英语作为全球两百多个国家的母语，也是现如今国家与国家之间交往的通用语言，在我国社会也被给予了很大程度的重视。就英语的学习而言，我们往往从单词的记忆开始进行，其实我们也可以在记忆单词的同时阅读一些经典的英语短文，这样也能够极大程度的增加我们的英语知识量。在此我就给大家总结一些经典的英语短文，供大家参考学习。

第一篇：Youth青春

Youth

Youth is not a time of life; itis a state of mind; it is not a matter of rosy cheeks, red lips andsupple knees; it is a matter of the will, a quality of theimagination, a vigor of the emotions; it is the freshness of thedeep springs of life.

Youth means a temperamentalpredominance of courage over timidity, of the appetite foradventure over the love of ease. This often exists in a man of 60more than a boy of 20. Nobody grows old merely by a number ofyears. We grow old by deserting our ideals.

Years may wrinkle the skin, butto give up enthusiasm wrinkles the soul. Worry, fear, self-distrustbows the heart and turns the spirit back to dust.

Whether 60 or 16, there is inevery human being’s heart the lure of wonders, the unfailingappetite for what’s next and the joy of the game of living. In thecenter of your heart and my heart, there is a wireless station; solong as it receives messages of beauty, hope, courage and powerfrom man and from the infinite, so long as you areyoung.

When your aerials are down, andyour spirit is covered with snows of cynicism and the ice ofpessimism, then you’ve grown old, even at 20; but as long as youraerials are up, to catch waves of optimism, there’s hope you maydie young at 80.

第二篇：Companionship ofBooks 以书为伴(节选)

Companionship ofBooks

A man may usually be known bythe books he reads as well as by the company he keeps; for there isa companionship of books as well as of men; and one should alwayslive in the best company, whether it be of books or ofmen.

A good book may be among thebest of friends. It is the same today that it always was, and itwill never change. It is the most patient and cheerful ofcompanions. It does not turn its back upon us in times of adversityor distress. It always receives us with the same kindness; amusingand instructing us in youth, and comforting and consoling us inage.

Men often discover theiraffinity to each other by the mutual love they have for a book justas two persons sometimes discover a friend by the admiration whichboth entertain for a third. There is an old proverb, ‘Love me, lovemy dog.” But there is more wisdom in this:” Love me, love my book.”The book is a truer and higher bond of union. Men can think, feel,and sympathize with each other through their favorite author. Theylive in him together, and he in them.

A good book is often the besturn of a life enshrining the best that life could think out; forthe world of a man’s life is, for the most part, but the world ofhis thoughts. Thus the best books are treasuries of good words, thegolden thoughts, which, remembered and cherished, become ourconstant companions and comforters.

Books possess an essence ofimmortality. They are by far the most lasting products of humaneffort. Temples and statues decay, but books survive. Time is of noaccount with great thoughts, which are as fresh today as when theyfirst passed through their author’s minds, ages ago. What was thensaid and thought still speaks to us as vividly as ever from theprinted page. The only effect of time have been to sift out the badproducts; for nothing in literature can long survive e but what isreally good.

Books introduce us into thebest society; they bring us into the presence of the greatest mindsthat have ever lived. We hear what they said and did; we see the asif they were really alive; we sympathize with them, enjoy withthem, grieve with them; their experience becomes ours, and we feelas if we were in a measure actors with them in the scenes whichthey describe.

The great and good do not die,even in this world. Embalmed in books, their spirits walk abroad.The book is a living voice. It is an intellect to which on stilllistens.

第三篇：If I Rest,IRust 如果我休息，我就会生锈

If I Rest, I Rust

The significant inscriptionfound on an old key---“If I rest, I rust”---would be an excellentmotto for those who are afflicted with the slightest bit ofidleness. Even the most industrious person might adopt it withadvantage to serve as a reminder that, if one allows his facultiesto rest, like the iron in the unused key, they will soon show signsof rust and, ultimately, cannot do the work required ofthem.

Those who would attain theheights reached and kept by great men must keep their facultiespolished by constant use, so that they may unlock the doors ofknowledge, the gate that guard the entrances to the professions, toscience, art, literature, agriculture---every department of humanendeavor.

Industry keeps bright the keythat opens the treasury of achievement. If Hugh Miller, aftertoiling all day in a quarry, had devoted his evenings to rest andrecreation, he would never have become a famous geologist. Thecelebrated mathematician, Edmund Stone, would never have publisheda mathematical dictionary, never have found the key to science ofmathematics, if he had given his spare moments to idleness, had thelittle Scotch lad, Ferguson, allowed the busy brain to go to sleepwhile he tended sheep on the hillside instead of calculating theposition of the stars by a string of beads, he would never havebecome a famous astronomer.

Labor vanquishes all---notinconstant, spasmodic, or ill-directed labor; but faithful,unremitting, daily effort toward a well-directed purpose. Just astruly as eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, so is eternalindustry the price of noble and enduring success.

以上三篇就是我给大家摘录出来的十分经典的英语短文，希望大家能够仔细阅读并从中能够有所感悟。大家能够从以上的短文中学习他们的用词用句，尽可能丰富我们自身的英语知识量，从而使我们的英语水平能够有所提高。