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.padding-bottom: 50%;">"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：悲伤的 customhouse：海关，custom也可指海关 exclamation：惊呼 triumphantly：成功地，炫耀地 masterpiece：名著，杰作 Background of Nathaniel Hawthorne: 纳撒尼尔·霍桑(1804—1864）是美国19世纪影响最大的浪漫主义小说家和心理小说家。 长篇小说《红字》是他的代表作。霍桑1804年生于新英格兰的一个破落贵族家庭。全家笃信基督教清教。 父亲去世后，他随母亲迁至萨莱姆外公家，萨莱姆浓厚的宗教气氛和激烈的宗教派别斗争以及霍桑一家的宗教传统都对霍桑的思想和后来的创作产生了极大的影响。他从小爱好文艺，大学毕业后曾在海关任职，后受法国空想社会主义影响辞职，在布鲁克农场制订实施空想社会主义计划。霍桑对当时美国社会道德论丧和资产阶级的伪善不满，但是他又不想从根本上改变不合理的社会制度，只谋求社会道德的改进，宣扬上帝，主张道德的自我完善。 1850年《红字》发表后，霍桑在美国文学史上的地位从此确定。 1851、1852年又分别出版了“两部罗曼史”，即《带有七个尖角阁的房子》和《福谷传奇》，前者以宗教迫害案为起点，描写了一个关于美国资产阶级家庭的故事，表现了罪恶代代相袭的悲观主义的思想；后者描写了一群内心苦闷的上层知识分子，离开城市到农村去组织村社，终因一事无成，失望离去的故事。同时还出版了几部儿童文学作品， 1860年又写了一部以意大利为背景的《玉石雕像》，1864年霍桑去世。
