Mark-Twain-mirror-of-America第一部分课文讲解.ppt

1、Mark Twain - Mirror of America,Made by: Chanel Luo,Para 13 Text Analysis,Mirror of America,“Mirror ” Is a piece of glass or other shinny/polished surface that reflects images. Here, it is a metaphor. It means a faithful representation or description of something (the USA). Why does the author say th

2、at Mark Twain is the mirror of America?,Mark Twain: Samuel Langhorne Clemens,His Life _ Historic Events of USA Tramp printer 印刷工 - Prosperous River pilot 领航员 - Mississippi River Transcontinental Railroads Guerrilla 游击队员 -The Civil War Prospector 淘金者 - Gold Rush Reporter 记者 - Westward Expansion Corre

3、spondent 通信员 - Europe, the Holy Land Writer 作家 -Tom Sawyers innocence Huck Finns experience,The assertion that Mark Twain is the mirror of America is made in two senses.,Mark Twains exciting, adventuresome life stories themselves mirror a part of true American history, and the life of ordinary Ameri

4、can people.,Mark Twain,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 real society of his time.,The whole sentence structure: para

5、llelism. rememberas e.g.鲁迅创造了阿Q, 这是大多数的中国人所熟知的. Most Chinese people remember Luxun as the father of Ah Qu. Father: metaphor, here means the creator or the author. cruise through eternal boyhood：journey through lasting boyhood endless summer of freedom and adventure：long summer full of free and adven

6、turous activities Eternal seeing no goodness in human behavior. having little faith in human sincerity or goodness. E.G. a cynical man / a cynical attitude / a cynical smile Profound: to emphasize that sth. is very great and intense 深度的,深远的 E.G. His love/feeling for his country was profound. deal: t

7、o give , to give out, to strike, to distribute给予 deal sb. a blow to cause sb. great difficulties He dealt me a hard blow on the chin. obsess: v . To occupy the mind of excessively, keep thinking about sth. and find it difficult to think about anything else. 使着迷, 困扰 The fear of death obsessed her thr

8、oughout her old age.,frailty: a weakness of character or behavior.虚弱,弱点 One of the frailties of human nature is laziness. Frailty, thy name is woman! (Hamlet) “A black wall of night” - Rhetoric device, Structure, Imply ? Rhetoric device - Metaphor, compare the dark night as the black wall Structure

9、- n.+of (像)+n. Imply - the color “black” or “dark” and “night” -implies something hopeless. opposite to “day” and “daybreak and “light” - “hope” or “hopefulness”. “a black wall of night” - “despair and hopelessness”. e.g. He did not see a bright future but a dark one and a hopeless one.,tramp:流浪汉 a

10、person who has no home or permanent job and very little money guerrilla 游击队员 a member of an unofficial fight group which attacks the enemy in small groups unexpectedly. Starry-eyed optimist 耽于幻象的乐天派 a person disposed to take a favorable of view of things acid-tongued cynic 语言尖刻的讽刺家 a person who beli

11、eves the worst about people or the outcome of events range across 浪迹 to travel without any definite plan or destination, a fairly literary use.,同义词区别: wander, range, saunter, stroll Range to travel without any definite plan or destination, a fairly literary use. Wander implies the absence of a fixed

12、 course or more or less indifference to a course that has been fixed or otherwise indicated. The term may imply the movement of a walker whether human or animal, but it may be used of anything capable of direction.漫游,徘徊 Saunter stresses a leisurely pace and in idle and carefree mind. 漫步,闲逛 Stroll di

13、ffers from saunter chiefly in the implications of an objective, (as sight-seeing or exercise) pursued without haste and sometimes with wandering from one place to another.散步,漫步,How to understand the sentence “digesting the new American experience before sharing it with the world as writer and lectur

14、er” ?,Possible answers: Mark Twain travelled around the world and wrote about things or the experience that he had been observed and absorbed. He acted as a carrier to spread or introduce his idea and his information to his readers through his books or lectures. Here digest means that you think abou

15、t it, understand it, and remember it.,Why did Mark Twain adopt his pen name meaning two fathoms deep”?,Draw readers attention ,The sailing experience takes up an important part in his heart,Impress the listeners,a nautical(航海的) term used by sailors to report soundings,navigable: 可通航的 deep and wide e

16、nough to allow ships to travel attest: 证实,证明 to show to be true, to give proof of, to declare solemnly artery: 动脉,干线 blood vessel that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body, here is a metaphor, to describe it as the main transportation keelboat:龙骨船 a long bar along the bottom of a boa

17、t or ship from which the whole frame of the boat or ship is built up. the first major commerce 最重要的商品 the most important commodities Lumber 木材 tree trunks, logs or planks, timber,The Mississippi river,The Mississippi River is the second longest river system in the United States. The Mississippi flow

18、s 2,340 miles from its source to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico. Today, it is often called “Old Man River”.,Delta country 河口三角洲地区 Delta is the 4th letter of the Greek alphabet, which is shaped like a triangle. Therefore anything in the shape of a delta, esp. a deposit of sand and soil formed at the

19、 mouth of some rivers is called a delta. Molasses 糖浆 the thick brown uncrystallized(非结晶的) bitter syrup obtained from sugar during refining Basin 流域 A basin of a large river is the area of land around it. From the basin water and streams run down into the river. the Yellow River Basin. Drain 流干 to ca

20、use to become gradually dry or empty,Give a brief account of Twains experience before he became a writer.,He used to move here and there, and he first worked as a printer, then a river pilot, a Confederate guerrilla, a gold miner. When he was young, he embodied hope and beautiful dreams, so he was quite optimi