shǒuyè>> wénxué>> 现实百态>> 查爾斯·狄更斯 Charles Dickens   英國 United Kingdom   漢諾威王朝   (1812年二月7日1870年六月9日)
'ér Oliver Twist
   shì shēng zài shí jiǔ shì de yīng guózài hán lěng de shēn yīng guó lún dūn de píng mín yīng 'ér gāng gāng chū shì qīn biàn kāi liǎo rén shìshuí zhī dào chǎn shì shuí xià de 'ér biàn chéng liǎo míng de 'ér 'ér bèi běn jiào huì shōu liúyóu guǎn shì yǎnggěi liǎo míng jiào 'ào
  
   ào jiǔ suì de shí hòu néng xiàng yòu qián rén jiā hái yàng jìn xué xiào niàn shū guǎn shì hái sòng jìn gōng chǎng tóng gōng gànlì shèng rèn de huóbìng qiě ràng chī bǎoxìng juéjiàng de 'ào bèi jiā tuī wéi dài biǎo chū zēng jiā liáng shí de yào qiúgōng chǎng de zhí yuán jīng shī biàn yuàn shōu liú 'ào yǐng xiǎng tóng gōng
  
   dāng shíbìn guǎn de lǎo bàn sēn zhèng yào xué biàn huā liǎo jīn bàng lǐng liǎo chū ào huàn liǎo xīn huán jìngshēng huó guò shāo hǎo liǎo xiē cān jiā chū bìn hánglièxíng dòng guīju lǎo bàn hěn mǎn dàn zāo dào niánzhǎng xué de xiào rén ào rěn rěn quán dǒulǎo bǎn jiāng bēi fèn tián xiōngxīng chū zǒu lián xíng liǎo tiāncái dào lún dūn
  
   qīn hán jiāo zài jué wàng zhōng dào liǎo shàonián dài dào dòng bài de zhè yuán lái shì cáng fěi dào de zéi shǒu gēn jiàn 'ào cōng míng líng hěn shì huānbiàn yào shàng jiē tōu qiè liào shī shǒu bèi xiànào xīn tuǐ táo páojiēguǒ bèi rén zhuā jìn liǎo jǐng zéi shǒu gēn tīng shuō 'ào bèi zhuātòng yòngyòu dān xīn 'ào zài jǐng zhāo rènbiàn lìng zéi shǒu shāng jué dìng yóu de nán shān chū miànmào chōng 'ào jiě jiě bǎo jiāng lǐng huí
  
   dàn shìjǐng shěn shíshū diàn lǎo bǎn zhèng míng kàn dào dāng shí páqiè de xiǎo zéi bìng fēi 'ào bèi qiè de zhù rén shì lún dūn wēng luó yīn yuān wǎng 'ào hěn gǎn qiàn jiùyòu jiàn 'ài yòu liánbiàn jiāng lǐng huí jiā ào dào luó jiā hòushòu dào lǎo rén de chǒng 'ài chóu chī chuānhái néng shàng xué shū liàoluó yòu míng jiào mèng de qīn zhuī jiū 'ào de shēn shì xiàn yuán lái shì luó de wài sūn luó de quán jiā chǎn biàn yào yóu chéng shòumèng mǒu duó móu duó zhè cái chǎnbiàn jiāng shì yán shǒu hái zéi shǒu gòu jié móu hài 'ào
  
   mǒu nán shān zài jiē shàng xún fǎng jiàn 'ào bǎng huí zéi gēn jiāng jīhū sàng mìngnán shān cóng mèng chù tàn tīng dào 'ào de shēn shì hòushí fēn tóng qíngwèile jiù chū xiǎnràng sūn tuán yuánbiàn 'àn 'àn xiāo gào liǎo luó dāyìng xià dài 'ào tóng lái liào shì qíng bèi xiàn gēn jiāng nán shān huó huó luó zài jiā děng hòu nán shāndào liǎo yuē dìng zhī jiàn nán shān dào lái rán tīng dào jiē shàng chuán shuō nán shān cǎn biàn bào gào jǐng suí tóng jǐng chá zhí dǎo zéi shì mín men fēn fēn cān jiā zhuō zéishēng shì hào gēn zuì zhōng nán táo wǎngào táo shēngbèi luó lǐng huí sūn tuán


  Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress (commonly known as Oliver Twist) (1838) is Charles Dickens' second novel. It is about a boy named Oliver Twist, who escapes from a workhouse and meets a gang of pickpockets in London. The novel is one of Dickens's best-known works, and has been the subject of numerous film and television adaptations.
  
  Background
  
  Oliver Twist is notable for Dickens' unromantic portrayal of criminals and their sordid lives. The book also exposed the cruel treatment of many a waif-child in London, which increased international concern in what is sometimes known as "The Great London Waif Crisis". This was the astounding number of orphans in London in the Dickens era. The book's subtitle, The Parish Boy's Progress alludes to Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress and also to a pair of popular 18th-century caricature series by William Hogarth, "A Rake's Progress" and "A Harlot's Progress".
  
  An early example of the social novel, the book calls the public's attention to various contemporary evils, including the Poor Law, child labour and the recruitment of children as criminals. Dickens mocks the hypocrisies of his time by surrounding the novel's serious themes with sarcasm and dark humour. The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of hardships as a child labourer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. It is likely that Dickens's own early youth as a child labourer contributed to the story's development.
  
  Oliver Twist has been the subject of numerous film and television adaptations, and is the basis for a highly successful musical play and the multiple Academy Award winning motion picture Oliver!.
  Publications
  Cover, first edition of serial, entitled "The Adventures of Oliver Twist" January 1846
  Design by George Cruikshank
  
  The book was originally published in Bentley's Miscellany as a serial, in monthly instalments that began appearing in the month of February 1837 and continued through April 1839. It was originally intended to form part of Dickens's serial The Mudfog Papers. It did not appear as its own monthly serial until 1846. George Cruikshank provided one steel etching per month to illustrate each installment. The first novelization appeared six months before the serialization was completed. It was published in three volumes by Richard Bentley, the owner of Bentley's Miscellany, under the author's pseudonym, "Boz" and included 24 steel-engraved plates by Cruikshank.
  Plot summary
  Workhouse and first jobs
  
  Oliver Twist is born into a life of poverty and misfortune in a workhouse in an unnamed town (although when originally published in Bentley's Miscellany in 1837 the town was called Mudfog and said to be within 75 miles north of London). Orphaned almost from his first breath by his mother’s death in childbirth and his father’s unexplained absence, Oliver is meagerly provided for under the terms of the Poor Law, and spends the first eight years of his life at a baby farm in the 'care' of a woman named Mrs. Mann. Along with other juvenile offenders against the poor laws, Oliver is brought up with little food and few comforts. Around the time of the orphan’s ninth birthday, Mr. Bumble, a parish beadle, removes Oliver from the baby farm and puts him to work picking oakum at the main workhouse (the same one where his mother worked before she died). Oliver, who toils with very little food, remains in the workhouse for six months, until the desperately hungry boys decide to draw lots; the loser must ask for another portion of gruel. The task falls to Oliver, who at the next meal tremblingly comes forward, bowl in hand, and makes his famous request: "Please, sir, I want some more."
  Oliver; "Please, sir, I want some more."
  
