《高中英语 The Last of the Mohicans 课件 新人教版》由会员分享，可在线阅读，更多相关《高中英语 The Last of the Mohicans 课件 新人教版（401页珍藏版）》请在金锄头文库上搜索。
1、The Last of the MohicansJames Fenimore CooperThis eBook is designed and published by Planet PDF. For more freeeBooks visit our Web site at http:/ Last of the Mohicans2 of 698IntroductionIt is believed that the scene of this tale, and most of the information necessary to understand its allusions, are
2、 rendered sufficiently obvious to the reader in the text itself, or in the accompanying notes. Still there is so much obscurity in the Indian traditions, and so much confusion in the Indian names, as to render some explanation useful.Few men exhibit greater diversity, or, if we may soexpress it, gre
3、ater antithesis of character, than the nativewarrior of North America. In war, he is daring, boastful,cunning, ruthless, self-denying, and self-devoted; in peace,just, generous, hospitable, revengeful, superstitious,modest, and commonly chaste. These are qualities, it istrue, which do not distinguis
4、h all alike; but they are so farthe predominating traits of these remarkable people as tobe characteristic.It is generally believed that the Aborigines of theAmerican continent have an Asiatic origin. There aremany physical as well as moral facts which corroborate thisopinion, and some few that woul
5、d seem to weigh againstit.The Last of the Mohicans3 of 698The color of the Indian, the writer believes, is peculiarto himself, and while his cheek-bones have a very strikingindication of a Tartar origin, his eyes have not. Climatemay have had great influence on the former, but it isdifficult to see
6、how it can have produced the substantialdifference which exists in the latter. The imagery of theIndian, both in his poetry and in his oratory, is oriental;chastened, and perhaps improved, by the limited range ofhis practical knowledge. He draws his metaphors from theclouds, the seasons, the birds,
7、the beasts, and the vegetableworld. In this, perhaps, he does no more than any otherenergetic and imaginative race would do, being compelledto set bounds to fancy by experience; but the NorthAmerican Indian clothes his ideas in a dress which isdifferent from that of the African, and is oriental in i
8、tself.His language has the richness and sententious fullness ofthe Chinese. He will express a phrase in a word, and hewill qualify the meaning of an entire sentence by a syllable;he will even convey different significations by the simplestinflections of the voice.Philologists have said that there ar
9、e but two or threelanguages, properly speaking, among all the numeroustribes which formerly occupied the country that nowcomposes the United States. They ascribe the knowneBook brought to you byCreate, view, and edit PDF. Download the free trial version.The Last of the Mohicans4 of 698difficulty one
10、 people have to understand another tocorruptions and dialects. The writer remembers to havebeen present at an interview between two chiefs of theGreat Prairies west of the Mississippi, and when aninterpreter was in attendance who spoke both theirlanguages. The warriors appeared to be on the mostfrie
11、ndly terms, and seemingly conversed much together;yet, according to the account of the interpreter, each wasabsolutely ignorant of what the other said. They were ofhostile tribes, brought together by the influence of theAmerican government; and it is worthy of remark, that acommon policy led them bo
12、th to adopt the same subject.They mutually exhorted each other to be of use in theevent of the chances of war throwing either of the partiesinto the hands of his enemies. Whatever may be the truth,as respects the root and the genius of the Indian tongues, itis quite certain they are now so distinct
13、in their words asto possess most of the disadvantages of strange languages;hence much of the embarrassment that has arisen inlearning their histories, and most of the uncertainty whichexists in their traditions.Like nations of higher pretensions, the American Indiangives a very different account of
14、his own tribe or race fromthat which is given by other people. He is much addictedThe Last of the Mohicans5 of 698to overestimating his own perfections, and toundervaluing those of his rival or his enemy; a trait whichmay possibly be thought corroborative of the Mosaicaccount of the creation.The whi
15、tes have assisted greatly in rendering thetraditions of the Aborigines more obscure by their ownmanner of corrupting names. Thus, the term used in thetitle of this book has undergone the changes of Mahicanni,Mohicans, and Mohegans; the latter being the wordcommonly used by the whites. When it is rememberedthat the Dutch (who first settled New York), the English,and the French, all gave appellations to the tribes thatdwelt within the country which is the scene of this story,and that the Indians not only gave different names to theirenemies, but frequently to themselves, the cause of th
