最优美的散文

读一篇优美的散文，如品一杯茗茶，馨香绕怀，久久不忘。读一本好书，如与伟人对话，智慧之光映射身心…… 　　本书精选了50多篇世界上最具代表性的散文，所选篇目皆出自于名家，语言优美，意义深邃，堪称人类文明的共同财富。同时本书的内容广泛，包罗自然、社会、人生等方方面面。为了便于读者的阅读，书中配有许多契合散文内容的图片，带来视觉享受的同时，也扩大其想象空间，引导读者从不同角度去品味散文的主旨、情境和意蕴。 本书既是英语学习爱好者、文学爱好者的必备读物，也是忙碌现代人的一片憩息心灵的家园。

第一卷 生命中的阳光
青春
快乐吧！
快乐谷
生命
论美
圆
阳光下的时光
热爱生活
我的母亲
艰辛的人生
真实的高贵
爱是艰难的
爱
孩子
友谊
我爱人人，人人爱我

第二卷 人在旅途
与书为伴
谈怕死
谈胆量
论出游
黄金国
我的人生已逝
人的指导者
人类的故事
西敏大寺
我们在旅途中
人类的精神
勇气
婚姻

第三卷 冬日漫步
论青年与老年
论自私者的聪明
论懒散
古瓷器
送行
美腿与丑腿
冬日漫步
《宽容》序言
《新月集》选摘

第四卷 四季寻幽
第五卷 宁静的心

很多道德学者都指出，骄傲是在人类所有恶习中影响力最为广泛的。它的表现形式繁杂多样，隐藏方式也多种多样。就如同天边月儿晶莹透明的面纱，伪装既有光彩之处又有隐晦之所。虽然遮盖但亦可一眼望穿。
诚然，我无意降低骄傲的危害性程度，但不知道懒散是否会成为它的强敌。
然而有些人高声赞叹懒散是高雅之事，以。闲散之士”自居，正如布西里斯在剧中自称为“骄傲之士”一样。他们炫耀自己无需做事，感谢命运之神没有给他们安排事情。他们每晚睡觉睡到自然醒，起床活动活动也只是为了以后更好地入睡。为了延长黑夜的主宰，他们拉起厚厚的双层窗帘，终日不见阳光，除了“告诉他，他们十分憎恶他的光芒”。不断地变换享受的姿势就是他们所有的劳动。对他们而言，昼夜的分别就在于长沙发、椅子与床的不同。
他们是一群真正的并且公开的懒散女神崇拜者。女神为他们编织罂粟花环，把遗忘水倒进他们杯子里。他们生活在平静的愚蠢状态中，忘记了别人，别人也忘记了他们。他们的生活早就停止了，等到他们死了，生者只能说，他们停止了呼吸。
但是懒散在不经意间控制着大多数人的生活。因为这种恶习仅限于懒散者自身，不会危及他人。所以人们不会将它等同于欺诈和骄傲；欺诈危及财产安全，骄傲自然也会伤害他人的自尊。懒散具有一种平和静默的本质，不会因为炫耀而招来嫉妒，也不会因抗衡遭受怨恨。所以没有人忙于理会或刺探它。正如骄傲有时藏在谦恭之下一样，懒散通常为紊乱和匆忙所遮掩。一个人疏忽了自己明明知道的职责和真正的工作，自然会尽力去想一些让自己忘却自己愚蠢的事，然后努力地去做一些不是他职责范围内的事，只有这样才能保持自我欣赏。
有些人总是时刻准备着，忙于事前的准备，例如拟定计划、收集材料、为大事做准备等。
Many moralists have remarked, that Pride has of all human vices on, appears in the greatest multiplicity of forms, and lies hid under the greatest variety of disguises; of disguises, which, like the moon' s veil of brightness, are both its luster and its shade, and betray it to others, though they hide it from ourselves.
It is not my intention to degrade Pride from this preeminence of mischief, yet I know not whether Idleness may not maintain a very doubtful and obstinate competition.
There are some that profess Idleness in its full dignity, who call themselves the Idle, as Busiris in the play "calls himself the Proud " who boast that they do nothing, and thank their stars that they have nothing to do; who sleep every night till they can sleep no longer, and rise only that exercise may enable them to sleep again; who prolong the reign of darkness by double curtains, and never see the sun but to "tell him how they hate his beams"; whose whole labor is to vary the postures of indulgence, and whose day differs from their night but as a couch or chair differs from a bed.
These are the true and open votaries of Idleness, for whom she weaves the garlands of poppies, and into whose cup she pours the waters of oblivion; who exist in a state of unruffled stupidity, forgetting and forgotten; who have long ceased to live, and at whose death the survivors can only say, that they have ceased to breathe.
But Idleness predominates in many lives where it is not suspected; for being a vice which terminates in itself, it may be enjoyed without injury to others; and is therefore not watched like Fraud, which endangers property, or like Pride, which naturally seeks its gratifications in another's inferiority. Idleness is a silent and peaceful quality, that neither raises envy by ostentation, nor hatred by opposition; and therefore nobody is busy to censure or detect it.
As Pride sometimes is hid under humility, Idleness is often covered by turbulence and hurry. He that neglects his known duty and real employment, naturally endeavors to crowd his mind with something that may bar out the remembrance of his own folly, and does any thing but what he ought to do with eager diligence, that he may keep himself in his own favor.