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編輯推薦: |
牛津英文经典(Oxford Worlds Classics)系牛津大学出版社百年积淀的精品书系。此番由译林出版社原版引进。除牛津品牌保证的权威原著版本之外,每册书附含名家导读、作家简介及年表、词汇解析、文本注释、背景知识拓展、同步阅读导引、版本信息等,特别适合作为大学生和学有余力的中学生英语学习的必读材料。导读者包括牛津和剑桥大学的资深教授和知名学者。整套书选目精良,便携易读,实为亲近*名著的经典读本。 牛津英文经典中的《汤姆叔叔的小屋》收录了作者斯托夫人与废奴主义者、美国作家伊莉莎卡伯特佛伦之间的通信,并节选了斯托夫人发表于1853年的《解码》,其文回击了批判该书内容不实的评论者。
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內容簡介: |
《汤姆叔叔的小屋》是美国作家哈里特比彻斯托于1852年发表的一部反奴隶制小说。这部小说中关于非裔美国人与美国奴隶制度的观点曾产生过意义深远的影响,并在某种程度上激化了导致美国内战的地区局部冲突。该小说是19世纪*畅销的小说(以及第二畅销的书,仅次于*畅销的书《圣经》),并被认为是刺激1850年代废奴主义兴起的一大原因。在它发表的头一年里,在美国本土便销售出了三十万册。
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關於作者: |
哈里特比彻斯托(斯托夫人)(Harriet Beecher Stowe,18111896)
出生于美国一个牧师家庭,曾做过教师,在辛辛那提市住了18年,在这里她经受了一段逃亡生活,为她创作这部小说奠定了基础。
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目錄:
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CONTENTS
Introduction
Note on the Text
Select Bibliography
A Chronology of Harriet Beecher Stowe
Map
UNCLE TOM''S CABIN
Appendix 1: Correspondence: Harriet Beecher Stowe to [Eliza Cabot Pollen], 16 December 1853 [1852]
Appendix 2: Excerpt from The Key to Uncle Tom''s Cabin
Appendix 3: Frederick Douglass, The Heroic Slave
Explanatory Notes
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內容試閱:
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VOLUME I
CHAPTER I
IN WHICH THE READER IS INTRODUCED TO A MAN OF HUMANITY
Late in the afternoon of a chilly day in February, two gentlemen were sitting alone over their wine, in a well-furnished dining parlor, in the town of P, in Kentucky. There were no servants present, and the gentlemen, with chairs closely approaching, seemed to be discussing some subject with great earnestness.
For convenience sake, we have said, hitherto, two gentlemen. One of the parties, however, when critically examined, did not seem, strictly speaking, to come under the species. He was a short, thick-set man, with coarse, commonplace features, and that swaggering air of pretension which marks a low man who is trying to elbow his way upward in the world. He was much over-dressed, in a gaudy vest of many colors, a blue neckerchief, bedropped gayly with yellow spots, and arranged with a flaunting tie, quite in keeping with the general air of the man. His hands, large and coarse, were
plentifully bedecked with rings; and he wore a heavy gold watch-chain, with a bundle of seals of portentous size, and a great variety of colors, attached to it,which, in the ardor of conversation, he was in the habit of flourishing and jingling with evident satisfaction. His conversation was in free and easy defiance of Murray''s Grammar, and was garnished at convenient intervals with various profane expressions, which not even the desire to be graphic in our account shall induce us to transcribe.
His companion, Mr. Shelby, had the appearance of a gentleman; and the arrangements of the house, and the general air of the housekeeping, indicated easy, and even opulent circumstances. As we before stated, the two were in the midst of an earnest conversation.
"That is the way I should arrange the matter," said Mr. Shelby.
"I can''t make trade that wayI positively can''t, Mr. Shelby," said the other, holding up a glass of wine between his eye and the light.
"Why, the fact is, Haley, Tom is an uncommon fellow; he is certainly worth that sum anywhere,steady, honest, capable, manages my whole farm like a clock."
