M a r k T w a i n--- M i r r o r o f A m e r i c a N o e l G r o v e?--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Most Americans remember Mark Twain as the father of Huck Finn's idyllic cruise through eternal boyhood and Tom Sawyer's endless summer of freedom and adventure. In-deed, this nation's best-loved author was every bit as ad-venturous, patriotic, romantic, and humorous as anyone has ever imagined. I found another Twain as well – one who grew cynical, bitter, saddened by the profound personalWhen railroads began drying up the demand for steam-boat pilots and the Civil War halted commerce, Mark Twain left the river country. He tried soldiering for two weeks with a motleyband of Confederate guerrillas who diligently avoided contact with the enemy. Twain quit after deciding, " (I)knew more about retreating than the man that invented retreating. "He went west by stagecoach and succumbed to the epidemic of gold and silver fever in Nevada's Washoe region. For eight months he flirted with the colossal wealth available to the lucky and the persistent, and was rebuffed . Broke and discouraged, he accepted a job as reporter with the Virginia City Territorial Enterprise, to literature's enduring gratitude.From the discouragement of his mining failures, Mark Twain began digging his way to regional fame as a newspaper reporter and humorist. The instant riches of a mining strike would not be his in thereporting trade, but for making money, his pen would prove mightier than his pickax. In the spring of 1864, less than two years after joining the Territorial Enterprise, he boarded the stagecoach for San Francisco, then and now a hotbed of hopeful young writers.Mark Twain honed and experimented with his new writing muscles, but he had to leave the city for a while because of some scathing columns he wrote. Attacks on the city government, concerning such issues as mistreatment of Chinese, so angered officials that he fled to the goldfields in the Sacramento Valley. His descriptions of the rough-country settlers there ring familiarly in modern world accustomed to trend setting on the West Coast. "It was a splendid population – for all the slow, sleepy, sluggish-brained slothsstayed at home... It was that population that gave to California a name for getting up astounding enterprises and rushing them through with a magnificent dash and daring and a recklessness of cost or consequences, which she bears unto this day – and when she projects a new surprise, the grave world– bet Sawyer quickly became a classic tale of American boyhood. Tom's mischievousdaring, ingenuity , and the sweet innocence of his affection for Becky Thatcher are almost as sure to be studied in American schools to-day as is the Declaration of Independence.Mark Twain's own declaration of independence came from another character. Six chapters into Tom Sawyer, he drags in "the juvenile pariah of the village, Huckleberry Finn, son of the town drunkard." Fleeing a respectable life with the puritanical Widow Douglas, Huck protests to his friend, Tom Sawyer: "I've tried it, and it don't work; it don't work, Tom. It ain't for me ... The widder eats by a bell; she goes to bed by a bell; she gits up by a bell – everything's so awful reg'lar a body can't stand it."Nine years after Tom Sawyer swept the nation, Huck was given a life of his own, in a book often consider ed the best ever written about Americans. His raft flight down the Mississippi with a runaway slave presents a moving panorama for exploration of American society.On the river, and especially with Huck Finn, Twain found the ultimate expression of escape from the pace he lived by and often deplored, from life's regularities and the energy-sapping clamorfor success.Mark Twain suggested that an ingredient was missing in the American ambition when he said: "What a robustpeople, what a nation of thinkers we might be, if we would only lay ourselves on the shelf occasionally and renew our edges."Personal tragedy haunted his entire life, in the deaths of loved ones: his father, dying of pneumonia when Sam was 12; his brother Henry, killed by a steamboat explosion; the death of his son, Langdon, at 19 months. His eldest daughter, Susy, died of spinal meningitis , Mrs. Clemens succumbed to a heart–2. Most Americans remember Mark Twain as the father...Father: metaphor. Endless: hyperbole.The whole sentence: parallelism.Mark Twain is famous to most Americans as the creator of Hack Finn and Tom Sawyer. Hack's sailing / voyage / journey / travel on the river was so pleasant, lighthearted, carefree, simple and peaceful that it made his boyhood seem to be infinite, while Tom's independent mind and his exciting and dangerous activities made the summer seem everlasting.3. idyllic: [i / ai] adj. of idyll, a simple happy period of life, often in the country, or a scene from such a time, a description of this, esp. a poem.idyll [‘idil, / aidl] n. short piece of poetry or prose that4. places. cruise computercf:aircraft carrier, helicopter carrier, battleship, flagship, destroyer, speedboat, torpedo boat, etc.5. every bit as: infml, just as, quite asHe is every bit as clever as you are.I'm every