|
Text 1
About the author
Jack London (John Griffith London, 1876—1916)was
born in San Francisco and brought up in hardship and poverty,
never able to get much formal education. In spite of this,
he was a greedy reader, and he constantly borrowed books from
the public library. In 1897, he followed the groups of men
who rushed to Alaska. He found no gold there, but his experiences
gave him material for many of his famous stories, including
his most widely read novel The Call of the Wild. At
first, however, for several years he met only with discouragement
when he was trying to sell his stories and novels. Then suddenly
his writings began to be accepted, and Jack London soon became
one of the most highly paid writers in the United States.
He continued to live a dangerous and extravagant life of adventure
he wrote about in his stories, and when he died at forty he
had spent or given away all his wealth.
Jack London's tales of rough adventure and danger are widely
read even today, and his books and stories have been translated
into many languages. This great adventure writer had a strong
influence on American writing. He brought new themes into
fiction and popularized the brutal tales of courageous men
in wild places.
About the story
The Call of the Wild was published
in 1903. It is a nature story, featuring a domestic dog that
is drawn back to live with a wolf pack in the wilderness.
Receiving instant critical acclaim, it became the first of
London's best sellers and remains the best known of his writings.
In the story, London gives expression to the idea of the law
of domination by the strongest.
About the Gold Rush
The Gold Rush in Canada (1897—1898) was one
of the gold rushes that took place in about the second half
of the 19th century. A gold rush is characteristic of swarming
in of prospectors (探矿人), merchants, adventurers and others
to newly discovered gold fields.
Language notes
1.
Buck jumped at the man, sixty kilos of anger, his mouth wide
open, ready to bite the man's neck.
（巴克大张着嘴，以六十公斤的愤怒之躯扑向那人，要去咬断他的喉咙。）
His mouth wide open is here an absolute nominative
structure, used as an adverbial to modify "jumped at the
man".
2.
Buck understood that a man with a club must be obeyed, although
he did not have to be a friend.
（巴克明白了：必须顺从一个手持棍棒的人，即使此人并非一定是朋友。）
Buck came to see that one had to follow what a man with a
club said, even if one hated that man as an enemy.
3.
Buck saw money put into the fat man's hand,and he was not
surprised when he and another dog called Curly were taken
away by Perrault.
（巴克看到钞票放到了胖子的手里。所以，当它和另一条名叫柯莉的狗被佩罗特带走时，它并不感到奇怪。）
The past participial phrase put into … serves here
as the object complement.
Text 2
Language notes
1.
The wild animal was strong in Buck.
（在巴克的内心，有着强烈的野性。）
This sentence means that the tendency towards the wildness,
or the nature of being wild, was growing strong in Buck's heart
as well as in his body.
2.
But Spitz was always showing his teeth to Buck.
（然而斯皮兹总在向巴克挑衅。）
But Spitz was trying from time to time to challenge Buck to
a quarrel and to give a start to a fight with him.
3.
They were all skin and bone.
（它们瘦得只剩下皮包骨了。）
They were extremely thin, with little flesh.
Note the expressions of "be all + n." in English.
e.g. While the lecturer was speaking, the students were all
ears.
教师上课时, 学生们全神贯注地聆听。
Bob seemed all thumbs in doing housework, and all eyes when
a football match began.
鲍伯做家务活时笨手笨脚,看起足球赛来则目不转睛。
4.
The wild animal had made its kill.
（这野性的动物完成了它的杀戮。）
Buck, with the wild animal strong in him now,
succeeded in killing the evil enemy, Spitz.
5.
I'll show you!
（我要你好看!）
I'll teach you how you're supposed to behave or what's the
proper way you should act.
TOP |
