Truyện ngắn tiếng Anh

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Living in expectation Lam Anh, my best friend, worked in the advertising department of an Internet service provider. He told me that his daily task was to speak eloquently and make his message agreeable to the ears of the company’s potential customers, to give a succinct speech promising the Internet will bring the whole world right to their room. Đọc tiếp ...	13110
A starry night After the death of her mother, little Chuyen turned taciturn and became visibly depressed. Her two-year-old brother Can was the exact opposite. He cried and called out his mother’s name everyday, because he thought she had either just gone to the market or was standing behind the door playing a hide-and-seek game with him when he returned home from pre-school. Poor little thing, he did not know that after the traffic accident that day, she would never come back to him. Đọc tiếp ...	2525
The undertow Trang was at the district People’s Committee headquarters waiting to have some documents notarized. "Trang! Trang! Is that Miss Trang?" a call resounded behind her. She turned around to see a man of about fifty, with an imposing gait carrying a bundle of papers in hand, elbowing his way across the crowd. Đọc tiếp ...	1425
A pasture of wonder buffaloes In the memories of my childhood, each sunset was a parting. When there was still enough sunlight in the sky to cast red light over the rows of tram bau trees in the rice fields, when the flock of ducks were being herded home to their coops, their quacking mixed with frogs’ croaks, my father was still sitting in the doorway of the house, while I walked towards the river bank and stopped in my tracks to watch my mother pushing the boat far from the shore. She turned and said: "Please go home, son! I’ll be back in the morning!" Đọc tiếp ...	1166
Miraculous Fingers "Luong, it’s your turn now" – said Mr Canh, the guard on duty, his voice echoing from downstairs. Still combing her hair, Luong quickly twisted it into a bun and fumbled along the rail. Mr Canh was waiting for her right at the end of the stairs. "Bed number 13. A man. Do it properly, you know." Đọc tiếp ...	1074
The first class sailor Tam Moc was a young and skilled farmer. He lived near a river, but he could not swim or row a boat; this was strange because his father was an experienced fisherman and first-class sailor with a rank similar to that of a ship’s captain. The old man had finally been forced to give up his career after his right foot was bitten off by a ferocious shark as he was trying to mend a rudder in the high sea near Nghe Cape before the boat was washed ashore. Now, leading the life of an invalid, he craved his old life on the sea. Again and again, with a walking stick in hand, he leaned against Tam Moc’s shoulder and hobbled along the bank of the Ba Ren River to contemplate where all boats might be going. Đọc tiếp ...	1149
My last fishing trip This shrimp season, our boat was the only one to use small nets to catch shrimp and small fishes, while other fishermen in our region used large nets to catch lobsters and salmon, even though sea creatures near the shore were getting more and more scarce. Đọc tiếp ...	1113
A boarder In a few moments now, the roof would surely blow off! It was like a violent verbal storm was blowing through the house, Quang thought. Once again, Thoa, the owner of Quang’s boarding house, could be heard stamping up the wooden stairs angrily in her high-heeled shoes. As usual, she was in a rage and shouting: "It’s unbearable for me!" Then she snapped at her 12-year-old daughter, who was learning in her room: "Trang, where’s Hong been all this time?" Đọc tiếp ...	1027
Love – as simple as that Boi was often called "mouldy Boi" because he had psoriasis and his skin was rough with red patches. Yet he won the heart of the most beautiful girl in Dong Nam village. Even though a lot of young handsome guys had flirted Nhuy, she married Boi and loved only him, her robust and hardworking husband. Đọc tiếp ...	1255
Fanciful bang lang flower "Hey kid, don’t be so angry!" he wrote after clicking her screen name hoabanglang in the chat room. "When I was your age, I didn’t do that, but now…," he added. He had nearly finished his advice when she signed out. Shaking his head and smiling broadly, he sent her another message, "What was that for? Just to show me how childish you are and to unintentionally ruin the pleasant moments in this virtual world? We’re only online for fun, aren’t we?" he went on. Đọc tiếp ...	1129
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 17/17 HUCK said: "Tom, we can slope, if we can find a rope. The window ain't high from the ground." "Shucks! what do you want to slope for?" "Well, I ain't used to that kind of a crowd. I can't stand it. I ain't going down there, Tom." Đọc tiếp ...	871
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 16/17 TUESDAY afternoon came, and waned to the twilight. The village of St. Petersburg still mourned. The lost children had not been found. Public prayers had been offered up for them, and many and many a private prayer that had the petitioner's whole heart in it; but still no good news came from the cave. The majority of the searchers had given up the quest and gone back to their daily avocations, saying that it was plain the children could never be found. Đọc tiếp ...	944
