Mark Twain has been called the inventor of the American novel. And he surely deserves additional praise: the man who popularized the clever literary attack on racism.
I say clever because anti-slavery fiction had been the important part of the literature in the years before the Civil War. H. B. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is only the most famous example. These early stories dealt directly with slavery. With minor exceptions, Twain planted his attacks on slavery and prejudice into tales that were on the surface about something else entirely. He drew his readers into the argument by drawing them into the story.
Again and again, in the postwar years, Twain seemed forced to deal with the challenge of race. Consider the most controversial, at least today, of Twain’s novels, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Only a few books have been kicked off the shelves as often as Huckleberry Finn, Twain’s most widely read tale. Once upon a time, people hated the book because it struck them as rude. Twain himself wrote that those who banned the book considered the novel “trash and suitable only for the slums (貧民窟).” More recently the book has been attacked because of the character Jim, the escaped slave, and many occurences of the word nigger. (The term Nigger Jim, for which the novel is often severely criticized, never appears in it.)
But the attacks were and are silly—and miss the point. The novel is strongly anti-slavery. Jim’s search through the slave states for the family from whom he has been forcibly parted is heroic. As J. Chadwick has pointed out, the character of Jim was a first in American fiction—a recognition that the slave had two personalities, “the voice of survival within a white slave culture and the voice of the individual: Jim, the father and the man.”
There is much more. Twain’s mystery novel Pudd’nhead Wilson stood as a challenge to the racial beliefs of even many of the liberals of his day. Written at a time when the accepted wisdom held Negroes to be inferior (低等的) to whites, especially in intelligence, Twain’s tale centered in part around two babies switched at birth. A slave gave birth to her master’s baby and, for fear that the child should be sold South, switched him for the master’s baby by his wife. The slave’s lightskinned child was taken to be white and grew up with both the attitudes and the education of the slave-holding class. The master’s wife’s baby was taken for black and grew up with the attitudes and intonations of the slave.
The point was difficult to miss: nurture (養(yǎng)育), not nature, was the key to social status. The features of the black man that provided the stuff of prejudice—manner of speech, for example— were, to Twain, indicative of nothing other than the conditioning that slavery forced on its victims.
Twain’s racial tone was not perfect. One is left uneasy, for example, by the lengthy passage in his autobiography (自傳) about how much he loved what were called “nigger shows” in his youth—mostly with white men performing in black-face—and his delight in getting his mother to laugh at them. Yet there is no reason to think Twain saw the shows as representing reality. His frequent attacks on slavery and prejudice suggest his keen awareness that they did not.
Was Twain a racist? Asking the question in the 21st century is as wise as asking the same of Lincoln. If we read the words and attitudes of the past through the “wisdom” of the considered moral judgments of the present, we will find nothing but error. Lincoln, who believed the black man the inferior of the white, fought and won a war to free him. And Twain, raised in a slave state, briefly a soldier, and inventor of Jim, may have done more to anger the nation over racial injustice and awaken its collective conscience than any other novelist in the past century.
【小題1】 How do Twain’s novels on slavery differ from Stowe’s?
A.Twain was more willing to deal with racism. |
B.Twain’s attack on racism was much less open. |
C.Twain’s themes seemed to agree with plots. |
D.Twain was openly concerned with racism. |
A.target readers at the bottom |
B.a(chǎn)nti-slavery attitude |
C.rather impolite language |
D.frequent use of “nigger” |
A.Jim’s search for his family was described in detail. |
B.The slave’s voice was first heard in American novels. |
C.Jim grew up into a man and a father in the white culture. |
D.Twain suspected that the slaves were less intelligent. |
A.slaves were forced to give up their babies to their masters |
B.slaves’ babies could pick up slave-holders’ way of speaking |
C.blacks’ social position was shaped by how they were brought up |
D.blacks were born with certain features of prejudice |
A.The attacks. | B.Slavery and prejudice. |
C.White men. | D.The shows. |
A.Twain had done more than his contemporary writers to attack racism. |
B.Twain was an admirable figure comparable to Abraham Lincoln. |
C.Twain’s works had been banned on unreasonable grounds. |
D.Twain’s works should be read from a historical point of view. |
【小題1】B
【小題2】D
【小題3】C
【小題4】C
【小題5】D
【小題6】A
解析【文章大意】本文是議論文,主要是對馬克吐溫及他幾部作品的評論。文中描述了人們對馬克吐溫幾部作品的評價,認為他的作品有爭議性,沒有直接表現(xiàn)反對奴隸制度和種族主義,但作者認為和他同時期的作家相比馬克吐溫在反對種族主義方面做了更大的貢獻。
【小題1】從第二段可知H. B. Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin是比較有名的反奴隸制的小說,它和其它早期的小說一樣直接針對奴隸制,但是馬克吐溫是個例外,他把對奴隸制和偏見的攻擊放在那些看起來是寫其它內容的小說里面,讓讀者在讀故事的時候自己去分析辨別,所以說他不是直接地公開反對種族主義。
【小題2】從第三段最后一句可知,這本書因為用了太多的“Nigger Jim”而受到批判。
【小題3】從第四段可知作者認為馬克吐溫的小說是強烈反對奴隸制度的,在美國小說中吉姆這個人物首次獲得認可,被認為是具備兩種特征,即:是白人奴隸文化中幸存者的代言人和吉姆作為一個父親一個男人的代言人。
【小題4】從第六段可知是養(yǎng)育(生活環(huán)境)而不是自然是形成社會地位的關鍵。
【小題5】第七段的最后兩句表明我們沒有理由認為馬克吐溫把年輕時的“黑人表演”代表了現(xiàn)實,他對奴隸制度和偏見的攻擊表明他明確知道這些“表演”并沒有表現(xiàn)現(xiàn)實。
【小題6】很多批評家認為馬克吐溫的作品有爭議性,沒有直接表現(xiàn)出反對奴隸制度和種族主義,但作者通過對幾部小說人物的分析指出和他同時期的作家相比馬克吐溫在反對種族主義方面做了更大的貢獻。
科目:高中英語 來源:全優(yōu)設計必修一英語北師版 北師版 題型:050
|
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科目:高中英語 來源: 題型:閱讀理解
As a boy ,Mark Twain caused much trouble for his parents . He used to play practical jokes on all his friends and neighbors .The nature of his jokes often led to violence. He hated to go to school, and he constantly ran away from home. He always went in the direction of the nearby Mississippi .He liked to sit on the bank of the river for hours at a time and just gaze at the mysterious island and the passing boats. He learned many things about the river during those days. He learned all about its history and unusual people who rode up and down it . He never forgot those scenes and those people .He later made them part of the history of America in the books Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
Mark Twain received his genius (天才)from his mother . Obviously he didn’t get it from his father . He once stated that he had never seen a smile on his father’s face .On the other hand, his mother had the rare ability to say humorous things. The same ability made Mark Twain an extremely humorous public speaker.
