Charles Dickens

作者：

查爾斯·约翰·赫法姆·狄更斯（Charles John Huffam Dickens），十九世纪英国最伟大的作家，也是一位以反映现实生活见长的作家。他在自己的作品中，以高超的艺术手法，描绘了包罗万象的社会图景，且在作品中一贯表现出揭露和批判黑暗的锋芒，贯彻惩恶扬善的人道主义精神，塑造了众多令人难忘的人物形象。狄更斯的主要作品有《匹克威克外传》《雾都孤儿》《老古玩店》《艰难时世》《我们共同的朋友》等。

作品：

《雾都孤儿》（Oliver Twist）是英国作家查尔斯·狄更斯的作品，此书以雾都伦敦为背景，讲述了一个孤儿的悲惨身世及遭遇。

富人的弃婴奥利弗在孤儿院里挣扎了9年，又被送到棺材店老板那儿当学徒。难以忍受的饥饿、贫困和侮辱，迫使奥利弗逃到伦敦，被迫无奈当了扒手。他曾被富有的布莱罗先生收留，但不幸让小扒手发现后又入了贼窝。善良的女扒手南希为了营救奥利弗，不顾贼头的监视和威胁，向布莱罗报信，说奥利弗就是他找寻已久的外孙，却被贼窝头目杀害。令人欣慰的是，警察随即围剿了贼窝，奥利弗也终于得以与亲人团聚。本书描写了善与恶、美与丑、正义与邪恶的斗争，赞扬了人们天性中的正直和善良，也揭露和抨击了当时英国慈善机构的虚伪和治安警察的专横。同时，本书又带有浓厚的浪漫主义情调，充满人道主义情怀。

本文节选自《雾都孤儿》第一章的部分内容，节选时有删改。

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“looked 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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