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 15/17 AS the earliest suspicion of dawn appeared on Sunday morning, Huck came groping up the hill and rapped gently at the old Welshman's door. The inmates were asleep, but it was a sleep that was set on a hair-trigger, on account of the exciting episode of the night. A call came from a window: "Who's there!" Đọc tiếp ...	911
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 14/17 THAT night Tom and Huck were ready for their adventure. They hung about the neighborhood of the tavern until after nine, one watching the alley at a distance and the other the tavern door. Nobody entered the alley or left it; nobody resembling the Spaniard entered or left the tavern door. The night promised to be a fair one; so Tom went home with the understanding that if a considerable degree of darkness came on, Huck was to come and "maow," whereupon he would slip out and try the keys. But the night remained clear, and Huck closed his watch and retired to bed in an empty sugar hogshead about twelve. Đọc tiếp ...	809
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 13/17 ABOUT noon the next day the boys arrived at the dead tree; they had come for their tools. Tom was impatient to go to the haunted house; Huck was measurably so, also--but suddenly said: "Lookyhere, Tom, do you know what day it is?" Tom mentally ran over the days of the week, and then quickly lifted his eyes with a startled look in them-- Đọc tiếp ...	768
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 12/17 TOM was a glittering hero once more--the pet of the old, the envy of the young. His name even went into immortal print, for the village paper magnified him. There were some that believed he would be President, yet, if he escaped hanging. Đọc tiếp ...	802
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 11/17 TOM joined the new order of Cadets of Temperance, being attracted by the showy character of their "regalia." He promised to abstain from smoking, chewing, and profanity as long as he remained a member. Now he found out a new thing--namely, that to promise not to do a thing is the surest way in the world to make a body want to go and do that very thing. Tom soon found himself tormented with a desire to drink and swear; the desire grew to be so intense that nothing but the hope of a chance to display himself in his red sash kept him from withdrawing from the order. Đọc tiếp ...	792
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 10/17 THERE was something about Aunt Polly's manner, when she kissed Tom, that swept away his low spirits and made him lighthearted and happy again. He started to school and had the luck of coming upon Becky Thatcher at the head of Meadow Lane. His mood always determined his manner. Without a moment's hesitation he ran to her and said: Đọc tiếp ...	841
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 9/17 THAT was Tom's great secret--the scheme to return home with his brother pirates and attend their own funerals. They had paddled over to the Missouri shore on a log, at dusk on Saturday, landing five or six miles below the village; they had slept in the woods at the edge of the town till nearly daylight, and had then crept through back lanes and alleys and finished their sleep in the gallery of the church among a chaos of invalided benches. Đọc tiếp ...	775
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 8/17 AFTER dinner all the gang turned out to hunt for turtle eggs on the bar. They went about poking sticks into the sand, and when they found a soft place they went down on their knees and dug with their hands. Sometimes they would take fifty or sixty eggs out of one hole. They were perfectly round white things a trifle smaller than an English walnut. They had a famous fried-egg feast that night, and another on Friday morning. Đọc tiếp ...	811
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 7/17 WHEN Tom awoke in the morning, he wondered where he was. He sat up and rubbed his eyes and looked around. Then he comprehended. It was the cool gray dawn, and there was a delicious sense of repose and peace in the deep pervading calm and silence of the woods. Not a leaf stirred; not a sound obtruded upon great Nature's meditation. Beaded dewdrops stood upon the leaves and grasses. A white layer of ashes covered the fire, and a thin blue breath of smoke rose straight into the air. Joe and Huck still slept. Đọc tiếp ...	819
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 6/17 ONE of the reasons why Tom's mind had drifted away from its secret troubles was, that it had found a new and weighty matter to interest itself about. Becky Thatcher had stopped coming to school. Tom had struggled with his pride a few days, and tried to "whistle her down the wind," but failed. He began to find himself hanging around her father's house, nights, and feeling very miserable. She was ill. What if she should die! There was distraction in the thought. He no longer took an interest in war, nor even in piracy. Đọc tiếp ...	827
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 5/17 AT half-past nine, that night, Tom and Sid were sent to bed, as usual. They said their prayers, and Sid was soon asleep. Tom lay awake and waited, in restless impatience. When it seemed to him that it must be nearly daylight, he heard the clock strike ten! This was despair. He would have tossed and fidgeted, as his nerves demanded, but he was afraid he might wake Sid. So he lay still, and stared up into the dark. Everything was dismally still. By and by, out of the stillness, little, scarcely perceptible noises began to emphasize themselves. The ticking of the clock began to bring itself into notice. Đọc tiếp ...	836
