Selected Stories by Mark Twain 马克吐温中短篇小说选 英文版原著

　　《马克?吐温中短篇小说选》 近代幽默文学泰斗 美国文学界林肯 奥巴马称他为美国*伟大的讽刺小说家 美国19世纪著名批判现实主义作家经典之作 **的文学经典读物 *好的语言学习读本名家推荐： **位真正的美国作家，我们都是继承他而来。 ——威廉?福克纳 我喜欢马克?吐温——谁会不喜欢他呢？即使是上帝，亦会钟爱他，赋予其智慧，并于其心灵里绘出一道爱与信仰的彩虹。 ——海伦?凯勒 1. 名家名作，反映现实，具有深刻的现实意义。 2. 幽默风趣，轻松愉悦。 3. 纯英文版，保留原作风格，有助于提高英文水平。

　　本书为纯英文版，是美国著名作家马克?吐温经典的中短篇小说合集，收录《卡县跳蛙》、《坏孩子的故事》、《百万英镑》、《火车上的嗜人事件》、《我最近辞职的经过》、《田纳西的新闻界》、《好孩子的故事》、《我是如何编辑一份农业报的》、《某大宗牛肉合同买卖签订纪实》、《我给参议员当秘书的经历》、《败坏了哈德莱堡的人》等许多脍炙人口的中短篇佳作。本书文笔幽默，语言辛辣，既富于独特的个人机智与妙语，又不乏深刻的社会洞察与剖析，尖锐地讽刺并揭露盛行于美国的投机主义、拜金狂热等黑暗的社会现实。

　　马克·吐温（Mark Twain，1835－1910），原名萨缪尔?兰亨?克莱门（Samuel Langhorne Clemens)，是美国的幽默大师、小说家、作家，也是著名演说家，19世纪后期美国现实主义文学的杰出代表，被誉为“文学史上的林肯”、“美国文坛巨子”。他拥有高超的幽默、机智与名气，擅长写讽刺小说。

   When I was twenty-seven years old, I was a mining-broker’s clerk in San Francisco, and an expert in all the details of stock traffic. I was alone in the world, and had nothing to depend upon but my wits and a clean reputation; but these were setting my feet in the road to eventual fortune, and I was content with the prospect.
My time was my own after the afternoon board, Saturdays, and I was accustomed to put it in on a little sail-boat on the bay. One day I ventured too far, and was carried out to sea. Just at nightfall, when hope was about gone, I was picked up by a small brig which was bound for London. It was a long and stormy voyage, and they made me work my passage without pay, as a common sailor. When I stepped ashore in London my clothes were ragged and shabby, and I had only a dollar in my pocket. This money fed and sheltered me twenty-four hours. During the next twenty-four I went without food and shelter.
    About ten o’clock on the following morning, seedy and hungry, I was dragging myself along Portland Place, when a child that was passing, towed by a nurse-maid, tossed a luscious big pear - minus one bite - into the gutter. I stopped, of course, and fastened my desiring eye on that muddy treasure. My mouth watered for it, my stomach craved it, my whole being begged for it. But every time I made a move to get it some passing eye detected my purpose, and of course I straightened up then, and looked indifferent, and pretended that I hadn’t been thinking about the pear at all. This same thing kept happening and happening, and I couldn’t get the pear. I was just getting desperate enough to brave all the shame, and to seize it, when a window behind me was raised, and a gentleman spoke out of it, saying:
    “Step in here, please.”
    I was admitted by a gorgeous flunkey, and shown into a sumptuous room where a couple of elderly gentlemen were sitting. They sent away the servant, and made me sit down. They had just finished their breakfast, and the sight of the remains of it almost overpowered me. I could hardly keep my wits together in the presence of that food, but as I was not asked to sample it, I had to bear my trouble as best I could.