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高級英語教材第25課

先讀課文﹕
The Bible----King James Version
Old Testament--Genesis

Chapter 1
1. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
2. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face
of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from
the darkness.
5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the
evening and the morning were the first day.
6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and
let it divide the waters from the waters.
7. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the
firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8. And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning
were the second day.
9. And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto
one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.
10. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the
waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
11. And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed,
and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself,
upon the earth: and it was so.
12. And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his
kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind:
and God saw that it was good.
13. And the evening and the morning were the third day.
14. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to
divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons,
and for days, and years:
15. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light
upon the earth: and it was so.
16. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and
the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
17. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the
earth,
18. And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light
from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
19. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
20. And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature
that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament
of heaven.
21. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth,
which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged
fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the
waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.
23. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his
kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind:
and it was so.
25. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after
their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind:
and God saw that it was good.
26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the
air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he
him; male and female created he them.
28. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply,
and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that
moveth upon the earth.
29. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which
is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit
of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to
every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have
given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
31. And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.
And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
Chapter 2
1. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

2. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested
on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it
he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
4. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were
created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,
5. And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb
of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain
upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of
the ground.
7. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into
his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

1) 生詞自查。
2) 聖經介紹﹕The Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, is divided into three parts: (1)
the five books of the Torah ("teaching" or "law"), comprising the origins
of the Israelite nation, its laws and its covenant with the God of Israel;
(2) the Nevi'im ("prophets"), containing the historic account of ancient
Israel and Judah focusing on conflicts between the Israelites and other nations,
and conflicts among Israelites -- specifically, struggles between believers
in "the LORD God" and believers in foreign gods, and the criticism of unethical
and unjust behavior of Israelite elites and rulers; and (3) the Ketuvim
("writings"): poetic and philosophical works such as the Psalms and the
Book of Job.
The Christian Bible is divided into two parts. The first is called the Old
Testament, containing the (minimum) 39 books of Hebrew Scripture, and the
second portion is called the New Testament, containing a set of 27 books.
The first four books of the New Testament form the Canonical gospels which
recount the life of Jesus and are central to the Christian faith.
3) 聖經連不懂英文的人都知道﹐但是有多少學英文的人讀過聖經﹖當然﹐不是虔誠
教徒或牧師是不會去讀全部聖經的﹐就像本人那樣。但學英文的人讀點英文聖經還
是應該的。所以我介紹了開頭的一點。據說最初的聖經是希伯萊文HEBREW的。後來
譯成英文。聖經的版本是很多的﹐已譯成多國文字。據說中文的聖經還有譯成中國
方言的。聽說有用寧波話譯的聖經。文革前﹐有人要介紹我到一位教會老修女那裡
去學希伯萊文。我想這也可算奇貨可居。後因文革開始﹐此事不果。

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高級英語教材第26課

先讀課文﹕
King Arthur and his Knights
by Howard Pyle

Chapter First﹕How Sir Kay did Combat in a Great Tournament at London Town
and of How He Brake (break) His Sword. Likewise, How Arthur Found a New
Sword For Him

It happened that among those worthies who were summoned unto London Town
by the mandate of the Archbishop as above recounted, there was a certain
knight, very honorable and of high estate (status), by name Sir Ector of
Bonmaison - surnamed (nicknamed) the Trustworthy Knight, because of the
fidelity with which he kept the counsel of those who confided in him, and
because he always performed unto all men, whether of high or low degree,
that which he promised to undertake, without defalcation as to the same.
So this noble and excellent knight was held in great regard by all those
who knew him; for not only was he thus honorable in conduct but he was,
besides, of very high estate, being possessed of seven castles in Wales
and in the adjoining country north thereof, and likewise of certain fruitful
tracts of land with villages appertaining thereunto, and also of sundry
forests of great extent, both in the north country and the west. This very
noble knight had two sons; the elder of these was Sir Kay, a young knight
of great valor and promise, and already well renowned in the Courts of Chivalry
because of several very honorable deeds of worthy achievement in arms which
he had performed; the other was a young lad of eighteen years of age, by
name Arthur, who at that time was serving with good repute as Sir Kay's
esquire-at-arms.
Now when Sir Ector of Bonmaison received by messenger the mandate of
the Archbishop, he immediately summoned these two sons unto him and bade
them to prepare straightway for to go with him to London Town, and they
did so. And in the same manner he bade a great number of retainers and esquires
and pages for to make them ready, and they likewise did so. Thus, with a
very considerable array at arms and with great show of circumstance, Sir
Ector of Bonmaison betook his way unto London Town in obedience to the commands
of the Archbishop.
So, when he had come thither he took up his inn in a certain field where
many other noble knights and puissant lords had already established themselves,
and there he set up a very fair pavilion of green silk, and erected his
banner emblazoned with the device of his house; to wit, a gryphon, black,
upon a field of green.
And upon this field were a great multitude of other pavilions of many
different colors, and over above each pavilion was the pennant and the banner
of that puissant lord to whom the pavilion belonged. Wherefore, because
of the multitude of these pennants and banners the sky was at places well-nigh
hidden with the gaudy colors of the fluttering flags.
Among the great lords who had come thither in pursuance to the Archbishop'
s summons were many very famous kings and queens and noblemen of high degree.
For there was King Lot of Orkney, who had taken to wife a step-daughter
of Uther-Pendragon, and there was King Uriens of Gore, who had taken to
wife another step-daughter of that great king, and there was King Ban, and
King Bors, and King Ryance, and King Leodegrance and many others of like
degree, for there were no less than twelve kings and seven dukes, so that,
what with their court of lords and ladies and esquires and pages in attendance,
the town of London had hardly ever seen the like before that day.
Now the Archbishop of Canterbury, having in mind the extraordinary state
of the occasion that had brought so many kings and dukes and high lords
unto that adventure of the sword and the anvil, had commanded that there
should be a very stately and noble tournament proclaimed. Likewise he commanded
that this contest at arms should be held in a certain field nigh to the
great cathedral, three days before that assay should be made of the sword
and the anvil (which same was to be undertaken, as aforesaid, upon Christmas
day). To this tournament were bidden all knights who were of sufficient
birth, condition, and quality for to fit them to take part therein. Accordingly,
very many exalted knights made application for admission, and that in such
numbers that three heralds were kept very busy looking into their pretensions
unto the right of battle. For these heralds examined the escutcheons and
the rolls of lineage of all applicants with great care and circumspection.
Now when Sir Kay received news of this tournament he went to where his
father was, and when he stood before his face he spake (speak) in this wise:
"Sire, being thy son and of such very high condition both as to birth and
estate as I have inherited from thee, I find that I have an extraordinary
desire to imperil my body in this tourney. Accordingly, if so be I may approve
my quality as to knighthood before this college of heralds, it will maybe
be to thy great honor and credit, and to the honor and credit of our house
if I should undertake this adventure. Wherefore I do crave thy leave (consent)
to do as I have a mind."
Unto these Sir Ector made reply: "My son, thou hast my leave for to enter
this honorable contest, and I do hope that God will give thee a great deal
of strength, and likewise such grace of spirit that thou mayst achieve honor
to thyself and credit to us who are of thy blood."
So Sir Kay departed with very great joy and immediately went to that
congress of heralds and submitted his pretensions unto them. And, after
they had duly examined into his claims to knighthood, they entered his name
as a knight-contestant according to his desire; and at this Sir Kay was
filled with great content and joy of heart.
So, when his name had been enrolled upon the list of combatants, Sir
Kay chose his young brother Arthur for to be his esquire-at-arms and to
carry his spear and pennant before him into the field of battle, and Arthur
was also made exceedingly glad because of the honor that had befallen him
and his brother.
Now, the day having arrived when this tourney was to be held, a very
huge concourse of people gathered together to witness that noble and courtly
assault at arms. For at that time London was, as aforesaid, extraordinarily
full of nobility and knighthood, wherefore it was reckoned that not less
than twenty thousand lords and ladies (besides those twelve kings and their
courts and seven dukes and their courts) were assembled in the lists circumadjacent
to the field of battle for to witness the performance of those chosen knights.
And those noble people sat so close together, and so filled the seats and
benches assigned to them, that it appeared as though an entirely solid wall
of human souls surrounded that meadow where the battle was to be fought.
And, indeed, any knight might well be moved to do his uttermost upon such
a great occasion with the eyes of so many beautiful dames and noble lords
gazing upon his performances. Wherefore the hearts of all the knights attendant
were greatly expanded with emulation to overturn their enemies into the
dust.
In the centre of this wonderful court of lords and ladies there was erected
the stall and the throne of the lord Archbishop himself. Above the throne
was a canopy of purple cloth emblazoned with silver lilies, and the throne
itself was hung all about with purple cloth of velvet, embroidered, alternately,
with the figure of St. George in gold, and with silver crosses of St. George
surrounded by golden halos. Here the lord Archbishop himself sat in great
estate and pomp, being surrounded by a very exalted court of clerks of high
degree and also of knights of honorable estate, so that all that centre
of the field glistered with the splendor of gold and silver embroidery,
and was made beautiful by various colors of rich apparel and bright with
fine armor of excellent workmanship. And, indeed, such was the stateliness
of all these circumstances that very few who were there had ever seen so
noble a preparation for battle as that which they then beheld.
Now, when all that great assembly were in their places and everything
had been prepared in due wise, an herald came and stood forth before the
enstalled throne of the Archbishop and blew a very strong, loud blast upon
a trumpet. At that signal the turnpikes of the lists were immediately opened
and two parties of knights-contestant entered therein - the one party at
the northern extremity of the meadow of battle and the other party at the
southern extremity thereof. Then immediately all that lone field was a-glitter
with the bright-shining splendor of the sunlight upon polished armor and
accoutrements. So these two parties took up their station, each at such
a place as had been assigned unto them - the one to the north and the other
to the south.
Now the party with which Sir Kay had cast his lot was at the north of
the field, and that company was fourscore and thirteen in number; and the
other party stood at the south end of the field, and that company was fourscore
and sixteen in number. But though the party with whom Sir Kay had attached
himself numbered less by three than the other party, yet was it the stronger
by some degree because that there were a number of knights of great strength
and renown in that company. Indeed it may be here mentioned that two of
those knights afterward became companions in very good credit of the round
table - to wit: Sir Mador de la Porte, and Sir Bedevere - which latter was
the last who saw King Arthur alive upon this earth.
So, when all was prepared according to the ordination of the tournament,
and when those knights-contestant had made themselves ready in all ways
that were necessary, and when they had dressed their spears and their shields
in such a manner as befitted knights about to enter serious battle, the
herald set his trumpet to his lips a second time and blew upon it with might
and main. Then, having sounded this blast, he waited for a while and then
he blew upon the trumpet again.
And, upon that blast, each of those parties of knights quitted its station
and rushed forth in great tumult against the other party, and that with
such noise and fury that the whole earth groaned beneath the feet of the
war-horses, and trembled and shook as with an earthquake.
So those two companies met, the one against the other, in the midst of
the field, and the roar of breaking lances was so terrible that those who
heard it were astonished and appalled at the sound. For several fair dames
swooned away with terror of the noise, and others shrieked aloud; for not
only was there that great uproar, but the air was altogether filled with
the splinters of ash wood that flew about.
In that famous assault threescore and ten very noble and honorable knights
were overthrown, many of them being trampled beneath the hoofs of the horses;
wherefore, when the two companies withdrew in retreat each to his station
the ground was beheld to be covered all over with broken fragments of lances
and with cantels of armor, and many knights were seen to be wofully lying
in the midst of all that wreck. And some of these champions strove to arise
and could not, while others lay altogether quiet as though in death. To these
ran divers esquires and pages in great numbers, and lifted up the fallen
men and bare (bear=carry) them away to places of safe harborage. And likewise
attendants ran and gathered up the cantels of armor and the broken spears,
and bare them away to the barriers, so that, by and by, the field was altogether
cleared once more.
Then all those who gazed down upon that meadow gave loud acclaim with
great joyousness of heart, for such a noble and glorious contest at arms
in friendly assay had hardly ever been beheld in all that realm before.
Now turn we unto Sir Kay; for in this assault lie had conducted himself
with such credit that no knight who was there had done better than he, and
maybe no one had done so well as he. For, though two opponents at once had
directed their spears against him, yet he had successfully resisted their
assault. And one of those two he smote so violently in the midst of his
defences that he had lifted that assailant entirely over the crupper of the
horse which he rode, and had flung him down to the distance of half a spear's
length behind his steed, so that the fallen knight had rolled thrice over
in the dust ere he ceased to fall.
And when those of Sir Kay's party who were nigh to him beheld what he
did, they gave him loud and vehement acclaim, and that in such measure that
Sir Kay was wonderfully well satisfied and pleased at heart.
And, indeed, it is to be said that at that time there was hardly any
knight in all the world who was so excellent in deeds of arms as Sir Kay.
And though there afterward came knights of much greater renown and of more
glorious achievement (as shall be hereinafter recorded in good season),
yet at that time Sir Kay was reckoned by many to be one of the most wonderfully
puissant knights (whether errant or in battle) in all of that realm.
So was that course of the combat run to the great pleasure and satisfaction
of all who beheld it, and more especially of Sir Kay and his friends. And
after it had been completed the two parties in array returned each to its
assigned station once more.
And when they had come there, each knight delivered up his spear unto
his esquire. For the assault which was next to be made was to be undertaken
with swords, wherefore all lances and other weapons were to be put away;
such being the order of that courteous and gentle bout at arms.
Accordingly, when the herald again blew upon his trumpet, each knight
drew his weapon with such readiness for battle that there was a great splendor
of blades all flashing in the air at once. And when the herald blew a second
time each party pushed forward to the contest with great nobleness of heart
and eagerness of spirit, every knight being moved with intent to engage
his oppugnant with all the might and main that lay in him.
Then immediately began so fierce a battle that if those knights had been
very enemies of long standing instead of friendly contestants, the blows
which they delivered the one upon the other could not have been more vehement
as to strength or more astonishing to gaze upon.
And in this affair likewise Sir Kay approved himself to be so extraordinary
a champion that his like was nowhere to be seen in all that field; for he
violently smote down five knights, the one after the other, ere he was stayed
in his advance.
Wherefore, beholding him to be doing work of such a sort, several of
the knights of the other party endeavored to come at him with intent to
meet him in his advance.
Amongst these was a certain knight, hight Sir Balamorgineas, who was
so huge of frame that he rode head and shoulders above any other knight.
And he was possessed of such extraordinary strength that it was believed
that he could successfully withstand the assault of three ordinary knights
at one time. Wherefore when this knight beheld the work that Sir Kay did,
he cried out to him, "Ho! ho! Sir Knight of the black gryphon, turn thou
hitherward and do a battle with me!"
Now when Sir Kay beheld Sir Balamorgineas to be minded to come against
him in that wise - very threateningly and minded to do him battle - he turned
him toward his enemy with great cheerfulness of spirit. For at that time
Sir Kay was very full of youthful fire and reckoned nothing of assaulting
any enemy who might demand battle of him.
(So it was at that time. But it after befell, when he became Seneschal,
and when other and mightier knights appeared at the court of the King, that
he would sometimes avoid an encounter with such a knight as Sir Launcelot,
or Sir Pellias, or Sir Marhaus, or Sir Gawaine, if he might do so with credit
to his honor.)
So, being very full of the spirit of youth, he turned him with great
lustiness of heart, altogether inflamed with the eagerness and fury of battle.
And he cried out in a great voice, "Very well, I will do battle with thee,
and I will cast thee down like thy fellows!" And therewith he smote with
wonderful fierceness at Sir Balamorgineas, and that with all his might.
And Sir Balamorgineas received the stroke upon his helmet and was altogether
bewildered by the fury thereof, for he had never felt its like before that
time. Wherefore his brains swam so light that it was necessary for him to
hold to the horn of his saddle to save himself from falling.
But it was a great pity for Sir Kay that, with the fierceness of the
blow, his sword-blade snapped short at the haft, flying so high in the air
that it appeared to overtop the turrets of the cathedral in its flight.
Yet so it happened, and thus it befell that Sir Kay was left without any
weapon. Yet it was thought that, because of that stroke, he had Sir Balamorgineas
entirely at his mercy, and that if he could have struck another blow with
his sword he might easily have overcome him.
But as it was, Sir Balamorgineas presently so far recovered himself that
he perceived his enemy to be altogether at his mercy; wherefore, being filled
beyond measure with rage because of the blow he had received, he pushed
against Sir Kay with intent to smite him down in a violent assault.
In this pass it would maybe have gone very ill with Sir Kay but that
three of his companions in arms, perceiving the extreme peril in which he
lay, thrust in betwixt him and Sir Balamorgineas with intent to take upon
themselves the assault of that knight and so to save Sir Kay from overthrow.
This they did with such success that Sir Kay was able to push out from the
press and to escape to the barriers without suffering any further harm at
the bands of his enemies.
Now when he reached the barrier, his esquire, young Arthur, came running
to him with a goblet of spiced wine. And Sir Kay opened the umbril of his
helmet for to drink, for he was athirst beyond measure. And, lo! his face
was all covered over with blood and sweat, and he was so a-drought with
battle that his tongue clave (stick) to the roof of his mouth and he could
not speak. But when he had drunk of the draught that Arthur gave him, his
tongue was loosened and he cried out to the young man in a loud and violent
voice: "Ho! ho! Brother, get me another sword for to do battle, for I am
assuredly winning our house much glory this day!" And Arthur said, "Where
shall I get thee a sword?" And Kay said, "Make haste unto our father's pavilion
and fetch me thence another sword, for this which I have is broken." And
Arthur said, "I will do so with all speed," and thereupon he set hand to
the barrier and leaped over it into the alleyway beyond. And he ran down
the alleyway with all the speed that he was able with intent to fulfil that
task which his brother had bidden him to undertake; and with like speed he
ran to that pavilion that his father had set up in the meadows.
But when he came to the pavilion of Sir Ector he found no one there,
for all the attendants had betaken themselves unto the tournament. And neither
could he find a sword fit for his brother's handling, wherefore he was put
to a great pass to know what to do in that matter.
In this extremity he bethought him of that sword that stood thrust into
the anvil before the cathedral, and it appeared to him that such a sword
as that would suit his brother's purposes very well. Wherefore he said to
himself, "I will go thither and get that sword if I am able to do so, for
it will assuredly do very well for my brother for to finish his battle withal.
" Whereupon he ran with all speed to the cathedral. And when he had come
there he discovered that no one was there upon guard at the block of marble,
as had heretofore been the case, for all who had been upon guard had betaken
themselves unto the contest of arms that was toward. And the anvil and the
sword stood where he could reach them. So, there being no one to stay (stop)
young Arthur, he leaped up upon the block of marble and laid his hands unto
the hilt of the sword. And he bent his body and drew upon the sword very
strongly, and, lo! it came forth from the anvil with wonderful smoothness
and ease, and he held the sword in his hand, and it was his.
And when he had got the sword in that way, he wrapped it in his cloak
so that no one might see it (for it shone with an exceeding brightness and
splendor) and he leaped down from the block of marble stone and hastened
with it unto the field of battle.
Now when Arthur had entered into that meadow once more, he found Sir
Kay awaiting his coming with great impatience of spirit. And when Sir Kay
saw him he cried out, very vehemently, "Hast thou got a sword?" And Arthur
said, "Yea, I have one here." Thereupon he opened his cloak and showed Sir
Kay what sword it was he had brought.
Now when Sir Kay beheld the sword he immediately knew it, and he wist
not what to think or what to say, wherefore he stood for a while, like one
turned into a stone, looking upon that sword. Then in awhile he said, in
a very strange voice "Where got ye that sword?" And Arthur looked upon his
brother and he beheld that his countenance was greatly disturbed, and that
his face was altogether as white as wax. And he said, "Brother, what ails
thee that thou lookest so strangely. I will tell the entire truth. I could
find no sword in our father's pavilion, wherefore I bethought me of that
sword that stood in the anvil upon the marble cube before the cathedral.
So I went thither and made assay for to draw it forth, and it came forth
with wonderful ease. So, when I had drawn it out, I wrapped it in my cloak
and brought it hither unto thee as thou beholdest."
Then Sir Kay turned his thoughts inward and communed with himself in
this wise, "Lo! my brother Arthur is as yet hardly more than a child. And
he is, moreover, exceedingly innocent. Therefore he knoweth not what he
hath done in this nor what the doing thereof signifieth. Now, since he hath
achieved this weapon, why should I not myself lay claim to that achievement,
and so obtain the glory which it signifieth." Whereupon he presently aroused
himself, and he said to Arthur, "Give the sword and the cloak to me," and
Arthur did as his brother commanded. And when he had done so Sir Kay said
to him, " Tell no man of this but keep it privy in thine own heart. Meantime
go thou to our father where he sits at the lists and bid come straightway
unto the pavilion where we have taken up our inn."
And Arthur did as Sir Kay commanded him, greatly possessed with wonder
that his brother should be so disturbed in spirit as he had appeared to
be. For he wist not what he had done in drawing out that sword from the
anvil, nor did he know of what great things should arise from that little
thing, for so it is in this world that a man sometimes approves himself to
be worthy of such a great trust as that, and yet, in lowliness of spirit,
he is yet altogether unaware that he is worthy thereof. And so it was with
young Arthur at that time.

1) 生詞自查。
2) King Arthur背景介紹﹕King Arthur is a legendary British leader of the
late 5th and early 6th centuries, who, according to Medieval histories and
romances, led the defence of Britain against Saxon invaders in the early
6th century. The details of Arthur's story are mainly composed of folklore
and literary invention, and his historical existence is debated and disputed
by modern historians.
3)作者介紹﹕Howard Pyle (1853-1911), American illustrator, teacher and author
wrote The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood (1883). Sometimes he was referred
to as "the father of American Illustration". He also produced a four volume
series: The Story of King Arthur and His Knights (1903), The Story of the
Champions of the Round Table, The Story of Lancelot and His Companions,
and The Story of the Grail and the Passing of Arthur. Howard Pyle was born
on 5 March 1853 in Wilmington, Delaware to parents William Pyle and Margaret
Churchman. His father was a leather manufacturer and his mother nurtured
his artistic side with books and drawing materials. Pyle attended art school
in Philadelphia before moving to New York City to continue his artistic
studies and illustrating and writing for the popular periodicals of the day
including Scribner's, Harper's, McClure's, and Collier's Weekly. In 1881
he married Anne Poole with whom he would have seven children.
4) 英國六世紀初的亞瑟王的故事也是大家知道的。或叫圓桌騎士。Knights of the
Round Table. 凡學英文的人﹐這個故事也是應該讀一下的。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第27課

