英语泛读教程1, unit7.ppt

The call of the wild野性的呼唤By Jack ·London 故事 发展 在一个法官的家里过着养尊处优的生活 被法官那贪婪的助手给拐卖到一个训练狗拉雪橇的人手里 到严寒的阿拉斯加岛上 拉雪橇 受尽了皮 肉和精神的双重折磨 渐渐适应了没有人性的生活 打败了他的对手，当 上 了领头军 换了主人，受尽鞭打。仁慈的桑顿带着他离开了 桑顿被土著居民打死，暴怒的巴克为了给主人报仇咬死了许多人 野性在向他呼唤，他加入了狼群，走向了那本属于他的—野性 Major Themes Survival of the Fittest Jack London believed in Herbert Spencers theory of survival of the fittest, which means basically that an organism or group that is better suited to an environment will have a better chance for survival than an animal or group that is less suited. In other words, Spencer suggested that learning did not play a great role in the survival of a species. More often it had to do with luck -- a major environmental change would suddenly make one group of organisms better off than it had been before, and they would therefore live longer and reproduce more. London clearly makes use of the idea of survival of the fittest in The Call of the Wild. By chance, Bucks environment undergoes a tremendous change - he is kidnapped and taken from a sun-kissed, easy existence to the wilds of the Klondike. Buck survives because he was genetically more suited to that environment than many of the other dogs who were there. He did not need to learn much of anything - the instincts for survival were handed down by his ancestors -- a more poetic version of genetic inheritance. London takes the idea even more literally than is necessary. If Buck had remained in Santa Clara, he would not have passed on his genetic traits, for there were no suitable mates available to him. At the end of The Call of the Wild it reads that the years were not many when the Yeehats noted a change in the breed of timber wolves; for some were seen with splashes of brown on head and muzzle, and with a rift of white centered down the chest. Buck has had many children, children who will inherit from Buck all of the experience and fitness of their ancestors. The power of Instinct This theme also relates to Londons interest in Charles Darwins and Herber