這幾天的大暴雪， 已經限制了出行， 以至於把很多事情都往後推了推。 在北方的家裡溫暖如春， 那麼你是否和我一樣準備找點什麼事情幹。 一杯熱茶， 小狗依偎在懷裡， 窗外的雪景， 手裡就差一本書了。
讀書是為了什麼？讀書的詞條裡寫著：讀書是指獲取他人已準備好的符號、文字並加以辨認、理解、分析的過程。 這些最常見的語言文字， 還有其他音符、密碼、圖表構成讀書的真個過程。 人的追求因讀書而有根據。
是的， 知道大家學習工作都很忙， 沒有大段時間耐心看完一整本小說。
在此， 為大家整理出了6篇英語短篇小說， 篇篇經典， 耐人尋味， 值得細細品讀。
每篇閱讀時長都不超過10分鐘！ 不超過10分鐘！ 就10分鐘！ 重要的事情說3遍
保證你找不到藉口不讀書......
一、《芒果的小屋》
The House on Mango Street
by桑德拉·希斯內羅絲
《芒果街上的小屋》共由44個相對獨立的短篇構成， 所有故事發生在一條叫芒果街的芝加哥小街上。
作者桑德拉·希斯內羅絲用乾淨純美的句子勾勒出了一個關於成長， 關於在寫作中追求現實和精神家園的故事。 這是一部由詩句編織成的小書， 語言清澈如水般流淌在精神的海洋裡， 這是一次充斥著夢想在書本上找尋希望和自我的旅程，
You can never have too much sky. You can fall asleep and wake up drunk on sky, and sky can keep you safe when you are sad. Here there is too much sadness and not enough sky. Butterflies too are few and so are flowers and most things that are beautiful. Still, we take what we can get and make the best of it.
你永遠不能擁有太多的天空。 你可以在天空下睡去， 醒來又沉醉。 在你憂傷的時候， 天空會給你安慰。 可是憂傷太多， 天空不夠。 蝴蝶也不夠， 花兒也不夠。 大多數美的東西都不夠。 於是， 我們取我們所能取， 好好地享用。
Darius, who doesn't like school, who is sometimes stupid and mostly a fool, said something wise today, though most days he says nothing. Darius, who chases girls with firecrackers or a stick that touched a rat and thinks he's tough, today pointed up because the world was full of clouds, the kind like pillows.
大流士 ， 不喜歡上學的他， 有時很傻， 幾乎是個笨人， 今天卻說了一句聰明的話， 雖然大多數日子他什麼都不說。 大流士， 喜歡用爆竹， 用碰過老鼠的小棍子去追逐女孩， 還以為自己很了不起的他， 今天卻指著天空， 因為那裡有滿天的雲朵， 像枕頭樣的雲朵。
You all see that cloud, that fat one there? Darius said, See that? Where? That one next to the one that look like popcorn. That one there. See that. That's God, Darius said.God? somebody little asked. God, he said, and made it simple.
你們都看到那朵雲了， 那朵胖乎乎的雲了？大流士說， 看到了？哪裡？那朵看起來像爆米花的旁邊的那朵。
二、The Stories Of O.Henry歐亨利短篇小說集
After Twenty Years 二十年後
by O.Henry
閱讀時長：5分鐘
一個冬日的雨夜， 警官吉米在巡邏中遇到他20年前的朋友鮑勃。 20年前， 吉米留在紐約， 而鮑勃去了西部，
Trying doors as he went, twirling his club with many intricate and artful movements, turning now and then to cast his watchful eye adown the pacific thoroughfare, the officer, with his stalwart form and slight swagger, made a fine picture of a guardian of the peace. The vicinity was one that kept early hours. Now and then you might see the lights of a cigar store or of an all-night lunch counter; but the majority of the doors belonged to business places that had long since been closed.
他一邊走一邊試著打開門， 轉動著他的俱樂部， 轉動著許多複雜而巧妙的動作， 不時地轉過身來， 把他那警惕的目光投向太平洋的大街上， 軍官用他那堅定的姿勢和輕微的昂揚的神氣， 描繪出一幅和平衛士的優美畫面。 附近是一個早睡早起的人。 現在， 你可能會看到雪茄店的燈光或通宵的午餐櫃檯;但是大部分的門都屬於那些早已關閉的商業場所。
There was now a fine, cold drizzle falling, and the wind had risen from its uncertain puffs into a steady blow. The few foot passengers astir in that quarter hurried dismally and silently along with coat collars turned high and pocketed hands. And in the door of the hardware store the man who had come a thousand miles to fill an appointment, uncertain almost to absurdity, with the friend of his youth, smoked his cigar and waited.