Because of the nature of his jokes when he was a child , Mark Twain would
A. ran away from school
B. cause his parents to quarrel with others
C. get into trouble with his friends and neighbors
D. like to sit on the bank of the Mississippi River
It can be learned from the text that
A. Mark Twain’s father was a cruel man
B. Mark Twain never attended school on time
C. Mark Twain often went boating in the nearby river
D. Mark Twain’s mother was something of a humorist
In his books Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn Mark Twain wrote much about
A. the Mississippi and the people riding on it B. his friends and neighbors
C. his school life D. his parents
It is implied that what affected Mark Twain’s character mostly was
A. his practical jokes B. his father’s seriousness
C. the history of the Mississippi D. his mother’s genius for humor
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科目:高中英語 來源:2011屆江西省吉水中學高三第四次月考英語卷 題型:閱讀理解
As a boy ,Mark Twain caused much trouble for his parents . He used to play practical jokes on all his friends and neighbors .The nature of his jokes often led to violence. He hated to go to school, and he constantly ran away from home. He always went in the direction of the nearby Mississippi .He liked to sit on the bank of the river for hours at a time and just gaze at the mysterious island and the passing boats. He learned many things about the river during those days. He learned all about its history and unusual people who rode up and down it . He never forgot those scenes and those people .He later made them part of the history of America in the books Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.
Mark Twain received his genius (天才)from his mother . Obviously he didn’t get it from his father . He once stated that he had never seen a smile on his father’s face .On the other hand, his mother had the rare ability to say humorous things. The same ability made Mark Twain an extremely humorous public speaker.
【小題1】Because of the nature of his jokes when he was a child , Mark Twain would
A.ran away from school |
B.cause his parents to quarrel with others |
C.get into trouble with his friends and neighbors |
D.like to sit on the bank of the Mississippi River |
A.Mark Twain’s father was a cruel man |
B.Mark Twain never attended school on time |
C.Mark Twain often went boating in the nearby river |
D.Mark Twain’s mother was something of a humorist |
A.the Mississippi and the people riding on it | B.his friends and neighbors |
C.his school life | D.his parents |
A.his practical jokes | B.his father’s seriousness |
C.the history of the Mississippi | D.his mother’s genius for humor |
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科目:高中英語 來源:2012年北師大版高中英語必修一Unit4練習卷(解析版) 題型:單項填空
Samuel Clemens, _____ Mark Twain, became a famous American writer.
A.was known as |
B.known as |
C.was known for |
D.known for |
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科目:高中英語 來源:2010年山東省北校區(qū)高二第一次月考英語試卷 題型:單詞拼寫
單詞拼寫:(10分)
但這也致使許多美式英語單詞和結構傳入英式英語。
But it has also led to lots of American words and _____ passing into British English.
一個多世紀以來,大西洋兩岸的交通穩(wěn)步發(fā)展。
For more than a century communications across the Atlantic have developed _____.
英國人用介詞的地方美國人有時候可能會省略。
The British use prepositions where Americans sometimes _____ them.
鐵穆特歐有一個不同尋常的工作---他是人體交通標志。
Timoteo has an unusual job----he is a human traffic ______.
在志愿指揮交通之前,他曾經(jīng)做過很多工作。
Before he _____ to direct the traffic, Timoteo had had lots of job.
我現(xiàn)在寫信時為了應聘你們登廣告要招的臨時服務生的工作。
I am writing in response to your advertisement for a _____ position as a waiter.
但是對于那些酷愛戶外生活的人們來說,一個好的辦法可能就是有一個休閑產(chǎn)業(yè)。
But for those who love the outdoor life, a good bet could be the _____ industry.
我盡管害怕,但也感到十分好奇。
I was frightened, I also felt very _____.
馬克吐溫很快樹立了他作為至今仍受人們喜愛的最偉大的美國作家之一的聲望。
Mark Twain _____ the reputation he still enjoys today as one of America's greatest writers.
他被迫改變計劃,在一艘汽船上當了幾年領航員。
_____ to change his plans, he worked for several years as a pilot on a steamboat.
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