1、Lesson Nine Mark Twain Mirror of America,Advanced English,Teaching Objectives Of the Unit,To acquaint students with the major events in the history of USA. To acquaint students with the life and writing of Mark Twain. To acquaint students with biographic writing. To help students to appreciate the r

2、ich rhetorical devices in the text,Questions to consider for pre-reading. Why does the author say that Mark Twain is the mirror of America?,Advanced English,The assertion that Mark Twain is the mirror of America is made in two senses. First, Mark Twains exciting, adventuresome life stories themselve

3、s mirror a part of true American history, and the life of ordinary American people. Second, his life experience furnished him with a wide knowledge of humanity, as well as with the perfect grasp of local customs and speech, which Mark Twain has manifested so well in his writing. His works mirror the

4、 real society of his time. Mark Twain is a part of America. As a man, he grew up with America as a country (a young country) As a writer, he grew up with America, moved along with America, from innocence to experience.,Advanced English,Mark Twain: Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910). two fathoms de

5、ep. His Life _ Historic Events of USA Tramp printer River pilot - Prosperous Mississippi River Transcontinental Railroads Guerrilla The Civil War Prospector - Gold Rush Reporter - Westward Expansion Correspondent - Europe, the Holy Land Writer - Tom Sawyers innocence Huck Finns experience,Advanced E

6、nglish,Advanced English,Textual Structure,Part One,Question: How was Mark Twain introduced? - his outstanding achievements as a writer who created two immortal characters - his multi-sided personality: adventurous, patriotic, romantic, humorist, cynical, bitter, sad.,Advanced English,. Most American

7、s remember Mark Twain as the father of Huck Finns idyllic cruise through eternal boyhood and Tom Sawyers endless summer of freedom and adventure. In-deed, this nations best-loved author was every bit as adventurous, patriotic, romantic, and humorous as anyone has ever imagined. I found another Twain

8、 as well one who grew cynical, bitter, saddened by the profound personal tragedies life dealt him, a man who became obsessed with the frailties of the human race, who saw clearly ahead a black wall of night.,Advanced English,Part One,. All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain

9、 called Huckleberry Finn. . There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since. -Ernest Hemingway One of his greatest accomplishments was the development of a writing style that was distinctly American, rather than an imitation of the style of English writers. Twain made a more extensive

10、 combination of American folk humor and serious literature than previous writers had done. The loose rhythms of the language in his books give the impression of real speech. Twains realistic prose style has influenced numerous American writers.,Advanced English,Part One,.,Advanced English,Part One,W

11、ords and Expressions rememberas 魯迅創(chuàng)造了阿Q, 這是大多數(shù)的中國(guó)人所熟知的. Most Chinese people remember Lu Xun as the father of Ah Qu. (every bit ) as as anyone has ever imagined 她的美麗無(wú)與倫比. She is as beautiful as any one has ever imagined. 魯迅, 這位最受中國(guó)人民喜愛(ài)的作家之一,他的愛(ài)國(guó)熱情、尖刻而幽默的筆調(diào)都達(dá)到了登峰造極的地步。 Lu Xun, one of best-loved author

12、s in China, was every bit as patriotic, acid-tongued and humorous as anyone has ever imagined.,cynical, a cynicdenying the sincerity of peoples motives and actions; seeing no goodness in human behavior. having little faith in human sincerity or goodness. a cynical man / a cynical attitude / a cynica

13、l smile With that cynical outlook he doesnt trust anyone.,Advanced English,cynical; profound,Part One,deal, obsess with , frailties,deal sb. a blow to cause sb. great difficulties He dealt me a hard blow on the chin The news dealt me a severe blow obsess: v . To occupy the mind of excessively, keep

14、thinking about sth and find it difficult to think about anything else. 使著迷, 困擾 He was obsessed with rocknroll 她晚年一直受到死亡恐懼的困擾。 The fear of death obsessed her throughout her old age frailty: a weakness of character or behavior. One of the frailties of human nature is laziness. Frailty, thy name is wom

15、an! (Hamlet),Advanced English,Part One,Advanced English,(Para 2),General introduction of Mark Twains life experiences tramp printer, river pilot guerrilla prospector writer /lecturer starry-eyed optimist, acid-tongued cynic,Advanced English,Part Two,Words and Expressions digest: vt Fish is easy to d

16、igest. Have you digested the report yet? All this upset me. I need some time to digest it all. It took her a while to digest the bad news. 過(guò)了一會(huì)兒她才接受了這個(gè)壞消息 Digest: n.a collection of pieces and writings Readers Digest Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and d

17、igested. ( Francis Bacon) 書有可淺嘗者，有可吞食者，少數(shù)則需咀嚼消化。,Advanced English,Part Two,attest: v . to. Be or give clear proof of sth. 他對(duì)危機(jī)的處理證明了他性格堅(jiān)強(qiáng)。 His handling of the crisis attested (to) his strength of character. 她的迅速提升體現(xiàn)了她的杰出才干。 Her outstanding ability was attested by her rapid promotion. score: twenty F