先讀課文﹕
The Sea Wolf
by Jack London

Chapter I
I scarcely know where to begin, though I sometimes facetiously place the
cause of it all to Charley Furuseth's credit. He kept a summer cottage in
Mill Valley, under the shadow of Mount Tamalpais, and never occupied it
except when he loafed through the winter mouths and read "Nietzsche and
Schopenhauer" to rest his brain. When summer came on, he elected to sweat
out a hot and dusty existence in the city and to toil incessantly. Had it
not been my custom to run up to see him every Saturday afternoon and to
stop over till Monday morning, this particular January Monday morning would
not have found me afloat on San Francisco Bay.
Not but that I was afloat in a safe craft, for the Martinez[船名] was a
new ferry-steamer, making her fourth or fifth trip on the run between Sausalito
and San Francisco. The danger lay in the heavy fog which blanketed the bay,
and of which, as a landsman, I had little apprehension. In fact, I remember
the placid exaltation with which I took up my position on the forward upper
deck, directly beneath the pilot-house, and allowed the mystery of the fog
to lay hold of my imagination. A fresh breeze was blowing, and for a time
I was alone in the moist obscurity - yet not alone, for I was dimly conscious
of the presence of the pilot, and of what I took to be the captain, in the
glass house above my head.
I remember thinking how comfortable it was, this division of labour which
made it unnecessary for me to study fogs, winds, tides, and navigation,
in order to visit my friend who lived across an arm of the sea. It was good
that men should be specialists, I mused. The peculiar knowledge of the pilot
and captain sufficed for many thousands of people who knew no more of the
sea and navigation than I knew. On the other hand, instead of having to devote
my energy to the learning of a multitude of things, I concentrated it upon
a few particular things, such as, for instance, the analysis of Poe's [指
Edgar Allan Poe] place in American literature - an essay of mine, by the
way, in the current Atlantic.[雜誌名] Coming aboard, as I passed through
the cabin, I had noticed with greedy eyes a stout gentleman reading the Atlantic,
which was open at my very essay. And there it was again, the division of
labour, the special knowledge of the pilot and captain which permitted the
stout gentleman to read my special knowledge on Poe while they carried him
safely from Sausalito to San Francisco.
A red-faced man, slamming the cabin door behind him and stumping out on
the deck, interrupted my reflections, though I made a mental note of the
topic for use in a projected essay which I had thought of calling "The Necessity
for Freedom: A Plea for the Artist." The red-faced man shot a glance up
at the pilot-house, gazed around at the fog, stumped across the deck and
back (he evidently had artificial legs), and stood still by my side, legs
wide apart, and with an expression of keen enjoyment on his face. I was
not wrong when I decided that his days had been spent on the sea.
"It's nasty weather like this here that turns heads grey before their time,"
he said, with a nod toward the pilot-house.
"I had not thought there was any particular strain," I answered. "It seems
as simple as A, B, C. They know the direction by compass, the distance,
and the speed. I should not call it anything more than mathematical certainty.
"
"Strain!" he snorted. "Simple as A, B, C! Mathematical certainty!"
He seemed to brace himself up and lean backward against the air as he stared
at me. "How about this here tide that's rushin' out through the Golden Gate?"
[指金門大橋] he demanded, or bellowed, rather. "How fast is she ebbin'?
What's the drift, eh? Listen to that, will you? A bell-buoy, and we're a-top
of it! See 'em alterin' the course!"
From out of the fog came the mournful tolling of a bell, and I could see
the pilot turning the wheel with great rapidity. The bell, which had seemed
straight ahead, was now sounding from the side. Our own whistle was blowing
hoarsely, and from time to time the sound of other whistles came to us from
out of the fog.
"That's a ferry-boat of some sort," the new-comer said, indicating a whistle
off to the right. "And there! D'ye [Do you] hear that? Blown by mouth. Some
scow schooner, most likely. Better watch out, Mr. Schooner-man. Ah, I thought
so. Now hell's a poppin' for somebody!"
The unseen ferry-boat was blowing blast after blast, and the mouth-blown
horn was tooting in terror-stricken fashion.
"And now they're payin' their respects to each other and tryin' to get
clear," the red-faced man went on, as the hurried whistling ceased.
His face was shining, his eyes flashing with excitement as he translated
into articulate language the speech of the horns and sirens. "That's a steam-
siren a-goin' it over there to the left. And you hear that fellow with a
frog in his throat - a steam schooner as near as I can judge, crawlin' in
from the Heads [指地角﹐伸出海中的狹長陸地] against the tide."
A shrill little whistle, piping as if gone mad, came from directly ahead
and from very near at hand. Gongs sounded on the Martinez. Our paddle-wheels
stopped, their pulsing beat died away, and then they started again. The
shrill little whistle, like the chirping of a cricket amid the cries of
great beasts, shot through the fog from more to the side and swiftly grew
faint and fainter. I looked to my companion for enlightenment.
"One of them dare-devil launches," he said. "I almost wish we'd sunk him,
the little rip! They're the cause of more trouble. And what good are they?
Any jackass gets aboard one and runs it from hell to breakfast, blowin'
his whistle to beat the band and tellin' the rest of the world to look out
for him, because he's comin' and can't look out for himself! Because he's
comin'! And you've got to look out, too! Right of way! [路權﹐指路上的先
行權] Common decency! They don't know the meanin' of it!"
I felt quite amused at his unwarranted choler, and while he stumped indignantly
up and down I fell to dwelling upon the romance of the fog. And romantic
it certainly was - the fog, like the grey shadow of infinite mystery, brooding
over the whirling speck of earth; and men, mere motes of light and sparkle,
cursed with an insane relish for work, riding their steeds of wood and steel
through the heart of the mystery, groping their way blindly through the Unseen,
and clamouring and clanging in confident speech the while [WHILE] their
hearts are heavy with incertitude and fear.
The voice of my companion brought me back to myself with a laugh. I too
had been groping and floundering, the while I thought I rode clear-eyed
through the mystery.
"Hello! somebody comin' our way," he was saying. "And d'ye hear that? He's
comin' fast. Walking right along. Guess he don't hear us yet. Wind's in
wrong direction."
The fresh breeze was blowing right down upon us, and I could hear the whistle
plainly, off to one side and a little ahead.
"Ferry-boat?" I asked.
He nodded, then added, "Or he wouldn't be keepin' up such a clip." He gave
a short chuckle. "They're gettin' anxious up there."
I glanced up. The captain had thrust his head and shoulders out of the
pilot-house, and was staring intently into the fog as though by sheer force
of will he could penetrate it. His face was anxious, as was the face of
my companion, who had stumped over to the rail and was gazing with a like
intentness in the direction of the invisible danger.
Then everything happened, and with inconceivable rapidity. The fog seemed
to break away as though split by a wedge, and the bow of a steamboat emerged,
trailing fog-wreaths on either side like seaweed on the snout of Leviathan
[a sea monster referred to in the Bible]. I could see the pilot-house and
a white-bearded man leaning partly out of it, on his elbows. He was clad
in a blue uniform, and I remember noting how trim and quiet he was. His quietness,
under the circumstances, was terrible. He accepted Destiny, marched hand
in hand with it, and coolly measured the stroke. As he leaned there, he
ran a calm and speculative eye over us, as though to determine the precise
point of the collision, and took no notice whatever when our pilot, white
with rage, shouted, "Now you've done it!"
On looking back, I realize that the remark was too obvious to make rejoinder
necessary.
"Grab hold of something and hang on," the red-faced man said to me. All
his bluster had gone, and he seemed to have caught the contagion of preternatural
calm. "And listen to the women scream," he said grimly - almost bitterly,
I thought, as though he had been through the experience before.
The vessels came together before I could follow his advice. We must have
been struck squarely amidships, for I saw nothing, the strange steamboat
having passed beyond my line of vision. The Martinez heeled over, sharply,
and there was a crashing and rending of timber. I was thrown flat on the
wet deck, and before I could scramble to my feet I heard the scream of the
women. This it was, I am certain, - the most indescribable of blood-curdling
sounds, - that threw me into a panic. I remembered the life-preservers stored
in the cabin, but was met at the door and swept backward by a wild rush
of men and women. What happened in the next few minutes I do not recollect,
though I have a clear remembrance of pulling down life-preservers from the
overhead racks, while the red-faced man fastened them about the bodies of
an hysterical group of women. This memory is as distinct and sharp as that
of any picture I have seen. It is a picture, and I can see it now, - the
jagged edges of the hole in the side of the cabin, through which the grey
fog swirled and eddied; the empty upholstered seats, littered with all the
evidences of sudden flight, such as packages, hand satchels, umbrellas, and
wraps; the stout gentleman who had been reading my essay, encased in cork
and canvas, the magazine still in his hand, and asking me with monotonous
insistence if I thought there was any danger; the red-faced man, stumping
gallantly around on his artificial legs and buckling life-preservers on
all corners; and finally, the screaming bedlam of women.
This it was, the screaming of the women, that most tried my nerves. It
must have tried, too, the nerves of the red-faced man, for I have another
picture which will never fade from my mind. The stout gentleman is stuffing
the magazine into his overcoat pocket and looking on curiously. A tangled
mass of women, with drawn, white faces and open mouths, is shrieking like
a chorus of lost souls; and the red-faced man, his face now purplish with
wrath, and with arms extended overhead as in the act of hurling thunderbolts,
is shouting, "Shut up! Oh, shut up!"
I remember the scene impelled me to sudden laughter, and in the next instant
I realized I was becoming hysterical myself; for these were women of my
own kind, like my mother and sisters, with the fear of death upon them and
unwilling to die. And I remember that the sounds they made reminded me of
the squealing of pigs under the knife of the butcher, and I was struck with
horror at the vividness of the analogy. These women, capable of the most
sublime emotions, of the tenderest sympathies, were open-mouthed and screaming.
They wanted to live, they were helpless, like rats in a trap, and they
screamed.
The horror of it drove me out on deck. I was feeling sick and squeamish,
and sat down on a bench. In a hazy way I saw and heard men rushing and shouting
as they strove to lower the boats. It was just as I had read descriptions
of such scenes in books. The tackles jammed. Nothing worked. One boat lowered
away with the plugs out, filled with women and children and then with water,
and capsized. Another boat had been lowered by one end, and still hung in
the tackle by the other end, where it had been abandoned. Nothing was to
be seen of the strange steamboat which had caused the disaster, though I
heard men saying that she [指另一艘船] would undoubtedly send boats to our
assistance.
I descended to the lower deck. The Martinez was sinking fast, for the water
was very near. Numbers of the passengers were leaping overboard. Others,
in the water, were clamouring to be taken aboard again. No one heeded them.
A cry arose that we were sinking. I was seized by the consequent panic,
and went over the side in a surge of bodies. How I went over I do not know,
though I did know, and instantly, why those in the water were so desirous
of getting back on the steamer. The water was cold - so cold that it was
painful. The pang, as I plunged into it, was as quick and sharp as that
of fire. It bit to the marrow. It was like the grip of death. I gasped with
the anguish and shock of it, filling my lungs before the life-preserver popped
me to the surface. The taste of the salt was strong in my mouth, and I was
strangling with the acrid stuff in my throat and lungs.
But it was the cold that was most distressing. I felt that I could survive
but a few minutes. People were struggling and floundering in the water about
me. I could hear them crying out to one another. And I heard, also, the
sound of oars. Evidently the strange steamboat had lowered its boats. As
the time went by I marvelled that I was still alive. I had no sensation
whatever in my lower limbs, while a chilling numbness was wrapping about
my heart and creeping into it. Small waves, with spiteful foaming crests,
continually broke over me and into my mouth, sending me off into more strangling
paroxysms.
The noises grew indistinct, though I heard a final and despairing chorus
of screams in the distance, and knew that the Martinez had gone down. Later,
- how much later I have no knowledge, - I came to myself with a start of
fear. I was alone. I could hear no calls or cries - only the sound of the
waves, made weirdly hollow and reverberant by the fog. A panic in a crowd,
which partakes of a sort of community of interest, is not so terrible as
a panic when one is by oneself; and such a panic I now suffered. Whither
was I drifting? The red-faced man had said that the tide was ebbing through
the Golden Gate. Was I, then, being carried out to sea? And the life-preserver
in which I floated? Was it not liable to go to pieces at any moment? I had
heard of such things being made of paper and hollow rushes which quickly
became saturated and lost all buoyancy. And I could not swim a stroke. And
I was alone, floating, apparently, in the midst of a grey primordial vastness.
I confess that a madness seized me, that I shrieked aloud as the women
had shrieked, and beat the water with my numb hands.
How long this lasted I have no conception, for a blankness intervened,
of which I remember no more than one remembers of troubled and painful sleep.
When I aroused, it was as after centuries of time; and I saw, almost above
me and emerging from the fog, the bow of a vessel, and three triangular
sails, each shrewdly lapping the other and filled with wind. Where the bow
cut the water there was a great foaming and gurgling, and I seemed directly
in its path. I tried to cry out, but was too exhausted. The bow plunged
down, just missing me and sending a swash of water clear over my head. Then
the long, black side of the vessel began slipping past, so near that I could
have touched it with my hands. I tried to reach it, in a mad resolve to claw
into the wood with my nails, but my arms were heavy and lifeless. Again I
strove to call out, but made no sound.
The stern of the vessel shot by, dropping, as it did so, into a hollow
between the waves; and I caught a glimpse of a man standing at the wheel,
and of another man who seemed to be doing little else than smoke a cigar.
I saw the smoke issuing from his lips as he slowly turned his head and glanced
out over the water in my direction. It was a careless, unpremeditated glance,
one of those haphazard things men do when they have no immediate call to
do anything in particular, but act because they are alive and must do something.

But life and death were in that glance. I could see the vessel being swallowed
up in the fog; I saw the back of the man at the wheel, and the head of the
other man turning, slowly turning, as his gaze struck the water and casually
lifted along it toward me. His face wore an absent expression, as of deep
thought, and I became afraid that if his eyes did light upon me he would
nevertheless not see me. But his eyes did light upon me, and looked squarely
into mine; and he did see me, for he sprang to the wheel, thrusting the
other man aside, and whirled it round and round, hand over hand, at the
same time shouting orders of some sort. The vessel seemed to go off at a
tangent to its former course and leapt almost instantly from view into the
fog.
I felt myself slipping into unconsciousness, and tried with all the power
of my will to fight above the suffocating blankness and darkness that was
rising around me. A little later I heard the stroke of oars, growing nearer
and nearer, and the calls of a man. When he was very near I heard him crying,
in vexed fashion, "Why in hell don't you sing out?" This meant me, I thought,
and then the blankness and darkness rose over me.

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕John Griffith "Jack" London (born John Griffith Chaney, January
12, 1876 -- November 22, 1916) was an American author, journalist, and social
activist. He was a pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine
fiction and was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity
and a large fortune from his fiction alone. He is best remembered as the
author of "Call of the Wild" and "White Fang", both set in the Klondike Gold
Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire", "An Odyssey of the
North", and "Love of Life". He also wrote of the South Pacific in such stories
as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen", and of the San Francisco Bay
area in "The Sea Wolf". London, who was called "Wolf" by his close friends,
also used a picture of a wolf on his bookplate, and named his mansion "Wolf
House".
3) 小說介紹﹕The Sea-Wolf is a 1904 psychological adventure novel by American
novelist Jack London about a literary critic, survivor of an ocean collision
who comes under the dominance of Wolf Larsen, the powerful and amoral sea
captain who rescues him. The personal character of the novel's antagonist
"Wolf Larsen" was attributed to a real sailor London had known, Captain
Alex MacLean.
4) Jack London傑克‧倫敦﹐也是美國一個大作家。從上面的作者介紹裡可以知道﹐
他也寫了許多小說。我們已經介紹了一些男作家﹐及一些女作家﹐搞文學或有興趣
的人﹐可以比較一下男女作家間文筆的不同。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第28課

先讀課文﹕
Of Human Bondage
by Somerset Maugham

Chapter I
The day broke gray and dull. The clouds hung heavily, and there was a rawness
in the air that suggested snow. A woman servant came into a room in which
a child was sleeping and drew the curtains. She glanced mechanically at
the house opposite, a stucco house with a portico, and went to the child's
bed.
"Wake up, Philip," she said. She pulled down the bed-clothes, took him in
her arms, and carried him downstairs. He was only half awake.
"Your mother wants you," she said. She opened the door of a room on the
floor below and took the child over to a bed in which a woman was lying.
It was his mother. She stretched out her arms, and the child nestled by
her side. He did not ask why he had been awakened. The woman kissed his
eyes, and with thin, small hands felt the warm body through his white flannel
nightgown. She pressed him closer to herself.
"Are you sleepy, darling?" she said. Her voice was so weak that it seemed
to come already from a great distance. The child did not answer, but smiled
comfortably. He was very happy in the large, warm bed, with those soft arms
about him. He tried to make himself smaller still as he cuddled up against
his mother, and he kissed her sleepily. In a moment he closed his eyes and
was fast asleep. The doctor came forwards and stood by the bed-side.
"Oh, don't take him away yet," she moaned. The doctor, without answering,
looked at her gravely. Knowing she would not be allowed to keep the child
much longer, the woman kissed him again; and she passed her hand down his
body till she came to his feet; she held the right foot in her hand and
felt the five small toes; and then slowly passed her hand over the left one.
She gave a sob.
"What"s the matter?" said the doctor. "You're tired." She shook her head,
unable to speak, and the tears rolled down her cheeks. The doctor bent down.
"Let me take him." She was too weak to resist his wish, and she gave the
child up. The doctor handed him back to his nurse.
"You'd better put him back in his own bed."
"Very well, sir." The little boy, still sleeping, was taken away. His mother
sobbed now broken-heartedly. "What will happen to him, poor child?" The
monthly nurse tried to quiet her, and presently, from exhaustion, the crying
ceased. The doctor walked to a table on the other side of the room, upon
which, under a towel, lay the body of a still-born child. He lifted the towel
and looked. He was hidden from the bed by a screen, but the woman guessed
what he was doing.
"Was it a girl or a boy?" she whispered to the nurse.
"Another boy."
The woman did not answer. In a moment the child's nurse came back. She approached
the bed.
"Master Philip never woke up," she said. There was a pause. Then the doctor
felt his patient's pulse once more.
"I don't think there's anything I can do just now," he said. "I'll call
again after breakfast."
"I'll show you out, sir," said the child's nurse. They walked downstairs
in silence. In the hall the
doctor stopped.
"You've sent for Mrs. Carey's brother-in-law, haven't you?"
"Yes, sir."
"D'you know at what time he'll be here?"
"No, sir, I'm expecting a telegram."
"What about the little boy? I should think he'd be better out of the way."
"Miss Watkin said she'd take him, sir."
"Who's she?"
"She's his godmother, sir. D'you think Mrs. Carey will get over it, sir?"
The doctor shook his head.

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕William Somerset Maugham (25 January 1874 -- 16 December 1965)
was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among
the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author
during the 1930s.
3) 該書介紹﹕Of Human Bondage (1915) is a novel by W. Somerset Maugham.
It is generally agreed to be his masterpiece and to be strongly autobiographical
in nature, although Maugham stated, "This is a novel, not an autobiography,
though much in it is autobiographical, more is pure invention." Maugham,
who had originally planned to call his novel Beauty from Ashes, finally
settled on a title taken from a section of Spinoza's Ethics. In 1998, the
Modern Library ranked Of Human Bondage #66 on its list of the 100 best English-
language novels of the 20th century.
4) 情節簡介﹕The book begins with the death of the mother of the nine-year-old
protagonist, Philip Carey. Philip's father had already died a few months
before, and the orphan Philip is sent to live with his aunt and uncle. His
uncle is vicar of Blackstable, a small village in Kent. Philip inherits
a small fortune but the money is held in custody by his uncle until he is
twenty-one, giving his uncle a great deal of power over him until he reaches
his maturity.
Early chapters relate Philip's experience at the vicarage. His aunt tries
to be a mother to Philip, but she is herself childish and unsure of how
to behave, whereas his uncle takes a cold disposition towards him. Philip's
uncle has an eclectic collection of books, and in reading Philip finds a
way to escape his mundane existence and experience fascinating worlds of
fiction.
Less than a year later, Philip is sent to a boarding school. His uncle and
aunt wish for him to eventually go to Oxford to study to become a clergyman.
Philip's shyness and his club foot make it difficult for him to fit in with
the boys at the school, and he does not make many friends. Philip goes through
an episode of deep religious belief, and believes that through true faith
he can petition God to heal his club foot; but when this does not happen,
his belief falters. He becomes close friends with one boy; but the friendship
breaks up, and he becomes miserable. Philip shows considerable academic
talent and is informed by the school's headmaster that he could have earned
a scholarship for Oxford, but instead he becomes determined to leave the
school and go to Germany. 欲知後事如何﹐請上網閱讀全文。
5) Somerset Maugham是20世紀上半頁的英國偉大作家之一。他的文筆簡潔明快。他
的這本代表作品Of Human Bondage可作英文專業學生的精讀本。本人在國內時曾有
意把它譯成中文﹐當時擬定書名為“人間桎梏”﹐後因事冗未果。不知現在已有中
文譯本嗎﹖本壇有興趣者亦可翻譯出來。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第29課

先讀課文﹕
New Colossus (十四行詩)
by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame, [1]
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame. [2]
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost [tossed] to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

1) 生詞自查。
2) 該詩介紹﹕The poem has proven to be so powerful over the years that it
has even changed the meaning and purpose of the Statue of Liberty itself.
As a gift from the government of France, the Statue dedicated 125 years
ago today, was meant to be a monument for international republicanism. Today,
because of Lazarus's sonnet it is known as a beacon to immigrants and a
welcoming to America. When the world's most famous sonnet was written in
1883 it barely caused a ripple. When it's author died in 1887 it wasn't
even mentioned in her obituary. Today, most everyone can recite at least
a line. Emma Lazarus's New Colossus did not create much of a stir until
it was affixed inside the base of the Statue of Liberty in 1903.
3) 關於詩人﹕Born in New York City on July 22, 1849, Emma was an American
Jewish poetess, and would become known posthumously as the Poet of Exiles.
In 1866, when Emma was seventeen, her father privately published her first
book, Poems and Translations Written Between the Ages of Fourteen and Seventeen.
She died Novemeber 19, 1887 at the age of 38. Emma Lazarus was honored
by the Office of the Manhattan Borough President in March 2008 and was included
in a map of historical sites related or dedicated to important women.
4) 註解﹕[1] The Colossus of Rhodes. It was a huge statue of the Greek god
Helios that stood on Rhodes for 56 years until it was destroyed in an earthquake.
It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. [2] She refers to
the New York Harbor as "the air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame."
The twin cities that she refers to are New York and Brooklyn. Brooklyn was
a separate city before 1898.
5) 這首有關描寫自由女神像的十四行詩對大部份華人來說是不熟悉的﹐甚至沒聽說
過。但這是一首很好的詩﹐所以介紹給大家一讀。這首十四行詩不是一般人所熟悉
的莎士比亞十四行詩﹐而是意大利式十四行詩。兩者相同處都是五音步抑揚格﹐不
同的是押韻模式不同。這首詩的押韻模式是ABBA﹐ABBA﹐CDCDCD。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第30課

先讀課文﹕
Gulliver's Travels 格列佛遊記
by Jonathan Swift
PART I. A VOYAGE TO LILLIPUT 小人國之旅

CHAPTER I
My father had a small estate in Nottinghamshire: I was the third of five
sons. He sent me to Emanuel College in Cambridge at fourteen years old,
where I resided three years, and applied myself close to my studies; but
the charge of maintaining me, although I had a very scanty allowance, being
too great for a narrow fortune, I was bound apprentice to Mr. James Bates,
an eminent surgeon in London, with whom I continued four years. My father
now and then sending me small sums of money, I laid them out in learning
navigation, and other parts of the mathematics, useful to those who intend
to travel, as I always believed it would be, some time or other, my fortune
to do. When I left Mr. Bates, I went down to my father: where, by the assistance
of him and my uncle John, and some other relations, I got forty pounds, and
a promise of thirty pounds a year to maintain me at Leyden: there I studied
physic two years and seven months, knowing it would be useful in long voyages.

Soon after my return from Leyden, I was recommended by my good master, Mr.
Bates, to be surgeon to the Swallow 船名, Captain Abraham Pannel, commander;
with whom I continued three years and a half, making a voyage or two into
the Levant, and some other parts. When I came back I resolved to settle
in London; to which Mr. Bates, my master, encouraged me, and by him I was
recommended to several patients. I took part of a small house in the Old
Jewry; and being advised to alter my condition, I married Mrs. Mary Burton,
second daughter to Mr. Edmund Burton, hosier, in Newgate-street, with whom
I received four hundred pounds for a portion.
But my good master Bates dying in two years after, and I having few friends,
my business began to fail; for my conscience would not suffer me to imitate
the bad practice of too many among my brethren. Having therefore consulted
with my wife, and some of my acquaintance, I determined to go again to sea.
I was surgeon successively in two ships, and made several voyages, for six
years, to the East and West Indies, by which I got some addition to my fortune.
My hours of leisure I spent in reading the best authors, ancient and modern,
being always provided with a good number of books; and when I was ashore,
in observing the manners and dispositions of the people, as well as learning
their language; wherein I had a great facility, by the strength of my memory.

