美国语文读本5
2011-1
上海三联
威廉·H·麦加菲
296
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序言 呈现于读者面前的这套《美国语文读本》，亦名《麦加菲读本》，其编者威廉oHo麦加菲曾先后任美国迈阿密大学语言学教授和俄亥俄大学校长。考虑到"麦加菲"的英文名称在美国已被注册为商标，加之它是一套影响深远而广泛的语文课本，我们在中国首次原版出版这套著名教材时，便将书名定为《美国语文读本》。这套书既有教材功能，又可当作提高英语水平的有效读物。 《美国语文读本》从19世纪中期至20世纪中叶，一直被广泛用作美国学校的语文教材，据称有10000多所美国学校拿它当作教材。美国著名汽车制造商亨利o福特称赞这套书是他儿童时代最有兴趣的读物，后来他自费大量印刷这套书，分发给很多学校。到了21世纪，西方一些私立学校(Private School)和家庭学校（Homeschool）仍用它作为教材，足见这套书的价值与影响力。据估计，这套书从问世至1960年，至少发行了1.22亿册；1961年后，在西方每年销量仍达30000册以上。应该说，没有哪一套个人主编的教材能超过此发行量了！ 这套读本的英文原版共分七级，包括启蒙读本和第1-6级。考虑到启蒙读本与第一级篇幅都较少，难易程度也很接近，于是我们将之合并为第1册，其余2-6级与英文原版相同。这样国内出版的这套读本共包括6册。第1册从字母表开始，主要侧重于字母的发音与书写、简单的单词与句型，同时强调英文书写，课文后面附有不少书法练习，让孩子们不仅将英语说得像外国人，而且写得也跟外文书法一样，这是国内英语教学所缺少的一个环节。从第2册开始，均是比较正式的课文了，每一课包括词汇和课文，对一些生词有英文解释，让学生学会通过简单英文理解生词，养成用英语理解和思维的习惯。第4册还附有课后思考练习，这些练习可以帮助学生更好理解文章，引发孩子们的思考。第5册和第6册的课文前增加了作者简介与相关背景知识，内容丰富而有一定深度。 从所选课文的英文难易程度来看，大致而言，这套读本的第1-3册跟国内小学毕业程度相近，那么第4级则适用于初中生阅读使用，第5、6册可供高中及以上程度学习者阅读。从文体方面我们可以看出，除了常见的记叙、散文体以外，这套读本对诗歌、戏剧、论说文等文体也很重视，书中选取了不少名家的名作名篇。这对国内孩子们真正感受英语这一西方语言的魄力是大有帮助的。 人类文化的瑰宝不仅源远流长，而且具有很大共通性，在全社会不断呼吁教育改革的今天，我们将这套优秀的美国读本引进到国内，应该具有一定的借鉴意义。它也有益于中国孩子在学习英语的同时，了解西方的文学与文化历史，通过英语这门语言工具，开阔自己的视野，打开通往世界的心灵之窗。这也我们出版此套书的内心所愿！ 作为此书的出版者，我们最后恳请读者原谅并给予帮助的是，由于此套书出版过程中扫描和编排校对的工作量较大，或许会出现一些错误与不当之处，恳请读者谅解并指正，以帮助我们更加完善此套读本。 出版者
这套读本的英文原版共分七级，包括启蒙读本和第1-6级。考虑到启蒙读本与第一级篇幅都较少，难易程度也很接近，于是将之合并为第1册，其余2-6级与英文原版相同。这样国内出版的这套读本共包括6册。
本书主要介绍了狄更斯、华盛顿?欧文、爱默生等名家的诗歌和散文，每篇文章前还增加了作者简介与相关背景知识，内容丰富而有一定深度。
This series of schoolbooks teaching reading and moral precepts,
originally prepared by William Holmes who was a professor at Miami
University McGuffey, had a profound influence on public education
in the United States. The eclectic readers, meaning that the
selections were chosen from a number of sources, were considered
remarkably literary works and probably exerted a greater influence
upon literary tastes in the United States more than any other book,
excluding the Bible.