現在有一股細細的細雨在下降， 風從它的不確定的氣流中上升到一個穩定的打擊。 那四分之一的乘客在那一刻不停地亂跳， 默默地跟著大衣領子轉過身來， 手裡拿著口袋。 在五金店的門口，那個千里之外的人，在他年輕的朋友的陪伴下，抽著雪茄，等待著。
三、The Stories Of O.Henry歐亨利短篇小說集
The Furnished Room帶傢俱出租的房間
by O.Henry
閱讀時長：5分鐘
《帶傢俱出租的房間》，作者用神秘的氣氛渲染了一對愛人先後在同一個房間裡自盡的悲劇。作者在主人公不停追尋的過程中，將生活的殘酷剝落展露在讀者的面前。
生活中，我們甚至也時刻面臨著年輕人和瓦希娜這樣瀕於絕望的困境。
A man searching for his lost love finds her ghost in a New York City tenement calling to him. This ghost story is a very unusual tale for O. Henry—longer than most and one of the few he wrote that dealt with the supernatural. The author tells a sad story of how two lovers have committed a suicide successively in the same room by heightening the air of mystery.
精彩選段Restless, shifting, fugacious as time itself is a certain vast bulk of the population of the red brick district of the lower West Side. Homeless, they have a hundred homes. They flit from furnished room to furnished room, transients forever--transients in abode, transients in heart and mind. They sing "Home, Sweet Home" in ragtime; they carry their lares et penates in a bandbox; their vine is entwined about a picture hat; a rubber plant is their fig tree.
隨著時間的推移，不安分的、變化的、貪婪的，是西下西區紅磚區的一大批人口。無家可歸的人，他們有100戶人家。他們從有傢俱的房間到有傢俱的房間，永遠都是短暫的——暫住在住所，在心裡和思想中短暫停留。他們在拉格的時候唱著“家，溫馨的家”;他們帶著他們的lares et鋼筆在一個樂隊裡;他們的藤蔓纏繞在一頂帽子上;橡膠樹是他們的無花果樹。
He engaged the room, paying for a week in advance. He was tired, he said, and would take possession at once. He counted out the money. The room had been made ready, she said, even to towels and water. As the housekeeper moved away he put, for the thousandth time, the question that he carried at the end of his tongue.
他進了房間，提前一個星期付了錢。他說，他很累，而且馬上就會占了。他數出了這筆錢。她說，房間已經準備好了，甚至連毛巾和水也準備好了。當管家搬走時，他第一千次把他的問題放在他的舌頭的末端。
四、The Stories Of O.Henry歐亨利短篇小說集
The Last Leaf最後一片葉子
by O.Henry
閱讀時長：5分鐘
美國著名短篇小說家歐·亨利《最後一片葉子》描寫了一個已經瀕於死亡的貧窮女畫家喬安西因為一片永不凋落的常春藤葉而恢復健康的離奇故事，塑造了一個命運不濟，但品德高尚的老畫家貝爾門的形象，歌頌了他捨己為人的崇高精神，從而唱出了一曲生命與希望的讚歌，歌頌了人性的美與善。《最後一片葉子》作為歐·亨利的代表作，充分體現了這位“世界短篇小說之王”的創作特色。文中作者著力挖掘和讚美小人物的偉大人格和高尚品德，展示他們嚮往人性世界的美好願望 The Novel "The Last Leaf" is about a young girl decides that she will die when the last leaf drops from a dying vine outside her window, as lingering pneumonia slowly takes her will to live. Her neighbor, Art Carney, is an elderly artist frustrated by his inability to paint what is in his heart. In an attempt to save the young girl, he creates the masterpiece he has been struggling to paint. A beautifully shot and moving story. This excellent short novel is my favorite story. Art Carney does a great job, although his character is French in this version, as opposed to the German character in the book. and just like the book,it truly touched the heart of its reader.
