American notes
Charles Dickens
查爾斯·狄更斯(Charles Dickens，1812—1870年)，19世紀英國最著 名的小說家，批判現實主義的傑出代表人物。但他更是文學上偉大的革新 家，他開創的描寫中下層社會的小人物的先河，在文學作品中可以說是空 前的。高度的藝術概括，生動的細節描寫，妙趣橫生的幽默和細致入微的 心理分析，是他獨特的風格。他的作品通過許多令人難忘的形象的塑造， 真實地反映了英國19世紀初葉的社會麵貌，具有巨大的感染力。主要作品 有《匹克威克外傳》《老古玩店》《大衛·科波菲爾》《雙城記》《遠大 前程》《艱難時世》等。
狄更斯於1812年2月7日出生於英國樸資茅斯的波特西地區。狄更斯 幼年時就讀了大量的小說。由於家境貧寒，其父在其10歲時便因債務入 獄，作為長子的狄更斯便擔起了家庭重擔。以後他父親獲得一筆小小的遺 產，出了監獄，把查爾斯·狄更斯送到威林頓高等學校(相當於高小)去 讀書。家中僅有的一點錢財不久又用光了，查爾斯·狄更斯不得不停學就 業，為生活奔波。艱難的生活使狄更斯獲得了非常豐富的生活知識，為他 以後的寫作積累了寶貴的素材。》
22歲時，狄更斯試著給一家雜誌社投了一篇短篇小說，一個星期後小 說被刊出，就這樣狄更斯開始了業餘寫作活動。他最初為《記事晨報》寫 一些特寫，署名“鮑斯”。1837年他寫成了第一部長篇小說《匹克威克外 傳》。這部作品發表以後，風行一時，暢銷全國，並使得他以靠寫作維持 生活，開始了寫作生涯。以後他又寫了許多作品，主要是長篇小說獲得極 大的成功，終於成為英國文學史上偉大的作家之一。
RETURN To CINCINNATI—A STAGE—COACH RIDE FROMTHAT CITY TO COLUMBUS，AND THENCE TO SANDUSKY-SO，BY LAKE ERIE，TO THE FALLS 0F NIAGARA．
AS I had a desire to travel through the interior of the state of Ohio．and to“strike the lakes，”as the phrase is，at a small town calledSandusky，to which that route would conduct US on our way to Niagara，we had to return from St．Louis by the way we had come．and to retraceour former track as far as Cincinnati． The day on which we were to take leave of St．Louis being very fine，and the steamboat，which was to have started I don’t know how earlyin the morning，postponing，for the three or four times，her departureuntil the afternoon，we rode forward to an old French village on the river，called properly Carondelet，and nicknamed Vide Poche，and arranged thatthe packet should call for US there． The place consisted of a few poor cottages，and two or three public—houses；the state of whose larders certainly seemed to justify the second designation of the village，for there was nothing to eat in any of them．At length，however，by going back some half a mile or so，we found a solitary house where ham and coffee were procurable；and there wetarried to await the advent of the boat，which would come in sight fromthe green before the door，a long way off． It was a neat，unpretending village tavern，and we took our repast in a quaint little room with a bed in it，decorated with some old oil paintings，which in their time had probably done duty in a Catholic chapel or monastery．The fare was very good，and served with great cleanliness．The house was kept by a characteristic old couple，with whom we had a long talk，and who were perhaps a very good sample of that kind of people in the West．