(单词翻译:单击)
1889's “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" was one of Twain's last big novels, and in it a man wakes up suddenly thrust into the time of King Arthur.
1889年的《康州美国佬在亚瑟王朝》是吐温最后几部长篇小说之一，在小说中，一个突然苏醒的人闯进了亚瑟王的时代。
Twain was able to implement much of his darker, cynical side that was creeping in as he approached his golden years.
马克·吐温能够表现出他黑暗、愤世嫉俗的一面，这一面在他即将步入晚年时逐渐显露出来。
There would be much more to be dark and cynical about, he would soon discover.
他很快会发现，接下来还有更多让他感到黑暗和愤世嫉俗的事情。
Twain actually used his own publishing company for the first time in the printing of “Huckleberry Finn".
实际上，吐温第一次印刷《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》时使用了他自己的出版公司。
He was keen to maintain artistic control and make the money that his art was bringing in.
他热衷于把持对艺术的控制力，并从艺术作品带来的收入中获利。
It would make you think that Twain had a good sense of finances and how to spend it wisely.
这会让读者以为马克·吐温在经济方面极具判断力，具有理智的消费观念。
You would be wrong.
大家可能错了。
He was terrible at investing money.
他极不擅长投资。
He was amazed by technology, and often threw vast sums of money at new inventions that he thought would change the world.
他常惊讶于技术带来的变化，把大笔的资金投入他认为会改变世界的新式发明上。
The Paige typesetting machine was a glorious failure that he loved with his heart and his wallet.
佩吉排字机是他全身心投入的一次辉煌败绩。
The world was evolving at such a rate, and newspapers and print blowing up so fast, that hand-set type machines simply couldn't cut it anymore.
世界的发展速度如此之快，报纸和印刷业发展得如此迅猛，以至于手提式打字机再也无法阻挡它的发展。
The Paige machine promised to take print into the new world.
这款佩吉排字机承诺将把印刷带入新世界。
But it required such precise calibration and constant maintenance that it became obsolete almost as soon as it was released, and left behind by smarter, quicker machines.
但这款排字机需要精确的校准和不断的维护，以至于它几乎刚一问世就被淘汰了，被更智能、更快捷的机器取而代之。
Twain poured around $300,000 of his own money trying to keep the Paige typesetter afloat, which is over $9 million by today's standards.
为了维持佩奇排字机的运营，吐温自己投入了大约30万美元，按现在的参考标准，可以说已经超过了900万美元。
He continually dipped into the money he had earned from his books and even his wife's family inheritance to keep the dying machine afloat, but it was all for naught.
他不断挪用作品的收入甚至妻子家族的遗产来贴补这款濒临淘汰的机器的运转，但这一切已经是徒劳无功了。
Even his publishing company struggled to turn a profit, and things got so bad for Twain that they had to shutter their Connecticut home and set up meager accommodations in Europe.
就连他的出版公司也难以盈利，情况日益恶化，他们不得不搬离位于康涅狄格州的家，并在欧洲建立简陋的住宿设施。
Sometime in the 1890s, Twain struck up a friendship with the mercurial inventor Nikola Tesla.
在19世纪90年代的一天，吐温与发明家尼古拉·特斯拉(Nikola Tesla)建立了友谊。
Tesla was residing in New York City at the time, and Twain often visited the metropolis, especially after he got wind of some of the amazing inventions Tesla was concocting.
当时特斯拉住在纽约，而吐温经常造访这个大都市，尤其是在听闻特斯拉正在制造一些惊人发明的消息后更是频繁造访。
Tesla was a scientist at Westinghouse at the time, and was working on a new kind of electric motor.
特斯拉当时是西屋电气公司的科学家，正在研制一种新型电动马达。
Twain was a frequent visitor to Tesla's laboratory, and loved interacting with his new gadgets and devices.
吐温是特斯拉实验室的常客，他很喜欢上手玩一玩特斯拉的新设备。
One such device Tesla was creating involved a vibrating oscillator machine, which was basically an engine that put out high frequencies.
