6 Chapter 5 The Gilded Age

Chapter 5 The Gilded Age "My works are like water. The works of the great masters are like wine. But everybody drinks water." —Mark Twain "We are two as happy people as you ever saw," Livy wrote soon after the wedding. The newlyweds moved to Buffalo, New York, where Mark was now part owner—thanks to a loan from Livy's father—of the Buffalo Express. Mr. Langdon's wedding gift was a fully furnished house, plus a cook, maid, and coachman. Mark, or "Youth," as Livy called him, was in heaven. In a letter to the Langdons, Mark described himself as "Little Sammy in Fairyland."

“我的作品就像水。 大师的作品犹如美酒。 但是每个人都喝水。” “我们是你所见过的最幸福的两个人，”李维在婚礼后不久写道。 这对新婚夫妇搬到了纽约的布法罗，马克现在是布法罗快递的部分所有者——多亏了从丽芙父亲那里借来的钱。 兰登先生的结婚礼物是一幢家具齐全的房子，外加厨师、女仆和马车夫。 马克，或者李维所说的“青年”，在天堂里。 在给兰登夫妇的一封信中，马克形容自己是“仙境里的小萨米”。

Mark was now also the bestselling author of The Innocents Abroad. Mark had worried that critics would pay no attention to his book. But a reviewer from the respected Atlantic Monthly praised the book and said Mark Twain was not just a humorist but a writer "quite worthy of the company of the best." That pleased both Mark and Livy, who was Mark Twain's editor to the end of her days.

马克当时也是畅销书《无辜者在国外》的作者。 马克担心评论家们不会关注他的书。 但是《大西洋月刊》的一位评论家对这本书大加赞赏，称马克·吐温不仅是一位幽默家，而且是一位“值得与最优秀的作家为伍”的作家。 这让马克和李维都很高兴，李维一直是马克·吐温的编辑，直到生命的尽头。

Hoping to repeat the success of The Innocents Abroad, Mark began Roughing It, a book about his time in the West. But it was hard to concentrate on his writing. Livy's father died in August. Then, in November, Livy had her first child, a sickly boy named Langdon. Soon after giving birth, Livy developed typhoid fever. Mark became a frantic, around-the-clock nurse for both his wife and infant son.

为了复制《无辜者在国外》的成功，马克开始写《艰难生活》，这本书讲述了他在西方的经历。 但他很难集中精力写作。 李薇的父亲在八月去世了。 11月，莉薇生下了她的第一个孩子，一个体弱多病的男孩，名叫兰登。 生完孩子后不久，丽芙得了伤寒。 马克成了一名疯狂的护士，全天候为他的妻子和尚在襁褓中的儿子服务。

Once Livy was better, Mark moved his family to Hartford, Connecticut, for a fresh start. Six months later, a second child, Susy, was born. Susy was healthy and strong. But frail Langdon was still unwell. Ten weeks later, Langdon died of diphtheria.

李维好转后，马克举家搬到了康涅狄格州的哈特福德，开始新的生活。 六个月后，第二个孩子苏西出生了。 苏西很健康，很强壮。 但虚弱的兰登仍然不舒服。 十个星期后，兰登死于白喉。

Mark and Livy were heartbroken. "It seems as if I could not do without [Langdon]," Livy wrote. Throughout his life, Mark Twain believed that "the secret source of humor itself is not joy, but sorrow." And, indeed, his life was marked by much sorrow and tragedy. But not everything Mark wrote was humorous. In 1873, Mark and his friend Charles Warner wrote a novel called The Gilded Age. "Gilded" means covered with a thin layer of gold. The book was about a new class of Americans: the superrich.

马克和李维伤心欲绝。 利维写道:“我似乎离不开兰登。” 终其一生，马克·吐温相信“幽默的秘密来源不是快乐，而是悲伤。” 的确，他的一生充满了悲伤和悲剧。 但并不是马克写的所有东西都是幽默的。 1873年，马克和他的朋友查尔斯·华纳写了一本名为《镀金时代》的小说。 镀金的意思是覆盖了一层薄薄的黄金。 这本书是关于一个新的美国阶层:超级富豪。

Since the Civil War, America's economy was growing more and more powerful. It was no longer based on farming. It was now based on industry: coal mining, oil refining, iron and steel manufacturing, and railroad-building. These big businesses were owned by a few wealthy men who became known as "robber barons." Swindling, lies, bribery, and get-rich-quick schemes were the order of the day. Even government officials were involved. While most workers, many of them newly arrived immigrants, lived in crowded city tenements and barely made a

自南北战争以来，美国的经济变得越来越强大。 它不再以农业为基础。 它现在以工业为基础:煤矿开采、炼油、钢铁制造和铁路建设。 这些大企业由少数富人拥有，他们后来被称为“强盗大亨”。 诈骗、谎言、贿赂和快速致富的计划是当时的主流。 甚至政府官员也参与其中。 而大多数工人，其中许多是新移民，住在拥挤的城市公寓里，几乎赚不到钱