呈现于读者面前的这套《美国语文读本》,亦名《麦加菲读本》,其编者威廉·H·麦加菲曾先后任美国迈阿密大学语言学教授和俄亥俄大学校长。
《美国语文读本》从19世纪中期至20世纪中叶,一直被广泛用作美国学校的语文教材,据称有10000多所美国学校拿它当作教材。美国著名汽车制造商亨利·福特称赞这套书是他儿童时代最有兴趣的读物,后来他自费大量印刷这套书,分发给很多学校。到了21世纪,西方一些私立学校(Private School)和家庭学校(Homeschool(仍用它作为教材,足见这套书的价值与影响力。
这套读本的英文原版共分七级,包括启蒙读本和第1-6级。本书为《美国语文读本》第3册。书中均是比较正式的课文,每一课包括词汇和课文,对一些生词有英文解释,让学生学会通过简单英文理解生词,养成用英语理解和思维的习惯。从所选课文的英文难易程度来看,该册跟国内小学毕业程度相近。本书对国内中小学生真正感受英语这一西方语言的魄力是大有帮助的。
This series of schoolbooks teaching reading and moral precepts, originally prepared by William Holmes who was a professor at Miami University McGuffey, had a profound influence on public education in the United States. The eclectic readers, meaning that the selections were chosen from a number of sources, were considered remarkably literary works and probably exerted a greater influence upon literary tastes in the United States more than any other book, excluding the Bible.
It is estimated that at least 120 million copies of McGuffey's Readers were sold between 1836 and 1960, placing its sales in a category with the Bible and Webster's Dictionary. Since 1961 they have continued to sell at a rate of some 30,000 copies a year. No other textbook bearing a single person's name has come close to that mark. McGuffey's Readers are still in use today in some school systems, and by parents for home schooling purposes.
The third reader was much more formal. It contained rules for oral reading of its fifty-seven lessons. This book contained only three pictures and was designed for a more mature mind, of junior high standing today.
LESSON 1 THE SHEPHERD BOY
LESSON 2 JOHNNY’S FIRST SNOWSTORM
LESSON 3 LET IT RAIN
LESSON 4 CASTLE-BUILDING
LESSON 5 CASTLE-BUILDING (CONCLUDED)
LESSON 6 LEND A HAND
LESSON 7 THE TRUANT
LESSON 8 THE WHITE KITTEN
LESSON 9 THE BEAVER
LESSON 10 THE YOUNG TEACHER
LESSON 11 THE BLACKSMITH 24
LESSON 12 A WALK IN THE GARDEN
LESSON 13 THE WOLF
LESSON 14 THE LITTLE BIRD’S SONG
LESSON 15 HARRY AND ANNIE
LESSON 16 BIRD FRIENDS
LESSON 17 WHAT THE MINUTES SAY
LESSON 18 THE WIDOW AND THE
LESSON 19 THE BIRDS SET FREE
LESSON 20 A MOMENT TOO LATE
LESSON 21 HUMMING BIRDS
LESSON 22 THE WIND AND THE SUN
LESSON 23 SUNSET
LESSON 24 BEAUTIFUL HANDS
LESSON 25 THINGS TO REMEMBER
LESSON 26 THREE LITTLE MICE
LESSON 27 THE NEW YEAR
LESSON 28 THE CLOCK AND THE SUNDIAL
LESSON 29 REMEMBER
LESSON 30 COURAGE AND COWARDICE
LESSON 31 WEIGHING AN ELEPHANT
LESSON 32 THE SOLDIER
LESSON 33 THE ECHO
LESSON 34 GEORGE’S FEAST
LESSON 35 THE LORD’S PRAYER
LESSON 36 FINDING THE OWNER
LESSON 37 BATS
LESSON 38 A SUMMER DAY
LESSON 39 I WILL THINK OF IT
LESSON 40 CHARLIE AND ROB
LESSON 41 RAY AND HIS KITE
LESSON 42 BEWARE OF THE FIRST DRINK
LESSON 43 SPEAK GENTLY
LESSON 44 THE SEVEN STICKS
LESSON 45 THE MOUNTAIN SISTER
LESSON 46 HARRY AND THE GUIDEPOST
LESSON 47 THE MONEY AMY DID N’T EARN
LESSON 48 WHO MADE THE STARS?
LESSON 49 DEEDS OF KINDNESS
LESSON 50 THE ALARM CLOCK
LESSON 51 SPRING
LESSON 52 TRUE COURAGE
LESSON 53 THE OLD CLOCK
LESSON 54 THE WAVES
LESSON 55 DON’T KILL THE BIRDS
LESSON 56 WHEN TO SAY NO
LESSON 57 WHICH LOVED BEST?
LESSON 58 JOHN CARPENTER
LESSON 59 PERSEVERE
LESSON 60 THE CONTENTED BOY
LESSON 61 LITTLE GUSTAVA
LESSON 62 THE INSOLENT BOY
LESSON 63 WE ARE SEVEN
LESSON 64 MARY’S DIME
LESSON 65 MARY DOW
LESSON 66 THE LITTLE LOAF
LESSON 67 SUSIE AND ROVER
LESSON 68 THE VIOLET
LESSON 69 NO CROWN FOR ME
LESSON 70 YOUNG SOLDIERS
LESSON 71 HOW WILLIE GOT OUT OF THE SHAFT
LESSON 72 THE PERT CHICKEN
LESSON 73 INDIAN CORN
LESSON 74 THE SNOWBIRD’S SONG
LESSON 75 MOUNTAINS
LESSON 76 A CHILD’S HYMN
LESSON 77 HOLDING THE FORT
LESSON 78 THE LITTLE PEOPLE
LESSON 79 GOOD NIGHT