學好英語，聽說讀寫是關(guān)鍵。尤其是英語聽力，學生往往難以真正學好聽力，歸根結(jié)底還是平時的練習不夠。下面是分享的簡單的英語文章聽力精選。歡迎閱讀參考！
1.簡單的英語文章聽力精選
全球變暖問題
英語聽力原文：
Global warming may or not be the great environmental crisis of the 21st century, but—regardless of weather it is or isn't— we won't do much about it. We will argue over it and may even, as a nation, make some fairly solemn-sounding commitments to avoid it. But the more dramatic and meaningful these commitments seem, the less likely they are to be observed.
全球變暖有可能是21世紀巨大的環(huán)境危機，也有可能不是，但是無論它是或不是我們對此都無能為力。我們會爭論不休，作為一個國家，或許會做出一些聽起來相當認真的來避免這一危機。但是這些看起來越是令人印象深刻、越是有意義，就越是不太可能被遵守。
Al Gore calls global warming an “inconvenient truth,” as if merely recognizing it could put in on a path to a solution. But the real truth is that we don't know enough to believe global warming, and — with our major technological breakthroughs — we can't do much about it.
Al Gore 稱全球變暖是一個“讓人感到麻煩的事實”，似乎只要認識到它的存在就可以把我們帶往一條解決問題的途經(jīng)上去。但是真正的事實是，我們沒有掌握足夠的知識去緩解全球變暖，并且如果沒有重大的技術(shù)突破，我們對此也束手無策。
No government will adopt rigid restrictions on economic growth and personal freedom (limits on electricity usage, driving and travel)that might cut back global warming. Still, politicians want to show they're “doing something”. Consider the Kyoto Protocol. It allowed countries that joined to punish those that didn't. But it hasn't reduced CO? emissions (up about 25% since 1990), and many signatories didn't adopt tough enough policies to hit their 2008 — 2012 targets.
沒有哪個政府會對經(jīng)濟增長和個人自由(限制電力的使用，駕駛和旅游)采取嚴格的限制令，雖然這樣的限制可以緩解全球變暖。即便事實如此，執(zhí)政者們還是想表明他們在“采取措施”。就拿《京都協(xié)議》來說吧，它允許其成員國懲罰非成員國。但是它并沒有起到減少二氧化碳的排放量(自從1990年以來上升了25%)的作用，并且，許多簽字國并沒有采取足夠嚴格的政策來盡力完成他們所制定的2008—2012年度的目標。
The practical conclusion is that if global warming is a potential disaster, the only solution is new technology. Only an aggressive research and development program might find ways of breaking our dependence on fossil fuels or dealing with it.
比較實際的結(jié)論是，如果全球變暖是一個潛在的災難，那么的解決辦法就是新技術(shù)。只有積極進取的研究開發(fā)項目才可能會找到辦法打破我們對于化石燃料的依賴，或者找到應對這一難題的辦法。
The trouble with the global warming debate is that it has become a moral problem when it's really engineering one. The inconvenient truth is that if we don't solve the engineering problem, we're helpless.
全球變暖這場辯論所存在的問題是，它本是一個技術(shù)問題，卻都已經(jīng)變成了一個道德問題。這個被忽視的真相就是，如果不能解決這個技術(shù)問題，我們將對此束手無策。
英語單詞詞匯整理:
1. solemn adj.嚴肅的，莊重的
eg：His solemn little face broke into smiles.
他那嚴肅的小臉綻開了笑容。
短語
solemn promise 莊嚴 ; 誓言 ; 鄭重 ; 莊嚴的誓言
solemn profession 終身圣愿 ; 隆重終身圣愿
solemn serious 岸然
2. commitment n. ，托付
eg: They made a commitment to peace.
他們要維護和平。
短語：
commitment fee 承擔費;費;承約費
loan commitment 貸款;貨款;放款;貸款委托書
Service commitment 服務;效勞許諾
Management commitment 管理;管理委員會;管理的
Commitment Document 文件
3. dramatic adj. 引人注目的，戲劇性的
eg: Their arrival was dramatic and exciting.
