Lesson 15 The Damned Human Race

1. Lesson 15The Damned Human Race Mark Twain

2. Study Focus • 1. To know the background of the essay and introduction of the author. • 2. To analyze the features of the essay. (style, tone, diction) • 3. To appreciate alliteration and rhyme.

3. Part One Pre-reading Tasks Introduction to the Author Definition of Black Humor Background of the Text

4. Introduction to Mark Twain • Mark Twain (1835～1910) (whose real name was Samuel Clemens) was born in Missouri and grew up close to the banks of the Mississippi River. Clemens started out as a printer, then turned to piloting a steamboat on the Mississippi River until the American Civil War.

5. In 1861, Clemens served briefly as a soldier in the Confederate army. Later that year, Clemens moved to Nevada and began writing articles as a newspaper reporter. • In 1863, Clemens began signing his articles with the pseudonym Mark Twain. He took it from the call of the pilots on the river steamers, which indicated that the water was twelve feet deep, a safe depth for a steamer.

6. In 1865, Twain finished his first story, "The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County", which became an instant hit. • In 1870, Twain married Olivia Langdon, and they later moved to Hartford, Connecticut. • In his later years, Twain became a celebrity, becoming known for wearing white suits wherever he went.

7. Although known primarily as a humorist during his life, scholars now regard his work as some of the best and most authentic in American literature. His portraits of pre-civil war America, and his use of spoken language in his novels dominate Twain's legacy. • His works are famous for his black humor.

8. Black Humor • Black humor is a literary term that refers primarily to a kind of bitter and often outrageous satire. • Much black humor is directed against greed, narrow-mindedness, complacency, and hypocrisy.

9. Black humor frequently satirizes society's institutions, including government bureaucracies, the military, and large corporations, depicting them as dehumanizing organizations. • Black humorists often attack the absurdity they see in life itself, as well as society's ills. The awareness of human mortality is basic to black humor, giving many of the works a desperate, even hopeless attitude.

10. Main Masterpieces • The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County-- a story about fair competition 《加利韦拉县驰名的跳蛙》 • The Adventures of Tom Sawyer，1876 • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn • The Million-pound Bank-note 《百万英镑》 • Roughing It, 1872 《艰苦岁月》 • The Gilded Age，1873 《镀金时代》 • Life on the Mississippi 《密西西比河上》

11. Supplementary Reading Materials • The Prince and the Pauper，1881 《王子和贫儿》 • Following the Equator， 1897 《赤道旅行记》 • What Is Man？1906 长篇论文《人是怎么回事》 • The Mysterious Stranger 《神秘的来客》 • Autobiography 《自传》

12. Background of the Text The 1890s was a dark and gloomy period for Mark Twain. 1. Because of his unwise investment, he went bankrupt. And in order to pay off his creditors, he undertook a round-the-world speaking tour aimed at making some money. 2. When he had almost completed it, he learned that his favorite daughter, Susy, had died.

14. 3. Before he could recover from this, his beloved wife, who had been his first reader for the 34 years of their married life, died too. 4. So, he became more and more bitter and his last writings were savagely satirical and pessimistic.

15. The whole social background---- • the three decades after the Civil War of the United States were characterized by cut-throat competition, child labor, robber barons and labor riots, corruption and unethical business practices, spread of the jungle law and racial conflicts and imperialist wars.

16. To Mark Twain, who had always been concerned with the problem of the human conscience, these things revealed the terrible deficiencies of the human race. • To remedy this deplorable situation, he began to use his pen as a sharp lance first to pierce the boils of human pomposity.

17. Part Two While-reading Tasks Preview Questions Structure of the Text Language Study Idiomatic Expressions

18. Preview Questions • 1. What is the main idea of this essay? • 2. Is Mark Twain serious when he says that he has done many months of painstaking and fatiguing work in the London Zoological Garden? • 3. What specific human traits and dispositions does he condemn?

19. Structure of the Text • Part I (para. 1-2): the thesis statement and the method of proving it • Part II • Section 1(para. 3-7): the comparison between the traits and dispositions of man and those of animals • Section 2 (para. 8-17): argument about man’s superiority, reasoning ability, and other traits. • Part III (para. 18): a brief summing-up

20. Characteristics of the Essay • Mark Twain pretends to be reporting on a scientific experiment, imitating the formal language academics are fond of using, such as big words, long sentences, serious tone, etc. to achieve the humorous effect.

21. Language Study • traits and dispositions: characteristics; features • to oblige sb. to do sth.: to force sb. to do sth. • renounce (v.) to abandon or reject • allegiance (n.) loyalty, esp. to a nation or a cause

22. to proceed toward a conclusion: in the process of coming to a conclusion • to subject sth. / sb. to sth. • 沙漠化使这一带的居民饱受煎熬。 • The desertification subjected people living in that area to great hardships. • 他们遭受了非常残酷的折磨。 • They were subjected to very cruel tortures.

23. postulate (fml) n. assumption; theory; hypothesis • to present oneself: to happen or exist • 机会来临时，你必须牢牢把握。 • When the opportunity presents itself you must seize it and hold it tightly. • The British nobility: • duke, marquis, earl (count), viscount, baron • e.g. the Count of Monte Cristo

24. Grown-up animals and their children

25. to be descended from sb.: to be related to sb. who lived a long time ago • 我母亲声称她是亚伯拉罕● 林肯的后代。 • My mother claims she is descended from Abraham Lincoln. • C.f. These ideas descend from those of the ancient philosophers. • rabid (adj.) uncontrollable (related to rabies)

26. to have not scrupled to do sth.: to have not hesitated to do sth. because of troubled conscience or embarrassment from moral considerations • to cheat sb. out of sth.: to trick or deceive sb. in order to get an advantage • e.g. to cheat sb. out of his money / job / land • c.f. to trick sb. out of sth.

