经典篇章

古往今来，英语宝库中涌现出大批经典佳作，如林肯的《葛底斯堡演说》(The Gettysburg Address)，福克纳的诺贝尔奖演说(Banquet Speech)，海伦?凯勒的《给我三天光明》(Three Days to See)。这些文章在文字的运用上技法高超，在思想内涵上寓意深刻，读来字字珠玑，文字优美，启迪心智，含义隽永(full of exquisite words and truth， satisfying the mind， appealing to the heart)。这样的文章如不能熟读成诵，则无法融会贯通。背诵一定数量的经典名篇既有助于提高自己遣词造句的能力，也有助于加强自己表达思想的深度。下面的一篇短文是英国哲学家罗素(Bertrand Russell)自传的序言部分，题为What I Have Lived For(我的人生追求)，概述了作者一生追求的三种理想，文章在语言和思想两个方面都堪称经典，值得背诵。

What I Have Lived For

Three passions， simple but overwhelmingly strong， have governed my life： the longing for love， the search for knowledge， and unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind. These passions， like great winds， have blown me hither and thither， in a wayward course， over a deep ocean of anguish， reaching to the very verge of despair.

I have sought love， first， because it brings ecstasy ― ecstasy so great that I would often have sacrificed all the rest of life for a few hours of this joy. I have sought it， next， because it relieves loneliness ― that terrible loneliness in which one shivering consciousness looks over the rim of the world into the cold unfathomable lifeless abyss. I have sought it， finally， because in the union of love I have seen， in a mystic miniature， the prefiguring vision of the heaven that saints and poets have imagined. This is what I sought， and though it might seem too good for human life， this is what ― at last ― I have found.

With equal passion I have sought knowledge. I have wished to understand the hearts of men. I have wished to know why the stars shine. And I have tried to apprehend the Pythagorean power by which number holds sway above the flux. A little of this， but not much， I have achieved.

Love and knowledge， so far as they were possible， led upward toward the heavens. But always pity brought me back to earth. Echoes of cries of pain reverberate in my heart. Children in famine， victims tortured by oppressors， helpless old people ― a hated burden to their sons， and the whole world of loneliness， poverty， and pain make a mockery of what human life should be. I long to alleviate the evil， but I can't， and I too suffer.