Notes

1．Norman Kingsley Mailer (1923—2007)was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director．Mailer is considered an innovator of narrative nonfiction, a genre sometimes called New Journalism.

2．Robert Frost(1874—1963)was an American poet honored frequently during his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes．Frost is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of the rural life and his command of American colloquial speech．He wrote many popular and oft-quoted poems including“After Apple-Picking”, “The Road Not Taken”, “Mending Wall”, etc.

For Fun

Books to Read

Benjamin Franklin:Autobiography

Benjamin Franklin was not only one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, but also a leading writer, publisher, inventor, diplomat, scientist, and philosopher.

Ralph Waldo Emerson:Self-Reliance

A classic essay on the American value of self-reliance and Emerson's philosophy of moral idealism.

Movies to See

Pursuitof Happiness

It is based on a true story of famous self-made millionaire Chris Gardner.

TheJoy Luck Club

The life histories of four Chinese women and their relationships with their daughters who were born in the United States.

Poems to Read

Can you detect any particular aspect in American character from the following poem? If you will, please underline the lines that impress you the most and explain why.

The Road Not Taken (1915)

By Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood，

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair，

And having perhaps the better claim，

Because it was grassy and wanted wear；

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way，

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by，

And that has made all the difference.