外国文学作品欣赏 Edited By Zhu Farong Ding Liqun 主 编 朱法荣 副主编 丁立群 Shandong Agricultural University

Preface

German dramatist and aesthetic, Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805) ever said, “Beauty makes a full man---combine his sensuous drive with sense drive, to maintain dignity and enjoy life towards perfection and truth.”(Letters on the Aesthetic Education of Man). The purpose of this book is to provide the readers with a chance to enjoy the beauty of English out of its usual as well as to equip themselves with wisdom of the book.

The past always lies in the present and keeps influencing it. It’s reasonable to trace back the world literature far to its origins, and it’s always safe to say that the Mythology of Greece and Rome as well as the Holy Bible are the chief origins of the world literature, especially true to the western literature. Carl Gustav Jung ever believed that myths are close to some very deep chord in human nature; myth is fundamental, the dramatic representation of our deepest instinctual life, of a primary awareness of man in the universe, capable of many configurations, upon which all particular opinions and attitudes depend. Myths are by nature collective and communal. The Holy Bible and the Christian belief even leaves writers and readers more compacts than Greek myths.

So this book begins with Myths and Bible selections, followed by poetry, essays, fictions and dramas. Each part concludes the class readings and further readings. The editor of this book sincerely hope the readers will make full use of the materials mentioned in this book as well as use the library and internet as usual as possible.

Owing to the limited time and the narrow horizons, there is a big room to improve in this book. Any suggestions and corrections are welcome.

January, 2006

Zhu Farong

Shandong Agricultural University

正如世间总有巍峨的高山和浩瀚的大海，世界文学画廊里也总有伟大的作家和光辉耀人的作品，为世界增色，为民族搭桥。文学不仅记载着历史的记忆，也昭示着生存的智慧；它不仅向读者展示生活的千变万化，也可过滤读者的七情六欲，使我们飞越眼前的扰攘世界。

德国著名戏剧家、美学评论家弗利德里希•席勒（1759-1805）曾经说过：“美使人成其为人——它能使人的理智与情感融合为一，既能使得人保持其为人的尊严，又能享乐人生，达至至善至真之境”（《美育书简》）。本书的目的即为读者提供一个欣赏英语语言之美和生活之美的机会。

现在总是由过去累积而成，也总受到过去的影响。因此，为了更好地了解世界文学，也必然要先追溯世界文学的源流。古希腊罗马神话和基督教经典《圣经》被公认为世界文学尤其是西方文学的两大源头。奥地利精神分析专家卡尔•荣格坚持认为神话接近于人的本质内核，是我们本能的最基本和最戏剧化的再现，是人类对身处宇宙的本原反映，也是人类各种处事观点和态度的深层根源，神话反映了人类的集体无意识。而基督教和圣经千百年来对千千万万作家和读者的影响甚于古希腊罗马神话的影响。

因此，本书谨以古希腊罗马神话和圣经选读开始，继之以各国著名的诗歌、散文、小说和戏剧欣赏。每章都含有课堂阅读和课外阅读，编者希望读者在善用本书的同时，利用图书馆和网络更广泛、更深刻地理解所学内容。

