每天读点英美文化：那些澎湃人心的文化经典 - 万水书苑-出版资源网

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(1)1. 第. 章. 魅力经久不衰的英美文学经典. 一部文学作品，倘若没有经过时间的检验，是不能够被称之为经典的。所有的经典，必须“讲出一些永恒的东西，不局限于这个时代”。也正因为如此，经典的作品才能让一代又一代、一位又一位人生经历迥异的读者都能有所感触。或许晦涩如《荒原》、《喧哗与骚动》一类的书籍很难被轻松阅读，但是具有厚重历史感的它们，能重重撞击你的心灵，能久久令你回味，能深深让你沉醉。所以，下面这些文学经典，请你不要错过。. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com.

(2) 2. 培根随笔文集——文辞优美的警言妙语录 One of the major political figures of his time, Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626) served in the court of Elizabeth and ultimately became Lord Chancellor under James I in 1617. A scholar, wit, lawyer and statesman, he wrote widely on politics, philosophy and science － declaring early in his career that "I have taken all knowledge as my province". In this, his most famous work, he considered a diverse range of subjects, such as death and marriage, ambition and atheism, in prose that is vibrant and rich in Renaissance learning. Bacon believed that rhetoric － the force of eloquence and persuasion － could lead the mind to the pure light of reason, and his own rhetorical genius is nowhere better expressed than in these vivid essays. Essayes: Religious Meditations. Places of Perswasion and Disswasion. Seene and Allowed (1597) was the first published book by Francis Bacon. The Essays are written in a wide range of styles, from the plain and unadorned to the epigrammatic. They cover topics drawn from both public and private life, and in each case the essays cover their topics systematically from a number of different angles, weighing one argument against another. A much-enlarged second edition appeared in 1612 with 38 essays. Another, under the title Essayes or Counsels, Civill and Morall, was published in 1625 with 58 essays. Translations into French and Italian appeared during Bacon's lifetime. Though Bacon considered the Essays "but as recreation of my other studies", he was given high praise by his contemporaries, even to the point of crediting him with having invented the essay form. Later researches made clear the extent of Bacon's borrowings from the works of Montaigne, Aristotle and other writers, but the Essays have nevertheless remained in the highest repute. The 19th century literary historian Henry Hallam wrote that "They are deeper and more discriminating than any earlier, or almost any later, work in the English language". Bacon's genius as a phrase-maker appears to great advantage in the later essays. In "Of Boldness" he wrote, "If the Hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill", which is the earliest known appearance of that proverb in print. The phrase "hostages to fortune" appears in the essay "Of Marriage and Single Life" － again the earliest known usage. Aldous Huxley's book Jesting Pilate took its epigraph, "What is Truth?" said Jesting Pilate; and would not stay. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com.

(3) for an answer", from Bacon's essay "On Truth". The 1999 edition of The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations includes no less than 91 quotations from the Essays. 弗朗西斯·培根，英国的著名哲学家、思想家、作家和科学家，被马克思称为“英国唯物主义和整个现代实验科学的真正始祖”。他的随笔从各个角度论述了广泛的人生问题，精妙、有哲理，因此拥有很多读者。他的《论说文集》（T he E s sa ys），文笔非常优美，语言凝练并且寓意深刻，被誉为英语散文发展的重要里程碑，是值得一读的佳作。这本书中的文章从各种角度论述了他对人与社会、人与自己、人与自然的关系的许多独到而精辟的见解，使许许多多读者从这本书中获得指导。其中有很多名句，比如：“思想中的疑心就好像鸟中的蝙蝠一样，永远是在黄昏中飞的。疑心使君王倾向专制，丈夫倾向嫉妒，智者倾向寡断和忧郁。” “顺境的美德是节制；逆境的美德是坚忍。这后一种是较为伟大的一种德性。” ★. Words Tips ◆ ultimately：最后. ◆. wit：智慧. philosophy：哲学. ◆. atheism：无神论. ◆ epigrammatic：警句. ◆. nevertheless：然而. ◆. ◆. proverb：格言. 莎士比亚十四行诗——缠绵悱恻的爱情圣经 Published in 1609, the Sonnets were the last of Shakespeare's non-dramatic works to be printed. Scholars are not certain when each of the 154 sonnets was composed, but evidence suggests that Shakespeare wrote sonnets for a private readership throughout his career . Even before the two unauthorised sonnets appeared in The Passionate Pilgrim in 1599, Francis Meres had referred in 1598 to Shakespeare's "sugred Sonnets among his private friends". Few analysts believe that the published collection follows Shakespeare's intended sequence. He seems to have planned two contrasting series: one about uncontrollable lust for a married woman of dark complexion (the "dark lady"), and one about conflicted love for a fair young man (the "fair youth"). It remains unclear if these figures represent real individuals, or if the authorial "I" who addresses them represents Shakespeare himself, though Wordsworth believed that with the sonnets "Shakespeare unlocked his heart". The 1609 edition was dedicated to a "Mr. W.H.", credited as "the only begetter" of the poems. It is not known whether this was written by Shakespeare himself or by the publisher, Thomas Thorpe, whose initials appear at the foot of the dedication page; nor is it known who Mr. W.H. was, despite numerous theories, or whether Shakespeare even authorised the publication. Critics praise the Sonnets as a profound meditation on the nature of love, sexual passion, procreation, death, and time.. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com. 3. 第 1 章魅力经久不衰的英美文学经典.

(4) 4. The production of Shakespeare's Sonnets was in some way influenced by the Italian sonnet: it was popularised by Dante and Petrarch and refined in Spain and France by DuBellay and Ronsard. Shakespeare probably had access to these last two authors, and read English poets as Richard Field and John Davies. The French and Italian poets gave preference to the Italian form of sonnet — two groups of four lines, or quatrains (always rhymed a-b-b-a a-b-b-a) followed by two groups of three lines, or tercets (variously rhymed c-c-d e-e-d or c-c-d e-d-e)—which created a sonorous music in the vowel-rich Romance languages. However, for Shakespeare who was writing in English, this type of rhyme sheme was artificial and monotonous for the English language. To overcome this problem derived from the difference of language, Shakespeare chose to follow the idiomatic rhyme scheme used by Philip Sidney in his Astrophel and Stella (published posthumously in 1591), where the rhymes are interlaced in two pairs of couplets to make the quatrain. One interpretation is that Shakespeare's Sonnets are in part a pastiche or parody of the three centuries －long tradition of Petrarchan love sonnets; in them, Shakespeare consciously inverts conventional gender roles as delineated in Petrarchan sonnets to create a more complex and potentially troubling depiction of human love. Shakespeare also violated many sonnet rules which had been strictly obeyed by his fellow poets: he plays with gender roles (20), he speaks on human evils that do not have to do with love (66), he comments on political events (124), he makes fun of love (128), he speaks openly about sex (129), he parodies beauty (130), and even introduces witty pornography (151). Coming as they do at the end of conventional Petrarchan sonneteering, Shakespeare's sonnets can also be seen as a prototype, or even the beginning, of a new kind of 'modern' love poetry. During the eighteenth century, their reputation in England was relatively low; as late as 1805, The Critical Review could still credit Milton with the perfection of the English sonnet. As part of the renewed interest in Shakespeare's original work that accompanied Romanticism, the sonnets rose steadily in reputation during the nineteenth century. The outstanding cross-cultural importance and influence of the sonnets is demonstrated by the large number of translations that have been made of them. To date in the German-speaking countries alone, there have been 70 complete translations since 1784. There is no major written language into which the sonnets have not been translated, including Latin, Turkish, Japanese, Esperanto, and even Klingon.. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com.