他們的到來令人激動不已，難以忘懷。
短語：
Dramatic Lyrics 戲劇抒情詩;詩劇抒懷詩
Dramatic Arts 戲劇藝術(shù)
Dramatic Writing 編劇;話劇寫作
dramatic rights 改編權(quán)
4. observe v. 遵守，觀察
eg: Everyone should observe the law.
任何人都必須遵紀守法。
短語：
witness observe 目睹 ; 目擊
observe silence 默哀
observe things 觀察事物 ; 觀察東西
observe that 對某人說
5. breakthrough n. 突破
eg: Scientists have made a breakthrough in their treatment of that disease.
科學家在治療那種疾病方面已有突破。
短語：
breakthrough point 切入點;突破點
breakthrough time 突破時間
technological breakthrough 技術(shù)突破
6. aggressive adj. 進取的，攻擊性強的
eg: The dogs are trained to be aggressive.
這些狗被訓練得具有攻擊性。
短語：
aggressive mode 積極模式;主動模式;挑戰(zhàn)模式;激進模式
aggressive active 積極主動
aggressive Driving 侵略性駕駛;攻擊性駕駛
7. fossil fuel 礦物燃料
eg: Coal is usually referred to as a fossil fuel.
煤通常被稱為礦物燃料.
短語：
Fossil-Fuel Resources Utilization in China 中國能源資源消費及其經(jīng)濟性分析
fossil-fuel power station 火力發(fā)電廠
fossil-fuel boiler 化石燃料鍋爐
佳句采摘：
We will argue over it and may even, as a nation, make some fairly solemn-sounding commitments to avoid it. But the more dramatic and meaningful these commitments seem, the less likely they are to be observed.
我們會爭論不休，作為一個國家，或許會做出一些聽起來相當認真的來避免這一危機。但是這些看起來越是令人印象深刻、越是有意義，就越是不太可能被遵守。
2.簡單的英語文章聽力精選
《酸奶》
When you open a container of yogurt, you’ll often see liquid collected on top. Some people mix it back into the yogurt, and others drain it off. What is it, and where does it come from?
打開一盒酸奶，你常常會發(fā)現(xiàn)有一層液體浮在表面。有的人把它拌入酸奶中，有的人則將這層液體倒掉。這層液體究竟是什么東西，它又是從哪來的呢?
To solve the mystery of the liquid in yogurt, let’s take a few steps back, to the milk that yogurt is made of. Milk has two different types of proteins. Most of the proteins are casein proteins, and the rest are whey proteins–of curds and whey fame.
為了揭開酸奶中這層液體的神秘面紗，讓我們往回追溯，去看看制作酸奶的原料—牛奶。牛奶有兩種不同類型的蛋白質(zhì)。大部分蛋白質(zhì)是酪蛋白，其余是乳清蛋白，包括凝質(zhì)和乳清。
If you look at a glass of milk, you can’t tell the casein from the whey. But that changes when special bacteria are added to milk to make yogurt. Yogurt-producing bacteria ferment the sugars in milk and produce an acid. As a result, the mixture is more acidic than before, and this higher acidity solidifies the casein proteins. The whey proteins, on the other hand, don’t solidify, and separate out from the casein as liquid.
單單看一杯牛奶，我們是無法從中分辨出酪蛋白和乳清的。但是往牛奶中加入特殊的細菌來制作酸奶時，情況就不一樣了。制作酸奶用的細菌會發(fā)酵牛奶中的糖并制 成酸。因此，混合物比之前更酸，更高的酸度使得酪蛋白凝固。而另一方面，乳清蛋白則不會凝固，它會從酪蛋白中以液體的形式分離出來。
Yogurt you buy in the store has a stabilizer, usually fruit pectin, to keep the solid casein and liquid whey mixed together. But some of the whey still separates out from the casein, and that’s what you see when you open the yogurt container.
