【導(dǎo)讀】Men!Americanwriters.Hismasterpiece:. Hiswritingstyle:. bitterlysatirical. numbersof200,000.termsofimportance.

　　

【正文】 nations, keeps multitudinous uniformed assassins on hand at heavy expense to grab slices of other people39。s countries.(Para. 13) ? set himself apart: to make oneself feel that he isdifferent from and better than other people ? sneer at: to laugh at contemptuously ? uniformed assassins: murderers in uniform( Twain39。s contemptuous term for army soldiers) Q: What was Twain blaming for? He was bitterly against colonialist and imperialist wars o f his time, which were usually fought under patriotic slogans. This made him extremely contemptuous about patriotism. Q: Is patriotism a bad feature? Why did Twain criticize this? b) …and in intervals between campaigns he washes the blood off his hands and——works for “the universal brotherhood of man”——with his mouth. (13) works for... with his mouth: To pay lip service, to make empty promise to.. Q: what human feature has been revealed by the description? And when they are not fighting each other, they will start talking about peace and universal brotherhood, but without any sincerity. Man, according to Mark Twain, is not only cruel and warlike, but also hypocritical. ? 5. Man is the only religious animal. What should a religious person do? To emphasize the spiritual and moral life. Why did Twain laugh at men39。s beliefs in religion? The different religions in the world have resulted in endless religious suppressions, persecutions and wars. a) He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself, and cuts his throat if his theology isn’t straight. (14) straight : Normal and correct b) He has made a graveyard of the globe in trying his honest best to smooth his brother’s path to happiness and heaven. (14) smooth his brother’s path to: To make it easy for sb. to do sth. In trying to make it easy for his brother to find happiness and go to heaven, he has turned the world into a graveyard (he has caused the death of millions around the world in converting them to his religion. ) c) He was at it in the time of the Caesar’s, he was at it in Mohammed’s time, he was at it in the time of the inquisition, he was at it in France a couple of centuries, he was at it in England in Mary’s day, he had been at it ever since he first saw the light.(para14) to be at sth.: to be engaged in a certain activity Q: What does he and it“ refer to respectively? d) In Mohammed39。 s(穆罕默德 ) time, the Moslems were cruelly persecuted. In Mary39。s day, the Protestants were persecuted. Mary Tudor: monly known as Bloody Mary, Queen of England. Daughter of Henry VIII and half sister to Elizabeth I, who succeeded her. She alienated her subjects by marrying King Philip of Spain, reestablishing the Roman Catholic Church, reviving the church courts and the laws against heresy, and initiating religious persecution resulting in the death of 300 protestants. Q: In Twain39。s experiment, what happened when different animals were in the same cage and when different religious people were together respectively? Q: What39。s Twain39。s ment on this? Do you agree? ? 6. Man is incurably foolish 14) And so I find that we have descended and degenerated, from some far ancestor some microscopic atom wandering at its pleasure between the mighty horizons of a drop of water perhaps… down t he long highway of perfect innocence, till we have reached the bottom stage of developmentnamable as the Human Being. Below usnothing.(Para18) the long highway of perfect innocence : the long process of our change from one insect into another, one animal into another and one reptile into another, all pletely innocent, until we bee human beings and lose all our innocence. What39。s your view? ? Mark Twain has shown us so many ugly traits and dispositions of human beings. Do you agree with all of it? Tell us your opinion about any one of those traits. ? Further Discussion 1. In Book 3, there is a text entitled “We Are Only Human” in which the author strongly argues that we human beings should be and can be superior to other animals. But in this article, the author feels strongly that human beings are the least fit for survival. What do you think of these two authors’ views? 2. Why did Mark Twain write this article? I am not pessimistic or cynical. Behind all the bitterness is a warm and human heart. I do not really believe that human beings are incurably cruel, greedy and wicked. Otherwise I would not have bothered to write those essays. I write about ugly human traits and dispositions precisely because I think human beings are capable of mending their ways if they can open their eyes to their own weaknesses and understand the conditions that give rise to them and nurture them. In other words, My policy is to frighten in order to enlighten. VI. Assignment 1. Learn the new words and expressions by heart. 2. Do all the exercises of Lesson nine. 3. Reading Text B. by yourselves.