精彩選段In a little district west of Washington Square the streets have run crazy and broken themselves into small strips called "places." These "places" make strange angles and curves. One Street crosses itself a time or two. An artist once discovered a valuable possibility in this street. Suppose a collector with a bill for paints, paper and canvas should, in traversing this route, suddenly meet himself coming back, without a cent having been paid on account
在華盛頓廣場西邊的一個小街區裡，街道上的街道已經瘋了，他們把自己變成了一個叫做“地方”的小地方。這些“地方”形成了奇怪的角度和曲線。一條街過了一段時間。一位藝術家曾經在這條街上發現了一種有價值的可能性。假設一名有一份油漆、紙張和帆布帳單的收藏家，在穿越這條路線時，突然發現自己回來了，而沒有一分錢的收入。
Mr. Pneumonia was not what you would call a chivalric old gentleman. A mite of a little woman with blood thinned by California zephyrs was hardly fair game for the red-fisted, short-breathed old duffer. But Johnsy he smote; and she lay, scarcely moving, on her painted iron bedstead, looking through the small Dutch window-panes at the blank side of the next brick house. One morning the busy doctor invited Sue into the hallway with a shaggy, grey eyebrow.
Pneumonia先生不是你所謂的騎士老紳士。加利福尼亞的一名小婦人，一名帶著血的小婦人，對那只紅發、呼吸短促的老笨蛋來說，簡直是一場不公平的比賽。但約翰西他擊殺;她躺在她塗漆的鐵床上，幾乎不動，在隔壁的磚房的空白邊，透過荷蘭的窗戶看了看。一天早上，忙碌的醫生用一種蓬鬆的灰色眉毛把蘇帶到走廊。
五、The Stories Of O.Henry歐亨利短篇小說集
The Cop and the Anthem員警與讚美詩
by O.Henry
閱讀時長：5分鐘
he Cop and the Anthem is a December 1904 short story by the United States author O. Henry. It includes several of the classic elements of an O. Henry story, including a setting in New York City, an empathetic look at the state of mind of a member of the lower class, and an ironic ending. Soapy is homeless. He faces the urgent necessity of finding some sort of shelter for the winter. He is psychologically experienced in thinking of the local jail as a de facto homeless shelter. And the narrative shows him developing a series of tactics intended to encourage the police to classify him as a crimi
《員警與聖歌》是美國作家歐·亨利於1904年12月創作的短篇小說。它包含了歐·亨利故事的幾個經典元素，包括紐約的一個場景，一個對下層階級成員的心理狀態的移情，以及一個具有諷刺意味的結局。肥皂是無家可歸。他迫切需要在冬天找到某種棲身之所。他在心理上有經驗，認為當地的監獄是一個事實上的收容所。敘述顯示他正在制定一系列策略，以鼓勵警方將他列為罪犯。
Soapy's ploys include swindling a restaurant into serving him an expensive meal, vandalizing the plate-glass window of a luxury shop, repeating his eatery exploit at a humble diner, sexually harassing a young woman, pretending to be publicly intoxicated, and stealing another man's umbrella. However, all of these attempts are quickly exposed as failures.
索比的伎倆包括欺騙一家餐館為他提供一頓昂貴的飯菜，破壞一家奢侈品商店的玻璃櫥窗，在一個簡陋的小餐館裡重複他的飲食，性騷擾一個年輕女人，假裝喝醉了，還偷了另一個男人的傘。然而，所有這些嘗試都很快被暴露為失敗。
精彩選段dead leaf fell in Soapy's lap. That was Jack Frost's card. Jack is kind to the regular denizens of Madison Square, and gives fair warning of his annual call. At the corners of four streets he hands his pasteboard to the North Wind, footman of the mansion of All Outdoors, so that the inhabitants thereof may make ready.
一片枯葉落在蘇比的膝上。那是傑克·弗羅斯特的名片。傑克對麥迪森廣場的常客很友善，並對他的年度電話給予了公正的警告。在四街的四角，他把他的紙板遞給北風，這是所有戶外住宅的僕人，這樣，他的居民就可以準備好了。
Soapy had confidence in himself from the lowest button of his vest upward. He was shaven, and his coat was decent and his neat black, ready-tied four-in-hand had been presented to him by a lady missionary on Thanksgiving Day. If he could reach a table in the restaurant unsuspected success would be his. The portion of him that would show above the table would raise no doubt in the waiter's mind. A roasted mallard duck, thought Soapy, would be about the thing--with a bottle of Chablis, and then Camembert, a demi-tasse and a cigar. One dollar for the cigar would be enough. The total would not be
索比從背心的最底層的鈕扣上對自己有了信心。他刮了鬍子，他的外套很體面，他那整潔的黑色，已經捆好了的四手包在感恩節的時候由一位女傳教士送給他。如果他能在飯店裡找到一張桌 子，那他就不會成功了。在餐桌上擺出的他的那一部分，無疑會引起侍者的注意。一隻烤野鴨，想起來了，就會是這個東西——帶著一瓶夏布利酒，然後是卡姆伯特，一種半杯酒和一根雪茄。一美元的雪茄就夠了。總數不會。
在五金店的門口，那個千里之外的人，在他年輕的朋友的陪伴下，抽著雪茄，等待著。三、The Stories Of O.Henry歐亨利短篇小說集
The Furnished Room帶傢俱出租的房間
by O.Henry
閱讀時長：5分鐘
《帶傢俱出租的房間》，作者用神秘的氣氛渲染了一對愛人先後在同一個房間裡自盡的悲劇。作者在主人公不停追尋的過程中，將生活的殘酷剝落展露在讀者的面前。
生活中，我們甚至也時刻面臨著年輕人和瓦希娜這樣瀕於絕望的困境。
A man searching for his lost love finds her ghost in a New York City tenement calling to him. This ghost story is a very unusual tale for O. Henry—longer than most and one of the few he wrote that dealt with the supernatural. The author tells a sad story of how two lovers have committed a suicide successively in the same room by heightening the air of mystery.
