对于绝大部分中国学生来说，学习英文写作似乎只是为了一个目的――应试。的确，从基础的中、高考，到大学英语四、六级，乃至高阶段的TOEFL、IELTS，研究生入学考试等等，写作一直是必考的内容之一。为了应付这些考试，同学们不得不机械地背诵大量程式化的词组、句子、甚至是范文。这种做法也许能在短期内提高我们的应试能力，可长此以往，英文写作势必会重蹈历史的覆辙，演变成又一种“八股文”，这是我们所不愿意看到的。那么，怎样才能真正提高自己的写作能力呢？我想最根本的方法只有一个：阅读，而且是广泛的阅读。
其实，中英文写作在很多方面是相通的。关于阅读和写作的关系，中文有很多俗语：“读书破万卷，下笔如有神。”，“熟读唐诗三百首，不会做诗也会吟。”等等，英文同样如此，只有读得多了，见得广了，才能写出精彩的东西。
要读书，读些什么内容呢？首当其冲的，是文学作品。经过时间考验的文学作品里，凝聚着一门语言的精华。掌握了这些精华，把他们变为自己的血肉，你就掌握了写作的精髓。有的人也许要问：“英语的文学作品岂止成千上万，我应该选择哪些来读呢？”，给大家一个建议，从简单的开始读起，不要开始就读莎士比亚、乔叟、弥尔顿。从《简.爱》、《傲慢与偏见》这种难度的书开始会比较适合。此外，大家可以根据自己喜欢的风格，选择不同的作家来读。喜欢幽默，可以读马克吐温的小说；喜欢简洁，读培根的散文；喜欢铿锵有力，读蒲柏的英雄双韵诗；喜欢优雅，读王尔德的童话……对不同的风格有广泛的涉猎，一定会对自己的写作大有裨益。除了上述的这些内容，我们还要特别注意学习语言背后的文化。比如希腊、罗马神话，基督教知识等等。举个例子，表达“致命的弱点”这个意思，一般同学都知道用“fatal weak point”，可如果你知道用“Achilles heel”这样一个源自希腊神话中的短语，就会显得与众不同。
今天我们要推荐阅读的是美国著名现实主义小说马克·吐温（Mark Twain）的小说《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》的第15章（附中文对照），如果你喜欢这样的文字，可以去看全文。
《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》，被评论家称赞为他最优秀的作品是吐温用近八年的心血写完的。这部作品无论从思想内容或艺术成就来衡量都很成熟。海明威是这样评价它的：“一切现代美国文学都来自一本吐温的著作《哈克贝利·费恩》??这是我们所有书中最好的。一切美国文学都来自这本书。在它之前或之后都不曾有过能同它媲美的作品。” 《哈克·费恩》中用了第一人称叙述者，不仅词汇简单，口语化而且句子也简单、直接，具有口语的节奏。
From ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN
Chapter 15
We judged that three nights more Would fetch us to Cairo, 1at
the bottom of Illinois, where the Ohio River comes in, andthat was
what we was after．We would sell the raft and get on a steamboat
and go way up the Ohio amongst the free States, and then be out of
trouble．2
Well, the second night a fog begun to come on, and we made for
a tow-head to tie to, for it wouldn't do to try to run in fog；
but when I paddled ahead i n the canoe, with the line, to make fast,
there warn't anything but little saplings totie to．I passed the
line around one of them right on the edge of the cut bank, but there
was a stiff current, and the raft come booming down so lively she
tore it out by the roots and away she went．I see the fog closing
down, and it made meso sick and scared I couldn't budge for most
a half a minuteit seemed to me-and then there warn't no raft in
sight；you couldn't see twenty yards．3 I jumped into the canoe
and runback to the stern and grabbed the paddle and set her back a
stroke．But she didn't come, I was in such a hurry Ihadn't untied
her．I got up and tried to untie her, but I was so excited my hands
shook so I couldn't hardly do anything with them．
As soon as I got started I took out after the raft, hot and heavy,
right down the tow-head．4 That was all right as far asit went,
but the tow-head warn't sixty yards long, and theminute I flew by
the foot of it I shot out into the solid whitefog, and hadn't no
more idea which way I was going than adead man．
Thinks I, it won't do to paddle；first I know I'll run intothe
bank or a tow-head or something；I got to set still andfloat, and
yet it's mighty fidgety business to have to hold yourhands still
at such a time．I whooped and listened．Away downthere, somewheres,
I hears a small whoop, and up comes myspirits．I went tearing after
it, listening sharp to hear it again．The next time it come, I see
I warn't heading for it but head-ing away to the right of it．And
the next time, I was head-ing away to the left of it-and not gaining
on it much, either, for I was flying around, this way and that and
'tother, 5but it was going straight ahead all the time．
I did wish the fool would think to beat a tin pan, and beatit
all the time, but he never did, and it was the still placesbetween
the whoops that was making the trouble for me．Well, I fought along,
and directly I hears the whoops behind me．Iwas tangled good,
now．That was somebody else's whoop．orelse I was turned around．
I throwed the paddle down．I heard the whoop again；itwas behind me yet, but in a different place；it kept coming,
and kept changing its place, and I kept answering, till by-and-by
it was in front of me again and I knowed the current hadswung the
canoe's head down stream and I was all right, ifthat was Jim and
not some other raftsman hollering．I could-n't tell nothing about
voices in a fog, for nothing don't looknatural nor sound natural
in a fog．
The whooping went on, and in about a minute I come a booming
down on a cut bank6 with smoky ghosts of big treeson it, and the
current throwed me off to the left and shot by, amongst a lot of