bit as sorry about it as you.6. cynical: A cynical person believes that all men are selfish. He sees little or no good in anything and shows this by making unkind and unfair remarks about people and things.cynic: n a. person who believes that people do not do things for good, sincere or noble reasons, but only for their own advantageHe became absolutely obsessed with a girl reporter on television.She is obsessed by the desire to become a great scientist.cf: preoccupy: to fill the thoughts or hold the interest of sb. almost completely, esp. so that not enough attention is given to other (present) matters.9. frailty: a weakness of character or behaviour.One of the frailties of human nature is laziness.That chair looks too frail to take a man's weight.There is only a frail chance that he will pass the examination.10. tramp: a person who has no home or permanent job and very little money. Tramps go fromcf: sanction11. esp. theguide12.by the southern states of the US after their secession / official separation from the union. When president Lincoln was elected (Nov. 1860), seven states --- South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, and Texas, seceded /si'si:d/. A provisional government was set up at Montgomery, Ala, and a constitution was drafted. Later four more states--- Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee--- joined. Richmond, Va., became the capital, and Jefferson Davis and A.H. Stephens were elected president and vice president. The story of the Confederacy is the story of the loss of the Civil War. The Confederacy fell after Gen. Robert Edward Lee's surrender in Apr. 1865 to Gen. Grant at Appomattox (town in cent. Va) Courthouse.13. guerrilla (guerilla): a member of an unofficial fight group which attacks the enemy in small groups unexpectedly.Song of the Guerrillas14. prospector: a person who examines the land in order to find gold, oil, etc.so full NoticeWander implies the absence of a fixed course or more or less indifference to a course that has been fixed or otherwise indicated. The term may imply the movement of a walker whether human or animal, but it may be used of anything capable of direction.His eyes wandered over the landscape.His mind wandered and he was unsure of himself.Range may be preferred when literal wandering is not implied or when the stress is on the sweep of territory covered rather than on the form of locomotion involved.He spent the summer ranging the world.Animals range through the forests.Saunter stresses a leisurely pace and in idle and carefree mind.Stroll differs from saunter chiefly in the implications of an objective, (as sight-seeing or exercise) pursued without haste and sometimes with wandering from one place to another.strolling (around) in the park18. digest:a. When you digest food, the food passes through your stomach and is broken down so that your body can use it.Don't give the baby meat to eat, because he cannot digest it.b. If you digest information, you think about it, understand it, and remember it.The report contains too much to digest at one reading.He reads rapidly but does not digest very much.c. A digest is a collection of things that have been written, which are put together and published again in a more concise form.The leading magazines in the U.S. include Golf Digest, Reader's Digest, and Soap Opera Digest.19. adopt: to take and use as one's ownThe US government decided to adopt a hard line towards terrorists.Congress has adopted the new measures.I adopted their method of making the machine.adopt a name, a custom, an idea, a style of dressHaving no children of their own they decided to adopt an orphan / dog.Paul's mother had him adopted because she couldn't look after him herself.her adopted country, ie not her native country but the one in which she has chosen to liveadept: ~ (in sth); ~ (at/in doing sth)She's adept at growing roses.He's an adept in carpentry.adapt ~ sth (for sth) make sth suitable for a new use, situation, etc; modify sthThis machine has been specially adapted for use underwater. This novel has been adapted for TV from the Russian original. Our eyes slowly adapted to the dark.20. navigable: deep and wide enough to allow ships to travel.21. popularity: the quality of being well liked, favoured, or admired22. attest: to show to be true, to give proof of, to declare solemnlyHistoric documents and ancient tombstones all attest to this.23. main artery of transportation in the young nation's heartartery and heart: metaphorsartery: blood vessel (a tube in your body) that carries blood from the heart to the rest of the body.vein:which river.25. are tied26. commerce: the buying and selling of goods, trade. Here commodities. This is a synecdoche since it involves thesubstitution of the genus for kind or whole for part.Keelboat, flatboats and large rafts conducted the transportation of commodities in the early years of the country.27. lumber: tree trunks, logs or planks (a long, usu. heavy piece of board, esp. one that is 2 to 6 inches thick and at least 8 inches wide) of wood that have been cut for use, but only roughly, AmE. In BrE, it is the same as timber.28. delta country: Delta is the 