Mark Twain
马克·吐温(Mark Twain，1835—1910年)，美国批判现实主义文学的奠基人，马克·吐温是笔名，他原名是塞缪·朗荷恩·克列门斯，生于密苏里州佛罗里达的一个地方法官家庭。父亲是一名乡村律师，家中生活拮据。12岁时父亲去世，他开始自谋生计，年轻时当过报童、印刷所学徒、排字工、水手、淘金工人和舵手，所以他的创作具有坚实的生活基础，作品大多取材于童年生活。26岁时，他当上了记者，并采用马克·吐温这个笔名发表作品。他的创作大致可分为三个时期：早期作品表现了对美国民主所存的幻想，以短篇为主，幽默与讽刺结合，批判不足，作品有《竞选州长》、《高尔斯的朋友再度出洋》等；中期以长篇小说为主，讽刺性加强，重要作品有《镀金时代》、《汤姆·索亚历险记》、《哈克贝利·芬历险记》、《王子与贫儿》等；后期作品则由幽默讽刺转到愤怒的揭发、谴责、甚至有悲观的情绪，主要作品有《游记》、《给范斯顿将军辩护》等。马克·吐温擅长使用幽默和讽刺，文笔轻松诙谐，幽默中透着对丑恶的挖苦和讥讽，针砭时弊，毫不留情。他的作品对后来的美国文学产生了巨大深远的影响。人们普遍认为马克·吐温是美国文学史上的一大里程碑。
Saturday morning was come，and all the summer world was brightand fresh，and brimming with life．There was a song in every heart；and ifthe heart was young the music issued at the lips．There was cheer in everyface and a spring in every step．The locust—trees were in bloom and thefragrance of the blossoms filled the air．
Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and along—handled brush．He surveyed the fence，and all gladness left himand a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit．Sighing，he dippedhis brush and passed it along the topmost plank；repeated the operation；did it again：compared the insignificant whitewashed streak with the far—reaching continent of unwhitewashed fence，and sat down on a tree—boxdiscouraged．Jim came skipping out at the gate with a tin pail．and singing BuffaloGals．Tom said：“Say，Jim，I’11 fetch the water if you’11 whitewashsome．’’
Jim shook his head and said：“Can’t，Mars Tom．Ole missis，shetole me I got to go an’git dis water an’not stop foolin’roun’wid any—body．”
“0h．never you mind what she said，Jim．Gimme the bucket—1won’t be gone only a a minute．’’“Oh．I dasn，t．01e missis she’d take an’tar de head off’n me．’’“She！She never licks anybody．She talks awful，but talk dorl’t hurtanyways it don’t if she don’t cry．Jim，I’11 give you a m~rvel·I’11 giveyou a white alley！”
Jim began to waver．
“And besides．if you will I’11 show you my sore toe．”
Jim was onlv human—this attraction was too much for him，He putdown his pail，took the white alley，and bent over the toe with absorbingintereSt．In another moment he was flying down th0 street with his pail and a tingling rear，Tom was whitewashing with vigor，and Aunt Polly was retiring from the field with a slipper in her hand and triumph in her eye．
But Tom’S energy did not last．Soon the free boys would come trip—ping along on all sorts of delicious expeditions，and they would make a world of fun of him for having to work—the very thought of it burnt him like fire．At this dark and hopeless moment an inspiration burst upon him！Nothing less than a great，magnificent inspiration．
He took up his brush and went tranquilly to work．Ben Rogers hove in sight presently—the very boy，of all boys，whose ridicule he had been dreading．He was eating an apple，and giving a long，melodious whoop，at intervals，followed by a deep—toned ding—dong—dong．ding—dong—dong，for he was personating a steamboat．
Tom went on whitewashing—paid no attention to the steamboat．Ben stared a moment and then said：“Hi—Yi！You’re up a stump．ain’t you！”
No answer．Tom surveyed his last touch with the eye of an artist，then he gave his brush another gentle sweep and surveyed the result，as before．Ben ranged up alongside of him．Tom’S mouth watered for the apple，but he stuck to his work．
Ben said：“Hello，old chap，you got to work．hey？’’
Tom wheeled suddenly and said：“Why，it’S you，Ben！1 warn’t noticing．’’
“Say—I’m going in a swimming．I am．Don’t you wish you could？But of course you’d druther work—wouldn’t you？’’
Tom contemplated the boy a bit，and said：“What do YOu call WOrk7”“Why t that work？Tom resumed his whitewashing，and answered carelessly：“Well，maybe it is．and maybe it ain’t．All I know，is，it suits Tom Sawyer．”
“0h come．now，you don’t mean to let on that you like it？”
“Like it？Well，I don’t see why I oughtn’t to like it．Does a boyget a chance to whitewash a fence every day？”That put the thing in a new light．Ben stopped nibbling his apple·Tom swept his brush daintily back and forth—stepped back to note theefect—added a touch here and there criticised the effect again--Benwatching every move and getting more and more interested，more andmore absorbed．Presently he said：“Say，Tom，let me whitewash a little．”T0m coasidered．was about to consent；but he altered his mind：“No—nO—I reckOn it wouldn’t hardly do，Ben．You see，Aunt Polly’S awful Dicular about this fence—right here on the street，you knOw—but if itwas the back fence 1 wouldn’t mind and she wouldn’t．’’
“Oh come，now--lemme just try．Only just a little．”