The last leaf

Yesterday I read a heart-stirring story written by O Henry. The last leaf is a move story. The hero's selfless and kindness make him great. In a cold autumn, unfortunately a young Pinter suffers from pneumonia. The doctor said if she have no desire to struggle with the disease, she only have ten percent to alive. But if she has strong feelings want to survive the doctor will have five percent chance to make her get well. The weakness girl has lost the courage to survive. Everyday she counts the remaining leaves on the ivy vine through the window of the ward. She said, "When the last one falls I must go, too. I've known that for three days. Didn't the doctor tell you?” Her friend told she dolt idea to their fried an old painter who always got drank and had been always about to paint a masterpiece, but had never yet begun it. The old painter regarded himself as especial mastiff-in-waiting to protect the two young artists in the studio above. Finally the kind Pinter for her alive disposed his life，the old Pinter he paint a l green and yellow colors mixed leaf on the wall at the night that the last leaf fell. It is a storming night, the heavy rain made him contract with pneumonia, because he is old the pneumonia cant be cured. He dead to-day in the hospital.

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Behrman in The Last Leaf

-----from O.Henry 洪剑 201001401103 旅游管理 040

When a dying lady was looking out the ivy vine1 through the window, whose leaves were falling , she desperately thought “if the last falls, I must go”2. The old painter sacrificed his life to paint a green ivy leaf onto the brick wall ,when the real last fell .One died and one lived. No one could deny that piece of ivy leaf saved everything about love，nobility and greatness. The old man was just Behrman in O.Henry’s novel The Last Leaf.

In O.Henry’s eyes, Behrman was a failure in art3but we might say he was a success in humanity. Actually he ever set his mind to accomplish a surprising masterpiece and even prepared to be proud of it; Well , his masterpiece did not appear until the death approached .Otherwise, he lived by being a model for some poor painters like him and drunk all day along. That’s the first impression which Behrman gave us at the middle part of the novel.

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每一个叙事文本，无论主题如何，大体都有一个图式（schema），即文章作者用以构思和构建文本概念意义的、心理语言学意义上的超结构(superstructure)。此外，每个文本同时还拥有一个高级语义化的宏观结构(macrostructure),它统管着具体的话语、语用互动及认知推理的微观结构（microstructure）。

叙述文本图式化的超结构一般包含情节（plot）与德育图式（moral）,其中情节又包含背景（setting）与插曲（episode）,插曲里包含事件（happening）的复杂性（complication）、结果（resolution）与评价（evaluation）。当然，这种构成不是一成不变的。

从认知功能上看，篇章的超结构与隐喻修辞有关。我们总能为叙述文本找到一个图式，一对隐含在文本中的喻体和喻依，我们称之为篇章隐喻修辞(textual metaphor)。篇章隐喻修辞正是依据一定的图式，即某一语言文化中约定熟成的体验。

(一) 篇章隐喻修辞图式化地镶嵌或蕴涵在一定的文本结构当中。

O. Henry的The Last Leaf，讲述的是肺炎使年轻而富有抱负的艺术家Johnsy卧病不起，她不仅放弃了生的希望，而且开始倒数窗外对面楼侧壁上攀延着的常青藤的叶子，以为自己的生命将会随着寒风肆掠常青藤叶而凋零。当晚，住在Johnsy楼下的老艺术家Behrman冒着风雪在长青藤上画了一片常青藤叶。第二天早上当Johnsy看到窗外常青藤上出人意料地留着最后一片叶子，它无畏地挂在离地二十英尺的常青藤枝上，尽管叶边上泛着黄色，靠近枝杆的部位却仍然带着深绿。Johnsy开始感悟到放弃生命是一种＂罪孽＂，并因此有了希望，最终脱离了险情。可是人们却发现，Behrman死了,是他用最后的生命换取了那惊世之作——最后一片常青藤叶。

在这篇叙事文本当中，常青藤喻指“生命”；常青藤叶喻指“生的希望”；最后一片常青藤叶(the last leaf)喻指最后一线“生的希望”；常青藤叶的凋落喻指“生命的凋零”……这一隐喻类推帮助构建出相互衔接的句式和意义连贯的文本。也正是因此，最后Johnsy意识到：“求死是一种罪孽(It is a sin to want to die.)”，而那最后一片常青藤叶却赋予了老艺术家Behrman的生命更深层次的含义，成了Behrman用生命换来的惊世之作（masterpiece），从而使“热爱生命”的主题得到了深华，令O. Henry的The Last Leaf成了不朽的名篇。

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The last leaf

Sue and Johnsy are friends and they live in one studio.