你在超市買到的酸奶中含有一種穩(wěn)定劑，通常是果膠，它的作用是讓固體的酪蛋白和液體的乳清混合在一起。但是部分乳清仍然從酪蛋白中分離出來，那就是你在打開酸奶包裝時所看到的液體。
Whey contains not only proteins but also B vitamins, including riboflavin, niacin, and thiamin, which can’t be found in the solid portion of the yogurt. Because of the nutritional value of whey, your best bet is to mix it back into the rest of the yogurt, then gobble it down！
乳清不僅含有蛋白質(zhì)還有維生素B，維生素B包括核黃素，煙酸和硫an素，這些物質(zhì)反倒無法在酸奶的固體部分中獲得。因為乳清的營養(yǎng)價值，你的選擇是把它和酸奶攪拌在一起，然后一飲而盡！
3.簡單的英語文章聽力精選
An Identity of One's Own
In the eternal universe, every human being has a one-off chance to live---his existence is unique and irretrievable, for the mold with which he was made, as Rousseau said, was broken by God immediately afterwards.
Fame, wealth and knowledge are merely worldly possessions that are within the reach of anybody striving for them. But your experience of and feelings about life are your own and not to be shared. No one can live your life over again after your death. A full awareness of this will point out to you that the most important thing in your existence is your distinctive individuality or something special of yours. What really counts is not your worldly success but your peculiar insight into the meaning of life and your commitment to it, which add luster to your personality.
It is not easy to be what one really is. There is many a person in the world who can be identified as anything ---either his job, his status or his social role---that shows no trace about his individuality. It does do him justice to say that he has no identity of his own, if he doesn't know his own mind and all his things are either arranged by others or done on others' suggestions; if his life, always occupied by external things, is completely void of an inner world. You won't be able to find anything whatever, from head to heart, that truly belongs to him. He is, indeed, no more than a shadow cast by somebody else or a machine capable of doing business.
活出個性
在茫茫宇宙間，每個人都只有一次生存的機會，都是一個獨一無二、不可重復的存在。正像盧梭所說的，上帝把你造出來后，就把那個屬于你的特定的模子打碎了。
名聲、財產(chǎn)、知識等等是身外之物，人人都可求而得之，但沒有人能夠代替你感受人生。你死之后，沒有人能夠代替你再活一次。如果你真正意識到了這一點，你就會明白，活在世上，最重要的事就是活出你自己的特色和滋味來。你的人生是否有意義，衡量的標準不是外在的成功，而是你對人生意義的獨特領(lǐng)悟和堅守，從而使你的自我閃放出個性的光華。
真正成為自己不是一件容易的事。世上有許多人，你說他是什么都行，例如是一種職業(yè)，一個身份，一個角色，惟獨不是他自己。如果一個人總是按別人的意見生活，沒有自己的獨立思索，總是為外在事務忙碌，沒有自己的內(nèi)心生活，那么，說他不是他自己就一點兒也沒有冤枉他。因為確確實實，從他的頭腦到他的心靈，你在其中已經(jīng)找不到絲毫真正屬于他自己的東西了，他只是別人的一個影子和事務的一架機器罷了。
4.簡單的英語文章聽力精選
Man and Nature
人與自然
The intimacy between man and Nature began with the birth of man on the earth, and becomes each century more intelligent and far reaching. To Nature, therefore, we turn as to the oldest and mostinfluential teacher of our race; from one point of view once our task master, now our servant; from another point of view, our constant friend, instructor and inspirer. The very intimacy of this relation robs it of a certain mystery and richness which it would have for all minds if it were the reward of the few instead of being the privilege of the many. To the few it is, in every age, full of wonder and beauty; to the many it is a matter of course. The heavens shine for all, but they have a changingsplendor to those only who see in every midnight sky a majesty of creative energy and resource which no repetition of the spectacle can dim. If the stars shone but once in a thousand years, men would gaze, awe struck and worshipful, on a vision which is not less but more wonderful because it shines nightly above the whole earth. In like manner, and for the same reason, we become indifferent to that delicately beautiful or sublimely impressive sky scenery which the clouds form and reform, compose and dissipate, a thousand times on a summer day. The mystery, the terror, and the music of the sea; the secret and subduing charm of the woods, so full of healing for the spent mind or the restless spirit; the majesty of the hills, holding in their recesses the secrets of light and atmosphere; the infinite variety of landscape, never imitative or repetitious, but always appealing to the imagination with some fresh and unsuspected loveliness; - who feels the full power of thesemarvelous resources for the enrichment of life, or takes from them all the health, delight, andenrichment they have to bestow?
