英語(yǔ)范文背誦精華1.1 Ideas of Home Have Changed
A great many people, when they speak of home, tend to associate it with a certain atmosphere, certain physical surroundings, and certain emotional attitudes within themselves. This sentimentality toward home is something that has come down to us from the past. Many modern people do not have it, and I think it is a good thing that they do not.許多人在談到家的時(shí)候往往將它和某種氣氛,某種環(huán)境及內(nèi)心的某些情感態(tài)度聯(lián)系在一起.這種對(duì)家的依戀情感古已有之,代代相傳.許多現(xiàn)代人不再有了,我認(rèn)為這是件好事.
In the old days life was difficult. Enemies could attack you and kill or rob you, and you had little protection against them. People did not live in well-built houses where doors could be locked. They did not have the protection of an organized police force or telephones which could summon the police instantly. How did this influence the way people felt about home? Small family groups clung tightly together for protection against beasts and against other men. Only the bravest went beyond the small family area. Even in the Middle Ages only the most daring went to lands beyond sea. The human pursuit of security conditioned men to love their homes. I am sure that this feeling must have been very strong among the early settlers of the United States who were obliged, by famine and oppression, to take the plunge and go to the new land where they knew no one and where they were subject to Indian attack. We can see this even today in the attitudes of minority groups who, because of a feeling of insecurity, still preserve cohesive family ties.在遙遠(yuǎn)的過(guò)去，人們生活十分艱難.敵人可能會(huì)攻擊你，殺害你或搶動(dòng)你的財(cái)富，而你卻毫無(wú)還手之力.人們并不住在可以鎖門閉戶的構(gòu)造堅(jiān)固的房子里.他們沒(méi)有一支有組織的警察隊(duì)伍的保護(hù)，也不能隨時(shí)打電話報(bào)警.這些怎樣影響人們對(duì)于家的感情呢?小小家庭的成員緊密團(tuán)結(jié)，聚在一起，共同抵御野獸和敵人.只有最勇敢的人才離開小小的家族管轄區(qū).甚至在中世紀(jì)也只有最勇敢的人才敢涉足海外.人類對(duì)安全的追求決定了人們對(duì)家的熱愛(ài).我相信，美國(guó)的早期定居者對(duì)此一定深有感觸.他們被饑茺壓迫得走投無(wú)路，只好毅然決定冒險(xiǎn)來(lái)到這個(gè)舉目元親.易愛(ài)印第安人攻擊的陌生的地方.甚至今天，我們從少數(shù)民族團(tuán)體的態(tài)度也可以看出這一點(diǎn).由于缺乏安全感，他們?nèi)匀槐３种挥心哿Φ募彝ゼ~帶.
Today, thanks to modern transportation and well-organized societies, thousands of people willingly and eagerly leave the surroundings where they were born, and the oftener they do so, the less sentiment they are likely to have for those surroundings. I lived in England for three years, and I noticed that boys and girls left their parents’ homes and lived in dwellings of their own. There they could just telephone and ask an agency to provide them with a house or an apartment, which was their home. How has the meaning of this word home been altered by such activity? What does home mean to those people or to families who often move about, living in first one hotel and then another? I believe that for them home means a place where they can have privacy.今天，由于有了現(xiàn)代交通和組織良好的社會(huì)，成千上萬(wàn)的人們?cè)敢獠⑶铱释x開他們出生的環(huán)境.而且，他們離家外出越頻繁，對(duì)出生的環(huán)境的情感就可能越少.我曾經(jīng)在英國(guó)，他們只需拿起電話，要求一家房地產(chǎn)經(jīng)銷處提供一幢房子或一個(gè)套間，那就是他們的家了.家這個(gè)詞的意義是如何被這種行為改變的呢?家對(duì)于那些經(jīng)常流動(dòng)，從一家旅館到另一家旅館居住的人們或家庭成員又意味著什么呢?我認(rèn)為，家對(duì)他們來(lái)說(shuō)是一個(gè)離群獨(dú)外不受干擾的地方.
This idea of home as being a place of privacy is emerging in my country, Saudi Arabia, where the young are abandoning their parents’ homes to live their own life. As for me, the atmosphere and surroundings of the place where my parents live have no sentimental attachment. Home is where I can shut the door and be by myself. At the moment it is a room in Eaton Hall. When I left my parents several years ago, I was anxious to leave. You might call it unfeeling, but that was the way I felt. On the day of my departure for the United States, my grandmother sobbed and wept. My father, however, indicated that he understood how I felt. “Son,” he said, “I am not sorry that you are leaving us. I only hope that you make the most of your time.在我的國(guó)家沙特陳拉伯，年輕人放棄父母的家去過(guò)他們自己的生活.這種把家作為私人獨(dú)處這地的看法正在我的國(guó)家形成.我對(duì)父母居住之地的氣氛，環(huán)境沒(méi)有眷戀的情感.家就是一個(gè)我能關(guān)起門來(lái)獨(dú)處的地方.現(xiàn)在我的家就是伊登宿舍的一個(gè)房間.幾年前當(dāng)我離開父母時(shí)，我沒(méi)有戀戀不舍，巴不得快快離開.你也許會(huì)覺(jué)得這是無(wú)情無(wú)義，然而那確實(shí)是我的感受.我離家去美國(guó)尋衛(wèi)，祖母嗚咽，淚流不止.但我的父親卻表時(shí)他能理解我的心情."孩子"他說(shuō)"我對(duì)于你的離去并不覺(jué)得悲傷.我只希望你能充分利用時(shí)間."
