背诵是英语学习的一种重要方法.下面是小编带来的适合背诵的英语美文,欢迎阅读!
适合背诵的英语美文1Movie Music
Accustomed though we are to speaking of the films made before 1927 as “silent”, the film has never been, in the full sense of the word, silent. From the very beginning, music was regarded as an indispensable accompaniment; when the Lumiere films were shown at the first public film exhibition in the United States in February 1896, they were accompanied by piano improvisations on popular tunes. At first, the music played bore no special relationship to the films; an accompaniment of any kind was sufficient. Within a very short time, however, the incongruity of playing lively music to a solemn film became apparent, and film pianists began to take some care in matching their pieces to the mood of the film.
As movie theaters grew in number and importance, a violinist, and perhaps a cellist, would be added to the pianist in certain cases, and in the larger movie theaters small orchestras were formed. For a number of years the selection of music for each film program rested entirely in the hands of the conductor or leader of the orchestra, and very often the principal qualification for holding such a position was not skill or taste so much as the ownership of a large personal library of musical pieces. Since the conductor seldom saw the films until the night before they were to be shown(if indeed, the conductor was lucky enough to see them then), the musical arrangement was normally improvised in the greatest hurry.
To help meet this difficulty, film distributing companies started the practice of publishing suggestions for musical accompaniments. In 1909, for example, the Edison Company began issuing with their films such indications of mood as “pleasant”, “sad”, “lively”. The suggestions became more explicit, and so emerged the musical cue sheet containing indications of mood, the titles of suitable pieces of music, and precise directions to show where one piece led into the next.
Certain films had music especially composed for them. The most famous of these early special scores was that composed and arranged for D.W Griffith’s film Birth of a Nation, which was released in 1915.
电影插曲
尽管我们习惯于将1927年以前的电影称为"无声电影",但是就无声这个词完整的意义上来说,电影从未真正的无声过,从最初开始音乐就被视为必不可少的伴奏。当卢米埃尔的电影在1896年2月美国首届影片公映展览上放映的时候,影片便用当时的流行曲临场钢琴伴奏。最初,这些音乐伴奏与电影没有什么特别的关系,用什么曲子伴奏都行。但在很短的时间内,为一部庄重的影片演奏快活的音乐所产生的不协调感变得显而易见,因此钢琴家们开始注意将自己的作品与影片的情调结合起来。
随着影剧院在数量上与重要性上的不断增长,在一些场合,除了钢琴师外,还要加上小提琴师,或许还有一位大提琴师。较大的影剧院里还组成了小型的管弦乐队。在很长的时间内,为各部影片选择配乐完全掌握在乐队指挥或队长手中,而通常把持这种职位的资格不是技巧或鉴赏品味,而是拥有一个大的音乐作品的个人收藏。因为直到电影上映的前一天晚上乐队指挥才能看到影片(如果这个指挥真正有幸能够看到影片的话),音乐安排通常是在非常匆忙的情况下临场进行的。
为了解决以上的困难,电影发行公司开办了为音乐伴奏印制提示单的业务。例如1909年爱迪生公司开始将一些诸如"喜悦的"、"悲伤的"、"活泼的"之类表明影片情调特征的提示与影片一起发行。这些提示逐渐变得更加具体,并且出现了包括影片情调说明、适用乐曲名称和乐曲转换点等内容的配乐说明单。
某些影片拥有专门为其创作的音乐。这些早期特创乐谱中最著名的便是为D.W.格雷夫斯1915年上映的影片《一个国家的诞生》所创作的音乐。
适合背诵的英语美文2Cross-cultural Communication
International Business and Cross-cultural Communication
The increase in international business and in foreign investment has created a need for executives with knowledge of foreign languages and skills in cross-cultural communication. Americans, however, have not been well trained in either area and, consequently, have not enjoyed the same level of success in negotiation in an international arena as have their foreign counterparts.
Negotiating is the process of communicating back and forth for the purpose of reaching an agreement. It involves persuasion and compromise, but in order to participate in either one, the negotiators must understand the ways in which people are persuaded and how compromise is reached within the culture of the negotiation.
In many international business negotiations abroad, Americans are perceived as wealthy and impersonal. It often appears to the foreign negotiator that the American represents a large multi-million-dollar corporation that can afford to pay the price without bargaining further. The American negotiator’s role becomes that of an impersonal purveyor of information and cash.
