首页
登录
职称英语
Leacock was probably the first Canadian to qualify as a "pro-American Briti
Leacock was probably the first Canadian to qualify as a "pro-American Briti
游客
2023-12-18
54
管理
问题
Leacock was probably the first Canadian to qualify as a "pro-American British imperialist." A colleague, Prof. John Culliton, said of him, "Long before Winston Churchill, Leacock was saving the Empire every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 3 p.m. in Room 20." He was also ahead of his time in prodding Americans anti BriTons toward greater friendship and understanding.
His feeling for both sides of the Atlantic came naturally. He was born on the Isle of Wight in 1869, and emigrated to Canada as a six-year-01d. On his retirement from McGill, influential English friends urged him to return to live in the land of his birth. He refused, saying, "I’ d hate to be so far away from the United States. It’s second nature, part of Our lives, to be near them. Every Sunday morning we read the New York funny papers. All week we hear about politics in Alabama and Louisiana, and whether they caught the bandits who stole the vault of the National Bank — well, you know American news. There’s no other like it."
In the eight years of his retirement, Stephen produced the work he believed most likely to endure. It was far removed from the kind of wit which had made him famous. He described his history, Montreal: Seaport and City, as "the best job I’ve done." Unlike most historical works it bubbles with the author’ s laughter. In his foreword, after thanking two former colleagues for checking the manuscript, he added that any errors which remained obviously must be theirs. "Acknowledging these debts," he concluded, "I also feel that I owe a good deal of this book to my own industry and effort."
Midway through World War II, I asked Stephen if he would write a foreword for a book I had written on the Canadian navy and its gallant role in convoy escort. He agreed. Some time later he handed me more than 20,000 words, in which he had told the whole fascinating background story of Canada’s lifelong relationship to the sea. His research was staggering to a reporter who had simply described events and engagements to which he had been an eyewitness.
"I got interested in the subject," he explained. "If you don’t like it, throw it away and I’ll write something shorter."
Not a word was changed. To my joy, the book appeared under our joint by-lines. Soon after, throat cancer took Stephen from the thousands of Old McGillers who loved him.
Leacock loved human beings for their little vanities and pretensions — and laughed at his own. The fictional town of Mariposa of his famous "Sunshine Sketches" is obviously Orillia,
Ontario, where Leacock built a summer home and developed a farm, which, he said, "used to lose a few dollars a year, but by dint of hard work and modernization, I have contrived to’ turn that into a loss of thousands." The citizens of Orillia had tittle difficulty in self-identification when the book reached town, but they soon realized that Leacock had ribbed his own idiosyncrasies more sharply than he had pinpointed theirs. Today’s Orillians speak of him with the awe giyen to any community’s adopted son, though it was he who adopted Mariposa-OriUia.
Stephen Leacock was so honestly simple that to many men he seemed to be a mass of complexities. To the world he remains the man of laughter. His greatest achievement, however, was that he taught thousands of young men and women to want to know. By example he proved one simple fact to all of us who attended his classes, certainly to that numerous crew who came to enjoy his friendship — that the right ofoutspoken dissent is the free man’s most precious heritage. Such men do not often pass this way. [br] The book on the fictional town of Mariposa presumably______.
选项
A、related to the success of Leacock’s farm
B、jokedabout the peculiarities of the people in Orillia
C、exemplified the industry and effort of the author
D、was the work most likely to endure
答案
B
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://tihaiku.com/zcyy/3284422.html
相关试题推荐
WhyImmersionTeachingWorksAsaCanadianimmersion
WhyImmersionTeachingWorksAsaCanadianimmersion
WhyImmersionTeachingWorksAsaCanadianimmersion
Thetraditionalimageofcavedwellersisprobablyape-likecreaturescladin
ThefirsttimeIsawStephenLeacockatclosequartershecameswinginginto
ThefirsttimeIsawStephenLeacockatclosequartershecameswinginginto
Leacockwasprobably’thefirstCanadiantoqualifyasa"pro-AmericanBritis
Leacockwasprobably’thefirstCanadiantoqualifyasa"pro-AmericanBritis
ThefirsttimeIsawStephenLeacockatclosequartershecameswinginginto
ThefirsttimeIsawStephenLeacockatclosequartershecameswinginginto
随机试题
Thedoctor______whathethought;shewaspregnant.A、approvedB、assuredC、held
(1)Consideringitisabusinessthathasprovokedwarsincenturiespast,sc
Heanswersquestionsabouthowtokeep______meatsfrombecomingtoughwhenbra
主动脉瓣关闭不全时脉冲多普勒的表现特点是什么?
路基构造物损坏包括挡墙等圬工体断裂、沉陷、倾斜、局部坍塌、松动和较大面积勾缝脱落
关于大体积混凝土施工的措施,正确的有()。A、掺入一定量的缓凝减水剂 B、掺入
2015年2季度,J省消费者信心指数(CCI)为101.1,环比、同比分别下降4
根据《公民道德建设实施纲要》,从业人员应该遵循的职业道德“五项要求”是( )A
评标委员会成员对同一投标人的商务、技术、服务及其他评价内容的分项评分结果出现差距
下列关于研究的准确度说法不正确的是A.研究的有效性和精确性可以反映研究的准确度
最新回复
(
0
)