04

　　Mark Twain (1835~1910)

　　The author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in a small town on the banks of the Mississippi River. Twain was an outspoken critic of slavery, and many of his essays and books are cut through with sardonic[10] comments on the subject. Although there is some debate on the matter, it is widely believed that Twain was the first writer to submit type-written manuscripts.

　　马克·吐温(1835~1910)

　　马克·吐温原名萨缪尔·兰霍恩·克莱门斯，出生于密西西比河岸边的一个小镇上，著有《汤姆·索亚历险记》和《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》。吐温是一位对奴隶制直言不讳的批评家，他在许多散文和书中都就这个话题发表过嘲讽的评论。虽然仍然存在一些争议，但人们普遍认为吐温是第一位用打字机写书稿的作家。

　　(汤姆·索亚邮票)

　　05

　　Franz Kafka (1883~1924)

　　Kafka is a Czech born Jewish writer of enigmatic[11] novels such as The Trial (published posthumously in 1925), The Castle, and The Metamorphosis. Although Czech was his native language, Kafka soon mastered the more elitist[12] German tongue and wrote all of his fiction in German. The term ‘Kafkaesque’ has come to refer to anything marked with a surreal sense of disorder or danger.

　　弗朗茨·卡夫卡(1883~1924)

　　卡夫卡是出生于捷克的犹太作家，他创作的小说令人费解，如《审判》(1925年发表时卡夫卡已离世)、《城堡》和《变形记》。虽然卡夫卡的母语是捷克语，但他却很快掌握了更为“高级的”德语，并用德语创作了自己的所有小说。“卡夫卡式的”一词被用来指任何带有超现实感的无序或危险特征的事物。

　　(By Robin Lamb 译 / 赵越)

　　注释

　　[1] geometry [dʒiːˈɒmətri] n. 几何学

　　[2] spatial [ˈspeɪʃ(ə)l] adj. 空间的;与空间有关的

　　[3] manual [ˈmænjʊəl] adj. 人力的

　　[4] indelible [ɪnˈdeləb(ə)l] adj. 难以去除的;擦不掉的

　　[5] immensely [ɪˈmensli] adv. 广大地，巨大地

　　[6] outlet [ˈaʊtˌlet] n. (思想等的)表达途径

　　[7] customary [ˈkʌstəməri] adj. 通常的;习惯性的

　　[8] stammer [ˈstæmə(r)] n. 口吃，结巴

　　[9] prophetic [prəˈfetɪk] adj. 预言的;预示的

　　[10] sardonic [sɑː(r)ˈdɒnɪk] adj. 讥诮的;冷嘲热讽的;鄙夷的

　　[11] enigmatic [ˌenɪɡˈmætɪk] adj. 谜一般的，难以理解的

　　[12] elitist [ɪˈliːtɪst] adj. 上等的，高级的