It is estimated that at least 120 million copies of McGuffey's
Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a
category with the Bible and Webster's Dictionary. Since 1961 they
have continued to sell at a rate of some 30,000 copies a year. No
other textbook bearing a single person's name has come close to
that mark. McGuffey's Readers are still in use today in some school
systems, and by parents for home schooling purposes.
The fifth reader was designed for elocutionary exercises to
increase articulation, inflection, pitch, accent, rate, emphasis
and gesture. It contained poetry and prose by Sigourney,
Montgomery, Addison, Irving, Young and Byron.
威廉?H?麦加菲，美国著名教育家。1800年出生于宾夕法尼亚州，1826年毕业于华盛顿大学杰斐逊学院。在数十年教育生涯中，他曾担任过迈阿密大学语言学教授，俄亥俄大学校长。自1845年开始任弗吉尼亚大学道德哲学教授。他还帮助组建了俄亥俄州公立学校体系。
LESSON 1 THE GOOD READER
LESSON 2 THE BLUEBELL
LESSON 3 THE GENTLE HAND
LESSON 4 THE GRANDFATHER
LESSON 5 A BOY ON A FARM
LESSON 6 THE SINGING LESSON
LESSON 7 DO NOT MEDDLE
LESSON 8 WORK
LESSON 9 THE MANIAC
LESSON 10 ROBIN REDBREAST
LESSON 11 THE FISH I DIDN’T CATCH
LESSON 12 IT SNOWS
LESSON 13 RESPECT FOR THE SABBATH REWARDED
LESSON 14 THE SANDS O’ DEE
LESSON 15 SELECT PARAGRAPHS
LESSON 16 THE CORN SONG
LESSON 17 THE VENOMOUS WORM
LESSON 18 THE FESTAL BOARD
LESSON 19 HOW TO TELL BAD NEWS
LESSON 20 THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM
LESSON 21 “I PITY THEM”
LESSON 22 AN ELEGY ON MADAM BLAIZE
LESSON 23 KING CHARLES II AND WILLIAM PENN
LESSON 24 WHAT I LIVE FOR
LESSON 25 THE RIGHTEOUS NEVER FORSAKEN
LESSON 26 ABOU BEN ADHEM
LESSON 27 LUCY FORESTER
LESSON 28 THE REAPER AND THE FLOWERS
LESSON 29 THE TOWN PUMP
LESSON 30 GOOD NIGHT
LESSON 31 AN OLD-FASHIONED GIRL
LESSON 32 MY MOTHER’S HANDS
LESSON 33 THE DISCONTENTED PENDULUM
LESSON 34 THE DEATH OF THE FLOWERS
LESSON 35 THE THUNDERSTORM
LESSON 36 APRIL DAY
LESSON 37 THE TEA ROSE
LESSON 38 THE CATARACT OF LODORE
LESSON 39 THE BOBOLINK
LESSON 40 ROBERT OF LINCOLN
LESSON 41 REBELLION IN MASSACHUSETTS STATE PRISON
LESSON 42 FAITHLESS NELLY GRAY
LESSON 43 THE GENEROUS RUSSIAN PEASANT
LESSON 44 FORTY YEARS AGO
LESSON 45 MRS. CAUDLE’S LECTURE
LESSON 46 THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH
LESSON 47 THE RELIEF OF LUCKNOW
LESSON 48 THE SNOWSTORM
LESSON 49 BEHIND TIME
LESSON 50 THE OLD SAMPLER
LESSON 51 THE GOODNESS OF GOD
LESSON 52 MY MOTHER
LESSON 53 THE HOUR OF PRAYER
LESSON 54 THE WILL
LESSON 55 THE NOSE AND THE EYES
LESSON 56 AN ICEBERG
LESSON 57 ABOUT QUAIL
LESSON 58 THE BLUE AND THE GRAY
LESSON 59 THE MACHINIST’S RETURN
LESSON 60 MAKE WAY FOR LIBERTY
LESSON 61 THE ENGLISH SKYLARK
LESSON 62 HOW SLEEP THE BRAVE
LESSON 63 THE RAINBOW
LESSON 64 SUPPOSED SPEECH OF JOHN ADAMS
LESSON 65 THE RISING
LESSON 66 CONTROL YOUR TEMPER
LESSON 67 WILLIAM TELL
LESSON 68 WILLIAM TELL (CONCLUDED)
LESSON 69 THE CRAZY ENGINEER
LESSON 70 THE HERITAGE
LESSON 71 NO EXCELLENCE WITHOUT LABOR
LESSON 72 THE OLD HOUSE CLOCK
LESSON 73 THE EXAMINATION
LESSON 74 THE ISLE OF LONG AGO
LESSON 75 THE BOSTON MASSACRE
LESSON 76 DEATH OF THE BEAUTIFUL
LESSON 77 SNOW FALLING
LESSON 78 SQUEERS’S METHOD
LESSON 79 THE GIFT OF EMPTY HANDS
LESSON 80 CAPTURING THE WILD HORSE
LESSON 81 SOWING AND REAPING
LESSON 82 TAKING COMFORT
LESSON 83 CALLING THE ROLL
LESSON 84 TURTLE SOUP
LESSON 85 THE BEST KIND OF REVENGE
LESSON 86 THE SOLDIER OF THE RHINE
LESSON 87 THE WINGED WORSHIPERS
LESSON 88 THE PEEVISH WIFE
LESSON 89 THE RAINY DAY
LESSON 90 BREAK, BREAK, BREAK
LESSON 91 TRANSPORTATION AND PLANTING OF SEEDS
LESSON 92 SPRING AGAIN
LESSON 93 RELIGION THE ONLY BASIS OF SOCIETY
