Some of the greatest success stories of history have followed a word of encouragement or an act of confidence by a loved one or a trusting friend. Had it not been for a confident wife, Sophia, we might not have listed among the great names of literature the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne. When Nathaniel, a heartbroken man, went home to tell his wife that he was a failure and had been fired from his job in a customhouse, she surprised him with an exclamation of joy."Now," she said triumphantly, "you can write your book!""Yes," replied the man, with sagging confidence, "and what shall we live on while I am writing it?"To his amazement, she opened a drawer and pulled out a substantial amount of money."Where on earth did you get that?" he exclaimed."I have always know you were a man of genius," she told him. "I knew that someday you would write a masterpiece. So every week, out of the money you gave me for housekeeping, I saved a little bit. So here is enough to last us for one whole year."From her trust and confidence came one of the greatest novels of American literature, The Scarlet Letter. --Nido QubeinKey Points Learning: 's the meaning of "to his amazement"? se translate the sentence " Had it not been for a confident wife, Sophia, we might not have listed among the great names of literature the name of Nathaniel Hawthorne. "Noteheartbroken：悲傷的 customhouse：海關，custom也可指海關 exclamation：驚呼 triumphantly：成功地，炫耀地 masterpiece：名著，傑作 Background of Nathaniel Hawthorne: 納撒尼爾·霍桑(1804—1864）是美國19世紀影響最大的浪漫主義小說家和心理小說家。 長篇小說《紅字》是他的代表作。霍桑1804年生於新英格蘭的一個破落貴族家庭。全家篤信基督教清教。 父親去世後，他隨母親遷至薩萊姆外公家，薩萊姆濃厚的宗教氣氛和激烈的宗教派別鬥爭以及霍桑一家的宗教傳統都對霍桑的思想和後來的創作產生了極大的影響。他從小愛好文藝，大學畢業後曾在海關任職，後受法國空想社會主義影響辭職，在布魯克農場制訂實施空想社會主義計劃。霍桑對當時美國社會道德論喪和資產階級的僞善不滿，但是他又不想從根本上改變不合理的社會制度，只謀求社會道德的改進，宣揚上帝，主張道德的自我完善。 1850年《紅字》發表後，霍桑在美國文學史上的地位從此確定。 1851、1852年又分別出版了“兩部羅曼史”，即《帶有七個尖角閣的房子》和《福谷傳奇》，前者以宗教迫害案爲起點，描寫了一個關於美國資產階級家庭的故事，表現了罪惡代代相襲的悲觀主義的思想；後者描寫了一羣內心苦悶的上層知識分子，離開城市到農村去組織村社，終因一事無成，失望離去的故事。同時還出版了幾部兒童文學作品， 1860年又寫了一部以意大利爲背景的《玉石雕像》，1864年霍桑去世。
