Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens雾都孤儿 / 查尔斯狄更斯 著 简介雾都孤儿一书于1838年首次刊行。当时并不时兴写作反映生活的悲惨现实的小说，但狄更斯存心要使读者震惊。他想要展示出罪犯们的真实面目，揭露出隐藏在伦敦狭小、肮脏的偏僻街道里的恐怖与暴力。因此他为我们写了邪恶的费金，残暴的比尔赛克斯，以及一大群窃贼强盗。这些人撒谎、欺诈、偷盗，害怕进监狱，害怕刽子手把绞索套到他们的脖颈上，在惴惴不安中生活。狄更斯写这本书还有一个目的。他试图说明，善良能克服一切艰难险阻。因此，他为我们塑造了小奥利弗特威斯特一个孤儿，他被投入一个充满贫困与犯罪的世界，忍饥挨饿，挨打挨骂，从来没有人爱他。他为我们写出了南希可怜、凄惨、悲苦的南希，她生活在一个残忍的世界中，却挣扎着要忠实于她所爱的人。而且，正如在一切最好的故事里一样，善良最终战胜了邪恶。查尔斯狄更斯（18121870）是英国最伟大的小说家之一。他出生于一个穷苦的家庭（他的父亲曾因欠债而入狱），但他后来享有盛名，并且拥有财富。 1 O livers early lifeO liver Twist was born in a workhouse，and when he arrived in this hard world，it was very doubtful whether he would live beyond the first three minutesHe lay on a hard little bed and struggled to start breathingO liver fought his first battle without much assistance from the two people present at his birthOne was an old woman，who was nearly always drunk， and the other was a busy local doctor，who was not paid enough to be very interested in O livers survival After all，death was a common event in the workhouse，where only the poor and homeless livedHowever，O liver managed to draw his first breath，and the n announced his arrival to the rest of the workhouse by crying loudlyHis mother raised her pale young face from the pillow and whispered， Let me see the child， and dieThe doctor turned away from the fire， where he had been warming his hands You must not talk about dying yet，he said to her kindlyHe gave her the child to holdLovingly，she kissed the baby on its forehead with her cold white lips，the n stared wildly around the room，fell back-and died. Poor dear！said the nurse，hurriedly putting a green glass bottle back in the pocket of her long skirt.The doctor began to put on his coat The baby is weak and will probably have difficulties， he said If so， give it a little milk to keep it quietThe n he looked at the dead woman. The mother was a goodlooking girlWhere did she come from？She was brought here last night，replied the old woman. She was found lying in the street. Shed walked some distance，judging by her shoes，which were worn to piecesWhere she came from，where she was going to，or what her name was，nobody knows.The doctor lifted the girls left hand. The old story，he said sadly，shaking his head No wedding ring， I seeAh！Good night.And so O liver was left with only the drunken nurseWithout clothe s，under his first blanket， he could have been the child of a king or a beggarBut when the woman dressed him later in rough cotton clothe s， yellow with age，he looked exactly what he was - an orphan in a workhouse， ready for a life of misery，hunger， and neglect.O liver cried loudlyIf he could have known that he was a workhouse orphan， perhaps he would have cried even more loudly.The re was no one to look after the baby in the workhouse，so O liver was sent to a special baby farm nearby. The re，he and thirty other children rolled around the floor all day，without the inconvenience of too much food or too much clothing. Mrs Mann，the old woman who looked after them， was very experiencedShe knew what was good for children，and a full stomach was very dangerous to their health. She also knew what was good for herself， so she kept for her own use the money that she was given for the childrens foodThe board responsible for the orphans sometimes checked on the health of the children， but They always sent the beadle，a kind of local policeman，to announce their visit the day beforeSo whenever the board arrived， of course，the children were always neat and cleanThis was the way O liver was brought up. Consequently， at the age of nine he was a pale，thin child and short for his ageBut despite frequent beatings by Mrs Mann， his spirit was strong， which was probably the reason why he managed to reach the age of nine at allOn O livers ninth birthday， Mr Bumble the beadle came to the house to see Mrs MannThrough the front window Mrs Mann saw him at the gate， and turned quickly to the girl who worked with herQuick！Take O liver and those others upstairs to be washed！she saidThe n she ran out to unlock the gate（It was always kept locked to prevent official visitors walking in unexpectedly）I have business to talk about，Mr Bumble told Mrs Mann as he entered the houseHe was a big fat man， often bad-tempered， and was full of self-importance. He did not like to be kept waiting at a locked gate.Mrs Mann took his hat and coat， placed a chair for him，and expressed great concern for his comfort Youve had a long walk，Mr Bumble she said， and you must be thirstyShe took out a bottle from the cupboardNo， thank you， Mrs Mann. Not a dropHe waved the bottle awayJust a little drop， Mr Bumble， with cold water， said Mrs Mann persuasivelyMr Bumble coughed What is it？ he asked， looking at the bottle with interestGinI keep it for the childrens medicine drink.You give the children gin，Mrs Mann？