snags that fairly roared, the current was tear-ing by them so swift．
In another second or two it was solid white and still again．I
set perfectly still, then, listening to my heart thump, and Ireckon
I didn't draw a breath while it thumped a hundred．
I just give up, then．I knowed what the matter was．Thatcut
bank was an island, and Jim had gone down 'tother sideof it．It
warn't no tow-head, that you could float by in tenminutes．It had
the big timber of a regular island；it mightbe five or six mile
long and more than a half a mile wide．
I kept quiet, with my ears cocked, about fifteen minutes,
Ireckon．I was floating along, of course, four or five mile anhour；
but you don't ever think of that．No, you feel like youare laying
dead still on the water；and if a little glimpse of a snap slips
by, you don't think to yourself how fast you're go-ing, but you
catch your breath and think my！how that snag'stearing along．lf
you think it ain't dismal and lonesome outin a fog that way, by
yourself, in the night, you try it once- you'll see．
Next, for about a half an hour, I whoops now and then；atlast
I hears the answer a loog ways off, and tries to follow it, but
I couldn't do it, and directly I judged I'd got into a nestof
towheads, for I had little dim glimpses of them on bothsides of
me, sometimes just a narrow channel between；andsome that I couldn't
see, I knowed was there, because I'd hearthe wash of the current
against the old dead brush and trashthat hung over the banks．Well,
I warn't long losing thewhoops, down amongst the towheads；and I
only tried to chasethem a little while, anyway, because it was worse
than chas-ing a Jack-o-lantern．You never knowed a sound dodge
aroundso, and swap places so quick and so much．
I had to claw away from the bank pretty lively, four or
fivetimes, to keep from knocking the islands out of the river；
andso I judged the raft must be butting into the bank every nowand
then, or else it would get further ahead and clear out ofhearing-
it was floating a little faster than what I was．
Well, I seemed to be in the open river again, by-and-by, butouldn't hear no sign of a whoop nowheres．I reckonedJim had
fetched up on a snag, maybe, and it was all up withhim．I was good
and tired, so I laid down in the canoe andsaid I wouldn't bother
no more．I didn't want to go to sleep, of course；but I was so sleepy
I couldn't help it；so I thoughtI would take just one little cat-nap．
But I reckon it was more than a cat-nap, for when I wakedup
the stars was shining bright, the fog was all gone, and Iwas
spinning down a big bend stern first．First I didn't knowwhere I
was；I thought I was dreaming；and when things be-gun to come back
to me, they seemed to come up dim out oflast week．
It was a monstrous big river here, with the tallest and
thethickest kind of timber on both banks；just a solid wall, aswell
as I could see, by the stars．I looked away down stream, and seen
a blacK speck on the water．I took out after it；butwhen I got to
it it warn't nothing but a couple of saw-logsmade fast
together．Then I see another speck, and chasedthat；then another,
and this time I was right．It was the raft．
When I got to it Jim was setting there with his head downbetween
his knees, asleep, with his right arm hanging overthe steering
oar．The other oar was smashed off, and the raftwas littered up
with leaves and branches and dirt．So she'dhad a rough time．
I made fast and laid down under Jim's nose on the raft, and
begun to gap, 7 and stretch my fists out against Jim, andsays：
“Hello, Jim, have I been asleep？Why didn't you stir meup？”
“Goodness gracious, is dat you, Huck？En you ain'dead-you
ain'drowned-you's back agin？It's too good fortrue, honey, it's
too good for true．Lemme look at you, chile, lemme feel o'you．No,
you ain'dead？you's back agin, 'liveen soun', jis de same ole
Huck-de same ole Huck, thanksto goodness！”
“What's the matter with you, Jim？You been a drinking？”
“Drinkin'？Has I ben a drinkin'？Has I had a chance tobe a
drinkin'？”
“Well, then, what makes you talk so wild？”
“How does I talk wild？”
“How？why, haint you been talking about my coming back, and
all that stuff, as if I'd been gone away？”
“ Huck - Huck Finn, you look me in de eye ；look me inde
eye．Hain't you ben gone away？”
“Gone away？Why, what in the nation do you mean？Ihain't been
gone anywheres．Where would I go to？”
