Life on the Mississippi《密西西比河上的生活》读书报告 summary性质的 英文版.docx

student number: class: name: instructor: prof. wang assignment: book reportdate: 2010-12-19a book report on life on the mississippithe book life on the mississippi is written by mark twain, a great american author and humorist. in this book, he describes in detail his days as a steamboat pilot on the mississippi river before and after the american civil war. all contents of the book come from his own life experiences, which at the same time makes it convincing and interesting to read. it contains lots of information of american society at that time period and knowledge of navigation. the book is made up of two sections. for the two sections, he mainly has two lines: the change of life of american people before and after the american civil war and different develop stages of the steamboat enterprise. in the first section, mark twain mainly tells readers some information of the river and his early life as a steamboat pilot. he begins the book with a brief history of the mississippi river and the importance role it plays in american peoples life. he further informs us that the river is different from other rivers and how trades along the river develop with the development of steamboat enterprise. then he describes his “permanent ambition” 4 of becoming a steamboat man when he was a small boy. in chapter 4, he informs us the significant effect of a steamboat on the life and people of the entire town. “once a day a cheap, gaudy packet arrived upward from st. louis, and another downward from keokuk. before these events, the day was glorious with expectancy; after them, the day was a dead and empty thing.”4 he leaves home for the dream and becomes a cub-pilot. the following parts consist of his growing to a qualified steamboat pilot, in which, there are so many exciting anecdotes of people he meets during his time on ship. of course, on his way of success, he comes across numerous obstacles, which teaches him to be patient and perseverant. he also meets people who help him a lot. for example, his first “teacher” horace bixby, who teaches him how to navigate the treacherous river. it is really a torture for him to remember names of all those “islands, towns, bars, points, and bends; and a curiously inanimate”8， but at last he conquers all the difficulties and gets his own license. then he starts to pilot on his own, experiencing many adventures and meeting many interesting people (the anecdotes ive mentioned above). his description of steamboat mens communications is the most vivid and impressive. they talk as what they really want. their words are very typicalthey say some dirty words and are good at boasting. his extraordinary descriptions of navigation give us a chance to get a glimpse of it and know some basic knowledge of it as well. he states that navigation requires lots of practical techniques and careful observations. to be a good pilot, he must have an extraordinary memory and use them naturally whenever its necessary. a pilot should be brave, but never be a “coward”. 13 pilots tend to “put all their wishes in the form of commands”. 14 then he becomes a qualified pilot. at this moment the pilots association comes into being, which changes their life greatly. the racing gradually begins, which improve the efficiency of trading much. in the 17th chapter, he describes one of the mississippis “oddest peculiarities”shortening of its length, 17 which causes the problem of cut-offs of the river and peoples migrants. his career ends because of the civil war. by chance he will pilot the last steamboat from new orleans to st. louis. afterwards, its used by the union army to transport troops. he feels sad a little but he has to leave. in the first section, the steamboat enterprise develops fast and is of significance. however, many things have changed after the american civil war. in the second part of the book, twain describes a trip he takes back to the mississippi in 1882. boarding in st. louis, he takes steamships down to new orleans and then all the way back up the river to minnesota. this is the most interesting part of the book because it includes a fair amount of commentary about life in america after the civil war, reflecting on the differences between the north and the south. lots of things have changed along the mississippi river after so many years. in this section, twain tells us those interesting stories as a passenger but not a steamboat man. he has different memories of places he meets along the river. on the steamboat, many changes have taken place. for example, all the workers on a ship have their own uniforms. this makes twain really astonished. he believes “the greatly improved aspect of the boats staff is another advantage achieved by the dress-reform period.”25. among those stories, i am impressed by many. for instance, story of “the thumb print” 31 is as wonderful as any detective story. when i am reading this part, i feel that i myself am together in every scene, worrying and dreading with the characters. these kinds of stories of him are really attractive and its a pleasure to read and enjoy. when he arrives at different places, he experiences different cultures, sights and stories of different people. he tells us the features of the south language and assimilates it to beautiful songs. 44 in chapter45, he shows us different attitudes of people in the north and south toward wars. in the north, people hate wars; but in the south, people all have passions whenever hearing topics relate to wars because most of them have experienced or seen wars before. twain also introduces southern sports to uscock-fight, mule races, and steamboat races and so on. they are all highlights. in the 47th chapter, twain informs us that out of every five of the former pilots become farmers because its easy for them to achieve what they desire for the rest of their life“retired and peaceful life”49. in the end parts, when he travels to the place where he spent his boyhood, his feeling is complex. what he could see is not what presented before him, but what they were many years ago. this brings him back to his boyhood and reminds him of a playmate- lem hacketts death and his tortures as well as his confess. twain brings the book to an end with “a legend of white-bear lake”. but between the lines, i see that he is still on his travelling and reluctant to say goodbye.mark twain once said that life on the mississippi was the most unforgettable time in all his life. in this book, twain stands on the point of view of an ordinary person, but not from a great mans view. i believe what makes him extraordinary is tha