2018-2019学年高中英语人教版必修4Unit2英美文化欣赏.pdf

【导读】 《嘉莉妹妹》是美国作家西奥多 ·德莱塞创作的第一部小说 ，反 映了十九世纪末期美国资本主义社会表面繁荣下 ，失业、贫困、饥饿的阴暗面 ， 是美国文学史上最著名的作品之一。 Sister Carrie (excerpt) When Caroline Meeber boarded the afternoon train for Chicago，her total outfit consisted of a small trunk，a cheap imitative alligator- skin satchel，a small lunch in a paper box，and a yellow leather snap purse，containing her ticket ，a scrap of paper with her sisters address in Van Buren Street，and four dollars in money.It was in August，1889.She was eighteen years of age，bright ，timid ，and full of the illusions of ignorance and youth.Whatever touch of regret at parting characterized her thoughts，it was certainly not for advantages now being given up.A gush of tears at her mothers farewell kiss，a touch in her throat when the cars clacked by the flour mill where her father worked by the day，a pathetic sigh as the familiar green environs of the village passed in review，and the threads which bound her so lightly to girlhood and home wereirretrievably broken. To be sure there was always the next station，where one might descend and return.There was the great city，bound more closely by these very trains which came up daily.Columbia City was not so very far away ， even once she was in Chicago.What，pray，is a few hours— a few hundred miles？She looked at the little slip bearing her sisters address and wondered.She gazed at the green landscape，now passing in swift review，until her swifter thoughts replaced its impression with vague conjectures of what Chicago might be. When a girl leaves her home at eighteen，she does one of two things.Either she falls into saving hands and becomes better，or she rapidly assumes the cosmopolitan standard of virtue and becomes worse.Of an intermediate balance，under the circumstances，there is no possi