“Well, looky here, boss, dey's sumf'n wrong, dey is．Is I me,
or who is I？Is I heah, or whah is I？Now dat's what Iwants to
know？”
“Well, I think you're here, plain enough, but I think you'reatangle-headed old fool, Jim．”
“I is, is I？Well you answer me dis．Didn't you tote outde
line in de canoe, fer to make fas'to de tow-head？”
“No, I didn't．What tow-head？I hain't seen no tow-head？”
“You hain't seen no tow-head？Looky here-didn't deline pull
loose en de raf'go a hummin'down de river, enleave you en de canoe
behine in de fog？”
“What fog？”
“Why de fog．De fog dat's ben aroun'all night．En didn'tyou
whoop, en didn't I whoop, tell we got mix'up in de is-lands en one
un us got los'en 'tother one was jis'as goodas los', 'kase he
didn'know whah he wuz？En didn't I bustup agin a lot er dem islands
en have a turrible time en mos'git drownded？Now ain'dat so, boss-
ain't it so？You an-swer me dat．”
“well, this is too many for me, Jim．I hain't seen no fog,
nor no islands, nor no troubles, nor nothing．I been settlinghere
talking with you all night till you went to sleep aboutten minutes
ago, and I reckon I done the same．You couldn'ta got drunk in that
time, so of course you've been dreaming．”
“ Dad fetch it, how is I gwyne to dream all dat in ten
min-utes？”
“Well, hang it all, you did dream it, because there didn'tany
of it happen．”
“But Huck, it's all jis'as plain to me as-”
“It don't make no difference how plain it is, there ain't
noth-ing in it．I know, because I've been here all the time．”
Jim didn't say nothing for about five minutes, but set
therestudying over it．Then he says：
“Well, den, I reck'n I did dream it, Huck；but dog mycats ef
it ain't de powerfullest dream I ever see．En I hain'tever had no
dream b'fo'dat's tired me like dis one．”
“Oh, well, that's all right, because a dream does tire abody
like everything, sometimes．But this one was a staving8dream-
tell me all about it, Jim．”
So Jim went to work and told me the whole thing rightthrough,
just as it happened, only he painted it up consider-able．Then he
said he must start in and“'terpret”it, becauseit was sent for
a warning．He said the first tow-head stoodfor a man that would
try to do us some good, but the cur-rent was another man that would
get us away from him．Thewhoops was warnings that would come to
us every now and
then, and if we didn't try hard to make out to understandthem
they'd just take us into bad luck, 'stead of keeping usout of it．The
lot of tow-heads was troubles we was going toget into withquarrelsome people and all kinds of mean folks, but if we minded
our business and didn't talk back and ag-gravate them, we would
pull through and get out of the fog and into the big clear river,
which was the free States, and wouldn't have no more trouble．
It had clouded up pretty dark just after I got onto the raft,
but it was clearing up again, now．
“Oh, well that's all interpreted well enough, as far as it
goes, Jim, ”I says；“but what does these things stand for？”
It was the leaves and rubbish on the raft, and the smashed
oar．You could see them first rate, now．
Jim looked at the trash, and then looked at me, and back at
the trash again．He had got the dream fixed so strong in his head
that be couldn't seem to shake it loose and get the facts back into
its place again, right away ． But when he did get the thing
straightened around, he looked at me steady, without ever smiling,
and says：
“What do dey stan'for？I's gwyne to tell you．When I got all
wore out wid work, en wid de callin'for you, en went to sleep, my
heart wuz mos'broke bekase you wuz los', en I didn'k'yer no mo'what
become er me en de raf'．En when I wake up en fine you back agin',
all safe en soun', de tears come en I could a got down on my knees
en kiss'yo'foot I's so thankful．En all you wuz thinkin''bout wuz
how you could make a fool uv ole Jim wid a lie．Dat truck dah is
trash；en trash is people is dat puts dirt on de head er dey fren's
en makes 'em ashamed．”
Then he got up slow, and walked to the wigwam, 9 and went in
there without saying anything but that．But that was enough．It
made me feel so mean I could almost kissed his foot to get him to
take it back．
It was fifteen minutes before I could work myself up to go and
hombre myself to a n nigget-but I done it ．and I warn't ever sorry
for it afterwards．neither．I didn't do him no moremear onwould
make him feel that way．
