彭蒙惠英语：Hans Christian Andersen（在线收听）

Hans Christian Andersen

By Juliana Hanford / This article was reprinted and

edited for length with permission from Literary Traveler

The 200th anniversary of Andersen’s birth has arrived, and people are still trying to unearth the ‘real’ Andersen

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Hans Christian Andersen is probably the most famous Dane in literary history, but his rise from poor shoemaker’s son to internationally renowned author was a troubled one. On April 2, 1805, Hans Christian Andersen was born in Odense, Denmark, to parents who had only been married for two months. He had half-siblings born out of wedlock, an aunt who ran a brothel, and a mentally deranged grandfather who was known to the town’s children as “Crazy Anders.”

At the age of 7, Andersen had his first encounter with the theater. Once, after seeing an opera, Andersen came home and began to reenact the scenes, making up his own gibberish language. In 1818, after his father died, his mother remarried. Their tiny home became too small a stage for Andersen’s ambition. At the age of 14, he moved to Copenhagen. From this point on, he struggled in his attempts to overcome his poor social standing and insinuate himself into upper class society.

A Love of Travel

Fortunately, Andersen’s talents as a writer began to pay off when a director for the Royal Theatre read one of the boy’s plays. He had Andersen tutored and schooled at university with the king’s money.

In 1831, Andersen visited Germany on his first journey outside of Denmark, and found the experience so moving that he wrote a travel journal, which was published that year. Andersen fell in love with traveling. Fortunately, in 1833, the king provided him with a travel grant from public funds. For two years, Andersen journeyed to Germany, France, Switzerland and Italy.

In 1835, Andersen published Fairy Tales for Children. Over the years, he continued to publish and to travel all across Europe. Invitations came from fellow writers such as Charles Dickens, as well as from kings.

Vocabulary Focus

unearth (v) [5Qn5E:W] to discover proof or some other information, especially after careful searching

renowned (adj) [ri5naund] famous, well-known

gibberish (n) [5dVibEriF] spoken or written words that are nonsense and have no meaning

insinuate oneself into (v phr) to use clever, secret and sometimes unpleasant methods to gradually become part of something

Specialized Terms

out of wedlock (idiom) 非婚生，私生 of parents who are not married

brothel (n) 妓院 a place where one can go and pay to have sex with prostitutes

mentally deranged (adj phr) 精神错乱的 relating to one whose mind does not function properly; insane

grant (n) 特支费，补助款项 a sum of money given, especially by the government, to a person or organization for a special purpose