【正文】 uati on of conf li ct and he/she is always pr ovi ded wit h moti vation: he/she has suff ici ent r easons t o act or behave as he / she does. The char acter is doing somethi ng and the r eader whil e reading f icti on wants t o know t he ―why‖ as wel as t he ―what ‖ of the af air s. ( Somet imes a character ‘s mot ive f or an act ion i s not expl ained on acceptable gr ounds, for exam pl e, the vil lain in Adgar Al an Poe‘st ory ―The Tel Tal e Hear t, ‖ and thus the r eader f el s cheated. I n t his case, the wr it er of det ecti ve fi cti on who makes the cri mi nal a mer e lunati c has cheated the r eader by avoiding t he problem of moti ve. ) And gener al ly, the acti on it self i s humanl y signif icant and i t ends usual ly in a shif t in or clar if icati on of hum an val ues, as di spl ayed i n John Updi ke‘ s ―A amp。 and how soci al concer n i s involved in a specif ic f orm of human imagi nat ion. In addit ion, st udent s should el evate to t he level of cult ivati ng a curi osit y f or the unknown, thi nki ng cogentl y and logi cal ly, expressing t hemselves clearl y and concisely, and observing t he wor ld ar ound t hem cri ti cal ly and objecti vel y. But most st udents ar e sti l at a loss as t o how they can ef ect ively analyze a li ter ar y wor k by t hemselves in any of t hese r espect s, even though they have read ple nty of excerpts f r om r epr esentati ve works i n the Br i ti sh and Am er ican l it er ary canon. And t hey tend to have l it tl e idea what role the begi nning part plays in the whol e st ory, how the pl ot develops and es t o r esolut ion, in what way point of view deter mines a r eader‘ s under st andi ng of the stor y, and how t he images and symbol s ar e r el ated t o the t heme. Upon consi der ati on of t hese f act ors, we have such cour se wit h t he intenti on of cul ti vat ing both st udent s‘ li ter ar y sensi bi li ti es and t hei r /your cr i tical power when r eadi ng Engl ish short stor ies and novels. I. Introduct ion about readi ng a story 1. What is St or y? ―Yes –oh, dear , yes—t he novel tel s a stor y. ‖ This i s Forster ‘s r emar k, which i s wort h special at ent ion, for he i s someone in the t rade and wit h r ich exper ience. I n his Aspect s of the Novel he list s ―st or y‖ as the f ir st aspect. People r eadi ng novels f or st ori es usualy ask quest ions l ike ―what happened next ?‖ and ―and‖ what woul d he do next?‖ These quest ions at est to the t wo basi c elements of a stor y. The one i s the event and the ot her t he ti me. A st ory is a seri es of happeni ngs ar ranged in t he nat ural temporal order as they occur . St ory is t he basis of t he novel, and indeed the basi s of nar rat ive wor ks of al l ki nds. 2. The str ucture and f unct ions of a stor y Plot。 how wr it ers, through t hei r cr eat ive i mpulses, convey t o us their i nsi ghts i nt o human dest iny and human li fe。 t heme。 a nd how soci al concer n i s involved in a specif ic f orm of human imagi nat ion. In addit ion, st udent s should el evate to t he level of cult ivati ng a curi osit y f or the unknown, thi nki ng cogentl y and logi cal ly, expressing t hemselves clearl y and concisely, and observing t he wor ld ar ound t hem cri ti cal ly and objecti vel y. But most st udent s ar e sti l at a loss as t o how they can ef ect ively analyze a li ter ar y wor k by t hemselves in any of t hese r espect s, even though they have read plenty of excerpts f r om r epr esentati ve works i n the Br i ti sh and Am er ican l it er ary canon. And t hey tend to have l it tl e idea what role the begi nning part plays in the whol e st ory, how the pl ot develops and es t o r esolut ion, in what way point of view deter mines a r eader‘ s under st andi ng of the stor y, and how t he images and symbol s ar e r el ated t o the t heme. Upon consi der ati on of t hese f act ors, we have such cour se wit h t he intenti on of cul ti vat ing both st udent s‘ li ter ar y sensi bi li ti es and t hei r /your cr i tical power when r eadi ng Engl ish short stor ies and novels. I. Introduct ion about readi ng a story 1. What is St or y? ―Yes –oh, dear , yes—t he novel tel s a stor y. ‖ This i s Forster ‘s r emar k, which i s wort h special at ent ion, for he i s someone in the t rade and wit h r ich exper ience. I n his Aspect s of the Novel he list s ―st or y‖ as the f ir st aspect. People r eadi ng novels f or st ori es usualy ask quest ions l ike ―what happened next ?‖ and ―and‖ what woul d he do next?‖ These quest ions at est to the t wo basi c elements of a stor y. The one i s the event and the ot her t he ti me. A st ory is a seri es of happeni ngs ar ranged in t he nat ural temporal order as they occur . St ory is t he basis of t he novel, and indeed the basi s of nar rat ive wor ks of al l ki nds. 2. The str ucture and f unct ions of a stor y Plot。 style 3. What i s Ficti on? Ficti on, t he general ter m f or invented stori es, now usual ly appl ied to novels, shor t st ori es, novel a, romances, fables, and ot her nar ati ve works i n prose, even though most pl ays and nar ati ve poems ar e also fi cti onal. ( P. 83. Conci se Dict ionar y of Lit erar y Ter ms) 4. The St ory and t he Novel To r ead novels f or st ory is nothi ng wrong, but nothi ng prof essional eit her. ―One mark of a second rate mind i s to be al ways tel ing st or ies.‖ The r emark by the French wr it er j ean de La Bruyere (1645~1696) is also t rue of t he reader . I f the pur pose of the novel is only t o t el l st ori es, it could as wel l r emain unborn, f or newspapers and hi st or y books ar e suf fi ci ent t o sat isf y peopl e‘ s desi re f or st ori es about bot h present and past , and even about fut ure. In fact, many newapapermen have been di ssati sfi ed wit h their j ob of report ing and e i nt o t he fi el d of novel wr it ing. Defoe, Di ckens, Joyce, Hem ingw