高級英語教材第44課

先讀課文﹕
Vanity Fair 名利場
by William Makepeace Thackeray

Capter I: Chiswick Mall
While the present century was in its teens, and on one sunshiny morning
in June, there drove up to the great iron gate of Miss Pinkerton's academy
for young ladies, on Chiswick Mall, a large family coach, with two fat horses
in blazing harness, driven by a fat coachman in a three-cornered hat and
wig, at the rate of four miles an hour. A black servant, who reposed on the
box beside the fat coachman, uncurled his bandy legs as soon as the equipage
drew up opposite Miss Pinkerton's shining brass plate, and as he pulled
the bell at least a score of young heads were seen peering out of the narrow
windows of the stately old brick house. Nay, the acute observer might have
recognized the little red nose of good-natured Miss Jemima Pinkerton herself,
 rising over some geranium pots in the window of that lady's own drawing-room.

"It is Mrs. Sedley's coach, sister," said Miss Jemima. "Sambo, the black
servant, has just rung the bell; and the coachman has a new red waistcoat."
"Have you completed all the necessary preparations incident to Miss Sedley's
departure, Miss Jemima?" asked Miss Pinkerton herself, that majestic lady;
the Semiramis of Hammersmith, the friend of Doctor Johnson, the correspondent
of Mrs. Chapone herself.
"The girls were up at four this morning, packing her trunks, sister," replied
Miss Jemima; "we have made her a bow-pot."
"Say a bouquet, sister Jemima, 'tis more genteel."
"Well, a booky as big almost as a haystack; I have put up two bottles of
the gillyflower water for Mrs. Sedley, and the receipt for making it, in
Amelia's box."
"And I trust, Miss Jemima, you have made a copy of Miss Sedley's account.
This is it, is it? Very good--ninety-three pounds, four shillings. Be kind
enough to address it to John Sedley, Esquire, and to seal this billet which
I have written to his lady."

1) 生詞自查。
2) 作者介紹﹕William Makepeace Thackeray (18 July 1811-- 24 December 1863)
was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical
works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.
3) 本書介紹﹕Vanity Fair: A Novel without a Hero is a novel by William Makepeace
Thackeray, first published in 1847--48, satirizing society in early 19th-century
Britain. The book's title comes from John Bunyan's allegorical story The
Pilgrim's Progress, first published in 1678 and still widely read at the
time of Thackeray's novel. Vanity Fair refers to a stop along the pilgrim's
progress: a never-ending fair held in a town called Vanity, which is meant
to represent man's sinful attachment to worldly things. The novel is now
considered a classic, and has inspired several film adaptations.
4) Thackeray 也是一位英國著名作家﹐他的“名利場”也是本世界名著﹐是本諷刺
小說﹐所以裡面沒有正面人物。該書可作泛讀材料之一。