由于时间仓促，编者水平有限，书中错误在所难免，敬请读者和专家批评指正。

编者

2006年1月

1. The Different Ages of Man

2. Oedipus, Slayer of His Father, Husband of His Mother

3. Apple of Discord

4. The Trojan Horse

Further Readings on Greek Myths

Psalm & Song of Solomon

Further Readings
Unit Three ENGLISH POETRY

1. Sonnet 18

2. A Valediction Forbidding Mourning

3. A Red, Red Rose

4. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

A Psalm of Life

6. I Died for Beauty—But Was Scarce

7. The Hollow Men

8. e. e. cummings

Further Readings

1. Of Studies

2. Address at Gettysburg

3. On Self-reliance

4. The Vietnam War

Further Readings

1. 
   The Rocking –horse Winner
   
2. 
   Eveline
   
3. 
   The Melancholy Hussan of the German Legion
   
4. 
   A Rose for Emily
   
5. 
   Looking for Mr. Green
   

1. Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark

2. Waiting for Godot
Unit One MYTHS OF GREECE & ROME

1.The Different Ages of Man

In the age of Gold, the world was first furnished with inhabitants. This was an age of innocence and happiness. Truth and right prevailed, though not enforced by law, nor was there any in authority to threaten or to punish. The earth brought forth all things necessary for man, without his labor in plowing or sowing. Perpetual spring reigned, flowers sprang up without seed, the river flowed with milk and wine, and yellow honey distilled from oaks.

The Silver Age came next, inferior to the golden. Jupiter shortened the spring, and divided the year into seasons. Then, first, men suffered the extremes of heat and cold, and house became necessary. Crops would no longer grow without planting. This was the race of manly men, but insolent and impious.

Next to the Age of Silver came that of brass, more savage of temper and readier for the strife of arms, yet not altogether wicked.

Last came the hardest age and worst, -- of iron. Crime burst in like a flood; modesty, truth, and honor fled. The gifts of the earth were put to nefarious uses. Fraud, violence, war at home and abroad were rife.

Jupiter, observing the condition of things, burned with anger. He summoned the frightful condition of the earth, and announced his intention of destroying its inhabitants, and providing a new race, unlike the present, which should be worthier of life and more reverent toward the gods. Faring lest a conflagration might set Heaven itself on fire, he proceeded to drown the world. Speedily the race of men, and their possessions, were swept away by the deluge.

Parnassus alone, of the mountains, overtopped the waves; and there Deucalion, son of Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrha, daughter of Epimentheus, found refuge—he just a man and she a worshiper of the gods. Jupiter, remembering the harmless lives and pious demeanor of this pair, caused the waters to recede. Then Deucalion and Pyrrha, entering the temple defaced with slime, approached the unkindled altar and, falling prostate, prayed for guidance and aid. The oracle answered,” depart from the temple with head veiled and garments unbound, and cast behind you the bones of your mother.” They heard the words with astonishment. Pyrrha first broke science:” we cannot obey; we dare not profane the remains of our parents.” They sought the woods, and revolved the oracle in their minds. At last Deucalion spoke:” Either my wit fails me or the command is one may obey without impiety. The earth is the greatest parent of all; the stones are her bones; these we may cast behind us; this, I think, the oracle means. They veiled their faces, unbound their garments, and, picking up stones, cast them behind them. The stones began to grow soft and to assume shape. By degrees they put on a rude resemblance to the human form. Those thrown by Deucalion became men; those by Pyrrha, women.

2. 
   Oedipus, Slayer of His Father, Husband of His Mother
   

Many years afterwards Laius, begun on his way to Delphi, accompanied only by one attendant, met in an arrow road a young man also driving in a chariot. On his refusal to leave the way at their command, the attendant killed one of his horses, and the stranger, filled with rage, slew both Laius and his attendant. The young man was Oedipus, who thus unknowingly became the slayer of his own father.

Shortly after this event, the city of Thebes was afflicted by a monster, which infested the high road. It was called the Sphinx. It had the body of a lion, and the upper part of a woman. It lay crouched on the top of a rock and arrested all travelers who came that way, proposing to them a riddle, with the condition that those who could solve it should pass safe, but those who failed should be killed. Not one had yet succeeded in solving it, and all had been slain. Oedipus was not daunted by these alarming accounts, but boldly advanced to the trial. The Sphinx asked him, “What animal is that which in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?” Oedipus replied, “ Man, who in childhood creeps on the hands and knees, in manhood walks erect, and in old age with the aid of a staff.” The Sphinx was so mortified at the solving of her riddle that she cast herself down from the rock and perished.