18、our scores and seven years ago our forefathers(87 years) scores of : large number, more than dozens but smaller than hundreds dozen: twelve dozens of A decade; decades of,Advanced English,Part Two,What was the importance of the River to Mark Twains writing?,marked the real beginning of his education

19、 e.g pilothouse talks of feuds, piracies, lynchings, medicine shows, savage waterside slums acquainted him with every possible type of human nature, from whom he gained keen perception of the human race e.g. pioneers, hustlers, gamblers, thugs soaked up in the colorful language that he would record

20、in his later writing,Advanced English,Part Two,Words and Expressions,drain: v. to receive the waters of this area and carry them to the ocean; or to carry away the surface water. 流過(guò),把(水)排掉,消耗掉 water from the pond They wanted to the land The illness ed his strength The nations resources were ed by th

21、e war He ed his parents of every penny they had. Drainage system 排水系統(tǒng) Drainage basin 流域,Advanced English,Part Two,Advanced English,teem with ; resurface; soak up teem with: be full of, be swarming or crowded with充滿 The river teems with all kinds of fish in summer. The woodlands teemed with wild life

22、. Hainan teems with tourists in winter. resurface: to become important and noticeable again These ideas resurfaced in the American civil rights movement. The disease was said to have resurfaced in three countries. soak up: to take in, to absorb He got out his handkerchief to soak up the blood. The r

23、eporter soaked up new information like a sponge. My clothes are soaking wet. Dont stand in the rain. You will be soaked through.,Part Two,cast of characters pilothouse talk of feuds, piracies, lynchings, medicine shows, savage waterside slums. The colorful language that he soaked up with a memory th

24、at seemed phonographic main current of pioneering humanity its flotsam of hustlers, gamblers, and thugs What people claim to be and what they really are. railroads began to dry up the demand for steamboat pilots A motley band of guerillas dry up: (put) (come) to an end In hot weather, the lake/well/

25、spring dries up. After his third novel, his imagination seemed to dry up. He spends easily as if his money never dries up. Lets dry up these glasses and get down to work.,Advanced English,Part Two,Paragraph 7,He went west by stagecoach and succumbed to the epidemic of gold and silver fever in Nevada

26、s Washoe region. For eight months he flirted with the colossal wealth available to the lucky and the persistent, and was rebuffed. Broke and discouraged, he accepted a job as reporter with the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, to literatures enduring gratitude.,Words and expressions,Succumb to;

27、flirt with; succumb to gave way to, yielded to, submitted to 屈服，屈從于，聽從 The government succumbed to the pressure of the press. 政府已屈服于報(bào)界的壓力。 Jiang Jie-shi succumbed to the pressure of the public and formed a united front with the Communist Party against the Japanese. flirt withmake love for amusement,

28、 without serious intention She flirts with every handsome man she meets. Dont take her seriously, poor boy. Shes only flirting with you. (fig) pretend to be interested in, think about, but not seriously. Hes been flirting with the idea of going to New York.,Advanced English,Part Two,Rebuff: to rejec

29、t bluntly; 回絕, 斷然拒絕 She rebuffed all my offers of friendship. The attempt of friendship was rebuffed with a cold look. We tried to be friendly, but his rebuff made me think that he wanted to left alone. to literatures enduring gratitudean adverbial of result. To my surprise/ satisfaction/ disappoint

30、ment / delight / horror / astonishment / dismay/ amusement/ to my knowledge （據(jù)我所知）,Advanced English,Part Two,Paragraph 8,From the discouragement of his mining failures, Mark Twain began digging his way to regional fame as a newspaper reporter and humorist. The instant riches of a mining strike would

31、 not be his in the reporting trade, but for making money, his pen would prove mightier than his pickax. In the spring of 1864, less than two years after joining the Territorial Enterprise, he boarded the stagecoach for San Francisco, then and now a hotbed of hopeful young writers.,His pen would prov

32、e mightier than his pickax. Metonymy: a figure of speech that consists in using the name of one thing for that of something else with which it is associated. Metaphor: a figure of speech containing an implied comparison, in which a word or phrase ordinarily and primarily used for one thing is applie

33、d to another. Identify: Habit is a cable. Beware of the bottle. Some books are to be tasted. Time is money. Have you ever read Mark Twain? The kettle is boiling (1.meta; 2. meto; 3. metaphor; 4. meta;5. meto; 6. meto;),Advanced English,Part Two,Synecdoche (提喻）a figure of speech in which a part is us

34、ed for a whole, an individual for a class, a material for a thing, or the reverse of any of these. Identify metonymy and synecdoche in the following: Lets drink a cup or two. They were short of hands. The pen is mightier than the sword. He could hardly earn his everyday bread. Put down the steel. We

35、 had dinner at ten dollars a head. He is a brave heart. I am a man who lets the head rule the heart. Standard: metonymy: 非隸屬關(guān)系; synecdoche: 隸屬關(guān)系 (1.meto; 2. syn; 3. meto; 4. syn; 5. syn; 6. syn; 7. syn; 8. meto),Paragraph 9,His descriptions of the rough-country settlers there ring familiarly in mode

