英语文学阅读与鉴赏B7_Unit 7_Dusk.docVIP

Unit Seven Get Started ▇ Read the following background notes before class and be prepared for classroom activities. 1. Bio-sketch of the author: Saki is the pen name of Hector Hugh Munro, who was a British writer, well-known for his short stories. He was born in Burma (缅甸) on December 18, 1870, and his father was an inspector-general (督察长) for the Burmese police when Burma was still part of the British Empire. When he was two years old, his mother died of a miscarriage (流产) and he, together with his sister and brother, came to England to be brought up by their widowed grandmother and the two unmarried aunts in a strict and rather conservative household. Munro was educated first at a boarding school and then at a grammar school (公学寄宿学校). In 1893 he followed in his father’s footsteps and got a post in the Burmese police. Two years later, he contracted malaria (疟疾) and returned to England, where he started his career as a journalist, writing for newspapers such as the Westminster Gazette, Daily Express, Bystander, Morning Post, and Outlook. In 1900 Munro’s first book appeared: The Rise of the Russian Empire. It was his first as well as the last venture into history, but from it he gained knowledge which proved to be useful to him when he worked as a foreign correspondent for The Morning Post in London from 1902 to 1908. Later he settled in London and concentrated on writing short stories, using the pen name Saki. After the outbreak of World War I, Munro volunteered for the army as an ordinary soldier although he was already 43 years old then. He died in action in France on November 13, 1916. Munro never married. Saki is best known for his witty, worldly, sometimes cynical and bizarre short stories. They are collected in Reginald (《雷金纳德》,1904), The Chronicles of Clovis (《克洛维斯记事》,1911), Beasts and Super-Beasts (《野兽与超级野兽》,1914), and other volumes. He also wrote two novels: The Unbearable Bassington (《不可容忍的巴辛顿》,1912), and When William Came (《威廉归来时》,1914). Two other colle