從地球上人類出現(xiàn)開始，人與自然之間的密切關(guān)系也隨之誕 生，而且這種關(guān)系每一世紀都比以前變得更為明智而深 遠。因此，我們求助于自然，并把自然視為人類的最年長和最有 影響力的老師。從某一種觀點來看，自然曾經(jīng)一度是我們的監(jiān) 工，現(xiàn)在卻變?yōu)槲覀兊呐?。但從另一種觀點來看，自然一直是 我們的最忠實的朋友、導師和啟發(fā)者。這種和諧緊密的關(guān)系，如 果僅僅是少數(shù)人的特權(quán)，而大多數(shù)人并不能享有，那便會在人們心目中引發(fā)一種神秘和情趣。但是事實上，這種親密關(guān)系是被 天下所有的人共同享有的，這就使得這和諧緊密的關(guān)系失去神 秘感和情趣。對于少數(shù)人來講，這種關(guān)系在每個時代都充滿了奇妙和美好;對于多數(shù)人來講，這種關(guān)系只是理所當然的一件 事。天空照耀著每一個人，但是只有在少數(shù)人的心目中具有一 種變化多端的壯麗，他們在每一個午夜的`天空都能看到一種蘊 含著創(chuàng)造性的能力的莊嚴肅穆之美，無論那種景象重復多少次， 都不會使那種美模糊不清。如果星辰一千年才照耀一次大地， 人們將懷著敬畏尊崇的心情凝視那種美景，而那種美景如果夜 夜在全世界的上空出現(xiàn)，不但不會減損，反而更為增加它的奇 妙。同樣，基于相同的原因，我們對于夏曰天空的那種由浮云聚 散飄忽所形成的一曰之間千變?nèi)f化的纖巧秀麗或壯麗動人的景 色，也都漠然置之。海洋的神秘、恐怖和韻律，有助于醫(yī)療疲憊 心靈和煩躁精神的森林所具有的奧妙和懾人魂魄的麂力;在其 幽深之處保有光與大氣之奧秘的山巒所呈現(xiàn)的莊嚴肅穆之美; 從不模仿或重復、永遠以一種出人意料的新鮮的美麗來沖擊人 類想像力的風景變幻無窮——誰能感受到這些奇異景物的全部 力量，或者能從它們那里得到它們所賜予的健康、快樂和豐美呢?
1.簡單的英語文章聽力精選
全球變暖問題
英語聽力原文：
Global warming may or not be the great environmental crisis of the 21st century, but—regardless of weather it is or isn't— we won't do much about it. We will argue over it and may even, as a nation, make some fairly solemn-sounding commitments to avoid it. But the more dramatic and meaningful these commitments seem, the less likely they are to be observed.
全球變暖有可能是21世紀巨大的環(huán)境危機，也有可能不是，但是無論它是或不是我們對此都無能為力。我們會爭論不休，作為一個國家，或許會做出一些聽起來相當認真的來避免這一危機。但是這些看起來越是令人印象深刻、越是有意義，就越是不太可能被遵守。
Al Gore calls global warming an “inconvenient truth,” as if merely recognizing it could put in on a path to a solution. But the real truth is that we don't know enough to believe global warming, and — with our major technological breakthroughs — we can't do much about it.
Al Gore 稱全球變暖是一個“讓人感到麻煩的事實”，似乎只要認識到它的存在就可以把我們帶往一條解決問題的途經(jīng)上去。但是真正的事實是，我們沒有掌握足夠的知識去緩解全球變暖，并且如果沒有重大的技術(shù)突破，我們對此也束手無策。
No government will adopt rigid restrictions on economic growth and personal freedom (limits on electricity usage, driving and travel)that might cut back global warming. Still, politicians want to show they're “doing something”. Consider the Kyoto Protocol. It allowed countries that joined to punish those that didn't. But it hasn't reduced CO? emissions (up about 25% since 1990), and many signatories didn't adopt tough enough policies to hit their 2008 — 2012 targets.
