华盛顿·欧文/Washington Irving
华盛顿·欧文（Washington Irving,1783-1859），美国文学的奠基人之一，他所撰写的游记文学堪称世界文坛的经典之作。欧文出身于美国一个富商家庭，遵从父命到霍夫曼的法律事务所学习，但做律师并非他真心所愿，因为自幼饱读书史的欧文对历代传闻轶事很感兴趣，酷爱文学和旅行。在国外旅行的17年，他创造了大量的优秀作品，其中《见闻札记》最为著名。这些杰作铸造了他在美国文坛上的坚固地位，他被誉为“美国文学之父”。
My aunt was a lady of large frame, strong mind, and gread resolution. She was what might be termed a very manly woman. My uncle was a thin, puny little man, very meck and acquiescent, and no match for my aunt. It was observed that he dwindled and dwindled gradually away, from the day of his marriage. His wife’s powerful mind was too much for him;it wore him out. My aunt, however, took all possible care of him;had half the doctors in town to prescribe for him;made him take all their prescriptions, and dosed him with physic enough to cure a whole hospital. All was in vain. My uncle grew worse and worse the more dosing and nursing he underwent, until in the end he added another to the long list of matrimonial victims who have been killed with kindness.
“And was it his ghost that appeared, to her？”asked the inquisitive gentleman, who had questioned the former storyteller.
“You shall hear,”replied the narrator-My aunt took on mightily for the death of her poor dear husband. Perhaps she felt some compunction at having given him so much physic, and nursed him into the grave. At any rate, she did all that a widow could do to honor his memory. She spared no expense in either the quantity or quality of her mourning weeds;wore a miniature of him about her neck as large as a little sundial, and had a full-length portrait of him always hanging in her bedchamber. All the world extolled her conduct to the skies;and it was determined that a woman who behaved so well to the memory of one husband deserved soon to get another.