27. to appease: to satisfy or relieve ( hunger, thirst, desire, etc.) • appetite (n.) • to have a big/ huge ~ • to lose/ ruin/ spoil one’s ~ • to give sb. an appetite • appetizing (adj.) • appetizer (n.)

28. furnish (vt.) to supply, provide • to furnish sb. (with) sth. • avaricious: (adj.) extremely fond of accumulating wealth • avarice (n.) greed • miserly (adj.) tight-fisted, stingy • miser (n.) • misery (n.) suffering, discomfort

29. harbor (vt.) to keep bad thoughts, fears or hopes in your mind for a long time • 我想他对我怀恨在心。 • I think he’s harboring some sort of hatred against me. • C.f. to harbor criminals / murderers • to brood over sth.: to think about sth. for a long time because it makes you angry or worried

30. revenge (n.) sth. you do in order to punish sb. who has harmed or offended you • to get / take revenge on sb. • 他放火烧了工厂，报复他的老板。 • He took revenge on his employers by setting fire to the factory. • Hamlet swore he would revenge his father's death. • revengeful (adj.)

31. to allow sb. no hand in doing sth.: to deny sb. the right to participate in doing sth. • Pay attention to the different meanings of “loose” • He was worried about his son’s loose conduct. • He tied a stone to the loose end of the rope and let it down to the ground. • She was anxious to cut herself loose from her family.

32. the saving grace: the one good thing that makes sb. or sth. acceptable • Beautiful photography was the saving grace of an otherwise awful film. • indecency indecent • vulgarity vulgar • obscenity obscene • to be alive to: to be conscious or aware of

33. Laughing jackass 笑翠鸟 • http://you.video.sina.com.cn/b/20602615-1608776863.html

34. to have occasion to do sth: to have the need or necessity to do sth. • prior (n.) the man in charge of a priory, a house for monks which is smaller and less important than an abbey • to inquire into sth: to ask questions in order to have more information about sth

35. King John of England (1199-1216) • The youngest son of Henry II. • During his brother Richard I’s absence on the third Crusade, John had himself declared king and later held his brother in captivity. He was believed to have murdered his nephew Arthur I of Brittany. • This and many other cruel things he did made him extremely unpopular, and finally a civil war resulted during which he died, presumably poisoned.

36. to render sth. useless; • to render sb. harmless / untroublesome: to make sth./ sb. useless, etc. / to prevent sb. from making trouble • 他太胖了，以致于弯不下腰。 • His fatness renders him unable to bend down. • She was rendered a handsome reward for what she did for the company. • Rendering poetry into other languages is difficult.

37. The Middle Ages: • from the fall of the western Roman Empire (395 AD) to the Italian renaissancein the 14th centuryor to the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492. • Historians call the early Middle Ages the “Dark Ages” because it was a period marked by confusion, disorder, religious persecution and the breakdown of civilization in Western Europe.

38. King Richard I, • King of England (1157-1199), otherwise known as the Lion-hearted. He was the second son of Henry II and the elder brother of King John. A symbol of bravery, he spent only six months of his 10-year reign in the kingdom; the rest he spent on Crusades or as a hostage in Austria.

39. to set fire to sth.: to make sth. start burning • c.f. to make/ light a fire; to build a fire • to fine sb. some money for sth. • “For having four pheasant eggs in his possession without being able to satisfactorily explain how he got them”: (euphemism) for stealing four pheasant eggs

40. inflict (vt.) to make sb. suffer sth. unpleasant • to inflict sth. on/ upon sb. • 他让妻子和孩子受了很多苦。 • He inflicted a great deal of suffering on his wife and children. • unhumanly moderate: reasonable, not so violent, not so excessive or extreme, unlike human beings • c.f. unhuman & inhuman

41. splinter (n.) a small sharp piece of wood, glass, or metal that has broken off a larger piece • E.g. I’ve got a splinter in my finger. • splinters of glass • to be done doing sth.: to finish doing sth. • in that distinction: in that distinguishing factor; in that respect

42. to engage in: to participate in • to deal in: to be occupied in • the atrocity of atrocities: the greatest or the worst atrocity • atrocious (adj.) • Compare the following words: • kill, butcher, murder, assassinate, massacre, slaughter

43. “There is not an acre of ground on the globe that is in possession of its rightful owner…” • Not a single piece of land is in the hands of its original owner. Every piece of land has been stolen. • to hold sb. in bondage: to keep sb. in the state of being a slave

44. patriot (n.) • patriotic (adj.) patriotism (n.) • to set oneself apart from others: to make oneself feel that he is different from and better than other people • to sneer at: to scorn at; to mock at; to laugh at contemptuously

45. “Man is the only Patriot. …other people’s countries.” • It is claimed that man is the only Patriot. Only man is capable of such a noble sentiment. He keeps himself away from others, occupies a piece of land, calls it his own country, and thinks that he is better than all others, then he puts up a flag and gathers together a group of killers and steals land from others.

46. to work for… with one’s mouth: to pay lip service to…; to give empty promises to… • “and in the intervals between … with his mouth.” • And when they are not fighting each other, they will start talking about peace and universal brotherhood, but without any sincerity.

47. to make a graveyard of: to cause the death of many people in this area • to smooth the path to sth.: to make it easy for sb. to do sth. • to be at sth.: to be engaged in a certain activity

48. Caesar • In the time of the Caesar’s, the early Christians were cruelly persecuted by the Romans.

49. Mohammed • The founder of Islam. • In Mohammed’s time, the Muslims were cruelly persecuted.

50. Inquisition • Inquiry or investigation. Specifically, it refers to the former court in the Roman Catholic Church directed at the suppression of heresy.