初中英語課外閱讀短文
英語閱讀是學習初中英語的基礎，需要我們多讀課外閱讀，提升英語閱讀能力，下面本站小編爲大家帶來初中英語課外閱讀短文，歡迎大家閱讀練習!
Going through the Customs is a tiresome business. The strangest thing about it is that really honest people are often made to feel guilty. The hardened professional smuggler, on the other hand, is never troubled by such feelings, even if he has five hundred gold watches hidden in his suitcase. When I returned from abroad recently, a particularly officious young Customs Officer clearly regarded me as a smuggler.
'Have you anything to declare?' he asked, looking me in the eye.
'No,' I answered confidently.
'Would you mind unlocking this suitcase please ?'
'Not at all,' I answered.
The Officer went through the case with great care. All the things I had packed so carefully were soon in a dreadful mess. I felt sure I would never be able to close the case again. Suddenly, I saw the Officer's face light up. He had spotted a tiny bottle at the bottom of my case and he pounced on it with delight.
'Perfume, eh?' he asked sarcastically. 'You should have declared that.' Perfume is not exempt from import duty.'
'But it isn't perfume,' I said.' It's hair-oil.' Then I added with a smile,' It's a strange mixture I make myself.' As I expected, he did not believe me.
'Try it!' I said encouragingly.
The Officer unscrewed the cap and put the bottle to his nostrils. He was greeted by an unpleasant smell which convinced him that I was telling the truth. A few minutes later, I was able to hurry away with precious chalk-marks on my baggage.
現在的海關官員往往相當寬容。但是，當你通過綠色通道，沒有任何東西需要申報時，他們仍可以攔住你。甚至是最誠實的人也常弄得覺得有罪似的，而老練的職業走私犯卻使手提箱裏藏着500只金錶，卻也處之泰然。最近一次，我也出國歸來，碰上一位特別好管閒事的年輕海關官員，他顯然把我當成走私犯。
"您有什麼需要申報的嗎?"他直盯着我的眼睛問。
"沒有。"我自信地回答說。
"請打開這隻手提箱好嗎?"
"好的。"我回答說。
那位官員十分仔細地把箱子檢查了一遍。所有細心包裝好的東西一會兒工夫就亂成一團。我相信那箱子再也關不上了。突然，我看到官員臉上露出了得意的神色。他在我的箱底發現了一隻小瓶，高興地一把抓了起來。
"香水，嗯?"他譏諷地說道，"你剛纔應該申報，香水要上進口稅的。"
"不，這不是香水，"我說，"是髮膠。"接着我臉帶微笑補充說："這是一種我自己配製的奇特的混合物。"
"你就聞一聞吧!"我催促說。
海關官員擰開瓶蓋，把瓶子放到鼻子底下。一股怪味襲來，使他相信了我說的真話。幾分鐘後，我終於被放行，手提划着寶貴的粉筆記號的行李，匆匆離去。
初中英語課外閱讀短文篇二：The great ship, Titanic, sailed for New York from Southampton on April 10th, 1912. She was carrying 1316 passengers and a crew of 89l. Even by modern standards, the 46,000 ton Titanic was a colossal ship. At that time, however, she was not only the largest ship that had ever been built, but was regarded as unsinkable, for she had sixteen water- tight compartments. Even if two of these were flooded, she would still be able to float. The tragic sinking of this great liner will always be remembered, for she went down on her first voyage with heavy loss of life.
Four days after setting out, while the Titanic was sailing across the icy waters of the North Atlantic, a huge iceberg was suddenly spotted by a look-out. After the alarm had been given, the great ship turned sharply to avoid a direct collision. The Titanic turned just in time, narrowly missing the immense wall of ice which rose over 100 feet out of the water beside her. Suddenly, there was a slight trembling sound from below, and the captain went down to see what had happened. The noise had been so faint that no one thought that the ship had been damaged. Below, the captain realized to his horror that the Titanic was sinking rapidly, for five of her sixteen water-
tight compartments had already been flooded ! The order to abandon ship was given and hundreds of people plunged into the icy water. As there were not enough life-boats for everybody, 1500 lives were lost.