精彩選段Restless, shifting, fugacious as time itself is a certain vast bulk of the population of the red brick district of the lower West Side. Homeless, they have a hundred homes. They flit from furnished room to furnished room, transients forever--transients in abode, transients in heart and mind. They sing "Home, Sweet Home" in ragtime; they carry their lares et penates in a bandbox; their vine is entwined about a picture hat; a rubber plant is their fig tree.
隨著時間的推移，不安分的、變化的、貪婪的，是西下西區紅磚區的一大批人口。無家可歸的人，他們有100戶人家。他們從有傢俱的房間到有傢俱的房間，永遠都是短暫的——暫住在住所，在心裡和思想中短暫停留。他們在拉格的時候唱著“家，溫馨的家”;他們帶著他們的lares et鋼筆在一個樂隊裡;他們的藤蔓纏繞在一頂帽子上;橡膠樹是他們的無花果樹。
He engaged the room, paying for a week in advance. He was tired, he said, and would take possession at once. He counted out the money. The room had been made ready, she said, even to towels and water. As the housekeeper moved away he put, for the thousandth time, the question that he carried at the end of his tongue.
他進了房間，提前一個星期付了錢。他說，他很累，而且馬上就會占了。他數出了這筆錢。她說，房間已經準備好了，甚至連毛巾和水也準備好了。當管家搬走時，他第一千次把他的問題放在他的舌頭的末端。
四、The Stories Of O.Henry歐亨利短篇小說集
The Last Leaf最後一片葉子
by O.Henry
閱讀時長：5分鐘
美國著名短篇小說家歐·亨利《最後一片葉子》描寫了一個已經瀕於死亡的貧窮女畫家喬安西因為一片永不凋落的常春藤葉而恢復健康的離奇故事，塑造了一個命運不濟，但品德高尚的老畫家貝爾門的形象，歌頌了他捨己為人的崇高精神，從而唱出了一曲生命與希望的讚歌，歌頌了人性的美與善。《最後一片葉子》作為歐·亨利的代表作，充分體現了這位“世界短篇小說之王”的創作特色。文中作者著力挖掘和讚美小人物的偉大人格和高尚品德，展示他們嚮往人性世界的美好願望 The Novel "The Last Leaf" is about a young girl decides that she will die when the last leaf drops from a dying vine outside her window, as lingering pneumonia slowly takes her will to live. Her neighbor, Art Carney, is an elderly artist frustrated by his inability to paint what is in his heart. In an attempt to save the young girl, he creates the masterpiece he has been struggling to paint. A beautifully shot and moving story. This excellent short novel is my favorite story. Art Carney does a great job, although his character is French in this version, as opposed to the German character in the book. and just like the book,it truly touched the heart of its reader.
精彩選段In a little district west of Washington Square the streets have run crazy and broken themselves into small strips called "places." These "places" make strange angles and curves. One Street crosses itself a time or two. An artist once discovered a valuable possibility in this street. Suppose a collector with a bill for paints, paper and canvas should, in traversing this route, suddenly meet himself coming back, without a cent having been paid on account
在華盛頓廣場西邊的一個小街區裡，街道上的街道已經瘋了，他們把自己變成了一個叫做“地方”的小地方。這些“地方”形成了奇怪的角度和曲線。一條街過了一段時間。一位藝術家曾經在這條街上發現了一種有價值的可能性。假設一名有一份油漆、紙張和帆布帳單的收藏家，在穿越這條路線時，突然發現自己回來了，而沒有一分錢的收入。
Mr. Pneumonia was not what you would call a chivalric old gentleman. A mite of a little woman with blood thinned by California zephyrs was hardly fair game for the red-fisted, short-breathed old duffer. But Johnsy he smote; and she lay, scarcely moving, on her painted iron bedstead, looking through the small Dutch window-panes at the blank side of the next brick house. One morning the busy doctor invited Sue into the hallway with a shaggy, grey eyebrow.
