Never handle firearms carelessly. The sorrow and suffering that have been caused through the innocent but heedless11 handling of firearms by the young! Only four days ago, right in the next farmhouse to the one where I am spending the summer, a grandmother, old and gray and sweet, one of the loveliest spirits in the land, was sitting at her work, when her young grandson crept in and got down an old, battered, rusty gun which had not been touched for many years and was supposed not to be loaded, and pointed it at her, laughing and threatening to shoot. In her fright she ran screaming and pleading toward the door on the other side of the room; but as she passed him he placed the gun almost against her very breast and pulled the trigger! He had supposed it was not loaded. And he was right—it was not. So there wasn’t any harm done. It is the only case of that kind I ever heard of. Therefore, just the same, don’t you meddle with old unloaded firearms; they are the most deadly and unerring12 things that have ever been created by man. You don’t have to take any pains at all with them; you don’t have to have a rest, you don’t have to have any sights on the gun, you don’t have to take aim, even. No, you just pick out a relative and bang away, and you are sure to get him. A youth who can’t hit a cathedral at thirty yards with a Gatling gun
There are many sorts of books; but good ones are the sort for the young to read. Remember that. They are a GREat, an inestimable, and an unspeakable means of improvement. Therefore be careful in your selection, my young friends; be very careful; confine yourselves exclusively to Robertson’s Sermons, Baxter’s Saint’s Rest, The Innocents Abroad, and works of that kind.
But I have said enough. I hope you will treasure up the instructions which I have given you, and make them a guide to your feet and a light to your understanding. Build your character thoughtfully and painstakingly upon these precepts15 and by and by, when you have got it built, you will be surprised and gratified to see how nicely and sharply it resembles everybody else’s.
作者简介：马克·吐温（1835—1910），原名塞缪尔·朗赫恩·克莱门斯（Samuel Langhorne Clemens）, 美国著名小说家、幽默作家，出生于密西西比河畔的一个小城，12岁丧父后便辍学，曾当过报童、印刷学徒工、排字工，在密西西比河上当过水手和舵手。复杂而多样的生活阅历使他对社会和人民的生活与思想具有广泛而深刻的了解，为其后来的文学创作提供了丰富的素材。1865年，他发表了文笔轻松、诙谐幽默的短篇小说《卡拉维拉斯县驰名的跳蛙》（The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County）,受到文坛瞩目。他一生著作颇丰，先后写了《艰苦岁月》（Roughing It），《镀金时代》（The Gilded Age），《王子与贫儿》（The Prince and the Pauer)等等。他的两部作品《密西西比河上》（Life on the Mississippi）和《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》（The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn）是两部杰出的美国社会生活风物图。马克·吐温的传世佳作《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》为美国小说语言带来了意义深远的变化，奠定了美国文学口语化的基础。
注释：
11. 不注意的, 不谨慎的
12. 无误的, 正确的
13. 格林机枪（一种多管的老式机枪）
14. 滑铁卢（比利时中部城镇），1815年拿破仑军队大败之地
15. 箴言, 格言，教训
Comprehensive Questions：
1. What do you think of the advice given by Mark Twain? And which one do you think is suitable to you?
2. What do you know about Mark Twain? Can you list some of his best novels? Which one do you like best? Why?