4th letter of the Greek alphabet, (with 1st: alpha, 2nd: beta, 3rd: gamma, 16th: pi , last or 24th: omega ) which is shaped like a triangle. Therefore anything in the shape of a delta, esp. a deposit of sand and soil formed at the mouth of29. sugarAustralia, 1851-53; South Africa, 1884; and the Klondike Canada 1897-98).31. basin: A basin of a large river is the area of land around it. From the basin water and streams run down into the river. the Yellow River Basin.The basin made up 3/4 of the populated area of the US of that time.32. drain: to flow off gradually or completely, to cause to become gradually dry or empty. Here, metaphor, to concentrate.33. cub: the young of various types of meat-eating wild animals, such as lion, bearin itTo and sell them without the right to do so.38. lynch: (esp. of a crowd of people) to attack and put to death, esp. by hanging, (a person thought to be guilty of a crime), without a lawful trial.39. slum: an area of a city where living conditions are very bad and where all the houses are overcrowded and need to be repaired.40. ...with the language that he soaked up with ...soak up: to draw in by or as if by suction or absorption. If sth soaks up a liquid, it absorbs it.teem animalsmain current of pioneering humanity: metaphor, people with pioneering spirit who forms the majority, the main part of them were people with devotion/ dedication to open up new areas and prepare ways for others.42. humanity: human beings in general43. flotsam: metaphor. rubbish, wreckage such as bits of wood, plastic, and other waste materials that is floating on the sea, parts of a wrecked ship or its cargo found floating in the sea44. hustler: a person who tries to earn money or gain an advantage from any situation they are in, often by using dishonest or illegal method. infml AmE. (US sl) prostituteb. (with the 5 senses, the mind, the feelings) good, strong, quick at understandingMy hearing is not as keen as it used to be.He has a keen brain.He is a keen observer.c. (AmE) wanting to do sth. very much or wanting sth. to happen very much; having a great deal of enthusiasm for sth.He takes a keen interest in his work.They are keen on art.I am not very much keen on detective stories.Just as good49. acknowledge: recognize the fact, agree to the truth. If you acknowledge a fact or situation, you accept or admit that it is true or that it exists.He acknowledge his fault.This is a fact even our enemies abroad have to acknowledge.Lu Xun is acknowledge as China's best writer.He is an acknowledged expert on antique-examination.The president stood up to acknowledge the cheers of the crowd.Acknowledge implies making known sth. which has been concealed or kept back acknowledge a secret marriage / one's complete ignorance of mathsAdmit stresses reluctance in agreeing to the fact but not necessarily the view pointnodding acquaintance / bowing acquaintancecf: to make friends with51. motley: of many different types of people or things, having or composed of many different or clashing elements, varied. suggesting odd and capricious arrangementmotley coat, eg one worn by a jokerwearing a motley collection of old clothesa motley crowd / crew, ie a group of many different types of peoplea motley coat, eg one worn by a jester (formerly man whose job was to make jokes to amuse a court or noble household, the court/king's/queen's jester in former times)52. band: a group of people joined together for a common purpose (derog.)53. living54. flirt: make love without serious intention.a. If you flirt with someone, you behave as if you are sexually attracted to them, in a not very serious way.Don't take her seriously, she is only flirting with you.She flirts with every man in the office.b. If you flirt with the idea of doing or having sth. , you consider doing or having it, without making any definite plans. We flirted with the idea of going abroad but decided against it.55. rebuff: If you rebuff sb. or sb's suggestion, you refuse to listen to them or take any helpful.His fame will endure for ever.Mining Strike: sudden discovery of mineStrike: sudden discovery58. hone: n. a stone used to sharpen knives and tools.v. to sharpen, to hone one's wit59. scathing: (of speech or writing) bitterly cruel in judgement, harsh, sharp and hurtful; cutting, scornful.She could be...scathing in her criticism.61. ring familiarly in modern world accustomed to trend setting on the West Coast: produceda familiar impression on people in modern world. People in the modern world (people in the settled United States, people on the East coast and along the Mississippi River) are now used to following the ways of doing things of the West Coast.be accustomed to: be in the habit of, be used to, be familiar withHe is accustomed to working hard.You will soon get accustomed to that kind of thing.He was not accustomed to LEAVE home during the winter.cf:be (get, become, grow) accustomed to = be used to + n., pron.,But62. trend: a general direction or course of development movement attitudes fashion etc. tendency.Today's trend is toward less formal clothing.Young women are always interested in the trends of fashion.If someone sets a trend, they