An Inland Voyageby Robert Louis StevensonPREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITIONTo equip so small a book with a preface is, I am half afraid, to sin against proportion. But a preface is more than an author can resist, for it is the reward of his labours. When the foundation stone is laid, the architect appears with his plans, and struts for an hour before the public eye. So with the writer in his preface: he may have never a word to say, but he must show himself for a moment in the portico, hat in hand, and with an urbane demeanour.It is best, in such circumstances, to represent a delicate shade of manner between humility and superiority: as if the book had been written by some one else,
THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF A BIBLIOMANIACTHE LOVE AFFAIRSOF A BIBLIOMANIACBY EUGENE FIELD1- Page 2-THE LOVE AFFAIRS OF A BIBLIOMANIACIntroductionThe determination to found a story or a series of sketches on thedelights, adventures, and misadventures connected with bibliomania didnot come impulsively to my brother. For many years, in short during thegreater part of nearly a quarter of a century of journalistic work, he had...
A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READYA MILLIONAIRE OFROUGH-AND-READYby BRET HARTE1- Page 2-A MILLIONAIRE OF ROUGH-AND-READYPROLOGUEThere was no mistake this time: he had struck gold at last!It had lain there before him a moment agoa misshapen piece ofbrown-stained quartz, interspersed with dull yellow metal; yieldingenough to have allowed the points of his pick to penetrate itshoneycombed recesses, yet heavy enough to drop from the point of his...
ARIZONA NIGHTSARIZONA NIGHTSby STEWART EDWARD WHITE1- Page 2-ARIZONA NIGHTSCHAPTER ONE THE OLEVIRGINIAThe ring around the sun had thickened all day long, and the turquoiseblue of the Arizona sky had filmed. Storms in the dry countries areinfrequent, but heavy; and this surely meant storm.We had ridden since sun-up over broad mesas, down and out of deepcanons, along the base of the mountain in the wildest parts of the territory....
THE INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWNby G. K. ChestertonContentsThe Blue CrossThe Secret GardenThe Queer FeetThe Flying StarsThe Invisible ManThe Honour of Israel GowThe Wrong ShapeThe Sins of Prince SaradineThe Hammer of GodThe Eye of ApolloThe Sign of the Broken SwordThe Three Tools of DeathThe Blue CrossBetween the silver ribbon of morning and the green glittering ribbon of sea, the boat touched Harwich and let loose a swarm of folk like flies, among whom the man we must follow was by no means conspicuousnor wished to be. There was nothing notable about him, except a slight contrast between the holiday gaiety of his clothes and the official gravity of his face. His clothes included a slight, p
THE SOUL OF NICHOLAS SNYDERS, OR THE MISER OF ZANDAMBy JEROME K. JEROMEOnce upon a time in Zandam, which is by the Zuider Zee, there lived awicked man named Nicholas Snyders. He was mean and hard and cruel,and loved but one thing in the world, and that was gold. And eventhat not for its own sake. He loved the power gold gave himthepower to tyrannize and to oppress, the power to cause suffering at hiswill. They said he had no soul, but there they were wrong. All menownor, to speak more correctly, are owned bya soul; and the soulof Nicholas Snyders was an evil soul. He lived in the old windmillwhich still is standing on the quay, with only little Christina to...
●在飞机上您想喝点儿什么?What would you like to drink?What would you like to drink? (您想喝点儿什么?)Well, what do you have? (您这儿都有什么?)Anything to drink? (您喝什么吗?)请来一杯咖啡。Coffee, please.要加牛奶和糖吗?With sugar and cream? *cream “牛奶”。回答“要”用Yes, please,“不要”用No, thank you.明确地给予回答是一种礼貌。午餐您要牛肉还是要鱼?What would you like for dinner, beef or fish?Beef or fish for dinner?Which would you like, beef or fish?请给我牛肉。Beef, please.您用完了吗?Have you finished?Are you through?还没有。No, not yet.我可以收走了吗?May I clear the table? *clear 有“收拾餐具”的意思。May I clear the plates off the table?...
FAIRY TALES OF HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSENTHE PEA BLOSSOMby Hans Christian AndersenTHERE were once five peas in one shell, they were green, the shellwas green, and so they believed that the whole world must be greenalso, which was a very natural conclusion. The shell grew, and thepeas grew, they accommodated themselves to their position, and sat allin a row. The sun shone without and warmed the shell, and the rainmade it clear and transparent; it was mild and agreeable in broaddaylight, and dark at night, as it generally is; and the peas asthey sat there grew bigger and bigger, and more thoughtful as they...
Erewhon Revisitedby Samuel ButlerErewhon Revisited Twenty Years Later Both by the OriginalDiscoverer of the Country and by his Son.I forget when, but not very long after I had published "Erewhon" in1872, it occurred to me to ask myself what course events in Erewhonwould probably take after Mr. Higgs, as I suppose I may now callhim, had made his escape in the balloon with Arowhena. Given apeople in the conditions supposed to exist in Erewhon, and giventhe apparently miraculous ascent of a remarkable stranger into theheavens with an earthly bridewhat would be the effect on thepeople generally?There was no use in trying to solve this problem before, say,...
SHERLOCK HOLMESTHE MUSGRAVE RITUALby Sir Arthur Conan DoyleAn anomaly which often struck me in the character of my friendSherlock Holmes was that, although in his methods of thought he wasthe neatest and most methodical of mankind, and although also heaffected a certain quiet primness of dress, he was nonetheless inhis personal habits one of the most untidy men that ever drove afellow-lodger to distraction. Not that I am in the leastconventional in that respect myself. The rough-and-tumble work inAfghanistan, coming on the top of natural Bohemianism ofdisposition, has made me rather more lax than befits a medical man....
Lecture VIIIThe Growth and Diffusion of Primitive IdeasMr Tylor has justly observed that the true lesson of the newscience of Comparative Mythology is the barrenness in primitivetimes of the faculty which we most associate with mentalfertility, the Imagination. Comparative Jurisprudence, as mightbe expected from the natural stability of law and custom, yetmore strongly suggests the same inference, and points to thefewness of ideas and the slowness of additions to the mentalstock as among the most general characteristics of mankind in itsinfancy.The fact that the generation of new ideas does not proceed in...
Lin McLeanby Owen WisterDEDICATIONMY DEAR HARRY MERCER: When Lin McLean was only a hero in manuscript, hereceived his first welcome and chastening beneath your patient roof. Bynone so much as by you has he in private been helped and affectionatelydisciplined, an now you must stand godfather to him upon this publicpage.Always yours,OWEN WISTERPhiladelphia, 1897HOW LIN McLEAN WENT EASTIn the old days, the happy days, when Wyoming was a Territory with afuture instead of a State with a past, and the unfenced cattle grazedupon her ranges by prosperous thousands, young Lin McLean awaked early...