(5) 千万不要以为《罗密欧和朱丽叶》就是莎士比亚的全部了，除了著名的四大悲剧，四大喜剧之外，伟大的莎翁还留下了足以媲美其剧作光芒的《莎士比亚十四行诗》。他的诗打破原有诗体的惯例，独树一帜，被称为“莎体”。诗歌内容以吟咏缠绵悱恻、坚定执着的爱情为主（莎翁是著名的同性恋者），被誉为“爱情圣经”。诗歌在莎士比亚的著作中占有重要的地位，几乎每首诗都有独立的审美价值。一般来说，对诗人而言，诗的结构越严格就越难抒情，所以十四行诗是一种很难驾驭的体裁，然而莎士比亚的十四行诗却毫不拘谨，自由奔放，对于结构的把握极为得心应手。他的词汇量之丰富是众所周知的，又常常会有新颖的比喻，音调也铿锵悦耳。不过，他最擅长的还是最后两行诗，往往构思奇诡，语出惊人，既是全诗点睛之作，又自成一联警语格言。不过莎士比亚那个时代的英语，在今天看来已经是古英语了，所以有一些词形不太一样，比如 t h o u （你，汝），在阅读的时候要注意。 ★. Words Tips ◆. sonnet：十四行诗. ◆. evidence：证据. ◆. sequence：顺序. ◆. authorial：著者的. ◆. sonorous：响亮的. ◆. prototype：模范，标准. ◆ meditation：沉思 ◆. conventional：常见的. 失乐园—上帝对待人类的行为是否正确 Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books, with a total of over ten thousand individual lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgil's Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification; the majority of the poem was written while Milton was blind, and was transcribed for him. The poem concerns the Judeo-Christian story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men" and elucidate the conflict between God's eternal foresight and free will. Milton incorporates Paganism, classical Greek references, and Christianity within the poem. It deals with diverse topics from marriage, politics (Milton was politically active during the time of the English Civil War), and monarchy, and grapples with many difficult theological issues, including fate,. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com. 5. 第 1 章魅力经久不衰的英美文学经典.

(6) 6. predestination, the Trinity, and the introduction of sin and death into the world, as well as angels, fallen angels, Satan, and the war in heaven. Milton draws on his knowledge of languages, and diverse sources－primarily Genesis, much of the New Testament, the deuterocanonical Book of Enoch, and other parts of the Old Testament. Milton's epic is generally considered one of the greatest literary works in the English language. Since Paradise Lost is based upon scripture, its significance in the Western canon has been thought by some to have lessened due to increasing secularism. This is not the general consensus, and even academics labelled as secular realize the merits of the work. In William Blake's The Marriage of Heaven and Hell , the "voice of the devil" argues: "The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it". This statement summarizes what would become the most common interpretation of the work in the twentieth century. Some critics, including C. S. Lewis, and later Stanley Fish, reject this interpretation. Rather, such critics hold that the theology of Paradise Lost conforms to the passages of scripture on which it is based. The latter half of the twentieth century saw critical understanding of Milton's epic shift to a more political and philosophical focus. Rather than the Romantic conception of the Devil as hero, it is generally accepted that Satan is presented in terms that begin classically heroic, then diminish him until he is finally reduced to a dust-eating serpent unable even to control his own body. The political angle enters into consideration in the underlying friction between Satan's conservative, hierarchical view of the universe, and the contrasting "new way" of God and the Son of God as illustrated in Book III. In other words, in contemporary criticism the main thrust of the work becomes not the perfidy or heroism of Satan, but rather the tension between classical conservative "Old Testament" hierarchs (evidenced in Satan's worldview and even in that of the archangels Raphael and Gabriel), and "New Testament" revolutionaries (embodied in the Son of God, Adam, and Eve) who represent a new system of universal organization. This new order is based not in tradition, precedence, and unthinking habit, but on sincere and conscious acceptance of faith and on station chosen by ability and responsibility. Naturally, this interpretation makes much use of Milton's other works and his biography, grounding itself in his personal history as an English revolutionary and social critic. Samuel Johnson praised the poem lavishly, but conceded that "None ever wished it longer than it is.". PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com.

(7) 我们都知道《圣经》中亚当和夏娃被蛇引诱偷吃禁果，然后被上帝逐出伊甸园的故事。《失乐园》（Par adis e Lo st）这部一万多行的长诗，就是取材于此。故事的梗概是这样的：上帝宣布其“独子”亚当为天使、天军的首领，统帅天国。大天使路西法不服，于是领导起义试图推翻上帝。不幸起义失败而堕入地狱火海之中。路西法毫不气馁，仍在地狱自立为恶魔之王，并称“撒旦”。还大兴土木建筑“万魔殿”。为了壮大自己的力量而战胜上帝，撒旦决定去上帝刚刚建成的乐园引诱人类来归顺自己。撒旦偷偷进入乐园，并利用蛇的化身亲近人类，诱骗夏娃和亚当偷食禁果。最后，撒旦的奸计得逞，亚当和夏娃被逐出乐园，靠劳动为生。从此，上帝失落了人，人也失落了上帝。在这首诗中，作者弥尔顿以史诗一般的磅礴气势揭示了人的原罪与堕落。弥尔顿在诗歌开篇处指出，《失乐园》的目的是证明“上帝对待人的行为是正确的”。但细读下去，你会发现上帝的形象不那么可爱，反而是威武不屈、坚持斗争的叛逆者撒旦颇为可敬。诗歌体现了一种追求自由的崇高精神，是世界文学史、思想史上一部极为重要的作品。 ★. Words Tips ◆. paradise：天堂. ◆. versification：诗律. ◆. elucidate：阐明. ◆. predestination：命运. ◆. scripture：手稿. ◆ diminish：使变小. ◆ hierarchical：等级体系的. ◆. archangels：大天使. 鲁滨逊漂流记——英国文学史上第一部长篇小说 Robinson Crusoe, is a novel by Daniel Defoe that was first published in 1719. The book is a fictional autobiography of the title character—a castaway who spends 28 years on a remote tropical island near Venezuela, encountering Native Americans, captives, and mutineers before being rescued. It is one of the world's most popular adventure novels. Daniel Defoe set his classic tale of shipwreck and survival on an uninhabited island, and based it on a true story. The real Robinson Crusoe was a Scotsman named Alexander Selkirk Born in 1676, when Selkirk was 19 years old he was cited for indecent conduct in church. Then he ran off to sea. That was in 1695. By 1703 he was the sailing master of a galley. The following year he joined a pirate expedition to the Pacific Ocean that was led by Capt. William Dampier. Selkirk's ship had Thomas Straddling as its captain. After spending some time in the Pacific, they were preparing to return to England with their booty. Their ship had suffered considerable damage in battle and Selkirk felt they needed to repair her before setting off around Cape Horn. The captain disagreed. After an argument, Selkirk refused. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com. 7. 第 1 章魅力经久不衰的英美文学经典.

(8) 8. to go any farther and demanded he be set ashore on the Island of Juan Fernandez, which was about 400 miles off the coast of Chile. The captain was glad to do this. Once ashore, Selkirk realized the enormity of what he had done. He thought others in the crew would join him, but none did. He changed his mind and tried to convince the captain to take him back. The captain refused and Selkirk found he was left himself alone on an uninhabited island. Actually this was the smart thing to do since the ship later sank killing most of those aboard, but at the time he didn't know this. After about two years on the island he finally saw a ship and ran down to the shore with hope of being rescued. He realized almost too late that it was a Spanish ship and the Spaniards opened fire on him. They were unable to find him and eventually left. He was much more cautious after that. Selkirk was able to feed some goats and cats he found on the island and these were his only companions through out his stay of almost four and a half years. He was finally found in February 1709 by none other than William Dampier, who was then pilot on a privateering expedition headed by Captain Woods Rogers. Rogers appointed Selkirk as ship's mate and later gave him command of captured ship. For the next two years they conducted raids on the coast of Peru and Chile. Selkirk was very well-off when they returned to London in 1711, as his share of the booty came to ￡800—much money in those days. Selkirk eventually returned to his home in Scotland, where he became a hero. Though he did get married, he never quite recovered from his stay on the island. But spending much of his time alone. Eventually he returned to sea and he died of fever off the coast of Africa in 1721 at the age of 45. The book proved so popular that the names of the two main protagonists have entered the language. The term "Robinson Crusoe" is virtually synonymous with the word "castaway" and is often used as a metaphor for being rejected. Robinson Crusoe usually referred to his servant as "my man Friday", from which the term "Man Friday" (or "Girl Friday") originated, referring to a dedicated personal assistant, servant, or companion. This has been used in a Popeye cartoon called Island Fling and a movie called His Girl Friday. 《鲁宾逊漂流记》（Robinson Crusoe）成书于 1719 年左右，在作者年近六十时完成。这部妙趣横生、雅俗共赏、老少皆宜的传记体小说，为他博得了“英国和欧洲小说之父” 的美誉。这是一部现实主义回忆录式冒险小说。小说讲述一个在海难中逃生的水手在一个荒岛上通过自己智慧与勇气，战胜险恶的自然环境，终于获救回到英国的故事。如果一. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com.

