现代大学英语(精读)4--lesson15

The Prince and the Pauper《王子和贫儿》 The Adventures of Huckberry Finn《哈克贝利· 费 恩历险记》 In this book, Finn was a boy with “a sound heart and a deformed conscience”.It is one of the best works produced by Mark Twain, and it has always been regarded as one of the great books of western literature and western civilization. Hemingway described it as the book from which“ all modern American literature comes”.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1885 本书讲述的是一个忍受不了“资产阶级生活 方式”和酗酒的父亲的毒打而离家出走的 白人孩子哈克，和一个逃亡的黑奴吉木， 同乘一个木筏，在密西西比河上漂流的见 闻和遭遇。全面、彻底地揭露资本主义政 治的所谓“自由和民主”的神话。
traits and dispositions: characteristics; features; nature; qualities; personalities humiliating: making me feel ashamed; embarrassing; mortifying Notice the tongue-in-cheek (as a joke, not seriously ) way the author expresses his ideas. He makes it sound as if he were conducting and reporting on the result of a scientific investigation. In other words, he is deliberately using a pompous style to achieve humor.
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1876
本书描写了十九世纪密西西比河畔一个小镇人民的生活，可以说是当时美国 社会生活的一个缩影。小主人公汤姆索亚和他的小伙伴幼稚而又认真的言行 可以给我们很深的启示他们讨厌牧师骗人的鬼话不喜欢学校枯燥的教育与循 规蹈矩的大人和孩子唱对台戏他们聪明活泼正直勇敢尤其是在一些重大事件 发生的时候在正义与邪恶一较量中在危机降临的时刻他们能义无反顾地挺身 而出。
to be descended from sb: to be related to sb who lived a long time ago
Paragraph 4
1. I was aware that many men who have accumulated more millions of money than they can ever use have shown a rabid hunger for more, and have not scrupled to cheat the ignorant and the helpless out of their poor saving in order to partially appease that appetite.
2. For it obliges me to renounce my allegiance to the Darwinian theory of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals and to name it the Descent of Man from the Higher Animals. Because the result of my study forces me to give up (to abandon) my loyalty to (firm belief in ) Darwin’s theory of evolution and to change the theory of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals to the theory of the Descent of Man from the Higher Animals. to oblige sb to do sth: to force sb to do sth; to make it necessary for sb to do sth to renounce: to abandon or give up; to reject or disown allegiance: loyalty, esp. to a nation or a cause
the ignorant and helpless: the uneducated and powerless people; the poor laboring pe on the Mississippi 1883 The Prince and the Pauper 1882

His writing style:
hilariously humorous bitterly satirical
About the story: The author writes about ugly human traits and dispositions. In his opinion, human beings are not ascended from the lower animals but descended from the higher animals.
though it may be wrong or may upset people
to cheat sb out of sth: to trick or deceive sb in order to get an advantage, e.g.
to cheat sb out of his money or job or land,etc
About the author:
Mark Twain (1835---1910) was born Samuel Langhorne Clements in Florida, Missouri, but lived as a child in Hannibal, Missouri, on the Mississippi River. He took the pen name Mark Twain from the call of the pilots on the river steamers, which indicated that the water was twelve feet deep, a safe depth for a steamer.During his early years, he worked as a riverboat pilot, newspaper reporter, printer, and gold prospector. But then he turned to writing, and became one of the greatest of American writers.
rabid: uncontrollable (Note: it is related to rabies, which is an acute, infectious and often fatal disease of dogs, also known as hydrophobia, transmitted by the bite of the infected animal) to have not scrupled to do sth: to be willing to do something even
I knew that many men who have more money than they can ever use have shown a mad desire to get more, and they have not hesitated to cheat poor people and their few saving in order to satisfy that desire.
Detailed Discussion of the Text
Paragraph 1
1. I have been studying the traits and dispositions of the “lower animals”, and contrasting them with the traits and dispositions of man. I find the result humiliating to me. I have been studying the characteristics of the so-called lower animals in comparison with those of man. The result of this study makes me, as a man, feel terribly ashamed.
Lesson 15
The Damned Human Race
Mark Twain
Pre-class work:
What do you know about Mark Twain? Can you name some books he wrote?


The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras Country《卡拉维拉斯县有名的跳娃》 The Innocents Abroad《傻瓜出国记》 A series of newspaper articles after his European trip later was published as this book. It explores the scrupulous individualism in a world of fantastic speculation and unstable values, and gives its name to the get-rich-quick years of the post Civil War era. The Gilded Age《镀金时代》 The Adventures of Tom Sawyer《汤姆· 索亚历险 记》
Paragraph 3 1. It also seemed to suggest that the earl was descended from the anaconda, and had lost a good deal in the transition. It also seemed to show that the earl came from the anaconda and had lost a lot of the anaconda’s good qualities in the process.
His masterpiece:
Innocents Abroad 1869
《傻子出国记》为通讯集，是马克· 吐温的旅欧报道。写天真无知的美国人在 欧洲的旅游见闻，滑稽、诙谐，表现出美国人在欧洲封建社会《傻子出国记》 为通讯集，是马克· 吐温的旅欧报道。写天真无知的美国人在欧洲的旅游见闻， 滑稽、诙谐，表现出美国人在欧洲封建社会及其印记面前的优越感。