  A great uproar ensues. The board of well-fed gentlemen who administer the workhouse, while eating a meal fit for a mighty king, offer five pounds to any person wishing to take on the boy as an apprentice. A brutal chimney sweep almost claims Oliver, but, when he begs despairingly not to be sent away with "that dreadful man" a kindly old magistrate refuses to sign the indentures. Later, Mr. Sowerberry, an undertaker employed by the parish, takes Oliver into his service. He treats Oliver better, and, because of the boy's sorrowful countenance, uses him as a mourner, at children's funerals. However, Mr. Sowerberry is in an unhappy marriage, and his wife takes an immediate dislike to Oliver—primarily because her husband seems to like him—and loses few opportunities to underfeed and mistreat him. He also suffers torment at the hands of Noah Claypole, an oafish but bullying fellow apprentice who is jealous of Oliver's promotion to mute, and Charlotte, the Sowerberry's maidservant, who is in love with Noah.
  
  One day, in an attempt to bait Oliver, Noah insults the orphan’s late mother, calling her "a regular right-down bad 'un". Oliver flies into an unexpected passion, attacking and even beating the much bigger boy. Mrs. Sowerberry takes Noah's side, helps him subdue Oliver, punches and beats Oliver, and later compels her husband and Mr. Bumble, who has been sent for in the aftermath of the fight, into beating Oliver again. Once Oliver is sent to his room for the night, he does something that he hadn't done since babyhood—breaks down and weeps. Alone that night, Oliver finally decides to run away. He wanders aimlessly for a time, until a well-placed milestone sets his wandering feet towards London.
  The Artful Dodger and Fagin
  George Cruikshank original engraving of the Artful Dodger (centre), here introducing Oliver (right) to Fagin (left)
  
  During his journey to London, Oliver encounters Jack Dawkins, more commonly known by the nickname the "Artful Dodger", although Oliver's innocent nature prevents him from recognising this hint that the boy may be dishonest. Dodger provides Oliver with a free meal and tells him of a gentleman in London who will "give him lodgings for nothing, and never ask for change". Grateful for the unexpected assistance, Oliver follows Dodger to the "old gentleman"'s residence. In this way, Oliver unwittingly falls in with an infamous Jewish criminal known as Fagin, the so-called gentleman of whom the Artful Dodger spoke. Ensnared, Oliver lives with Fagin and his gang of juvenile pickpockets in their lair at Saffron Hill for some time, naively unaware of their criminal occupations. He believes they make wallets and handkerchiefs.
  
  Later, Oliver innocently goes out to "make handkerchiefs" because of no income coming in, with two of Fagin’s underlings: The Artful Dodger and a boy of a humorous nature named Charley Bates. Oliver realises too late that their real mission is to pick pockets. Dodger and Charley steal the handkerchief of an old gentleman named Mr. Brownlow, and promptly flee. When he finds his handkerchief missing, Mr. Brownlow turns round, sees Oliver, and pursues him. Others join the chase and Oliver is caught and taken before the magistrate. Curiously, Mr. Brownlow has second thoughts about the boy—he seems reluctant to believe he is a pickpocket. To the judge's evident disappointment, a bookstall holder who saw Dodger commit the crime clears Oliver, who, by now actually ill, faints in the courtroom. Mr. Brownlow takes Oliver home and, along with his housekeeper Mrs. Bedwin, cares for him.
  Bill Sikes
  
  Oliver stays with Mr. Brownlow, recovers rapidly, and blossoms from the unaccustomed kindness. His bliss, however, is interrupted when Fagin, fearing Oliver might "peach" on his criminal gang, decides that Oliver must be brought back to his hideout. When Mr. Brownlow sends Oliver out to pay for some books, one of the gang, a young girl named Nancy, whom Oliver had previously met at Fagin's, accosts him with help from her abusive lover, a brutal robber named Bill Sikes, and Oliver is quickly bundled back to Fagin's lair. The thieves take the five pound note Mr. Brownlow had entrusted to him, and strip him of his fine new clothes. Oliver, dismayed, flees and attempts to call for police assistance, but is ruthlessly dragged back by the Dodger, Charley and Fagin. Nancy, however, is sympathetic towards Oliver and saves him from beatings by Fagin and Sikes.
  
  In a renewed attempt to draw Oliver into a life of crime, Fagin forces him to participate in a burglary. Nancy reluctantly assists in recruiting him, all the while assuring the boy that she will help him if she can. Sikes, after threatening to kill him if he does not cooperate, sends Oliver through a small window and orders him to unlock the front door. The robbery goes wrong, however, and Oliver is shot. After being abandoned by Sikes, the wounded Oliver ends up under the care of the people he was supposed to rob: Rose Maylie, her guardian Mrs. Maylie (unrelated to Rose and raising her as her own niece), and Harry Maylie (Mrs. Maylie's son who loves Rose). Convinced of Oliver’s innocence, Rose takes the boy in and nurses him back to health.
  Mystery
  
  Meanwhile, a mysterious man named Monks has found Fagin and is plotting with him to destroy Oliver's reputation. Monks denounces Fagin's failure to turn Oliver into a criminal and the two of them agree on a plan to make sure he does not find out about his past. Monks is apparently related to Oliver in some manner, although it's not mentioned until later.
  
  Back In Oliver's hometown, Mr Bumble has married Ms Corney, the wealthy matron of the workhouse, only to find himself constantly arguing with his unhappy wife. After one such argument, Mr Bumble walks over to a pub, where he meets Monks, who informs him about a boy named Oliver Twist. Later the two of them arrange to take a locket and ring which had once belonged to Oliver's mother and toss it into a nearby river. Monks relates this to Fagin as part of the plot to destroy Oliver, unaware that Nancy has eavesdropped on their conversation and gone ahead to inform Oliver's benefactors.
  
  Nancy, by this time ashamed of her role in Oliver's kidnapping, and fearful for the boy's safety, goes to Rose Maylie and Mr. Brownlow to warn them. She knows that Monks and Fagin are plotting to get their hands on the boy again and holds some secret meetings on the subject with Oliver's benefactors. One night Nancy tries to leave for one of the meetings but Sikes refuses permission when she doesn't state exactly where she's going. Fagin realizes that Nancy is up to something and resolves to find out what her secret is.
  
  Meanwhile Noah Claypole has fallen out with the undertaker Mr. Sowerberry, stolen money from him and moved to London. Charlotte has accompanied him—they are now in a relationship. Using the name "Morris Bolter", he joins Fagin's gang for protection. During Noah's stay with Fagin, the Artful Dodger is caught with a stolen silver snuff box, convicted (in a very humorous courtroom scene) and transported to Australia. Later, Noah is sent by Fagin to "dodge" (spy on) Nancy, and discovers her secret: she has been meeting secretly with Rose and Mr. Brownlow to discuss how to save Oliver from Fagin and Monks. Fagin angrily passes the information on to Sikes, twisting the story just enough to make it sound as if Nancy had informed on him (in reality, she had shielded Sikes, whom she loves despite his brutal character). Believing her to be a traitor, Sikes beats Nancy to death in a fit of rage, and is himself killed when he accidentally hangs himself while fleeing across a rooftop from an angry mob.
  Resolution
  Fagin in his cell.
  