(9) 个人遭遇困境，而且无人解救，就必须学会乐观地去改变现状，而这需要像鲁滨逊那样有惊人的毅力和百折不挠的精神，可能这就是这部小说最想告诉我们的吧。除了妙趣横生的故事之外，书中还有很多充满哲思的句子，比如：“可见，我们一般人，非要亲眼看见更恶劣的环境，才能理解原有环境的好处；非要落到山穷水尽的地步，才会懂得珍视自己原来享受到的东西。”“世界上一切好东西对于我们，除了拿来使用之外，没有别的好处。” ★. Words Tips ◆. autobiography：自传. ◆ mutineer：反叛者. ◆. adventure：冒险. ◆. ashore：在岸上. ◆. goat：山羊. ◆. raid：袭击，抢劫. ◆. booty：赃物，战利品. ◆. protagonist：主角. 格列佛游记——充满童话色彩的讽刺小说 Gulliver's Travels (1726, amended 1735), officially Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World, in Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of several Ships, is a novel by Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the "travellers' tales" literary sub-genre. It is Swift's best known full-length work, and a classic of English literature. The book became tremendously popular as soon as it was published (John Gay said in a 1726 letter to Swift that "it is universally read, from the cabinet council to the nursery"); since then, it has never been out of print. Gulliver's Travels has been the recipient of several designations: from Menippean satire to a children's story, from proto-Science Fiction to a forerunner of the modern novel. Published seven years after Daniel Defoe's wildly successful Robinson Crusoe, Gulliver's Travels may be read as a systematic rebuttal of Defoe's optimistic account of human capability. In The Unthinkable Swift: The Spontaneous Philosophy of a Church of England Man Warren Montag argues that Swift was concerned to refute the notion that the individual precedes society, as Defoe's novel seems to suggest. Swift regarded such thought as a dangerous endorsement of Thomas Hobbes' radical political philosophy and for this reason Gulliver repeatedly encounters established societies rather than desolate islands. The captain who invites Gulliver to serve as a surgeon aboard his ship on the disastrous third voyage is named Robinson. Possibly one of the reasons for the book's classic status is that it can be seen as many things to many different people. Broadly, the book has three themes: a satirical view of the state of European government, and of petty differences between religions.. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com. 9. 第 1 章魅力经久不衰的英美文学经典.

(10) 10. an inquiry into whether men are inherently corrupt or whether they become corrupted. a restatement of the older "ancients versus moderns" controversy previously addressed by Swift in The Battle of the Books. In terms of storytelling and construction the parts follow a pattern: The causes of Gulliver's misadventures become more malignant as time goes on － he is first shipwrecked, then abandoned, then attacked by strangers, then attacked by his own crew. Gulliver's attitude hardens as the book progresses － he is genuinely surprised by the viciousness and politicking of the Lilliputians but finds the behaviour of the Yahoos in the fourth part reflective of the behaviour of people. Each part is the reverse of the preceding part — Gulliver is big/ small/ sensible/ ignorant, the countries are complex/simple/scientific/natural, forms of government are worse/ better/ worse/ better than England's. Gulliver's view between parts contrasts with its other coinciding part — Gulliver sees the tiny Lilliputians as being vicious and unscrupulous, and then the king of Brobdingnag sees Europe in exactly the same light. Gulliver sees the Laputians as unreasonable, and Gulliver's Houyhnhnm master sees humanity as equally so. No form of government is ideal — the simplistic Brobdingnagians enjoy public executions and have streets infested with beggars, the honest and upright Houyhnhnms, who have no word for lying, are happy to suppress the true nature of Gulliver as a Yahoo and are equally unconcerned about his reaction to being expelled. Specific individuals may be good even where the race is bad — Gulliver finds a friend in each of his travels and, despite Gulliver's rejection and horror toward all Yahoos, is treated very well by the Portuguese captain, Don Pedro, who returns him to England at the novel's end. Of equal interest is the character of Gulliver himself — he progresses from a cheery optimist at the start of the first part to the pompous misanthrope of the book's conclusion and we may well have to filter our understanding of the work if we are to believe the final misanthrope wrote the whole work. In this sense，Gulliver's Travels is a very modern and complex novel. There are subtle shifts throughout the book, such as when Gulliver begins to see all humans, not just those in Houyhnhnmland, as Yahoos. Despite the depth and subtlety of the book, it is often classified as a children's story because of the popularity of the Lilliput section (frequently bowdlerised) as a book for children.. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com.

(11) It is still possible to buy books entitled Gulliver's Travels which contain only parts of the. 11. Lilliput voyage.. 第 1 章. 《格列佛游记》是一部奇书，它不是单纯的少儿读物，而是饱受赞誉和批判的文学杰作。英国著名作家乔治·奥威尔一生中读此书不下六次，他说：“如果要我开一份书目，列出哪怕其他书都被毁坏时也要保留的六本书，我一定会把《格列佛游记》列入其中。”在这本书中，作者乔纳森·斯威夫特的叙事技巧和讽刺才能得到了淋漓尽致的反映。作者曾经声明： “我宁愿用最简单朴素的文笔把平凡的事实叙述出来，因为我写这本书主要是向你报道，而不是供你消遣。”尽管小人国、大人国、慧骃国的情景各异，主人公的境遇也不相同，但整部小说的布局、风格前后一致，格列佛每次出海的前因后果都有详尽的交待，复杂纷繁的情节均按时间、空间顺序依次描述，文字简洁生动，故事性强，因而《格列佛游记》在欧洲各国妇孺皆知。尽管有对宫廷和政治家的讽刺，但这部作品却超越了它的时代和地方的局限，尤其是第一部分和第二部分，被认为是“文学伟大宝库中的经典之一”。 ★. Words Tips ◆. clergyman：牧师. ◆. parody：拙劣模仿. ◆. nursery：托儿所. ◆. recipient：接受者. ◆. endorsement：认可. ◆ malignant：恶意的. ◆. Yahoo：人形兽雅虎. ◆. ◆. subtle：微妙的. unscrupulous：肆无忌惮的. 傲慢与偏见——现实且充满智慧的浪漫爱情 Pride and Prejudice is a novel by Jane Austen. First published in 1813, as her second novel, she started it in 1796 as her first persevering effort for publication. She finished the original manuscript by 1797 in Steventon, Hampshire, where she lived with her parents and siblings in the town rectory. Austen originally called the story First Impressions, but it was never published under that title; instead, she made extensive revisions to the manuscript, then retitled and eventually published it as Pride and Prejudice. In renaming the novel, Austen may have had in mind the final chapter of Fanny Burney's Cecilia, itself called "Pride and Prejudice" and where the phrase appears three times in block capitals. (She may also have been concerned that the original title might be confused with other works.) The story follows the main character Elizabeth Bennet as. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com. 魅力经久不衰的英美文学经典.