LESSON 94 ROCK ME TO SLEEP
LESSON 95 MAN AND THE INFERIOR ANIMALS
LESSON 96 THE BLIND MEN AND THE ELEPHANT
LESSON 97 A HOME SCENE
LESSON 98 THE LIGHT OF OTHER DAYS
LESSON 99 A CHASE IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL
LESSON 100 BURIAL OF SIR JOHN MOORE
LESSON 101 LITTLE VICTORIES
LESSON 102 THE CHARACTER OF A HAPPY LIFE
LESSON 103 THE ART OF DISCOURAGEMENT
LESSON 104 THE MARINER’S DREAM
LESSON 105 THE PASSENGER PIGEON
LESSON 106 THE COUNTRY LIFE
LESSON 107 THE VIRGINIANS
LESSON 108 MINOT’S LEDGE
LESSON 109 HAMLET
LESSON 110 DISSERTATION ON ROAST PIG
LESSON 111 A PEN PICTURE
LESSON 112 THE GREAT VOICES
LESSON 113 A PICTURE OF HUMAN LIFE
LESSON 114 A SUMMER LONGING
LESSON 115 FATE
LESSON 116 THE BIBLE THE BEST OF CLASSICS
LESSON 117 MY MOTHER’S BIBLE
LESSON 1 THE GOOD READER 1. It is told of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, that, as he was seated one day in his private room, a written petition1 was brought to him with the request that it should be immediately read. The King had just returned from hunting, and the glare of the sun, or some other cause, had so dazzled his eyes that he found it difficult to make out a single word of the writing. 2. His private secretary happened to be absent; and the soldier who brought the petition could not read. There was a page, or favorite boy servant, waiting in the hall, and upon him the King called. The page was a son of one of the noblemen of the court, but proved to be a very poor reader. 3. In the first place, he did not articulate2 distinctly. He huddled his words together in the utterance, as if they were syllables of one long word, which he must get through with as speedily as possible. His pronunciation was bad, and he did not modulate3 his voice so as to bring out the meaning of what he read. Every sentence was uttered with a dismal monotony4 of voice, as if it did not differ in any respect from that which preceded it. 4. “Stop!” said the King, impatiently. “Is it an auctioneer’s list of goods to be sold that you are hurrying over? Send your companion to me.” Another page who stood at the door now entered, and to him the King gave the petition. The second page began by hemming and clearing his throat in such an affected5 manner that the King jokingly asked him whether he had not slept in the public garden, with the gate open, the night before. 5. The second page had a good share of self-conceit, however, and so was not greatly confused by the King’s jest. He determined that he would avoid the mistake which his comrade had made. So he commenced reading the petition slowly and with great formality, emphasizing every word, and prolonging the articulation of every syllable. But his manner was so tedious that the King cried out, “Stop! are you reciting a lesson in the elementary sounds? Out of the room! But no: stay! Send me that little girl who is sitting there by the fountain.” 6. The girl thus pointed out by the King was a daughter of one of the laborers employed by the royal gardener; and she had come to help her father weed the flower beds. It chanced that, like many of the poor people in Prussia, she had received a good education. She was somewhat alarmed when she found herself in the King’s presence, but took courage when the King told her that he only wanted her to read for him, as his eyes were weak. 7. Now, Ernestine (for this was the name of the little girl) was fond of reading aloud, and often many of the neighbors would assemble at her father’s house to hear her; those who could not read themselves