沒有哪個政府會對經(jīng)濟增長和個人自由(限制電力的使用，駕駛和旅游)采取嚴格的限制令，雖然這樣的限制可以緩解全球變暖。即便事實如此，執(zhí)政者們還是想表明他們在“采取措施”。就拿《京都協(xié)議》來說吧，它允許其成員國懲罰非成員國。但是它并沒有起到減少二氧化碳的排放量(自從1990年以來上升了25%)的作用，并且，許多簽字國并沒有采取足夠嚴格的政策來盡力完成他們所制定的2008—2012年度的目標。
The practical conclusion is that if global warming is a potential disaster, the only solution is new technology. Only an aggressive research and development program might find ways of breaking our dependence on fossil fuels or dealing with it.
比較實際的結(jié)論是，如果全球變暖是一個潛在的災難，那么的解決辦法就是新技術(shù)。只有積極進取的研究開發(fā)項目才可能會找到辦法打破我們對于化石燃料的依賴，或者找到應對這一難題的辦法。
The trouble with the global warming debate is that it has become a moral problem when it's really engineering one. The inconvenient truth is that if we don't solve the engineering problem, we're helpless.
全球變暖這場辯論所存在的問題是，它本是一個技術(shù)問題，卻都已經(jīng)變成了一個道德問題。這個被忽視的真相就是，如果不能解決這個技術(shù)問題，我們將對此束手無策。
英語單詞詞匯整理:
1. solemn adj.嚴肅的，莊重的
eg：His solemn little face broke into smiles.
他那嚴肅的小臉綻開了笑容。
短語
solemn promise 莊嚴 ; 誓言 ; 鄭重 ; 莊嚴的誓言
solemn profession 終身圣愿 ; 隆重終身圣愿
solemn serious 岸然
2. commitment n. ，托付
eg: They made a commitment to peace.
他們要維護和平。
短語：
commitment fee 承擔費;費;承約費
loan commitment 貸款;貨款;放款;貸款委托書
Service commitment 服務;效勞許諾
Management commitment 管理;管理委員會;管理的
Commitment Document 文件
3. dramatic adj. 引人注目的，戲劇性的
eg: Their arrival was dramatic and exciting.
他們的到來令人激動不已，難以忘懷。
短語：
Dramatic Lyrics 戲劇抒情詩;詩劇抒懷詩
Dramatic Arts 戲劇藝術(shù)
Dramatic Writing 編劇;話劇寫作
dramatic rights 改編權(quán)
4. observe v. 遵守，觀察
eg: Everyone should observe the law.
任何人都必須遵紀守法。
短語：
witness observe 目睹 ; 目擊
observe silence 默哀
observe things 觀察事物 ; 觀察東西
observe that 對某人說
5. breakthrough n. 突破
eg: Scientists have made a breakthrough in their treatment of that disease.
科學家在治療那種疾病方面已有突破。
短語：
breakthrough point 切入點;突破點
breakthrough time 突破時間
technological breakthrough 技術(shù)突破
6. aggressive adj. 進取的，攻擊性強的
eg: The dogs are trained to be aggressive.
這些狗被訓練得具有攻擊性。
短語：
aggressive mode 積極模式;主動模式;挑戰(zhàn)模式;激進模式
aggressive active 積極主動
aggressive Driving 侵略性駕駛;攻擊性駕駛
7. fossil fuel 礦物燃料
eg: Coal is usually referred to as a fossil fuel.
煤通常被稱為礦物燃料.
短語：
Fossil-Fuel Resources Utilization in China 中國能源資源消費及其經(jīng)濟性分析
fossil-fuel power station 火力發(fā)電廠
fossil-fuel boiler 化石燃料鍋爐
佳句采摘：
We will argue over it and may even, as a nation, make some fairly solemn-sounding commitments to avoid it. But the more dramatic and meaningful these commitments seem, the less likely they are to be observed.
我們會爭論不休，作為一個國家，或許會做出一些聽起來相當認真的來避免這一危機。但是這些看起來越是令人印象深刻、越是有意義，就越是不太可能被遵守。
2.簡單的英語文章聽力精選
《酸奶》
When you open a container of yogurt, you’ll often see liquid collected on top. Some people mix it back into the yogurt, and others drain it off. What is it, and where does it come from?
打開一盒酸奶，你常常會發(fā)現(xiàn)有一層液體浮在表面。有的人把它拌入酸奶中，有的人則將這層液體倒掉。這層液體究竟是什么東西，它又是從哪來的呢?