(12) 12. she deals with issues of manners, upbringing, moral rightness, education and marriage in her aristocratic society of early 19th century England. Elizabeth is the second eldest of five daughters of a country gentleman landed in the fictional town of Meryton in Hertfordshire, not far from London. Though the story's setting is uniquely turn of the 19th century, it retains a fascination for modern readers, continuing near the top of lists of "most loved books" such as the Big Read. It still receives considerable attention from literary critics. This modern interest has resulted in a number of dramatic adaptations and an abundance of novels and stories imitating Austen's memorable characters or themes. To date, the book has sold some 20 million copies worldwide. Many critics take the novel's title as a starting point when analysing the major themes of Pride and Prejudice; however, Robert Fox cautions against reading too much into the title since commercial factors may have played a role in its selection. "After the success of Sense and Sensibility, nothing would have seemed more natural than to bring out another novel of the same author using again the formula of antithesis and alliteration for the title. It should be pointed out that the qualities of the title are not exclusively assigned to one or the other of the protagonists; both Elizabeth and Darcy display pride and prejudice." A major theme in much of Austen's work is the importance of environment and upbringing on the development of young people's character and morality. Social standing and wealth are not necessarily advantages in her world, and a further theme common to Jane Austen's work is ineffectual parents. In Pride and Prejudice, the failure of Mr and Mrs Bennet (particularly the latter) as parents is blamed for Lydia's lack of moral judgment; Darcy, on the other hand, has been taught to be principled and scrupulously honourable, but is also proud and overbearing. Kitty, rescued from Lydia's bad influence and spending more time with her older sisters after they marry, is said to improve greatly in their superior society. 《傲慢与偏见》（Pride & Prejudice），是英国女小说家简· 奥斯汀的代表作。这部作品以日常生活为素材，一反当时社会上流行的感伤小说的内容和矫揉造作的写作方法，生动地反映了18 世纪末到19世纪初处于保守和闭塞状态下的英国乡镇生活和世态人情。这部社会风情画式的小说不仅在当时吸引了广大的读者，时至今日，仍给读者以独特的艺术享受。. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com.

(13) 奥斯汀在这部小说中通过班纳特五个女儿对待终身大事的不同处理，表现出乡镇中产. 13. 阶级家庭出身的少女对婚姻爱情问题的不同态度，从而反映了作者本人的婚姻观：为了财. 第 1 章. 产、金钱和地位而结婚是错误的；而结婚不考虑上述因素也是愚蠢的。书中的女主人公伊丽莎白出身于小地主家庭，为富豪子弟达西所热爱。达西不顾门第和财富的差距，向她求婚，却遭到拒绝。伊丽莎白对他的误会和偏见是一个原因，但主要的是她讨厌他的傲慢。因为达西的这种傲慢实际上是地位差异的反映，只要存在这种傲慢，他与伊丽莎白之间就不可能有共同的思想感情，也不可能有理想的婚姻。最后，达西改变了过去那种骄傲自负的神态，伊丽莎白也消除了对他的误会和偏见，两人缔结了美满姻缘。 ★. Words Tips ◆. siblings：兄弟姐妹. ◆. chapter：章节. ◆. aristocratic：贵族的. ◆. fascination：魅力，魔力. ◆. abundance：丰富. ◆. formula：公式，准则. ◆ alliteration：头韵法. ◆. scrupulously：小心翼翼地. 夜莺颂——英国浪漫主义诗歌巅峰之作 "Ode to a Nightingale" is a poem by John Keats written in May 1819 in either the garden of the Spaniards Inn, or, as according to Keats' friend Charles Armitage Brown, under a plum tree in the garden of Keats House. Hampstead, London. According to Brown, a nightingale had built its nest near his home in the spring of 1819. Inspired by the bird's song, Keats composed the poem in one day. It soon became one of his 1819 odes and was first published in Annals of the Fine Arts the following July. Ode to a Nightingale is a personal poem that describes Keats's journey into the state of Negative Capability. The tone of the poem rejects the optimistic pursuit of pleasure found within Keats's earlier poems, and it explores the themes of nature, transience and mortality, the latter being particularly personal to Keats. The nightingale described within the poem experiences a type of death but it does not actually die. Instead, the songbird is capable of living through its song, which is a fate that humans cannot expect. The poem ends with an acceptance that pleasure cannot last and that death is an inevitable part of life. In the poem, Keats imagines the loss of the physical world and sees himself dead—as a "sod" over which the nightingale sings. The contrast between the immortal nightingale and mortal man, sitting in his garden, is made all the more acute by an effort of the imagination. The presence of weather is noticeable in the poem, as spring came early in 1819, which brought nightingales all over the heath. Many critics favor Ode to a Nightingale for its themes but some believe that it is structurally flawed because the poem sometimes strayed from its main idea.. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com. 魅力经久不衰的英美文学经典.

(14) 14. Contemporary critics of Keats enjoyed the poem and it was heavily quoted in their reviews. An anonymous review of Keats's poetry that ran in the August and October 1820 Scots Magazine stated: "Amongst the minor poems we prefer the Ode to the Nightingale. Indeed, we are inclined to prefer it beyond every other poem in the book; but let the reader judge. The third and seventh stanzas have a charm for us which we should find it difficult to explain. We have read this ode over and over again, and every time with increased delight." At the same time, Leigh Hunt wrote a review of Keats's poem for the August 2 and August 9 1820, The Indicator: "As a specimen of the Poems, which are all lyrical, we must indulge ourselves in quoting entire the 'Ode to a Nightingale'. There is that mixture in it of real melancholy and imaginative relief, which poetry alone presents us in her 'charmed cup', and which some over-rational critics have undertaken to find wrong because it is not true. It does not follow that what is not true to them, is not true to others. If the relief is real, the mixture is good and sufficing." John Scott, in an anonymous review for the September 1820 London Magazine argued for the greatness of Keats's poetry as exemplified by poems including Ode to a Nightingale: The injustice which has been done to our author's works, in estimating their poetical merit, rendered us doubly anxious, on opening his last volume, to find it likely to seize fast hold of general sympathy, and thus turn an overwhelming power against the paltry traducers of talent, more eminently promising in many respects, than any the present age has been called upon to encourage. We have not found it to be quite all that we wished in this respect －and it would have been very extraordinary if we had, for our wishes went far beyond reasonable expectations. But we have found it of a nature to present to common understandings the poetical power with which the author's mind is gifted, in a more tangible and intelligible shape than that in which it has appeared in any of his former compositions. It is, therefore, calculated to throw shame on the lying, vulgar spirit, in which this young worshipper in the temple of the Muses has been cried-down; whatever questions may still leave to be settled as to the kind and degree of his poetical merits. Take for instance, as proof of the justice of our praise, the following passage from an Ode to the Nightingale:－ it is distinct, noble, pathetic, and true: the thoughts have all chords of direct communication with naturally-constituted hearts: the echoes of the strain linger about the depths of human bosoms. 《夜莺颂》是约翰·济慈的名作。1818 年 23 岁的济慈患上了肺痨，同时还处于和范妮·布恩小姐的热恋中。正如诗人自己所说，他常常想的两件事就是爱情的甜蜜和自己死去的时. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com.

