The Gift of the Magi is a short story by O Henry, which tells the story of Christmas in a small family of the lower class. Jim, the hero, is a small clerk whose salary is only enough to make ends meet, and Della, the heroine, is a virtuous and kind housewife.

Their lives are poor, but Jim and Della both have a very precious treasure. Jim has a gold watch and Della has beautiful waterfall hair.

In order to give gifts to each other at Christmas, Jim sold his gold watch and bought a set of pure tortoise shells with jewels on the edge for Della.

Della sold her long hair and bought Jim a platinum watch chain. They all gave up their most precious things for each other, and the gifts they got became useless.

2. Police and hymns

The Police and the Hymn is a short story by American writer O Henry. This short story tells the story of a poor and homeless tramp, Soapy, who wanted to go to prison in the cold winter, so he deliberately committed a crime, went to a restaurant to eat the king's meal, disturbed public order, stole other people's umbrellas and molested women. , but these did not let him go to prison, as he wished;

Finally, when he was moved by the hymn in the church and wanted to start over and start over, the police sent him to prison. The novel shows the tragic fate of the American underclass at that time.

Although "police" and "hymn" are equivalent in form in the title, they are not equal as the two forces leading human survival choices. In the binary opposition between police and hymns, the state power represented by "police" always dominates and controls the spiritual power represented by "hymns".

3. The last leaf

The Last Leaf is a short story by American writer O Henry. This painting tells the story of an old painter who painted the last ivy leaf for a poor student who died of pneumonia.

In the cold 1 1 month, Johnsy suffered from severe pneumonia, and her condition became more and more serious. As a painter, she pinned her hopes for life on the last vine leaf outside the window, thinking that the fall of the vine leaf was the end of her life.

As a result, she lost the courage and belief to live. As her friend, Sue was very sad, so she told the old painter Berman what Johnsy thought. Berman was a grumpy, teasing alcoholic who kept company with wine all day.

I have been painting for nearly forty years, but I have accomplished nothing. Every day I talk about creating amazing works, but it's just empty talk. But he takes good care of these two young painters. As soon as he listened, he scolded, but there was still nothing he could do.

However, an amazing thing happened: although the wind outside was blowing hard and the edge of the sawtooth leaf had withered and turned yellow, it still grew on the tall vine.

Johnsy saw that the last leaf was still hanging on the tree, and that leaf could survive in the cold wind. Why not? So he regained his faith in life and survived tenaciously.

But the story didn't end here, and the truth was just revealed: Berman, who was over 60 years old, contracted pneumonia on a stormy night in order to paint the last rattan leaf. At the last moment of his life, he finally finished a shocking masterpiece.

4. Twenty years later

Twenty years later is a short story by American writer O Henry. Bob and Jimmy Wells, a pair of friends who grew up together in new york, are brothers. They agreed to meet again at the same time and place 20 years later when Bob was about to leave for the western exploration.

For 20 years, none of them has forgotten this agreement. Bob came from Wan Li, not far to the west, for the appointment. What supports him is that as long as the other person remembers the date, it is worthwhile for him to do anything. For Bob, Jimmy will always be the most loyal and trustworthy friend.

However, when they meet again 20 years later, it is not the joy of reunion that awaits them, but fate that puts them at both ends of the legal scale. Bob is the most wanted man in the police, and Jimmy is the policeman who was ordered to hunt down "sly Bob".

For Jimmy, whether to remain loyal to his best friend or to perform his duties as a policeman, he finally chose the latter.

The novel reflects the profound changes in all aspects of American social life from the second half of the19th century to the First World War through the unexpected changes when two young people meet again 20 years later.

5. Red-haired Sheikh's ransom

O Henry's short story The Ransom of the Red-haired Chief tells a story of kidnapping.

"I" and Bill kidnapped the only son of ebenezer Dorset in a place called Dingfeng Town. ebenezer Dorset is a famous resident of this town. "We" want to rely on him to blackmail ebenezer;

However, "we" never imagined that the child would play tricks on people. At first, the three of us played Indians. Later, the child became more and more arrogant and played tricks on people. One of them was injured, which made Bill almost have a nervous breakdown.

Finally, I sent the blackmail letter to ebenezer's home, but later, we were blackmailed by ebenezer because we couldn't stand having a child. Finally, we sent the child back and gave his father 250 yuan.