Charles Dickens and His “David Copperfield“-查尔斯·狄更

CharlesDickensandHis“DavidCopperfield“|查尔斯·狄更In1821,whenCharleswasonlynineyearsold,theDickensfamilymovedtoCamdentown,London,into“asmallhouse”．MrDickenswasheavilyindebt5anddidn＇tknowwhichwaytoturnformoney．Thefewpossessionsthattheyhadweresoldonebyone,andthingsgotnobetter6,andfinallyMr．Dickenswastakentoprison．Sometimelater,Mrs．Dickensandtheyoungerchildrenwenttoprisontoo,tojointhefather．In1823,attheageof11,CharlesDickensgotajobinanundergroundblackingfactory7．Heearned6shillings8aweektosupportthefamily．Thiswasthemostunhappytimeofallhislife．Butafewyearslater,at16,hisfortunetookaturn9forthebetter．Hewasabletoleavetheblackingfactoryandenteralawyer＇soffice．Helearnedshorthand10andwasabletodosomereportingfornewspapers．Finally,in1834,hewastakenon11thestaffofanewspaper,andhislife－workofwritinghadreallybegun．Itwasin1836thatCharlesrosetofameinliteratureworld,whenheworkedasanewspaperreporter12．Sincethenhislifeofwritinglastedfor34years．Duringthisperiodhewrote14novels,suchas“OliverTwist”(《雾都孤儿》，1838),“NicholasNickleby”(《尼古拉斯·尼克尔贝》，1839),“MertinChuzzlewit”(《马丁·朱述尔维特》，1844),“DavidCopperfield”(《大卫·科波菲尔》，1850),“ATaleofTwoCities”(《双城记》，1859),“GreatExpectations”(《远大前程》，1861),etc．Besides,hewrotelotsofshortstories,travels,playsandnotes．Hiscontinualhardworkofwritingbroughtabout13hissuddendeathin1870．Hehadaskedthathisburial14shouldbequitesimple,butthewholenationwantedtogivehimthehighesthonourtheycould,andso,hewasburiedinWesterminsterAbbey15,butashewishedit,withnothingonthestoneexcepthisname“CharlesDickens”．Thefollowingisthesimplifiedversionofthefirstsectionsofthenovel“DavidCopperfield”．ItisbelievedtobethegreatestworkofallbyCharlesDickens,andanautobiography16oftheauthorhimself．DavidCopperfield,themaincharacterofthenovel,wasanorphan17,whosufferedalotinhisboyhood,workinginafactoryinLondon．Hisearlydays,growthandhisexperiencesareverysimilartothoseofCharlesDickens．1．Portsmouth朴茨茅斯（英国南部一城市）2．NavyPayOffice海军军饷办公室3．acarefree,irresponsibleman一个万事不管而又极不负责的男人4．turnup（经济情况）好转5．indebt负债6．Thefewpossessionsthattheyhad．．．andthingsgotnobetter他们仅有的少量财物也都一件一件地卖光了，而境况并无好转……7．undergroundblackingfactory设在地下的生产黑色鞋油的工厂8．shillingn．先令（英国钱币，为一镑的1／20）9．takeaturn发生变化，出现转折10．shorthandn．速记11．takeon雇用12．Itwasin1836that．．．asanewspaperreporter．这是一个强调句，相当于Charlesrosetofameinliteratureworldin1836,whenheworkedasanewspaperreporter．查尔斯于1836年在文学界出了名，当时他是一家报社的记者。13．bringabout引起，造成14．burialn．埋葬，葬礼15．WesterminsterAbbey位于伦敦的威斯敏斯特教堂（举行国葬之处）16．autobiographyn．自传17．orphann．孤儿18．haveababy怀孕19．Nobleashelooked．．．相当于：Thoughhelookednoble