(15) 间。在这种情形下，诗人情绪激昂，心中充满着悲愤和对生命的渴望。在一个深沉的夜. 15. 晚，在浓密的树枝下，在鸟儿嘹亮的歌声中，诗人一口气写下了这首 8 节 80 多行的《夜. 第 1 章. 莺颂》。相传，夜莺会死在月圆的晚上。在午夜零点时，夜莺会飞上最高的玫瑰枝，将玫瑰刺深深地刺进自己的胸膛，然后发出高亢的声音，大声歌唱，直到心中的血流尽，将花枝上的玫瑰染红。诗的题目虽然是“夜莺颂”，但是诗中基本上没有直接描写夜莺的词，诗人主要是想借助夜莺这个美丽的形象来抒发自己的感情。从这首诗中，读者能很好体会到后人的评论：“英国浪漫主义诗歌在济慈那里达到了完美。” ★. Words Tips ◆ nightingale：夜莺. ◆. plum：李子，梅子 inevitable：不可避免的. ◆. tone：声调. ◆. ◆. stanza：诗的一节. ◆ merit：优点. ◆. eminently：出众地. ◆ intelligible：可理解的. 西风颂——冬天来了，春天还会远吗 Ode to the West Wind is an ode written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1819 near Florence, Italy; it was published in 1820 (see 1820 in poetry). Some have interpreted the poem as the speaker lamenting his inability to directly help those in England owing to his being in Italy; at the same time, the poem expresses the hope that its words will inspire and influence those who read or hear it. More than anything else, Shelley wanted his message of reform and revolution spread, and the wind becomes the trope for spreading the word of change through the poet-prophet figure. Some also believe that the poem is due to the loss of his son, William in 1819 (to Mary Shelley), his son Charles (by Harriet Shelley) died in 1826, after Ode to the West Wind was written and published. The ensuing pain influenced Shelley. The poem allegorises the role of the poet as the voice of change and revolution; at the time of composing this poem, Shelley without doubt had the Peterloo Massacre of August 1819 in mind. His other poems written at the same time —"The Mask of Anarchy", "Prometheus Unbound," and "England in 1819" —take up these same problems of political change, revolution, and role of the poet. The poem Ode to the West Wind consists of five cantos written in terza rima. Each canto consists of four tercets (ABA, BCB, CDC, DED) and a rhyming couplet (EE). The Ode is written in iambic pentameter.. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com. 魅力经久不衰的英美文学经典.

(16) 16. The poem begins with three cantos describing the wind's effects upon earth, air, and ocean. The last two cantos are Shelley speaking directly to the wind, asking for its power, to lift him as a leaf, a cloud or a wave and make him its companion in its wanderings. He asks the wind to take his thoughts and spread them all over the world so that the youth are awoken with his ideas. The poem ends with an optimistic note which is that if winter days are here then spring is not very far. This poem is a highly controlled text about the role of the poet as the agent of political and moral change. This was a subject Shelley wrote a great deal about, especially around 1819, with this strongest version of it articulated in the famous last lines of his "Defence of Poetry": "Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration; the mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present; the words which express what they understand not; the trumpets which sing to battle, and feel not what they inspire; the influence which is moved not, but moves. Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world." 《西风颂》（Ode to the West Wind）是雪莱“三大颂”诗歌中的一首，写于 1819 年。当时，欧洲各国的工人运动和革命运动风起云涌。英国工人阶级为了争取自身的生存权利，正同资产阶级展开英勇的斗争，捣毁机器和罢工事件接连不断。在意大利和希腊，民族解放运动方兴未艾，雪莱的《西风颂》发表不久，这两个国家也先后爆发了轰轰烈烈的武装起义。面对欧洲山雨欲来风满楼的革命形势，雪莱为之鼓舞，为之振奋，诗人胸中沸腾着炽热的革命激情。这时，在一场暴风骤雨的自然景象的触发下，这种难以抑制的革命激情立刻冲出胸膛，一泻千里，化作激昂慷慨的歌唱。诗人用优美而蓬勃的想象写出了西风的形象。那气势恢宏的诗句，撼动人心的激情把西风的狂烈和急于扫除旧世界创造新世界的形象展现在人们面前。在诗的结尾，诗人以预言家的口吻高喊：“要是冬天已经来了，西风啊，春日怎能遥远？” ★. Words Tips ◆ lament：哀悼. ◆. trope：比喻. ◆. ensue：跟着发生. ◆ terza. ◆. couplet：对句. ◆. ◆. hierophants：导师，解说者. rima：三行诗节押韵法. optimistic：乐观的. 唐璜——从恶棍到“拜伦式的英雄” Don Juan is a satiric poem by Lord Byron, based on the legend of Don Juan, which Byron reverses, portraying Juan not as a womaniser but as someone easily seduced by women. It is a variation on the epic form. Modern critics generally consider it Byron's masterpiece. Byron. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com.

(17) completed 16 cantos, leaving an unfinished 17th canto before his death in 1824. Byron claimed he. 17. had no ideas in his mind as to what would happen in subsequent cantos as he wrote his work.. 第 1 章. When the first two cantos were published anonymously in 1819, the poem was criticised for its "immoral content", though it was also immensely popular. Sir Walter Scott maintained that its creator "has embraced every topic of human life, and sounded every string of the divine harp, from its slightest to its most powerful and heart-astounding tones." Goethe described Don Juan as "a work of boundless genius." Percy Bysshe Shelley, on the receipt of Cantos III, IV, V, bore testimony to his "wonder and delight:" "This poem carries with it at once the stamp of originality and defiance of imitation. Nothing has ever been written like it in English, nor, if I may venture to prophesy, will there be, unless carrying upon it the mark of a secondary and borrowed light... You are building up a drama," he adds, "such as England has not yet seen, and the task is sufficiently noble and worthy of you." Again, of the fifth canto he writes, "Every word has the stamp of immortality.... It fulfils, in a certain degree, what I have long preached of producing — something wholly new and relative to the age, and yet surpassingly beautiful." Finally, Algernon Charles Swinburne, neither a disciple nor encomiast of Byron, pays eloquent tribute to the strength and splendour of Don Juan: "Across the stanzas ... we swim forward as over the 'broad backs of the sea;' they break and glitter, hiss and laugh, murmur and move like waves that sound or that subside. There is in them a delicious resistance, an elastic motion, which salt water has and fresh water has not. There is about them a wide wholesome air, full of vivid light and constant wind, which is only felt at sea. Life undulates and Death palpitates in the splendid verse... This gift of life and variety is the supreme quality of Byron's chief poem". The poem is dedicated, with some scorn, to Robert Southey, then Poet Laureate－You, Bob! are rather insolent, you know, / At being disappointed in your wish / To supersede all warblers here below, / And be the only Blackbird in the dish;. In its first publication, Byron cautions Murray: "As the Poem is to be published anonymously, omit the Dedication. I won't attack the dog in the dark. Such things are for scoundrels and renegadoes like himself". According to the editor of the 1833 Works of Lord Byron the existence of the Dedication "became notorious" in consequence of Hobhouse's article in the Westminster Review, 1824. He adds, for Southey's consolation and encouragement, that "for several years the verses have been selling in the streets as a broadside," and that "it would serve no purpose to exclude them on the present occasion." But Southey was not appeased. He tells Allan Cunningham that "the new edition of Byron's works is ... one of the very worst symptoms of these bad times".. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com. 魅力经久不衰的英美文学经典.

(18) 18. 唐璜本身是一个历史人物，一个活在 15 世纪的西班牙贵族。他诱拐了一个少女，接着又把那个少女的父亲谋杀了。那样一个作恶多端的人物本来不会留名青史的，奈何他却启发了后人的艺术创作灵感。英国大诗人拜伦写了一首名为《唐璜》的长诗，不过，拜伦可没把唐璜当做恶棍来写，而是把他写成一个值得赞扬的人物，力图表现的是一种反抗精神。大多数人认为拜伦笔下的唐璜与传统的恶魔式唐璜相比， “除了他的姓氏以及西班牙的出身外，并没有什么相似之处”。拜伦在诗中表现了唐璜的善良和正义，通过他的种种浪漫奇遇，描写了欧洲社会的人物百态、山水风景和社会风情，画面广阔，内容丰富，堪称一座艺术宝库。诗中唐璜的性格，是有拜伦自己的影子在里面的。唐璜是一个“拜伦式的英雄”，是有宏大理想、有叛逆思想，但是一生受到压抑、不能得志的那类人群中的一个。可惜的是，拜伦在《唐璜》中曾说此诗他将写一百章，但是，在写成十六章和第十七章的一小部分后，他就前往希腊参战，诗歌没有完成。 ★. Words Tips ◆. womaniser：玩女人的男人. ◆. masterpiece：杰作. ◆. harp：竖琴. ◆. genius：天才. ◆. defiance：蔑视. ◆. canto：长诗的篇章. ◆. hiss：发出嘘声. ◆ warbler：鸣鸟. 简·爱——勇敢追求爱情与尊严的灰姑娘 Jane Eyre is a famous and influential novel by English writer Charlotte Bront?. It was published in London, England in 1847 by Smith, Elder & Co. with the title Jane Eyre. An Autobiography under the pen name "Currer Bell". The American edition came out the following year published by Harper & Brothers of New York. One of the secrets to the success of Jane Eyre lies in the way that it touches on a number of important themes while telling a compelling story. Indeed, so lively and dramatic is the story that the reader might not be fully conscious of all the thematic strands that weave through this work. Critics have argued about what comprises the main theme of Jane Eyre. There can be little doubt, however, that love and passion together form a major thematic element of the novel. On its most simple and obvious level, Jane Eyre is a love story. The love between the orphaned and initially impoverished Jane and the wealthy but tormented Rochester is at its heart. The obstacles to the fulfillment of this love provide the main dramatic conflict in the work. However, the novel explores other types of love as well. Helen Burns, for example, exemplifies the selfless love of a friend. We also see some of the consequences of the absence of love, as in the relationship. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com.