The last of these voyages not proving very fortunate, I grew weary of the
sea, and intended to stay at home with my wife and family. I removed from
the Old Jewry to Fetter Lane, and from thence to Wapping, hoping to get
business among the sailors; but it would not turn to account. After three
years expectation that things would mend, I accepted an advantageous offer
from Captain William Prichard, master of the Antelope 船名, who was making
a voyage to the South Sea. We set sail from Bristol, May 4, 1699, and our
voyage was at first very prosperous.
It would not be proper, for some reasons, to trouble the reader with the
particulars of our adventures in those seas; let it suffice to inform him
指前面提到的讀者, that in our passage from thence to the East Indies, we
were driven by a violent storm to the north-west of Van Diemen's Land. By
an observation, we found ourselves in the latitude of 30 degrees 2 minutes
south. Twelve of our crew were dead by immoderate labour and ill food; the
rest were in a very weak condition. On the 5th of November, which was the
beginning of summer in those parts, the weather being very hazy, the seamen
spied a rock within half a cable's length of the ship; but the wind was
so strong, that we were driven directly upon it, and immediately split. Six
of the crew, of whom I was one, having let down the boat into the sea, made
a shift to get clear of the ship and the rock. We rowed, by my computation,
about three leagues, till we were able to work no longer, being already
spent with labour while we were in the ship. We therefore trusted ourselves
to the mercy of the waves, and in about half an hour the boat was overset
by a sudden flurry from the north. What became of my companions in the boat,
as well as of those who escaped on the rock, or were left in the vessel,
I cannot tell; but conclude they were all lost. For my own part, I swam
as fortune directed me, and was pushed forward by wind and tide. I often
let my legs drop, and could feel no bottom; but when I was almost gone, and
able to struggle no longer, I found myself within my depth; and by this
time the storm was much abated. The declivity was so small, that I walked
near a mile before I got to the shore, which I conjectured was about eight
o'clock in the evening. I then advanced forward near half a mile, but could
not discover any sign of houses or inhabitants; at least I was in so weak
a condition, that I did not observe them. I was extremely tired, and with
that, and the heat of the weather, and about half a pint of brandy that
I drank as I left the ship, I found myself much inclined to sleep. I lay
down on the grass, which was very short and soft, where I slept sounder than
ever I remembered to have done in my life, and, as I reckoned, about nine
hours; for when I awaked, it was just day-light. I attempted to rise, but
was not able to stir: for, as I happened to lie on my back, I found my arms
and legs were strongly fastened on each side to the ground; and my hair,
which was long and thick, tied down in the same manner. I likewise felt several
slender ligatures across my body, from my arm-pits to my thighs. I could
only look upwards; the sun began to grow hot, and the light offended my
eyes. I heard a confused noise about me; but in the posture I lay, could
see nothing except the sky. In a little time I felt something alive moving
on my left leg, which advancing gently forward over my breast, came almost
up to my chin; when, bending my eyes downwards as much as I could, I perceived
it to be a human creature not six inches high, with a bow and arrow in his
hands, and a quiver at his back. In the mean time, I felt at least forty
more of the same kind (as I conjectured) following the first. I was in the
utmost astonishment, and roared so loud, that they all ran back in a fright;
and some of them, as I was afterwards told, were hurt with the falls they
got by leaping from my sides upon the ground. However, they soon returned,
and one of them, who ventured so far as to get a full sight of my face,
lifting up his hands and eyes by way of admiration, cried out in a shrill
but distinct voice, HEKINAH DEGUL: the others repeated the same words several
times, but then I knew not what they meant. I lay all this while, as the
reader may believe, in great uneasiness. At length, struggling to get loose,
I had the fortune to break the strings, and wrench out the pegs that fastened
my left arm to the ground; for, by lifting it up to my face, I discovered
the methods they had taken to bind me, and at the same time with a violent
pull, which gave me excessive pain, I a little loosened the strings that
tied down my hair on the left side, so that I was just able to turn my head
about two inches. But the creatures ran off a second time, before I could
seize them; whereupon there was a great shout in a very shrill accent, and
after it ceased I heard one of them cry aloud TOLGO PHONAC; when in an instant
I felt above a hundred arrows discharged on my left hand, which, pricked
me like so many needles; and besides, they shot another flight into the
air, as we do bombs in Europe, whereof many, I suppose, fell on my body,
(though I felt them not), and some on my face, which I immediately covered
with my left hand. When this shower of arrows was over, I fell a groaning
with grief and pain; and then striving again to get loose, they discharged
another volley larger than the first, and some of them attempted with spears
to stick me in the sides; but by good luck I had on a buff jerkin 皮衣,
which they could not pierce. I thought it the most prudent method to lie
still, and my design was to continue so till night, when, my left hand being
already loose, I could easily free myself: and as for the inhabitants, I
had reason to believe I might be a match for the greatest army they could
bring against me, if they were all of the same size with him that I saw.
But fortune disposed otherwise of me. When the people observed I was quiet,
they discharged no more arrows; but, by the noise I heard, I knew their
numbers increased; and about four yards from me, over against my right ear,
I heard a knocking for above an hour, like that of people at work; when
turning my head that way, as well as the pegs and strings would permit me,
I saw a stage erected about a foot and a half from the ground, capable of
holding four of the inhabitants, with two or three ladders to mount it:
from whence one of them, who seemed to be a person of quality, made me a
long speech, whereof I understood not one syllable. But I should have mentioned,
that before the principal person began his oration, he cried out three
times, LANGRO DEHUL SAN (these words and the former were afterwards repeated
and explained to me); whereupon, immediately, about fifty of the inhabitants
came and cut the strings that fastened the left side of my head, which gave
me the liberty of turning it to the right, and of observing the person and
gesture of him that was to speak.
He appeared to be of a middle age, and taller than any of the other three
who attended him, whereof one was a page that held up his train, and seemed
to be somewhat longer than my middle finger; the other two stood one on
each side to support him. He acted every part of an orator, and I could
observe many periods of threatenings, and others of promises, pity, and kindness.
I answered in a few words, but in the most submissive manner, lifting up
my left hand, and both my eyes to the sun, as calling him for a witness;
and being almost famished with hunger, having not eaten a morsel for some
hours before I left the ship, I found the demands of nature so strong upon
me, that I could not forbear showing my impatience (perhaps against the
strict rules of decency) by putting my finger frequently to my mouth, to
signify that I wanted food. The HURGO (for so they call a great lord, as
I afterwards learnt) understood me very well. He descended from the stage,
and commanded that several ladders should be applied to my sides, on which
above a hundred of the inhabitants mounted and walked towards my mouth,
laden with baskets full of meat, which had been provided and sent thither
by the king's orders, upon the first intelligence he received of me. I observed
there was the flesh of several animals, but could not distinguish them by
the taste. There were shoulders, legs, and loins, shaped like those of mutton,
and very well dressed, but smaller than the wings of a lark. I ate them
by two or three at a mouthful, and took three loaves at a time, about the
bigness of musket bullets.
They supplied me as fast as they could, showing a thousand marks of wonder
and astonishment at my bulk and appetite. I then made another sign, that
I wanted drink. They found by my eating that a small quantity would not
suffice me; and being a most ingenious people, they slung up, with great
dexterity, one of their largest hogsheads, then rolled it towards my hand,
and beat out the top; I drank it off at a draught, which I might well do,
for it did not hold half a pint, and tasted like a small wine of Burgundy,
but much more delicious. They brought me a second hogshead, which I drank
in the same manner, and made signs for more; but they had none to give me.
When I had performed these wonders, they shouted for joy, and danced upon
my breast, repeating several times as they did at first, HEKINAH DEGUL.
They made me a sign that I should throw down the two hogsheads, but first
warning the people below to stand out of the way, crying aloud, BORACH MEVOLAH;
and when they saw the vessels in the air, there was a universal shout of
HEKINAH DEGUL. I confess I was often tempted, while they were passing backwards
and forwards on my body, to seize forty or fifty of the first that came
in my reach, and dash them against the ground. But the remembrance of what
I had felt, which probably might not be the worst they could do, and the
promise of honour I made them--for so I interpreted my submissive behaviour--
soon drove out these imaginations. Besides, I now considered myself as bound
by the laws of hospitality, to a people who had treated me with so much
expense and magnificence. However, in my thoughts I could not sufficiently
wonder at the intrepidity of these diminutive mortals, who durst venture
to mount and walk upon my body, while one of my hands was at liberty, without
trembling at the very sight of so prodigious a creature as I must appear
to them. After some time, when they observed that I made no more demands
for meat, there appeared before me a person of high rank from his imperial
majesty. His excellency, having mounted on the small of my right leg, advanced
forwards up to my face, with about a dozen of his retinue; and producing
his credentials under the signet royal, which he applied close to my eyes,
spoke about ten minutes without any signs of anger, but with a kind of determinate
resolution, often pointing forwards, which, as I afterwards found, was towards
the capital city, about half a mile distant; whither it was agreed by his
majesty in council that I must be conveyed. I answered in few words, but
to no purpose, and made a sign with my hand that was loose, putting it to
the other (but over his excellency's head for fear of hurting him or his
train) and then to my own head and body, to signify that I desired my liberty.
It appeared that he understood me well enough, for he shook his head by
way of disapprobation, and held his hand in a posture to show that I must
be carried as a prisoner. However, he made other signs to let me understand
that I should have meat and drink enough, and very good treatment. Whereupon
I once more thought of attempting to break my bonds; but again, when I felt
the smart of their arrows upon my face and hands, which were all in blisters,
and many of the darts still sticking in them, and observing likewise that
the number of my enemies increased, I gave tokens to let them know that they
might do with me what they pleased. Upon this, the HURGO and his train withdrew,
with much civility and cheerful countenances. Soon after I heard a general
shout, with frequent repetitions of the words PEPLOM SELAN; and I felt great
numbers of people on my left side relaxing the cords to such a degree, that
I was able to turn upon my right, and to ease myself with making water;
which I very plentifully did, to the great astonishment of the people; who,
conjecturing by my motion what I was going to do, immediately opened to
the right and left on that side, to avoid the torrent, which fell with such
noise and violence from me. But before this, they had daubed my face and
both my hands with a sort of ointment, very pleasant to the smell, which,
in a few minutes, removed all the smart of their arrows. These circumstances,
added to the refreshment I had received by their victuals and drink, which
were very nourishing, disposed me to sleep. I slept about eight hours, as
I was afterwards assured; and it was no wonder, for the physicians, by the
emperor's order, had mingled a sleepy potion in the hogsheads of wine.
It seems, that upon the first moment I was discovered sleeping on the ground,
after my landing, the emperor had early notice of it by an express; and
determined in council, that I should be tied in the manner I have related,
(which was done in the night while I slept;) that plenty of meat and drink
should be sent to me, and a machine prepared to carry me to the capital
city.
This resolution perhaps may appear very bold and dangerous, and I am confident
would not be imitated by any prince in Europe on the like occasion. However,
in my opinion, it was extremely prudent, as well as generous: for, supposing
these people had endeavoured to kill me with their spears and arrows, while
I was asleep, I should certainly have awaked with the first sense of smart,
which might so far have roused my rage and strength, as to have enabled me
to break the strings wherewith I was tied; after which, as they were not
able to make resistance, so they could expect no mercy.
These people are most excellent mathematicians, and arrived to a great perfection
in mechanics, by the countenance and encouragement of the emperor, who is
a renowned patron of learning. This prince has several machines fixed on
wheels, for the carriage of trees and other great weights. He often builds
his largest men of war, whereof some are nine feet long, in the woods where
the timber grows, and has them carried on these engines three or four hundred
yards to the sea. Five hundred carpenters and engineers were immediately
set at work to prepare the greatest engine they had. It was a frame of wood
raised three inches from the ground, about seven feet long, and four wide,
moving upon twenty-two wheels. The shout I heard was upon the arrival of
this engine, which, it seems, set out in four hours after my landing. It
was brought parallel to me, as I lay. But the principal difficulty was to
raise and place me in this vehicle. Eighty poles, each of one foot high,
were erected for this purpose, and very strong cords, of the bigness of
packthread, were fastened by hooks to many bandages, which the workmen had
girt round my neck, my hands, my body, and my legs. Nine hundred of the strongest
men were employed to draw up these cords, by many pulleys fastened on the
poles; and thus, in less than three hours, I was raised and slung into the
engine, and there tied fast. All this I was told; for, while the operation
was performing, I lay in a profound sleep, by the force of that soporiferous
medicine infused into my liquor. Fifteen hundred of the emperor's largest
horses, each about four inches and a half high, were employed to draw me
towards the metropolis, which, as I said, was half a mile distant.
About four hours after we began our journey, I awaked by a very ridiculous
accident; for the carriage being stopped a while, to adjust something that
was out of order, two or three of the young natives had the curiosity to
see how I looked when I was asleep; they climbed up into the engine, and
advancing very softly to my face, one of them, an officer in the guards,
put the sharp end of his half-pike a good way up into my left nostril, which
tickled my nose like a straw, and made me sneeze violently; whereupon they
stole off unperceived, and it was three weeks before I knew the cause of
my waking so suddenly. We made a long march the remaining part of the day,
and, rested at night with five hundred guards on each side of me, half with
torches, and half with bows and arrows, ready to shoot me if I should offer
to stir. The next morning at sunrise we continued our march, and arrived
within two hundred yards of the city gates about noon. The emperor, and
all his court, came out to meet us; but his great officers would by no means
suffer his majesty to endanger his person by mounting on my body.
At the place where the carriage stopped there stood an ancient temple, esteemed
to be the largest in the whole kingdom; which, having been polluted some
years before by an unnatural murder, was, according to the zeal of those
people, looked upon as profane, and therefore had been applied to common
use, and all the ornaments and furniture carried away. In this edifice it
was determined I should lodge. The great gate fronting to the north was
about four feet high, and almost two feet wide, through which I could easily
creep. On each side of the gate was a small window, not above six inches
from the ground: into that on the left side, the king's smith conveyed four-score
and eleven chains, like those that hang to a lady's watch in Europe, and
almost as large, which were locked to my left leg with six-and-thirty padlocks.
Over against this temple, on the other side of the great highway, at twenty
feet distance, there was a turret at least five feet high. Here the emperor
ascended, with many principal lords of his court, to have an opportunity
of viewing me, as I was told, for I could not see them. It was reckoned that
above a hundred thousand inhabitants came out of the town upon the same
errand; and, in spite of my guards, I believe there could not be fewer than
ten thousand at several times, who mounted my body by the help of ladders.
But a proclamation was soon issued, to forbid it upon pain of death. When
the workmen found it was impossible for me to break loose, they cut all the
strings that bound me; whereupon I rose up, with as melancholy a disposition
as ever I had in my life. But the noise and astonishment of the people,
at seeing me rise and walk, are not to be expressed. The chains that held
my left leg were about two yards long, and gave me not only the liberty
of walking backwards and forwards in a semicircle, but, being fixed within
four inches of the gate, allowed me to creep in, and lie at my full length
in the temple.

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 -- 19 October 1745) was an
Irish satirist, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then
for the Tories), poet and cleric who became Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral,
Dublin. He is remembered for works such as Gulliver's Travels, A Modest
Proposal, A Journal to Stella, Drapier's Letters, The Battle of the Books,
An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, and A Tale of a Tub.
3) 格列佛遊記中描述的小人國﹐我從小就聽說過﹐後來又讀了整本書。裡面還有大
人國。非常有趣。我還看過小人國的電影。這本書也是學英文的人應該讀一下的。

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高級英語教材第31課

先讀課文﹕
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 湯姆‧沙亞歷險記
by Mark Twain

CHAPTER I
"TOM!"
No answer.
"TOM!"
No answer.
"What's gone with that boy, I wonder? You TOM!"
No answer.
The old lady pulled her spectacles 複數指眼鏡 down and looked over them
about the room; then she put them up and looked out under them. She seldom
or never looked THROUGH them for so small a thing as a boy; they were her
state pair 指擺樣子的, the pride of her heart, and were built for "style,"
not service -- she could have seen through a pair of stove-lids just as well.
She looked perplexed for a moment, and then said, not fiercely, but still
loud enough for the furniture to hear:
"Well, I lay if I get hold of you I'll --"
She did not finish, for by this time she was bending down and punching under
the bed with the broom, and so she needed breath to punctuate the punches
with. She resurrected nothing but the cat.
"I never did see the beat of that boy!"
She went to the open door and stood in it and looked out among the tomato
vines and "jimpson" weeds that constituted the garden. No Tom. So she lifted
up her voice at an angle 指頭抬高一點 calculated for distance and shouted:
"Y-o-u-u TOM!"
There was a slight noise behind her and she turned just in time to seize
a small boy by the slack of his roundabout and arrest his flight.
"There! I might 'a' [have] thought of that closet. What you been doing in
there?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing! Look at your hands. And look at your mouth. What IS that truck?"
"I don't know, aunt."
"Well, I know. It's jam -- that's what it is. Forty times I've said if you
didn't let that jam alone I'd skin you. Hand me that switch."
The switch hovered in the air -- the peril was des-perate --
"My! Look behind you, aunt!"
The old lady whirled round, and snatched her skirts out of danger. The lad
fled on the instant, scrambled up the high board-fence, and disappeared
over it.
His aunt Polly stood surprised a moment, and then broke into a gentle laugh.
"Hang the boy, can't I never learn anything? Ain't he played me tricks enough
like that for me to be look-ing out for him by this time? But old fools
is the big-gest fools there is. Can't learn an old dog new tricks, as the
saying is. But my goodness, he never plays them alike, two days, and how
is a-body [anybody] to know what's coming? He 'pears [appears] to know just
how long he can torment me before I get my dander up, and he knows if he
can make out to put me off for a minute or make me laugh, it's all down
again and I can't hit him a lick. I ain't doing my duty by that boy, and
that's the Lord's truth, goodness knows. Spare the rod and spile [spoil]
the child, as the Good Book 指聖經 says. I'm a laying up sin and suffering
for us both, I know. He's full of the Old Scratch [a folk name for The Devil],
but laws-a-me [Lord save me感嘆語]! he's my own dead sister's boy, poor
thing, and I ain't got the heart to lash him, some-how. Every time I let
him off, my conscience does hurt me so, and every time I hit him my old heart
most breaks. Well-a-well, man that is born of woman is of few days and full
of trouble, as the Scripture says, and I reckon it's so. He'll play hookey
this evening, and I'll just be obleeged [obliged] to make him work, to-morrow,
to punish him. It's mighty hard to make him work Saturdays, when all the
boys is having holiday, but he hates work more than he hates anything else,
and I've GOT to do some of my duty by him, or I'll be the ruination of the
child."
Tom did play hookey, and he had a very good time. He got back home barely
in season to help Jim, the small colored boy 指黑小孩, saw next-day's wood
and split the kindlings before supper -- at least he was there in time to
tell his adventures to Jim while Jim did three-fourths of the work. Tom's
younger brother (or rather half-brother) Sid was already through with his
part of the work (picking up chips), for he was a quiet boy, and had no
adventurous, trouble- some ways.
While Tom was eating his supper, and stealing sugar as opportunity offered,
Aunt Polly asked him questions that were full of guile, and very deep --
for she wanted to trap him into damaging revealments. Like many other simple-
hearted souls, it was her pet vanity to believe she was endowed with a talent
for dark and mysterious diplomacy, and she loved to contemplate her most
transparent devices as marvels of low cunning. Said she:
"Tom, it was middling warm [Somewhere between the last rays of morning,
the middling warmth of the day] in school, warn't it?" [wasn't it]
"Yes'm." [Yes, madam]
"Powerful warm, warn't it?"
"Yes'm."
"Didn't you want to go in a-swimming, Tom?"
A bit of a scare shot through Tom -- a touch of uncomfortable suspicion.
He searched Aunt Polly's face, but it told him nothing. So he said:
"No'm [no, madam] -- well, not very much."
The old lady reached out her hand and felt Tom's shirt, and said:
"But you ain't too warm now, though." And it flattered her to reflect that
she had discovered that the shirt was dry without anybody knowing that that
was what she had in her mind. But in spite of her, Tom knew where the wind
lay, now. So he forestalled what might be the next move:
"Some of us pumped on our heads 指把涼水澆在頭上降溫 -- mine's damp yet.
See?"
Aunt Polly was vexed to think she had overlooked that bit of circumstantial
evidence, and missed a trick. Then she had a new inspiration:
"Tom, you didn't have to undo your shirt collar where I sewed it, to pump
on your head, did you? Unbutton your jacket!"
The trouble vanished out of Tom's face. He opened his jacket. His shirt
collar was securely sewed.
"Bother! Well, go 'long [along] with you. I'd made sure you'd played hookey
and been a-swimming. But I forgive ye, Tom. I reckon you're a kind of a
singed cat, as the saying is -- better'n [than] you look. THIS time."
She was half sorry her sagacity had miscarried, and half glad that Tom had
stumbled into obedient conduct for once.
But Sidney said:
"Well, now, if I didn't think you sewed his collar with white thread, but
it's black.
"Why, I did sew it with white! Tom!"
But Tom did not wait for the rest. As he went out at the door he said:
"Siddy, I'll lick you for that."
In a safe place Tom examined two large needles which were thrust into the
lapels of his jacket, and had thread bound about them -- one needle carried
white thread and the other black. He said:
"She'd never noticed if it hadn't been for Sid. Confound it! sometimes she
sews it with white, and sometimes she sews it with black. I wish to geeminy
[Oh my goodness] she'd stick to one or t'other [the other] -- I can't keep
the run of 'em [them]. But I bet you I'll lam Sid for that. I'll learn [teach]
him!"
He was not the Model Boy of the village. He knew the model boy very well
though -- and loathed him.
Within two minutes, or even less, he had forgotten all his troubles. Not
because his troubles were one whit less heavy and bitter to him than a man's
are to a man, but because a new and powerful interest bore them down and
drove them out of his mind for the time -- just as men's misfortunes are
forgotten in the excitement of new enterprises. This new interest was a valued
novelty in whistling, which he had just acquired from a negro, and he was
suffering to practise it undisturbed. It consisted in a peculiar bird-like
turn, a sort of liquid warble, produced by touching the tongue to the roof
of the mouth at short intervals in the midst of the music -- the reader
probably remembers how to do it, if he has ever been a boy. Diligence and
attention soon gave him the knack of it, and he strode down the street with
his mouth full of harmony and his soul full of gratitude. He felt much as
an astronomer feels who has discovered a new planet -- no doubt, as far
as strong, deep, unalloyed pleasure is concerned, the advantage was with
the boy, not the astronomer.
The summer evenings were long. It was not dark, yet. Presently Tom checked
his whistle. A stranger was before him -- a boy a shade larger than himself.
A new-comer of any age or either ★违反论坛条例！★ was an impressive curiosity in the
poor little shabby village of St. Petersburg. This boy was well dressed,
too -- well dressed on a week-day. This was simply astounding. His cap was
a dainty thing, his close-buttoned blue cloth roundabout was new and natty,
and so were his pantaloons. He had shoes on -- and it was only Friday. He
even wore a necktie, a bright bit of ribbon. He had a citified air about
him that ate into Tom's vitals. The more Tom stared at the splendid marvel,
the higher he turned up his nose at his finery and the shabbier and shabbier
his own outfit seemed to him to grow. Neither boy spoke. If one moved, the
other moved -- but only sidewise, in a circle; they kept face to face and
eye to eye all the time. Finally Tom said:
"I can lick you!"
"I'd like to see you try it."
"Well, I can do it."
"No you can't, either."
"Yes I can."
"No you can't."
"I can."
"You can't."
"Can!"
"Can't!"
An uncomfortable pause. Then Tom said:
"What's your name?"
"'Tisn't any of your business, maybe."
"Well I 'low [allow] I'll MAKE it my business."
"Well why don't you?"
"If you say much, I will."
"Much -- much -- MUCH. There now."
"Oh, you think you're mighty smart, DON'T you? I could lick you with one
hand tied behind me, if I wanted to."
"Well why don't you DO it? You SAY you can do it."
"Well I WILL, if you fool with me."
"Oh yes -- I've seen whole families in the same fix."
"Smarty! You think you're SOME, now, DON'T you? Oh, what a hat!"
"You can lump that hat if you don't like it. I dare you to knock it off
-- and anybody that'll take a dare will suck eggs."
"You're a liar!"
"You're another."
"You're a fighting liar and dasn't [dare not] take it up."
"Aw -- take a walk!"
"Say -- if you give me much more of your sass I'll take and bounce a rock
off'n [on] your head."
"Oh, of COURSE you will."
"Well I WILL."
"Well why don't you DO it then? What do you keep SAYING you will for? Why
don't you DO it? It's because you're afraid."
"I AIN'T afraid."
"You are."
"I ain't."
"You are."
Another pause, and more eying and sidling around each other. Presently they
were shoulder to shoulder. Tom said:
"Get away from here!"
"Go away yourself!"
"I won't."
"I won't either."
So they stood, each with a foot placed at an angle as a brace, and both
shoving with might and main, and glowering at each other with hate. But
neither could get an advantage. After struggling till both were hot and
flushed, each relaxed his strain with watchful caution, and Tom said:
"You're a coward and a pup. I'll tell my big brother on you, and he can
thrash you with his little finger, and I'll make him do it, too."
"What do I care for your big brother? I've got a brother that's bigger than
he is -- and what's more, he can throw him over that fence, too." (Both
brothers were imaginary.)
"That's a lie."
"YOUR saying so don't make it so."
Tom drew a line in the dust with his big toe, and said:
"I dare you to step over that, and I'll lick you till you can't stand up.
Anybody that'll take a dare will steal sheep 指剽竊."
The new boy stepped over promptly, and said:
"Now you said you'd do it, now let's see you do it."
"Don't you crowd me now; you better look out."
"Well, you SAID you'd do it -- why don't you do it?"
"By jingo! for two cents I WILL do it."
The new boy took two broad coppers out of his pocket and held them out with
derision. Tom struck them to the ground. In an instant both boys were rolling
and tumbling in the dirt, gripped together like cats; and for the space
of a minute they tugged and tore at each other's hair and clothes, punched
and scratched each other's nose, and covered themselves with dust and glory.
Presently the confusion took form, and through the fog of battle Tom appeared,
seated astride the new boy, and pounding him with his fists. "Holler 'nuff!"
said he.
The boy only struggled to free himself. He was crying -- mainly from rage.
"Holler 'nuff!" -- and the pounding went on.
At last the stranger got out a smothered "'Nuff!" and Tom let him up and
said:
"Now that'll learn you. Better look out who you're fooling with next time."
The new boy went off brushing the dust from his clothes, sobbing, snuffling,
and occasionally looking back and shaking his head and threatening what
he would do to Tom the "next time he caught him out." To which Tom responded
with jeers, and started off in high feather, and as soon as his back was
turned the new boy snatched up a stone, threw it and hit him between the
shoulders and then turned tail and ran like an antelope. Tom chased the traitor
home, and thus found out where he lived. He then held a position at the
gate for some time, daring the enemy to come outside, but the enemy only
made faces at him through the window and declined. At last the enemy's mother
appeared, and called Tom a bad, vicious, vulgar child, and ordered him away.
So he went away; but he said he "'lowed" to "lay" for that boy.
He got home pretty late that night, and when he climbed cautiously in at
the window, he uncovered an ambuscade, in the person of his aunt; and when
she saw the state his clothes were in her resolution to turn his Saturday
holiday into captivity at hard labor became adamantine in its firmness.

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835-- April 21, 1910),
better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist.
He is most noted for his novels, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1876), and
its sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1885), the latter often called
"the Great American Novel."
Twain grew up in Hannibal, Missouri, which would later provide the setting
for Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. He apprenticed with a printer. He also
worked as a typesetter and contributed articles to his older brother Orion's
newspaper. After toiling as a printer in various cities, he became a master
riverboat pilot on the Mississippi River, before heading west to join Orion.
He was a failure at gold mining, so he next turned to journalism. While a
reporter, he wrote a humorous story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras
County", which became very popular and brought nationwide attention.
3) 筆名由來﹕If you don't already know why Samuel Clemens is known as Mark
Twain, it has to do with his love of the Mississippi River, and his time
as a pilot of the beautiful and functional steamboats of the time. Mark
twain was an old term used on the river. It meant two fathoms or twelve
feet, which indicated safe water that the steamboat could make safe passage
on the river at that point. Sam Clemens would have been very familiar with
the term, as he was a riverboat pilot. 據說這是密西西比河上水手的用語﹐表
示這裡水深標誌MARK是TWAIN﹐即two fathoms﹐水深測量單位。
4) 情節簡介﹕The story takes place in the small village of St. Petersburg,
Missouri, which is located on the banks of the Mississippi River. The time
period is the mid-1800's and is therefore a possible reflection of Mark
Twain's opinion on the politics and racial prejudice of the time. Tom Sawyer
and his brother, Sid, are orphans and live with their Aunt Polly. Tom is
very mischievous and at the beginning of the novel he is hiding from Aunt
Polly in the pantry, where he steals some jam. When she catches him he runs
away and plays hookey from school by going swimming.
Tom's punishment is to whitewash the entire fence. Although he doesn't want
to do this chore, he sets to it and when his friends come along he convinces
them that it is so much fun that they eagerly pay him to let them do some
of the work. When Aunt Polly lets him go, Tom and his friend Joe go off
playing the games that they think up through their imaginations. On the way
home, Tom sees a new girl, Becky Thatcher, and instantly falls in love. 網
上可讀全書。
5) 馬克‧吐溫也是美國著名作家﹐其“湯姆‧沙亞歷險記”也屬世界名著。還拍成
電影。學英文者不可不讀。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第32課

先讀課文﹕
The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe 魯賓孫漂流記
By Daniel Defoe

CHAPTER I -- START IN LIFE
I was born in the year 1632, in the city of York, of a good family, though
not of that country, my father being a foreigner of Bremen, who settled
first at Hull. He got a good estate by merchandise, and leaving off his
trade, lived afterwards at York, from whence he had married my mother, whose
relations were named Robinson, a very good family in that country, and from
whom I was called Robinson Kreutznaer; but, by the usual corruption of words
in England, we are now called -- nay, we call ourselves and write our name
-- Crusoe; and so my companions always called me.
I had two elder brothers, one of whom was lieutenant-colonel to an English
regiment of foot in Flanders, formerly commanded by the famous Colonel Lockhart,
and was killed at the battle near Dunkirk against the Spaniards. What
became of my second brother I never knew, any more than my father or mother
knew what became of me.
Being the third son of the family and not bred to any trade, my head began
to be filled very early with rambling thoughts. My father, who was very
ancient, had given me a competent share of learning, as far as house-education
and a country free school generally go, and designed me for the law; but
I would be satisfied with nothing but going to sea; and my inclination to
this led me so strongly against the will, nay, the commands of my father,
and against all the entreaties and persuasions of my mother and other friends,
that there seemed to be something fatal in that propensity of nature, tending
directly to the life of misery which was to befall me.
My father, a wise and grave man, gave me serious and excellent counsel against
what he foresaw was my design. He called me one morning into his chamber,
where he was confined by the gout, and expostulated very warmly with me
upon this subject. He asked me what reasons, more than a mere wandering
inclination, I had for leaving father's house and my native country, where
I might be well introduced, and had a prospect of raising my fortune by application
and industry, with a life of ease and pleasure. He told me it was men of
desperate fortunes on one hand, or of aspiring superior fortunes on the
other, who went abroad upon adventures, to rise by enterprise, and make
themselves famous in undertakings of a nature out of the common road; that
these things were all either too far above me or too far below me; that
mine was the middle state, or what might be called the upper station of low
life, which he had found, by long experience, was the best state in the
world, the most suited to human happiness, not exposed to the miseries and
hardships, the labour and sufferings of the mechanic part of mankind, and
not embarrassed with the pride, luxury, ambition, and envy of the upper
part of mankind. He told me I might judge of the happiness of this state
by this one thing -- viz. that this was the state of life which all other
people envied; that kings have frequently lamented the miserable consequence
of being born to great things, and wished they had been placed in the middle
of the two extremes, between the mean and the great; that the wise man gave
his testimony to this, as the standard of felicity, when he prayed to have
neither poverty nor riches.
He bade me observe it, and I should always find that the calamities of life
were shared among the upper and lower part of mankind, but that the middle
station had the fewest disasters, and was not exposed to so many vicissitudes
as the higher or lower part of mankind; nay, they were not subjected to
so many distempers and uneasinesses, either of body or mind, as those were
who, by vicious living, luxury, and extravagances on the one hand, or by
hard labour, want of necessaries, and mean or insufficient diet on the other
hand, bring distemper upon themselves by the natural consequences of their
way of living; that the middle station of life was calculated for all kind
of virtue and all kind of enjoyments; that peace and plenty were the handmaids
of a middle fortune; that temperance, moderation, quietness, health, society,
all agreeable diversions, and all desirable pleasures, were the blessings
attending the middle station of life; that this way men went silently and
smoothly through the world, and comfortably out of it, not embarrassed with
the labours of the hands or of the head, not sold to a life of slavery for
daily bread, nor harassed with perplexed circumstances, which rob the soul
of peace and the body of rest, nor enraged with the passion of envy, or
the secret burning lust of ambition for great things; but, in easy circumstances,
sliding gently through the world, and sensibly tasting the sweets of living,
without the bitter; feeling that they are happy, and learning by every
day's experience to know it more sensibly.
After this he pressed me earnestly, and in the most affectionate manner,
not to play the young man, nor to precipitate myself into miseries which
nature, and the station of life I was born in, seemed to have provided against;
that I was under no necessity of seeking my bread; that he would do well
for me, and endeavour to enter me fairly into the station of life which he
had just been recommending to me; and that if I was not very easy and happy
in the world, it must be my mere fate or fault that must hinder it; and
that he should have nothing to answer for, having thus discharged his duty
in warning me against measures which he knew would be to my hurt; in a word,
that as he would do very kind things for me if I would stay and settle at
home as he directed, so he would not have so much hand in my misfortunes
as to give me any encouragement to go away; and to close all, he told me
I had my elder brother for an example, to whom he had used the same earnest
persuasions to keep him from going into the Low Country wars, but could
not prevail, his young desires prompting him to run into the army, where
he was killed; and though he said he would not cease to pray for me, yet
he would venture to say to me, that if I did take this foolish step, God
would not bless me, and I should have leisure hereafter to reflect upon
having neglected his counsel when there might be none to assist in my recovery.

