【正文】 movi ng towar ds an undeclared end. Thus char act er is al ways i nvol ved i n f icti on, even i n the st or y of t he simplest acti on. Sometim es char acter i s at the center of our i nt er est because in char acter we may se many f acet s of t he people we meet in our dail y l if e and even of our selves. Fi ct ional charact er is al ways char acter i n acti on and the charact er get s i nt o acti on because it is caught i n a sit uati on of confl ict and he/she i s al ways pr ovi ded wi t h m oti vati on: he/she has suff icient r easons t o act or behave as he / she does. The char acter i s doi ng something and t he r eader whi le r eadi ng f icti on want s to know t he ―why‖ as wel as the ―what ‖ of t he af ai rs. ( Sometimes acharact er ‘s moti ve f or an acti on i s not explained on aceptabl e grounds, for exam pl e, the vi l ai n in Adgar Al an Poe‘stor y ―The Tel Tal e Heart, ‖ and t hus t he r eader f els cheat ed. In t hi s case, t he wr it er of detecti ve f icti on who makes the cr imi nal a m er e l unati c has cheated the reader by avoi di ng t he probl em of m oti ve.) And gener al ly, t he act ion it self is hum anly signi fi cant and i t ends usual y i n a shif t i n or clari fi cat i on of hum an values, as displ ayed i n John Updike‘ s ―A amp。 poi nt of vi ew。 and how social concer n is i nvol ved i n a specif ic f orm of hum an im agi nati on. I n additi on, st udent s shoul d el evat e t o t he level of cul ti vati ng a curi osi ty f or t he unknown, thinki ng cogentl y and logi cal y, expressi ng t hem selve s clear ly and concisel y, and obser vi ng t he worl d ar ound t hem cri ti cal y and obj ecti vely. But most st udents are stil l at a loss as to how they can ef fect ivel y analyze a li terary wor k by t hem selves i n any of t hese r espects, even t hough t hey have read pl enty of excer pts f rom r epresentati ve works in t he Bri tish and Ameri can lit er ary canon. And t hey t end to have li tl e idea what r ol e the begi nni ng par t pl ays in t he whol e st or y, how the pl ot devel ops and es t o r esoluti on, i n what way point of vi ew det ermi nes a reader‘ s under st andi ng of the st or y, and how t he images and sym bols are r el at ed t o t he t heme. Upon consi derati on of t hese fact or s, we have such cour se wit h t he intent i on of culti vati ng both students‘ li terar y sensibili ti es and t heir / your cri ti cal power when r eadi ng English short st or ies and novel s. II. Int roducti on about readi ng a st ory 1. What i s St or y? ―Yes –oh, dear , yes—the novel tel s a st or y. ‖ This is Forster‘ s r emar k, whi ch i s wor th speci al at enti on, f or he is someone i n t he t rade and wit h r ich exper ience. I n hi s Aspects of the Novel he li st s ―st or y‖ as t he fi rst aspect . Peopl e r eading novel s f or st ori es usual y ask questi ons li ke ―what happened next ?‖ and ―and‖ what woul d he do next?‖ These questi ons at est to t he t wo basi c el ement s of a st ory. The one is t he event and the ot her the tim e. A st ory is a ser ies of happenings ar anged i n the nat ur al tem por al order as t hey occur. St or y is t he basis of t he novel, and i ndeed t he basi s of nar at ive wor ks of al l ki nds. 2. The str uct ur e and f unct ions of a st or y Pl ot 。I nt r oducti on I. Why do we have such course? Engli sh l it er at ur e i s one of t he pulsory and m ost im port ant courses. However, t he Engli sh l it er at ur e cour ses of f er ed are merely t aught at t he level of l ear ni ng general i nf orm at ion and developi ng l it er al under st anding. Adm it edl y, such cour ses hel p t hem/ you a lot in t heir/ your acqui sit ion of t he Engl ish language. But t he f uncti on of Engli sh li terature r eaches f ar beyond t hat. I n readi ng Engli sh l it er at ur e, a st udent shoul d have the power t o di scern how human beings t ransl ate t heir experi ence i nt o ar tisti c expr esi on and represent at ion。 how writ er s, t hr ough thei r cr eati ve im pulses, convey t o us t heir i nsight s into hum an desti ny and hum an l if e。 char acter。 them e。 P, ‖ and t he moti vati on of a char act er in a st ory—one of the answer s t o the questi on ―why‖—i s of f undament al im port ance. I. What i s Character? Cl osel y related wit h t he st or y i s the charact er. Henr y James said, “What i s character but t he determ inat ion of i nci dent? What i s inci dent but t he il lust rat ion of charact er?‖ (The Art of Fi ct ion‖) When we read a novel , we read about our fel low bei ngs, and t hat is one of the mot ives i n readi ng at al . The “fel low bei ngs” in t he novel i s termed charact er s. By “fel low bei ngs” is meant not onl y “human bei ngs” but al so “other beings,” such as anim al s. Geor ge Or wel l uses anim al s t o r epresent hum an bei ngs i n his novel Ani mal Farm. Lewis Car r ol cr eates m any l ovel y anim als i n hi s Al ice’s Adventures in Wonderl and t hat appeal t o both chi ldren and adult s. Or wel does not i ntend to convince t he r eader that anim al s can speak hum an l anguage or that he i s a transl at or bet wen anim als and hum ans. No sensible reader, after readi ng Orwel ‘s Ani mal Farm, woul d go t o the pi gsty t o l ook f or a t al ki ng boar. This proves the agr ed on f icti onal it y of charact er s in novels. So broadl y, a character is an invented personal it y to resem bl e but never t o equal a real person i n l if e. I t is not dif icul t o se t hat char acters i n novels r esem bl e peopl e i n real li fe i n m any ways. They have names used i n the sam e way ours are used, t hey have hatr ed and love, and they have desi res and fear s. Above al l, they act he way we act or t he way we can under st and (l ike or disli ke). But we must bear in mi nd t hat he char act ers are not r eal persons, but mer el y i nvent ions, however i ngeni ous. Compare the physi cal ife and spirit u