汤姆历险记
简介:
19世纪中叶，在美利坚合众国的密苏里州圣彼得斯堡(St. Petersburg，为故事中虚构的城市)。住着一位叫汤姆?索亚的少年。父母很早就过世的汤姆和席德被波丽阿姨收养，每天都和朋友到山林里乱跑，对于调皮捣蛋的汤姆，波丽阿姨拿他很没辄。在后来汤姆认识了许多的人，还有为了一些发生过的事情而被接受访问，他就靠着那些经验慢慢的成长，但是汤姆还是和以前一样一边学习一边游玩。
汤姆幼年双亲去世，由波莉姨妈收养。聪明顽皮的汤姆受不了波莉姨妈和学校老师的管束，常常逃学。一天深夜，他与好朋友哈克贝利·费恩到墓地试试胆量，可是无意中目睹了一起凶杀案的发生。还有一次，汤姆、哈克带着乔·哈波一起逃到一座荒岛上做起了“海盗”，弄得家里以为他们去世了，结果他们却出现在了自己的“葬礼”上。在法庭上，经过激烈的思想斗争，汤姆终于挺身而出，指证了凶手，而这时凶手印江·乔埃已逃之夭夭。后来，汤姆和哈克在鬼屋中挖假象的宝藏时遇到了凶手印第安·乔！他们听见印第安·乔要把他的金钱放在二号十字下面。在一次野餐活动中，他与他的同桌贝琪在一个岩洞里迷了路。三天三夜不吃不喝，受尽了煎熬。更可怕的是，他们还在山洞里看到了凶杀案的凶手——印江·乔埃！最终，汤姆靠牵着绑在石头上的风筝线探路，找到了出口，走出了山洞。村里人发现他们，他们讲述了在洞中的经历，之后，村里人用铁板堵住了山洞口。汤姆告诉村里人在山洞里见到了杀人犯印第安人乔，当村里人在洞中找到印江·乔埃时，他已经饿死了。最后，汤姆和哈克重返山洞，找到了一笔宝藏，成了这个村的小英雄。
In the 1840s an imaginative and mischievous boy named Tom Sawyer lives with his Aunt Polly and his half-brother, Sid, in the Mississippi River town of St. Petersburg, Missouri. After playing hooky from school on Friday and dirtying his clothes in a fight, Tom is made to whitewash the fence as punishment on Saturday. At first, Tom is disappointed by having to forfeit his day off. However, he soon cleverly persuades his friends to trade him small treasures for the privilege of doing his work. Later, he realizes that in order to make a man or a boy covet a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to attain. He trades the treasures he got by tricking his friends for whitewashing for tickets given out in Sunday school for memorizing Bible verses, which can be used to claim a Bible as a prize. He received enough tickets to be given the Bible. However, he loses much of his glory when, in response to a question to show off his knowledge, he incorrectly answers that the first two disciples were David and Goliath.
Tom falls in love with Becky Thatcher, a new girl in town, and persuades her to get "engaged" by kissing him. Becky kisses Tom, but their romance collapses when she learns that Tom has been "engaged" previously — to a girl named Amy Lawrence. Shortly after being shunned by Becky, Tom accompanies Huckleberry Finn, the son of the town drunk, to the graveyard at night to try out a "cure" for warts with a dead cat. At the graveyard, they witness the murder of young Dr. Robinson by the Native-American "half-breed" Injun Joe. Scared, Tom and Huck run away and swear a blood oath not to tell anyone what they have seen. Injun Joe frames his companion, Muff Potter, a hapless drunk, for the crime. Potter is wrongfully arrested, and Tom's anxiety and guilt begin to grow.
Tom, Huck, and Tom's friend Joe Harper run away to an island to become pirates. While frolicking around and enjoying their new found freedom, the boys become aware that the community is sounding the river for their bodies. Tom sneaks back home one night to observe the commotion. After a brief moment of remorse at the suffering of his loved ones, Tom is struck by the idea of appearing at his funeral and surprising everyone. He persuades Joe and Huck to do the same. Their return is met with great rejoicing, and they become the envy and admiration of all their friends.
Back in school, Tom gets himself back in Becky's favor after he nobly accepts the blame for a book that she has ripped. Soon, Muff Potter's trial begins, and Tom, overcome by guilt, testifies against Injun Joe. Potter is acquitted, but Injun Joe flees the courtroom through a window.
