中的the main/chief/real cause (reason，factor) 这些词，提醒自己，问题问的是主要原因。然后分析事物的诸多的原因，理出最主要的，直接的，根本的原因。
2.问的是事物的原因，但出现在选项里的还有事物的后果、影响。由子这些后果、影响和原因一样，都是指一件事，且都出现在同一相关段，或相关句中，稍不留心，就会搞错。
这就告诉我们，做寻找原因的题目时，对文章所说的事物的原因、结果、影响，应理清它们之间的逻辑关系。不要错把结果当原因。
如何做猜测例证用意的题目
阅读理解文章基本上是说明文，议论文。而这类体裁的文章少不了用例子，事实来说明观点。因此我们往往会碰到要求猜测文章举例的目的——这些例子要说明什么观点——的题目。如：
The example of … is given to show/illustrate that.
What can be inferred from the author's example of ?
The experiment/study suggests/shows that.
解答这类问题，要注意以下几点。
1.注意例证所在的段落主题句
如果例证所在段有概括段落思想的主题句，就首先读这个主题句，看它的意思和问题下四个选择项哪项意思一致。一致的那个就是答案，不要去读具体例证了。因为举例的目的是为了说明观点，而段落中的例子大多是说明段落主题思想的。
2.注意例证上下文的作者观点
如果例证所在段没有主题旬或例证本身就是一段，就要看例证上面一段、下面一段有否相关的归纳性的作者观点。如果这个作者观点和问题中的某一个选择项意思一致，那就是答案，也不要去读具体例证。
3.注意全文中心思想
有时例证所在段没有主题旬，上下文周围也没有明显的作者观点，那就要去读文章中心思想句，看它与例证有什么关系，和问题下面的选择项哪一个意思一致。一致的那个就是答案，也可省去读具体例证。因为文章中的例证不是直接就是间接地说明和支持全文中心思想的。
4.对例证本身进行推测
如果段落主题句看不出，全文中心思想句也看不出，周围也没有明显的作者观点说明，那只能细读具体例证，对例证本身进行推测。
在做阅读理解题目时，我们经常碰到这样的问题：In line 3，the word" "most probably mean. By" "(Line 3)，the author means.
这种问题与其是考你的词汇量大小，还不如说考你是否具有利用上下文判断单词意思的能力。阅读理解部分的词汇题目与词汇部分的题目，考的目的是不同的。后者考的词，基本上都是考纲里的，考的目的是看你掌握没有。而前者考的词，基本上是超纲的，生疏的。但是其意义是从文章中能推导出来的。因为如考你的单词是超出考试大纲的，也就是说考出要求考生掌握的，而上下文中又没有线索的，其意义是推理不出的，这样的生僻词是不会考的，是命题不容许的(托福考试另当别论)。因此，如阅读理解中考你某一超纲词、生僻词，上下文中肯定有暗示这个词的词义的线索。做这类题，就是要根据上下文，抓住线索来推断词义。下面介绍几种办法。
一、利用生词周围的定义解释
文章中如出现一些生僻词或一些术语，作者生怕读者不理解，为了免除读者费力去查工具书，往往会用一些办法来暗示其义。
1. 注意that is，in other words，namely，that means，this is等过渡词直接引出同义解释。
2. 注意and， not Only...but also， besides， similarly，likewise，in the same way等过渡词引出的同一，类似的意思。
3. 注意生词前后的but，however，while，on the contrary等过渡词。它们表示一种对立或同等关系。
4. 注意for example，such as，a case in point is等过渡词，引出一个具体例子来说明阐述。
5. 注意生词前后的冒号：，破折号——，括弧( )，等标点符号。这些标点符号总暗示一些语义关系。如冒号引出具体的说明，或例子。分号引出类似的，对立的观点。破折号引出同位语。
6.注意生词被同义词、反义词解释，被定语从句修饰，被同位语或独立一句来说明。
二、利用单词的构词法
英语当中有许多词是由词根，前缀，后缀合成的，如果认识其中的词根，往往可以通过前缀或后缀的意义来判断词义。有时仅仅靠前缀或后缀的意义也能猜测。例如，很少人知道telepathy这个词，但我们知道前缀tele的意义：distant。如telephone远方传来的声音(phone = sound)一电话，television远方传来的视象(vision = picture)一电视，telegram远方传来的文字(gram=writing)一电报。我们也有所了解词根pathy的意义：feeling。如sympathy同样的感情(sym=same)一同情，antipathy反对感情(anti=against)一反感，apathy没有感情(a=without)一冷漠。因此，telepathy distant + feeling，心灵遥感。
三、运用基本的猜词技巧
当然，利用文章上下文线索是有限的。即使熟悉了英语构词法，也并不能保证解答所有词汇问题。因此还需要有一定的猜词技巧。也就是说，考生如掌握一定的猜词技巧，就会大大提高猜词的命中率。
猜词技巧主要有代入法和排除法两种。
代入法的依据是，四个选项的词都认识的，把它们一一代入句中所考的词的位置，看其文章意义或语法意义是否成立。
排除法是利用构词法，上下文线索等把选项中认识的词项一一排除掉，剩下来的一个项，即使不知道其义，也可断定它是答案。
如何做"it"、"they"、"one"等指代性的题目
我们做阅读理解题目时常碰到这样的问题：
The word "it" in line 3 most probably refers to .
In line 3, the word "one" could best be replaced by .
What does the word "they" in line 3 refer to ?
这种指代性的题目有一定的难度。从历年四、六级考试对这种题目的得分分析，答对比率只有33%左右。因为它要求对代词所在句以及紧邻几个句子的结构和意思都要有准确的理解。
指代有两种情况。
1. 指代单数词或词组。
2. 指代句子意思
在具体解答这类问题时，我们应注意几点。
一、注意指代条件
it，they，one，that，this都有自己的指代条件，如单数，复数，可数，不可数，先行词的远*(先行词一般紧靠着代词。也就是说代词前面有几个可指代的词或词组同时出现，最靠*可能性最大。)
二、注意文章意思
如果代词周围有好几个名词或词组，而且都符合指代条件，这就要分析哪一选项符合文章意思。
三、注意搭配意思
把四个选项试着代人，看哪一项符合搭配意思，包括句子的语法意义和逻辑意义。
四、注意综合考虑
综合注意指代条件，文章意思和搭配意思。