do something that becomes accepted or fashionable, and that is copied by a lot of other people.trendy: very fashionable and modernHe was into jazz long before it became trendy.63. It was that population that gave to California a name for getting up...dash.Other meanings:100-meter dashThe dash is longer than the hyphen.68. recklessnessreck: (negative or interrogative only) care or mindThey recked little of the danger.reckless: Someone who is reckless shows a complete lack of care about danger or about the results of their actions. A reckless person is one who does things without thinking about what the results might be.RESULT,The badcf:RESULT implies a direct relationship with an antecedent action or condition, usu. suggests an effect that terminates the operation of a cause, and applies to concrete objects.His limp was the result of an automobile accident.The results of the research are to be published soon.The fire was the result of carelessness.The result of the match was 1 - 0.OUTCOME, though often interchangeable with result, may put less stress on the notion of finality than result.When resultThe consequence of the war is doubtful.（后果）The outcome of the war is doubtful. （结局）Consequence: (fml) importanceHe may be a man of c onsequence in his own country, but he’s nobody here.70. all over: in every respect, thoroughly, what one would expect of the person specified She is her mother all over.That sounds like my sister all over.It was these pioneers that brought California a reputation. California was made famouscaring cost or makes plans States smile73. celebrated: well-known, famous, stresses reception of public notice or attention and frequent mentiona celebrated actress, writer, pianist, etcBurgundy is celebrated for its fine wines.celebrate:a. mark (a happy or important day, event, etc) with festivities and rejoicing celebrate Christmas, sb's birthday, a wedding anniversary, a victory, success, etcb. enjoy oneself in some way on such an occasionIt's my birthday, let's celebrate! eg with alcoholic drink.c. (fml) to praise (sb/sth); honourOdysseus's heroic exploits are celebrated in `The Odyssey'.celebrity: famous personcelebrities of stage and screen74. slope: surface that is at an angle of less than 90 to the earth's surface or a flat surface, an area of rising or falling groundmountain slopesthe slope of a roofa slight / steep slopeski slopesThe field slopes (away) to the east.Does your handwriting slope forwards or backwards?75. distinct: easily heard, seen, felt or understood; definiteThe footprints are quite distinct; they must be fresh.~ (from sth) different in kind; separateAlthough they look similar, these plants are actually quite distinct.Mozart's style is quite distinct from Haydn's.76. sort: group or class of people or things (which are alike in some way); typeHe's the sort of person I really dislike.What sort of paint are you using?We can't approve of this sort of thing / these sorts of things/things of this sort.of a sort / of sorts: (infml. derog.) of a poor or inferior typeThey served coffee of a sort.It was a meal of sorts, but nobody enjoyed it.a sort of sth: (infml) vague, unexplained or unusual type of sthI had a sort of feeling he wouldn't come.sort of (infml) to some extent; in some way or otherI sort of thought this might happen.You sort of twist the ends together.77. -logue: (also) -log.a. Forming nouns with the senses “talk, kind of discourse” as dialogue, monologue, etc., and (occas.) compilation? as catalogue etc.b. = -LOGIST, as ideologue (ideologist) 思想家, Sinologue Sinologist,汉学家 etc.78. sore: (of a part of the body) hurting when touched or used; tender and painful; aching, hurting, irritated, serious, severea sore knee, throat, etcMy leg is still very sore.She feels sore about not being invited to the party.Your financial help is sorely needed.She was sorely missed at the reunion.79. unimpressed: If you are unimpressed by sb. or sth, you do not think they are very good, or worth your attention.impress: ~ sb (with sth) have a favourable effect on sb; make sb feel admiration and respectThe sights of the city never fail to impress foreign tourists. The girl impressed her fiancé’s family with her liveliness and sense of humour.We were most impressed with / by your efficiency.80. debunk: (infml) to point out the truth about (over-praised people, things, ideas, etc). You debunk an idea or belief, you show that it is false or not important.debunk fashionable opinionsbunk: sl. nonsenseDon't talk bunk!de: to remove fromdebunk: to remove the nonsensebunk: narrow bed built into a wall like a shelf, eg on a ship; also bunk bed, one of a pair of single beds, fixed one above the other, esp for children81. revered: (fml) to give great respect and admiration toHe was a revered figure with a great national reputation.cf:83. innocent: simple, not able to recognize evil. An innocent is a person who is inexperienced and ignorant about the more complex, evil or unpleasant aspects of life.He was a financial genius but a political innocent.One is innocent before found guilty.a trusting innocent child84. earnest: determined and serious, perhaps too serious. Someone who is earnest