The gratitude of the people for their deliverance was so great that they made Oedipus their king, giving him in marriage their queen Jocasta, Oedipus, ignorant of his parentage, had already became the slayer of his father; in marrying the queen he became the husband of his mother. These horrors remained undiscovered, till at length Thebes was afflicted with famine and pestilence, and the oracle being consulted, the double crime of Oedipus came to light. Jocasta put an end to her own life, and Oedipus, seized with madness, tore out his eyes, and wandered away from Thebes, dreaded and abandoned by all, except his daughter, who faithfully adhered to him; till after a tedious period of miserable wandering, he found the termination of his wretched life.

2. 
   Apple of Discord
   

Under the protection of Venus, Paris sailed to Greece, and was hospitably received by Menelaus, king of Sparta. Now Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was the very woman whom Venus had destined for Paris, the fairest of her sex. She had been sought as a bride by numerous suitors, and before her decision was made known, they all, at the suggestion of Ulysses, one of their number, took an oath that they would defend her from all injury and avenge her cause if necessary. She chose Menelaus, and was living with him happily when Paris became their guests. Paris, aided by Venus, persuaded her to elope with him and carried her to Troy, hence arose the famous Trojan war.

4. The Trojan Horse

But Troy still held out, and the Greeks began to despair of even subduing it by force, and by advice of Ulyssses resolved to resort to stratagem. They pretended to be making preparations and lay hid behind a neighboring island. The Greeks then constructed an immense wooden horse, which they gave out was intended as a propitiatory offering to Minerva, but in fact was filled with armed men. The remaining Greeks then betook themselves to their ships and sailed away, as if for a final departure. The Trojans, seeing the encampment broken up and the fleet gone, concluded the enemy to have abandoned the siege. The gates were thrown open, and the whole population issued forth, rejoicing at the long-prohibited liberty of passing freely over the scene of the late encampment. The great horse was the chief object of curiosity. All wondered what it could be for. Some recommended to take it into the city as a trophy; others felt afraid of it.

While they hesitate, Laocoon, the priest of Neptune, exclaims, “What madness, citizens, is this! Have you not learned enough of Grecian fraud to be on your guard against it? For my part I fear the Greeks even when they offer gifts.” Then perhaps the people might have taken his advice and destroyed the fatal horse and all its contents; but just at the moment a group of people appeared, dragging forward one who seemed a prisoner and a Greek. Stupefied with terror, he was brought before the chiefs, who reassured him, promising that his life should be spared on condition of his returning true answers to the questions asked him. He informed them that he was a Greek, Sinon by name, and that in consequence of the malice of Ulysses he had been left behind by his countrymen at their departure. With regard to the wooden horse, he told them that it was a propitiatory offering to Minerva, and made so huge for the express purpose of preventing its being carried within the city; for Calchas the prophet had told them that if the Trojans took possession of it, they would assuredly triumph over the Greeks. This language turned the tide of the people’s feelings, and they began to think how they might best secure the monstrous horse and the favorable auguries connected with it, when suddenly a prodigy occurred which left no room to doubt. There appeared advancing over the sea two immense serpents. They came upon the land, and the crowd fled in all directions. The serpents advanced directly to the spot where Laocoon stood with his two sons. They first attacked the children, winding round their bodies and breathing their pestilential breath in their faces. The father attempting to rescuer them is next seized and involved in the serpent’s coils. He struggles to tear them away, but they overpower all his efforts and strangle him and the children in their poisonous folds. This event was regarded as a clear indication of the displeasure of the gods at Laocoon’s irreverent treatment of the wooden horse, which they no longer hesitated to regard as a sacred object and prepared to introduce with due solemnity into the city. This was done with songs and triumphal acclamations and the day closed with festivity. In the nigh t the armed men who were enclosed in the body of the horse, being let out by the traitor Sinon, opened the gates of the city to their friends who had returned under cover of the night. The city was set on fire, the people, overcome with feasting and sleep, put to the sword, and Troy completely subdued.

Further Readings on Greek Myths

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