  Monks is forced by Mr. Brownlow (an old friend of Oliver's father) to divulge his secrets: his real name is Edward Leeford, and he is Oliver's paternal half-brother and, although he is legitimate, he was born of a loveless marriage. Oliver's mother, Agnes, was their father's true love. Mr. Brownlow has a picture of her, and began making inquiries when he noticed a marked resemblance between her face, and the face of Oliver. Monks has spent many years searching for his father's child—not to befriend him, but to destroy him (see Henry Fielding's Tom Jones for similar circumstances). Brownlow asks Oliver to give half his inheritance (which proves to be meagre) to Monks because he wants to give him a second chance; and Oliver, being prone to giving second chances, is more than happy to comply. Monks then moves to America, where he squanders his money, reverts to crime, and ultimately dies in prison. Fagin is arrested and condemned to the gallows; in an emotional scene, Oliver goes to Newgate Gaol to visit the old reprobate on the eve of his hanging, (where Fagin's terror at being hanged has caused him to come down with fever).
  
  On a happier note, Rose Maylie turns out to be the long-lost sister of Oliver's mother Agnes; she is therefore Oliver's aunt. She marries her long-time sweetheart Harry, and Oliver lives happily with his saviour, Mr. Brownlow. Noah becomes a paid, semi-professional informer to the police (a "stoolie", or "stoolpigeon" in American terminology). The Bumbles lose their jobs (under circumstances that cause him to utter the well-known line "The law is a ass") and are reduced to great poverty, eventually ending up in the same workhouse where they once lorded it over Oliver and the other boys; and Charley Bates, horrified by Sikes's murder of Nancy, becomes an honest citizen, moves to the country, and works his way up to prosperity.
  Major themes and symbols
  Introduction
  
  In Oliver Twist, Dickens mixes grim realism, and merciless satire as a way to describe the effects of industrialism on 19th-century England and to criticise the harsh new Poor Laws. Oliver, an innocent child, is trapped in a world where his only options seem to be the workhouse, Fagin's thieves, a prison or an early grave. From this unpromising industrial/institutional setting, however, a fairy tale also emerges: In the midst of corruption and degradation, the essentially passive Oliver remains pure-hearted; he steers away from evil when those around him give in to it; and, in proper fairy-tale fashion, he eventually receives his reward—leaving for a peaceful life in the country, surrounded by kind friends. On the way to this happy ending, Dickens explores the kind of life an orphan, outcast boy could expect to lead in 1830s London.
  Poverty and social class
  
  Poverty is a prominent concern in Oliver Twist. Throughout the novel, Dickens enlarges on this theme, describing slums so decrepit that whole rows of houses are on the point of ruin. In an early chapter, Oliver attends a pauper's funeral with Mr. Sowerberry and sees a whole family crowded together in one miserable room.
  
  This ubiquitous misery makes Oliver's few encounters with charity and love more poignant. Oliver owes his life several times over to kindness both large and small. The apparent plague of poverty that Dickens describes also conveyed to his middle-class readers how much of the London population was stricken with poverty and disease. Nonetheless, in Oliver Twist he delivers a somewhat mixed message about social caste and social injustice. Oliver's illegitimate workhouse origins place him at the nadir of society; as an orphan without friends, he is routinely despised. His "sturdy spirit" keeps him alive despite the torment he must endure. Most of his associates, however, deserve their place among society's dregs and seem very much at home in the depths. Noah Claypole, a charity boy like Oliver, is idle, stupid, and cowardly; Sikes is a thug; Fagin lives by corrupting children; and the Artful Dodger seems born for a life of crime. Many of the middle-class people Oliver encounters—Mrs. Sowerberry, Mr. Bumble, and the savagely hypocritical "gentlemen" of the workhouse board, for example; are, if anything, worse.
  
  Oliver, on the other hand, who has an air of refinement remarkable for a workhouse boy, proves to be of gentle birth. Although he has been abused and neglected all his life, he recoils, aghast, at the idea of victimizing anyone else. This apparently hereditary gentlemanliness makes Oliver Twist something of a changeling tale, not just an indictment of social injustice. Oliver, born for better things, struggles to survive in the savage world of the underclass before finally being rescued by his family and returned to his proper place—a commodious country house.
  
  In a recent film adaptation of the novel, Roman Polanski dispenses with the problem of Oliver's genteel origins by making him an anonymous orphan, like the rest of Fagin's gang.
  Oliver is wounded in a burglary.
  Symbolism
  
  Dickens makes considerable use of symbolism. The many symbols Oliver faces are primarily good versus evil, with evil continually trying to corrupt and exploit good, but good winning out in the end. The "merry old gentleman" Fagin, for example, has satanic characteristics: he is a veteran corrupter of young boys who presides over his own corner of the criminal world; he makes his first appearance standing over a fire holding a toasting-fork; and he refuses to pray on the night before his execution. The London slums, too, have a suffocating, infernal aspect; the dark deeds and dark passions are concretely characterised by dim rooms, and pitch-black nights, while the governing mood of terror and brutality may be identified with uncommonly cold weather. In contrast, the countryside where the Maylies take Oliver is a pastoral heaven.
  
  Food is another important symbol; Oliver's odyssey begins with a simple request for more gruel, and Mr. Bumble's shocked exclamation, represents he may be after more than just gruel. Chapter 8—which contains the last mention of food in the form of Fagin's dinner—marks the first time Oliver eats his share and represents the transformation in his life that occurs after he joins Fagin's gang.
  
  The novel is also shot through with a related motif, obesity, which calls attention to the stark injustice of Oliver's world. When the half-starved child dares to ask for more, the men who punish him are fat. It is interesting to observe the large number of characters who are overweight.
  
  Toward the end of the novel, the gaze of knowing eyes becomes a potent symbol. For years, Fagin avoids daylight, crowds, and open spaces, concealing himself in a dark lair most of the time: when his luck runs out at last, he squirms in the "living light" of too many eyes as he stands in the dock, awaiting sentence. After Sikes kills Nancy, he flees into the countryside but is unable to escape the memory of her dead eyes. Charley Bates turns his back on crime when he sees the murderous cruelty of the man who has been held up to him as a model.
  
  Nancy’s decision to meet Brownlow and Rose on London Bridge reveals the symbolic aspect of this bridge in Oliver Twist. Bridges exist to link two places that would otherwise be separated by an uncrossable void. The meeting on London Bridge represents the collision of two worlds unlikely ever to come into contact—the idyllic world of Brownlow and Rose, and the atmosphere of degradation in which Nancy lives. On the bridge, Nancy is given the chance to cross over to the better way of life that the others represent, but she rejects that opportunity, and by the time the three have all left the bridge, that possibility has vanished forever.
  
  When Rose gives Nancy her handkerchief, and when Nancy holds it up as she dies, Nancy has gone over to the "good" side against the thieves. Her position on the ground is as if she is in prayer, this showing her godly or good position.
  Characters
  The Last Chance.
  
