《麦田里的守望者》简介

江西南康中学 廖宝翔

《麦田里的守望者》的作者是杰罗姆·大卫·塞林格，他1919年生于美国纽约城，小说出版于1951年。本书以主人公霍尔顿自叙的语气讲述他被学校开除后在纽约城游荡将近两昼夜的经历和感受。 它不仅生动、细致地描绘了一个不安于现状的中产阶级子弟的苦闷、彷徨、孤独、愤世的精神世界，一个青春期少年矛盾百出的心理特征，也批判了成人社会的虚伪和做作。 经过60多年时间的考验，它不愧为美国当代文学中的“现代经典小说”之一。

这部长篇小说虽然只有十几万字，却对美国社会和文学界产生了很大的影响。 1951年，这部小说一问世，立即引起轰动。 主人公的经历和思想引起青少年的强烈共鸣，深受读者喜爱。

本文为小说《麦田里的守望者》的故事梗概。 请思考：小说有哪些主要人物？ 他们与主人公的关系是什么？ 小说的主要情节有哪些？ 都发生在哪些地方？ 小说的主人公和主要人物有哪些性格特点？ 小说中在麦田中奔跑的孩子随时可能不慎跌落悬崖象征着什么？ 主人公为什么愿意成为一名麦田里的守望者？

Writing from a rest home where he's recovering from some illness or breakdown, Holden Caulfield says he'll tell the story of what happened to him just before the previous Christmas.

Holden's story begins at Pencey Prep on the day of the big football game. Instead of going to the game, Holden, who has just been expelled for failing four of his five classes, visits Mr Spencer,his history teacher.Mr Spencer lectures Holden about playing by the rules and thinking about his future. Holden pretends to agree with what he hears, but actually thinks Mr Spencer is vain. Back in his dorm room, Robert Ackley,Holden's irritating neighbor, interrupts Holden as he tries to read, and Ward Stradlater, Holden's proud and good-looking roommate heads out for a date with Jane Gallagher, a girl Holden knows and likes. Before he leaves, Stradlater asks Holden to write an English composition for him while he's away. Holden writes about his dead brother Allie's baseball mitt. When Stradlater returns,he says that the essay isn't on topic,and refuses to reveal the details of his date. Holden attacks and insults him. Stradlater punches Holden in the nose.

Holden decides to leave Pencey early. He takes a train to New York and rents a room at the Edmont Hotel. He soon feels lonely and depressed and starts acting strangely. He wears a red hunting cap everywhere he goes, asks cab drivers what happens to the ducks in the central park lagoon during the winter, and wanders around from the Hotel lounge to another bar trying to pick up women whom he claims to hate. Back at his hotel,the elevator man, Maurice, offers him a prostitute for $5. Holden agrees, but is so uncomfortable when she arrives that he says he recently has received a surgery. She demands $10. When he refuses, she returns with Maurice. Maurice punches Holden in the stomach while she takes another five dollars.

The next morning, Holden makes a date with a girl he knows named Sally Hayes. He then wanders around the town, and hears a boy singing a song while coming out of church: “If a body catches a body coming through the rye.” Hoping to find his younger sister, Phoebe, Holden walks all the way to the Museum of Natural History, which he loves for its unchanging exhibits. But he decides not to enter the museum, and takes a cab to meet Sally Hayes instead.

The date does not go well. The play they see annoys Holden, as does the fact that Sally talks to a boy who Holden thinks is vain. After going ice skating, Holden begins to talk about everything he hates, and asks Sally to run away with him to a cabin in New England. She refuses and asks him to stop shouting. He insults her, makes her cry, and leaves. Later that night, Holden walks to Central Park to look at the ducks in the lagoon. There are no ducks; it's freezing, and he imagines he might die, which he knows would make Phoebe miserable. He decides to go home to see her.

Holden secretly goes into his family's apartment, wakes Phoebe, and tells her he's leaving to go live on a ranch in Colorado. Phoebe realizes Holden has been expelled, and asks him what he wants to be in his life. Holden says he'd like to be a catcher in the rye, who rescues children by catching them before they fall off a steep cliff at the edge of a giant rye field. Holden then goes to visit Mr Antolini, his favorite former teacher. Mr Antolini warns Holden that he's headed for a “terrible fall” and tries to convince him to be less rigid and judgmental. Holden listens, but is too tired and falls asleep. He wakes when he feels Mr Antolini's hand stroking his head. He thinks Mr Antolini is doing something unusual and leaves.

Holden decides to say goodbye to Phoebe before heading west. He meets her at the Museum of Art, where she begs him to take her with him. He refuses, and then promises that he won't go either.He takes her to the zoo, where he watches her ride the carousel. Phoebe gives Holden back his red hunting hat, which protects him from the rain that has just started to fall.

Holden's story shifts back to the rest home,where he now wishes he hadn't told so many people his story, because it only makes him miss the people he tells about.

Word Bank

1. mitt /mɪt/ n. （尤指）棒球手套

2. lagoon /lə΄ɡuːn/ n. 濒海湖；环礁湖

3. lounge /laʊndʒ/ n. （旅馆、俱乐部等的）休息室；（机场等的）等候室

4. prostitute /΄prɒstɪtjuːt/ n. 失足女

5. carousel /ˌkærə΄sel/ n. 旋转木马

Critical Reading

Have a discussion with your classmates and try to find out why Holden Caulfield would like to be a catcher in the rye and explore the theme of the novel.

