I. Introduction 引言
1.1 O· Henry 欧亨利
欧亨利是威廉悉尼波特的笔名，著名的短篇小说加，被称为当代美国短篇小说的创始人。他独特的小说风格已经广泛的传播和并对美国短篇小说有深远的影响。为什么他的短篇小说具有永恒的魅力？许多人认为应该归功于独特的“欧亨利式”。
O· Henry is the pen name of William Sydney Porter, who is famous for his short story, known as the founder of contemporary American short story. His unique style of novels had wide spread and profound influence on the creation of American short story. Why his short stories have the eternal charm? Many people believe that should be attributed to the unique “O· Henry style”. His father, Algernon Sidney Porter, was a physician. His mother, Mrs. Algernon Sidney Porter, died from consumption when O· Henry was three, and he was raised by his paternal grandmother and his aunt. From 15 he started working in his uncle's drugstore. In March 1882, he was 20, moved to Texas. Porter took a number of different jobs over the next several years, first as pharmacist then as a cowherb, draftsman, bank teller, journalist, etc. In Austin, Porter led an active social life, including membership in singing and drama groups. On July 1, 1887, Porter eloped with Athol to the home of Reverend R· K· Smoot, where they were married, and moved to Houston in 1895, where he started writing for the Post. On July 7, 1896, he fled to Now Orleans and later to Honduras because of several discrepancies while he was in the First National Bank of Austin. Then he returned in 1897 because Athol became too ill. He was found guilty of embezzlement 1898 and imprisoned on March 25, 1898. While in prison, Porter, as a licensed pharmacist, worked in the prison hospital as the night druggist. He had fourteen stories published and was becoming will known as “O· Henry”. Porter was released on July 24, 1901, moved to New York City wholly worked at writing.
1.2 Main Works and Writing Styles 主要作品及写作风格
欧亨利只写了一个很长的小说，“卷心菜和国王”，在1904年，他在其中提出了“香蕉共和国”来形容这个国家，后来用来描述几乎所有的小国家，在拉丁美洲不稳定的热带国家的政治讽刺小说。
O· Henry only wrote one long novel, “Cabbages and Kings”, in 1904. It is an ironic political novel in which he coined the term “banana republic” to describe the country, subsequently used to describe almost any small, unstable tropical nation in Latin America. It describes a handful of careerists, speculators and politicians’ misconducts and criminal activities, keenly contrast with the poor, kind and sincere people who live there. It reveals the serious class contradictions, has its special political value and social significance. But, it is loosely organized and images of the characters are ambiguous, pales in comparison with his short stories.
欧亨利是纽约一位多产的作家，他写了381篇短篇小说。他为纽约世界星期天杂志一个星期写一个故事。他们中的大多数都包含在他收藏的故事里，如“四百万”，“西部之心”，“生命的陀螺”，“流浪儿童和流浪狗”等等。
O· Henry is a prolific writer, in New York, he wrote 381 short stories. He wrote a story a week for the New York World Sunday Magazine. Most of them are included in his collections of stories, such as “The Four Million”，“The Heart of the West”, “Whirligigs”, “Waifs and Strays”, and so on.
“The Four Million” is the most famous one, including 25 short stories, mainly describes the ordinary people’s life in Manhattan. It clearly manifests the author’s attitude and position. He believes that the four million ordinary persons are the essence of New York, not the “400”successful so called upper class. It can be said that his novel is his own microcosm of the entire life. His brief and suffering life went through all the major scenes—unusual adventure, city life, and more “lower-class” life. His creation often reflected unusual social significance from the usual small events. Readers can naturally comprehend the most profound truth in life limited scene. In his many short stories, we can see that all kinds of characters from all sectors of America, intellectuals, homeless people, artists, police etc. Therefore, his excellent short stories like “The Gift of the Magi”, “The Cop and the Anthem”, “The Ransom of Red Chief”, “The Romance of a Busy Broker”, “The Last Leaf”，“A Service of Love”, and so on, have placed in