is very sincere and serious in what they say or do, believing that their actions are important and often unable to see when something is funny or ridiculous.She was an earnest but clumsy nurse.Are you joking or in earnest?It soon began to snow in real earnest. (very hard)cf:of Mean,He's a devil in human shape.She's in good shape after months of training.What shape is the team in after its defeat?I've been jogging a lot to get myself into shape.You'll never be in shape until you eat less and take more exercise.87. mischievous: irresponsibly playful, eager to have fun, esp. by embarrassing people or by playing harmless tricks (sometimes appreciative)cf:naughty: behaving badly and disobedientlyan melon89. puritan: (ad. / n. usu. derog) a person who has rather hard fixed standards of behaviour and self-control and thinks any kind of pleasure is unnecessary or wrong.member of the party of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who wanted simpler forms of church ceremony(usu derog.) person who is extremely strict in morals and who tends to regard pleasure as sinful90. flight: action or process of flying through the air; ability to flythe age of supersonic flightmovement or path of a thing through the airthe flight of an arrow, a dart, a missile, etc~ (of sth) number of birds, insects, etc flying together or of arrows released together a flight of geese / a flight of arrowsseries of stairs between two floors or landingsThere was no lift and we had to climb six flights of stairs.91. panorama:a. a complete view of a wide stretch of landb. continuously changing view or scenec. a thorough representation in words or pictureThis book gives a panorama of life in Shenzhen.92. pace: speed, esp. of walking or runningat a good, fast, slow, walking, etc paceShe slowed down her pace so I could keep up with her.He gave up his job in advertising because he couldn't stand the pace, ie found the pressure of work too great.rate of progress or development, esp of an activity, rhythmthe pace of change in the electronics industry.This novel lacks pace, ie Its plot develops too slowly.Are wages keeping pace with inflation?93. energy-sappingsap: gradually weaken sb/sth by taking away (strength, vitality, etc)I was sapped by months of hospital treatment.She's been sapped of her optimism.Stop sapping her confidence!Lack of planning is sapping the company’s ef ficiency.94. clamour: a continuous loud strong demand or complaint, din. It stresses the psychological effect of noises. It usu.implies disturbance and is applicable to a combination of sounds or a scene that is excessively noisy.The government made that decision in defiance of the public clamour.a clamour for revengeThe public are clamouring for a change of government.The baby clamoured to be fed.95. edge: sharp cutting part of a blade, knife, sword, or some other tool or weapona knife with a sharp edge(line marking the) outside limit or boundary of a solid (flat) object, surface or area the edge of a coin, plate, recordHe fell off the edge of the cliff.Don't put that glass on the edge of the table.97. -itis: disease or inflammationbronchitis, appendicitis, hepatitis (of liver), gastritis (of stomach), nephritis (of kidney)98. 'epilepsy: a disease of the brain which causes sudden attacks of uncontrolled violent movement and loss of consciousness99. Bitterness fed on the man who…Bitterness consumed the man, exhausted, used up all the energy of the man…Here a personification or metaphor is involved.100. material101. Now the gloves came off with biting satire.glove / mittenthe gloves are off: sb is ready for a fight(be) hand in glove: working in close associationHe was found to be hand in glove with the enemy.an iron fist/hand in a velvet glove: an appearance of gentleness concealing severity, determination, etcbite:b. criticize sb angrily (and often unfairly)I was only five minutes late but she really bit my head off.biting: causing a smarting paina biting wind(of remarks) sharply critical; cuttingbiting sarcasmsatire: Satire is ridicule or irony or sarcasm that is used, esp. in plays and novels, to show how foolish or wicked some people's behaviour or ideas are.Now becameAs soon as you put the dog-skin plaster on, your pain will vanish.Our hope vanished suddenly.Disappear stresses only the passing from sight or thought.I watched him until he disappeared from sight.Fade, often with out or away, implies a gradual diminution in clearness and distinctness until the thing becomes invisible. The blue rug has faded over the years.As evening came the coastline faded into darkness.His hopes faded.104. crumble: be broken or rubbed into very small piecescrumble one's bread,The bricks slowly crumbled in the long frost.The great empire began to crumble.Their marriage is crumbling.105. lament: If you lament sth., you express your sadness, regret or disappointment about it.They lamented the death of their mother.We could hear her laments through the closed door.His examination results were lamentable.a lamentable performance106. vary: differPeople vary very much in their ideas.Opinions vary on this point.These apples vary in size from small to mediumVary and differ。