I observed in this last part of his discourse, which was truly prophetic,
though I suppose my father did not know it to be so himself -- I say, I
observed the tears run down his face very plentifully, especially when he
spoke of my brother who was killed: and that when he spoke of my having
leisure to repent, and none to assist me, he was so moved that he broke off
the discourse, and told me his heart was so full he could say no more to
me.
I was sincerely affected with this discourse, and, indeed, who could be
otherwise? and I resolved not to think of going abroad any more, but to
settle at home according to my father's desire. But alas! a few days wore
it all off; and, in short, to prevent any of my father's further importunities,
in a few weeks after I resolved to run quite away from him. However, I
did not act quite so hastily as the first heat of my resolution prompted;
but I took my mother at a time when I thought her a little more pleasant
than ordinary, and told her that my thoughts were so entirely bent upon
seeing the world that I should never settle to anything with resolution enough
to go through with it, and my father had better give me his consent than
force me to go without it; that I was now eighteen years old, which was
too late to go apprentice to a trade or clerk to an attorney; that I was
sure if I did I should never serve out my time, but I should certainly run
away from my master before my time was out, and go to sea; and if she would
speak to my father to let me go one voyage abroad, if I came home again,
and did not like it, I would go no more; and I would promise, by a double
diligence, to recover the time that I had lost.
This put my mother into a great passion; she told me she knew it would be
to no purpose to speak to my father upon any such subject; that he knew
too well what was my interest to give his consent to anything so much for
my hurt; and that she wondered how I could think of any such thing after
the discourse I had had with my father, and such kind and tender expressions
as she knew my father had used to me; and that, in short, if I would ruin
myself, there was no help for me; but I might depend I should never have
their consent to it; that for her part she would not have so much hand in
my destruction; and I should never have it to say that my mother was willing
when my father was not.
Though my mother refused to move it to my father, yet I heard afterwards
that she reported all the discourse to him, and that my father, after showing
a great concern at it, said to her, with a sigh, "That boy might be happy
if he would stay at home; but if he goes abroad, he will be the most miserable
wretch that ever was born: I can give no consent to it."
It was not till almost a year after this that I broke loose, though, in
the meantime, I continued obstinately deaf to all proposals of settling
to business, and frequently expostulated with my father and mother about
their being so positively determined against what they knew my inclinations
prompted me to. But being one day at Hull, where I went casually, and without
any purpose of making an elopement at that time; but, I say, being there,
and one of my companions being about to sail to London in his father's ship,
and prompting me to go with them with the common allurement of seafaring
men, that it should cost me nothing for my passage, I consulted neither
father nor mother any more, nor so much as sent them word of it; but leaving
them to hear of it as they might, without asking God's blessing or my father's,
without any consideration of circumstances or consequences, and in an ill
hour, God knows, on the 1st of September 1651, I went on board a ship bound
for London. Never any young adventurer's misfortunes, I believe, began
sooner, or continued longer than mine. The ship was no sooner out of the
Humber than the wind began to blow and the sea to rise in a most frightful
manner; and, as I had never been at sea before, I was most inexpressibly
sick in body and terrified in mind. I began now seriously to reflect upon
what I had done, and how justly I was overtaken by the judgment of Heaven
for my wicked leaving my father's house, and abandoning my duty. All the
good counsels of my parents, my father's tears and my mother's entreaties,
came now fresh into my mind; and my conscience, which was not yet come to
the pitch of hardness to which it has since, reproached me with the contempt
of advice, and the breach of my duty to God and my father.
All this while the storm increased, and the sea went very high, though nothing
like what I have seen many times since; no, nor what I saw a few days after;
but it was enough to affect me then, who was but a young sailor, and had
never known anything of the matter. I expected every wave would have swallowed
us up, and that every time the ship fell down, as I thought it did, in the
trough or hollow of the sea, we should never rise more; in this agony of
mind, I made many vows and resolutions that if it would please God to spare
my life in this one voyage, if ever I got once my foot upon dry land again,
I would go directly home to my father, and never set it into a ship again
while I lived; that I would take his advice, and never run myself into such
miseries as these any more. Now I saw plainly the goodness of his observations
about the middle station of life, how easy, how comfortably he had lived
all his days, and never had been exposed to tempests at sea or troubles
on shore; and I resolved that I would, like a true repenting prodigal, go
home to my father.
These wise and sober thoughts continued all the while the storm lasted,
and indeed some time after; but the next day the wind was abated, and the
sea calmer, and I began to be a little inured to it; however, I was very
grave for all that day, being also a little sea-sick still; but towards
night the weather cleared up, the wind was quite over, and a charming fine
evening followed; the sun went down perfectly clear, and rose so the next
morning; and having little or no wind, and a smooth sea, the sun shining
upon it, the sight was, as I thought, the most delightful that ever I saw.
I had slept well in the night, and was now no more sea-sick, but very cheerful,
looking with wonder upon the sea that was so rough and terrible the day
before, and could be so calm and so pleasant in so little a time after.
And now, lest my good resolutions should continue, my companion, who had
enticed me away, comes to me; "Well, Bob," says he, clapping me upon the
shoulder, "how do you do after it? I warrant you were frighted, wer'n't
you, last night, when it blew but a capful of wind?" "A capful d'you call
it?" said I; " 'twas a terrible storm." "A storm, you fool you," replies
he; "do you call that a storm? why, it was nothing at all; give us but a
good ship and sea-room, and we think nothing of such a squall of wind as
that; but you're but a fresh-water sailor, Bob. Come, let us make a bowl
of punch, and we'll forget all that; d'ye see what charming weather 'tis
now?" To make short this sad part of my story, we went the way of all sailors;
the punch was made and I was made half drunk with it: and in that one night's
wickedness I drowned all my repentance, all my reflections upon my past
conduct, all my resolutions for the future. In a word, as the sea was returned
to its smoothness of surface and settled calmness by the abatement of that
storm, so the hurry of my thoughts being over, my fears and apprehensions
of being swallowed up by the sea being forgotten, and the current of my
former desires returned, I entirely forgot the vows and promises that I made
in my distress. I found, indeed, some intervals of reflection; and the
serious thoughts did, as it were, endeavour to return again sometimes; but
I shook them off, and roused myself from them as it were from a distemper,
and applying myself to drinking and company, soon mastered the return of
those fits -- for so I called them; and I had in five or six days got as
complete a victory over conscience as any young fellow that resolved not
to be troubled with it could desire. But I was to have another trial for
it still; and Providence, as in such cases generally it does, resolved to
leave me entirely without excuse; for if I would not take this for a deliverance,
the next was to be such a one as the worst and most hardened wretch among
us would confess both the danger and the mercy of.
The sixth day of our being at sea we came into Yarmouth Roads; the wind
having been contrary and the weather calm, we had made but little way since
the storm. Here we were obliged to come to an anchor, and here we lay,
the wind continuing contrary -- viz. at south-west -- for seven or eight
days, during which time a great many ships from Newcastle came into the
same Roads, as the common harbour where the ships might wait for a wind for
the river.
We had not, however, rid here so long but we should have tided it up the
river, but that the wind blew too fresh, and after we had lain four or five
days, blew very hard. However, the Roads being reckoned as good as a harbour,
the anchorage good, and our ground-tackle very strong, our men were unconcerned,
and not in the least apprehensive of danger, but spent the time in rest
and mirth, after the manner of the sea; but the eighth day, in the morning,
the wind increased, and we had all hands at work to strike our topmasts,
and make everything snug and close, that the ship might ride as easy as
possible. By noon the sea went very high indeed, and our ship rode forecastle
in, shipped several seas, and we thought once or twice our anchor had come
home; upon which our master ordered out the sheet-anchor, so that we rode
with two anchors ahead, and the cables veered out to the bitter end.
By this time it blew a terrible storm indeed; and now I began to see terror
and amazement in the faces even of the seamen themselves. The master, though
vigilant in the business of preserving the ship, yet as he went in and out
of his cabin by me, I could hear him softly to himself say, several times,
"Lord be merciful to us! we shall be all lost! we shall be all undone!" and
the like. During these first hurries I was stupid, lying still in my cabin,
which was in the steerage, and cannot describe my temper: I could ill resume
the first penitence which I had so apparently trampled upon and hardened
myself against: I thought the bitterness of death had been past, and that
this would be nothing like the first; but when the master himself came by
me, as I said just now, and said we should be all lost, I was dreadfully
frighted. I got up out of my cabin and looked out; but such a dismal sight
I never saw: the sea ran mountains high, and broke upon us every three or
four minutes; when I could look about, I could see nothing but distress
round us; two ships that rode near us, we found, had cut their masts by the
board, being deep laden; and our men cried out that a ship which rode about
a mile ahead of us was foundered. Two more ships, being driven from their
anchors, were run out of the Roads to sea, at all adventures, and that with
not a mast standing. The light ships fared the best, as not so much labouring
in the sea; but two or three of them drove, and came close by us, running
away with only their spritsail out before the wind.
Towards evening the mate and boatswain begged the master of our ship to
let them cut away the fore-mast, which he was very unwilling to do; but
the boatswain protesting to him that if he did not the ship would founder,
he consented; and when they had cut away the fore-mast, the main-mast stood
so loose, and shook the ship so much, they were obliged to cut that away
also, and make a clear deck.
看到這裡大約是第一章的一半。如果有興趣要看下去﹐或要看全書的﹐可以在網上
找到。我們這裡要閱讀的或注意的是寫作的文筆﹐及表達法﹐不是故事的情節。如
果對航海用語不熟悉的﹐可以不必管它。能理解到主要情節的描述﹐就說明基本看
懂了。這是泛讀的要求。閱讀得多了﹐理解力就會提高﹐說明閱讀水平也就提高了。
這就是學習的積累過程。鍥而不捨﹐金石可鏤。

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕Daniel Defoe (ca. 1659--1661 to 24 April 1731), born Daniel
Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained
fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the
earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in
Britain and along with others such as Richardson, is among the founders of
the English novel. A prolific and versatile writer, he wrote more than 500
books, pamphlets and journals on various topics (including politics, crime,
religion, marriage, psychology and the supernatural). He was also a pioneer
of economic journalism.
3) 本書簡介﹕Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published
in 1719. Epistolary, confessional, and didactic in form, the book is a fictional
autobiography of the title character--a castaway who spends 28 years on
a remote tropical island near Trinidad, encountering cannibals, captives,
and mutineers before being rescued.
4) 魯賓孫漂流記也是本世界名著。我小時候就聽說過的。應該可作英文專業人士的
泛讀材料。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第33課

先讀課文﹕
Evening -- an Ode to Stella
by Samuel Johnson

Evening now from purple wings
Sheds the grateful gifts she brings;
Brilliant drops bedeck the mead,
Cooling breezes shake the reed;
Shake the reed, and curl the stream
Silver'd o'er with Cynthia's beam;
Near the chequer'd, lonely grove,
Hears, and keeps thy secrets, love!
Stella, thither let us stray,
Lightly o'er the dewy way.
Phoebus drives his burning car, 太陽神駕著燃燒的戰車
Hence, my lovely Stella, far;
In his stead, the queen of night
Round us pours a lambent light:
Light that seems but just to show
Breasts that beat, and cheeks that glow;
Let us now, in whisper'd joy,
Evening's silent hours employ,
Silent best, and conscious shades,
Please the hearts that love invades,
Other pleasures give them pain,
Lovers all but love disdain.

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 -- 13 December 1784), often
referred to as Dr Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions
to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer,
editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and committed Tory,
and has been described as "arguably the most distinguished man of letters
in English history".
3) 薩繆‧約翰遜是英國的著名詩人﹑作家。中國讀者可能對他不熟悉。這裡介紹他
一首詩﹐不知國內是否已有中文譯本。有興趣的讀者可以自己譯一下﹐投稿到有關
雜誌去。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第34課

先讀課文﹕
The Lady of the Camellias《茶花女》
by Alexandre Dumas Jr.

Chapter 1
　IT is my considered view that no one can invent fictional characters without
first having made a lengthy study of people, just as it is impossible for
anyone to speak a language that has not been properly mastered.
　　Since I am not yet of an age to invent, I must 'make do with' [這種用
法都是應該學的] telling a tale.
　　I therefore invite the reader to believe that this story is true. All
the characters who appear in it, with the exception of the heroine, are
still living. [這句是說那個女主角已經死了﹐不是說女主角沒有其人]
　　I would further add that there are reliable witnesses in Paris for most
of the particulars which I bring together here, and they could vouch for
their accuracy should my word not be enough. [should是倒裝句﹐等于 if --
should----] By a singular turn of events, I alone was able to write them
down since I alone was privy to the very last details without which it would
have been quite impossible to piece together a full and satisfying account.
　　It was in this way that these particulars came to my knowledge.
　　On the 12th day of March, 1847, in the rue Laffitte 路名, I happened
upon 碰巧看到 a large yellow notice announcing a sale of furniture and valuable
curios. An estate was to be disposed of, the owner having died. The notice
did not name the dead person, but the sale was to be held at 9 rue d'Antin
on the 16th, between noon and five o'clock.
　　The notice also stated that the apartments and contents could be viewed
on the 13th and 14th.
　　I have always been interested in curios. I promised myself I would not
miss this opportunity, if not of actually buying, then at least of looking.
　　The following day, I directed my steps towards 9 rue d'Antin.
　　It was early, and yet a good crowd of visitors had already gathered
in the apartment, men for the most part, but also a number of ladies who,
though dressed in velvet and wearing Indian shawls, and all with their own
elegant broughams standing at the door, were examining the riches set out
before them with astonished, even admiring eyes.
　　After a while, I quite saw the reason for their admiration and astonishment,
for having begun myself to look around I had no difficulty in recognizing
that I was in the apartment of a kept woman. Now if there is one thing that
ladies of fashion desire to see above all else, and there were society ladies
present, it is the rooms occupied by those women who have carriages which
spatter their own with mud every day of the week, who have their boxes 包
廂 at the Opera or the Theatre-Italien just as they do, and indeed next
to theirs, and who display for all Paris to see the insolent opulence of
their beauty, diamonds and shameless conduct.
　　The woman in whose apartments I now found myself was dead: the most
virtuous of ladies were thus able to go everywhere, even into the bedroom.
Death had purified the air of this glittering den of iniquity, and in any
case they could always say, if they needed the excuse, that they had done
no more than come to a sale without knowing whose rooms these were. I had
read the notices, they had wanted to view what the notices advertised and
mark out their selections in advance. It could not have been simpler, though
this did not prevent them from looking through these splendid things for
traces of the secret life of a courtesan of which they had doubtless been
given very strange accounts.
　　Unfortunately, the mysteries had died with the goddess, and in spite
of their best endeavours these good ladies found only what had been put
up for sale since the time of death, and could detect nothing of what had
been sold while the occupant had been alive.
　　But there was certainly rich booty to be had. The furniture was superb.
Rosewood and Buhl-work pieces, Severs vases and blue china porcelain, Dresden
figurines, satins, velvet and lace, everything in fact.
　　I wandered from room to room in the wake of these inquisitive aristocratic
ladies who had arrived before me. They went into a bedroom hung with Persian
fabrics and I was about to go in after them, when they came out again almost
immediately, smiling and as it were, put to shame by this latest revelation.
The effect was to make me even keener to see inside. It was the dressing-room,
complete down to the very last details, in which the dead woman's profligacy
had seemingly reached its height.
　　On a large table standing against one wall, it measured a good six feet
by three, shone the finest treasures of Aucoc and Odiot. It was a magnificent
collection, and among the countless objects each so essential to the appearance
of the kind of woman in whose home we had gathered, there was not one that
was not made of gold or silver. But it was a collection that could only
have been assembled piece by piece, and clearly more than one love had gone
into its making.
　　I, who was not the least put out by the sight of the dressing-room of
a kept woman, spent some time agreeably inspecting its contents, neglecting
none of them, and I noticed that all these magnificently wrought implements
bore different initials and all manner of coronets.
　　As I contemplated all these things, each to my mind standing for a separate
prostitution of the poor girl, I reflected that God had been merciful to
her since He had not suffered her to live long enough to undergo the usual
punishment but had allowed her to die at the height of her wealth and beauty,
long before the coming of old age, that first death of courtesans.
　　Indeed, what sadder sight is there than vice in old age, especially
in a woman? It has no dignity and is singularly unattractive. Those everlasting
regrets, not for wrong turnings taken but for wrong calculations made and
money foolishly spent, are among the most harrowing things that can be heard.
I once knew a former woman of easy virtue of whose past life there remained
only a daughter who was almost as beautiful as the mother had once been,
or so her contemporaries said. This poor child, to whom her mother never
said 'You are my daughter' except to order her to keep her now that she
was old just as she had been kept when she was young, this wretched creature
was called Louise and in obedience to her mother, she sold herself without
inclination or passion or pleasure, rather as she might have followed an
honest trade had it ever entered anyone's head to teach her one. [had倒裝
句﹐等于 if -- had --]
　　The continual spectacle of debauchery, at so tender an age, compounded
by her continuing ill-health, had extinguished in the girl the knowledge
of good and evil which God had perhaps given her, but which no one had ever
thought to nurture.
　　I shall always remember that young girl who walked along the boulevards
almost every day at the same hour. Her mother was always with her, escorting
her as assiduously as a true mother might have accompanied her daughter.
I was very young in those days and ready enough to fall in with the easy
morality of the times. Yet I recall that the sight of such scandalous chaperoning
filled me with contempt and disgust.
　　Add to all this that no virgin's face ever conveyed such a feeling of
innocence nor any comparable expression of sadness and suffering.
　　You would have said it was the image of Resignation itself.
　　And then one day, the young girl's face lit up. In the midst of the
debauches which her mother organized for her, it suddenly seemed to this
sinful creature that God had granted her one happiness. And after all why
should God, who had made her weak and helpless, abandon her without consolation
to struggle on beneath the oppressive burden of her life? One day, then,
she perceived that she was with child, and that part of her which remained
pure trembled with joy. The soul finds refuge in the strangest sanctuaries.
Louise ran to her mother to tell her the news that had filled her with such
happiness. It is a shameful thing to have to say, but we do not write gratuitously
of immorality here, we relate a true incident and one perhaps which we would
be better advised to leave untold if we did not believe that it is essential
from time to time to make public the martyrdom of these creatures who are
ordinarily condemned without a hearing and despised without trial, it is,
we say, a matter for shame, but the mother answered her daughter saying
that as things stood they scarcely had enough for two, and that they would
certainly not have enough for three; that such children serve no useful
purpose; and that a pregnancy is so much time wasted.
　　The very next day, a midwife (of whom we shall say no more than that
she was a friend of the mother) called to see Louise, who remained for a
few days in her bed from which she rose paler and weaker than before.
　　Three months later, some man took pity on her and undertook her moral
and physical salvation. But this latest blow had been too great and Louise
died of the after effects of the miscarriage she had suffered.
　　The mother still lives. How? God alone knows.
　　This story had come back to me as I stood examining the sets of silver
toilet accessories, and I must have been lost in thought for quite some
time. For by now the apartment was empty save for myself and a porter who,
from the doorway, was eyeing me carefully lest I should try to steal anything.

　　I went up to this good man in whom I inspired such grave anxieties.
　　"Excuse me," I said, "I wonder if you could tell me the name of the
person who lived here."
　　"Mademoiselle Marguerite Gautier."
　　I knew this young woman by name and by sight.
　　"What!" I said to the porter. "Marguerite Gautier is dead."
　　"Yes, sir."
　　"When did it happen?"
　　"Three weeks ago, I think."
　　"But why are people being allowed to view her apartment?"
　　"The creditors thought it would be good for trade. People can get the
effect of the hangings and the furniture in advance. Encourages people to
buy, you understand."
　　"So she had debts, then?"
　　"Oh yes, sir! Lots of'em."
　　"But I imagine the sale will cover them."
　　"Over and above."
　　"And who stands to get the balance?"
　　"The family."
　　"She had a family?"
　　"Seems she did."
　　"Thank you very much."
　　The porter, now reassured as to my intentions, touched his cap and I
left.
　　"Poor girl," I said to myself as I returned home, "she must have died
a sad death, for in her world, people only keep their friends as long as
they stay fit and well." And in spite of myself, I lamented the fate of
Marguerite Gautier.
　　All this will perhaps seem absurd to many people, but I have a boundless
forbearance towards courtesans which I shall not even trouble to enlarge
upon here.
　　One day, as I was on my way to collect a passport from the prefecture,
I saw down one of the adjacent streets, a young woman being taken away by
two policemen. Now I have no idea what she had done. All I can say is that
she was weeping bitterly and clasping to her a child only a few months old
from which she was about to be separated by her arrest. From that day until
this, I have been incapable of spurning any woman on sight.

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕Alexandre Dumas, fils (= Jr. in English) (27 July 1824 -- 27
November 1895) was a French author and dramatist. He was the son of Alexandre
Dumas, pere (=Sr.) also a writer and playwright. Dumas was born in Paris,
France, the illegitimate child of Marie-Laure-Catherine Labay (1794-1868),
a dressmaker, and novelist Alexandre Dumas. During 1831 his father legally
recognized him and ensured that the young Dumas received the best education
possible at the Institution Goubaux and the College Bourbon.
During 1844 Dumas moved to Saint-Germain-en-Laye to live with his father.
There, he met Marie Duplessis, a young courtesan who would be the inspiration
for his romantic novel The Lady of the Camellias, wherein Duplessis was
named Marguerite Gauthier. Adapted into a play, it was titled Camile in
English and became the basis for Verdi's 1853 opera, La Traviata, Duplessis
undergoing yet another name change, this time to Violetta Valery.
3) 關於小說﹕The Lady of the Camellias is a novel by Alexandre Dumas Jr.
first published in 1848, and subsequently adapted for the stage. The Lady
of the Camellias premiered at the Theatre du Vaudeville in Paris, France
on February 2, 1852. The play was an instant success, and Giuseppe Verdi
immediately set about putting the story to music. His work became the 1853
opera La Traviata, with the female protagonist, Marguerite Gautier, renamed
Violetta Valery.
4) 法國作家小仲馬的“茶花女”也是世界名著。原著當然是法文的﹐但英文譯本也
具有文學作品水平。所以也可以當作泛讀材料。由此故事改編成的歌劇當然也世界
著名的。其中詠嘆調“飲酒歌”常被單獨演唱。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第35課

先讀課文﹕
The Little Mermaid 小美人魚
by Hans Christian Andersen

Once upon a time, far out to sea, where the water was as blue as
the petals of the loveliest cornflower, lived the Mer - king. Since the
Mer - king's wife was dead, his old mother kept house for him and his six
daughters. His youngest daughter was very quiet and thoughtful. And nothing
pleased her more than hearing her grandmother tell stories about the far-off
world of humans, about ships and towns and people.
"As soon as you are fifteen," her grandmother said, "you may rise
to the surface of the sea and sit on the rocks and watch the ships sail
by."
One by one the sisters turned fifteen, until at last it was the
little mermaid's turn. Her grandmother put a wreath of white lilies and
pearls on her head. The mermaid said good-bye, and she floated up through
the water as lightly as a bubble.
When she came to the surface of the sea, the little mermaid saw
the evening star shining in the pink sky. A three - masted ship was anchored
in the water. There was singing and dancing on board; and as the night
grew darker, hundreds of lanterns lit the deck.
The little mermaid swam about the ship, peeking in all the portholes.
Every time she rose with the waves, she saw a crowd of people dancing.
They were elegant and well-dressed. But the most striking of all was a
young prince. He could not have been more than sixteen. How handsome he
was-shaking hands with all the guests, laughing and smiling while beautiful
music filled the night.
But as the little mermaid watched the prince, a sudden storm swept
over the sea. The waves rose like mountains. The ship creaked and cracked.
Water came rushing into the hold. Just as the ship broke in two, the prince
fell into the deepest part of the sea.
The little mermaid swam through the dangerous waves until she reached
the prince. She held his head above the water to keep him from drowning.
At dawn, she carried him into a bay and laid him on the sand. Then she
sang to him in her lovely voice. When she heard people coming, she hid
behind some rocks.
A young girl appeared. She woke up the prince, and he smiled gratefully
at her. He did not turn and smile at the little mermaid, though, for he
had no idea that she was the one who had saved him and sung to him. Soon
others came to help the prince, and he was carried away from the shore.

Thereafter, many evenings and many mornings, the little mermaid
returned to the shore where she had left the prince. She saw the fruit
ripen on the trees; she saw the snow melt on the high mountains - but she
never saw the handsome prince.
At last she told the story to her sisters, and one of them showed
her the palace where the prince lived. Thereafter, night after night, the
little mermaid rose to the surface of the water and watched the gleaming
palace. She even pulled herself up the marble steps, so she could gaze at
the prince, standing on his balcony in the moonlight.
The more she visited the palace, the closer the little mermaid felt
to humans, and she longed to be one of them.
"Do humans live forever?" she asked her grandmother.
"No," said the old lady. "Their lives are much shorter than ours.
We live for three hundred years, but when our lives come to an end, we
turn to foam upon the water. But a human has a soul which lives on after
the body dies. It flies up through the sky to the stars."
"Oh," breathed the little mermaid, "how can I get a human soul?"