would come to her, also, with their letters from distant friends or children, and she thus formed the habit of reading various sorts of handwriting promptly and well. 8. The King gave her the petition, and she rapidly glanced through the opening lines to get some idea of what it was about. As she read, her eyes began to glisten, and her breast to heave. “What is the matter?” asked the King; “don’t you know how to read?” “Oh, yes! sire,” she replied, addressing him with the title usually applied to him: “I will now read it, if you please.” 9. The two pages wore about to leave the room. “Remain,” said the King. The little girl began to read the petition. It was from a poor widow, whose only son had been drafted to serve in the army, although his health was delicate and his pursuits had been such as to unfit him for military life. His father had been killed in battle, and the son had a strong desire to become a portrait painter. 10. The writer told her story in a simple, concise manner, that carried to the heart a belief of its truth; and Ernestine read it with so much feeling, and with an articulation so just, in tones so pure and distinct, that when she had finished, the King, into whose eyes the tears had started, exclaimed, “Oh! now I understand what it is all about; but I might never have known, certainly I never should have felt, its meaning had I trusted to these young gentlemen, whom I now dismiss from my service for one year, advising them to occupy their time in learning to read.” 11. “As for you, my young lady,” continued the King, “I know you will ask no better reward for your trouble than the pleasure of carrying to this poor widow my order for her son’s immediate discharge. Let me see whether you can write as well as you can read. Take this pen, and write as I dictate.” He then dictated an order, which Ernestine wrote, and he signed. Calling one of his guards, he bade him go with the girl and see that the order was obeyed. 12. How much happiness was Ernestine the means of bestowing through her good elocution, united to the happy circumstance that brought it to the knowledge of the King! First, there were her poor neighbors, to whom she could give instruction and entertainment. Then, there was the poor widow who sent the petition, and who not only regained her son, but received through Ernestine an order for him to paint the King’s likeness; so that the poor boy soon rose to great distinction, and had more orders than he could attend to. Words could not express6 his gratitude, and that of his mother, to the little girl. 13. And Ernestine had, moreover, the satisfaction of aiding her father to rise in the world, so that he became the King’s chief gardener. The King did not forget her, but had her well educated at his own expense. As for the two pages, she was indirectly the means of doing them good, also; for, ashamed of their bad reading, they commenced studying in earnest, till they overcame the faults that had offended the King. Both finally rose to distinction, one as a lawyer, and the other as a statesman; and they owed their advancement in life chiefly to their good elocution. NOTES.—Frederick II. of Prussia (b. 1712, d. 1788), or Frederick the Great, as he was called, was one of the greatest of German rulers. He was distinguished for his military exploits, for his wise and just government, and for his literary attainments. He wrote many able works in the French language. Many pleasant anecdotes are told of this king, of which the one given in the lesson is a fair sample.