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 4/17 THE harder Tom tried to fasten his mind on his book, the more his ideas wandered. So at last, with a sigh and a yawn, he gave it up. It seemed to him that the noon recess would never come. The air was utterly dead. There was not a breath stirring. It was the sleepiest of sleepy days. The drowsing murmur of the five and twenty studying scholars soothed the soul like the spell that is in the murmur of bees. Away off in the flaming sunshine, Cardiff Hill lifted its soft green sides through a shimmering veil of heat, tinted with the purple of distance; a few birds floated on lazy wing high in the air; no other living thing was visible but some cows, and they were asleep. Tom's heart ached to be free, or else to have something of interest to do to pass the dreary time. His hand wandered into his pocket and his face lit up with a glow of gratitude that was prayer, though he did not know it. Then furtively the percussion-cap box came out. He released the tick and put him on the long flat desk. The creature probably glowed with a gratitude that amounted to prayer, too, at this moment, but it was premature: for when he started thankfully to travel off, Tom turned him aside with a pin and made him take a new direction. Đọc tiếp ...	815
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 3/17 ABOUT half-past ten the cracked bell of the small church began to ring, and presently the people began to gather for the morning sermon. The Sunday-school children distributed themselves about the house and occupied pews with their parents, so as to be under supervision. Aunt Polly came, and Tom and Sid and Mary sat with her--Tom being placed next the aisle, in order that he might be as far away from the open window and the seductive outside summer scenes as possible. The crowd filed up the aisles: the aged and needy postmaster, who had seen better days; the mayor and his wife--for they had a mayor there, among other unnecessaries; the justice of the peace; the widow Douglass, fair, smart, and forty, a generous, good-hearted soul and well-to-do, her hill mansion the only palace in the town, and the most hospitable and much the most lavish in the matter of festivities that St. Petersburg could boast; the bent and venerable Major and Mrs. Ward; lawyer Riverson, the new notable from a distance; next the belle of the village, followed by a troop of lawn-clad and ribbon-decked young heart-breakers; then all the young clerks in town in a body--for they had stood in the vestibule sucking their cane-heads, a circling wall of oiled and simpering admirers, till the last girl had run their gantlet; and last of all came the Model Boy, Willie Mufferson, taking as heedful care of his mother as if she were cut glass. He always brought his mother to church, and was the pride of all the matrons. The boys all hated him, he was so good. And besides, he had been "thrown up to them" so much. His white handkerchief was hanging out of his pocket behind, as usual on Sundays--accidentally. Tom had no handkerchief, and he looked upon boys who had as snobs. Đọc tiếp ...	787
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 2/17 TOM presented himself before Aunt Polly, who was sitting by an open window in a pleasant rearward apartment, which was bedroom, breakfast-room, dining-room, and library, combined. The balmy summer air, the restful quiet, the odor of the flowers, and the drowsing murmur of the bees had had their effect, and she was nodding over her knitting --for she had no company but the cat, and it was asleep in her lap. Her spectacles were propped up on her gray head for safety. She had thought that of course Tom had deserted long ago, and she wondered at seeing him place himself in her power again in this intrepid way. He said: "Mayn't I go and play now, aunt?" Đọc tiếp ...	823
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - by Mark Twain phần 1/17 "TOM!" No answer. "TOM!" No answer. "What's gone with that boy, I wonder? You TOM!" No answer. Đọc tiếp ...	1083
The Call of the Wild - by Jack London phần 7/7 When Buck earned sixteen hundred dollars in five minutes for John Thornton, he made it possible for his master to pay off certain debts and to journey with his partners into the East after a fabled lost mine, the history of which was as old as the history of the country. Many men had sought it; few had found it; and more than a few there were who had never returned from the quest. This lost mine was steeped in tragedy and shrouded in mystery. No one knew of the first man. The oldest tradition stopped before it got back to him. From the beginning there had been an ancient and ramshackle cabin. Dying men had sworn to it, and to the mine the site of which it marked, clinching their testimony with nuggets that were unlike any known grade of gold in the Northland. Đọc tiếp ...	856
The Call of the Wild - by Jack London phần 6/7 When John Thornton froze his feet in the previous December his partners had made him comfortable and left him to get well, going on themselves up the river to get out a raft of saw-logs for Dawson. He was still limping slightly at the time he rescued Buck, but with the continued warm weather even the slight limp left him. And here, lying by the river bank through the long spring days, watching the running water, listening lazily to the songs of birds and the hum of nature, Buck slowly won back his strength. Đọc tiếp ...	849
