大学英语综合教程4unit5.ppt

a friend in need Somerset MaughamBritish playwright,novelist and short story writer,whose novels and short stories are characterized by great narrative facility,simplicity of style,and a disillusioned and ironic point of view.Somerset MaughamThe authorEdward Hyde BurtonLenny BurtonHe was a tiny little fellow,not much more than five feet four in height,and very slender,with white hair,a red face much wrinkled,and blue eyes.I suppose he was about sixty when I knew him.He was always neatly and quietly dressed in accordance with his age and station.(paragraph2)His voice was gentle;you could not imagine that he could possibly raise it in anger;his smile was benign.Here was a man who attracted you because you felt in him a real love for his fellows.At the same time he liked his game of cards and his cocktail,he could tell with point a good and spicy story,and in his youth he had been something of an athlete.He was a rich man and he had made every penny himself.I suppose one thing that made you like him was that he was so small and frail;he aroused your instincts of protection.You felt that he could not bear to hurt a fly.Do you know Turner?said Burton as I nodded a greeting.Ive met him at the club.Im told hes a remittance man.Yes,I believe he is.We have a good many here.He plays bridge well.They generally do.There was a fellow here last year,oddly enough a namesake of mine,who was the best bridge player I ever met.I suppose you never came across him in London.Lenny Burton he called himself.I believe hed belonged to some very good clubs.No,I dont believe I remember the name.One day Lenny went to Burton to ask for a job.Bruton told Lenny that if he could successfully swim for three miles,he would gave him a job.Burton knew it would be very difficult for Lenny to make it,Lenny accepted the challenge and drowned.Popular feeling is separated by a belly 人心隔肚皮a well-dressed man of beastly temper 衣冠禽兽 Edward was not“a friend in need”,but a cold,calculating and inhuman person.He had no compassion for people in distress.On the contrary,he gloated over the misfortune of his namesake,and simply took advantage of Lennys desperate situation.The title“A Friend in Need”is thus heavily ironic.Bye