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买给初中孩子的，美国语文文章非常好，什么题材都有，对学习英文原著很有帮助。
想要了了解美国文化，就应该从它的的读本开始
一套非常好的美国语文教科书，适合我们和孩子一起了解美语的启蒙学习.
美国小学的水平，已经比我们大学还要难了
全英 第五册适合高二三以上学生朗读体验~
为孩子初中准备的书，买啦三、四，第五册是为孩子上初中准备的。儿子，加油吧！
自已看的业余英文读物
内容稍难，孩子需要查阅字典，最好家长一道阅读。
其中的诗歌适合全家一道朗读，是培养孩子语感的好办法。
不太适合刚学英语的学生，包括初三学生。有一点难度看着本书。有点分不清名字和地名。
质量还是不错的，读这本书需要点英文功底。
很想看看美国中小学生的学习课程
好书，里面的诗歌真的还是难得理解他的好处。 别的还蛮好
有一定难度了，需要初三以上英语基础。
对英语学习很有帮助的一本书
我们的英语教材都是中国人写的。
读了这本书之后的感受。
因为，一些用语很地道。
买给孩子看的，希望对阅读有所帮助
是很好，内容很充实。
内容什么的还有书的质量很好~就是有一页上面滴了油。。。不过没有任何关系的啦。。
内容不错，就是字体小了。封皮感觉不错哈，但是更关心字体大小。
还好，，，，不错 加油 物流不错
喜欢 。
还在看，很好
不错，比新概念强
本来给孩子买的，结果我在读
这个商品不错、嗯嗯、不错、推荐给爸爸妈妈~
有难度，值得一读
我看不懂,希望女儿能看懂
送给高中生的，很实用呢
好书！不能错过！
书是老师推荐的，很不错！
不错，就是看不懂，慢慢研究吧
孩子学校的老师让他们阅读一本原版的，就挑选了这本。拿到后，感觉与介绍相符，程度很适合孩子。
应该让孩子多看些这样的英文原版书，现在的中国的中小学课本里的英文好像实际上不能应用
内容很适合启蒙教育,让孩子体验原味的英语.建议字号再大些.
看看美国语文，比一比和我们有什么不同，也是一种收获啊。
之前买的第六册，实在是太难了。这一本的难道还可以。
老师推荐的，觉得比较有英文风味，比较适合假期读。
选材很好，词汇体系也与国内的英语教材有很大的不同。难度比较大，适合高中及以上的学习者。字体太小，看着相当吃力。怕把孩子的眼睛看坏了。
4觉得难，5就没翻了，但这套书很厚重的感觉
书籍编排较为合理，但是内容对于初中的孩子偏难。
让孩子多接触这样的英文，还是很不错的。
对于高二的孩子来说，生单词和长难句型偏多，需要不停地翻字典查询，慢慢地就增大了词汇。但是考试的时候，这些单词都不会遇到！建议感兴趣的童鞋们买有译文那版的，原文看上去太苦逼了
真不明白现在孩子为什么报那么多外语班,省下钱来买原著阅读,想学不好外语都难
如果是小孩学，肯恩需要家长帮助。个人看法。价格值。
英语教育应该注重什么？看过之后，会质疑
内容挺好，字体太小。
还不错，只是儿子还没有时间看
给孩子看的书，字体太小了
读起来还比较费劲
挺好的，和我想要的一模一样，就是运货速度有一点慢了。
我第一次购买这本书，觉得它稍有点难，字也小，看了想睡觉
东西很好，文章也很不错。
老古董书，初高中学生慎用
能看懂，小有兴趣。
一般般，根本找不到MP3版本。
书很好，价格好（爽！），效率好（送货速度），心脏好（放心！）。总之，当当好！
送人的，不知道实际内容如何。
搞活动买的，非常超值
经典教材 原版引进
刚买来质量还不错
唯一缺点就是字太小了
给儿子准备课外阅读