performed on stage. For people at that time, his stories were like the soap operas⑲ we see on TV today. He died in 1870. His tomb reads, 'By his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world.',⑯novelist/'nɒvəlIst/n.小说家

　　⑰work n．[C]著作，(艺术)作品(多用复数)

　　works of literature文学作品

　　Beethoven's piano works贝多芬的钢琴曲

　　⑱chapter/'tʃæptə(r)/n.(书的)章，篇，回；时期，时代

　　⑲opera/'ɒprə/n.歌剧；歌剧团；歌剧院

　　soap opera n．肥皂剧

　　查尔斯·狄更斯："英国最伟大的作家"

　　[第4段译文]

　　小说家查尔斯·狄更斯1812年出生于英国的朴次茅斯。《雾都孤儿》、《大卫·科波菲尔》、《远大前程》可能是他最广为人知的作品。狄更斯最初将许多小说发表在报纸上，每次刊登一章，有一些作品后来被搬上了舞台。对于那时候的人来说，他的小说就如同我们今天在电视上看到的肥皂剧。狄更斯于1870年去世，他的墓碑上写着："他的辞世使世界失去了一位最伟大的英国作家。"

　　Great Expectations

　　Great Expectations is set in⑳ England in the early 1800s.The author\s\up1(21(21) uses Pip, the main character, to tell the story. Having lost his parents\s\up1(22(22)， Pip lives with his older sister and her husband Joe. Pip's sister often abuses\s\up1(23(23) him, but Joe is a kind and simple\s\up1(24(24) man who would rather die than see any harm come to Pip.

　　Pip, who is seven years old when the story begins, is in a foggy cemetery\s\up1(25(25) when a desperate\s\up1(26(26) criminal\s\up1(27(27) appears and frightens him. Mist is a symbol of danger in Great Expectations. Classic novels often have symbols which add interest, tension\s\up1(28(28) or deeper meaning to the text\s\up1(29(29). Readers may not be able to see the danger, so they need a symbol like the mist to make it clearer to them.

There is a twist\s\up1(30(30) in the plot\s\up1(31(31) when a very generous\s\up1(32(32) stranger gives Pip a large fortune. As a condition for receiving this fortune, Pip must move to London and begin the life of a gentleman. Pip is eager to begin his new life. Money and education, however, change him, and before long he becomes vain\s\up1(33(33) and ashamed of\s\up1(34(34) his background. Pip dislikes it when Joe comes to visit him in London\s\up1(35(35). He has rigid\s\up1(36(36) ideas of what it means to be