现代大学英语阅读四 4.The Duchess and the Jeweller

1、The Duchess and the JewellerVirginia WoolfAdeline Virginia Woolf (25 January 1882 28 March 1941) She was an English author,essayist(评论评论家）家）,and writer of short stories, regarded as one of the foremost modernist literary figures of the twentieth century. During the interwar period, Woolf was a signi

2、ficant figure in London literary society and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. (一个英国艺术家和学者的团体) Her most famous works include the novels Mrs Dalloway(1925), To the Lighthouse (1927) and Orlando (1928), The book-length essay A Room of Ones Own (1929), with its famous dictum：A woman must have money and

3、 a room of her own if she is to write fiction.The plotThe hero of this novel is a wealthy jeweller in London,who named Oliver Bacon.At first,the narrator use a great deal of words to describe Bacons life,which is luxurious. Then through Bacons mental activity,we know that he grew up in a poorneighbo

4、rhood and came from a poor family.The plot Now he lives in a big flat,there is a man servant serve for him,he could buy everything he wants,but he always recollect his poor childhood,those recollection makes him unconfident, even if he is wealthy now.So he does businesses with the duchess of Lambour

5、ne.when the duchess shows him the ten peals,he wants to test it,but the duchess prevents him,he finally gives in because of Diana,as well as because of the tempting status.ThemeThis novel is basically to satire the society, in that society,if you are the noblest lord, you will be honoured .But if yo

6、u are just an ordinary people,even if you are wealthy, you are still an ordinary people.: when he enters his office, he just waggles his one finger of the amber-coloured glove; Greedy: his nose,which is long and flexible,seemed to say by its curious quiver at the nostrils that he is not satisfied ye

7、t; Ambitious: he wants to become an utter class person; Full of vanity: he ask the Duchess to wait for ten minutes;Personality of Mr.BaconMy feeling In my point of view,though Oliver Bacon is a greedy,ambitious and snobbish man,just because he is so attracted by the wealth and social status;however,

8、he is also smart and quickminded,he struggled to his career, and finally ,owned his own store,moreover, his store became famous in the world jewelry market.I think its great,he is very intelligent.Rank in Britain Royal Duke 大公大公 Duke 公爵公爵 Duchess 公爵夫人公爵夫人 Marquis 侯爵侯爵 Marchioness侯爵夫人侯爵夫人 Earl 伯爵伯爵 C

9、ountess 伯爵夫人伯爵夫人 Viscount 子爵子爵 Viscountess子爵夫人子爵夫人 Baron 男爵男爵 Baroness 男爵夫人男爵夫人 Baronet 从男爵从男爵 Knight 骑士骑士 Stream of Consciousness (意识流） Stream of consciousness is a form of narrative（叙事的）（叙事的）technique used to render the flow of myriad （无数的）（无数的）impressionsvisual, auditory, physical, associative, a

10、nd subliminalthat impinge on the consciousness of an individual and form part of his awareness along with the trend of his rational thoughts. I think it may be difficult for us to uderstand the exact meaning of Stream of Consciousness by reading the defination.Then i will give you an explanation.A l

11、iterary technique in which a characters thoughts are presented in the confusing,jumbled and inconsequential manner of real life without any clarification by the author. in this kind of fiction,interior monologue will be common used.if you want to learn more about stream of consciousness technique,you can read to the Lighthouse,written by Woolf.Writting SkillsInterior monologue: This story happened just on somedays morning,but the narrator let us know about Mr.B