"Well, if a human being loved you dearly and married you, you could
get one," the grandmother said. "But that will never happen. The very
thing that is so beautiful in the sea - your mermaid tail - is ugly and
disgusting to humans."
The little mermaid looked sadly at her tail.
As time passed, the little mermaid could not forget her prince.
One day she was filled with such longing that she made a terrible decision.
"I will call on the sea witch, " she said. She had always been afraid
of the terrible witch, but now it didn't seem to matter.
The sea witch's house lay deep in the eerie sea forest. Her trees
and bushes had long slimy arms that writhed like worms. Her yard was filled
with fat water snakes slithering about. The witch's house itself had been
built from the bones of shipwrecked humans.
"I know what you want," the sea witch said to the mermaid before
she had a chance to speak. "You want to get rid of your fish's tail and
have two walking stumps like humans have. You hope the prince will fall
in love with you, and you'll be able to marry him and get a human soul."
She let out a hideous laugh that sent her snakes sprawling to the floor
of the sea.
"Well, I shall make a special potion for you," the witch went on.
Before the sun rises, you must carry it to the shore and drink it. Then
your tail will divide into two parts. When those parts shrink into what
humans call 'legs,' the pain will be almost more than you can bear. Though
you will glide along more gracefully than any dancer, every step you take
will be like treading on sharp knives. Are you willing to suffer this to
be a human?"
"Yes, said the little mermaid.
"Remember, once you've taken a human shape, you can never be a mermaid
again. Never be with your sisters or your father. If you fail to become
the prince's wife, you won't be a human either! If he marries someone else,
you will turn into foam the morning after his wedding. Are you willing
to drink the potion and risk your life?"
"Yes, " whispered the mermaid.
"And one more thing," said the witch. "You have the loveliest voice
in the sea. I want it for my payment."
"But if you take my voice, what will I have?" the mermaid asked.

"Your beauty, your graceful movements, your speaking eyes. Now
give me your voice, and I'll give you the potion."
"Oh dear, no," said the little mermaid. She was horrified at the
thought of giving up her lovely voice.
"All right then," said the hideous sea witch, "you will never become
human."
The little mermaid felt great despair. She didn't think she could
bear to live if she didn't become human. "I will give up my voice if I
must, " she said sadly.
So the witch cut off the mermaid's tongue. Then she gave her a
vial of magic potion. The drink glowed like a glittering star.
The little mermaid swam away from the horrible forest. When she
saw her father's house, she felt as if her heart would break. She threw
hundreds of kisses towards the palace. Then she rose up through the dark
blue sea and swam to the prince's palace.
In the moonlight she made her way up the marble steps and drank
the burning potion. A sword seemed to thrust itself through her body; and
she fainted from the pain.
At dawn the little mermaid woke up. She felt the pain again. When
she looked down at her fish's tail, she saw that it was gone. In its place
were two beautiful white legs. She had no clothes on, so she Wound her
long hair around her body.
When the little mermaid looked up, she saw the prince standing before
her. His coal-black eyes stared intensely at her.
"Who are you? Where have you come from?" he said.
The mermaid looked at him softly, yet sadly, for she could not speak.
The prince took her hand, and led her to the palace.
The little mermaid was the fairest maid in all the kingdom and the
prince was enchanted by her. They rode together on horseback and climbed
mountains together. And when they went to parties, the little mermaid danced
as no one had ever danced, and everyone marvelled at her graceful, flowing
movements.
Sometimes, at night, the little mermaid crept down to the sea, and
she heard the mournful song of her sisters as they swam over the water.
In the distance, she saw her grandmother and her father stretching out
their arms to her.
Though the prince was very fond of the little mermaid, he often
seemed distracted, as if he were thinking of someone else. One night, he
confided in her, "I'm in love with a girl I saw long ago. Once I was shipwrecked,
and the waves carried me ashore. There a young girl found me and saved
my life. She sang to me with her golden voice - a voice more beautiful than
I've ever heard. I've never seen her since that day."
The mermaid felt great despair. Since she could not speak, she
could not tell the prince what had really happened, that it was she who
had saved him and sung to him.
Soon the mermaid heard a rumor that the prince was to be married
to the daughter of a neighboring king.
"I am obliged to make a sea journey to meet this princess," the
prince told the little mermaid. "My mother and father have insisted. But
if I cannot find that girl who saved my life on the shore, I would like
to marry you, my silent orphan with the speaking eyes." And he kissed her.

The prince and the mermaid journeyed together to the neighboring
kingdom. In the moonlit night, the little mermaid sat by the ship's rail,
gazing into the water. She thought she saw her father's palace and her
grandmother's crown of pearls.
Soon the ship sailed into the harbor of the neighboring king's city.
Church bells rang, and trumpets blared. The princess was brought to the
ship.
When the prince looked upon her, he cried out with great joy. "It is
you!" he said. "You're the one who saved me when I lay almost dead on the
shore! My wish has come true!"
Indeed it was the girl who had discovered the prince on the shore.
But the little mermaid would never be able to tell the prince that she
herself was the one who had saved him from drowning at sea. She felt as
if her heart would break.
The wedding ceremony was held immediately. The mermaid was dressed
in silk and gold, and she held the bridal train. But she did not hear the
festive music, nor pay attention to the ceremony. This was her last day
in the world. The prince's wedding would soon bring her death; tomorrow
she would turn to foam upon the sea.
That evening the bride and bridegroom slept in a royal tent on deck.
The sails filled in the breeze; the vessel flew swiftly over the shining
sea.
The little mermaid leaned her white arms on the rail and looked
out to sea. Dawn would bring an end to her life. Suddenly she saw her
sisters rising out of the water. They were as pale as ghosts, and their
hair was cut off.
One sister held up a knife. "We gave our hair to the witch in return
for help," she said. "She gave us this knife. When the sun rises, you
must plunge it into the prince's heart. When his blood splashes on your
feet, you will have a tail again. You can join us below in the sea. Hurry!
Either he dies or you die."
The little mermaid took the knife and crept into the royal tent.
She drew back the purple curtain and looked at the prince sleeping with
his bride. She looked at the knife, then back at the prince.
The knife quivered in her hand. Suddenly she rushed out of the
tent and hurled it into the sea. The waves shone red as though they were
made of blood.
The little mermaid threw herself into the water. She saw lovely
transparent creatures floating above her.
"You are one of us now, " one of the lovely creatures said. "We
are spirits of the air. We have no souls, but with good deeds we can win
them. We fly to hot countries and send cool breezes to suffering people.
We spread the fragrance of flowers. Then after we serve people for three
hundred years, we are given a human soul."
The little mermaid felt great joy as she raised her arms towards
the sun and floated through the water into the air. She saw the prince
and his bride on the deck of the ship. They seemed to be searching for
her.
Invisible to all, the little mermaid floated to the ship. She kissed
the bride and smiled at the prince. Then she rose like a pink cloud high
into the morning sky.

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕Hans Christian Andersen (April 2, 1805-- August 4, 1875) was
a Danish author, fairy tale writer, and poet noted for his children's stories.
These include "The Steadfast Tin Soldier," "The Snow Queen," "The Little
Mermaid," "Thumbelina," "The Little Match Girl," and "The Ugly Duckling."
3) 關於故事﹕A mermaid is a mythological aquatic creature with a female
human head, arms, and torso and the tail of a fish. Mermaids are represented
in the folklore, literature and popular culture of many countries worldwide.
A male version of a mermaid is known as a "merman" and in general both males
and females are known as "merfolk" or "merpeople". A "merboy" is a young
merman.
"The Little Mermaid" (Danish: Den lille havfrue, literally: the little seawoman)
is a popular fairy tale by the Danish poet and author Hans Christian Andersen
about a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity
as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince. Written
originally as a ballet, the tale was first published in 1837 and has been
adapted to various media including musical theatre and animated film.
4) 安徒生童話中的美人魚故事應該也是家喻戶曉的。不過﹐學英文的人未必都讀過
英文版本。這也是個很感人的故事﹐值得一讀。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第36課

先讀課文﹕
The Prince and the Pauper 王子與貧兒
by Mark Twain

Chapter I. The birth of the Prince and the Pauper.
In the ancient city of London, on a certain autumn day in the second quarter
of the sixteenth century, a boy was born to a poor family of the name of
Canty, who did not want him. On the same day another English child was
born to a rich family of the name of Tudor 多鐸(王朝), who did want him.
All England wanted him too. England had so longed for him, and hoped for
him, and prayed God for him, that, now that he was really come, the people
went nearly mad for
joy. Mere acquaintances hugged and kissed each other and cried. Everybody
took a holiday, and high and low, rich and poor, feasted and danced and
sang, and got very mellow; and they kept this up for days and nights together.
By day, London was a sight to see, with gay banners waving from every
balcony and housetop, and splendid pageants marching along. By night, it
was again a sight to see, with its great bonfires at every corner, and its
troops of revellers making merry around them. There was no talk in all
England but of the new baby, Edward Tudor, Prince of Wales威爾士親王[1],
who lay lapped in silks and satins, unconscious of all this fuss, and not
knowing that great lords and ladies were tending him and watching over him--and
not caring, either. But there was no talk about the other baby, Tom Canty,
lapped in his poor rags, except
among the family of paupers whom he had just come to trouble with his presence.

第一章就是那麼短。總之﹐有興趣閱讀下去的學習者可上網查閱。

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕見湯幕‧沙亞歷險記。
3) 本書內容簡介﹕The Prince and the Pauper is an English language novel
by American author Mark Twain. It was first published in 1881 in Canada
before its 1882 publication in the United States. The book represents Twain's
first attempt at historical fiction. Set in 1547, the novel tells the story
of two young boys who are identical in appearance: Tom Canty, a pauper who
lives with his abusive father in Offal Court off Pudding Lane in London;
and Prince Edward, son of King Henry VIII.
The novel begins with Tom Canty, an impoverished boy living with his abusive
family in London. One day, Tom Canty and Prince Edward, the son of King
Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, meet, and as a jest, switch clothes. While
dressed in the pauper's rags, the Prince leaves the palace to punish the
guard who knocked Tom down. However, the boys look remarkably alike and
because they switch clothes, the palace guards throw the prince out into
the street. The Prince fares poorly in London because he insists on proclaiming
his identity as the true Prince of Wales. Meanwhile despite Tom's repeated
denial of his birthright, the court and the King insist that he is the true
prince gone mad. Edward eventually runs into Tom's family and a gang of
thieves and Twain illustrates England's unfair and barbaric justice system.
After the death of Henry VIII, Edward interrupts Tom's coronation and the
boys explain, switch places, and Edward is crowned King of England.
4) 註解﹕[1] 威爾士親王﹐英倫島上有英國和愛爾蘭共和國。英國又有三個部份組
成﹕英格蘭﹑威爾士﹑北愛爾蘭。在那個時候﹐威爾士要求有自己的統治者。當英
王駕臨威爾士的時候﹐威爾士人提出他們要一個不會講英文的﹐出生在威爾士的人
做他們的王。於是英王就把他自己剛出生的王子抱到陽台上去給大家看﹐說他不會
講英文(嬰兒當然還不會講話了)﹐他出生在威爾士﹐他將是威爾士親王。威爾士人
沒話可說。從那時起﹐英國的王長子就兼任威爾士親王。
5) 王子與貧兒也是本有名的書。被拍成電影。雖然第一章較短﹐要知道故事發展的
讀者﹐可以上網閱讀。等你認真地﹐認真地把這些小說讀了幾百本以後﹐好像讀了
武功秘籍﹐就會功力非凡了。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第37課

先讀課文﹕
A STORY OF ROBIN HOOD 俠盜魯賓遜的故事
英國古老的傳說

IN the rude days of King Richard and King John there were many great woods
in England. The most famous of these was Sherwood forest, where the king
often went to hunt deer. In this forest there lived a band of daring men
called outlaws.
They had done something that was against the laws of the land, and had been
forced to hide themselves in the woods to save their lives. There they spent
their time in roaming about among the trees, in hunting the king's deer,
and in robbing rich travelers that came that way.
There were nearly a hundred of these outlaws, and their leader was a bold
fellow called Robin Hood. They were dressed in suits of green, and armed
with bows and arrows; and sometimes they carried long wooden lances and
broad-swords, which they knew how to handle well. Whenever they had taken
anything, it was brought and laid at the feet of Robin Hood, whom they called
their king. He then divided it fairly among them, giving to each man his
just share.
Robin never allowed his men to harm anybody but the rich men who lived in
great houses and did no work. He was always kind to the poor, and he often
sent help to them; and for that reason the common people looked upon him
as their friend.
Long after he was dead, men liked to talk about his deeds. Some praised
him, and some blamed him. He was, indeed, a rude, lawless fellow; but at
that time, people did not think of right and wrong as they do now.
A great many songs were made up about Robin Hood, and these songs were sung
in the cottages and huts all over the land for hundreds of years afterward.

Here is a little story that is told in one of those songs:
Robin Hood was standing one day under a green tree by the roadside. While
he was listening to the birds among the leaves, he saw a young man passing
by. This young man was dressed in a fine suit of bright red cloth; and,
as he tripped gayly along the road, he seemed to be as happy as the day.

"I will not trouble him," said Robin Hood, "for I think he is on his way
to his wedding."
The next day Robin stood in the same place. He had not been there long when
he saw the same young man coming down the road. But he did not seem to be
so happy this time. He had left his scarlet coat at home, and at every step
he sighed and groaned.
"Ah the sad day! the sad day!" he kept saying to himself.
Then Robin Hood stepped out from under the tree, and said,
"I say, young man! Have you any money to spare for my merry men and me?"

"I have nothing at all," said the young man, "but five shillings and a ring."

"A gold ring?" asked Robin.
"Yes," said the young man, "it is a gold ring. Here it is."
"Ah, I see!" said Robin; "it is a wedding ring."
"I have kept it these seven years," said the young man; "I have kept it
to give to my bride on our wedding day. We were going to be married yesterday.
But her father has promised her to a rich old man whom she never saw. And
now my heart is broken."
"What is your name?" asked Robin.
"My name is Allin-a-Dale," said the young man.
"What will you give me, in gold or fee," said Robin, "if I will help you
win your bride again in spite of the rich old man to whom she has been promised?"

"How many miles is it to the place where the maiden lives?" asked Robin.

"It is not far," said Allin. "But she is to be married this very day, and
the church is five miles away."
Then Robin made haste to dress himself as a harper; and in the afternoon
he stood in the door of the church.
"Who are you?" said the bishop, "and what are you doing here?"
"I am a bold harper," said Robin, "the best in the north country."
"I am glad you have come," said the bishop kindly. "There is no music that
I like so well as that of the harp. Come in, and play for us."
"I will go in," said Robin Hood; "but I will not give you any music until
I see the bride and bride-groom."
Just then an old man came in. He was dressed in rich clothing, but was bent
with age, and was feeble and gray. By his side walked a fair young girl.
Her cheeks were very pale, and her eyes were full of tears.
"This is no match," said Robin. "Let the bride choose for herself."
Then he put his horn to his lips, and blew three times. The very next minute,
four and twenty men, all dressed in green, and carrying long bows in their
hands, came running across the fields. And as they marched into the church,
all in a row, the foremost among them was Allin-a-Dale.
"Now whom do you choose?" said Robin to the maiden.
"I choose Allin-a-Dale," she said blushing.
"And Allin-a-Dale you shall have," said Robin; "and he that takes you from
Allin-a-Dale shall find that he has Robin Hood to deal with."
And so the fair maiden and Allin-a-Dale were married then and there, and
the rich old man went home in a great rage.
"And thus having ended this merry wedding,
The bride looked like a queen:
And so they returned to the merry green wood,
Amongst the leaves so green."

1) 生詞自查。
2) 故事概述﹕Robin Hood is England's most famous outlaw, who robbed from
the rich to give to the poor. In Robin Hood's long history, his story has
appeared in many forms, from verse to film. His path to outlawry, friends
and enemies have been just as diverse.
Robin Hood was a Saxon noble, living near the castle of Nottingham. By various
means he was forced into a life of banditry, using his cunning and skill-at-arms
to relieve bishops, nobles, and servants of the king of gold and jewels
levied from the oppressed peasants. Robin collected a band of supporters,
his "Merry Men" around him, dressed in green. The members that never cease
to appear are Robin himself, Maid Marian, Little John, and Friar Tuck. Along
with being a middle-ages Communist, Robin spends his time fighting the cruel
Sheriff of Nottingham, and, ultimately, King John, who had usurped the throne
from the rightful King, Richard I.
3) 俠盜魯賓遜是英國古老的傳說故事﹐有許多不同的版本﹐被拍成電影。這些故事
我小時候就知道。學英文的人應該也可以知道一下﹐可以作為知識性的泛讀材料。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第38課

先讀課文﹕
Ivanhoe 撒克遜劫後英雄傳
by Sir Walter Scott

Chapter 1
In that pleasant district of merry England which is watered by the river
Don, there extended in ancient times a large forest, covering the greater
part of the beautiful hills and valleys which lie between Sheffield and
the pleasant town of Doncaster. The remains of this extensive wood are still
to be seen at the noble seats of Wentworth, of Warncliffe Park, and around
Rotherham. Here haunted of yore the fabulous Dragon of Wantley; here were
fought many of the most desperate battles during the Civil Wars of the Roses;
[1] and here also flourished in ancient
times those bands of gallant outlaws, whose deeds have been rendered so
popular in English song. Such being our chief scene, the date of our story
refers to a period towards the end of the reign of Richard I., when his
return from his long captivity had become an event rather wished than hoped
for by his despairing subjects, who were in the meantime subjected to every
species of subordinate oppression. The nobles, whose power had become exorbitant
during the reign of Stephen, and whom the prudence of Henry the Second had
scarce
reduced to some degree of subjection to the crown, had now resumed their
ancient license in its utmost extent; despising the feeble interference
of the English Council of State, fortifying
their castles, increasing the number of their dependants, reducing all around
them to a state of vassalage, and striving by every means in their power,
to place themselves each at the head of such forces as might enable him
to make a figure in the national convulsions which appeared to be impending.
The situation of the inferior gentry, or Franklins, as they were called,
who, by the law and spirit of the English constitution, were entitled to
hold themselves independent of feudal tyranny, became now unusually precarious.
If, as was most generally the case, they placed themselves under the protection
of any of the petty kings in their vicinity, accepted of feudal offices
in his household, or bound themselves by mutual treaties of alliance and
protection, to support him in his enterprises, they might indeed purchase
temporary repose; but it must be with the sacrifice of that independence
which was so dear to every English bosom, and at the certain hazard of being
involved as a party in whatever rash expedition the ambition of their protector
might lead him to undertake. On the other hand, such and so multiplied were
the means of vexation and oppression possessed by the great Barons, that
they never wanted the pretext, and seldom the will, to harass and pursue,
even to the very edge of destruction, any
of their less powerful neighbours, who attempted to separate themselves
from their authority, and to trust for their protection, during the dangers
of the times, to their own inoffensive conduct, and to the laws of the land.
A circumstance which greatly tended to enhance the tyranny of the nobility,
and the sufferings of the inferior classes, arose from the consequences
of the Conquest by Duke William of Normandy. [2] Four generations had not
sufficed to blend the hostile blood of the Normans and Anglo-Saxons, or
to unite, by common language and mutual interests, two hostile races, one
of which still felt the elation of triumph, while the other groaned under
all the
consequences of defeat. The power had been completely placed in the hands
of the Norman nobility, by the event of the battle of Hastings, and it had
been used, as our histories assure us, with no moderate hand. The whole
race of Saxon princes and nobles had been extirpated or disinherited, with
few or no exceptions; nor were the numbers great who possessed land in the
country of their fathers, even as proprietors of the second, or of yet inferior
classes. The royal policy had long been to weaken, by every means, legal
or illegal, the strength of a part of the population which was justly considered
as nourishing the most inveterate antipathy to their victor. All the monarchs
of the Norman race had shown the most marked predilection for their Norman
subjects; the laws of the chase, and many others equally unknown to the milder
and more free spirit of the Saxon constitution, had been fixed upon the
necks of the subjugated inhabitants, to add weight, as it were, to the feudal
chains with which they were loaded. At court, and in the castles of the
great nobles, where the pomp and state of a court was emulated, Norman-French
was the only language employed; in courts of law, the pleadings and
judgments were delivered in the same tongue. In short, French was the language
of honour, of chivalry, and even of justice, while the far more manly and
expressive Anglo-Saxon was abandoned to the use of rustics and hinds, who
knew no other. Still, however, the necessary intercourse between the lords
of the soil, and those oppressed inferior beings by whom that soil was cultivated,
occasioned the gradual formation of a dialect, compounded betwixt the French
and the Anglo-Saxon, in which they could render themselves mutually intelligible
to each other; and from this necessity arose by degrees the structure of
our present English language, in which the speech of the victors and the
vanquished have been so happily blended together; and which has since been
so richly improved by importations from the classical
languages, and from those spoken by the southern nations of Europe.
This state of things I have thought it necessary to premise for the information
of the general reader, who might be apt to forget, that, although no great
historical events, such as war or insurrection, mark the existence of the
Anglo-Saxons as a separate people subsequent to the reign of William the
Second; yet the great national distinctions betwixt them and their
conquerors, the recollection of what they had formerly been, and to what
they were now reduced, continued down to the reign of Edward the Third,
to keep open the wounds which the Conquest had inflicted, and to maintain
a line of separation betwixt the descendants of the victor Normans and the
vanquished Saxons.
The sun was setting upon one of the rich grassy glades of that forest,
which we have mentioned in the beginning of the chapter. Hundreds of broad-headed,
short-stemmed, wide-branched oaks, which had witnessed perhaps the stately
march of the Roman soldiery, flung their gnarled arms over a thick carpet
of the most delicious green sward; in some places they were intermingled
with beeches, hollies, and copsewood of various descriptions, so closely
as totally to intercept the level beams of the sinking sun; in others they
receded from each other, forming those long sweeping vistas, in the intricacy
of which the eye delights to
lose itself, while imagination considers them as the paths to yet wilder
scenes of silvan solitude. Here the red rays of the sun shot a broken and
discoloured light, that partially hung upon the shattered boughs and mossy
trunks of the trees, and there they illuminated in brilliant patches the
portions of turf to which they made their way. A considerable open space,
in the midst of this glade, seemed formerly to have been dedicated to the
rites of Druidical superstition; for, on the summit of a hillock, so regular
as to seem artificial, there still remained part of a circle of rough unhewn
stones, of large dimensions. Seven stood upright; the rest had been dislodged
from their places, probably by the zeal of some convert to Christianity,
and lay, some prostrate near their former site, and others on the side of
the hill. One large stone only had found its way to the bottom, and in stopping
the course of a small brook, which glided smoothly round the foot of the
eminence, gave, by its opposition, a feeble voice of murmur to the placid
and elsewhere silent streamlet.
The human figures which completed this landscape, were in number two, partaking,
in their dress and appearance, of that wild and rustic character, which
belonged to the woodlands of the West-Riding of Yorkshire at that early
period. The eldest of these men had a stern, savage, and wild aspect. His
garment was of the simplest form imaginable, being a close jacket with sleeves,
composed of the tanned skin of some animal, on which the hair had been originally
left, but which had been worn of in so many places, that it would have been
difficult to distinguish from the patches that remained, to what creature
the fur had belonged. This primeval vestment reached from the throat to
the knees, and served at once all the usual purposes of body-clothing; there
was no wider opening at the collar, than was necessary to admit the passage
of the head, from which it may be inferred, that it was put on by slipping
it over the head and shoulders, in the manner of a modern shirt, or ancient
hauberk. Sandals, bound with thongs made of boars' hide, protected the feet,
and a roll of thin leather was twined artificially round the legs, and,
ascending above the calf, left the knees bare, like those of a Scottish
Highlander. To make the jacket sit yet more close to the body, it was gathered
at the middle by a broad leathern belt, secured by a brass buckle; to one
side of which was attached a sort of scrip, and to the other a ram's horn,
accoutred with a mouthpiece, for the purpose of blowing. In the same belt
was stuck one of those long, broad, sharp-pointed, and two-edged knives,
with a buck's-horn handle, which were fabricated in the neighbourhood, and
bore even at this early period the name of a Sheffield whittle. The man
had no covering upon his head, which was only defended by his own thick
hair, matted and twisted together, and scorched by the influence of the
sun into a rusty dark-red colour, forming a contrast with the overgrown beard
upon his cheeks, which was rather of a yellow or amber hue. One part of his
dress only remains, but it is too remarkable to be suppressed; it was a
brass ring, resembling a dog's collar, but without any opening, and soldered
fast round his neck, so loose as to form no impediment to his breathing,
yet so tight as to be incapable of being removed, excepting by the use of
the file. On this singular gorget was engraved, in Saxon characters, an inscription
of the following purport:---"Gurth, the son of Beowulph, is the born thrall
of Cedric of Rotherwood."
Beside the swine-herd, for such was Gurth's occupation, was seated, upon
one of the fallen Druidical monuments, a person about ten years younger
in appearance, and whose dress, though resembling his companion's in form,
was of better materials, and of a more fantastic appearance. His jacket
had been stained of a bright purple hue, upon which there had been some
attempt to paint grotesque ornaments in different colours. To the jacket
he added a short cloak, which scarcely reached half way down his thigh;
it was of crimson cloth, though a good deal soiled, lined with bright yellow;
and as he could transfer it from one shoulder to the other, or at his pleasure
draw it all around him, its width, contrasted with its want of longitude,
formed a fantastic piece of drapery. He had thin silver bracelets upon his
arms, and on his neck a collar of the same metal bearing the inscription,
"Wamba, the son of Witless, is the thrall of Cedric of Rotherwood." 太長。
第一章只取一半。

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 -- 21 September
1832) was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright, and poet, popular
throughout much of the world during his time. Scott was the first English-language
author to have a truly international career in his lifetime, with many contemporary
readers in Europe, Australia, and North America. His novels and poetry are
still read, and many of his works remain classics of both English-language
literature and of Scottish literature. Famous titles include Ivanhoe, Rob
Roy, The Lady of the Lake, Waverley, The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride
of Lammermoor.
3) 本書介紹﹕Ivanhoe is a historical novel by Sir Walter Scott published
in 1820, and set in 12th-century England. Ivanhoe is sometimes credited
for increasing interest in Romanticism and Medievalism。
Ivanhoe is the story of one of the remaining Saxon noble families at a time
when the English nobility was overwhelmingly Norman. It follows the Saxon
protagonist, Wilfred of Ivanhoe, who is out of favour with his father for
his allegiance to the Norman king, Richard I of England. The story is set
in 1194, after the failure of the Third Crusade, when many of the Crusaders
were still returning to Europe. King Richard, who had been captured by the
Duke of Austria on his way back, was believed to still be in the arms of
his captors. The legendary Robin Hood, initially under the name of Locksley,
is also a character in the story, as are his "merry men." The character
that Scott gave to Robin Hood in Ivanhoe helped shape the modern notion of
this figure as a cheery noble outlaw.
Other major characters include Ivanhoe's intractable father, Cedric, one
of the few remaining Saxon lords; various Knights Templar and churchmen;
the loyal serfs Gurth the swineherd and the jester Wamba, whose observations
punctuate much of the action; and the Jewish moneylender, Isaac of York,
who is equally passionate about money and his daughter, Rebecca. The book
was written and published during a period of increasing struggle for emancipation
of the Jews in England, and there are frequent references to injustice against
them.
4) 註解﹕[1] Civil Wars of the Roses玫瑰戰爭﹕a series of dynastic civil
wars fought between supporters of two rival branches of the royal House
of Plantagenet: the houses of Lancaster and York (whose heraldic symbols
were the "red" and the "white" rose, respectively) for the throne of England.
They were fought in several sporadic episodes between 1455 and 1485, although
there was related fighting both before and after this period. The final victory
went to a relatively remote Lancastrian claimant, Henry Tudor, who defeated
the last Yorkist king Richard III and married Edward IV's daughter Elizabeth
of York to unite the two houses. The House of Tudor subsequently ruled England
and Wales for 117 years. [2] Duke William of Normandy﹕William I (circa
1028 -- 9 September 1087), also known as William the Conqueror or William
the Bastard, was the first Norman King of England, reigning from 1066 until
his death in 1087. Descended from Viking raiders, he had been Duke of Normandy
since 1035 under the name of William II. In the 1050s and early 1060s William
became a contender for the throne of England with the powerful English earl
Harold Godwinson. After building a large fleet, William invaded England
in September 1066 and decisively defeated and killed Harold at the Battle
of Hastings on 14 October 1066. Normandy 在法國﹐二戰中美軍登陸歐洲之處。

5) Scott的Ivanhoe是本描寫英國古代歷史的小說名著。“撒克遜劫後英雄傳”是以
前翻譯的書名﹐不知現在有否重譯過。學英文者對這本書也應該讀一下。實際是該
書寫的是騎士美女愛情故事。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第39課

先讀課文﹕
The Moonstone 月亮鑽石
by Wilkie Collins

Prologue﹕THE STORMING OF SERINGAPATAM (1799)
----Extracted from a Family Paper

I address these lines--written in India--to my relatives in England. My
object is to explain the motive which has induced me to refuse the right
hand of friendship to my cousin, John Herncastle. The reserve which I have
hitherto maintained in this matter has been misinterpreted
by members of my family whose good opinion I cannot consent to forfeit.
I request them to suspend their decision until they have read my narrative.
And I declare, on my word of honour, that what I am now about to write is,
strictly and literally, the truth. The private difference between my cousin
and me took its rise in a great public event in which we were both concerned-
-the storming of Seringapatam, under General Baird, on the 4th of May, 1799.
In order that the circumstances may be clearly understood, I must revert
for a moment to the period before the assault, and to the stories current
in our camp of the treasure in jewels and gold stored up in the Palace of
Seringapatam.
One of the wildest of these stories related to a Yellow Diamond--a famous
gem in the native annals of India. The earliest known traditions describe
the stone as having been set in the forehead of the four-handed Indian god
who typifies the Moon. Partly from its peculiar colour, partly from a superstition
which represented it as feeling the influence of the deity whom it adorned,
and growing and lessening in lustre with the waxing and waning of the moon,
it
first gained the name by which it continues to be known in India to this
day--the name of THE MOONSTONE. A similar superstition was once prevalent,
as I have heard, in ancient Greece and Rome; not applying, however (as in
India), to a diamond devoted to the service of a god, but to a semi-transparent
stone of the inferior order of gems, supposed to be affected by the lunar
influences--the moon, in this latter case also, giving the name by which
the stone is still known to collectors in our own time. The adventures of
the Yellow Diamond begin with the eleventh century of the Christian era.