To solve the mystery of the liquid in yogurt, let’s take a few steps back, to the milk that yogurt is made of. Milk has two different types of proteins. Most of the proteins are casein proteins, and the rest are whey proteins–of curds and whey fame.
為了揭開酸奶中這層液體的神秘面紗，讓我們往回追溯，去看看制作酸奶的原料—牛奶。牛奶有兩種不同類型的蛋白質(zhì)。大部分蛋白質(zhì)是酪蛋白，其余是乳清蛋白，包括凝質(zhì)和乳清。
If you look at a glass of milk, you can’t tell the casein from the whey. But that changes when special bacteria are added to milk to make yogurt. Yogurt-producing bacteria ferment the sugars in milk and produce an acid. As a result, the mixture is more acidic than before, and this higher acidity solidifies the casein proteins. The whey proteins, on the other hand, don’t solidify, and separate out from the casein as liquid.
單單看一杯牛奶，我們是無法從中分辨出酪蛋白和乳清的。但是往牛奶中加入特殊的細菌來制作酸奶時，情況就不一樣了。制作酸奶用的細菌會發(fā)酵牛奶中的糖并制 成酸。因此，混合物比之前更酸，更高的酸度使得酪蛋白凝固。而另一方面，乳清蛋白則不會凝固，它會從酪蛋白中以液體的形式分離出來。
Yogurt you buy in the store has a stabilizer, usually fruit pectin, to keep the solid casein and liquid whey mixed together. But some of the whey still separates out from the casein, and that’s what you see when you open the yogurt container.
你在超市買到的酸奶中含有一種穩(wěn)定劑，通常是果膠，它的作用是讓固體的酪蛋白和液體的乳清混合在一起。但是部分乳清仍然從酪蛋白中分離出來，那就是你在打開酸奶包裝時所看到的液體。
Whey contains not only proteins but also B vitamins, including riboflavin, niacin, and thiamin, which can’t be found in the solid portion of the yogurt. Because of the nutritional value of whey, your best bet is to mix it back into the rest of the yogurt, then gobble it down！
乳清不僅含有蛋白質(zhì)還有維生素B，維生素B包括核黃素，煙酸和硫an素，這些物質(zhì)反倒無法在酸奶的固體部分中獲得。因為乳清的營養(yǎng)價值，你的選擇是把它和酸奶攪拌在一起，然后一飲而盡！
3.簡單的英語文章聽力精選
An Identity of One's Own
In the eternal universe, every human being has a one-off chance to live---his existence is unique and irretrievable, for the mold with which he was made, as Rousseau said, was broken by God immediately afterwards.
Fame, wealth and knowledge are merely worldly possessions that are within the reach of anybody striving for them. But your experience of and feelings about life are your own and not to be shared. No one can live your life over again after your death. A full awareness of this will point out to you that the most important thing in your existence is your distinctive individuality or something special of yours. What really counts is not your worldly success but your peculiar insight into the meaning of life and your commitment to it, which add luster to your personality.
It is not easy to be what one really is. There is many a person in the world who can be identified as anything ---either his job, his status or his social role---that shows no trace about his individuality. It does do him justice to say that he has no identity of his own, if he doesn't know his own mind and all his things are either arranged by others or done on others' suggestions; if his life, always occupied by external things, is completely void of an inner world. You won't be able to find anything whatever, from head to heart, that truly belongs to him. He is, indeed, no more than a shadow cast by somebody else or a machine capable of doing business.