(19) between Jane and Mrs. Reed, in the selfish relations among the Reed. 19. children, and in the mocking marriage of Rochester and Bertha. Jane. 第 1 章. realizes that the absence of love between herself and St. John Rivers would make their marriage a living death, too. Throughout the work, Bront? suggests that a life that is not lived passionately is not lived fully. Jane undoubtedly is the central passionate character; her nature is shot through with passion. Early on, she refuses to live by Mrs. Reed's rules, which would restrict all passion. Her defiance of Mrs. Reed is her first, but by no means her last, passionate act. Her passion for Rochester is all consuming. Significantly, however, it is not the only force that governs her life. She leaves Rochester because her moral reason tells her that it would be wrong to live with him as his mistress: "Laws and principles are not for the time when there is no temptation," she tells Rochester; "they are for such moments as this, when body and soul rise against their rigor." Blanche Ingram feels no passion for Rochester; she is only attracted to the landowner because of his wealth and social position. St. John Rivers is a more intelligent character than Blanche, but like her he also lacks the necessary passion that would allow him to live fully. His marriage proposal to Jane has no passion behind it; rather, he regards marriage as a business arrangement, with Jane as his potential junior partner in his missionary work. His lack of passion contrasts sharply with Rochester, who positively seethes with passion. His injury in the fire at Thornfield may be seen as a chastisement for his past passionate indiscretions and as a symbolic taming of his passionate excesses. Jane Eyre is not only a love story; it is also a plea for the recognition of the individual's worth. Throughout the book, Jane demands to be treated as an independent human being, a person with her own needs and talents. Early on, she is unjustly punished, precisely for being herself — first by Mrs. Reed and John Reed, and subsequently by Mr. Brocklehurst. Her defiance of Mrs. Reed is her first active declaration of independence in the novel, but not her last. Helen Burns and Miss Temple are the first characters to acknowledge her as an individual; they love her for herself, in spite of her obscurity. Rochester too loves her for herself; the fact that she is a governess and therefore his servant does not negatively affect his perception of her. Rochester confesses that his ideal woman is intellectual, faithful, and loving — qualities that Jane embodies. Rochester's acceptance of Jane as an independent person is contrasted by Blanche and Lady Ingram's attitude toward her: they see her merely as a servant. Lady Ingram speaks disparagingly of Jane in front of her face as though Jane isn't there. To her, Jane is an inferior barely worthy of notice, and certainly not worthy of respect. And even though she is his cousin, St. John Rivers does not regard Jane as a full, independent person. Rather, he sees her as an instrument, an accessory that would help him to further his own. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com. 魅力经久不衰的英美文学经典.

(20) 20. plans. Jane acknowledges that his cause (missionary work) may be worthy, but she knows that to marry simply for the sake of expedience would be a fatal mistake. Her marriage to Mr. Rochester, by contrast, is the marriage of two independent beings. It is because of their independence, Bront? suggests, that they acknowledge their dependence on each other and are able to live happily ever after. 相信看过《简·爱》的人，谁也不会忘记那段名言：“难道就因为我一贫如洗、默默无闻、长相平庸、个子瘦小，就没有灵魂，没有心肠了？……要是上帝赐予我一点姿色和充足的财富，我会使你同我现在一样难分难舍，我不是根据习俗、常规，甚至也不是血肉之躯同你说话，而是我的灵魂同你的灵魂在对话，就仿佛我们两人穿过坟墓，站在上帝脚下，彼此平等——本来就如此！” 显然，它在阐释这样一个主题：人的价值＝尊严＋爱。《简·爱》中的女主人翁，其人生追求有两个基本旋律：富有激情、幻想、反抗和坚持不懈的精神；对人间自由幸福的渴望和对更高精神境界的追求。这是一部反响巨大的书。出版商在1847年10月出版了这部作品，萨克雷称赞它是“一位伟大天才的杰作”。次年发行第三版时，《评论季刊》上提到“《简·爱》与《名利场》受到同样广泛的欢迎。乔治·艾略特则深深地被《简·爱》陶醉了”。 ★. Words Tips ◆. edition：版本. ◆. thematic：主题的. ◆. orphan：使成孤儿. ◆. mock：嘲笑. ◆. temptation：诱惑. ◆. seethe：感情迸发. ◆. obscurity：身份低微. ◆. disparagingly：以贬抑的口吻. 呼啸山庄——爱恨交织下的疯狂复仇 Wuthering Heights is a gothic novel, and the only novel by Emily Bront?. It was first published in 1847 under the pseudonym Ellis Bell, and a posthumous second edition was edited by her sister Charlotte. The name of the novel comes from the Yorkshire manor on the moors on which the story centres (as an adjective; wuthering is a Yorkshire word referring to turbulent weather). The narrative tells the tale of the all-encompassing and passionate, yet thwarted, love between Heathcliff and Catherine Earnshaw, and how this unresolved passion eventually destroys them and many around them. Now considered a classic of English literature, Wuthering Heights met with mixed reviews by critics when it first appeared, mainly be-. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com.

(21) cause of the narrative's stark depiction of mental and physical cruelty. Though Charlotte Bront 's. 21. Jane Eyre was initially considered the best of the Bront? sisters' works, many subsequent critics of. 第 1 章. Wuthering Heights argued that its originality and achievement made it superior. Main characters including five: Heathcliff: Found, and presumably orphaned, on the streets of Liverpool, he is taken to Wuthering Heights by Mr. Earnshaw and reluctantly cared for by the rest of the family. He and Catherine later grow close, and their love becomes the central theme of the first volume; his revenge and its consequences are the main theme of the second volume. Heathcliff is typically considered a Byronic hero, but critics have found his character, with a capacity for self-invention, to be profoundly difficult to assess. His position in society, without status (Heathcliff serves as both his given name and surname), is often the subject of Marxist criticism. Catherine Earnshaw: First introduced in Lockwood's discovery of her diary and etchings, Catherine's life is almost entirely detailed in the first volume. She seemingly suffers from a crisis of identity, unable to choose between nature and culture (and, by extension, Heathcliff and Edgar). Her decision to marry Edgar Linton over Heathcliff has been seen as a surrender to culture, and has implications for all the characters of Wuthering Heights. The character of Catherine has been analysed by many forms of literary criticism, including: psychoanalytic and feminist. Edgar Linton: Introduced as a child of the Linton family, who reside at Thrushcross Grange, Edgar's life and mannerisms are immediately contrasted with those of Heathcliff and Catherine, and indeed the former dislikes him. Yet, owing much to his status, Catherine marries him and not Heathcliff. This decision, and the differences between Edgar and Heathcliff, have been read into by feminist criticisms. Nelly Dean: The second and primary narrator of the novel, Nelly has been a servant of each generation of both the Earnshaw and Linton families. She is presented as a character who straddles the idea of a 'culture versus nature' divide in the novel: she is a local of the area and a servant, and has experienced life at Wuthering Heights. However, she is also an educated woman and has lived at Thrushcross Grange. This idea is represented in her having two names, Ellen —her given name and used to show respect, and Nelly—used by her familiars. Whether Nelly is an unbiased narrator and how far her actions, as an apparent bystander, affect the other characters are two points of her character discussed by critics. Isabella Linton: Introduced as part of the Linton family, Isabella is only ever shown in relation to other characters. She views Heathcliff as a romantic hero, despite Catherine warning her against such an opinion, and becomes an unwitting participant in his plot for revenge. After being married to Heathcliff and abused at Wuthering Heights, she escapes to London and gives birth to Linton. Such abusive treatment has led many, especially feminist critics, to consider Isabella. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com. 魅力经久不衰的英美文学经典.

