Mark Twain-the Mirror of America
Most
Americans
remember
Mark
Twain
as
the
father
of
Huck
Finn's
idyllic
cruise
through
eternal
boyhood
and
Tom
Sawyer's
endless
summer
of
freedom
and
adventure.
In-deed,
this
nation's
best-loved
author
was
every
bit
as
ad-venturous,
patriotic,
romantic,
and
humorous
as
anyone has ever imagined. I found another Twain as well
?/p>
one who grew cynical, bitter, saddened
by the profound personal tragedies life dealt him, a man who became obsessed with the frailties of
the human race, who saw clearly ahead a black wall of night.
在大多数美国人的心目中,马克
?
吐温是位伟大作家,他描写了哈?/p>
?
费恩永恒的童年时?/p>
中充满诗情画意的旅程和汤?/p>
?
索亚在漫长的夏日里自由自在历险探奇的故事。的确,这位
美国最受人喜爱的作家的探索精神?/p>
爱国热情?/p>
浪漫气质及幽默笔调都达到了登峰造极的程
度。但我发现还有另一个不同的马克
?
吐温——一个由于深受人生悲剧的打击而变得愤世嫉
俗、尖酸刻薄的马克
?
吐温,一个为人类品质上的弱点而忧心忡忡、明显地看到前途是一?/p>
黑暗的人?/p>
Tramp printer, river pilot , Confederate guerrilla, prospector, starry-eyed optimist, acid-tongued
cynic: The man who became Mark Twain was born Samuel
Langhorne Clemens and he ranged
across the nation for more than a third of his life, digesting the new American experience before
sharing it with the world as writer and lecturer. He adopted his pen name from the cry heard in his
steamboat days, signaling two fathoms (12 feet) of water -- a navigable depth. His popularity is
attested by the fact that more than a score of his books remain in print, and translations are still
read around the world.
印刷工、领航员、邦联游击队员、淘金者、耽于幻想的乐天派、语言尖刻的讽刺家:马?/p>
?
吐温原名塞缪?/p>
?
朗赫?/p>
?
克莱门斯?/p>
他一生之中有超过三分之一的时间浪迹美国各地,
体验
着美国的新生活?/p>
尔后便以作家和演说家的身分将他所感受到的这一切介绍给全世界?/p>
他的
笔名取自他在蒸汽船上做工时听到的报告水深为两口寻
(12
英尺
)
——意即可以通航的信?/p>
语?/p>
他的作品中有二十几部至今仍在印行?/p>
其外文译本仍在世界各地拥有读者,
由此可见?/p>
的享誉程度?/p>
The geographic core, in Twain's early years, was the great valley of the Mississippi River, main
artery of transportation in the young nation's heart. Keelboats
?/p>
flatboats , and large rafts carried
the first major commerce. Lumber, corn, tobacco, wheat, and furs moved downstream to the delta
country; sugar, molasses , cotton, and whiskey traveled north. In the 1850's, before the climax of
westward expansion, the vast basin drained three-quarters of the settled United States.
在马?/p>
?
吐温青年时代?/p>
美国的地理中心是密西西比河流域,
而密西西比河是这个年?/p>
国家中部的交通大动脉?/p>
龙骨船?/p>
平底船和大木筏载运着最重要的商品?/p>
木材?/p>
玉米?/p>
烟草?/p>
小麦和皮货通过这些运载工具顺流而下?/p>
运送到河口三角洲地区,
而砂糖?/p>
糖浆?/p>
棉花和威
士忌酒等货物则被运送到北方?/p>
?/p>
19
世纪
50
年代?/p>
西部领土开发高潮到来之前,
辽阔的密
西西比河流域占美国已开发领土的四分之三?/p>