威廉·H·麦加菲校长编写的《美国语文》系列读本,自19世纪中期至20世纪中期,一直在美国学校使用,至今仍被一些私立学校和家庭学校作为推荐读物。它是美国历史上使用范围最广、销量最大的教材,几代美国人在《美国语文》这套经典读本的伴随下而成长。呈现于读者面前的这套读本为中学版,是麦加菲校长继小学版之后编写的另一套经典教材,相比于小学版,有以下三个特点:文体更多样,选材更广泛;旨在培养读者高尚的情怀和优秀的品质;兼顾语言训练,包括语法修辞、语言词汇、阅读理解等诸多方面。
《美国语文:美国中学课文经典读本》这是一套英汉双语版经典读本,对国内读者,尤其是准备出国深造的学生来说,有很大的帮助,能让他们在学习原汁原味的英语的同时,提升自身人文素养。
McGuffey Readers were a series of graded primers that were
widely used as textbooks in American schools from the mid-19th
century to the mid-20th century, and are still used today in some
private schools and in homeschooling.
It is estimated that at least 120 million copies of McGuffey''s
Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a
category with the Bible and Webster''s Dictionary. Since 1961 they
have continued to sell at a rate of some 30,000 copies a year. No
other textbook bearing a single
person''s name has come close to that mark.
McGuffey Readers played an important role in American history.
Most prominent post-Civil War and turn-of-the-Century American
figures credited their initial success in learning to the Readers,
which provided a guide to what was occurring in the public school
movement and in American culture during the 19th century. The mind
and spirit of William Holmes McGuffey were most fully expressed
through his readers and the moral and cultural influence they
exerted upon children.
上 册
01 THE CONTRAST 对 比
02 THE SLIDE OF ALPNACH 阿尔卑纳赫山上的滑梯
03 A FLOWER FOR THE WINDOW 摆在窗户旁边的花朵
04 OUR OLD GRANDMOTHER 老祖母
05 FERDINAND AND ISABELLA 费迪南德与伊莎贝拉
06 QUEEN ISABELLA’S RESOLVE 伊莎贝拉王后的决定
07 THE RETURN OF COLUMBUS 哥伦布返航
08 COLUMBUS IN SPAIN 哥伦布在西班牙
09 ANECDOTE OF WILLIAM WIRT 威廉?沃特轶事
10 INTEMPERANCE 放 纵
11 HIGHLAND SNOW STORM Ⅰ 苏格兰高地的暴风雪(一)
12 HIGHLAND SNOW STORM Ⅱ 苏格兰高地的暴风雪(二)
13 THE MORAL LAW 道德戒律
14 AND WHAT THEN 之后做什么
15 THE PRODIGAL SON 浪子回头
16 THE SCHWEIN-GENERAL 猪倌儿
17 SIEGE OF CALAIS 围攻卡莱斯
18 PETER THE GREAT Ⅰ 彼得大帝(一)
19 PETER THE GREAT Ⅱ 彼得大帝(二)
20 CHASE ON THE ICE 冰上逐命
21 THE FIRST AND LAST DINNER 第一次和最后一次晚餐
22 THE YOUTH OF WASHINGTON 华盛顿的青少年时代
23 APPOINTMENT OF WASHINGTON 华盛顿的任命
24 SHAKESPEARE 莎士比亚
25 SHAKESPEARE’S HOME AND TOMB 莎士比亚的家与他的冢
26 BOOK-MAKING 著作出版
27 DWIGHT AND DENNIE 德怀特和丹尼
28 GRACE DARLING 格雷斯?达林
29 SELF-KILLING 自我戕害
30 THE STOMACH 胃
31 SELECTIONS IN PROSE 散文精选
32 THE GIPSIES 吉普赛人
33 RURAL LIFE IN ENGLAND 英格兰田园生活
34 GOD’S MERCY 上帝的仁慈
35 THE BITTERN 麻 鸦
36 THE SPIDER 蜘 蛛
37 THE HERO OF HAARLEM 哈勒姆的英雄
下 册
38 POMPEII 庞 贝
39 THE HEAD-STONE 墓 碑
40 DIONYSIUS, PYTHIAS, AND DAMON 狄俄尼索斯、皮西厄斯与达蒙
41 HARVEY BIRCH AND CAPTAIN WHARTON 哈维?贝赫与沃顿上尉
42 THE ARIEL AMONG THE SHOALS Ⅰ 沙洲中的瞪羚(一)
43 THE ARIEL AMONG THE SHOALS Ⅱ 沙洲中的瞪羚(二)
44 THE ARIEL AMONG THE SHOALS Ⅲ 沙洲中的瞪羚(三)
45 RALEIGH’S LAST LETTER 罗利的最后一封信
46 MAJOR ANDRE 陆军少校安德烈
47 ARNOLD AND TALLEYRAND 阿诺德与塔列朗
48 GIL BLAS 吉尔?布拉斯
49 LOSS OF THE ARCTIC 阿克迪克号的沉没
50 VANITY OF RICHES 富人的虚荣
51 A HERD OF BISONS 野牛群
52 THE BEE HUNT 采 蜜
53 IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL 不朽的灵魂
54 THE GOLDEN CITY 金色城市
55 WAVERLEY AND MAC-IVOR 威弗利和麦克伊文
56 INVASION OF SWITZERLAND 入侵瑞士
57 THE DESTRUCTION OF WAR 战争带来的毁灭
58 THE BURNING OF MOSCOW 火烧莫斯科
59 THE PRESS ABOVE THE SWORD 宝剑上的重压
60 FRANKLIN IN PHILADELPHIA 富兰克林在费城
61 TURNING THE GRINDSTONE 搬来磨刀石
62 CXLVIII.-THE SEVEN AGES OF MAN 人生的七个阶段
63 THE GOUT 与痛风对话
64 RULES FOR CONVERSATION 聊天的规矩
65 STORY—TELLING 讲故事
66 THE MILLER’S DAUGHTER 磨坊主的女儿
67 THE DISCONTENTED MILLER 不满的磨坊主
68 MILTON 弥尔顿
69 MARTYRDOM OF POLYCARP 波利卡普殉难