特斯拉发明的设备中就包括一个振动振荡器，这款机器可以说是一个能发出高频信号的引擎。
Tesla wondered if there could be any health benefits that could be gained from the invention,
特斯拉想知道这项发明是否对健康有益，
and knew that his friend Mark Twain sometimes suffered from digestive problems and constipation.
他知道好友马克吐温时常受到消化和便秘问题的困扰。
Twain got on the machine, and instantly felt sensations of vitality until such time that the machine rattled his bowels enough to effectively cure him.
吐温站上了这台机器，立刻活力四射地抖动起来，直到震感传达到了肠子，他的消化和便秘问题迎刃而解。
Twain and Tesla continued their friendship for years.
吐温和特斯拉的友谊延续了很多年。
Tesla reportedly tried out an x-ray gun and shot it at Twain's head.
据报道，特斯拉用x光枪对准了吐温的头部。
Tesla was invited to Twain's daughter's wedding.
特斯拉被邀请参加吐温女儿的婚礼。
Hank Morgan, the time-traveling character in Twain's “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" may have even been based on the eccentric Tesla.
汉克·摩根，这个吐温在《康州美国佬在亚瑟王朝》中塑造的穿越时空的角色，甚至可能就是以古怪的特斯拉为原型创作的。
Twain had to embark on a worldwide tour of lectures to try and get the family back in the profit margins.
马克·吐温不得不开始全球巡回演讲，试图让这家人重新过上富足的生活。
In 1896, Twain's 24-year-old daughter Suzy was visiting their Connecticut hometown when she was struck with meningitis.
1896年，吐温24岁的女儿苏西(Suzy)在康涅狄格老家做客时，突然患了脑膜炎。
She died from her illness, and Mark Twain never returned to the place where his greatest love and fortunes had flowered, citing the pain of her death there being too much to bear.
不就她就死于这场恶疾，而马克·吐温再也没有回到他的挚爱和名利双收的地方，理由是女儿的死亡带来了太多的痛苦，让他无法承受。
Twain didn't even return to the United States until 1900, when he moved to New York City.
吐温直到1900年搬到纽约后才回到美国。
This was a period of deep, dark depression and despair for Twain.
对吐温而言，这是一段极度沮丧和绝望的时期。
His writing was reflecting the darker side of humanity,
他的作品反映了人性的阴暗面，
and focused its barbs at the failures of government and disappointment in humanity in general.
尖锐地抨击政府的失败和对人性的失望。
He even publicly insulted Winston Churchill before introducing him at an event.
在一次活动开场前，吐温在介绍温斯顿·丘吉尔时甚至公开侮辱了对方。
He began to be seen as a traitor of sorts, and many of his works during this time weren't even properly released until after his death, when public opinion on him came back around.
他开始被当做叛徒，在此期间，他的许多作品甚至都没有被正式发行，直到他去世后，公众对他的看法才开始转变。
Another unavoidable subject regarding Twain was his use of racial slurs in some of his work, most notably “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn".
另一个关于吐温不可避免的话题是，他在一些作品中使用种族歧视的语言，最著名的是《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》。
Sure, those types of words were unfortunately very common in the pre-Civil War era that the novel was set in, but it often led to schools and institutions banning the book outright or limiting its readings in more modern times.
当然，不幸的是，这类语言在小说背景为内战前的时代非常常见，但这也经常导致这类作品被学校和机构封禁，或者在更现代的时代被限制阅读。
Mark Twain moved to Manhattan, New York City not long after his daughter Suzy passed away from meningitis.
马克·吐温的女儿苏西因脑膜炎去世后不久，马克·吐温就搬到了纽约曼哈顿。
In 1903, his beloved wife Olivia took ill, so Twain moved them to Italy for a time, where she eventually died the next year.
1903年，他深爱的妻子奥利维亚患病，于是吐温带家人搬到意大利住了一段时间，第二年奥利维亚去世。
He then went in the breeze for a bit, moving back to New York City, and eventually back to the state of Connecticut, in Redding.
他在当地生活了一段时间后，搬回了纽约，最后又回到了康涅狄格州的雷丁区。
