名人轶事:Louisa May Alcott（在线收听）

VOICE ONE:

I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Shirley Griffith with the VOA Special English program, People in

America. Every week we tell about a person important in the history of the

United States. Today we tell about Louisa May Alcott. She wrote one of

America's best loved children's books.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

In eighteen sixty-eight, an American publisher asked a struggling young

writer to write a book for girls. At first, the writer, Louisa May Alcott,

was not sure she wanted to do it. She said she never liked girls. And she

never knew many, except her sisters. She thought her family's activities and

experiences might be interesting to others. But, she said, probably not.

VOICE TWO:

Alcott decided to write the book anyway. She told about her experiences

growing up in the northeastern United States during the middle of the

nineteenth century. Her book proved to be more than interesting. “Little

Women” became one of the most popular children's books in American

literature. It has been published in more than fifty languages.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Louisa May Alcott was born in Pennsylvania in eighteen thirty-two. She was

the second of four daughters. She had one older sister, Anna. And two younger

sisters, Elizabeth, called Beth, and May. Her parents were Bronson and

Abigail Alcott. Her father was an educator and social reformer.

The Alcotts later settled in concord, Massachusetts. Several great American

writers were friends of the family. They included Ralph Waldo Emerson,

Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau. Mister Alcott provided the

girls' education. He taught them many subjects. He also made them write about

their personal thoughts and experiences.

VOICE TWO:

The Alcotts did not have much money. Louisa worked to help support her

family. She tried teaching, sewing, and taking care of children. She did not

like any of these Jobs.

Louisa thought of herself as a writer. At the age of sixteen, she wrote her

first book. It was called “Flower Fables.” She decided to sell what she

wrote. She wrote many kinds of poems, stories, and plays. Her stories were

exciting, but unrealistic. She sold them to newspapers and magazines for

small amounts of money.

VOICE ONE:

In eighteen sixty-two, during the American Civil War, Louisa May Alcott went

to Washington, D.C. She served as a nurse in a military hospital. She cared

for sick and wounded soldiers. She wrote letters to her family about her

experiences. She included these letters in a book that was published the next

year. Critics praised it but it did not bring her much money. And, working in

the hospital damaged her health.

VOICE TWO:

In eighteen sixty-five she visited Europe as a helper to an older woman.

Alcott hoped to re-gain her health. She spent a long time away from her

family. Her health did not improve. But she thought about her writing. When

she returned, she agreed to her publisher's request that she write a book for

girls based on the life she knew.

“Little Women” was published in eighteen sixty-eight. The book was

immediately popular with people of all ages. It brought Alcott fame and a lot

of money. She continued writing other popular books for young people. These

included “An Old-Fashioned Girl,” “Little Men, and “Eight Cousins.”
VOICE ONE:

Louisa May Alcott wrote books for adults, as well as children. She published

these under another name -- A. M. Barnard. These books were published before

“Little Women” made her famous. They were very different from her

children's stories. They were about love, power, and unhappiness. They have

been published again in the United States.

One book is called “Behind a Mask: The Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May

Alcott.” The book includes four mystery stories. Another is called “The

Lost Stories of Louisa May Alcott.” These stories are about love, betrayal,

and illegal drugs.

VOICE TWO:

Alcott wrote a story called “A Long Fatal Love Chase.” It is about an

independent young woman. She marries an older man who already has a wife. She

flees from him. He follows her throughout Europe. The book tells of insanity,

violence, and death. Louisa May Alcott tried to get the book published in

eighteen sixty-six. The publisher rejected it. He said it was too shocking. #p#副标题#e#

A man who collected Alcott materials found the unpublished story in a

bookstore in New York City. He bought it for about fifty thousand dollars a

few years ago. He reportedly sold it to a maJor American publisher for about

one million dollars.

VOICE ONE:

Louisa May Alcott wrote many exciting stories about love. Yet she never

married. She continued to support her family during the last years of her

life. In fact, she cared for the young daughter of her sister, May, who died

in eighteen seventy-nine.

Alcott was involved in the movements to end slavery and to gain voting rights

for women. She wrote that "I . . . take more pride in the very small help we

Alcotts could give than in all the books I ever wrote. " Louisa May Alcott

died in eighteen eighty-eight.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Louisa May Alcott's most famous book, “Little Women”, tells the story of

the March family of Concord, Massachusetts. The story begins during the

American Civil War in the eighteen sixties. Mister March is away from home.

He is with the troops of the Union Army. He is a religious worker. Missus

March is raising her four daughters by herself.

The March family is very close. They do many things together. They do not

have much money. They suffer shortages caused by the war. Yet they share what

they have with people who are in need.

VOICE ONE:

The four daughters are Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy. They are strong, brave, and

loving. Jo is the most important person in the book. She is smart. She has a

good imagination. She writes stories. And she creates plays that the sisters

perform together.

Jo also is independent. She chooses a non-traditional life. She goes to New

York to become a writer. There she meets an older man, a professor. She

returns home to care for her parents. She writes stories that become very

popular. Later, Jo marries the professor. Together, they establish a school.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

The March family in “Little Women” is very much like Louisa May Alcott's

family. Her sisters are like the sisters in the book. And the leading person,

Jo, is like Louisa. Jo must work to support her family, just as Louisa had to

do. One of Jo's Jobs is to help a family member, an old woman called Aunt

March. Jo does not really like Aunt March. But she loves the old woman's

house, especially the large library with hundreds of books. This is how

Alcott writes about this place:

VOICE ONE:

"The dim, dusty room. . . the cozy chairs, the globes, and, best of all, the

wilderness of books in which she could wander where she liked, made the

library a region of bliss to her. The moment Aunt March took her nap, or was

busy with company, Jo hurried to this quiet space, and, curling herself up in

the easy chair, devoured poetry, romance, history, travels, and pictures,

like a regular bookworm. "

All of these wonderful books put great ideas into Jo's head. Jo wanted to do

something very wonderful, Alcott writes: "What it was she had no idea as yet,

but left it for time to tell her. "

VOICE TWO:

Jo's beloved sister Beth dies young, as Alcott's own sister Beth did. Jo is

very unhappy. Her mother tells her to write because that always made her

happy. Jo writes a story "that went straight to the hearts of those who read

it. " Jo cannot understand how her simple little story became so popular.

Her father explains, "There is truth in it, Jo, that's the secret; . . . You

have found your style at last. You wrote with no thought of fame or money,

and put your heart into it. . . ; You have had the bitter, now comes the

sweet. "

VOICE ONE:

Louisa May Alcott's book, “Little Women”, is still extremely popular. Women

who read the book when they were young often give it to their daughters. Some

famous American women even claim they decided to become writers after reading

how Jo March became a writer in “Little Women”.

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

This Special English program was written by Shelley Gollust. It was produced

by Paul Thompson. I'm Shirley Griffith.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for another People in America

program on the Voice of America.
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