36、rn world accustomed to the trend-setting on the West Coast. “It was a splendid population for all the slow, sleepy, sluggish-brained sloths stayed at home.It was that population that gave to California a name for getting up astounding enterprises and rushing them through with a magnificent dash and

37、daring and a recklessness of cost and consequences, which she bears unto this day and when she projects a new surprise the grave world smiles as usual, and says Well, that is California all over.,Words and Expressions,a new world vs. an old world In Henry James The Ambassador” Americans - energy, vi

38、gor, innocence, roughness, dash and daring Europeans - sophistication, refined, gracefulness hypocritical, arrogant,Advanced English,Part Two,Para 17-19,Nine years after Tom Sawyer swept the nation, Huck was given a life of his own, in a book often considered the best ever written about Americans. H

39、is raft flight down the Mississippi with the runaway slave presents a moving panorama for exploration of American society. On the river, and especially with Huck Finn, Twain found the ultimate expression of escape from the pace he lived by and often deplored, from lifes regularities and the energy-s

40、apping clamor for success. Mark Twain suggested that an ingredient was missing in the American ambition when he said: “What a robust people, what a nation of thinkers we might be, if we would only lay ourselves on the shelves occasionally and renew our edges.” Question: What does each paragraph mean

41、?,Words and Expressions,deplore: feel or express strong disapproval of, condemn. We all deplore his lack of manners robust: vigorous, strong, stout, tough, forceful The football players have robust physique energy-sapping : energy weakening nerve-racking task time-consuming exercises clamora loud cr

42、y, uproar,Advanced English,Part Two,An account of Mark Twains personal tragedy and conclusion Personal tragedies: deaths of his loved ones His pessimism in his later years: disillusion with the world and life itself,Advanced English,Part Three Para (20-22),Part Three,Haunt: to continue to mind conti

43、nuously; Memories of that car accident haunted her. I was haunted by the last words he said to me (a ghost) visits frequently A ghost is said to haunt the room. a haunted house with biting satire biting wind/coldextremely cold. When winter comes, you have to put on thick mouthpiece against the bitin

44、g northern wind. biting criticism-very hard or unkind criticism, usually caused by such feelings of anger, resentment. This is the most biting criticism I have ever heard.,Advanced English,Haunt, biting, crumble; consequence,Part Three,Para 22,The last of his own illusion seemed to have crumbled nea

45、r the end. Dictating his autobiography late in life, he commented with a crushing sense of despair on mens final world where they were of no consequence; where they achieved nothing; where they were a mistake and a failure and a foolishness; where they have left no sign that they had existed a world

46、 which will lament them a day and forget them forever.”,crumble: be broken or rubbed into small pieces Under the pressure, the huge stone crumbled into fragments. The old department blocks are crumbling. Their marriage is crumbling. He is a skilled and ruthless man who isnt likely to crumble under p

47、ressure consequence a man of consequence a man of no/little consequence take the consequences His death was totally unexpected and, in consequence, no plans had been made for the replacement.,Advanced English,crumble; consequence,Part Three,lament : to express ones sadness, or disappointment synonym

48、: mourn, grieve for, weep for, grieve over Ken began to lament the death of his son He laments that people are suspicious of the goodwill of his project. She spoke of the professional womens lament that a womans judgment is more questioned than a mans.,Advanced English,lament,Part Three,1. Metaphor:

49、 Mark Twain - Mirror of America saw clearly ahead a black wall of night. main artery of transportation in the young nations heart the vast basin drained three-quarters of the settled United States All would resurface in his books.that he soaked up. Steamboat decks teemed.main current of.but its flot

50、sam When railroads began drying up the demand. .the epidemic of gold and silver fever.,Advanced English,Devices of Figuration,2. Simile: Most American remember M. T. as the father of. .a memory that seemed phonographic 3. Hyperbole: .cruise through eternal boyhood and .endless summer of freedom. The

51、 cast of characters. - a cosmos. 4. Parallelism: Most Americans remember . the father of Huck Finns idyllic cruise through eternal boyhood and Tom Sawyers endless summer of freedom and adventure.,Advanced English,Devices of Figuration,5. Personification: life dealt him profound personal tragedies. t

52、he river had acquainted him with . .to literatures enduring gratitude. .an entry that will determine his course forever. The grave world smiles as usual. Bitterness fed on the man. America laughed with him. Personal tragedy haunted his entire life.,Advanced English,Devices of Figuration,6. Antithesi

53、s: .between what people claim to be and what they really are. .took unholy verbal shots at the Holy Land. .a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever 7. Euphemism: .mens final release from earthly struggle 8. Alliteration: .the slow, sleepy, sluggish-brained sloths stayed at home .with a dash and daring. .a recklessness of cost or consequences.,Advanced English,Devices of Figuration,9. Metonymy: .his pen would prove mightier than his pickaxe,Advanced English,Devices of Figuration,Type of literature -Bio-: life biology/ biochem