VOA英语2010年-A Century Later, Twain's Final Work Hits Bes

One of the most popular books in the United States right now is by an author who has been dead for a century. "The Autobiography¹ of Mark Twain" is the first of three volumes which make up writer Samuel Clemens' final work.

On hold for 100 years

This is the first time the final work by the man who wrote "Huckleberry Finn," "Tom Sawyer," and "The Prince and the Pauper²" has been published in its entirety.

"It was deliberately³ unpublished," says Robert Hirst, curator of the Mark Twain Papers at the University of California Berkley, where Twain's biography has been held since 1949. "He specifically says he doesn't want it published in its entirety, complete, until 100 years after his death."

According to Hirst, the author wanted the freedom to be truthful⁴ and frank with his opinions. "Mark Twain had a very tender heart. He liked to say nasty things, and he was very good at saying nasty things, but he really didn't want to hurt anybody's feelings. And he himself didn't want to be shunned⁵ because of his extraordinary opinions."

One of his most outspoken⁶ opinions in the book centers on U.S. soldiers in the Philippines during the 1898 Spanish-American War who reportedly massacred 600 native men, women and children. The victims, who were essentially⁷ defenseless, had gathered in the crater⁸ of a dormant⁹ volcano.

"General Wood was present and looking on," Twain writes. "His order had been 'Kill or capture those savages¹⁰.' Apparently¹¹ our little army considered that the 'or' left them authorized¹² to kill or capture according to taste, and that their taste had remained what it has been for eight years, in our army out there - the taste of Christian¹³ butchers."

Twain's criticism of "our imperial behavior in the Philippines rings awfully¹⁴ true to us," Hirst says. "We have seen some imperial behavior in our own history that is not very different."

Modern book

According to Hirst, Twain was a forward-looking person. Even the format¹⁵ of his autobiography is ground-breaking - a series of dictations he began in 1906, at the age of 70, on whatever struck his fancy.

"He so frees himself from the chronological¹⁶ compulsion, that he really is able to talk about whatever he feels like talking about, and when he loses interest to the least degree to change to something else."

Because the book isn't in chronological order, the reader can dive in at any point and learn more about the people who inspired his famous characters or pick up a story about getting the measles¹⁷ as a child or meeting President Grover Cleveland or Helen Keller. Throughout, Twain shows his trademark¹⁸ humor.

"I do think it is fundamentally the humor that keeps us coming back," Hirst says. "This is fun to read, simply because you cannot anticipate when he will say something funny."

Twain continued his dictations for three-and-a-half years. He ends it, Hirst says, when his youngest daughter, Jean, an epileptic, dies in 1909.

 
University of California, Mark Twain Papers, The Bancroft Library, Berkeley
The Clemens family in Hartford, Connecticut in 1884.
"She has just come home from one of the institutions she has been staying in, and she is preparing Christmas for him and she has it all set up for him and then she dies in the bathtub on Christmas Eve." That day, the author writes about his daughter and notes, "This is the last part of the autobiography."

Waiting game

Twain died the following April. He saw the autobiography as a way to provide income for his daughters after his death, since he feared the copyright on his books would soon expire. Despite his admonition to delay publication until a century after his death, Hirst says the author did release portions of it even in his lifetime.

"He knew well and so did his publisher at the time that if you said, 'Here is a little piece of the autobiography, but you can't read the book until Mark Twain dies.' They both knew that it would attract people's attention and I don't think there is any question that it has."

The first of three volumes is now in its sixth printing. The autobiography contains no new revelations about Twain, but Hirst believes it's the closest thing to having a conversation with one of America's best-loved authors.

"Of course you don't get to do any of the talking," he says, "but most of us would be content just to listen."

1 autobiography   

n.自传

参考例句：

• He published his autobiography last autumn.他去年秋天出版了自己的自传。
• His life story is recounted in two fascinating volumes of autobiography.这两卷引人入胜的自传小说详述了他的生平。

2 pauper   

n.贫民，被救济者，穷人

参考例句：

• You lived like a pauper when you had plenty of money.你有大把钱的时候，也活得像个乞丐。
• If you work conscientiously you'll only die a pauper.你按部就班地干，做到老也是穷死。

3 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

4 truthful   

adj.真实的，说实话的，诚实的

参考例句：

• You can count on him for a truthful report of the accident.你放心，他会对事故作出如实的报告的。
• I don't think you are being entirely truthful.我认为你并没全讲真话。

5 shunned   

v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was shunned by her family when she remarried. 她再婚后家里人都躲着她。
• He was a shy man who shunned all publicity. 他是个怕羞的人，总是避开一切引人注目的活动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 outspoken   

adj.直言无讳的，坦率的，坦白无隐的

参考例句：

• He was outspoken in his criticism.他在批评中直言不讳。
• She is an outspoken critic of the school system in this city.她是这座城市里学校制度的坦率的批评者。

7 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

8 crater   

n.火山口，弹坑

参考例句：

• With a telescope you can see the huge crater of Ve-suvius.用望远镜你能看到巨大的维苏威火山口。
• They came to the lip of a dead crater.他们来到了一个死火山口。

9 dormant   

adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的

参考例句：

• Many animals are in a dormant state during winter.在冬天许多动物都处于睡眠状态。
• This dormant volcano suddenly fired up.这座休眠火山突然爆发了。

10 savages   

未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There're some savages living in the forest. 森林里居住着一些野人。
• That's an island inhabited by savages. 那是一个野蛮人居住的岛屿。

11 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

12 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

13 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

14 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

15 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

16 chronological   

adj.按年月顺序排列的，年代学的

参考例句：

• The paintings are exhibited in chronological sequence.这些画是按创作的时间顺序展出的。
• Give me the dates in chronological order.把日期按年月顺序给我。

17 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

18 trademark   

n.商标；特征；vt.注册的…商标

参考例句：

• The trademark is registered on the book of the Patent Office.该商标已在专利局登记注册。
• The trademark of the pen was changed.这钢笔的商标改了。