高级英语第12课.doc

Lesson 12: Why I Write From a very early age, perhaps the age of five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer. Between the ages of about seventeen and twenty-four I tried to abandon this idea, but I did so with the consciousness that I was outraging my true nature and that sooner or later I should have to settle down and write books. =During the age of 15 to 24, I attempted to give up this idea, but when I was doing so, I felt that it was ruining my essential quality and that I would engage in writing sooner or later.  I was the middle child of three, but there was a gap of five years on either side, and I barely saw my father before I was eight- For this and other reasons I was somewhat lonely, and I soon developed disagreeable mannerisms which made me unpopular throughout my schooldays. =Among the three kids, I was the middle with the gap of five years to the rest of them. [ I was five years younger than my elder brother and five years older than my younger brother. ] Before I was eight, I seldom saw my father. I thus felt lonely for this and perhaps other unknown reasons. Hence, I was not agreeable to people due to my personality, which resulted in my unpopularity in schooldays. mannerism=A distinctive behavioral trait;习性：明显的行为特征；习性 Somewhat= To some extent or degree; rather.相当：达到某种范围或程度；相当 Develop=To bring into being gradually:逐渐形成： I had the lonely childs habit of making up stories and holding conversations with imaginary persons, and I think from the very start my literary ambitions were mixed up with the feeling of being isolated and undervalued. =Like every other child who felt lonely all the time, I enjoyed invented stories and talked to people that didn’t exist. From the very beginning, I suppose, my aspiration for writing was closely connected with the felling of being lonely and being slighted.  I knew that I had a facility with words and a power of facing unpleasant facts, and I felt that this created a sort of private