The Call of the Wild - by Jack London phần 5/7 Thirty days from the time it left Dawson, the Salt Water Mail, with Buck and his mates at the fore, arrived at Skaguay. They were in a wretched state, worn out and worn down. Buck's one hundred and forty pounds had dwindled to one hundred and fifteen. The rest of his mates, though lighter dogs, had relatively lost more weight than he. Pike, the malingerer, who, in his lifetime of deceit, had often successfully feigned a hurt leg, was now limping in earnest. Sol-leks was limping, and Dub was suffering from a wrenched shoulder-blade. Đọc tiếp ...	983
The Call of the Wild - by Jack London phần 4/7 "Eh? Wot I say? I spik true w'en I say dat Buck two devils." This was Francois's speech next morning when he discovered Spitz missing and Buck covered with wounds. He drew him to the fire and by its light pointed them out. Đọc tiếp ...	798
The Call of the Wild - by Jack London phần 3/7 The dominant primordial beast was strong in Buck, and under the fierce conditions of trail life it grew and grew. Yet it was a secret growth. His newborn cunning gave him poise and control. He was too busy adjusting himself to the new life to feel at ease, and not only did he not pick fights, but he avoided them whenever possible. A certain deliberateness characterized his attitude. He was not prone to rashness and precipitate action; and in the bitter hatred between him and Spitz he betrayed no impatience, shunned all offensive acts. Đọc tiếp ...	820
The Call of the Wild - by Jack London phần 2/7 Buck's first day on the Dyea beach was like a nightmare. Every hour was filled with shock and surprise. He had been suddenly jerked from the heart of civilization and flung into the heart of things primordial. No lazy, sun-kissed life was this, with nothing to do but loaf and be bored. Here was neither peace, nor rest, nor a moment's safety. All was confusion and action, and every moment life and limb were in peril. There was imperative need to be constantly alert; for these dogs and men were not town dogs and men. They were savages, all of them, who knew no law but the law of club and fang. Đọc tiếp ...	811
The Call of the Wild - by Jack London phần 1/7 "Old longings nomadic leap, Chafing at custom's chain; Again from its brumal sleep Wakens the ferine strain." Buck did not read the newspapers, or he would have known that trouble was brewing, not alone for himself, but for every tide- water dog, strong of muscle and with warm, long hair, from Puget Sound to San Diego. Because men, groping in the Arctic darkness, had found a yellow metal, and because steamship and transportation companies were booming the find, thousands of men were rushing into the Northland. These men wanted dogs, and the dogs they wanted were heavy dogs, with strong muscles by which to toil, and furry coats to protect them from the frost. Đọc tiếp ...	1272
The Ethics of Pig - by O.Henry On an east-bound train I went into the smoker and found Jefferson Peters, the only man with a brain west of the Wabash River who can use his cerebrum cerebellum, and medulla oblongata at the same time. Đọc tiếp ...	1038
A Bird of Bagdad - by O.Henry Without a doubt much of the spirit and genius of the Caliph Harun Al Rashid descended to the Margrave August Michael von Paulsen Quigg. Quigg's restaurant is in Fourth Avenue--that street that the city seems to have forgotten in its growth. Fourth Avenue--born and bred in the Bowery--staggers northward full of good resolutions. Đọc tiếp ...	881
A Retrieved Reformation - by O.Henry A guard came to the prison shoe-shop, where Jimmy Valentine was assiduously stitching uppers, and escorted him to the front office. There the warden handed Jimmy his pardon, which had been signed that morning by the governor. Jimmy took it in a tired kind of way. He had served nearly ten months of a four year sentence. He had expected to stay only about three months, at the longest. When a man with as many friends on the outside as Jimmy Valentine had is received in the "stir" it is hardly worth while to cut his hair. Đọc tiếp ...	867
After Twenty Years - By O.Henry The policeman on the beat moved up the avenue impressively. The impressiveness was habitual and not for show, for spectators were few. The time was barely 10 o'clock at night, but chilly gusts of wind with a taste of rain in them had well nigh depeopled the streets. Đọc tiếp ...	1100
The Gift Of The Magi - By O.Henry One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it was in pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by bulldozing the grocer and the vegetable man and the butcher until one's cheeks burned with the silent imputation of parsimony that such close dealing implied. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty- seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas. Đọc tiếp ...	980
One Thousand Dollars by O.Henry "One thousand dollars," repeated Lawyer Tolman, solemnly and severely, "and here is the money." Young Gillian gave a decidedly amused laugh as he fingered the thin package of new fifty-dollar notes. Đọc tiếp ...	1384
The Last Leaf by O.Henry 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! Đọc tiếp ...	3818

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