大学高级英语Lesson9课件.ppt.ppt

Lesson Nine Mark Twain – Mirror of America I. Questions for preparing the text 1. Search on Internet or in the library for the information about Mark Twain and prepare a presentation about his life story. 2. Why is Mark Twain one of America’s best-loved authors? 3. Give a brief account of Mark Twain’s experience before he became a writer. II. Background information II. Background information Mark Twain 1. Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), 1)America’s most famous humorist 2)printer 3)steamboat pilot 4) reporter 5)writer 2. humorist autobiographical works, travel books and novels. 1) Boyhood A. When and where he was born: the small village in Missouri/mi?zu?ri/ on Nov. 30, 1935 B. the third son and sixth child of a storekeeper (and at times also a lawyer). C. What did he see on the river People from all walks of life, mainly some bad ones, such as professional gamblers and hustlers 耍诡计的骗子 2) Early Life relatively little schooling After his father’s death, took up odd jobs 零活(as a delivery boy, grocery clerk and blacksmith’s helper, etc.) He left school at 13, and became a full-time apprentice to a printer. At 18, he became a tramp printer, (a person who goes around doing odd jobs of printing) to set type排字 for his brother’s local paper. By then he had tried his hand at writing juvenile burlesque.（滑稽剧 juvenile delinquency青少年犯罪 3) Experiences on the Mississippi River At 22, he set out again, with the intention of seeking his fortune in South America. But on his way down the Mississippi toward new Orleans, he ran out of funds and was persuaded by a steamboat pilot to become his apprentice. About two years later, he was licensed as a pilot on his own right. He worked on the river till 1861. 4) Journey West and the birth of “Mark Twain” Owing to the outbreak of the Civil war in 1861, river traffic halted; to Nevada and California. (gold rush) on February 3, 1863, the pseudonym “Mark Twain” was born when h