春红落尽，夏木成荫，在春意阑珊中我们即将迎来五一劳动节。今天为大家推荐的书目是美国文学巨匠马克·吐温的名作《百万富翁》。这位从劳动人民中间走出来的伟大作家，将其毕生传奇经历所赋予的真知灼见融汇到文学创作中，幽默讽刺，针砭时弊，让我们在忍俊不禁中感受到劳动人民的智慧。向劳动者致敬！

作品简介

《百万英镑》是美国作家马克·吐温创作的中短篇小说。作品讲述了英国伦敦的一对富翁兄弟打赌，将一张无法兑现的百万大钞借给一个穷困潦倒的办事员——美国小伙子亨利·亚当斯，看他在一个月之内如何收场。然而期限到时，亨利不仅没有饿死或被捕，反倒成了富翁，并且赢得了一位漂亮小姐的芳心。该作以其略带夸张的艺术手法再现了马克·吐温的讽刺与幽默，揭露了二十世纪初英国社会的拜金主义思想。

 

作者简介

马克·吐温（Mark Twain，1835-1910），美国作家、演说家。原名撒缪尔·兰亨·克莱门，“马克·吐温”是其笔名，取自密西西比河水手使用的术语。12岁时，父亲去世，马克·吐温只得辍学到工厂当小工，后又做过密西西比河的领航员、矿工和新闻记者，逐渐开始写作生涯。马克·吐温是美国批判现实主义文学的奠基人，代表作有《百万英镑》《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》《汤姆·索亚历险记》等。

美国幽默大师马克·吐温（图片源自网络，如有侵权，请联系删除）

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1954年格里高利·派克主演电影《百万英镑》剧照

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Well, don’t you see what was bound to happen? I drifted naturally into buying whatever I wanted, and asking for change. Within a week I was sumptuously equipped with all needful comforts and luxuries, and was housed in an expensive private hotel in Hanover Square. I took my dinners there, but for breakfast I stuck by Harris’s humble feeding-house, where I had got my first meal on my million-pound bill. I was the making of Harris. The fact had gone all abroad that the foreign crank who carried million-pound bills in his vest-pocket was the patron saint of the place. That was enough. From being a poor, struggling, little hand-to-mouth enterprise, it had become celebrated, and overcrowded with customers. Harris was so grateful that he forced loans upon me, and would not be denied; and so, pauper as I was, I had money to spend, and was living like the rich and the great...

You know, I even kept my old suit of rags, and every now and then appeared in them, so as to have the old pleasure of buying trifles, and being insulted, and then shooting the scoffer dead with the million-pound bill. But I couldn’t keep that up. The illustrated papers made the outfit so familiar that when I went out in it I was at once recognized and followed by a crowd, and if I attempted a purchase the man would offer me his whole shop on credit before I could pull my note on him.

马克·吐温是文学巨匠，也是幽默大师；他的文字里既有诙谐的故事，也有辛辣的嘲讽；他对社会的洞察与刻画深刻有力、入木三分。他热爱语言，亦热爱人民，他的小说触动了美国人的灵魂。他笔下的密西西比河流淌在汤姆·索亚与哈克贝利·费恩的冒险故事里，流淌在马克·吐温传奇的人生故事里，也流淌在美国民族文化的长河里！

This book provides the fullest introduction in one volume to the multifaceted life and times of one of the most celebrated American writers. It is a collection of short lively contributions covering a wide range of topics on Twain’s life and works. Twain rose from obscurity to become what some have called “the most recognizable person on the planet”. This book places Mark Twain in his literary, historical, and cultural contexts. It will be of interest to scholars and students researching Twain.

 

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