  In the tradition of Restoration Comedy and Henry Fielding, Dickens fits his characters with appropriate names. Oliver himself, though "badged and ticketed" as a lowly orphan and named according to an alphabetical system, is, in fact, "all of a twist." Mr. Grimwig is so called because his seemingly "grim", pessimistic outlook is actually a protective cover for his kind, sentimental soul. Other character names mark their bearers as semi-monstrous caricatures. Mrs. Mann, who has charge of the infant Oliver, is not the most motherly of women; Mr. Bumble, despite his impressive sense of his own dignity, continually mangles the king's English he tries to use; and the Sowerberries are, of course, "sour berries", a reference to Mrs. Sowerberry's perpetual scowl, to Mr. Sowerberry's profession as an undertaker, and to the poor provender Oliver receives from them. Rose Maylie’s name echoes her association with flowers and springtime, youth and beauty, while Toby Crackit’s is a reference to his chosen profession–housebreaking.
  
  Bill Sikes’s dog, Bull’s-eye, has “faults of temper in common with his owner” and is an emblem of his owner’s character. The dog’s viciousness represents Sikes’s animal-like brutality, while Sikes's self-destructiveness is evident in the dog's many scars. The dog, with its willingness to harm anyone on Sikes's whim, shows the mindless brutality of the master. Sikes himself senses that the dog is a reflection of himself and that is why he tries to drown the dog. He is really trying to run away from who he is.[citation needed] This is also illustrated when Sikes dies and the dog does immediately also. After Sikes murders Nancy, Bull’s-eye also comes to represent Sikes’s guilt. The dog leaves bloody footprints on the floor of the room where the murder is committed. Not long after, Sikes becomes desperate to get rid of the dog, convinced that the dog’s presence will give him away. Yet, just as Sikes cannot shake off his guilt, he cannot shake off Bull’s-eye, who arrives at the house of Sikes’s demise before Sikes himself does. Bull’s-eye’s name also conjures up the image of Nancy’s eyes, which haunts Sikes until the bitter end and eventually causes him to hang himself accidentally.
  
  Dickens employs polarised sets of characters to explore various dual themes throughout the novel;[citation needed] Mr. Brownlow and Fagin, for example, personify 'Good vs. Evil'. Dickens also juxtaposes honest, law-abiding characters such as Oliver himself with those who, like the Artful Dodger, seem more comfortable on the wrong side of the law. 'Crime and Punishment' is another important pair of themes, as is 'Sin and Redemption': Dickens describes criminal acts ranging from picking pockets to murder (suggesting that this sort of thing went on continually in 1830's London) only to hand out punishments with a liberal hand at the end. Most obviously, he shows Bill Sikes hounded to death by a mob for his brutal acts, and sends Fagin to cower in the condemned cell, sentenced to death by due process. Neither character achieves redemption; Sikes dies trying to run away from his guilt, and on his last night alive, the terrified Fagin refuses to see a rabbi or to pray, instead asking Oliver to help him escape. Nancy, by contrast, redeems herself at the cost of her own life, and dies in a prayerful pose.
  
