The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle

Author: Washington Irving
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-02-01
Features: Easy-to-Read Classics Series. To promote English learning among Chinese middle school students and cultivate their cultural literacy and literary appreciation, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, after extensive deliberation and market research, decided to introduce a series of abridged literary classics from the British Macmillan Publishing Company to Chinese middle school students. From this series of abridged literary classics by Macmillan Publishing Company, SFLEP carefully selected 40 books to form the "Easy-to-Read Classics Series," with difficulty levels spanning Levels 3 to 8 of the "English Curriculum Standards." This series includes classic works by literary masters from the UK, the US, France, and other countries, such as Shakespeare, Dickens, Mark Twain, Hardy, and Alexandre Dumas. To help middle school students better grasp the essence of the original works and the creative journey of the authors, SFLEP has specially annotated the language difficulties in the reading materials and included background introductions about the authors and their works. We sincerely hope that the "Easy-to-Read Classics Series" will help improve the literary appreciation level of Chinese middle school students, cultivate their moral character, enhance their English reading skills, and become the key to opening the door to English literary classics for middle school students.
In the early 17th century, Dutch people came from the Netherlands to this new continent in North America—they were the early settlers. Most of them established homes near the Hudson River. About 200 years later, when the story of "Rip Van Winkle" begins, the area had become a British colony. Great Britain ruled this continent, and it was under the reign of King George III from 1760 to 1820. Some people in North America were pleased with this, admiring the British king and remaining loyal to him. Many others did not want their land to be ruled by Great Britain. They wanted to live in an independent country with their own government and laws. Their British army fought a war. The Americans won, and the British left the colony. By the end of the story of "Rip Van Winkle," he lived in an independent nation—the United States of America. They had a president, not a king. The first president of the United States was George Washington. The other story in this book, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," takes place in the early 19th century, shortly after the war mentioned above.