1. Lesson 9 Mark Twain-Mirror of America (1835-1910)

2. Title Mark Twain-Mirror of America Metaphor
Mirror here means a person who gives a true representation or description of the country.
Mark Twain was one of these giants, and his life and works are a mirror of the America of his time.

3. Title Mark Twain-Mirror of America Type of literature Biography 人物传记
Predict：What is the writer going to talk about？

4. Title His works The Gilded Age 1873 镀金时代
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1876
His sequel The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 1884
His short stories
Is He living or Is He dead
Comment on his life and works
objective

5. Main Idea
Mark Twain is considered as the father of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. He was adventurous, patriotic, romantic, and humorous on one hand, he grew cynical and bitter on the other hand because of the personal tragedies life dealt him.

6. Main Idea
He had done many jobs in his lifetime-printer, pilot, guerrilla, prospector, writer. His best work came out later in his productive years. Saddened by the personal tragedies, he turned to be satirical in his latter days.

7. Main Idea
How is the passage arranged?
Para.1
A general introduction to the passage
Para.2-7
This part depicts Twain’s life experiences before his writing career.
Para.8-18
Twain’s writing career
Para.19-21
Twain’s later years – a bitter one

8. Paragraph 1 A genera description of Mark Twain
A brief comment on his life and works
Questions:
The father of …
eternal
I found…
Why did he grow cynical and bitter？

9. Paragraph 1 Most Americans remember Mark Twain… :
Mark Twain is known to most Americans as the author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel Huckleberry Finn, which are generally acknowledged to be his greatest works .
“father” here means the author or the man who created these two unforgettable characters.
Hemingway：All modern American literature comes from Huckleberry Finn.

10. Paragraph 1 Huck Finn's idyllic cruise through eternal boyhood:
Huck Finn's simple and pleasant journey through his boyhood which seems eternal.
Eternal is a hyperbole : Huck Finn is the "eternal boy "immortalized.
Tom Sawyer's endless summer of freedom and adventure :
Endless is also a hyperbole; it parallels the word eternal . Summer, because all the adventures of Tom Sawyer described in the book are supposed to have taken place in one particular summer.

11. Paragraph 1
as adventurous , patriotic , romantic , and humorous as anyone has ever imagined :
① adventurous :He was always trying new things , and always going to new places. Even in his literary career, he was never satisfied with what he had achieved.
② patriotic: It refers to Mark Twain's profound love for his country with its robust people and beautiful scenery and its lofty ideas.

12. Paragraph 1
③ romantic :(in art , literature and music ) marked by feeling rather than by intellect;
④ humorous : His works are so full of humor that he is considered as America's greatest humorist.

13. Paragraph 1 I found another Twain as well :
I found another aspect of Twain .
cynical : sarcastic , sneering: seeing little or no good in anything and not believing in human progress.
Life dealt him：deal sb. a blow （a setback）
became obsessed with the frailties of the human race :
was continually distressed by the moral weaknesses of the human race
a black wall of night :
metaphor, meaning hopelessness and despair

14. Paragraph 2 How was his pen name from?
digesting the new American experience

15. Paragraph 2 tramp printer river pilot
Confederate guerrilla: a fighter on the Confederate side
prospector: prospect: search for minerals, gold, oil, etc.
starry-eyed : dreamy, romantic
acid-tongued: sharp - tongued

16. Paragraph 3 The geographic core- the Mississippi River
artery heart – metaphor
…the vast basin drained three-quarters of the settled United States
辽阔的流域占当时美国已有人定居领土的四分之三