  Nancy is also one of the few characters in Oliver Twist to display much ambivalence. Although she is a full-fledged criminal, indoctrinated and trained by Fagin since childhood, she retains enough empathy to repent her role in Oliver's kidnapping, and to take steps to try to atone. As one of Fagin's victims, corrupted but not yet morally dead, she gives eloquent voice to the horrors of the old man's little criminal empire. She wants to save Oliver from a similar fate; at the same time, she recoils from the idea of turning traitor, especially to Bill Sikes, whom she loves. When he was later criticised for giving a "thieving, whoring slut of the streets" such an unaccountable reversal of character, Dickens ascribed her change of heart to "the last fair drop of water at the bottom of a dried-up, weed-choked well".
qián yán
  guān gèng de xiǎo shuō shùxīn zǎo yòu xiē xiǎng chèn xiě zhè piān qián yán zhī biànshuō chū láijiù zhèng guǎng gèng 'àihào zhě
  《 'érshì gèng 'èr cháng piān xiǎo shuōzhè wèi nián jǐn 'èr shí suì de xiǎo shuō jiā jué xīn xué yīng guó xiàn shí zhù huà jiā wēi lián · jiā ( WilliamHogarth,1697 1764) de bǎng yàngyǒng gǎn zhí miàn rén shēngzhēn shí biǎo xiàn dāng shí lún dūn pín mín de bēi cǎn shēng huó bào zhe chóng gāo de dào shè huì de gōngbìng huàn shè huìtuī xíng gǎi shǐ chǔyú shuǐ shēn huǒ zhōng de pín mín dào jiù zhùzhèng yīn wéi gèng lái bèi guó qián lián xué zhě jiè dìng wéi yīng guó wén xué shàng pàn xiàn shí zhù de chuàng shǐ rén zuì wěi de dài biǎo duì yòu xiē tóng de jiàn jiěwén xué shù shì zhǒng shū de shè huì shí xíng tài rán shì shè huì cún zài de fǎn yìngdàn shì men jué néng fǎn yìng xiàn shí de wén xué dōushuō chéng shì xiàn shí zhù wén xuéxiàn shí zhù de wài yán xiàn kuò zhǎnshì shí shàngzuò jiā yùn yòng de chuàng zuò fāng duō zhǒng duō yàngyīn rén 'ér zhè zuò jiā de shū zhì xìng diǎn mìqiè xiāng guān gèng de chuàng zuòxiǎng xiàng wéi fēng chōng mǎn shī de zhuóyì xuàn rǎn de dào xiǎngchù chù rán de zhōng shí lín jiè yòng de huà rán gāo liǎo céngzhè léi luò luó děng jiān chí de guānlěng jìngyán xiě shí de fāng yòu xiǎn zhù de bié
   shì 'érwéi ,( xìng huà de yán shì gèng zài rén zào shàng yùn yòng shí fēn chū de zhǒng shǒu duànshū zhōng de liú mángdào zéi de yán qièhé shēn fènshèn zhì hái yòng liǎo hángyè de hēi huàrán 'ér gèng jué zuò rán zhù de zài xiànér shì jìn xíng jiā gōng liàn xuǎn miǎn shǐ yòng huìxià liú de huà zhù rén gōng 'ào yán guī fàntán wén shèn zhì zhī tōu qiè wèihé shì zài pín yuàn zhǎngdà de 'ércóng wèi shòu dào liáng hǎo de jiào suǒ jiē chù dedōu shì zuì 'è lěi lěiduò luò kān zhī bèi zěn me huì jiǎng zhè me hǎo de yīng wén zhè yòngrén shì qiē shè huì guān zǒng de shǐ wéi zhù guān diǎn shì jiě shì de jiàn gèng zhuólì biǎo xiàn de shì de dào xiǎngér shì zhuī qiú wán quán de zhēn。( èrzài yōu xiù de xiàn shí zhù xiǎo shuō zhōng shì qíng jié wǎng wǎng shì zài huán jìng zuò yòng xià de rén xìng zhǎn shǐ gāo 'ěr suǒ shuō demǒu zhǒng xìng diǎn xíng de chéng cháng gòu chéng de shǐ”。 rán 'ér gèng rèn tàoxiǎng yào duō shǎo qiǎo jiù 'ān pái duō shǎo qiǎo ào gēn xiǎo tōu shàng jiēbèi tāo dōu de rén qià qiǎo jiù shì wáng de hǎo yǒu lǎng luó 'èr zài fěi sài de jié chí xià shì xíng qièbèi tōu de qià hǎo shì qīn · méi lāi jiāzhè zài qíng shàng lùn shì shuō guò dedàn gèng yòu tiān de běn lǐngzài de jié miáo xiě zhōng chōng mǎn shēng huó shǐ shí jǐn zhāng chuǎn guò láiduì zhè zhǒng běn lái shì qiānqiǎng de rán de qíng jié xìn wéi zhēnzhè jiù shì gèng de shù shì jiè de mèi 。( sān gèng xiě zuò shíshǐ zhōng yòu zhǒnggǎn tóng shēn shòu de xiǎng xiàng ”( Sympatheticimagination), shǐ duì shí 'è shè de rén yàngshū zhōng zéi shǒulǎo yóu tài fèi jīn shòu shěn de yīcháng shǐ zhōng cóng fèi jīn de xīn shì jiǎo chū cóng tiān huā bǎn kàn dào bǎnzhǐ jiàn chóngchóng dié dié de yǎn jīng dōuzài zhù shì zhe tīng dào duì zuì xíng de chén shù bào gào kěn qiú de guāng zhuànxiàng shī wàng néng wèitā biàn rén qún zhōng yòu rén zài chī dōng yòu rén yòng shǒu juàn shānfēnghái yòu míng qīng nián huà jiā zài huà de miáo xīn xiǎng zhī dào xiàng xiàngzhēn xiǎng shēn guò kàn kàn wèi shēn shì chū yòu jìn lái xiǎngzhǔn shì chī fàn liǎo zhī chī de shénme fànkàn dào tiě lán gān shàng yòu jiān zhuó zhezhè hěn róng zhé duàncóng yòu xiǎng dào jiǎo xíng jiàzhè shí tīng dào bèi chù jiǎo xíng zhǐ shì nán nán shuō suì shù liǎo liǎojiē zhe jiù shénme shēng yīn chū lái liǎozài zhè gèng jīng xīn xuǎn liǎo liè jié dàn miáo huì liǎo guān shì ér qiě qiē liǎo rén de nèi xīn shì jièbiǎo xiàn liǎo fēng de xiǎng xiàng yùn yòng de shù fāng shì pàn xiàn shí zhù suǒ néng gài kuò de dǎo shì zàn shǎng yīng guó zuò jiā gèng zhuān jiā qiáo zhì · xīn( GeorgeGiss ing, 1857 héng 1903) de biǎo shù gèng de chuàng zuò fāng chēng wéilàng màn de xiàn shí zhù ”( romanticrealism)。 rèn wéi zhè biǎo shù cái gòu zhǔn quècái gèng xiǎo shuō shù de shí
   zuì hòu hái yào tǎo lùn xià E M. zài de míng zhùxiǎo shuō miàn miàn guānzhōng duì gèng rén zào de biǎn shuō gèng zhǐ huì zàobiǎn xíng rén ”, ér huì zàohún yuán rén ”, zài xiǎo shuō shù shàng shǔ jiào céng ”。 shì shí zhēn shì zhè yàng shì 'érzhōng de nán wéi zuò fān yán jiū fēn rèn wéinán zhè rén yòu fēng de nèi xīn shì jièyuǎn E.M. suǒ chēng xiàn de qiēhún yuán rén gèng gǎn huó yuè de shēng mìng nán shì xìng de niàn yòu lún luò zéi bìng chéng wéi 'èr hào zéi shǒu sài de qíng chú liǎo jiǎo jià kàn dào rèn bié de qián jǐngdàn shì tiān liáng wèi mǐnzài tiān zhēn chún jié de 'ào kàn dào wǎng qīng bái de tóng qíng zhī xīn yóu rán 'ér shēng lián fèng zéi shǒu zhī mìngmào chēng shì 'ào de jiě jiěyìng bǎng jià huí zéi shínèi xīn chōng mǎn máo dùnguī zhōng sài tán jiān jiǎo fàn rén de shìào gǎn jué dào nán jǐn zuàn zhe de zhǐ shǒu zài dǒutái yǎn kàn de liǎn biàn shàbáihòu lái mào zhe shēng mìng de wēi xiǎn tōu tōu gěi méi lāi xiǎo jiě lǎng luó tōng fēng bào xìnzhōng 'ào jiù liǎo chū láiméi lāi lǎng luó quàn nán zhèng tuō guò de shēng huózǒu shàng xīn shēng zhī dàn nán rěn xīn qíng rén sài piē xiàsài zài zhī nán suǒ zuò suǒ wéi hòu zhǐ néng chí dào fěi de dào biāo zhǔn nán shì wéi ráo shù de pàn qīn shǒu cán shā hài gèng zài gěi zhè liǎng rén míng shí shì yòu hěn shēn de yòng denán ( Nancy) sài ( Sikes) yīng wén suō xiě shì N S, zhèng shì zhēn de liǎng liǎ gòu chéng duì máo dùn duì yòu tǒng xiāng fǎn yòu xiāng chéngyǒng yuǎn fēn nán kāi sài nìngyuàn bèi shā hài kěn pāo ér sài kāi nán dàn shī jiù sàng hún shī zhōng zài fáng dǐng diē luò bèi de tiáo shéng de huó kòu tào zhù 'ér jué shēn nán de xíng xiàng fēng yòu shēn dàn shìbiǎn píngdeér qiě dào gāo de shù chéng jiù
   gèng de xiǎo shuō jīng zhǒng xiàn dài píng lùn de jué chǎn shì duàn chǎn shēng rén shēn shěng de xīn jiāng yǒng jiǔ bǎo chí zhě de jiàn shǎng xīng zhuān jiā men de yán jiū xīng
   xuē hóng shí
   jiǔ jiǔ nián yuè
   zhōng guó shè huì xué yuàn wài guó wén xué yán jiū suǒ


