“现代奇幻文学之父”托尔金

山东 李全忠

英国作家托尔金被誉为“现代奇幻文学之父”。 他的作品享誉世界，《霍比特人》《魔戒》等广为人知，是奇幻文学中的经典。

体裁7 分钟人物介绍★★★建议用时文章词数352难度

1On January 3， 1892， Mabel Tolkien gave birth to her first son， John Ronald Reuel Tolkien， in South Africa. Known thereafter as J.R.R.，he would go on to create a literary universe that would become known throughout the world， making him one of the most famous writers of all time.

2Tolkien's mother， however， did not live to see her son's success—she died when he was only 12. But it was she who laid the foundation for his later career by reading him fairy tales and legends and teaching him Latin， French and German.

3Tolkien stood out as an exceptionally good student. Fascinated by languages and old English myths， he and some classmates at King Edward's School founded their own semi-secret society called the Tea Club Barrovian Society， where they discussed literature and poetry. During this time， Tolkien also began to write. It wasn't long before he was inventing his own language—something he would also apply to his later novels.

4Tolkien first studied the classical languages of Latin and Greek at Exeter College，Oxford， before enthusiastically turning to Welsh.

5Tolkien originally intended The Hobbit to be a bedtime story for his children. He invented the word “hobbits” and imagined them to be small human-like creatures with fur on their feet， who lived in caves. He also gave hobbits some characteristics that he himself possessed: a love of nature， simple cooking and an aversion (厌恶) to travel.

6Many years passed before Tolkien submitted the story to a publisher. When The Hobbit was published in 1937， it captivated (迷住) readers of all ages and quickly gained fame.

7However， it took 15 years until Tolkien published The Lord of the Rings. After all，writing was his hobby， not his profession.

8The fantasy epic The Lord of the Rings was published in the mid-1950s and made the British professor the author of the century. Tolkien has since become a cult (作为偶像崇拜的) figure， with The Lord of the Rings alone selling over 150 million copies to date.

9Although the world-famous author died in 1973， his stories still captivate the world today.

Reading Check

Ⅰ. Choose the best answers according to the text

Ⅱ. Discussion

Have you ever read Tolkien's works? Do you like them? Why?

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Language Study

Ⅰ. Discover useful structures in the text

1. It is...who...，it引导强调句型

But it was she who laid the foundation for his later career by reading him fairy tales and legends and teaching him Latin， French and German. 但正是通过给他读童话故事和传说并教他拉丁语、法语和德语，她为他后来的职业生涯奠定了基础。

2. It isn't long before... 没多久……

It wasn't long before he was inventing his own language—something he would also apply to his later novels. 不久之后，他发明了自己的语言风格——他后来的小说中也使用到了。

Ⅱ. Memorize some text-centered chunks

give birth to 生育；产生；诞生

throughout the world 全世界；举世

lay the foundation 奠定基础

stand out 脱颖而出；突出；引人注目

gain fame 获得声望

after all 毕竟

to date 迄今；到目前为止