英语文学阅读与鉴赏B7_Unit 4_The Gift of the Magi.docVIP

Unit Four Get Started ▇ Read the following background notes before class and be prepared for classroom activities. Bio-sketch of the author: O. Henry (1862-1910) was the pen name of the American writer William Sydney Porter, who mainly wrote about the life of ordinary people in New York City at the turn of the 20th century. He was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. His father was a physician. When William was three, his mother died, and he was raised by his paternal grandmother and aunt. Young William loved reading, but at the age of fifteen he left school, and then worked in a drug store and on a Texas ranch. Later, he moved to Houston, where he had a number of jobs, including that of a bank clerk. In 1884 he started a humorous weekly The Rolling Stone (《滚石周刊》). When the weekly failed, he joined the Houston Post as a reporter and columnist. In 1897 he was found guilty of embezzling (盗用) money, although there has been much debate even to this day While in prison William Sydney Porter started to write short stories to earn money to support his daughter Margaret. His first work, “Whistling Dick’s Christmas Stocking” (口哨大王迪克的圣诞袜) was published in 1899. After doing three years of the five years sentence, Porter was released from prison in 1901. He then changed his name to O. Henry. In 1902, O. Henry moved to New York City and from December 1903 to January 1906 he wrote a story every week for the New York World. Henry’s first collection, Cabbages and Kings (《白菜与国王》) appeared in 1904. Two years later, his second collection of short stories, The Four Million (《四百万》), was published. During his lifetime, he published 10 collections and over 600 short stories. O. Henry’s last years were shadowed by alcoholism, ill health, and financial problems. He died of liver trouble on June 5, 1910, in New York. Three more collections, namely, Sixes and Sevens (《七上八下》, 1911), Rolling Stones (《滚石》1912) and Waifs And Strays (《流浪儿》, 1917), appeared posthumously. O. Henry was widely known