Charles Dickens

作者：

查爾斯·約翰·赫法姆·狄更斯（Charles John Huffam Dickens），十九世紀(jì)英國(guó)最偉大的作家，也是一位以反映現(xiàn)實(shí)生活見長(zhǎng)的作家。他在自己的作品中，以高超的藝術(shù)手法，描繪了包羅萬象的社會(huì)圖景，且在作品中一貫表現(xiàn)出揭露和批判黑暗的鋒芒，貫徹懲惡揚(yáng)善的人道主義精神，塑造了眾多令人難忘的人物形象。狄更斯的主要作品有《匹克威克外傳》《霧都孤兒》《老古玩店》《艱難時(shí)世》《我們共同的朋友》等。

作品：

《霧都孤兒》（Oliver Twist）是英國(guó)作家查爾斯·狄更斯的作品，此書以霧都倫敦為背景，講述了一個(gè)孤兒的悲慘身世及遭遇。

富人的棄嬰奧利弗在孤兒院里掙扎了9年，又被送到棺材店老板那兒當(dāng)學(xué)徒。難以忍受的饑餓、貧困和侮辱，迫使奧利弗逃到倫敦，被迫無奈當(dāng)了扒手。他曾被富有的布萊羅先生收留，但不幸讓小扒手發(fā)現(xiàn)后又入了賊窩。善良的女扒手南希為了營(yíng)救奧利弗，不顧賊頭的監(jiān)視和威脅，向布萊羅報(bào)信，說奧利弗就是他找尋已久的外孫，卻被賊窩頭目殺害。令人欣慰的是，警察隨即圍剿了賊窩，奧利弗也終于得以與親人團(tuán)聚。本書描寫了善與惡、美與丑、正義與邪惡的斗爭(zhēng)，贊揚(yáng)了人們天性中的正直和善良，也揭露和抨擊了當(dāng)時(shí)英國(guó)慈善機(jī)構(gòu)的虛偽和治安警察的專橫。同時(shí)，本書又帶有濃厚的浪漫主義情調(diào)，充滿人道主義情懷。

本文節(jié)選自《霧都孤兒》第一章的部分內(nèi)容，節(jié)選時(shí)有刪改。

Oliver Twist was born in a workhouse，and when he arrived in this hard world， itwas very doubtful whether he would livebeyond the first three minutes. He lay on a?hard little bed and struggled to start breathing.

Oliver fought his first battle without much assistance from the two people present at his birth. One was an old woman，who was nearly always drunk， and theother was a busy local doctor， who was notpaid enough to be very interested in Oliver’s survival. After all， death was a commonevent in the workhouse， where onlythe poor and homeless lived.

However， Oliver managed to draw hisfirst breath， and then announced his arrivalto the rest of the workhouse by cryingloudly. His mother raised her pale youngface from the pillow and whispered，“Letme see the child， and die.”

The doctor turned away from the fire，where he had been warming his hands.“You must not talk about dying yet，”he?said to her kindly. He gave her the child tohold. Lovingly， she kissed the baby on itsforehead with her cold white lips， thenstared wildly around the room， fell backand died.“Poor dear！”said the nurse， hurriedlyputting a green glass bottle back inthe pocket of her long skirt.

The doctor began to put on his coat.“The baby is weak and will probably havedifficulties，”he said.“If so， give it a littlemilk to keep it quiet.”Then he looked atthe dead woman.“The mother was a goodlookinggirl. Where did she come from？”

“She was brought here last night，”repliedthe old woman.“She was found lyingin the street. She’d walked some distance，judging by her shoes， which were worn to?pieces. Where she came from，where shewas going to， or what her name was， nobodyknows.”

The doctor lifted the girl’s left hand.“The old story，”he said sadly， shaking hishead.“No wedding ring， I see. Ah！ Goodnight.”

And so Oliver was left with only thedrunken nurse.Without clothes， under hisfirst blanket， he could have been the childof a king or a beggar. But when the womandressed him later in rough cotton clothes，yellow with age， he looked exactly what hewas—an orphan in a workhouse， ready fora life of misery， hunger， and neglect.

Oliver cried loudly. If he could haveknown that he was a workhouse orphan，perhaps he would have cried even moreloudly.

There was no one to look after thebaby in the workhouse， so Oliver was sentto a special“baby farm”nearby. There， heand thirty other children rolled around the floor all day， without the inconvenience of too much food or too much clothing. MrsMann， the old woman who“l(fā)ooked after”them， was very experienced. She knewwhat was good for children， and a full stomachwas very dangerous to their health. Shealso knew what was good for herself， so shekept for her own use the money that shewas given for the children’s food. Theboard responsible for the orphans sometimeschecked on the health of the children，but they always sent the beadle，akind of local policeman， to announce theirvisit the day before. So whenever the boardarrived， of course，the children were alwaysneat and clean.

This was the way Oliver was broughtup. Consequently， at the age of nine he wasa pale， thin child and short for his age. Butdespite frequent beatings by Mrs Mann，his spirit was strong， which was probablythe reason why he managed to reach theage of nine at all.

Reading Check

1. Where was Oliver Twist born？

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2. What words can be used to describe Oliver’s childhood？

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