1) 生詞自查。
作者介紹﹕William Wilkie Collins (8 January 1824 -- 23 September 1889) was
an English novelist, playwright, and author of short stories. He was very
popular during the Victorian era and wrote 30 novels, more than 60 short
stories, 14 plays, and over 100 non-fiction pieces. His best-known works
are The Woman in White, The Moonstone, Armadale and No Name.
Collins was a lifelong friend of Charles Dickens. A number of Collins's
works were first published in Dickens's journals All the Year Round and
Household Words. The two collaborated on several dramatic and fictional
works, and some of Collins's plays were performed by Dickens's acting company.

3) 本書介紹﹕The Moonstone (1868) by Wilkie Collins is a 19th-century British
epistolary novel, generally considered the first detective novel in the
English language. The story was originally serialized in Charles Dickens'
magazine All the Year Round. The Moonstone and The Woman in White are considered
Wilkie Collins' best novels.
4) 內容簡介﹕Rachel Verinder, a young Englishwoman, inherits a large Indian
diamond on her eighteenth birthday. It is a legacy from her uncle, a corrupt
British army officer who served in India. The diamond is of great religious
significance as well as being extremely valuable, and three Hindu priests
have dedicated their lives to recovering it. Rachel's eighteenth birthday
is celebrated with a large party, whose guests include her cousin Franklin
Blake. She wears the Moonstone on her dress that evening for all to see,
including some Indian jugglers who have called at the house. Later that
night, the diamond is stolen from Rachel's bedroom, and a period of turmoil,
unhappiness, misunderstandings and ill-luck ensues. The complex plot traces
the subsequent efforts to explain the theft, identify the thief, trace the
stone and recover it.
5) “月亮鑽石”也是一本世界名著﹐被認為是英文寫作中第一本偵探小說。中國讀
者對這本書的名稱一定不陌生。寫作可以讀一下原文了。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第40課

先讀課文﹕
Adventures of Pinocchio 木偶奇遇記
by Carlo Collodi

Geppetto, a poor old wood carver, was making a puppet from a tree branch.
"You shall be my little boy," he said to the puppet, "and I shall call you
'Pinocchio'." He worked for hours, carefully carving each detail. When he
reached the mouth, the puppet started making faces at Geppetto. "Stop that,
you naughty boy," Geppetto scolded, "Stop that at once !"
"I won't stop !" cried Pinocchio.
"You can talk !" exclaimed Geppetto.
"Of course I can, silly," said the puppet. "You've given me a mouth to talk
with." Pinocchio rose to his feet and danced on the table top. "Look what
I can do !" he squealed.
"Pinocchio, this is not the time to dance," Geppetto explained. "You must
get a good night's rest. Tomorrow you will start going to school with the
real boys. You will learn many things, including how to behave."
On his way to school the next morning, Pinocchio stopped to see a puppet
show. "I can dance and sing better than those puppets and I don't need strings,
" boasted Pinocchio. He climbed onto the stage.
"Get off my stage," roared the Puppet Master. Then he noticed how much the
crowd liked Pinocchio. He did not say anything and let Pinocchio stay. "Here,
you've earned five copper coins," the Puppet Master told Pinocchio.
"Take these coins and go straight home," said the Puppet Master. Pinocchio
put the coins into his sack.
He did not go very far before he met a lame Fox and a blind Cat. Knowing
that Pinocchio had money, they pretended to be his friends. "Come with us.
We'll teach you how to turn those copper pieces into gold," coaxed the sneaky
Cat.
"We want to help you get rich. Plant your coins under this magic tree. In
a few hours they'll turn to gold," said the Fox.
"Show me where," said Pinocchio excitedly. The Cat and Fox pointed to a
patch of loose dirt. Pinocchio dug a hole and put the sack in it, marking
the spot with a stone.
"Splendid !" exclaimed the Cat. "Now let's go to the inn for supper." After
supper, the Fox and Cat, who weren't really lame or blind, quickly snuck
away and disguised themselves as thieves. They hid by the tree waiting for
Pinocchio to come back and dig up the money. After Pinocchio dug up the
coins they pounced on him.
"Give us your money !" they ordered. But Pinocchio held the sack between
his teeth and resisted to give the sack to them. Again they demanded, "Give
us your money !"
Pinocchio's Guardian Fairy, who was dressed all in blue and had blue hair,
sent her dog, Rufus, to chase the Fox and Cat away. She ordered Rufus to
bring Pinocchio back to her castle. "Please sit down," she told Pinocchio.
Rufus kept one eye open to watch what was going on.
"Why didn't you go to school today?" she asked Pinocchio in a sweet voice.
"I did," answered Pinocchio. Just then, his nose shot out like a tree branch.
"What's happening to my nose?" he cried.
"Every time you tell a lie, your nose will grow. When you tell the truth,
it will shrink," said the Blue Fairy. "Pinocchio, you can only become a
real boy if you learn how to be brave, honest and generous."
The Blue Fairy told Pinocchio to go home and not to stop for any reason.
Pinocchio tried to remember what the Blue Fairy told him.
On the way to home he met some boys. "Come with us," said the boys. "We
know a wonderful place filled with games, giant cakes, pretty candies, and
circuses." The boys didn't know that if you were bad, you were turned into
donkeys and trained for the circus.
It was not very long before the boys began changing into donkeys. "That's
what happens to bad boys," snarled the Circus Master as he made Pinocchio
jump through a hoop.
Pinocchio could only grow a donkey's ears, feet, and tail, because he was
made of wood. The Circus Master couldn't sell him to any circus. He threw
Pinocchio into the sea. The instant Pinocchio hit the water, the donkey
tail fell off and his own ears and feet came back. He swam for a very long
time. Just when he couldn't swim any longer, he was swallowed by a great
whale. "It's dark here," scared Pinocchio said.
Pinocchio kept floating deep into the whale's stomach. "Who's there by the
light?" called Pinocchio, his voice echoing.
"Pinocchio, is that you?" asked a tired voice.
"Father, you're alive !" Pinocchio shouted with joy. He wasn't scared anymore.
Pinocchio helped Geppetto build a big raft that would hold both of them.
When the raft was finished, Pinocchio tickled the whale. "Hold tight, Father.
When he sneezes, he'll blow us out of here !" cried Pinocchio.
Home at last, Geppetto tucked Pinocchio into his bed. "Pinocchio, today
you were brave, honest and generous," Geppetto said. "You are my son and
I love you."
Pinocchio remembered what the Blue Fairy told him. "Father, now that I've
proven myself, I'm waiting for something to happen," he whispered as he
drifted off to sleep.
The next morning Pinocchio came running down the steps, jumping and waving
his arms. He ran to Geppetto shouting, "Look Father, I'm a real boy !"

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕Carlo Lorenzini (November 24, 1826 -- October 26, 1890), better
known by the pen name Carlo Collodi, was an Italian children's writer known
for the world-renowned fairy tale novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio.
Collodi was born in Florence. During the Wars of Independence in 1848 and
1860 Collodi served as a volunteer with the Tuscan army. In 1875, he entered
the domain of children's literatur. In 1880 he began writing Storia di un
burattino ("The story of a marionette"), also called Le avventure di Pinocchio,
which was published weekly in Il Giornale dei Bambini (the first Italian
newspaper for children).
3) “木偶奇遇記”是有名的兒童故事。我小時候就讀過連環畫。不知現在還有多少
中國兒童知道這個故事。讀一讀可以增加文學知識。

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高級英語教材第41課

先讀課文﹕
THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS 天路歷程
by John Bunyan

Introduction
As I walked through the wilderness of this world, I lighted on a certain
place where was a den (the gaol), and I laid me down in that place to sleep:
and as I slept, I dreamed a dream. I dreamed; and behold, I saw a man clothed
with rags standing in a certain place, with his face from his own house,
a book in his hand, and a great burden upon his back. I looked, and saw him
open the book, and read therein; and as he read, he wept and trembled﹕
"For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are
too heavy for me." Psalm 38:4
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as
filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the
wind, have taken us away." Isaiah 64:6
"So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath,
he cannot be my disciple." Luke 14:33
"For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression
and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape,
if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken
by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;" Hebrews
2:2, 3 上面三段都是引自聖經裡的章節
And, not being able longer to contain, he brake out with a lamentable cry,
saying, "What shall I do?" 這段是描述
"Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto
Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?"
Acts 2:37 這也摘自聖經
In this plight, therefore, he went home, and refrained himself as long as
he could, that his wife and children should not perceive his distress; but
he could not be silent long, because that his trouble increased: wherefore
at length he brake his mind to his wife and children; and thus he began
to talk to them: "O my dear wife," said he, "and you the children of my bowels,
I, your dear friend, am in myself undone, by reason of a burden that lies
hard upon me; moreover, I am for certain informed, that this our city will
be burned with fire from heaven; in which fearful overthrow, both myself,
with thee, my wife, and you my sweet babes, shall miserably come to ruin;
except (the which yet I see not) some way of escape can be found, whereby
we may be delivered." At this his relations were sore amazed; not for that
they believed that what he had said to them was true, but because they thought
that some frenzy distemper had got into his head; therefore, it drawing
towards night, and they hoping that sleep might settle his brains, with
all haste they got him to bed: but the night was as troublesome to him as
the day; wherefore, instead of sleeping, he spent it in sighs and tears.
So, when the morning was come, they would know how he did: he told them,
"Worse and worse." He also set to talking to them again; but they began
to be hardened. They also thought to drive away his distemper by harsh and
surly conduct to him: sometimes they would deride; sometimes they would chide;
and sometimes they would quite neglect him. Wherefore he began to retire
himself to his chamber, to pray for and pity them, and also to condole his
own misery. He would also walk solitarily in the fields, sometimes reading
and sometimes praying; and thus for some days he spent his time.

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕John Bunyan (28 November 1628 -- 31 August 1688) was an English
Christian writer and preacher, who is well-known for his book The Pilgrim's
Progress. As his popularity and notoriety grew, Bunyan increasingly became
a target for slander and libel; he was described as "a witch, a Jesuit,
a highwayman" and was said to have mistresses and multiple wives. In 1658,
aged 30, he was arrested for preaching at Eaton Socon and indicted for preaching
without a licence. This book was written from a prison cell.
3) 該書介紹﹕The Pilgrim's Progress is a Christian allegory written by John
Bunyan and published in February, 1678. It is regarded as one of the most
significant works of religious English literature, has been translated into
more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print.
4) 內容提示﹕Christian, an everyman character, is the protagonist of the
allegory, which centres itself in his journey from his hometown, the "City
of Destruction" ("this world"), to the "Celestial City" ("that which is
to come": Heaven) atop Mt. Zion. Christian is weighed down by a great burden,
the knowledge of his sin, which he believed came from his reading "the book
in his hand", (the Bible). This burden, which would cause him to sink into
Tophet (hell), is so unbearable that Christian must seek deliverance. 欲
知故事發展詳情﹐可把書名輸入古狗。
5) Bunyan的“天路歷程”對²
'7b在的英文學習者可能很陌生﹐甚或沒聽說過。所以找來泛讀一下﹐也可擴大文學
知識。現在介紹資料已達41期。杜甫曰﹕讀書破萬卷﹐下筆如有神。要寫好就要多
讀。

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高級英語教材第42課

先讀課文﹕
AESOP'S FABLES 伊索寓言幾則
by Aesop

一﹑The Ass, the Fox, and the Lion
THE ASS and the Fox, having entered into partnership together for their
mutual protection, went out into the forest to hunt. They had not proceeded
far when they met a Lion. The Fox, seeing imminent danger, approached the
Lion and promised to contrive for him the capture of the Ass if the Lion
would pledge his word not to harm the Fox. Then, upon assuring the Ass that
he would not be injured, the Fox led him to a deep pit and arranged that
he should fall into it. The Lion, seeing that the Ass was secured, immediately
clutched the Fox, and attacked the Ass at his leisure.
Never trust your enemy
說明出賣別人﹐自己也沒好下場。或者被殺掉滅口。

二﹑The Ant and the Grasshopper
In a field one summer's day a Grasshopper was hopping about, chirping
and singing to its heart's content. An Ant passed by, bearing along with
great toil an ear of corn he was taking to the nest.
"Why not come and chat with me," said the Grasshopper,
"instead of toiling and moiling in that way?"
"I am helping to lay up food for the winter," said the Ant,
"and recommend you to do the same."
"Why bother about winter?" said the Grasshopper; we have got plenty of food
at present." But the Ant went on its way and continued its toil. When
the winter came the Grasshopper had no
food and found itself dying of hunger, while it saw the ants distributing
every day corn and grain from the stores they had collected in the summer.
Then the Grasshopper knew:
It is best to prepare for the days of necessity.
說明未雨綢繆的重要。所謂人無遠慮﹐必有近憂。

三﹑The Dog in the Manger
A Dog looking out for its afternoon nap jumped into the Manger of an Ox
and lay there cosily upon the straw. But soon the Ox, returning from its
afternoon work, came up to the Manger and wanted to eat some of the straw.
The Dog in a rage, being awakened from its slumber, stood up and barked
at the Ox, and whenever it came near attempted to bite it. At last the Ox
had to give up the hope of getting at the straw, and went away muttering:
"Ah, people often grudge others what they cannot enjoy themselves."
這個題目已經成了一個英文成語﹐意思是﹕佔著毛坑不拉屎。

1) 生詞自查。
2) 伊索寓言介紹﹕Aesop's Fables or the Aesopica are a collection of fables
credited to Aesop, a slave and story-teller believed to have lived in ancient
Greece between 620 and 560 BC.
3) 伊索寓言也是眾所週知的。這裡選了其中三個小片段。寓言是帶有哲理的小故事﹐
通過故事告訴讀者一個道理。

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高級英語教材第43課

先讀課文﹕
Annabel Lee (1849)
by Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;--
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
She was a child and I was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love--
I and my Annabel Lee--
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud by night
Chilling my Annabel Lee;
So that her high-born kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in Heaven,
Went envying her and me:--
Yes! that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of a cloud, chilling
And killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we--
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in Heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:--

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I see the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In her sepulchre there by the sea--
In her tomb by the side of the sea.

1) 生詞自查。
2) 詩人介紹﹕Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809-- October 7, 1849) was an
American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the
American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the
macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short
story and is considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre. He is
further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction.
He was the first well-known American writer to try to earn a living through
writing alone, resulting in a financially difficult life and career.
3) Edgar Poe 也是非常著名的美國詩人﹑作家。這首詩也是讀者喜歡的一首。這首
詩每行長短不規則﹐每個詩節的行數也不規則。基本是隔行押韻﹐從頭到尾押同一
個韻。

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高級英語教材第44課

先讀課文﹕
Vanity Fair 名利場
by William Makepeace Thackeray

Capter I: Chiswick Mall
While the present century was in its teens, and on one sunshiny morning
in June, there drove up to the great iron gate of Miss Pinkerton's academy
for young ladies, on Chiswick Mall, a large family coach, with two fat horses
in blazing harness, driven by a fat coachman in a three-cornered hat and
wig, at the rate of four miles an hour. A black servant, who reposed on the
box beside the fat coachman, uncurled his bandy legs as soon as the equipage
drew up opposite Miss Pinkerton's shining brass plate, and as he pulled
the bell at least a score of young heads were seen peering out of the narrow
windows of the stately old brick house. Nay, the acute observer might have
recognized the little red nose of good-natured Miss Jemima Pinkerton herself,
rising over some geranium pots in the window of that lady's own drawing-room.

"It is Mrs. Sedley's coach, sister," said Miss Jemima. "Sambo, the black
servant, has just rung the bell; and the coachman has a new red waistcoat."
"Have you completed all the necessary preparations incident to Miss Sedley's
departure, Miss Jemima?" asked Miss Pinkerton herself, that majestic lady;
the Semiramis of Hammersmith, the friend of Doctor Johnson, the correspondent
of Mrs. Chapone herself.
"The girls were up at four this morning, packing her trunks, sister," replied
Miss Jemima; "we have made her a bow-pot."
"Say a bouquet, sister Jemima, 'tis more genteel."
"Well, a booky as big almost as a haystack; I have put up two bottles of
the gillyflower water for Mrs. Sedley, and the receipt for making it, in
Amelia's box."
"And I trust, Miss Jemima, you have made a copy of Miss Sedley's account.
This is it, is it? Very good--ninety-three pounds, four shillings. Be kind
enough to address it to John Sedley, Esquire, and to seal this billet which
I have written to his lady."

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕William Makepeace Thackeray (18 July 1811-- 24 December 1863)
was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical
works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.
3) 本書介紹﹕Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero is a novel by William Makepeace
Thackeray, first published in 1847--48, satirizing society in early 19th-century
Britain. The book's title comes from John Bunyan's allegorical story The
Pilgrim's Progress, first published in 1678 and still widely read at the
time of Thackeray's novel. Vanity Fair refers to a stop along the pilgrim's
progress: a never-ending fair held in a town called Vanity, which is meant
to represent man's sinful attachment to worldly things. The novel is now
considered a classic, and has inspired several film adaptations.
4) Thackeray 也是一位英國著名作家﹐他的“名利場”也是本世界名著﹐是本諷刺
小說﹐所以裡面沒有正面人物。該書可作泛讀材料之一。

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高級英語教材第45課

先讀課文﹕
Past and Present
by Thomas Carlyle

Book IV - Horoscope
Chapter I ﹕Aristocracies
To predict the Future, to manage the Present, would not be so impossible,
had not the Past been so sacrilegiously mishandled; effaced, and what is
worse, defaced! The Past cannot be seen; the Past, looked at through the
medium of 'Philosophical History' in these times, cannot even be _not_ seen:
it is misseen; affirmed to have existed,--and to have been a godless
Impossibility. Your Norman Conquerors, true royal souls, crowned kings as
such, were vulturous irrational tyrants: your Becket was a noisy egoist
and hypocrite; getting his brains spilt on the floor of Canterbury Cathedral,
to secure the main chance,--somewhat uncertain how! "Enthusiasm," and even
"honest Enthusiasm,"--yes, of course:
"The Dog, to gain his private ends,
_Went_ mad, and bit the Man!--"
For in truth, the eye sees in all things "what it brought with it the means
of seeing." A godless century, looking back on centuries that were godly,
produces portraitures more miraculous
than any other. All was inane discord in the Past; brute Force bore rule
everywhere; Stupidity, savage Unreason, fitter for Bedlam than for a human
World! Whereby indeed it becomes
sufficiently natural that the like qualities, in new sleeker habiliments,
should continue in our time to rule. Millions enchanted in Bastille Workhouses;
Irish Widows proving their
relationship by typhus-fever: what would you have? It was ever so, or worse.
Man's History, was it not always even this: The cookery and eating up of
imbecile Dupedom by successful
Quackhood; the battle, with various weapons, of vulturous Quack and Tyrant
against vulturous Tyrant and Quack? No God was in the Past Time; nothing
but Mechanisms and Chaotic Brute-gods:--how shall the poor "Philosophic
Historian," to whom his own century is all godless, see any God in other
centuries?
Men believe in Bibles, and disbelieve in them: but of all Bibles the frightfulest
to disbelieve in is this "Bible of Universal History." This is the Eternal
Bible and God's-Book, "which every born man," till once the soul and eyesight
are distinguished in him, "can and must, with his own eyes, see the God's-Finger
writing!" To discredit this, is an _infidelity_ like no other.
Such infidelity you would punish, if not by fire and faggot, which are difficult
to manage in our times, yet by the most peremptory order, To hold its peace
till it got something wiser to say. Why should the blessed Silence be broken
into noises, to communicate only the like of this? If the Past have no God's-
Reason in it, nothing but Devil's-Unreason, let the Past be eternally forgotten:
mention it no more;--we whose ancestors were all hanged, why should we talk
of ropes!
It is, in brief, not true that men ever lived by Delirium, Hypocrisy, Injustice,
or any form of Unreason, since they came to inhabit this Planet. It is
not true that they ever did, or ever
will, live except by the reverse of these. Men will again be taught this.
Their acted History will then again be a Heroism; their written History,
what it once was, an Epic. Nay, forever it is either such; or else it virtually
is--Nothing. Were it written in a thousand volumes, the Unheroic of such
volumes hastens incessantly to be forgotten; the net content of an Alexandrian
Library of Unheroics is, and will ultimately shew itself to be, _zero._
What man is interested to remember _it,_have not all men, at all times,
the liveliest interest to forget it?--"Revelations," if not celestial, then
infernal, will teach us that God is; we shall then, if needful, discern without
difficulty that He has always been! The Dryasdust Philosophisms and enlightened
Scepticisms of the Eighteenth Century, historical and other, will have to
survive for a while with the Physiologists, as a memorable _Nightmare-Dream._
All this haggard epoch, with its ghastly Doctrines, and death's-head Philosophies
"teaching by example" or otherwise, will one day
have become, what to our Moslem friends their godless ages are, "the Period
of Ignorance."
If the convulsive struggles of the last Half-Century have taught poor struggling
convulsed Europe any truth, it may perhaps be this as the essence of innumerable
others: That Europe requires a real Aristocracy, a real Priesthood, or it
cannot continue to exist. Huge French Revolutions, Napoleonisms, then Bourbonisms
with their corollary of Three Days, finishing in very unfinal Louis-Philippisms:
all this ought to be didactic! All this may have taught us, That False Aristocracies
are insupportable; that No-Aristocracies, Liberty-and-Equalities are impossible;
that True Aristocracies are at once indispensable and not easily attained.
Aristocracy and Priesthood, a Governing Class and a Teaching Class: these
two, sometimes separate, and endeavouring to harmonise themselves, sometimes
conjoined as one, and the King a Pontiff-King:--there did no Society exist
without these two vital elements, there will none exist. It lies in the
very nature of man: you will visit no remotest village in the most republican
country of the world, where virtually or actually you do not find these two
powers at work. Man, little as he may suppose it, is necessitated to obey
superiors. He is a social being in virtue of this necessity; nay he could
not be gregarious otherwise. He obeys those whom he esteems better than
himself, wiser, braver; and will forever obey such; and even be ready and
delighted to do it.
The Wiser, Braver: these, a Virtual Aristocracy everywhere and everywhen,
do in all Societies that reach any articulate shape, develop themselves
into a ruling class, an Actual Aristocracy, with settled modes of operating,
what are called laws and even _private-laws_ or privileges, and so forth;
very notable to look upon in this world.--Aristocracy and Priesthood, we
say, are sometimes united. For indeed the Wiser and the Braver are properly
but one class; no wise man but needed first of all to be a brave man, or
he never had been wise. The noble Priest was always a noble Aristos to begin
with, and something more to end with. Your Luther, your Knox, your Anselm,
Becket, Abbot Samson, Samuel Johnson, if they had not been brave enough,
by what possibility could they ever have been wise?--If, from accident or
forethought, this your Actual Aristocracy have got discriminated into Two
Classes, there can be no doubt but the Priest Class is the more dignified;
supreme over the other, as governing head is over active hand. And yet in
practice again, it is likeliest the reverse will be found arranged;--a sign
that the arrangement is already vitiated; that a split is introduced into
it, which will widen and widen till the whole be rent asunder. 本章太長﹐
切割了。要讀下去的人可古狗。