(22) 22. the true/conventional "tragic romantic" figure of Wuthering Heights. 《呼啸山庄》出版后一直被认为是英国文学史上一部“最奇特的小说”，是一部“神秘莫测”的“怪书”。书中讲述的是一个爱情和复仇的故事。呼啸山庄的主人带回来了一个身份不明的孩子，取名希斯克利夫。他夺取了主人对小主人亨德雷和他的妹妹凯瑟琳的宠爱。主人死后，亨德雷为报复把希斯克利夫贬为奴仆，并百般迫害，可是凯瑟琳跟他亲密无间，青梅竹马。后来，凯瑟琳受外界影响，转而爱上了画眉田庄的文静青年埃德加。希斯克利夫愤而出走，三年后希斯克利夫致富回乡，凯瑟琳已嫁埃德加。希斯克利夫为此开始报复，满腔仇恨在凯瑟琳死后更为疯狂。故事是以希斯克利夫达到复仇目的而自杀告终的。他的死是一种殉情，表达了他对凯瑟琳至死不渝的爱，一种生不能同衾、死也求同穴的爱的追求。而他临死前放弃了在下一代身上报复的念头，表明他的天性本来是善良的。这种人性的复苏是一种精神上的升华，闪耀着作者人道主义的理想，也表现出了浓厚的浪漫主义色彩。 ★. Words Tips ◆. pseudonym：笔名. ◆. turbulent：狂暴的. ◆. narrative：叙述. ◆. reluctantly：不情愿地. ◆. etching：蚀刻版画. ◆. feminist：男女平等主义者. ◆. servant：仆人. ◆. bystander：旁观者. 红字——穿在身上与烙在胸前的爱情 The Scarlet Letter is famous for presenting some of the greatest interpretive difficulties in all of American literature. While not recognized by Hawthorne himself as his most important work, the novel is regarded not only as his greatest accomplishment, but frequently as the greatest novel in American literary history. After it was published in 1850, critics hailed it as initiating a distinctive American literary tradition. Ironically, it is a novel in which, in terms of action, almost nothing happens. Hawthorne's emotional, psychological drama revolves around Hester Prynne, who is convicted of adultery in colonial Boston by the civil and Puritan authorities. She is condemned to wear the scarlet letter "A" on her chest as a permanent sign of her sin. The narrative describes the effort to resolve the torment suffered by Hester and her co-adulterer, the minister Arthur Dimmesdale, in the years after their affair. In fact, the story excludes even the representation of the passionate moment which enables the entire novel. It begins at the close of Hester's imprisonment many months after her affair and proceeds through many years to her final acceptance of her place in the community. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com.

(23) as the wearer of the scarlet letter. Hawthorne was masterful in the use. 23. of symbolism, and the scarlet letter "A" stands as his most potent. 第 1 章. symbol, around which interpretations of the novel revolve. At one interpretive pole the "A" stands for adultery and sin, and the novel is the story of individual punishment and reconciliation. At another pole it stands for America and allegory, and the story suggests national sin and its human cost. Yet possibly the most convincing reading, taking account of all others, sees the "A" as a symbol of ambiguity, the very fact of multiple interpretations and the difficulty of achieving consensus. The novel takes place during the summer in 17th-century Boston, Massachusetts in a Puritan village. A young woman, named Hester Prynne, has been led from the town prison with her infant daughter in her arms and on the breast of her gown "a rag of scarlet cloth" that "assumed the shape of a letter." It was the uppercase letter "A". The Scarlet Letter "A" represents the act of adultery that she has committed and it is to be a symbol of her sin —a badge of shame—for all to see. A man, who was elderly and a stranger to the town, enters the crowd and asks another onlooker what's happening. He responds by explaining that Hester is being punished for adultery. Hester's husband, who is much older than she, and whose real name is unknown, has sent her ahead to America whilst settling affairs in Europe. However, her husband does not arrive in Boston, and the consensus is that he has been lost at sea. It is apparent that, while waiting for her husband, Hester has had an affair, leading to the birth of her daughter. She will not reveal her lover's identity, however, and the scarlet letter, along with her subsequent public shaming, is the punishment for her sin and secrecy. On this day Hester is led to the town scaffold and harangued by the town fathers, but she again refuses to identify her child's father. On its publication, critic Evert Augustus Duyckinck, a friend of Hawthorne's, said he preferred the author's Washington Irving-like tales. Another friend, critic Edwin Percy Whipple, objected to the novel's "morbid intensity" with dense psychological details, writing that the book "is therefore apt to become, like Hawthorne, too painfully anatomical in his exhibition of them". On the other hand, 20th century writer D. H. Lawrence said that there could be no more perfect work of the American imagination than The Scarlet Letter. Henry James once said of the novel, "It is beautiful, admirable, extraordinary; it has in the highest degree that merit which I have spoken of as the mark of Hawthorne's best things － an indefinable purity and lightness of conception...One can often return to it; it supports familiarity and has the inexhaustible charm and mystery of great works of art." The book's immediate and lasting success are due to the way it addresses spiritual and moral issues from a uniquely American standpoint. In 1850, adultery was an extremely risqu é subject, but because Hawthorne had the support of the New England literary establishment, it passed easily. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com. 魅力经久不衰的英美文学经典.

(24) 24. into the realm of appropriate reading. It has been said that this work represents the height of Hawthorne's literary genius; dense with terse descriptions. It remains relevant for its philosophical and psychological depth, and continues to be read as a classic tale on an universal theme. 一个夏天的早晨，一大群波士顿居民拥挤在监狱前的草地上，庄严地目不转睛地盯着牢房大门。随着牢门的打开，一个怀抱三个月大婴儿的年轻女人缓缓地走到了人群前，在她的胸前烙着一个鲜红的 A 字，耀眼的红字吸引了所有人的目光，她就是海丝特·白兰太太。她由于被认为犯了通奸罪而受到审判，并要永远带着那个代表着耻辱的红字…… 小说以两百多年前殖民地时代的美洲为题材，但揭露的却是19世纪资本主义发展时期美利坚合众国社会典法的残酷、宗教的欺骗和道德的虚伪。主人公海丝特被写成了崇高道德的化身。她不但感化了表里不一的情人丁梅斯代尔，同时也在感化着充满罪恶的社会。最后，当丁梅斯代尔把自己的胸衣扯开时，一个猩红的 A 字烙在他的胸前，他在自己的爱人身边离开了人世。在这对情人的墓碑上刻着：“一片墨黑的土地，一个血红的 A 字。” ★. Words Tips ◆. scarlet：红衣. ◆. interpretive：解释的. ◆. adultery：通奸. ◆ imprisonment：监禁. ◆. sin：罪恶. ◆. harangue：大声训斥. ◆. morbid：病态的. ◆. inexhaustible：取之不尽的. 白鲸——“美国想象力最辉煌的表达” "Call me Ishmael," Moby-Dick begins, in one of the most recognizable opening lines in Englishlanguage literature. The narrator, an observant young man setting out from Manhattan, has experience in the merchant marine but has recently decided his next voyage will be on a whaling ship. On a cold, gloomy night in December, he arrives at the Spouter-Inn in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and agrees to share a bed with a then-absent stranger. When his bunk mate, a heavily tattooed Polynesian harpooner named Queequeg, returns very late and discovers Ishmael beneath his covers, both men are alarmed, but the two quickly become close friends and decide to sail together from Nantucket, Massachusetts on a whaling voyage. Moby-Dick, also known as The Whale, is a novel first published in 1851 by American author Herman Melville. Moby-Dick is often referred to as a Great American Novel and is considered one of the treasures of world literature. The story tells the adventures of the wandering sailor Ishmael, and his voyage on the whaleship Pequod, commanded by Captain Ahab. Ishmael soon learns that Ahab seeks one specific whale, Moby Dick,. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com.

