高级英语Mark Twain — Mirror of America

Lesson 6Book 1

Mark Twain — Mirror of America (Excerpts)By Noel Grove 本单元作者：颜静兰

外语教学与研究出版社 FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING AND RESEARCH PRESS

Contents Part One: Warm-up Part Two: Background Information Part Three: Text Appreciation Part Four: Language Study

Part Five: Extension

Part One—Warm-up Ⅰ. Video Watching Ⅱ. Brainstorming Ⅲ. Discussion Ⅳ. Learning Objectives

Ⅰ. Video WatchingWatch the video clip and describe it.

About Mark Twain

Ⅱ. BrainstormingMake some predictions about the text to be learned. Tom Sawyer Huck Finn Reporter River pilotConfederate guerrilla

ProspectorThe Mississippi River

Novelist

―Mark Twain — Mirror of America‖

Ⅲ. Discussion1. What do you know about Mark Twain? 2. Have you ever read Mark Twain‘s novels?

3. Which novel impresses you most? Why?4. Do you like the naughty but clever boy Tom in Tom

Sawyer? What attracts you most while reading thenovel? 5. What is Mark Twain‘s writing style?

Ⅳ. Learning Objectives1.To know the writing style of Mark Twain.2.To be acquainted with some rhetorical devices. 3.To learn to use words and expressions to describe a person‘s life and experience. 4.To appreciate the language features. 5.To learn to write a comment on a writer.

Part Two—Background Information

Ⅰ. About Mark Twain Ⅱ. The Civil War Ⅲ. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Ⅳ. The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Ⅴ. Gilded Age Ⅵ. Gold Rush VII. The Mysterious Stranger VIII. The Celebrated Jumping Frog

Ⅰ. About Mark TwainMark Twain Mark Twain was the pen name of Samuel Langhorne Clemens

(1835–1910), America‘s mostfamous humorist and the author of popular and outstanding autobiographical works, travel books and novels.

Ⅰ. About Mark TwainThe first 36 years of Clemens‘ life a boy in a little town in Missouri, a steamboat pilot on the Mississippi,

a reporter on the far western frontier a traveler abroad All these supplied him with copious material which he used later for his best and most successful writings.

Ⅰ. About Mark Twain

Ⅱ. The American Civil WarThe American Civil War was a four-year armed conflict between the North and the South.

Ⅱ. The American Civil WarThe war began on April 12, 1861 and went on for 4 bitter years,

with ups and downs on both sides.The turning point of the war is the Battle of Gettysburg. Finally the Confederate army had to surrender, ending the war in 1865. As a result of the war, slavery

was abolished and the Union was preserved.

Ⅲ. The Adventures of Tom SawyerFrom playing pirates on a deserted island to attending his own ―funeral‖, from

exploring a bat-filled underground caveto digging for treasure in a haunted house, Tom Sawyer is a genius at getting himself and his friends into and out of sometimes dangerous adventures.

Ⅳ.The Adventures of Huckberry Finn

Considered a

s one of the great American novels, the work has been

popular with readerssince its publication and is taken as a sequel to

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer.

Ⅳ.The Adventures of Huckberry Finn

It is told in the first person by Huckleberry Finn, a friend of Tom Sawyer.

The novel is noted for itscolorful description of people and places along the Mississippi River.

Ⅴ. Gilded AgeIn United States history, the Gilded Age

refers to the era of rapideconomic and population growth in the United States during the post–Civil War and post-Reconstruction

eras of the late 19th century.

Ⅴ. Gilded Age

The term ―Gilded Age" wascoined by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner in their book The Gilded Age: A

Tale of Today, a tale ofcorruption and failed landdeals and a loss of innocence.1st edition book cover

Ⅴ. Gilded Age In this period, not only the role of women was being

challenged. Industrialists, corporations, utilities,bankers, and brokers were increasingly viewed as an enemy by the working class, whose wages had stagnated while men who were already millionaires got richer.

Ⅴ. Gilded Age Failed land deals, speculation, and corruption were prevalent. Many workers went from being independent tradesmen to being wage laborers concentrated in

large factories. Millions of immigrants swelled the population of U.S. cities and began to compete for jobs. Labor unions were born to represent these angry and beleaguered workers.

Ⅵ. Gold RushA gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers to an area that

has had a dramatic discovery of gold.Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, Brazil, Canada, South Africa, and the United States, while

smaller gold rushes took placeelsewhere.

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