Lesson 9Mark Twain-

Mirror of America

(1835-1910)

Realism in the arts and literature

Realism in the arts and literature was a rejection of romantic idealism and subjectivity.

The term Realism was first used to describe the paintings of Gustave Courbet(1819-1877). In The Artist’s Studio (1855), he portrayed himself surrounded by the intellectuals and political figures of his day.

Realism in the arts and literature

Realism in the arts and literature

After midcentury, idealization in romantic literature yielded to novels depicting the objective and unforgiving social world. In Hard Times(1854), Dickens created an allegory that exposed the sterility ( 贫 乏 ） and soullessness of industrial society.

Paragraph 4 – A cub pilot the cast of characters: (alliteration) the set of actors in a play or movie

演员表 （ figuratively ） It means people of all sorts. rich and varied 形形色色 cosmos ： universe, used figuratively here, meaning a place

where one can find all types of characters. 大千世界

He participated abundantly in this life,… He was very much involved in this life.

Paragraph 4 – A cub pilot the cast of characters: (alliteration) the set of actors in a play or movie

演员表 （ figuratively ） It means people of all sorts. rich and varied 形形色色 cosmos ： universe, used figuratively here, meaning a place

where one can find all types of characters. 大千世界

He participated abundantly in this life,… He was very much involved in this life.

Paragraph 4 – Acub pilot feud ： a long and bitter quarrel between two

people ， families or groups piracies ： robbery at sea lynchings ： lynch(v.): put sb. to death or punish

sb. violently without a law trial medicine shows: shows given byentertainers who

travel from town to town ， accompanied by quacks （庸医） and fake Indians ， selling cure-alls ， snake-bite medicine ， etc 19 世纪末流行于美国 , 旨在兜售成药、秘方、万能药的 ) 药品宣传巡回展出 ( 团 )

savage waterside slums ： slums that are violently lawless

Paragraph 4 – A cub pilot All would resurface in his books,... reappear ...the colorful language that he soaked up with a

memory that seemed phonographic the colorful language he took in mentally with a

good memory that seemed to be able to record things like a phongraph 留声机

One of Twain’s major achievements is the way he narrates Huckleberry Finn ， following the twists and turns of ordinary speech ， his native Missouri dialect. The model for Huck Finn’s voice ，was a black child instead of a white one.

Para. 5-The real beginning of education teem with: be filled with God said,“Let the waters teem with countless living

creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of heaven.

current : a stream of water or air; (fig.) dominant course of successive events or ideas

pioneering humanity: people who explored and prepared the way for others

flotsam: the wreckage of a ship or its cargo floating on the sea 残骸，渣滓 ; (fig.) people without homes or work or people who had to leave their houses; social outcasts (hustlers: （ sl.) prostitute; gamblers ; thugs: hooligans 流氓，恶棍 )

Para. 5- The real beginning of education

Steamboat decks were filled with people of pioneering spirit (people who explored and prepared the way for others ) and also lawless people or social outcasts such as hustlers, gamblers and thugs.

Paragraph 5-The real beginning of education keen perception: intense insight,

understanding or knowledge gained by perceiving (observing)

the difference between what people claim to be and what they really are: ( antithesis ) the difference between words and deeds 言与行 , between what they preach and what they practice. People often claim to be kind, generous, honest, etc., whereas in reality, they are seldom what they say they are.

Paragraph 6- Confederate guerrilla

Why did Mark Twain leave the river country?

What did he do then? What is the writer’s attitude toward the

Confederate guerrillas? How do you know? Translate the sentence: “ I knew more about

retreating than the man that invented retreating.”

Paragraph 6-Conferate guerrilla Why did Mark Twain leave the river country? 1) railroads began drying up the demand

for…… 2) the Civil War(1861-65) halted commerce. halt: stop, bring… for a temporary stop commerce: trade What did he do then? In 1861 ， he served as a Confederate

guerilla.

Para.6 - Conferate guerrilla What is the writer’s attitude toward theConfederate

guerrillas? How do you know? a motley band motley: of various sorts 成分混杂的 diligently avoided contact with the enemy diligently ： constantly and carefully 不遗余力地 derogative Translate the sentence: “ I knew more about

retreating than the man that invented retreating.” 我比发明撤退的人还懂得撤退的含义。 Sarcasm

Para.7 - Prospector and reporter stagecoach A public transportation ， supplanted by railways ；

going by stages and stopped by designated points 公共马车

…succumbed to the epidemic of gold and silver fever.

succumbed to ： yield to ， give way to ， submitted to

e.g. In the end he succumbed to the temptation. Mrs. Clemens succumbed to （ died of ） a

heart attack in Florence.

Paragraph 7- Prospector and reporter …succumbed to the epidemic of gold and silver

fever. Metaphor ： a disease spreading rapidly among

many people in the same area and at the same time

…he flirted with… to the lucky and the persistent ， and was rebuffed.

Metaphor flirt with ： play at love ， not seriously rebuff ： refuse bluntly （断然地）

Paragraph 7- Prospector and reporter Broke and discouraged ，… to literature’s

enduring gratitude. Broke ： (colloq.) having little or no money to literature’s enduring gratitude Metaphor The world literature should be forever

grateful to this turn of events.

Paragraph 8 digging his way to regional fame 挥笔辛勤耕耘 The instant riches of a mining strike

would not be his in the reporting trade: He did not succeed in his reporting trade and become rich overnight as a gold miner might have done at that time by discovering a vein of gold.

strike: n. the sudden discovery of some mineral ores. It comes from the phrase to strike gold, oil, etc.

Paragraph 8 for making money, his pen would prove

mightier than his pick-ax: His reporting brought him more money than

his unsuccessful mining or prospecting might have.

他的笔要比锄镐更有力。 The figure of speech used here is

metonymy.

Paragraph 8 hotbed: a place that fosters rapid growth,

often used of something evil , e. g. a hotbed of war, crime

hopeful young writers: promising young writers, who are likely to succeed. Hopeful can also refer to the subjective state of minds, as in " He is hopeful of success."