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕Thomas Carlyle (4 December 1795 -- 5 February 1881) was a Scottish
satirical writer, essayist, historian and teacher during the Victorian era.
He called economics "the dismal science", wrote articles for the Edinburgh
Encyclopedia, and became a controversial social commentator. Coming from
a strict Calvinist family, Carlyle was expected to become a preacher by
his parents, but while at the University of Edinburgh he lost his Christian
faith. Calvinist values, however, remained with him throughout his life.
His combination of a religious temperament with loss of faith in traditional
Christianity, made Carlyle's work appealing to many Victorians who were
grappling with scientific and political changes that threatened the traditional
social order. He brought a trenchant style to his social and political criticism
and a complex literary style to works such as The French Revolution: A History
(1837). Dickens used Carlyle's work as a primary source for the events of
the French Revolution in his novel A Tale of Two Cities.
3) 本書介紹﹕Past and Present is a book by Thomas Carlyle. It was published
in April 1843 in England and the following month in the United States. It
combines medieval history with criticism of 19th-century British society.
Carlyle wrote it in seven weeks as a respite from the harassing labor of
writing Cromwell. He was inspired by the recently published Chronicles of
the Abbey of Saint Edmund's Bury, which had been written by Jocelin of Brakelond
at the close of the 12th century. This account of a medieval monastery had
taken Carlyle's fancy, and he drew upon it in order to contrast the monks'
reverence for work and heroism with the sham leadership of his own day.
4) Thomas Carlyle 也是有名作家。他主要寫的不是小說。但以諷刺筆調著名。我
們可學習一下這種筆調。開闊我們的寫作視野。

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高級英語教材第46課

先讀課文﹕
Snow White and Seven Dwarves 白雪公主和七個小矮人
[Grimm's Fairy Tale version - translated by Margaret Hunt - language modernized
a bit by Leanne Guenther]

Once upon a time, long, long ago, a king and queen ruled over a distant
land. The queen was kind and lovely and all the people of the realm adored
her. The only sadness in the queen's life was that she wished for a child
but did not have one.
One winter day, the queen was doing needle work while gazing out her ebony
window at the new fallen snow. A bird flew by the window startling the
queen and she pricked her finger. A single drop of blood fell on the snow
outside her window. As she looked at the blood on the snow she said to
herself, "Oh, how I wish that I had a daughter that had skin as white as
snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony."
Soon after that, the kind queen got her wish when she gave birth to a baby
girl who had skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony.
They named the baby princess Snow White, but sadly, the queen died after
giving birth to Snow White.
Soon after, the king married a new woman who was beautiful, but as well
proud and cruel. She had studied dark magic and owned a magic mirror, of
which she would daily ask,
"Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who's the fairest of them all?"
Each time this question was asked, the mirror would give the same answer,
"Thou, O Queen, art the fairest of all." This pleased the queen greatly
as she knew that her magical mirror could speak nothing but the truth.
One morning when the queen asked, "Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who's the fairest of them all?" she was shocked when it answered:
"You, my queen, are fair; it is true.
But Snow White is even fairer than you."
The Queen flew into a jealous rage and ordered her huntsman to take Snow
White into the woods to be killed. She demanded that the huntsman return
with Snow White's heart as proof.
The poor huntsman took Snow White into the forest, but found himself unable
to kill the girl. Instead, he let her go, and brought the queen the heart
of a wild boar.
Snow White was now all alone in the great forest, and she did not know what
to do. The trees seemed to whisper to each other, scaring Snow White who
began to run. She ran over sharp stones and through thorns. She ran as
far as her feet could carry her, and just as evening was about to fall she
saw a little house and went inside in order to rest.
Inside the house everything was small but tidy. There was a little table
with a tidy, white tablecloth and seven little plates. Against the wall
there were seven little beds, all in a row and covered with quilts.
Because she was so hungry Snow White ate a few vegetables and a little bread
from each little plate and from each cup she drank a bit of milk. Afterward,
because she was so tired, she lay down on one of the little beds and fell
fast asleep.
After dark, the owners of the house returned home. They were the seven
dwarves who mined for gold in the mountains. As soon as they arrived home,
they saw that someone had been there -- for not everything was in the same
order as they had left it.
The first one said, "Who has been sitting in my chair?"
The second one, "Who has been eating from my plate?"
The third one, "Who has been eating my bread?"
The fourth one, "Who has been eating my vegetables?"
The fifth one, "Who has been eating with my fork?"
The sixth one, "Who has been drinking from my cup?"
But the seventh one, looking at his bed, found Snow White lying there asleep.
The seven dwarves all came running up, and they cried out with amazement.
They fetched their seven candles and shone the light on Snow White.
"Oh good heaven! " they cried. "This child is beautiful!"
They were so happy that they did not wake her up, but let her continue to
sleep in the bed. The next morning Snow White woke up, and when she saw
the seven dwarves she was frightened. But they were friendly and asked,
"What is your name?"
"My name is Snow White," she answered.
"How did you find your way to our house?" the dwarves asked further.
Then she told them that her stepmother had tried to kill her, that the huntsman
had spared her life, and that she had run the entire day through the forest,
finally stumbling upon their house.
The dwarves spoke with each other for awhile and then said, "If you will
keep house for us, and cook, make beds, wash, sew, and knit, and keep everything
clean and orderly, then you can stay with us, and you shall have everything
that you want."
"Yes," said Snow White, "with all my heart." For Snow White greatly enjoyed
keeping a tidy home.
So Snow White lived happily with the dwarves. Every morning they went into
the mountains looking for gold, and in the evening when they came back home
Snow White had their meal ready and their house tidy. During the day the
girl was alone, except for the small animals of the forest that she often
played with.
Now the queen, believing that she had eaten Snow White's heart, could only
think that she was again the first and the most beautiful woman of all.
She stepped before her mirror and said:
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who in this land is fairest of all?"
It answered: "You, my queen, are fair; it is true.
But Snow White, beyond the mountains with the seven dwarves,
Is still a thousand times fairer than you."
This startled the queen, for she knew that the mirror did not lie, and she
realized that the huntsman had deceived her and that Snow White was still
alive. Then she thought, and thought again, how she could rid herself of
Snow White -- for as long as she was not the most beautiful woman in the
entire land her jealousy would give her no rest.
At last she thought of something. She went into her most secret room --
no one else was allowed inside -- and she made a poisoned apple. From the
outside it was beautiful, and anyone who saw it would want it. But anyone
who might eat a little piece of it would die. Coloring her face, she disguised
herself as an old peddler woman, so that no one would recognize her, traveled
to the dwarves house and knocked on the door.
Snow White put her head out of the window, and said, "I must not let anyone
in; the seven dwarves have forbidden me to do so."
"That is all right with me," answered the peddler woman. "I'll easily get
rid of my apples. Here, I'll give you one of them."
"No," said Snow White, "I cannot accept anything from strangers."
"Are you afraid of poison?" asked the old woman. "Look, I'll cut the apple
in two. You eat half and I shall eat half."
Now the apple had been so artfully made that only the one half was poisoned.
Snow White longed for the beautiful apple, and when she saw that the peddler
woman was eating part of it she could no longer resist, and she stuck her
hand out and took the poisoned half. She barely had a bite in her mouth
when she fell to the ground dead.
The queen looked at her with an evil stare, laughed loudly, and said, "White
as snow, red as blood, black as ebony wood! The dwarves shall never awaken
you."
Back at home she asked her mirror: "Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who in this land is fairest of all?"
It finally answered: "You, my queen, are fairest of all."
Then her cruel and jealous heart was at rest, as well as a cruel and jealous
heart can be at rest.
When the dwarves came home that evening they found Snow White lying on the
ground. She was not breathing at all. She was dead. They lifted her up
and looked at her longingly. They talked to her, shook her and wept over
her. But nothing helped. The dear child was dead, and she remained dead.
They laid her on a bed of straw, and all seven sat next to her and mourned
for her and cried for three days. They were going to bury her, but she still
looked as fresh as a living person, and still had her beautiful red cheeks.

They said, "We cannot bury her in the black earth," and they had a transparent
glass coffin made, so she could be seen from all sides. They laid her inside,
and with golden letters wrote on it her name, and that she was a princess.
Then they put the coffin outside on a mountain, and one of them always
stayed with it and watched over her. The animals too came and mourned for
Snow White, first an owl, then a raven, and finally a dove.
Now it came to pass that a prince entered these woods and happened onto
the dwarves' house, where he sought shelter for the night . He saw the coffin
on the mountain with beautiful Snow White in it, and he read what was written
on it with golden letters.
Then he said to the dwarves, "Let me have the coffin. I will give you anything
you want for it."
But the dwarves answered, "We will not sell it for all the gold in the world.
"
Then he said, "Then give it to me, for I cannot live without being able
to see Snow White. I will honor her and respect her as my most cherished
one."
As he thus spoke, the good dwarves felt pity for him and gave him the coffin.
The prince had his servants carry it away on their shoulders. But then
it happened that one of them stumbled on some brush, and this dislodged
from Snow White's throat the piece of poisoned apple that she had bitten
off. Not long afterward she opened her eyes, lifted the lid from her coffin,
sat up, and was alive again.
"Good heavens, where am I?" she cried out.
The prince said joyfully, "You are with me." He told her what had happened,
and then said, "I love you more than anything else in the world. Come with
me to my father's castle. You shall become my wife." Snow White loved
him, and she went with him. Their wedding was planned with great splendor
and majesty.
Snow White's wicked step-mother was invited to the feast, and when she had
arrayed herself in her most beautiful garments, she stood before her mirror,
and said:
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall,
Who in this land is fairest of all?"
The mirror answered: "You, my queen, are fair; it is true.
But the young queen is a thousand times fairer than you. "
Not knowing that this new queen was indeed her stepdaughter, she arrived
at the wedding, and her heart filled with the deepest of dread when she
realized the truth - the evil queen was banished from the land forever and
the prince and Snow White lived happily ever after.

1) 生詞自查。
2) 背景介紹﹕"Snow White" is a German fairy tale known in many countries
in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the
Brothers Grimm in 1812 (German: Schneewittchen und die sieben Zwerge, "Snow
White and the Seven Dwarfs").
3) 格林兄弟介紹﹕The Brothers Grimm, Jacob (January 4, 1785 -- September
20, 1863) and Wilhelm Grimm (February 24, 1786 -- December 16, 1859), were
German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who together
collected folklore. They are among the most well-known storytellers of European
folk tales, and their work popularized such stories as "Cinderella", "The
Frog Prince", "Hansel and Gretel", "Rapunzel", "Rumpelstiltskin", and "Snow
White" (Schneewittchen). Their first collection of folk tales, Children's
and Household Tales, was published in 1812.
4) 格林童話可能大家小時候都聽說過﹐或者知道幾個。可是學英文的人未必都讀過
英文版的故事。所以讀一下對學英文未必沒有幫助。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第47課

先讀課文﹕
The Grapes of Wrath 憤怒的葡萄
By John Steinbeck

CHAPTER I
To the red country and part of the gray country of Oklahoma, the last rains
came gently, and they did not cut the scarred earth. The plows crossed and
recrossed the rivulet marks. The last rains lifted the corn quickly and
scattered weed colonies and grass along the sides of the roads so that the
gray country and the dark red country began to disappear under a green cover.
In the last part of May the sky grew pale and the clouds that had hung in
high puffs for so long in the spring were dissipated. The sun flared down
on the growing corn day after day until a line of brown spread along the
edge of each green bayonet. The clouds appeared, and went away, and in a
while they did not try any more. The weeds grew darker green to protect themselves,
and they did not spread any more. The surface of the earth crusted, a thin
hard crust, and as the sky became pale, so the earth became pale, pink in
the red country and white in the gray country.
In the water-cut gullies the earth dusted down in dry little streams. Gophers
and ant lions started small avalanches. And as the sharp sun struck day
after day, the leaves of the young corn became less stiff and erect; they
bent in a curve at first, and then, as the central ribs of strength grew
weak, each leaf tilted downward. Then it was June, and the sun shone more
fiercely. The brown lines on the corn leaves widened and moved in on the
central ribs. The weeds frayed and edged back toward their roots. The air
was thin and the sky more pale; and every day the earth paled.
In the roads where the teams moved, where the wheels milled the ground and
the hooves of the horses beat the ground, the dirt crust broke and the dust
formed. Every moving thing lifted the dust into the air: a walking man lifted
a thin layer as high as his waist, and a wagon lifted the dust as high as
the fence tops, and an automobile boiled a cloud behind it. The dust was
long in settling back again.
When June was half gone, the big clouds moved up out of Texas and the Gulf,
high heavy clouds, rainheads. The men in the fields looked up at the clouds
and sniffed at them and held wet fingers up to sense the wind. And the horses
were nervous while the clouds were up. The rainheads dropped a little spattering
and hurried on to some other country. Behind them the sky was pale again
and the sun flared. In the dust there were drop craters where the rain had
fallen, and there were clean splashes on the corn, and that was all.
A gentle wind followed the rain clouds, driving them on northward, a wind
that softly clashed the drying corn. A day went by and the wind increased,
steady, unbroken by gusts. The dust from the roads fluffed up and spread
out and fell on the weeds beside the fields, and fell into the fields a
little way. Now the wind grew strong and hard and it worked at the rain crust
in the corn fields. Little by little the sky was darkened by the mixing
dust, and the wind felt over the earth, loosened the dust, and carried it
away. The wind grew stronger. The rain crust broke and the dust lifted up
out of the fields and drove gray plumes into the air like sluggish smoke.
The corn threshed the wind and made a dry, rushing sound. The finest dust
did not settle back to earth now, but disappeared into the darkening sky.

The wind grew stronger, whisked under stones, carried up straws and old
leaves, and even little clods, marking its course as it sailed across the
fields. The air and the sky darkened and through them the sun shone redly,
and there was a raw sting in the air. During a night the wind raced faster
over the land, dug cunningly among the rootlets of the corn, and the corn
fought the wind with its weakened leaves until the roots were freed by the
prying wind and then each stalk settled wearily sideways toward the earth
and pointed the direction of the wind.
The dawn came, but no day. In the gray sky a red sun appeared, a dim red
circle that gave a little light, like dusk; and as that day advanced, the
dusk slipped back toward darkness, and the wind cried and whimpered over
the fallen corn.
Men and women huddled in their houses, and they tied handkerchiefs over
their noses when they went out, and wore goggles to protect their eyes.

When the night came again it was black night, for the stars could not pierce
the dust to get down, and the window lights could not even spread beyond
their own yards. Now the dust was evenly mixed with the air, an emulsion
of dust and air. Houses were shut tight, and cloth wedged around doors and
windows, but the dust came in so thinly that it could not be seen in the
air, and it settled like pollen on the chairs and tables, on the dishes.
The people brushed it from their shoulders. Little lines of dust lay at
the door sills.
In the middle of that night the wind passed on and left the land quiet.
The dust-filled air muffled sound more completely than fog does. The people,
lying in their beds, heard the wind stop. They awakened when the rushing
wind was gone. They lay quietly and listened deep into the stillness. Then
the roosters crowed, and their voices were muffled, and the people stirred
restlessly in their beds and wanted the morning. They knew it would take
a long time for the dust to settle out of the air. In the morning the dust
hung like fog, and the sun was as red as ripe new blood. All day the dust
sifted down from the sky, and the next day it sifted down. An even blanket
covered the earth. It settled on the corn, piled up on the tops of the fence
posts, piled up on the wires; it settled on roofs, blanketed the weeds and
trees.
The people came out of their houses and smelled the hot stinging air and
covered their noses from it. And the children came out of the houses, but
they did not run or shout as they would have done after a rain. Men stood
by their fences and looked at the ruined corn, drying fast now, only a little
green showing through the film of dust. The men were silent and they did
not move often. And the women came out of the houses to stand beside their
men—to feel whether this time the men would break. The women studied the
men's faces secretly, for the corn could go, as long as something else remained.
The children stood near by, drawing figures in the dust with bare toes,
and the children sent exploring senses out to see whether men and women
would break. The children peeked at the faces of the men and women, and then
drew careful lines in the dust with their toes. Horses came to the watering
troughs and nuzzled the water to clear the surface dust. After a while the
faces of the watching men lost their bemused perplexity and became hard
and angry and resistant. Then the women knew that they were safe and that
there was no break. Then they asked, What'll we do? And the men replied,
I don't know. But it was all right. The women knew it was all right, and
the watching children knew it was all right. Women and children knew deep
in themselves that no misfortune was too great to bear if their men were
whole. The women went into the houses to their work, and the children began
to play, but cautiously at first. As the day went forward the sun became
less red. It flared down on the dust-blanketed land. The men sat in the doorways
of their houses; their hands were busy with sticks and little rocks. The
men sat still—thinking—figuring.

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. (February 27, 1902 -- December 20,
1968) was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning
novel The Grapes of Wrath (1939) and East of Eden (1952) and the novella
Of Mice and Men (1937). He was an author of twenty-seven books, including
sixteen novels, six non-fiction books and five collections of short stories;
Steinbeck received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962.
3) 本書介紹﹕The Grapes of Wrath is an American realist novel written by
John Steinbeck and published in 1939. For it he won the annual National
Book Award and Pulitzer Prize for novels and it was cited prominently when
he won the Nobel Prize in 1962.
Set during the Great Depression指美國大蕭條時期, the novel focuses on the
Joads, a poor family of tenant farmers driven from their Oklahoma home by
drought, economic hardship, and changes in financial and agricultural industries.
Due to their nearly hopeless situation, and in part because they were trapped
in the Dust Bowl沙塵暴, the Joads set out for California. Along with thousands
of other "Okies", they sought jobs, land, dignity, and a future.
The Grapes of Wrath is frequently read in American high school and college
literature classes due to its historical context and enduring legacy. A
celebrated Hollywood film version, starring Henry Fonda and directed by
John Ford, was made in 1940.
4) John Steinbeck 當然是世界著名作家。其代表作“憤怒的葡萄”屬世界名著﹐
一本值得一讀的小說。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第48課

先讀課文﹕
A Doll's House 玩偶之家
by Henrik Ibsen

Act I
[SCENE: A room furnished comfortably and tastefully, but not extravagantly.
At the back, a door to the right leads to the entrance-hall, another to
the left leads to HELMER's study. Between the doors stands a piano. In the
middle of the left-hand wall is a door, and beyond it a window. Near the
window are a round table, arm-chairs and a small sofa. In the right-hand
wall, at the farther end, another door; and on the same side, nearer the
footlights, a stove, two easy chairs and a rocking-chair; between the stove
and the door, a small table. Engravings on the walls; a cabinet with china
and other small objects; a small book-case with well-bound books. The floors
are carpeted, and a fire burns in the stove. It is winter.
A bell rings in the hall; shortly afterwards the door is heard to open.
Enter NORA , humming a tune and in high spirits. She is in out-door dress
and carries a number of parcels; these she lays on the table to the right.
She leaves the outer door open after her, and through it is seen a PORTER
who is carrying a Christmas Tree and a basket, which he gives to the MAID
who has opened the door.]
NORA: Hide the Christmas Tree carefully, Helen. Be sure the children do
not see it till this evening, when it is dressed. [To the PORTER, taking
out her purse.] How much?
PORTER: Sixpence.
NORA: There is a shilling. No, keep the change. [The PORTER thanks her,
and goes out. Nora shuts the door. She is laughing to herself, as she takes
off her hat and coat. She takes a packet of macaroons from her pocket and
eats one or two; then goes cautiously to her husband's door and listens.]
Yes, he is in. [Still humming, she goes to the table on the right.]
HELMER: [calls out from his room]. Is that my little lark twittering out
there?
NORA: [busy opening some of the parcels]. Yes, it is!
HELMER: Is it my little squirrel bustling about?
NORA: Yes!
HELMER: When did my squirrel come home?
NORA: Just now. [Puts the bag of macaroons into her pocket and wipes her
mouth.] Come in here, Torvald, and see what I have bought.
HELMER: Don't disturb me. [A little later, he opens the door and looks into
the room, pen in hand.] Bought, did you say? All these things? Has my little
spendthrift been wasting money again?
NORA: Yes, but, Torvald, this year we really can let ourselves go a little.
This is the first Christmas that we have not needed to economise.
HELMER: Still, you know, we can't spend money recklessly.
NORA: Yes, Torvald, we may be a wee bit more reckless now, mayn't we? Just
a tiny wee bit! You are going to have a big salary and earn lots and lots
of money.
HELMER: Yes, after the New Year; but then it will be a whole quarter before
the salary is due.
NORA: Pooh! we can borrow till then.
HELMER: Nora! [Goes up to her and takes her playfully by the ear.] The same
little featherhead! Suppose, now, that I borrowed fifty pounds to-day, and
you spent it all in the Christmas week, and then on New Year's Eve a slate
fell on my head and killed me, and ...
NORA: [putting her hands over his mouth]. Oh! don't say such horrid things.
HELMER: Still, suppose that happened, what then?
NORA: If that were to happen, I don't suppose I should care whether I owed
money or not.
HELMER: Yes, but what about the people who had lent it?
NORA: They? Who would bother about them? I should not know who they were.
HELMER: That is like a woman! But seriously, Nora, you know what I think
about that. No debt, no borrowing. There can be no freedom or beauty about
a home life that depends on borrowing and debt. We two have kept bravely
on the straight road so far, and we will go on the same way for the short
time longer that there need be any struggle.
NORA: [moving towards the stove]. As you please, Torvald.
HELMER: [following her]. Come, come, my little skylark must not droop her
wings. What is this! Is my little squirrel out of temper? [Taking out his
purse.] Nora, what do you think I have got here?
NORA: [turning round quickly]. Money!
HELMER: There you are. [Gives her some money.] Do you think I don't know
what a lot is wanted for housekeeping at Christmas-time?
NORA: [counting]. Ten shillings, a pound, two pounds! Thank you, thank you,
Torvald; that will keep me going for a long time.
HELMER: Indeed it must.
NORA: Yes, yes, it will. But come here and let me show you what I have bought.
And all so cheap! Look, here is a new suit for Ivar, and a sword; and a
horse and a trumpet for Bob; and a doll and dolly's bedstead for Emmy, they
are very plain, but anyway she will soon break them in pieces. And here
are dress-lengths and handkerchiefs for the maids; old Anne ought really
to have something better.
HELMER: And what is in this parcel?
NORA: [crying out]. No, no! you mustn't see that till this evening.
HELMER: Very well. But now tell me, you extravagant little person, what
would you like for yourself?
NORA: For myself? Oh, I am sure I don't want anything.
HELMER: Yes, but you must. Tell me something reasonable that you would particularly
like to have.
NORA: No, I really can't think of anything, unless, Torvald.
HELMER: Well?
NORA: [playing with his coat buttons, and without raising her eyes to his].
If you really want to give me something, you might, you might ...
HELMER: Well, out with it!
NORA: [speaking quickly]. You might give me money, Torvald. Only just as
much as you can afford; and then one of these days I will buy something
with it.
HELMER: But, Nora.
NORA: Oh, do! dear Torvald; please, please do! Then I will wrap it up in
beautiful gilt paper and hang it on the Christmas Tree. Wouldn't that be
fun?
HELMER: What are little people called that are always wasting money?
NORA: Spendthrifts,I know. Let us do as you suggest, Torvald, and then I
shall have time to think what I am most in want of. That is a very sensible
plan, isn't it?
HELMER: [smiling]. Indeed it is, that is to say, if you were really to save
out of the money I give you, and then really buy something for yourself.
But if you spend it all on the housekeeping and any number of unnecessary
things, then I merely have to pay up again.
NORA: Oh but, Torvald.
HELMER: You can't deny it, my dear little Nora. [Puts his arm round her
waist.] It's a sweet little spendthrift, but she uses up a deal of money.
One would hardly believe how expensive such little persons are!
NORA: It's a shame to say that. I do really save all I can.
HELMER: [laughing]. That's very true, all you can. But you can't save anything!