Pneumonia先生不是你所謂的騎士老紳士。加利福尼亞的一名小婦人，一名帶著血的小婦人，對那只紅發、呼吸短促的老笨蛋來說，簡直是一場不公平的比賽。但約翰西他擊殺;她躺在她塗漆的鐵床上，幾乎不動，在隔壁的磚房的空白邊，透過荷蘭的窗戶看了看。一天早上，忙碌的醫生用一種蓬鬆的灰色眉毛把蘇帶到走廊。
五、The Stories Of O.Henry歐亨利短篇小說集
The Cop and the Anthem員警與讚美詩
by O.Henry
閱讀時長：5分鐘
he Cop and the Anthem is a December 1904 short story by the United States author O. Henry. It includes several of the classic elements of an O. Henry story, including a setting in New York City, an empathetic look at the state of mind of a member of the lower class, and an ironic ending. Soapy is homeless. He faces the urgent necessity of finding some sort of shelter for the winter. He is psychologically experienced in thinking of the local jail as a de facto homeless shelter. And the narrative shows him developing a series of tactics intended to encourage the police to classify him as a crimi
《員警與聖歌》是美國作家歐·亨利於1904年12月創作的短篇小說。它包含了歐·亨利故事的幾個經典元素，包括紐約的一個場景，一個對下層階級成員的心理狀態的移情，以及一個具有諷刺意味的結局。肥皂是無家可歸。他迫切需要在冬天找到某種棲身之所。他在心理上有經驗，認為當地的監獄是一個事實上的收容所。敘述顯示他正在制定一系列策略，以鼓勵警方將他列為罪犯。
Soapy's ploys include swindling a restaurant into serving him an expensive meal, vandalizing the plate-glass window of a luxury shop, repeating his eatery exploit at a humble diner, sexually harassing a young woman, pretending to be publicly intoxicated, and stealing another man's umbrella. However, all of these attempts are quickly exposed as failures.
索比的伎倆包括欺騙一家餐館為他提供一頓昂貴的飯菜，破壞一家奢侈品商店的玻璃櫥窗，在一個簡陋的小餐館裡重複他的飲食，性騷擾一個年輕女人，假裝喝醉了，還偷了另一個男人的傘。然而，所有這些嘗試都很快被暴露為失敗。
精彩選段dead leaf fell in Soapy's lap. That was Jack Frost's card. Jack is kind to the regular denizens of Madison Square, and gives fair warning of his annual call. At the corners of four streets he hands his pasteboard to the North Wind, footman of the mansion of All Outdoors, so that the inhabitants thereof may make ready.
一片枯葉落在蘇比的膝上。那是傑克·弗羅斯特的名片。傑克對麥迪森廣場的常客很友善，並對他的年度電話給予了公正的警告。在四街的四角，他把他的紙板遞給北風，這是所有戶外住宅的僕人，這樣，他的居民就可以準備好了。
Soapy had confidence in himself from the lowest button of his vest upward. He was shaven, and his coat was decent and his neat black, ready-tied four-in-hand had been presented to him by a lady missionary on Thanksgiving Day. If he could reach a table in the restaurant unsuspected success would be his. The portion of him that would show above the table would raise no doubt in the waiter's mind. A roasted mallard duck, thought Soapy, would be about the thing--with a bottle of Chablis, and then Camembert, a demi-tasse and a cigar. One dollar for the cigar would be enough. The total would not be
索比從背心的最底層的鈕扣上對自己有了信心。他刮了鬍子，他的外套很體面，他那整潔的黑色，已經捆好了的四手包在感恩節的時候由一位女傳教士送給他。如果他能在飯店裡找到一張桌 子，那他就不會成功了。在餐桌上擺出的他的那一部分，無疑會引起侍者的注意。一隻烤野鴨，想起來了，就會是這個東西——帶著一瓶夏布利酒，然後是卡姆伯特，一種半杯酒和一根雪茄。一美元的雪茄就夠了。總數不會。