B4U5 text A中.pptVIP

1. Cultural Notes  Somerset Maugham: an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was one of the most popular authors of his era, and reputedly the highest paid of his profession during the 1930s.  His novels and short stories are characterized by great narrative facility, simplicity of style, and a disillusioned and ironic point of view. Despite his popularity, M did not gain serious recognition –he stood “in the very first row of the second raters.” M’s skills in handling plot has been compared by critics in the manner of of Guy de Maupassant. His part