活出個性
在茫茫宇宙間，每個人都只有一次生存的機會，都是一個獨一無二、不可重復的存在。正像盧梭所說的，上帝把你造出來后，就把那個屬于你的特定的模子打碎了。
名聲、財產(chǎn)、知識等等是身外之物，人人都可求而得之，但沒有人能夠代替你感受人生。你死之后，沒有人能夠代替你再活一次。如果你真正意識到了這一點，你就會明白，活在世上，最重要的事就是活出你自己的特色和滋味來。你的人生是否有意義，衡量的標準不是外在的成功，而是你對人生意義的獨特領(lǐng)悟和堅守，從而使你的自我閃放出個性的光華。
真正成為自己不是一件容易的事。世上有許多人，你說他是什么都行，例如是一種職業(yè)，一個身份，一個角色，惟獨不是他自己。如果一個人總是按別人的意見生活，沒有自己的獨立思索，總是為外在事務忙碌，沒有自己的內(nèi)心生活，那么，說他不是他自己就一點兒也沒有冤枉他。因為確確實實，從他的頭腦到他的心靈，你在其中已經(jīng)找不到絲毫真正屬于他自己的東西了，他只是別人的一個影子和事務的一架機器罷了。
4.簡單的英語文章聽力精選
Man and Nature
人與自然
The intimacy between man and Nature began with the birth of man on the earth, and becomes each century more intelligent and far reaching. To Nature, therefore, we turn as to the oldest and mostinfluential teacher of our race; from one point of view once our task master, now our servant; from another point of view, our constant friend, instructor and inspirer. The very intimacy of this relation robs it of a certain mystery and richness which it would have for all minds if it were the reward of the few instead of being the privilege of the many. To the few it is, in every age, full of wonder and beauty; to the many it is a matter of course. The heavens shine for all, but they have a changingsplendor to those only who see in every midnight sky a majesty of creative energy and resource which no repetition of the spectacle can dim. If the stars shone but once in a thousand years, men would gaze, awe struck and worshipful, on a vision which is not less but more wonderful because it shines nightly above the whole earth. In like manner, and for the same reason, we become indifferent to that delicately beautiful or sublimely impressive sky scenery which the clouds form and reform, compose and dissipate, a thousand times on a summer day. The mystery, the terror, and the music of the sea; the secret and subduing charm of the woods, so full of healing for the spent mind or the restless spirit; the majesty of the hills, holding in their recesses the secrets of light and atmosphere; the infinite variety of landscape, never imitative or repetitious, but always appealing to the imagination with some fresh and unsuspected loveliness; - who feels the full power of thesemarvelous resources for the enrichment of life, or takes from them all the health, delight, andenrichment they have to bestow?
從地球上人類出現(xiàn)開始，人與自然之間的密切關(guān)系也隨之誕 生，而且這種關(guān)系每一世紀都比以前變得更為明智而深 遠。因此，我們求助于自然，并把自然視為人類的最年長和最有 影響力的老師。從某一種觀點來看，自然曾經(jīng)一度是我們的監(jiān) 工，現(xiàn)在卻變?yōu)槲覀兊呐?。但從另一種觀點來看，自然一直是 我們的最忠實的朋友、導師和啟發(fā)者。這種和諧緊密的關(guān)系，如 果僅僅是少數(shù)人的特權(quán)，而大多數(shù)人并不能享有，那便會在人們心目中引發(fā)一種神秘和情趣。但是事實上，這種親密關(guān)系是被 天下所有的人共同享有的，這就使得這和諧緊密的關(guān)系失去神 秘感和情趣。對于少數(shù)人來講，這種關(guān)系在每個時代都充滿了奇妙和美好;對于多數(shù)人來講，這種關(guān)系只是理所當然的一件 事。天空照耀著每一個人，但是只有在少數(shù)人的心目中具有一 種變化多端的壯麗，他們在每一個午夜的`天空都能看到一種蘊 含著創(chuàng)造性的能力的莊嚴肅穆之美，無論那種景象重復多少次， 都不會使那種美模糊不清。如果星辰一千年才照耀一次大地， 人們將懷著敬畏尊崇的心情凝視那種美景，而那種美景如果夜 夜在全世界的上空出現(xiàn)，不但不會減損，反而更為增加它的奇 妙。同樣，基于相同的原因，我們對于夏曰天空的那種由浮云聚 散飄忽所形成的一曰之間千變?nèi)f化的纖巧秀麗或壯麗動人的景 色，也都漠然置之。海洋的神秘、恐怖和韻律，有助于醫(yī)療疲憊 心靈和煩躁精神的森林所具有的奧妙和懾人魂魄的麂力;在其 幽深之處保有光與大氣之奧秘的山巒所呈現(xiàn)的莊嚴肅穆之美; 從不模仿或重復、永遠以一種出人意料的新鮮的美麗來沖擊人 類想像力的風景變幻無窮——誰能感受到這些奇異景物的全部 力量，或者能從它們那里得到它們所賜予的健康、快樂和豐美呢?