Summer arrives, and Tom and Huck go hunting for buried treasure in a haunted house. After venturing upstairs they hear a noise below. Peering through holes in the floor, they see Injun Joe enter the house disguised as a deaf and mute Spaniard. He and his companion, an unkempt man, plan to bury some stolen treasure of their own. From their hiding spot, Tom and Huck wriggle with delight at the prospect of digging it up. By an amazing coincidence, Injun Joe and his partner find a buried box of gold themselves. When they see Tom and Huck's tools, they become suspicious that someone is sharing their hiding place and carry the gold off instead of reburying it.
Huck begins to shadow Injun Joe every night, watching for an opportunity to nab the gold. Meanwhile, Tom goes on a picnic to McDougal's Cave with Becky and their classmates. That same night, Huck sees Injun Joe and his partner making off with a box. He follows and overhears their plans to attack the Widow Douglas, a kind resident of St. Petersburg. By running to fetch help, Huck forestalls the violence and becomes an anonymous hero.
Tom and Becky get lost in the cave, and their absence is not discovered until the following morning. The men of the town begin to search for them, but to no avail. Tom and Becky run out of food and candles and begin to weaken. The horror of the situation increases when Tom, looking for a way out of the cave, happens upon Injun Joe, who is using the cave as a hideout. Eventually, just as the searchers are giving up, Tom finds a way out. The town celebrates, and Becky's father, Judge Thatcher, locks up the cave. Injun Joe, trapped inside, starves to death.
A week later, Tom takes Huck to the cave and they find the box of gold, the proceeds of which are invested for them. The Widow Douglas adopts Huck, and, when Huck attempts to escape civilized life, Tom promises him that if he returns to the widow, he can join Tom's robber band. Reluctantly, Huck agrees.
写作背景:
《汤姆索亚历险记》发表于1876年。南北战争之后的美国，随着社会发展，社会矛盾日益尖锐。作者在写此书时已感到美国社会现实的可悲，因而把笔触转向童年时代的生活。小说主人公汤姆·索亚天真活泼，富于幻想和冒险，不堪忍受束缚个性，枯燥乏味的生活，幻想干一番英雄事业。
评价:
《汤姆·索亚历险记》是马克·吐温所著的最受欢迎和喜爱的儿童小说之一，在1876年的首次出版。《汤姆·索亚历险记》标志着马克·吐温的现实主义创作有了进一步的发展。这本书以欢快的笔墨描写了少年儿童自由活泼的心理，并以其与小市民庸俗保守的生活加以对照，突出了那种生活的枯燥与沉闷。汤姆淘气活泼，富于幻想有正义感，为了摆脱现实的种种束缚，充分享受自由的乐趣，打算外出去冒险。所有这一切都与资本主义的生活环境相抵触，为世俗的道德和教会的戒律所不容。总的来说，揭露美国地方生活的停滞庸俗及宗教的伪善是小说的主要思想内容。
从写作方面看：小说情节紧凑，而且含义深刻。小说通过汤姆生活中一系列情节，批判了资产阶级儿童教育的清规戒律；小说的时代虽在南北战争前，写的虽是圣彼得斯堡小镇，但该小镇从某种程度上可以说是当时美国社会的缩影。小说运用了对比和夸张的手法，深刻讽刺了小市民的庸俗、保守、贪婪以及资产阶级道德和宗教的虚伪。小说的心理描写细致生动。本书的姊妹篇是《哈克贝里·费恩历险记》（又名《哈克贝利·芬历险记》）。《汤姆·索亚历险记》被选入人教版小学6年级下册、苏教版初中7年级上册课本和川教版小学语文四年级下册的32课，受到广大学生及读者的欢迎。主旨内涵:
《汤姆·索亚历险记》描写了小男孩汤姆·索亚厌恶家里和学校中那枯燥无味的生活环境,向往与追求绿林好汉的冒险生活。这部小说满足了男孩们对于名望,英雄主义,金银财富和奉承的最深的愿望,生动地再现了南北战争前的一个美国边疆小镇的生活景象,既可以使人得到美的享受,又可以使人的怀旧心理得到极大的满足。其所描写的汤姆和其他孩子们的行为和心理活动具有普遍的意义,能够激发许多人的兴趣。小说的结构也非常完整。它有“四个叙述单元”和“四条情节线索”:汤姆和贝姆的故事,汤姆和穆夫·波特的故事,杰克逊岛的插曲,以及导致发现财富的一系列事件。这四条情节线索有机地交织在一起,使全书有较强的戏剧色彩。这部小说的心理描写比较细致,叙述人所用的是一个成年人观察小男孩的那种观点。《汤姆·索亚历险记》的确是一部值得欣赏的好书。作为对早年的美国边疆生活的纪念,它具有非常宝贵的历史意义,而作为一部构思完美、人物形象生动的小说,它又具有较高的艺术价值和审美价值。