Famous Left—Handed Authors著名的左撇子作家

Popular thought has it that left-handers are somehow more artistic and creative than right-handers， and that they are better at tasks involving geometry1） or spatial2） analysis. This is because they are supposedly right-brain dominant， and the right brain is the hemisphere that controls certain types of creative thinking. Unfortunately， people don't really use their brains that way， and a left-hander is just as likely to be a manual3） laborer or great writer as the rest of the population. The following authors， who are all left-handers， have made an indelible4） mark on the literary landscape.

人們普遍認為：不知道什么原因，左撇子比慣用右手的人更富有藝術才華和創造力，而且更善于做與幾何學或者空間分析相關的事情。這是因為，人們一般認為左撇子的右腦更發達，而右腦是控制特定類型創造性思維的腦半球。令人遺憾的是，人們并不真那樣利用自己的大腦——左撇子既有可能成為一名體力勞動者，也有可能成為一名大作家，和慣用右手的人差不多。以下幾位作家都是左撇子，他們業已在人類文學卷軸上留下了不可磨滅的印記。

Hans Christian Anderson

（1805～1875）

He was a Danish author of plays， essays， and poems， but best known for more than 100 fairy tales that he published from 1835 onwards. Anderson was born to a very poor family， and entertained himself as a child by making up stories and songs and crafting his own toys. Many of his tales contain thinly veiled autobiographical details. His wonderful stories， which include The Little Mermaid， The Emperor's New Clothes， The Ugly Duckling， and The Little Match Girl were immensely5） popular in his own lifetime and are likely to always be so.

Lewis Carroll （1832～1898）

Born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson in Cheshire， England， he was the eldest son of a clergyman. Although he excelled at mathematics as a child， he found an outlet6） for his imagination in telling stories to his ten siblings. Charles was always fond of children， whom he found he could talk to without his customary7） stammer8）， and he was famously inspired to write Alice's Adventures in Wonderland through his close friendship with young Alice Liddell. In 1871 he created a popular sequel， Through the Looking Glass， while continuing to lecture in mathematics.

H. G. Wells （1866～1946）

English novelist， essayist and historian， Wells is regarded as one of the fathers of science-fiction. His great and prophetic9） works include The Time Machine， The Island of Doctor Moreau， and The War of the Worlds. Wells also wrote several books on contemporary political issues and on history， including A Short History of the World.

Mark Twain （1835～1910）

The author of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn was born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in a small town on the banks of the Mississippi River. Twain was an outspoken critic of slavery， and many of his essays and books are cut through with sardonic10） comments on the subject. Although there is some debate on the matter， it is widely believed that Twain was the first writer to submit type-written manuscripts.

Franz Kafka （1883～1924）

Kafka was a Czech born Jewish writer of enigmatic11） novels such as The Trial （published posthumously in 1925）， The Castle， and The Metamorphosis. Although Czech was his native language， Kafka soon mastered the more elitist12） German tongue and wrote all of his fiction in German. The term \"Kafkaesque\" has come to refer to anything marked with a surreal sense of disorder or danger.

漢斯·克里斯蒂安·安徒生

（1805～1875）

安徒生是丹麥劇作家、散文家和詩人，不過，他最為知名的還是其自1835年以來發表的一百多篇童話故事。安徒生出生于一個非常貧寒的家庭，小時候，他就用自編故事、自創歌曲和自制玩具的方式來自娛自樂。他的許多童話作品當中都包含了許多幾乎未加掩飾的自傳性細節。他創作的精彩童話故事包括《小美人魚》（譯注：又譯作《海的女兒》）、《皇帝的新裝》《丑小鴨》和《賣火柴的小女孩》等，這些故事在安徒生所處的時代就非常受歡迎，而且現在也很可能一直這樣被大家喜愛下去。

劉易斯·卡羅爾（1832～1898）

劉易斯·卡羅爾原名查爾斯·勒特威奇·道奇森，出生于英國英格蘭柴郡。他的父親是一名牧師，他是家中的長子。雖然劉易斯小時候數學學得很棒，但他卻用給自己的十個兄弟姐妹講故事的方式來釋放想象力。查爾斯一直都非常喜歡孩子，他發現自己跟他們講話時不會出現習慣性的口吃。眾所周知，正是他與小愛麗絲·利德爾之間的親密友誼給了他創作《愛麗絲夢游仙境》的靈感。1871年，他又創作了該書的續篇《愛麗絲鏡中奇遇》，也深受讀者喜愛；與此同時，他還繼續在大學里教數學。

H. G. 威爾斯（1866～1946）

威爾斯是英國小說家、散文家和歷史學家，被看做是科幻小說的創始人之一。他出色而富有預言性的作品包括《時間機器》《莫洛博士島》和《星際戰爭》。此外，威爾斯還寫過一些有關當代政治問題和歷史的書，包括《世界史綱》。

馬克·吐溫（1835～1910）

馬克·吐溫原名薩繆爾·蘭霍恩·克萊門斯，出生于密西西比河岸邊的一個小鎮上，著有《湯姆索亞歷險記》和《哈克貝利·費恩歷險記》。吐溫是一位對奴隸制直言不諱的批評家，他在許多散文和書中都曾就這個話題發表過嘲諷的評論。雖然仍然存在一些爭議，但人們普遍認為吐溫是第一位用打字機寫書稿的作家。

弗朗茨·卡夫卡（1883～1924）

卡夫卡是出生于捷克的猶太作家，他創作的小說令人費解，如《審判》（1925年發表時卡夫卡已離世）、《城堡》和《變形記》。雖然卡夫卡的母語是捷克語，但他卻很快掌握了更為“高級的”德語，并用德語創作了自己的所有小說?！翱ǚ蚩ㄊ降摹币辉~被用來指任何帶有超現實感的無序或危險特征的事物。

1.geometry [d?i???m?tri] n. 幾何學

2.spatial [?spe??（?）l] adj. 空間的，與空間有關的

3.manual [?m?nj??l] adj. 體力的

4.indelible [?n?del?b（?）l] adj. 難以去除的；擦不掉的

5.immensely [??mensli] adv. 廣大地，巨大地

6.outlet [?a?t?let] n. （思想等的）表達途徑

7.customary [?k?st?m?ri] adj. 通常的；習慣性的

8.stammer [?st?m?（r）] n. 口吃，結巴

9.prophetic [pr??fet?k] adj. 預言的；預示的

10.sardonic [sɑ?（r）?d?n?k] adj. 譏誚的；冷嘲熱諷的；鄙夷的

11.enigmatic [?en?ɡ?m?t?k] adj. 謎一般的；難以理解的

12.elitist [??li?t?st] adj. 上等的，高級的