Mark Twain is an American writer and speaker whose real name is Samuel Langhorne Clemens. Mark Twain was his pen name, a term originally used by Mississippi River sailors to indicate the depth of water measured on the waterway. His representative works include The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and so on.
Mark Twain wrote a large number of works throughout his life, covering novels, plays, prose, poetry and other aspects. In terms of content, his works criticize unreasonable phenomena or the ugliness of human nature, express the writer's strong sense of justice and concern for the ordinary people as a typesetter and sailor; in terms of style, experts and readers generally agree that humor and satire are the characteristics of his writing.
Mark Twain is the founder of American critical realism literature. Most of his works have been translated into Chinese. In 2006, Mark Twain was ranked 16th in the Atlantic Monthly, an authoritative American journal.
翻译:
马克·吐温(Mark Twain),美国作家、演说家,真实姓名是萨缪尔·兰亨·克莱门(Samuel Langhorne Clemens)。"马克·吐温"是他的笔名,原是密西西比河水手使用的表示在航道上所测水的深度的术语。代表作品有小说《百万英镑》、《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》、《汤姆·索亚历险记》等。
马克·吐温一生写了大量作品,题材涉及小说、剧本、散文、诗歌等各方面。从内容上说,他的作品批判了不合理现象或人性的丑恶之处,表达了这位当过排字工人和水手的作家强烈的正义感和对普通人民的关心;从风格上说,专家们和一般读者都认为,幽默和讽刺是他的写作特点。
马克·吐温是美国批判现实主义文学的奠基人,他的主要作品已大多有中文译本。2006年,马克·吐温被美国的权威期刊《大西洋月刊》评为影响美国的100位人物第16名 。
马克·吐温的真名叫“萨缪尔·兰亨·克莱门”,马克·吐温是其最常使用的笔名,一般认为这个笔名是源自其早年水手术语,意思是:水深3英尺。
萨缪尔曾当过领航员,与其伙伴测量水深时,他的伙伴叫道“Mark Twain!”,意思是“两个标记”,亦即水深两浔(约3.7米,1浔约1.852米),这是轮船安全航行的必要条件。还有一个原因是,他的船长塞勒斯,曾经是位德高望重的领航员,不时为报纸写些介绍密西西比河掌故的小品,笔名“马克·吐温”。
1858年,塞勒斯船长发表了一篇预测新奥尔良市将被水淹没的文章。调皮的萨缪尔决定拿他开个玩笑,就模仿他的笔调写了一篇非常尖刻的讽刺小品。谁知这篇游戏文章竟深深刺痛了老船长的心,老船长从此弃笔不写,“马克·吐温”这个笔名也从此在报纸上销声匿迹了。
参考资料:百度百科——马克·吐温