英语词汇who reads an american book的起源、历史背景-英语词源词典

“Who reads an American book?” British author Sydney Smith almost set off a full-scale literary war when he asked this famous sardonic rhetorical question in a book review he wrote for the Edinburgh Review in 1820. Smith, however, had been reviewing the Statistical Annals of the United States by Adam Seybert and was on his way toward making an ironic point that has little to do with literature, as the last paragraph of his essay shows: “In the four corners of the globe, who reads an Ameri- can book? or goes to an American play? or looks at an Ameri- can picture or statue? What does the world yet owe to Ameri- can physicians or surgeons? What new substances have their chemists discovered? or what old ones have they analyzed? What new constellations have been discovered by the telescopes of Americans? What have they done in mathematics? Who drinks out of American glasses? or eats from American plates? or wears American coats or gowns? or sleeps in American blankets? Finally, under which of the tyrannical governments of Europe is every sixth man a slave, whom his fellow creatures may buy, and sell, and torture?”

词汇	who reads an american book
词源	“Who reads an American book?” British author Sydney Smith almost set off a full-scale literary war when he asked this famous sardonic rhetorical question in a book review he wrote for the Edinburgh Review in 1820. Smith, however, had been reviewing the Statistical Annals of the United States by Adam Seybert and was on his way toward making an ironic point that has little to do with literature, as the last paragraph of his essay shows: “In the four corners of the globe, who reads an Ameri- can book? or goes to an American play? or looks at an Ameri- can picture or statue? What does the world yet owe to Ameri- can physicians or surgeons? What new substances have their chemists discovered? or what old ones have they analyzed? What new constellations have been discovered by the telescopes of Americans? What have they done in mathematics? Who drinks out of American glasses? or eats from American plates? or wears American coats or gowns? or sleeps in American blankets? Finally, under which of the tyrannical governments of Europe is every sixth man a slave, whom his fellow creatures may buy, and sell, and torture?”
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