  TREATS OF THE PLACE WHERE OLIVER TWIST WAS BORN AND OF THE CIRCUMSTANCES ATTENDING HIS BIRTH
   Among other public buildings in a certain town, which for many reasons it will be prudent to refrain from mentioning, and to which I will assign no fictitious name, there is one anciently common to most towns, great or small: to wit, a workhouse; and in this workhouse was born; on a day and date which I need not trouble myself to repeat, inasmuch as it can be of no possible consequence to the reader, in this stage of the business at all events; the item of mortality whose name is prefixed to the head of this chapter.
   For a long time after it was ushered into this world of sorrow and trouble, by the parish surgeon, it remained a matter of considerable doubt whether the child would survive to bear any name at all; in which case it is somewhat more than probable that these memoirs would never have appeared; or, if they had, that being comprised within a couple of pages, they would have possessed the inestimable merit of being the most concise and faithful specimen of biography, extant in the literature of any age or country.
   Although I am not disposed to maintain that the being born in a workhouse, is in itself the most fortunate and enviable circumstance that can possibly befall a human being, I do mean to say that in this particular instance, it was the best thing for Oliver Twist that could by possibility have occurred. The fact is, that there was considerable difficulty in inducing Oliver to take upon himself the office of respiration,--a troublesome practice, but one which custom has rendered necessary to our easy existence; and for some time he lay gasping on a little flock mattress, rather unequally poised between this world and the next: the balance being decidedly in favour of the latter. Now, if, during this brief period, Oliver had been surrounded by careful grandmothers, anxious aunts, experienced nurses, and doctors of profound wisdom, he would most inevitably and indubitably have been killed in no time. There being nobody by, however, but a pauper old woman, who was rendered rather misty by an unwonted allowance of beer; and a parish surgeon who did such matters by contract; Oliver and Nature fought out the point between them. The result was, that, after a few struggles, Oliver breathed, sneezed, and proceeded to advertise to the inmates of the workhouse the fact of a new burden having been imposed upon the parish, by setting up as loud a cry as could reasonably have been expected from a male infant who had not been possessed of that very useful appendage, a voice, for a much longer space of time than three minutes and a quarter.
   As Oliver gave this first proof of the free and proper action of his lungs, the patchwork coverlet which was carelessly flung over the iron bedstead, rustled; the pale face of a young woman was raised feebly from the pillow; and a faint voice imperfectly articulated the words, 'Let me see the child, and die.'
   The surgeon had been sitting with his face turned towards the fire: giving the palms of his hands a warm and a rub alternately. As the young woman spoke, he rose, and advancing to the bed's head, said, with more kindness than might have been expected of him:
   'Oh, you must not talk about dying yet.'
   'Lor bless her dear heart, no!' interposed the nurse, hastily depositing in her pocket a green glass bottle, the contents of which she had been tasting in a corner with evident satisfaction.
   'Lor bless her dear heart, when she has lived as long as I have, sir, and had thirteen children of her own, and all on 'em dead except two, and them in the wurkus with me, she'll know better than to take on in that way, bless her dear heart! Think what it is to be a mother, there's a dear young lamb do.'
   Apparently this consolatory perspective of a mother's prospects failed in producing its due effect. The patient shook her head, and stretched out her hand towards the child.
   The surgeon deposited it in her arms. She imprinted her cold white lips passionately on its forehead; passed her hands over her face; gazed wildly round; shuddered; fell back--and died. They chafed her breast, hands, and temples; but the blood had stopped forever. They talked of hope and comfort. They had been strangers too long.
   'It's all over, Mrs. Thingummy!' said the surgeon at last.
   'Ah, poor dear, so it is!' said the nurse, picking up the cork of the green bottle, which had fallen out on the pillow, as she stooped to take up the child. 'Poor dear!'
   'You needn't mind sending up to me, if the child cries, nurse,' said the surgeon, putting on his gloves with great deliberation. 'It's very likely it _will_ be troublesome. Give it a little gruel if it is.' He put on his hat, and, pausing by the bed-side on his way to the door, added, 'She was a good-looking girl, too; where did she come from?'
   'She was brought here last night,' replied the old woman, 'by the overseer's order. She was found lying in the street. She had walked some distance, for her shoes were worn to pieces; but where she came from, or where she was going to, nobody knows.'
   The surgeon leaned over the body, and raised the left hand. 'The old story,' he said, shaking his head: 'no wedding-ring, I see. Ah! Good-night!'
   The medical gentleman walked away to dinner; and the nurse, having once more applied herself to the green bottle, sat down on a low chair before the fire, and proceeded to dress the infant.
   What an excellent example of the power of dress, young Oliver Twist was! Wrapped in the blanket which had hitherto formed his only covering, he might have been the child of a nobleman or a beggar; it would have been hard for the haughtiest stranger to have assigned him his proper station in society. But now that he was enveloped in the old calico robes which had grown yellow in the same service, he was badged and ticketed, and fell into his place at once--a parish child--the orphan of a workhouse--the humble, half-starved drudge--to be cuffed and buffeted through the world--despised by all, and pitied by none.
