老人与海英语.ppt

Ernest Hemingway The Old Man and the Sea may be well-known as one of the true classics of this generation. Certainly, the qualities of Ernest Hemingways short novel are those which we associate with many great stories of the past: near perfection of form within the limitations of its subject matter, restraint of treatment, regard for the unities of time and place, and evocative simplicity of style. Also, like most great stories, it can be read on more than one level of meaning. On one it is an exciting but tragic adventure story. Sustained by the pride of his calling, the only pride he has left, a broken old fisherman ventures far out into the Gulf Stream and there hooks the biggest marlin ever seen in those waters. Then, alone and exhausted by his struggle to harpoon the giant fish, he is forced into a losing battle with marauding sharks; they leave him nothing but the skeleton of his catch. On another level the book is a fable of the unconquerable spirit of man, a creature capable of snatching spiritual victory from circumstances of disaster and material defeat. Hemingways Cuban fisherman is a character allowing the imagination of his creator to operate simultaneously in two different worlds of meaning and value, the one real and dramatic, the other moral and devotionally symbolic. On still another it is a parable of religious significance, its theme supported by the writers unobtrusive handling of Christian symbols and metaphors. Like Coleridges Ancient Mariner. About writing, Hemingway has a well-known metaphor: the tip are usually seven-eighths submerged under the water. Writers must reproduce the exposed surface of the water that one-eighth. The rest should be left to the reader to understand and imagine “The Old Man and the Sea” is a product of this theory into practice. It is brief, without a superfluous word , just like the tip of the iceberg, simple-clear, fresh and biting. This is a book about the old fisherman who lives alone in sea fishing