英美散文选读（二）（第二版）pdf/txt下载_在线阅读全文

内容简介

　　本书共分为十二个单元以及补充阅读和难句选译部分，每个单元包括作者简介、课文、词汇讲解、课文注释和练习题等内容。本书所选的篇章，均出自英美散文大家和哲学家之手，希望在英语专业本科生完成了低年级的英语基础训练后，给他们添加西方人文传统背景知识，增进他们的阅读思考能力，使他们能批判地看待社会文化问题，并能提出自己独到的观点。

目　　录

Unit One Knowledge and Wisdom NN
Unit Two Habit
Unit Three The Scientist as Rebel
Unit Four Predictable Crises of Adulthood
Unit Five The Evolution of Good and Bad
Unit Six Faces of the Enemy
Unit Seven Gibbon
Unit Eight Philistines and Philistinism
Unit Nine The American Scholar
Unit Ten A Professional Malaise
Unit Eleven Hebraism and Hellenism
Unit Twelve The Gift of Tongues
Supplementary Reading
Translation of Selected Sentences

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　　The ten years of Gibbon's life in London afford an astonishing spectacle of interacting energies. By what strange power did he succeed in producing a masterpiece of enormous erudition and perfect form， while he was leading the gay life of a man about town， spending his evenings at White's or Boodle's or the Club， attending Parliament， oscillating between his house in Bentineck Street， his country cottage at Hampton Court， and his little establishment at Brighton， spending his summers in Bath or Paris， and even， at odd moments， doing a little work at the Board of Trade， to show that his place was not entirely a sinecure? Such a triumph could only have been achieved by the sweet easonableness of the eighteenth century. "Monsieur Gibbon n'est point mon homme，" said Rousseau. Decidedly ! The prophet of the coming age of sentiment and romance could have nothing in common with such a nature. It was not that the historian was a mere frigid observer of the golden mean - far from it. He was full of fire and feeling. His youth had been at moments riotous - night after night he had reeled hallooing down St. James's Street. Old age did not diminish the natural warmth of his affections; the beautiful letter - a model of its kind - written on the death of his aunt， in his fiftieth year， is a proof of it. But the fire and the feeling were controlled and coordinated. Boswell was a Rousseauite， one of the first of the Romantics， an inveterate sentimentalist and nothing could be more complete than the contrast between his career and Gibbon's. He， too， achieved a glorious triumph; but it was by dint of the sheer force of native genius sserting itself over the extravagance and disorder of an agitated life - a life which， after a desperate struggle， seemed to end at last in darkness and shipwreck.
　　With Gibbon there was never any struggle: everything came naturally to him - learning and dissipation， industry and indolence， affection and scepticism - in the correct proportions; and he enjoyed himself up to the very end.

The ten years of Gibbon's life in London afford an astonishing spectacle of interacting energies. By what strange power did he succeed in producing a masterpiece of enormous erudition and perfect form， while he was leading the gay life of a man about town， spending his evenings at White's or Boodle's or the Club， attending Parliament， oscillating between his house in Bentineck Street， his country cottage at Hampton Court， and his little establishment at Brighton， spending his summers in Bath or Paris， and even， at odd moments， doing a little work at the Board of Trade， to show that his place was not entirely a sinecure? Such a triumph could only have been achieved by the sweet easonableness of the eighteenth century. "Monsieur Gibbon n'est point mon homme，" said Rousseau. Decidedly ! The prophet of the coming age of sentiment and romance could have nothing in common with such a nature. It was not that the historian was a mere frigid observer of the golden mean - far from it. He was full of fire and feeling. His youth had been at moments riotous - night after night he had reeled hallooing down St. James's Street. Old age did not diminish the natural warmth of his affections; the beautiful letter - a model of its kind - written on the death of his aunt， in his fiftieth year， is a proof of it. But the fire and the feeling were controlled and coordinated. Boswell was a Rousseauite， one of the first of the Romantics， an inveterate sentimentalist and nothing could be more complete than the contrast between his career and Gibbon's. He， too， achieved a glorious triumph; but it was by dint of the sheer force of native genius sserting itself over the extravagance and disorder of an agitated life - a life which， after a desperate struggle， seemed to end at last in darkness and shipwreck. 
　　With Gibbon there was never any struggle: everything came naturally to him - learning and dissipation， industry and indolence， affection and scepticism - in the correct proportions; and he enjoyed himself up to the very end. 
　　3 To complete the picture one must notice another antithesis: the wit， the genius， the massive intellect， were housed in a physical mould that was ridiculous. A little figure， extraordinarily rotund， met the eye， surmounted by a top-heavy head， with a button nose， planted amid a vast expanse of cheek and ear， and chin upon chin rolling downward. Nor was this appearance only; the odd shape reflected something in the inner man. Mr. Gibbon， it was noticed， was always slightly over-dressed; his favourite wear was flowered velvet. He was a little vain， a little pompous; at the first moment one almost laughed; then one forgot everything under the fascination of that even flow of admirably intelligent， exquisitely turned， and most amusing sentences. Among all his other merits this obviously ludicrous egotism took its place. The astonishing creature was able to make a virtue of absurdity. 
　　Without that touch of nature he would have run the risk of being too much of a good thing; as it was there was no such danger; he was preposterous and a human being. 
　　4 It is not difficult to envisage the character and figure; what seems strange， and remote， and hard to grasp is the connection between this individual and the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. The paradox， indeed， is so complete as to be almost romantic. At a given moment - October 15， 1764 - at a given place - the Capitoline Hill， outside the church of Aracoeli - the impact occurred between the serried centuries of Rome and Edward Gibbon. His life， his work， his fame， his place in the history of civilization， followed from that circumstance. The point of his achievement lay precisely in the extreme improbability of it. The utter incongruity of those combining elements produced the masterpiece - the gigantic ruin of Europe through a thousand years， mirrored in the mind of an eighteenth- century English gentleman. 
　　……

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英美散文选读（二）（第二版）下载

英美散文选读（二）（第二版）

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