In studies of American negotiators abroad, several traits have been identified that may serve to confirm this stereotypical perception, while undermining the negotiator’s position. Two traits in particular that cause cross-cultural misunderstanding are directness and impatience on the part of the American negotiator. Furthermore, American negotiators often insist on realizing short-term goals. Foreign negotiators, on the other hand, may value the relationship established between negotiators and may be willing to invest time in it for long-term benefits. In order to solidify the relationship, they may opt for indirect interactions without regard for the time involved in getting to know the other negotiator.
Clearly, perceptions and differences in values affect the outcomes of negotiations and the success of negotiators. For Americans to play a more effective role in international business negotiations, they must put forth more effort to improve cross-cultural understanding.
国际商业和跨文化交流
国际贸易和海外投资的增加产生了对具有外语知识和跨文化交流技巧的经理的需求。然而,美国人在这两方面未得到良好的训练,因此没有在国际谈判中像他们的外国对手一样成功。
谈判是为了达成协议而反复交流的过程。它包括说服和妥协。但是为了去进行说服和妥协,谈判者必须懂得在谈判的文化中怎样说服人和怎样达成妥协。
在国外的国际商务谈判中,美国人被视为富有和不带个人情感。在外国谈判者看来,似乎美国人代表着一个庞大的拥有数百万资财的大企业,不用进一步地讨价还价就能出得起价钱。美国谈判者的角色变成了一个没有个人感情的信息及现金的供应者。
对在国外的美国谈判者的研究中,我们找出了损害谈判者能力的几个特点,或许证实这个已成定式的看法。尤其引起跨文化误解的两个特点是美国谈判者的直截了当和缺乏耐心。此外,美国谈判者经常坚持实现短期目标,而外国的谈判者会珍视建立谈判者之间的联系并愿意为长期利益投入时间。为了巩固这种联系,他们会选择非直接的交流而不计较投入用于了解对方的时间。
明显地,价值观的不同和理解上的差异影响了谈判的结果和谈判者的成功与否。美国人要在国际商务谈判中扮演更为有效的角色,他们就必须投入更多的努力提高跨文化的理解力。
适合背诵的英语美文3
Collectibles
Collectibles have been a part of almost every culture since ancient times. Whereas some objects have been collected for their usefulness, others have been selected for their aesthetic beauty alone. In the United States, the kinds of collectibles currently popular range from traditional objects such as stamps, coins, rare books, and art to more recent items of interest like dolls, bottles, baseball cards, and comic books.
Interest in collectibles has increased enormously during the past decade, in part because some collectibles have demonstrated their value as investments. Especially during cycles of high inflation, investors try to purchase tangibles that will at least retain their current market values. In general, the most traditional collectibles will be sought because they have preserved their value over the years, there is an organized auction market for them, and they are most easily sold in the event that cash is needed. Some examples of the most stable collectibles are old masters, Chinese ceramics, stamps, coins, rare books, antique jewelry, silver, porcelain, art by well-known artists, autographs, and period furniture. Other items of more recent interest include old photograph records, old magazines, post cards, baseball cards, art glass, dolls, classic cars, old bottles, and comic books. These relatively new kinds of collectibles may actually appreciate faster as short-term investments, but may not hold their value as long-term investments. Once a collectible has had its initial play, it appreciates at a fairly steady rate, supported by an increasing number of enthusiastic collectors competing for the limited supply of collectibles that become increasingly more difficult to locate.
收藏品
从古代开始,收藏品就是文化的一部分。一些物品因它们的有用性被收藏,而另一些则纯粹因为它们的美被收藏。在美国,当今流行的收藏品种类从传统物件,如邮票、硬币、珍本书籍、艺术品,到更近期一些的有趣的东西,如布娃娃、瓶子、垒球卡、连环漫画册。
对收藏品的兴趣在过去十年中大大地增长,部分原因是一些收藏品显示出了它们的投资价值。尤其在高通货膨胀时期,投资者尽量购买那些至少会保持他们现有市场价值的有形资产。一般来说,最传统的收藏品受青睐,因为它们多年后仍保持其价值。它们拥有完善的拍卖市场,在需要现金的时候最容易被卖掉。一些最稳当的收藏品是古老的画作、中国陶器、邮票、硬币、珍本书籍、古代珠宝、银器、瓷器、著名艺术家的作品、亲笔签名和有时代特征的家具。其它更近期的物品有旧唱片、旧杂志、明信片、垒球卡片、彩色玻璃、布娃娃、早期汽车、古瓶和连环画册。作为短期投资这些相对说来较新颖的收藏品的确可能更快地增值,但作为长期投资则可能不能保值。一旦一件收藏品有了它第一次交易,它便以一个相当稳定的比率增值,这个增值率受到越来越多的热情的收藏者的支持,他们为有限的而且越来越难找到的收藏品而竞争。