senior 3 Reading.pptVIP

Unit 10 American literature The Adventure of Tom Sawyer Sister Carrie The Old Man and the Sea The Call of the Wild The Scarlet Letter Police and the Hymn Dreiser Hawthorne Mark Twain Ernest Hemingway Jack London O. Henry American writers Literary works O. Henry Short summary of O. Henry’s life He was born on September 11, 1862 in North Carolina, where he spent his childhood. An highly praised master of short stories and tales. Starting in 1895 he wrote a column for The Houston Daily Post. In early 1896 he was charged with embezzling funds. O Henry wrote with realistic details based on his first-hand experiences both in Texas and in New York City. In 1907, he published many of his Texas stories in The Heart of the West. He moved to New York City, where over the next ten years before his death in 1910, he published over 300 stories and gained worldwide praise as America’s favorite short story writer. He died on June 5, 1910 in New York City at the age of forty seven. An alcoholic, he died virtually penniless. O Henry’s famous works Cabbages and Kings 《白菜与国王》 The Furnished Room《带家具出租的房间》 The Four Million 《四百万》 The Gift of the Magi 《麦琪的礼物》 A Sacrifice For Love Adapted from The Gift of the Magi The Gift of the Magi is about a young married couple and how they deal with the challenge of buying secret Christmas gifts for each other with very little money. Skim the text to answer the following questions. 1. What is the story about? The story tells that a woman called Della sold her beautiful hair to buy her husband a Christmas present — a gold watch chain. 2. What do you think will happen? I think she will sell her hair, but her husband will be very angry or disappointed about that. 1. What are Jim’s wages? 20 dollars a week. 2. How much is the rent of the flat per week? 8 dollars. 3. What price does Della pay to buy her present? 21 dollars. 4. What are the couple’s two most precious possessions? Jim’s gold watch and Della’s hair.