70 THE CANT OF CRITICISM 批判的隐语
71 OLD JACOB STOCK 老雅各布?斯托克
72 THE QUARREL 争 吵
73 AN INDIAN FIGHT 与印第安人的战斗
74 THE INDIAN CHIEF 印第安酋长
75 THE LITTLE WOMAN 小女人
76 ASTRONOMY 天文学
77 WATCHMAN, WHAT OF THE NIGHT 守望者,夜里的情况怎样
78 WONDERS OF A FEATHER 羽毛的奇迹
79 THE PAUPER’S DEATH-BED 贫民临终
80 OUR SAVIOR’S MORAL COURAGE 救世主的精神鼓舞
81 EXTRAVAGANT WISHES 过分的愿望
82 CHILDREN OF THE POOR 穷人的孩子
83 CASTLE-BUILDING 搭建城堡
84 SABBATH IN THE COUNTRY 乡村里的安息日
85 CHARITY 爱
內容試閱:
GRACE DARLING
格雷斯?达林
1. “Honor and shame from no condition rise; Act well your
part—there all the honor lies.” The truth of this saying is
strikingly illustrated in the history of Grace Darling. Her
situation in life was humble, yet she possessed a truly heroic
soul, and nobly and well did she act her part, manifesting on one
occasion some of the highest qualities that belong to human nature.
Her daring and magnanimous conduct secured to her the respect and
admiration of persons of every rank and condition, and a celebrity
which may be said to have spread over the greater part of the
civilized world.
2. Her father, William Darling, was keeper of the lighthouse on
Longstone, one of the Farne group, a cluster of twenty-five small
islands, on the coast of Northumberland, England. Though situated
at no great distance from the main land, these islands are desolate
in an uncommon degree. Composed of rugged rock, with a slight
covering of herbage, and in some instances surrounded by black and
splintered precipices, they are the residence of little beside wild
sea-fowl. Through the broken channels between the smaller islands,
the restless sea rushes with great force; and many an unrecorded
shipwreck must have happened here in former times, when no beacon
light blazed amid the storm to guide the daring mariner in his
perilous pathway along the tempestuous deep.
3. Mr. Darling was a man of superior character, worthy and
intelligent, of modest manners, and possessing within himself those
resources demanded in so solitary a situation, where weeks often
passed without any communication with the main land. Although in
humble circumstances and the father of a large family, he managed
to educate all his children in a respectable manner. Grace, his
seventh child, was born Nov. 24, 1815. She was remarkable for a
retiring and somewhat reserved disposition. In person, she was
about the middle size, of fair complexion and a comely countenance,
gentle in manners and with an expression of the greatest mildness
and benevolence. She had reached her twenty-second year, when the
incident occurred which has rendered her name so famous.
4. The Forfarshire steamer, commanded by Captain John Humble,
sailed from Hull, on her voyage to Dundee, Scotland, Wednesday,
Sept. 5, 1838. She was laden with a valuable cargo, and had on
board, in addition to her officers and crew, twenty-two cabin, and
nineteen steerage passengers—sixty-three persons in all. During
Wednesday night a leak was discovered. This was partially repaired
and the vessel proceeded on her course. On Thursday evening she
neared Farne Islands, the sea running high and the wind blowing
strong from the north. Owing to the motion of the vessel, the leak
increased to such a degree as to extinguish the fires. The engines
were now entirely useless; the vessel soon became unmanageable;
and, the tide setting strongly to the south, she drifted in the
direction of the island.
