【正文】 is caught in a sit uati on of confli ct and he/she i s always pr ovided wi th moti vati on: he/she has suff icient reasons t o act or behave as he /she does. The character i s doing something and the reader whi le readi ng f iction want s to know t he ―why‖ as wel as t he ―what ‖ of the afair s. (Sometimes a charact er ‘s motive for an action is not explained on accept able grounds, f or example, t he vil lain in Adgar Al an Poe‘ st or y ―The Tel Tal e Heart ,‖ and t hus the reader f els cheated. In t hi s case, t he wr iter of det ecti ve f iction who makes t he cri minal a mere l unat ic has cheated the reader by avoiding the probl em of moti ve.) And general y, the act ion itsel f is humanl y si gnif icant and it ends usual ly in a shift in or cl ar if icat ion of human val ues, as di splayed in John Updike‘ s ―A amp。 and how social concer n is invol ved in a specif ic form of human i magination. I n additi on, st udent s hould elevat e t o the level of cul ti vati ng a cur iosi ty f or the unknown, thinki ng cogently and logi cal y, expresing themselves clear ly and concisel y, and observing the wor ld around t hem cri ticaly and objectively. But most students are st il l at a loss as t o how t hey can ef ecti vely analyze a lit er ar y wor k by t hemsel ves in any of these respect s, even though they have r ead plent y of excer pts fr om repr esent at ive wor ks i n t he Br it sh and Amer ican li terary canon. And they t end to have l it le idea what r ole the beginni ng part plays in t he whole st or y, how the pl ot develops and es t o resoluti on, in what way point of view det er mines a reader‘ s under st anding of the st ory, and how the images and symbols are r el at ed t o the t heme. Upon consi derati on of these fact or s, we have such cour se wi th the intention of cult ivat ing both students‘ l iterar y sensibil it es and t heir / your cri ti cal power when r eading Engli sh short stories and novels. II. Int roducti on about reading a st ory 1. What is Story? ―Yes –oh, dear, yes—the novel tel s a stor y.‖ This is Forster‘s r emark, whi ch i s wor th speci al atention, f or he is someone i n the trade and with r ich exper ience. I n hi s Aspects of the Novel he li st ―st or y‖ as the fi rst aspect . People r eading novel s f or stori es usualy ask questi ons li ke ―what happened next?‖ and ―and‖ what would he do next ?‖ These quest ions atest o the two basic elements of a story. The one i s the event and the other the ti me. A story i s a series of happenings ar ranged in the nat ur al tempor al order as they occur. Story is t he basis of the novel , and indeed t he basi s of nar rative works of al ki nds. 2. The str uct ur e and f unctions of a st or y Plot。 t heme。 how wri ters, t hr ough thei r creative impulses, convey to us t heir i nsights into human desti ny and human lif e。 and how social concer n is invol ved in a specif ic form of human i magination. I n additi on, st udent s hould elevat e t o the level of cul ti vati ng a cur iosi ty f or the unknown, thinki ng cogently and logi cal y, expresing themselves clear ly and concisel y, and observing the wor ld around t hem cri ticaly and objectively. But most students are st il l at a loss as t o how t hey can ef ecti vely analyze a lit er ar y wor k by t hemsel ves in any of these respect s, even though they have r ead plent y of excer pts fr om repr esent at ive wor ks i n t he Br it sh and Amer ican li terary canon. And they t end to have l it le idea what r ole the beginni ng part plays in t he whole st or y, how the pl ot develops and es t o resoluti on, in what way point of view det er mines a reader‘ s under st anding of the st ory, and how the images and symbols are r el at ed t o the t heme. Upon consi derati on of these fact or s, we have such cour se wi th the intention of cult ivat ing both students‘ l iterar y sensibil it es and t heir / your cri ti cal power when r eading Engli sh short stories and novels. II. Int roducti on about reading a st ory 1. What is Story? ―Yes –oh, dear, yes—the novel tel s a stor y.‖ This is Forster‘s r emark, whi ch i s wor th speci al atention, f or he is someone i n the trade and with r ich exper ience. I n hi s Aspects of the Novel he li st ―st or y‖ as the fi rst aspect . People r eading novel s f or stori es usualy ask questi ons li ke ―what happened next?‖ and ―and‖ what would he do next ?‖ These quest ions atest o the two basic elements of a story. The one i s the event and the other the ti me. A story i s a series of happenings ar ranged in the nat ur al tempor al order as they occur. Story is t he basis of the novel , and indeed t he basi s of nar rative works of al ki nds. 2. The str uct ur e and f unctions of a st or y Plot。 style 3. What is Fict ion? Fi ct ion, the gener al t er m for invented st or ies, now usual y applied to novels, shor t stori es, novel la, r omances, fables, and other nar rati ve works in prose, even though most pl ays and nar rative poems ar e al so f ictional . ( P. 83. Concise Dictionar y of Lit er ar y Ter ms) 4. The St or y and t he Novel To r ead novels for st or y is not hi ng wr ong, but nothing profesional ei ther . ―One mar k of a secondr at e mi nd is to be al ways teli ng stor ies.‖ The remar k by t he Fr ench wr it er jean de La Bruyer e ( 1645~1696) is also t rue of t he r eader. I f t he purpose of t he novel is onl y to tel st ories, it c ould as wel l remai n unbor n, for newspaper s and hi st or y books are suf fi ci ent to sati sf y peopl e‘ s desi re f or st ories about bot h pr esent and past, and even about f uture. I n fact , many newapaper men have been disatisfi ed wi th their job of r eporti ng and e into t he f ield of novel wri ting. Defoe, Di ckens, Joyce, Hemingway and Camus were among the most famous and t he most successf ul conver ts. Even histori ans may f eel obl iged t o do m