But the Johnsy kept her bed.The doctor thought there were uncertain hope and he couldn’t see any confidence in Johnsy .

At the same time,Johnsy lay on the bed ,looking through the small window and counted “10、9”and “8、7??” She said feebly when the last leaf fell she must go.”

Sue heard that and felt sad.She went to invite old Behrman, who was a painter with no achievement. And he always talked of his coming masterpiece.

Behrman heard the story of Johnsy from Sue.

After the beating rain and fierce wind that had endured through the night, there was still one leaf .And another terrible night ,it was sill here .Johnsy lay for a long time looking at it.Then she saw the life’s energy and wanted to live .

With the help of doctor and Sue,Johnsy was out of danger.But the bad news was that the old Behrman died of pneumonia.And they knew the secret that the last leaf was just a painting ,drew by Behramn in that terrible night.

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The Last Leaf

The author:

O. Henry is one of America's most famous short story writer, was once the critics praised as Manhattan crown prose writer and the father of modern American short stories.

欧·亨利（O,Henry,1862-1910）是美国最著名的短篇小说家，曾被评论界誉为曼哈顿桂冠散文作家和美国现代短篇小说之父。

background :

Behrman, johnsy and Sue are Washington Greenwich village impoverished painter, is a typical social underclass.

贝尔曼、琼珊和苏艾都是华盛顿格林威治村穷困潦倒的画家，是典型的社会下层人物。

The mian charcter:

Behrman: a failure of the artist, decades without a pair of outstanding works.Surface is a fierce temper little old man, extreme look down on other people's warmth, love sarcasm the kindness of others.Actually protects two female painter upstairs, as a model for other young painters, has a kind heart. 贝尔曼：一个失败的艺术家，几十年未出一副杰出的作品。表面是个凶狠暴躁的小老头，极端瞧不起别人的温情，爱挖苦别人的好心。实际上保护着楼上的两位女画家，也为其他年轻画家们当模特，心地善良。

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The Last Leaf

Sue

Johnsy

Doctor

Old Behrman

Scene Ⅰ

Aside:

In a little district west of Washington Square the streets have run crazy and broken themselves into small strips called "places." These "places" make strange angles and curves.

One day,an artist once discovered a valuable possibility in this street. So, to quaint old Greenwich Village the art people soon came prowling. ( Sue and Johnsy meet at the restaurant of an Eighth Street...)

S: Hey,I find our tastes in art, food and clothes so congenial.Maybe we can have a joint studio.

J: Oh,that’s great.We’d better look for a studio with north windows, Dutch attics and low rents.

S: It couldn’t be better.Then we can import some pewter mugs and a chafing dish or two from Sixth Avenue.

J: It sounds exciting.Let’s take action right away.

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The last leaf (最后一片叶子)剧本

Scene 1

It was the deep autumn of New York. The life there was not as bustling and noisy as it used to be. In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the colony, touching one here and there with his icy fingers. In a cabin located in the western part of Washington square, a mite of a little woman with blood thinned by California zephyrs became another victim of him. Unfortunately, it was Johnsy. And she lay, scarcely moving, on her painted iron bedstead, looking through the small Dutch window-panes at the blank side of the next brick house.

One morning the busy doctor invited Sue into the hallway with a shaggy, grey eyebrow.

D:"She has one chance in - let us say, ten," (边说边甩着体温表)" And that chance is for her to want to live. But it seems your little lady has made up her mind that she's not going to get well. Has she anything on her mind?" S:"She - she wanted to paint the Bay of Naples some day."

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