情节简介

《麦田里的守望者》简介

霍尔顿·考尔菲德在一家疗养院疗养，他正从一些疾病或精神分裂中恢复过来。 他正在疗养院里写信，他说他会讲述就在刚刚过去的圣诞节前发生在他身上的故事。

霍尔顿的故事始于潘西中学当天举行的足球比赛。 霍尔顿由于5门学科中的4科考试没合格而被学校开除，他没有去参加比赛而是去拜访了他的历史老师斯宾塞先生。 斯宾塞先生告诉霍尔顿要按照一定的规则来做事情并且要考虑自己的未来。 霍尔顿假装同意斯宾塞先生给他灌输的那些信息，但是实际上霍尔顿内心认为斯宾塞先生太虚伪了。 回到宿舍后，让霍尔顿感到讨厌的舍友罗伯特·阿克利在霍尔顿想要看书的时候打断了他。 霍尔顿的另外一位非常自负、容貌也不错的舍友华德·斯特拉迪雷特出去与简·加拉格尔约会，而霍尔顿也认识简·加拉格尔，也很喜欢她。 斯特拉迪雷特离开之前要求霍尔顿帮他写一篇英文作文。霍尔顿写了一篇关于他去世的弟弟艾利的棒球手套的文章。斯特拉迪雷特回到宿舍后，他说霍尔顿写的文章没有切题，并拒绝向霍尔顿透露他约会的详细情况。 因此霍尔顿揍了斯特拉迪雷特一顿并羞辱了他一番，而斯特拉迪雷特狠狠地一拳打在了霍尔顿的鼻子上。

霍尔顿决定尽早离开潘西中学。他乘火车来到了纽约并在埃德蒙特宾馆租了间屋子住了下来。很快他就感觉孤独和沮丧，而他的行为也开始变得怪异。 他去任何地方都戴着一顶红色的猎帽，并问出租车司机在冬季的时候中央公园湖里的鸭子发生了什么事情。 他还在酒店的大堂和另一个酒吧之间徘徊，试图去结交那些他宣称讨厌的女孩。 当他回到宾馆，宾馆的电梯工人莫里斯说帮他找一个5美元的失足女。 霍尔顿同意了，但是当那个失足女过来后，他感到很不舒服，于是说他最近做过手术。 她向霍尔顿收取10美元，霍尔顿拒绝了她的要求，她于是找到莫里斯并一起返回找到霍尔顿，莫里斯狠狠地揍霍尔顿的腹部直到他将另外5美元给了那个失足女。

第二天早晨，霍尔顿约了一个他认识的叫莎莉·海耶斯的女孩。 然后他在城里游荡，当他从一个教堂出来的时候听到了一个男孩在唱歌：“当我行过麦田，如果一个身体抓住了另外一个身体。”霍尔顿一路走着去自然历史博物馆，希望能找到他的妹妹菲比，他喜欢那个博物馆里面不变的展品。 但是他决定不进入博物馆，而是乘坐一辆出租车去见莎莉·海耶斯。

这个约会并不美好。 他们一起去看的演出惹恼了霍尔顿，因为莎莉和一个霍尔顿认为非常虚伪的男孩谈话。 滑冰后，霍尔顿开始谈论他所讨厌的一切，并要求莎莉和他一起私奔去新英格兰的一个小屋。 莎莉拒绝了他的要求并让他停止大喊大叫。 霍尔顿羞辱了莎莉一番，让莎莉伤心落泪，然后离开了。 那天晚上很晚的时候，霍尔顿走到中央公园去看湖里的鸭子。 但是那里没有鸭子，湖面结冰了，然后他就想象自己会死去，但他知道这会让妹妹菲比非常痛苦。 因此他决定回家找她。

霍尔顿偷偷溜进了他父母的公寓，他叫醒了菲比，告诉她自己将去科罗拉多的大牧场上生活。 菲比这时候才知道霍尔顿被学校开除了，然后问他想要什么样的生活。 霍尔顿说自己要当一名“麦田里的守望者”，在那个巨大麦田边缘的悬崖边守望，只要有小孩跑去悬崖边，他就把小孩抓回来。 而后霍尔顿去拜访了他以前最喜欢的老师安托里尼先生。 安托里尼警告霍尔顿说他正在朝着某个“可怕的、将导致其跌落”的方向走去，并试图说服霍尔顿不要那么死板和挑剔。霍尔顿听着感觉太累了就睡着了。当他醒来的时候，感觉安托里尼的手在抚摸着他的头。 他觉得安托里尼有些反常然后就匆忙离开了。

霍尔顿决定临走之前和菲比告别。 他和菲比在艺术博物馆碰面，菲比请求霍尔顿带上她一起去。霍尔顿拒绝了，然后霍尔顿答应菲比自己也不去了。 他带着菲比去动物园游玩，在那霍尔顿看着菲比玩旋转木马。 这时候天空开始下起了雨，菲比把那顶帮他挡雨的红色的猎帽交还给霍尔顿。

霍尔顿的故事又回到了疗养院，他希望他没有将自己的故事告诉给很多人，因为那样只会让他思念他故事曾经提及过的人。