(25) a ferocious, enigmatic white sperm whale. In a previous encounter, the whale destroyed Ahab's boat. 25. and bit off his leg. Ahab intends to take revenge.. 第 1 章. In Moby-Dick, Melville employs stylized language, symbolism, and metaphor to explore numerous complex themes. Through the main character's journey, the concepts of class and social status, good and evil, and the existence of gods are all examined as Ishmael speculates upon his personal beliefs and his place in the universe. The narrator's reflections, along with his descriptions of a sailor's life aboard a whaling ship, are woven into the narrative along with Shakespearean literary devices such as stage directions, extended soliloquies and asides. Often classified as American Romanticism, Moby-Dick was first published by Richard Bentley in London on October 18, 1851 in an expurgated three-volume edition titled The Whale, and weeks later as a single volume, by New York City publisher Harper and Brothers as Moby-Dick; or, The Whale on November 14, 1851. Although the book initially received mixed reviews, Moby-Dick is now considered one of the greatest novels in the English language. Moby-Dick is a symbolic work, but also includes chapters on natural history. Major themes include obsession, religion, idealism versus pragmatism, revenge, racism, sanity, hierarchical relationships, and politics. All of the members of the crew have biblical-sounding, improbable, or descriptive names, and the narrator deliberately avoids specifying the exact time of the events (such as the giant whale disappearing into the dark abyss of the ocean) and some other similar details. These together suggest that the narrator — and not just Melville — is deliberately casting his tale in an epic and allegorical mode. The white whale has also been seen as a symbol for many things, including nature and those elements of life that are out of human control. The character Gabriel, "in his gibbering insanity, pronounced the White Whale to be no less a being than the Shaker God incarnated; the Shakers receiving the Bible." Melville mentions the Matsya Avatar of Vishnu, the first among ten incarnations when Vishnu appears as a giant fish on Earth and saves creation from the flood of destruction. Melville mentions this while discussing the spiritual and mystical aspects of the sailing profession and he calls Lord Vishnu as the first among whales and the God of whalers. The Pequod's quest to hunt down Moby Dick is itself also widely viewed as allegorical. To Ahab, killing the whale becomes the ultimate goal in his life, and this observation can also be expanded allegorically so that the whale represents everyone's goals. Furthermore, his vengeance against the whale is analogous to man's struggle against fate. The only escape from Ahab's vision is seen through the Pequod's occasional encounters, called gams, with other ships. Readers could consider what exactly Ahab will do if he, in fact, succeeds in his quest: having accomplished his. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com. 魅力经久不衰的英美文学经典.

(26) 26. ultimate goal, what else is there left for him to do? Similarly, Melville may be implying that people in general need something to reach for in life, or that such a goal can destroy one if allowed to overtake all other concerns. Ahab's pipe is widely looked upon as the riddance of happiness in Ahab's life. By throwing the pipe overboard, Ahab signifies that he no longer can enjoy simple pleasures in life; instead, he dedicates his entire life to the pursuit of his obsession: the killing of the white whale, Moby Dick. 故事是由主人公以实玛利走进“鲸鱼旅馆”的那一刻开始的，当晚，他被老板安排和一个名为“魁魁格”的大个子睡在一起。他俩有着同样的志向——出海远航，做一名勇敢的水手。于是和一艘名为“裴廓德号”的捕鲸船签约。 “裴廓德号”的船长名叫亚哈，他是一个瘸子，他的一条腿被一只名叫莫比·迪克的白鲸给咬掉了。为此，亚哈船长与莫比结下了仇，并且发誓誓死杀掉莫比。最后，大家与白鲸同归于尽，唯一幸免的以实玛利因为一副棺材而获救。这是一部被时代冷落，而后又重现异彩的伟大作品，是美国浪漫主义小说家赫尔曼· 麦尔维尔 (1819-1891) 的代表作，是一部融戏剧、冒险、哲理、研究于一体的鸿篇巨制。如今，这部表面看似杂乱无章、结构松散的作品，被冠以各种形式的名字：游记、航海故事、寓言、捕鲸传说、有关鲸鱼与捕鲸业的百科全书、美国史诗、莎士比亚式的悲剧、抒情散文长诗、塞万提斯式的浪漫体小说……它已成为世界文坛公认的伟大杰作，被誉为“时代的镜子”和“美国想象力最辉煌的表达”。 ★. Words Tips ◆. observant：善于观察的. ◆. bunk：床铺. ◆. voyage：航海. ◆. whaleship：捕鲸船. ◆. speculate：推测. ◆ pragmatism：独断. ◆. racism：种族主义. ◆. insanity：精神错乱. ◆ allegorically：寓言地. 瓦尔登湖——一本宁静恬淡充满智慧的书 Walden (first published as Walden; or, Life in the Woods) is an American book written by noted Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, and manual for self-reliance. Published in 1854, it details Thoreau's experiences over the course of two years in a cabin he built near Walden Pond, amidst woodland owned by his friend and mentor, Ralph Waldo Emerson,. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com.

(27) 27. near Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau did not intend to live as a hermit, for he received visitors and returned their visits. Rather, he hoped to isolate himself from society to gain a more objective understanding of it. Simple living and self-sufficiency were Thoreau's other goals, and the whole project was inspired by transcendentalist philosophy, a central theme of the American Romantic Period. As Thoreau made clear in his book, his cabin was not in wilderness but at the edge of town, not far from his family home. Walden Pond is not a traditional autobiography, but combines autobiography with a social critique of contemporary Western culture's consumerist and materialist attitudes and its distance from and destruction of nature. That the book is not simply a criticism of society, but also an attempt to engage creatively with the better aspects of contemporary culture, is suggested both by Thoreau's proximity to Concord society and by his admiration for classical literature. There are signs of ambiguity, or an attempt to see an alternative side of something common. Thoreau regarded his sojourn at Walden as an experiment with a threefold purpose. First, he was escaping the dehumanizing effects of the Industrial Revolution by returning to a simpler, agrarian lifestyle. Second, he was simplifying his life and reducing his expenditures, increasing the amount of leisure time in which he could work on his writings (most of A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers was written at Walden). Much of the book is devoted to stirring up awareness of how one's life is lived, materially and otherwise, and how one might choose to live it more deliberately. Third, he was putting into practice the Transcendentalist belief that one can best "transcend" normality and experience the Ideal, or the Divine, through nature. American poet Robert Frost wrote of Thoreau, "In one book ... he surpasses everything we have had in America." Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson judged Thoreau's endorsement of living alone in natural simplicity, apart from modern society, to be a mark of effeminacy, calling it "womanish solicitude; for there is something unmanly, something almost dastardly" about the lifestyle. Poet John Greenleaf Whittier criticized what he perceived as the message in Walden that man should lower himself to the level of a woodchuck and walk on four legs. He said: "Thoreau's Walden is a capital reading, but very wicked and heathenish... After all, for me, I prefer walking on two legs". 1845 年 7 月 4 日，美国著名作家、思想家、自然主义者梭罗开始了一项为期两年的试验，他移居到离家乡康科德. PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com. 第 1 章魅力经久不衰的英美文学经典.

每天读点英美文化 ：那些澎湃人心的文化经典 - 万水书苑-出版资源网

每天读点英美文化：那些澎湃人心的文化经典 - 万水书苑-出版资源网