NORA: [smiling quietly and happily]. You haven't any idea how many expenses
we skylarks and squirrels have, Torvald.
HELMER: You are an odd little soul. Very like your father. You always find
some new way of wheedling money out of me, and, as soon as you have got
it, it seems to melt in your hands. You never know where it has gone. Still,
one must take you as you are. It is in the blood; for indeed it is true
that you can inherit these things, Nora.
NORA: Ah, I wish I had inherited many of papa's qualities.
HELMER: And I would not wish you to be anything but just what you are, my
sweet little skylark. But, do you know, it strikes me that you are looking
rather, what shall I say, rather uneasy to-day?
NORA: Do I?
HELMER: You do, really. Look straight at me.
NORA: [looks at him]. Well?
HELMER: [wagging his finger at her]. Hasn't Miss Sweet-Tooth been breaking
rules in town to-day?
NORA: No; what makes you think that?
HELMER: Hasn't she paid a visit to the confectioner's?
NORA: No, I assure you, Torvald.
HELMER: Not been nibbling sweets?
NORA: No, certainly not.
HELMER: Not even taken a bite at a macaroon or two?
NORA: No, Torvald, I assure you really.
HELMER: There, there, of course I was only joking.
NORA: [going to the table on the right]. I should not think of going against
your wishes.
HELMER: No, I am sure of that; besides, you gave me your word. [Going up
to her.] Keep your little Christmas secrets to yourself, my darling. They
will all be revealed to-night when the Christmas Tree is lit, no doubt.
NORA: Did you remember to invite Doctor Rank?
HELMER: No. But there is no need; as a matter of course he will come to
dinner with us. However, I will ask him when he comes in this morning. I
have ordered some good wine. Nora, you can't think how I am looking forward
to this evening.
NORA: So am I! And how the children will enjoy themselves, Torvald!
HELMER: It is splendid to feel that one has a perfectly safe appointment,
and a big enough income. It's delightful to think of, isn't it?
NORA: It's wonderful!
HELMER: Do you remember last Christmas? For a full three weeks beforehand
you shut yourself up every evening till long after midnight, making ornaments
for the Christmas Tree, and all the other fine things that were to be a
surprise to us. It was the dullest three weeks I ever spent!
NORA: I didn't find it dull.
HELMER: [smiling]. But there was precious little result, Nora.
NORA: Oh, you shouldn't tease me about that again. How could I help the
cat's going in and tearing everything to pieces?
HELMER: Of course you couldn't, poor little girl. You had the best of intentions
to please us all, and that's the main thing. But it is a good thing that
our hard times are over.
NORA: Yes, it is really wonderful.
HELMER: This time I needn't sit here and be dull all alone, and you needn't
ruin your dear eyes and your pretty little hands.
NORA: [clapping her hands]. No, Torvald, I needn't any longer, need I! It's
wonderfully lovely to hear you say so! [Taking his arm.] Now I will tell
you how I have been thinking we ought to arrange things, Torvald. As soon
as Christmas is over, [A bell rings in the hall.] There's the bell. [She
tidies the room a little.] There's some one at the door. What a nuisance!
HELMER: If it is a caller, remember I am not at home.
MAID: [in the doorway]. A lady to see you, ma'am, a stranger.
NORA: Ask her to come in.
MAID: [to Helmer]. The doctor came at the same time, sir.
HELMER: Did he go straight into my room?
MAID: Yes, sir.
[HELMER goes into his room. The MAID ushers in MRS. LINDE, who is in travelling
dress, and shuts the door.]
MRS. LINDE: [in a dejected and timid voice]. How do you do, Nora?
NORA: [doubtfully]. How do you do?
MRS. LINDE: You don't recognise me, I suppose.
NORA: No, I don't know, yes, to be sure, I seem to, [Suddenly.] Yes! Christine!
Is it really you?
MRS. LINDE: Yes, it is I.
NORA: Christine! To think of my not recognising you! And yet how could I?
[In a gentle voice.] How you have altered, Christine!
MRS. LINDE: Yes, I have indeed. In nine, ten long years.
NORA: Is it so long since we met? I suppose it is. The last eight years
have been a happy time for me, I can tell you. And so now you have come
into the town, and have taken this long journey in winter, that was plucky
of you.
MRS. LINDE: I arrived by steamer this morning.
NORA: To have some fun at Christmas-time, of course. How delightful! We
will have such fun together! But take off your things. You are not cold,
I hope. [Helps her.] Now we will sit down by the stove, and be cosy. No,
take this arm-chair; I will sit here in the rocking-chair. [Takes her hands.]
Now you look like your old self again; it was only the first moment. You
are a little paler, Christine, and perhaps a little thinner.
MRS. LINDE: And much, much older, Nora.
NORA: Perhaps a little older; very, very little; certainly not much. [Stops
suddenly and speaks seriously.] What a thoughtless creature I am, chattering
away like this. My poor, dear Christine, do forgive me.
MRS. LINDE: What do you mean, Nora?
NORA: [gently]. Poor Christine, you are a widow.
MRS. LINDE: Yes; it is three years ago now.
NORA: Yes, I knew; I saw it in the papers. I assure you, Christine, I meant
ever so often to write to you at the time, but I always put it off and something
always prevented me.
MRS. LINDE: I quite understand, dear.
NORA: It was very bad of me, Christine. Poor thing, how you must have suffered.
And he left you nothing?
MRS. LINDE: No.
NORA: And no children?
MRS. LINDE: No.
NORA: Nothing at all, then.
MRS. LINDE: Not even any sorrow or grief to live upon.
NORA: [looking incredulously at her]. But, Christine, is that possible?
MRS. LINDE: [smiles sadly and strokes her hair]. It sometimes happens, Nora.
NORA: So you are quite alone. How dreadfully sad that must be. I have three
lovely children. You can't see them just now, for they are out with their
nurse. But now you must tell me all about it.
MRS. LINDE: No, no; I want to hear about you.
NORA: No, you must begin. I mustn't be selfish to-day; to-day I must only
think of your affairs. But there is one thing I must tell you. Do you know
we have just had a great piece of good luck?
MRS. LINDE: No, what is it?
NORA: Just fancy, my husband has been made manager of the Bank!
MRS. LINDE: Your husband? What good luck!
NORA: Yes, tremendous! A barrister's profession is such an uncertain thing,
especially if he won't undertake unsavoury cases; and naturally Torvald
has never been willing to do that, and I quite agree with him. You may imagine
how pleased we are! He is to take up his work in the Bank at the New Year,
and then he will have a big salary and lots of commissions. For the future
we can live quite differently, we can do just as we like. I feel so relieved
and so happy, Christine! It will be splendid to have heaps of money and
not need to have any anxiety, won't it?
MRS. LINDE: Yes, anyhow I think it would be delightful to have what one
needs.
NORA: No, not only what one needs, but heaps and heaps of money.
MRS. LINDE: [smiling]. Nora, Nora, haven't you learnt sense yet? In our
schooldays you were a great spendthrift.
NORA: [laughing]. Yes, that is what Torvald says now. [Wags her finger at
her.] But "Nora, Nora," is not so silly as you think. We have not been in
a position for me to waste money. We have both had to work.
MRS. LINDE: You too?
NORA: Yes; odds and ends, needlework, crotchet-work, embroidery, and that
kind of thing. [Dropping her voice.] And other things as well. You know
Torvald left his office when we were married? There was no prospect of promotion
there, and he had to try and earn more than before. But during the first
year he over-worked himself dreadfully. You see, he had to make money every
way he could, and he worked early and late; but he couldn't stand it, and
fell dreadfully ill, and the doctors said it was necessary for him to go
south.
MRS. LINDE: You spent a whole year in Italy, didn't you?
NORA: Yes. It was no easy matter to get away, I can tell you. It was just
after Ivar was born; but naturally we had to go. It was a wonderfully beautiful
journey, and it saved Torvald's life. But it cost a tremendous lot of money,
Christine.
MRS. LINDE: So I should think.
NORA: It cost about two hundred and fifty pounds. That's a lot, isn't it?
MRS. LINDE: Yes, and in emergencies like that it is lucky to have the money.
NORA: I ought to tell you that we had it from papa.
MRS. LINDE: Oh, I see. It was just about that time that he died, wasn't
it?
NORA: Yes; and, just think of it, I couldn't go and nurse him. I was expecting
little Ivar's birth every day and I had my poor sick Torvald to look after.
My dear, kind father, I never saw him again, Christine. That was the saddest
time I have known since our marriage.
MRS. LINDE: I know how fond you were of him. And then you went off to Italy?
NORA: Yes; you see we had money then, and the doctors insisted on our going,
so we started a month later.
MRS. LINDE: And your husband came back quite well?
NORA: As sound as a bell!
MRS. LINDE: But, the doctor?
NORA: What doctor?
MRS. LINDE: I thought your maid said the gentleman who arrived here just
as I did, was the doctor?
NORA: Yes, that was Doctor Rank, but he doesn't come here professionally.
He is our greatest friend, and comes in at least once every day. No, Torvald
has not had an hour's illness since then, and our children are strong and
healthy and so am I. [Jumps up and claps her hands.] Christine! Christine!
it's good to be alive and happy! But how horrid of me; I am talking of nothing
but my own affairs. [Sits on a stool near her, and rests her arms on her
knees.] You mustn't be angry with me. Tell me, is it really true that you
did not love your husband? Why did you marry him?
MRS. LINDE: My mother was alive then, and was bedridden and helpless, and
I had to provide for my two younger brothers; so I did not think I was justified
in refusing his offer.
NORA: No, perhaps you were quite right. He was rich at that time, then?
MRS. LINDE: I believe he was quite well off. But his business was a precarious
one; and, when he died, it all went to pieces and there was nothing left.
NORA: And then?
MRS. LINDE: Well, I had to turn my hand to anything I could find, first
a small shop, then a small school, and so on. The last three years have
seemed like one long working-day, with no rest. Now it is at an end, Nora.
My poor mother needs me no more, for she is gone; and the boys do not need
me either; they have got situations and can shift for themselves.
NORA: What a relief you must feel it!
MRS. LINDE: No, indeed; I only feel my life unspeakably empty. No one to
live for any more. [Gets up restlessly.] That was why I could not stand
the life in my little backwater any longer. I hope it may be easier here
to find something which will busy me and occupy my thoughts. If only I could
have the good luck to get some regular work, office work of some kind.
NORA: But, Christine, that is so frightfully tiring, and you look tired
out now. You had far better go away to some watering-place.
MRS. LINDE: [walking to the window]. I have no father to give me money for
a journey, Nora.
NORA: [rising]. Oh, don't be angry with me!
MRS. LINDE: [going up to her]. It is you that must not be angry with me,
dear. The worst of a position like mine is that it makes one so bitter.
No one to work for, and yet obliged to be always on the lookout for chances.
One must live, and so one becomes selfish. When you told me of the happy
turn your fortunes have taken, you will hardly believe it. I was delighted
not so much on your account as on my own.
NORA: How do you mean? Oh, I understand. You mean that perhaps Torvald could
get you something to do.
MRS. LINDE: Yes, that was what I was thinking of.
NORA: He must, Christine. Just leave it to me; I will broach the subject
very cleverly. I will think of something that will please him very much.
It will make me so happy to be of some use to you.
MRS. LINDE: How kind you are, Nora, to be so anxious to help me! It is doubly
kind in you, for you know so little of the burdens and troubles of life.
NORA: I? I know so little of them?
MRS. LINDE: [smiling]. My dear! Small household cares and that sort of thing!
You are a child, Nora.
NORA: [tosses her head and crosses the stage]. You ought not to be so superior.

MRS. LINDE: No?
NORA: You are just like the others. They all think that I am incapable of
anything really serious.
MRS. LINDE: Come, come.
NORA: that I have gone through nothing in this world of cares.
MRS. LINDE: But, my dear Nora, you have just told me all your troubles.
NORA: Pooh! those were trifles. [Lowering her voice.] I have not told you
the important thing.
MRS. LINDE: The important thing? What do you mean?
NORA: You look down upon me altogether, Christine, but you ought not to.
You are proud, aren't you, of having worked so hard and so long for your
mother?
MRS. LINDE: Indeed, I don't look down on anyone. But it is true that I am
both proud and glad to think that I was privileged to make the end of my
mother's life almost free from care.
NORA: And you are proud to think of what you have done for your brothers?
MRS. LINDE: I think I have the right to be.
NORA: I think so, too. But now, listen to this; I too have something to
be proud and glad of.
MRS. LINDE: I have no doubt you have. But what do you refer to?
NORA: Speak low. Suppose Torvald were to hear! He mustn't on any account,
no one in the world must know, Christine, except you.
MRS. LINDE: But what is it?
NORA: Come here. [Pulls her down on the sofa beside her.] Now I will show
you that I too have something to be proud and glad of. It was I who saved
Torvald's life.
MRS. LINDE: "Saved"? How?
NORA: I told you about our trip to Italy. Torvald would never have recovered
if he had not gone there.
MRS. LINDE: Yes, but your father gave you the necessary funds.
NORA: [smiling]. Yes, that is what Torvald and all the others think, but,
MRS. LINDE: But ...
NORA: Papa didn't give us a shilling. It was I who procured the money.
MRS. LINDE: You? All that large sum?
NORA: Two hundred and fifty pounds. What do you think of that?
MRS. LINDE: But, Nora, how could you possibly do it? Did you win a prize
in the Lottery?
NORA: [contemptuously]. In the Lottery? There would have been no credit
in that.
MRS. LINDE: But where did you get it from, then?
NORA: [humming and smiling with an air of mystery]. Hm, hm! Aha!
MRS. LINDE: Because you couldn't have borrowed it.
NORA: Couldn't I? Why not?
MRS. LINDE: No, a wife cannot borrow without her husband's consent.
NORA: [tossing her head]. Oh, if it is a wife who has any head for business,
a wife who has the wit to be a little bit clever.
MRS. LINDE: I don't understand it at all, Nora.
NORA: There is no need you should. I never said I had borrowed the money.
I may have got it some other way. [Lies back on the sofa.] Perhaps I got
it from some other admirer. When anyone is as attractive as I am.
MRS. LINDE: You are a mad creature.
NORA: Now, you know you're full of curiosity, Christine.
MRS. LINDE: Listen to me, Nora dear. Haven't you been a little bit imprudent?
NORA: [sits up straight]. Is it imprudent to save your husband's life?
MRS. LINDE: It seems to me imprudent, without his knowledge, to ...
NORA: But it was absolutely necessary that he should not know! My goodness,
can't you understand that? It was necessary he should have no idea what
a dangerous condition he was in. It was to me that the doctors came and
said that his life was in danger, and that the only thing to save him was
to live in the south. Do you suppose I didn't try, first of all, to get what
I wanted as if it were for myself? I told him how much I should love to
travel abroad like other young wives; I tried tears and entreaties with
him; I told him that he ought to remember the condition I was in, and that
he ought to be kind and indulgent to me; I even hinted that he might raise
a loan. That nearly made him angry, Christine. He said I was thoughtless,
and that it was his duty as my husband not to indulge me in my whims and
caprices, as I believe he called them. Very well, I thought, you must be
saved and that was how I came to devise a way out of the difficulty.
MRS. LINDE: And did your husband never get to know from your father that
the money had not come from him?
NORA: No, never. Papa died just at that time. I had meant to let him into
the secret and beg him never to reveal it. But he was so ill then, alas,
there never was any need to tell him.
MRS. LINDE: And since then have you never told your secret to your husband?
NORA: Good Heavens, no! How could you think so? A man who has such strong
opinions about these things! And besides, how painful and humiliating it
would be for Torvald, with his manly independence, to know that he owed
me anything! It would upset our mutual relations altogether; our beautiful
happy home would no longer be what it is now.
MRS. LINDE: Do you mean never to tell him about it?
NORA: [meditatively, and with a half smile]. Yes, some day, perhaps, after
many years, when I am no longer as nice-looking as I am now. Don't laugh
at me! I mean, of course, when Torvald is no longer as devoted to me as
he is now; when my dancing and dressing-up and reciting have palled on him;
then it may be a good thing to have something in reserve [Breaking off.]
What nonsense! That time will never come. Now, what do you think of my great
secret, Christine? Do you still think I am of no use? I can tell you, too,
that this affair has caused me a lot of worry. It has been by no means easy
for me to meet my engagements punctually. I may tell you that there is something
that is called, in business, quarterly interest, and another thing called
payment in instalments, and it is always so dreadfully difficult to manage
them. I have had to save a little here and there, where I could, you understand.
I have not been able to put aside much from my housekeeping money, for
Torvald must have a good table. I couldn't let my children be shabbily dressed;
I have felt obliged to use up all he gave me for them, the sweet little
darlings!
MRS. LINDE: So it has all had to come out of your own necessaries of life,
poor Nora?
NORA: Of course. Besides, I was the one responsible for it. Whenever Torvald
has given me money for new dresses and such things, I have never spent more
than half of it; I have always bought the simplest and cheapest things.
Thank Heaven, any clothes look well on me, and so Torvald has never noticed
it. But it was often very hard on me, Christine, because it is delightful
to be really well dressed, isn't it?
MRS. LINDE: Quite so.
NORA: Well, then I have found other ways of earning money. Last winter I
was lucky enough to get a lot of copying to do; so I locked myself up and
sat writing every evening till quite late at night. Many a time I was desperately
tired; but all the same it was a tremendous pleasure to sit there working
and earning money. It was like being a man.
MRS. LINDE: How much have you been able to pay off in that way?
NORA: I can't tell you exactly. You see, it is very difficult to keep an
account of a business matter of that kind. I only know that I have paid
every penny that I could scrape together. Many a time I was at my wits'
end. [Smiles.] Then I used to sit here and imagine that a rich old gentleman
had fallen in love with me.
MRS. LINDE: What! Who was it?
NORA: Be quiet! that he had died; and that when his will was opened it contained,
written in big letters, the instructio: "The lovely Mrs. Nora Helmer is
to have all I possess paid over to her at once in cash."
MRS. LINDE: But, my dear Nora, who could the man be?
NORA: Good gracious, can't you understand? There was no old gentleman at
all; it was only something that I used to sit here and imagine, when I couldn'
t think of any way of procuring money. But it's all the same now; the tiresome
old person can stay where he is, as far as I am concerned; I don't care
about him or his will either, for I am free from care now. [Jumps up.] My
goodness, it's delightful to think of, Christine! Free from care! To be
able to be free from care, quite free from care; to be able to play and
romp with the children; to be able to keep the house beautifully and have
everything just as Torvald likes it! And, think of it, soon the spring will
come and the big blue sky! Perhaps we shall be able to take a little trip,
perhaps I shall see the sea again! Oh, it's a wonderful thing to be alive
and be happy. [A bell is heard in the hall.]
MRS. LINDE: [rising]. There is the bell; perhaps I had better go.
NORA: No, don't go; no one will come in here; it is sure to be for Torvald.
SERVANT: [at the hall door]. Excuse me, ma'am, there is a gentleman to see
the master, and as the doctor is with him. 第一幕太長﹐這裡切斷一下。要讀
下去的人可上古狗。

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕Henrik Ibsen (Norwegian pronunciation: [20 March 1828 -- 23
May 1906) was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director,
and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is
one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre. His major works include
Brand, Peer Gynt, An Enemy of the People, Emperor and Galilean, A Doll's
House, Hedda Gabler, Ghosts, The Wild Duck, Rosmersholm, and The Master
Builder.
3) 玩偶之家介紹﹕A Doll's House (also translated as A Doll House) is a three-
act play in prose by the playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal
Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published
earlier that month.
4) 易卜生是世界有名的劇作家。其三幕劇“玩偶之家”也是名劇。其英文翻譯可讀
性很高。這裡推薦作為泛讀材料。

[海外逸士]

高級英語教材第49課

先讀課文﹕
War and Peace 戰爭與和平
by Leo Tolstoy 托爾司泰
Translated by Louise and Aylmer Maude

Chapter I
"Well, Prince, so Genoa and Lucca are now just family estates of the Buonapartes.
拿坡倫 But I warn you, if you don't tell me that this means war, if you
still try to defend the infamies and horrors perpetrated by that Antichrist-
I really believe he is Antichrist- I will have nothing more to do with you
and you are no longer my friend, no longer my 'faithful slave,' as you call
yourself! But how do you do? I see I have frightened you- sit down and tell
me all the news."
It was in July, 1805, and the speaker was the well-known Anna Pavlovna Scherer,
maid of honor and favorite of the Empress Marya Fedorovna. With these words
she greeted Prince Vasili Kuragin, a man of high rank and importance, who
was the first to arrive at her reception. Anna Pavlovna had had a cough
for some days. She was, as she said, suffering from la grippe; grippe being
then a new word in St. Petersburg, used only by the elite.
All her invitations without exception, written in French, and delivered
by a scarlet-liveried footman that morning, ran as follows:
"If you have nothing better to do, Count [or Prince], and if the prospect
of spending an evening with a poor invalid is not too terrible, I shall
be very charmed to see you tonight between 7 and 10- Annette Scherer."
"Heavens! what a virulent attack!" replied the prince, not in the least
disconcerted by this reception. He had just entered, wearing an embroidered
court uniform, knee breeches, and shoes, and had stars on his breast and
a serene expression on his flat face. He spoke in that refined French in
which our grandfathers not only spoke but thought, and with the gentle, patronizing
intonation natural to a man of importance who had grown old in society and
at court. He went up to Anna Pavlovna, kissed her hand, presenting to her
his bald, scented, and shining head, and complacently seated himself on
the sofa.
"First of all, dear friend, tell me how you are. Set your friend's mind
at rest," said he without altering his tone, beneath the politeness and
affected sympathy of which indifference and even irony could be discerned.
"Can one be well while suffering morally? Can one be calm in times like
these if one has any feeling?" said Anna Pavlovna. "You are staying the
whole evening, I hope?"
"And the fete at the English ambassador's? Today is Wednesday. I must put
in an appearance there," said the prince. "My daughter is coming for me
to take me there."
"I thought today's fete had been canceled. I confess all these festivities
and fireworks are becoming wearisome."
"If they had known that you wished it, the entertainment would have been
put off," said the prince, who, like a wound-up clock, by force of habit
said things he did not even wish to be believed.
"Don't tease! Well, and what has been decided about Novosiltsev's dispatch?
You know everything."
"What can one say about it?" replied the prince in a cold, listless tone.
"What has been decided? They have decided that Buonaparte has burnt his
boats, and I believe that we are ready to burn ours."
Prince Vasili always spoke languidly, like an actor repeating a stale part.
Anna Pavlovna Scherer on the contrary, despite her forty years, overflowed
with animation and impulsiveness. To be an enthusiast had become her social
vocation and, sometimes even when she did not feel like it, she became enthusiastic
in order not to disappoint the expectations of those who knew her. The subdued
smile which, though it did not suit her faded features, always played round
her lips expressed, as in a spoiled child, a continual consciousness of her
charming defect, which she neither wished, nor could, nor considered it
necessary, to correct.
In the midst of a conversation on political matters Anna Pavlovna burst
out:
"Oh, don't speak to me of Austria. Perhaps I don't understand things, but
Austria never has wished, and does not wish, for war. She is betraying us!
Russia alone must save Europe. Our gracious sovereign recognizes his high
vocation and will be true to it. That is the one thing I have faith in!
Our good and wonderful sovereign has to perform the noblest role on earth,
and he is so virtuous and noble that God will not forsake him. He will fulfill
his vocation and crush the hydra of revolution, which has become more terrible
than ever in the person of this murderer and villain! We alone must avenge
the blood of the just one.... Whom, I ask you, can we rely on?... England
with her commercial spirit will not and cannot understand the Emperor Alexander'
s loftiness of soul. She has refused to evacuate Malta. She wanted to find,
and still seeks, some secret motive in our actions. What answer did Novosiltsev
get? None. The English have not understood and cannot understand the self-abnegation
of our Emperor who wants nothing for himself, but only desires the good
of mankind. And what have they promised? Nothing! And what little they have
promised they will not perform! Prussia has always declared that Buonaparte
is invincible, and that all Europe is powerless before him.... And I don't
believe a word that Hardenburg says, or Haugwitz either. This famous Prussian
neutrality is just a trap. I have faith only in God and the lofty destiny
of our adored monarch. He will save Europe!"
She suddenly paused, smiling at her own impetuosity.
"I think," said the prince with a smile, "that if you had been sent instead
of our dear Wintzingerode you would have captured the King of Prussia's
consent by assault. You are so eloquent. Will you give me a cup of tea?"
"In a moment. A propos," she added, becoming calm again, "I am expecting
two very interesting men tonight, le Vicomte de Mortemart, who is connected
with the Montmorencys through the Rohans, one of the best French families.
He is one of the genuine emigres, the good ones. And also the Abbe Morio.
Do you know that profound thinker? He has been received by the Emperor.
Had you heard?"
"I shall be delighted to meet them," said the prince. "But tell me," he
added with studied carelessness as if it had only just occurred to him,
though the question he was about to ask was the chief motive of his visit,
"is it true that the Dowager Empress 太后 wants Baron Funke to be appointed
first secretary at Vienna? The baron by all accounts is a poor creature."
Prince Vasili wished to obtain this post for his son, but others were trying
through the Dowager Empress Marya Fedorovna to secure it for the baron.
Anna Pavlovna almost closed her eyes to indicate that neither she nor anyone
else had a right to criticize what the Empress desired or was pleased with.
"Baron Funke has been recommended to the Dowager Empress by her sister,"
was all she said, in a dry and mournful tone.
As she named the Empress, Anna Pavlovna's face suddenly assumed an expression
of profound and sincere devotion and respect mingled with sadness, and this
occurred every time she mentioned her illustrious patroness. She added that
Her Majesty had deigned to show Baron Funke beaucoup d'estime, and again
her face clouded over with sadness.
The prince was silent and looked indifferent. But, with the womanly and
courtierlike quickness and tact habitual to her, Anna Pavlovna wished both
to rebuke him (for daring to speak he had done of a man recommended to the
Empress) and at the same time to console him, so she said:
"Now about your family. Do you know that since your daughter came out everyone
has been enraptured by her? They say she is amazingly beautiful."
The prince bowed to signify his respect and gratitude.
"I often think," she continued after a short pause, drawing nearer to the
prince and smiling amiably at him as if to show that political and social
topics were ended and the time had come for intimate conversation- "I often
think how unfairly sometimes the joys of life are distributed. Why has fate
given you two such splendid children? I don't speak of Anatole, your youngest.
I don't like him," she added in a tone admitting of no rejoinder and raising
her eyebrows. "Two such charming children. And really you appreciate them
less than anyone, and so you don't deserve to have them."
And she smiled her ecstatic smile.
"I can't help it," said the prince. "Lavater would have said I lack the
bump of paternity."
"Don't joke; I mean to have a serious talk with you. Do you know I am dissatisfied
with your younger son? Between ourselves" (and her face assumed its melancholy
expression), "he was mentioned at Her Majesty's and you were pitied...."
The prince answered nothing, but she looked at him significantly, awaiting
a reply. He frowned.
"What would you have me do?" he said at last. "You know I did all a father
could for their education, and they have both turned out fools. Hippolyte
is at least a quiet fool, but Anatole is an active one. That is the only
difference between them." He said this smiling in a way more natural and
animated than usual, so that the wrinkles round his mouth very clearly revealed
something unexpectedly coarse and unpleasant.
"And why are children born to such men as you? If you were not a father
there would be nothing I could reproach you with," said Anna Pavlovna, looking
up pensively.
"I am your faithful slave and to you alone I can confess that my children
are the bane of my life. It is the cross I have to bear. That is how I explain
it to myself. It can't be helped!"
He said no more, but expressed his resignation to cruel fate by a gesture.
Anna Pavlovna meditated.
"Have you never thought of marrying your prodigal son Anatole?" she asked.
"They say old maids have a mania for matchmaking, and though I don't feel
that weakness in myself as yet,I know a little person who is very unhappy
with her father. She is a relation of yours, Princess Mary Bolkonskaya."
Prince Vasili did not reply, though, with the quickness of memory and perception
befitting a man of the world, he indicated by a movement of the head that
he was considering this information.
"Do you know," he said at last, evidently unable to check the sad current
of his thoughts, "that Anatole is costing me forty thousand rubles a year?
And," he went on after a pause, "what will it be in five years, if he goes
on like this?" Presently he added: "That's what we fathers have to put up
with.... Is this princess of yours rich?"
"Her father is very rich and stingy. He lives in the country. He is the
well-known Prince Bolkonski who had to retire from the army under the late
Emperor, and was nicknamed 'the King of Prussia.' He is very clever but
eccentric, and a bore. The poor girl is very unhappy. She has a brother;
I think you know him, he married Lise Meinen lately. He is an aide-de-camp
of Kutuzov's 知道庫圖佐夫嗎 and will be here tonight."
"Listen, dear Annette," said the prince, suddenly taking Anna Pavlovna's
hand and for some reason drawing it downwards. "Arrange that affair for
me and I shall always be your most devoted slave- slafe with an f, as a
village elder of mine writes in his reports. She is rich and of good family
and that's all I want."
And with the familiarity and easy grace peculiar to him, he raised the maid
of honor's hand to his lips, kissed it, and swung it to and fro as he lay
back in his armchair, looking in another direction.
"Attendez," said Anna Pavlovna, reflecting, "I'll speak to Lise, young Bolkonski'
s wife, this very evening, and perhaps the thing can be arranged. It shall
be on your family's behalf that I'll start my apprenticeship as old maid."

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (known in the Anglosphere as Leo Tolstoy)
(September 9, 1828 -- November 20, 1910) was a Russian writer who primarily
wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays.
His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina,
are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle
of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's
greatest novelists.
3) 小說介紹﹕War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy,
first published in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one
of the most important works of world literature. It is considered Tolstoy's
finest literary achievement, along with his other major prose work Anna
Karenina (1873 --1877).
War and Peace delineates in graphic detail events surrounding the French
invasion of Russia, and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society,
as seen through the eyes of five Russian aristocratic families. Portions
of an earlier version of the novel, then known as The Year 1805,[4] were
serialized in the magazine The Russian Messenger between 1865 and 1867.
The novel was first published in its entirety in 1869.
4) 托爾斯泰當然是世界名作家。其“戰爭與和平”一書也屬世界名著。一般這種書
的英文翻譯是值得作為泛讀材料而一讀的。