   Oliver cried lustily. If he could have known that he was an orphan, left to the tender mercies of church-wardens and overseers, perhaps he would have cried the louder.
zhāng
  tǎo lùn 'ào · tuì de chū shēng diǎn yòu guān chū shēng de zhǒng zhǒng qíng xíng
   zài mǒu xiǎo chéngyóu zhū duō yuán yīnduì gāi chéng de míng hái shì wéi hǎo lián jiǎ míng gěi shù xiǎo xiǎo de chéng zhèn yàngzài de gōng gòng jiàn zhù zhī zhōng yòu yòu zhī de gòuzhè jiù shì pín yuànběn zhāng zhōng dào liǎo xìng míng de rén jiù chū shēng zài zhè suǒ pín yuàn zhuì shùfǎn zhèng zhè diǎn duì zhě lái shuō guān jǐn yào héng héng zhì shǎo zài qián zhè jiē duàn shì zhè yàng
   zhè hái yóu jiào wài shēng lǐng zhelái dào liǎo zhè nán 'ér dòng dàng de shì jièzài hěn cháng duàn shí jiān réng rán cún zài zhe jiàn xiāng dāng shāng nǎo jīn de wèn zhè hái dào shì shì néng gòu yòu míng yòu xìng huó xià guǒ shì zhè zhǒng qíng kuàngběn chuán hěn yòu néng huì yǒng miàn shì zhī huò zhě shuō biàn néng wèn shì zhǐ yòu liáo liáo shù guò dǎo yòu tiáo gūliáng de yōu diǎn chéng wéi wǎng jīn lái shì jiè guó xiàn cún wén xiàn zhōng zuì jiǎn míng zuì zhōng shí de zhuànjì fàn běn
   dǎo jiān chí shuōchū shēng zài pín mín shōu róng yuàn zhè jiàn shì běn shēn nǎi shì rén suǒ néng zhǐ wàng dào de zuì měi miàozuì rén xiàn de yùn dàn díquè xiǎng zhǐ chū shí duì 'ào · tuì shuō láizhè shì zuì xìng yùn de jiàn shì liǎo mán shuōdāng shí yào 'ào 'ér chéng dān kōng de zhí néng xiāng dāng kùn nán héng héng běn lái jiù shì jiàn fán shìpiān piān guàn yòu shǐ zhè xiàng zhí néng chéng liǎo men wéi chí shēng cún shǎo de shì qínghǎo zhèn tǎng zài zhāng xiǎo xiǎo de máo tǎn shàng zhí chuǎn zài jīn shēng lái shì zhī jiān yáo bǎi dìngtiān píng jué dìng xìng qīng xiàng hòu zhěbié de qiě shuōzài zhè duǎn zàn de shí guāng cháng ruò 'ào de zhōu wéi shì bān zhì zhōu dào de lǎo nǎi nǎi xīn cháng de niàn shěnjīng yàn fēng de xué shí yuān de háo dìng xià jiù bèi jiēguǒ liǎoxìng hǎo zài chǎng de zhǐ yòu pín yuàn de lǎo tài jīng jiào róng dào shǒu de diǎn jiǔ nòng yòu xiē yùn de liǎowài jiā wèi 'àn tóng bàn zhè lèi shì qíng de jiào wài shēngchú zhī wàiméi yòu bàng rénào zào huà zhī jiān de jiào liàng jiàn liǎo fēn xiǎo liǎojiēguǒ shì huí xià láiào píng wěn liǎo liǎo pentì chū zhèn gāo shēng zuò wéi míng nán yīng shēng zhī xiǎng shì xiǎng jiàn deyào zhī dào zài yuǎn yuǎn chāo guò sān fēn shí miǎo de shí jiān hái shǐ zhōng céng yòu sǎng mén zhè yàng zhǒng hěn yòu yòng chù de jiàn kāi shǐ xiàng quán yuàn shàng xià gōng shì shíběn jiào yòu bèi shàng liǎo xīn de bāo
   ào gāng zhè fān huó dòng zhèng míng de fèi gōng néng zhèng chángyùn zhuǎn zhè shí luàn zài tiě chuáng jià shàng de zhāng dīng luò dīng de chuáng dān xiǎng liǎo lái nián qīng yòu cóng zhěn tóu shàng tái cāng bái de miàn kǒngyòng wēi ruò de shēng yīn shí fēn qīng chū liǎo :“ ràng kàn kàn hái zài 。”
   shēng miàn duì zuò zài biānshí 'ér kǎo kǎo shǒu xīnshí 'ér yòu cuō cuō shǒutīng dào de shēng yīn zhàn láizǒu dào chuáng tóukǒu shàn chū rén liàoshuō
  “ ō xiàn zài hái tán shàng 。”
  “ shàng bǎo yòu shì 。” shì chā zuǐ shuō biān huāng huāng zhāng zhāng zhǐ píng fàng jìn dài píng zhōng zhī jīng zài jiǎo luò cháng guò liǎoxiǎn rán shí fēn zhòngyì。“ shàng bǎo yòu děng huó dào zhè suì shù jiā yǎng shàng shí sān hái chú kāi liǎng quán sòng mìng liǎng jiù gēn kuài 'ér dài zài pín yuàn hǎo liǎodào shí hòu jiù míng bái liǎofàn zhe zhè yàng dòng dexún xún dāng shì zěn me huí shì 'ài de xiǎo yáng gāo zài zhè 'ér méi cuò。”
   zhè fān huà běn lái shì xiǎng yòng zuò qīn de qián jǐng lái kāi dǎo chǎn dàn xiǎn rán méi yòu chǎn shēng yīngyǒu de xiào guǒchǎn yáo yáo tóucháo hái shēn chū shǒu
   shēng jiāng hái fàng jìn de huái shēn qíng bīng liáng bái de shuāng chún yìn zài hái de 'é tóu shàngjiē zhe yòng shuāng shǒu liǎo liǎnkuáng luàn huán liǎo xià zhōu wéizhàn zhe xiàng hòu yǎng héng héng liǎo men de xiōng shuāng shǒutài yáng xuédàn xuè jīng yǒng yuǎn níng zhì liǎo shēng shuō liǎo xiē wàng 'ān wèi de huà wàng 'ān wèi jīng jiǔ wéi duō shí liǎo
  “ qiēdōu wán liǎoxīn tài tài。” liǎo shēng shuō dào
  “ lián de hái shì zhè me huí shì。” shì shuō zhecóng zhěn tóu shàng shí zhǐ píng de píngsāi shì wān yāo bào hái de shí hòu diào xià lái de。“ lián de hái 。”
  “ shìhái yào shì de huà jìn guǎn jiào rén lái zhǎo ,” shēng màn tiáo dài shàng shǒu tàoshuō dào,“ xiǎo jiā huǒ hěn néng huì zhēténg yào shì yàngjiù gěi diǎn mài piàn 。” dài shàng mào hái méi zǒu dào mén kǒuyòu zài chuáng biān tíng liǎo xià láitiān shàng liǎo ,“ zhè niàn hái tǐng piào liàng 'ér lái de?”
  “ shì zuó tiān wǎn shàng sòng lái de,” lǎo huí ,“ yòu jiào pín mín jiù chù cháng guān de fēn yòu rén kàn jiàn dǎo zài jiē shàng zǒu liǎo hěn yuǎn de xié chuān chéng shuà liǎoyào shuō cóng 'ér láidào 'ér méi rén zhī dào。”
   shēng wān xià yāo zhě de zuǒ shǒu。“ yòu shì zhǒng shì,” yáo yáo tóu shuō,“ míng bái liǎoméi dài jié hūn jiè zhǐāwǎn 'ān。”
   dǒng dào de shēn shì wài chū chī wǎn fàn liǎo shì běn rén jiù zhe zhǐ píng yòu shòu yòng liǎo fānzài qián 'ǎi shàng zuò xià láizhuóshǒu yīng 'ér chuān
   xiǎo 'ào zhēn chēng wéi rén kào zhuāng de jié chū diǎn fàn cóng chū shì wéi yǎn shēn de dōng jiù shì guǒ zài shēn shàng de tiáo tǎn shuō shì guì jiā gōng xíngshì gài de pín 'ér jiù shì zuì de wài rén hěn nán què dìng de shè huì wèi guò zhè dāng 'ér gěi guǒ jìn jiàn bái jiù zhào shān biānyóu duō shǐ yòngzhào shān jīng kāi shǐ fàn huáng shàng yìn zhāngtiē shàng biāo qiān zhuǎn yǎn jīng zhèng shì dào wèi héng héng chéng wéi jiào de hái héng héng pín yuàn de 'ér héng héng chī bǎo 'è de héng héng lái dào shì shàng jiù yào cháng quán tóuāi zhǎng miǎo shì rén lián mǐn
   ào jìn qíng lái yào shì néng gòu shí dào chéng liǎo 'érmìng yùn quán kàn jiào wěi yuán pín mín jiù chù guān yuán huì huì bēi néng hái huì gèng xiǎng liàng xiē


