英语短文故事5分钟

While taking my boat down the inland waterway to Florida a few weeks ago, I decided to tie up at Georgetown, South Carolina, for the night and visit with an old friend. As we approached the Esso dock, I saw him through my binoculars standing there awaiting us. Tall and straight as an arrow he stood, facing a cold, penetrating wind—truly a picture of a sturdy man, even though his next birthday will make him eighty-two. Yes, the man was our elder statesman, Bernard Baruch.He loaded us into his station wagon and we were off to his famous Hobcaw Barony for dinner. We sat and talked in the great living room where many notables and statesmen, including Roosevelt and Churchill, have sat and taken their cues. In his eighty-second year, still a human dynamo, Mr. Baruch talks not of the past but of present problems and the future, deploring our ignorance of history, economics, and psychology. His only reference to the past was to tell me, with a wonderful sparkle in his eye, that he was only able to get eight quail out of the ten shots the day before. What is the secret of this great man’s value to the world at eighty-one? The answer is his insatiable desire to keep being productive.Two of the hardest things to accomplish in this world are to acquire wealth by honest effort and, having gained it, to learn how to use it properly. Recently I walked into the locker room of a rather well-known golf club after finishing a round. It was in the late afternoon and most of the members had left for their homes. But a half-dozen or so men past middle age were still seated at tables talking aimlessly and drinking more than was good for them. These same men can be found there day after day and, strangely enough, each one of these men had been a man of affairs and wealth, successful in business and respected in the community. If materialprosperity were the chief requisite for happiness, then each one should have been happy. Yet, it seemed to me, something very important was missing, else there would not have been the constant effort to escape the realities of life through Scotch and soda. They knew, each one of them, that their productivity had ceased. When a fruit tree ceases to bear its fruit, it is dying. And it is even so with man.What is the answer to a long and happy existence in this world of ours? I think I found it long ago in a passage from the book, Genesis, which caught my eyes while I was thumbing through my Bible. The words were few, but they became indelibly impressed on my mind: “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread.”To me, that has been a challenge from my earliest recollections. In fact, the battle of life, of existence, is a challenge to everyone. The immortal words of St. Paul, too, have been and always will be a great inspiration to me. At the end of the road I want to be able to feel that I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.

The Selfish Giant Once upon a time, there lived a Giant in a small town. Every afternoon, Children used to play in the giant's gardern after school. It was a very beautiful garden with flowers like the star and lovely birds singing in the trees. But one day, the Giant came home from his friend's town. He had been there for over one year. When he saw those kids playing wildly in his garden, he was so angry and drove them all away. The kids has nowhere to play, they always looked at that beautiful garden and remembered how happy they used to be. Then spring came, everywhere was full of flowers and fresh grass, except the Giant’s garden. It was still white everywhere. What’s worse, snowstorm, heavy rain and hail kept visiting there all the year round. God has forgotten this place, Giant thought sadly. Winter came again, snow covered everywhere again. But one day, when he woke up in the noon, he was so surprised to find that in his garden flowers has blossomed, and trees were quite green and birds were singing. Meanwhile, he heard laughters and shouts. He looked through his window, there were kids played happily. But in one of the corner, one little boy was crying for not being able to climb up the tree which is still full of snow. The Giant went out the house and walked toward the boy. Other kids were so frightened at the sight of him and ran away. But the Giant just helped the boy sit in the tree that immediately turned green. Other kids were back again and played with the Giant. Next day, kids came again except that little boy. And he asked every kid, but they all didn’t know him at all. Years later, one winter morning the Giant saw that boy again; he hurried to the garden and asked him who he was. He replied, “You allowed me to play in your garden in one winter day, and today I will bring you to my garden where is paradise.” 不知道你要什么样的，就写了一个童话在这儿，原文很长，自己就改编了一下，或许你还读过这个故事～呵呵～