5. Meantime it rained heavily, and the fog was so dense that it
became impossible to tell their situation. About four o’clock on
Friday morning, she struck upon the rocks, and lay at the mercy of
the waves. Soon after the first shock a powerful sea struck the
vessel, raising her off the rock, but immediately allowing her to
fall violently back upon the sharp reef, fairly breaking her in
two. The after part, with many of the passengers upon it, was borne
away through a tremendous current, and every soul perished; while
the forepart of the vessel remained fast upon the rock. The
survivors, nine in number, continued in their dreadful situation
till daybreak, clinging to the wreck, exposed to the buffeting of
the waves, and fearful that every rising surge would sweep the
fragment to which they clung, away into the yawning deep.
6. Such was the situation when, as day broke, they were descried
from the Longstone, by the Darlings, at nearly a mile’s distance.
There were at the lighthouse only Mr. Darling, his wife, and Grace.
A mist hovered over the desolate island; and though the wind had
somewhat abated its violence, the wild and heaving sea, which, in
the calmest weather, is never at rest among the winding gorges
between these iron pinnacles, still raged and roared fearfully. To
have braved the perils of that terrible passage, would have done
the highest honor to the well tried nerves of the stoutest man. But
what shall be said of the errand of mercy being undertaken and
accomplished, mainly through the strength of a female heart and
arm?
7. Through the dim mist of the stormy morning, by the aid of a
glass, the figures of the sufferers were seen clinging to the
shattered wreck. But who could dare tempt the raging abyss that
boiled and surged and maddened around them; and bear across the
crested billows relief to the poor victims of the tempest? Mr.
Darling at first shrank from the attempt: not so his intrepid
daughter. At her solicitation the boat was launched, the mother
assisting, and father and daughter entered it, each taking an
oar.
8. It could have been only by the exertion of great muscular
power, as well as of determined courage, that the boat was rowed to
the rock. When there, a greater danger even than that which they
had encountered in approaching, arose from the difficulty of
steadying the boat, and preventing its being dashed in pieces upon
the sharp reef, by the everrestless and heaving billows, still wild
and turbulent from the dreadful lashing of the storm. However, the
sufferers were safely rescued.
9. The delight experienced when the boat was observed approaching
the rock, was converted into amazement, when it was discovered that
one of its inmates was a female. The sufferers were at once
conveyed to the lighthouse where, owing to the violent seas that
continued to prevail among the islands, they were obliged to remain
from Friday morning till Sunday. The Darlings rendered every
attention in their power, to alleviate the sufferings of the
rescued; and Grace gave up her own bed to a poor woman, whose
children had perished on the wreck.
10. The subsequent events of Grace Darling’s life are soon told.
Her heroic conduct wafted her name over all Europe. Immediately on
the circumstances being made known, the lonely lighthouse of
Longstone became the center of attraction to curious and
sympathizing thousands. Her name was echoed with applause among all
ranks; and the noble and the good testified their sincere
admiration of the young heroine, by many valuable contributions and
substantial tokens of regard. The Humane Society sent her a
flattering vote of thanks , and a public subscription was
raised as a reward for her bravery and humanity.
11. It is gratifying to know that, amid all this attention and
applause, Grace never for a moment forgot the modest dignity of
conduct becoming her sex and character. The flattering testimonials
showered upon her failed to produce in her mind any feeling but a
sense of wonder and grateful pleasure. She continued to reside at
the lighthouse with her parents, attending to the duties of her own
limited sphere, thus affording, by her conduct, the best proof that
the liberality of the public had not been unworthily
bestowed.
12. It is a melancholy reflection that one so noble and
deserving, should have been stricken down, almost ere the plaudits
excited by her heroic deed had died away. Toward the latter end of
1841, she showed symptoms of declining health. Consumption soon
developed itself; and, notwithstanding the best medical advice and
skill, and all the attentions which kindness and affection could
bestow, she gradually declined, but lingered on through the ensuing
spring and summer, in calm Christian resignation awaiting her
approaching death.
13. Not less lovely than they, she drooped and faded with the
flowers of autumn, and ere the storms of winter again swept over
her island home, she passed calmly away to her eternal rest. Her
funeral was attended by an immense concourse of persons of all ages
and ranks, and a neat monument has been erected above her early
grave, inscribed with the immortal name of Grace Darling.