"You mean honest, as niggers go," said Haley, helping himself to a glass of brandy.
"No; I mean, really, Tom is a good, steady, sensible, pious fellow. He got religion at a camp-meeting, four years ago; and I believe he really did get it. I''ve trusted him, since then, with everything I have,money, house, horses,and let him come and go round the country; and I always found him true and square in everything."
"Some folks don''t believe there is pious niggers, Shelby," said Haley, with a candid flourish of his hand, "but I do. I had a fellow, now, in this yer last lot I took to Orleans''t was as good as a meetin, now, really, to hear that critter pray; and he was quite gentle and quiet like. He fetched me a good sum, too, for I bought him cheap of a man that was ''bliged to sell out; so I realized six hundred on him. Yes, I consider religion a valeyable thing in a nigger, when it''s the genuine article, and no mistake."
"Well, Tom''s got the real article, if ever a fellow had," rejoined the other. "Why, last fall, I let him go to Cincinnati alone, to do business for me, and bring home five hundred dollars. ''Tom,'' says I to him, ''I trust you, because I think you''re a ChristianI know you wouldn''t cheat.'' Tom comes back, sure enough; I knew he would. Some low fellows, they say, said to him''Tom, why don''t you make tracks for Canada? '' ''Ah, master trusted me, and I couldn''t,''they told me about it. I am sorry to part with Tom, I must say. You ought to let him cover the whole balance of the debt; and you would, Haley, if you had any conscience."
"Well, I''ve got just as much conscience as any man in business can afford to keep,just a little, you know, to swear by, as ''t were," said the trader, jocularly; "and, then, I''m ready to do anything in reason to ''blige friends; but this yer, you see, is a leetle too hard on a fellowa leetle too hard." The trader sighed contemplatively, and poured out some more brandy.
"Well, then, Haley, how will you trade?" said Mr. Shelby, after an uneasy interval of silence.
"Well, haven''t you a boy or gal that you could throw in with Tom?"
"Hum!none that I could well spare; to tell the truth, it''s only hard necessity makes me willing to sell at all. I don''t like parting with any of my hands, that''s a fact."
Here the door opened, and a small quadroon boy, between four and five years of age, entered the room. There was something in his appearance remarkably beautiful and engaging. His black hair, fine as floss silk, hung in glossy curls about his round, dimpled face, while a pair of large dark eyes, full of fire and softness, looked out from beneath the rich, long lashes, as he peered curiously into the apartment. A gay robe of scarlet and yellow plaid, carefully made and neatly fitted, set off to advantage the dark and rich style of his beauty; and a certain comic air of assurance, blended with bashfulness, showed that he had been not unused to being petted and noticed by his master.
"Hulloa, Jim Crow!" said Mr. Shelby, whistling, and snapping a bunch of raisins towards him, "pick that up, now!"
The child scampered, with all his little strength, after the prize, while his master laughed.
"Come here, Jim Crow," said he. The child came up, and the master patted the curly head, and chucked him under the chin.
"Now, Jim, show this gentleman how you can dance and sing." The boy commenced one of those wild, grotesque songs common among the negroes, in a rich, clear voice, accompanying his singing with many comic evolutions of the hands, feet, and whole body, all in perfect time to the music.
"Bravo!" said Haley, throwing him a quarter of an orange.
"Now, Jim, walk like old Uncle Cudjoe, when he has the rheumatism," said his master.
Instantly the flexible limbs of the child assumed the appearance of deformity and distortion, as, with his back humped up, and his master''s stick in his hand, he hobbled about the room, his childish face drawn into a doleful pucker, and spitting from right to left, in imitation of an old man.
Both gentlemen laughed uproariously.
"Now, Jim," said his master, "show us how old Elder Robbins leads the psalm." The boy drew his chubby faced own to a formidable length, and commenced toning a psalm tune through his nose, with imperturbable gravity.
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