巨輪"泰坦尼克"號1912年4月10日從南安普敦起錨駛向紐約。船上載有1,316名乘客與891名船員。卻使用現代標準來衡量，45,000 噸的"泰坦尼克"號與算得上一艘巨輪了。當時，這艘輪船不僅是造船史上建造的最大的一艘船，而且也被認爲是不會沉沒的。因爲船由16個密封艙組成，即使有兩個艙進水，仍可漂浮的水面上。然而，這艘巨輪首航就下沉，造成大批人員死亡。人們將永遠記着這艘巨輪的沉沒慘劇。
"泰坦尼克"起航後的第4天，它正行駛在北大西洋冰冷的海面上。突然，瞭望員發現一座冰山。警報響過不久，巨輪急轉彎，以避免與冰山正面相撞。"泰坦尼克"這個彎拐得及時，緊貼着高出海面100英尺的巨大的冰牆擦過去。突然，從船艙下部傳來一聲微顫音，船長走下船艙去查看究竟。由於這個聲音非常輕，沒人會想到船身已遭損壞。在下面，船長驚恐的地發現"泰坦尼克"號正在急速下沉，16個密封艙已有5個進水。於是，他發出棄船的命令，幾百人跳進了冰冷刺骨的海水裏。由於沒有足夠的救生艇運載所有乘客，結果，1,500 人喪生。
初中英語課外閱讀短文篇三：Most of us have formed an unrealistic picture of life on a desert island. We sometimes imagine a desert island to be a sort of paradise where the sun always shines. Life there is simple and good.
Ripe fruit falls from the trees and you never have to work. The other side of the picture is quite the opposite. Life on a desert island is wretched. You either starve to death or live like Robinson Crusoe, waiting for a boat which never comes. Perhaps there is an element of truth in both these pictures, but few of us have had the opportunity to find out.
Two men who recently spent five days on a coral island wished they had stayed there longer. They were taking a badly damaged boat from the Virgin Islands to Miami to have it repaired. During the journey, their boat began to sink. They quickly loaded a small rubber dinghy with food, matches, and tins of beer and rowed for a few miles across the Caribbean until they arrived at a tiny coral island. There were hardly any trees on the island and there was no water, but this did not prove to be a problem. The men collected rain-water in the rubber dinghy. As they had brought a spear gun with them, they had plenty to eat. They caught lobster and fish every day, and, as one of them put it 'ate like kings'. When a passing tanker rescued them five days later, both men were genuinely sorry that they had to leave.
我們許多人對於荒島生活有一種不切實際的想法。我們有時想象荒島是陽光終日普照的天堂。在那裏，生活簡單又美好。成熟的水果從樹上掉下來，人們根本無需勞動。另一種想法恰恰相反，認爲荒島生活很可怕，要麼餓死，要麼像魯濱孫那樣，天天盼船來，卻總沒見船影。也許，這兩種都像都有可信之處。但很少有人能有機會去弄個究竟。
最近有兩個人在一座珊瑚島上呆了5天，他們真希望在那兒再多呆一些日子。他們駕着一條嚴重損壞的小船從維爾京羣島阿密修理。途中，船開始下沉，他們迅速把食物、火柴、罐裝啤酒往一隻救生筏上裝。然後在加勒比海上划行了幾英里，到了一座珊瑚島上。島上幾乎沒有一顆樹，也沒有淡水，但這不算什麼問題。他們用像皮艇蓄積雨水。由於他們隨身帶了一支捕魚槍，因此，吃飯不愁。他們天天捕捉龍蝦和魚，正如其中一位所說，吃得"像國王一樣好"。5天后，一條油輪從那兒路過，搭救了他們。這二位不得不離開那個荒島時，還真的感到遺憾呢!
初中英語課外閱讀短文