  TREATS OF OLIVER TWIST'S GROWTH, EDUCATION, AND BOARD
   For the next eight or ten months, Oliver was the victim of a systematic course of treachery and deception. He was brought up by hand. The hungry and destitute situation of the infant orphan was duly reported by the workhouse authorities to the parish authorities. The parish authorities inquired with dignity of the workhouse authorities, whether there was no female then domiciled in 'the house' who was in a situation to impart to Oliver Twist, the consolation and nourishment of which he stood in need. The workhouse authorities replied with humility, that there was not. Upon this, the parish authorities magnanimously and humanely resolved, that Oliver should be 'farmed,' or, in other words, that he should be dispatched to a branch-workhouse some three miles off, where twenty or thirty other juvenile offenders against the poor-laws, rolled about the floor all day, without the inconvenience of too much food or too much clothing, under the parental superintendence of an elderly female, who received the culprits at and for the consideration of sevenpence-halfpenny per small head per week. Sevenpence-halfpenny's worth per week is a good round diet for a child; a great deal may be got for sevenpence-halfpenny, quite enough to overload its stomach, and make it uncomfortable. The elderly female was a woman of wisdom and experience; she knew what was good for children; and she had a very accurate perception of what was good for herself. So, she appropriated the greater part of the weekly stipend to her own use, and consigned the rising parochial generation to even a shorter allowance than was originally provided for them. Thereby finding in the lowest depth a deeper still; and proving herself a very great experimental philosopher.
   Everybody knows the story of another experimental philosopher who had a great theory about a horse being able to live without eating, and who demonstrated it so well, that he had got his own horse down to a straw a day, and would unquestionably have rendered him a very spirited and rampacious animal on nothing at all, if he had not died, four-and-twenty hours before he was to have had his first comfortable bait of air. Unfortunately for, the experimental philosophy of the female to whose protecting care Oliver Twist was delivered over, a similar result usually attended the operation of _her_ system; for at the very moment when the child had contrived to exist upon the smallest possible portion of the weakest possible food, it did perversely happen in eight and a half cases out of ten, either that it sickened from want and cold, or fell into the fire from neglect, or got half-smothered by accident; in any one of which cases, the miserable little being was usually summoned into another world, and there gathered to the fathers it had never known in this.
   Occasionally, when there was some more than usually interesting inquest upon a parish child who had been overlooked in turning up a bedstead, or inadvertently scalded to death when there happened to be a washing--though the latter accident was very scarce, anything approaching to a washing being of rare occurrence in the farm--the jury would take it into their heads to ask troublesome questions, or the parishioners would rebelliously affix their signatures to a remonstrance. But these impertinences were speedily checked by the evidence of the surgeon, and the testimony of the beadle; the former of whom had always opened the body and found nothing inside (which was very probable indeed), and the latter of whom invariably swore whatever the parish wanted; which was very self-devotional. Besides, the board made periodical pilgrimages to the farm, and always sent the beadle the day before, to say they were going. The children were neat and clean to behold, when _they_ went; and what more would the people have!
   It cannot be expected that this system of farming would produce any very extraordinary or luxuriant crop. Oliver Twist's ninth birthday found him a pale thin child, somewhat diminutive in stature, and decidedly small in circumference. But nature or inheritance had implanted a good sturdy spirit in Oliver's breast. It had had plenty of room to expand, thanks to the spare diet of the establishment; and perhaps to this circumstance may be attributed his having any ninth birth-day at all. Be this as it may, however, it was his ninth birthday; and he was keeping it in the coal-cellar with a select party of two other young gentleman, who, after participating with him in a sound thrashing, had been locked up for atrociously presuming to be hungry, when Mrs. Mann, the good lady of the house, was unexpectedly startled by the apparition of Mr. Bumble, the beadle, striving to undo the wicket of the garden-gate.
   'Goodness gracious! Is that you, Mr. Bumble, sir?' said Mrs. Mann, thrusting her head out of the window in well-affected ecstasies of joy. '(Susan, take Oliver and them two brats upstairs, and wash 'em directly.)--My heart alive! Mr. Bumble, how glad I am to see you, sure-ly!'
   Now, Mr. Bumble was a fat man, and a choleric; so, instead of responding to this open-hearted salutation in a kindred spirit, he gave the little wicket a tremendous shake, and then bestowed upon it a kick which could have emanated from no leg but a beadle's.
   'Lor, only think,' said Mrs. Mann, running out,--for the three boys had been removed by this time,--'only think of that! That I should have forgotten that the gate was bolted on the inside, on account of them dear children! Walk in sir; walk in, pray, Mr. Bumble, do, sir.'
   Although this invitation was accompanied with a curtsey that might have softened the heart of a church-warden, it by no means mollified the beadle.
   'Do you think this respectful or proper conduct, Mrs. Mann,' inquired Mr. Bumble, grasping his cane, 'to keep the parish officers a waiting at your garden-gate, when they come here upon porochial business with the porochial orphans? Are you aweer, Mrs. Mann, that you are, as I may say, a porochial delegate, and a stipendiary?'
   'I'm sure Mr. Bumble, that I was only a telling one or two of the dear children as is so fond of you, that it was you a coming,' replied Mrs. Mann with great humility.
   Mr. Bumble had a great idea of his oratorical powers and his importance. He had displayed the one, and vindicated the other. He relaxed.
   'Well, well, Mrs. Mann,' he replied in a calmer tone; 'it may be as you say; it may be. Lead the way in, Mrs. Mann, for I come on business, and have something to say.'
   Mrs. Mann ushered the beadle into a small parlour with a brick floor; placed a seat for him; and officiously deposited his cocked hat and cane on the table before him. Mr. Bumble wiped from his forehead the perspiration which his walk had engendered, glanced complacently at the cocked hat, and smiled. Yes, he smiled. Beadles are but men: and Mr. Bumble smiled.
   'Now don't you be offended at what I'm a going to say,' observed Mrs. Mann, with captivating sweetness. 'You've had a long walk, you know, or I wouldn't mention it. Now, will you take a little drop of somethink, Mr. Bumble?'
   'Not a drop. Nor a drop,' said Mr. Bumble, waving his right hand in a dignified, but placid manner.
   'I think you will,' said Mrs. Mann, who had noticed the tone of the refusal, and the gesture that had accompanied it. 'Just a leetle drop, with a little cold water, and a lump of sugar.'
   Mr. Bumble coughed.
   'Now, just a leetle drop,' said Mrs. Mann persuasively.
   'What is it?' inquired the beadle.
   'Why, it's what I'm obliged to keep a little of in the house, to put into the blessed infants' Daffy, when they ain't well, Mr. Bumble,' replied Mrs. Mann as she opened a corner cupboard, and took down a bottle and glass. 'It's gin. I'll not deceive you, Mr. B. It's gin.'
   'Do you give the children Daffy, Mrs. Mann?' inquired Bumble, following with his eyes the interesting process of mixing.
   'Ah, bless 'em, that I do, dear as it is,' replied the nurse. 'I couldn't see 'em suffer before my very eyes, you know sir.'
   'No'; said Mr. Bumble approvingly; 'no, you could not. You are a humane woman, Mrs. Mann.' (Here she set down the glass.) 'I shall take a early opportunity of mentioning it to the board, Mrs. Mann.' (He drew it towards him.) 'You feel as a mother, Mrs. Mann.' (He stirred the gin-and-water.) 'I--I drink your health with cheerfulness, Mrs. Mann'; and he swallowed half of it.
   'And now about business,' said the beadle, taking out a leathern pocket-book. 'The child that was half-baptized Oliver Twist, is nine year old to-day.'
   'Bless him!' interposed Mrs. Mann, inflaming her left eye with the corner of her apron.
   'And notwithstanding a offered reward of ten pound, which was afterwards increased to twenty pound. Notwithstanding the most superlative, and, I may say, supernat'ral exertions on the part of this parish,' said Bumble, 'we have never been able to discover who is his father, or what was his mother's settlement, name, or con--dition.'
   Mrs. Mann raised her hands in astonishment; but added, after a moment's reflection, 'How comes he to have any name at all, then?'
   The beadle drew himself up with great pride, and said, 'I inwented it.'
   'You, Mr. Bumble!'
   'I, Mrs. Mann. We name our fondlings in alphabetical order. The last was a S,--Swubble, I named him. This was a T,--Twist, I named _him_. The next one comes will be Unwin, and the next Vilkins. I have got names ready made to the end of the alphabet, and all the way through it again, when we come to Z.'
   'Why, you're quite a literary character, sir!' said Mrs. Mann.
   'Well, well,' said the beadle, evidently gratified with the compliment; 'perhaps I may be. Perhaps I may be, Mrs. Mann.' He finished the gin-and-water, and added, 'Oliver being now too old to remain here, the board have determined to have him back into the house. I have come out myself to take him there. So let me see him at once.'
   'I'll fetch him directly,' said Mrs. Mann, leaving the room for that purpose. Oliver, having had by this time as much of the outer coat of dirt which encrusted his face and hands, removed, as could be scrubbed off in one washing, was led into the room by his benevolent protectress.
   'Make a bow to the gentleman, Oliver,' said Mrs. Mann.
   Oliver made a bow, which was divided between the beadle on the chair, and the cocked hat on the table.
   'Will you go along with me, Oliver?' said Mr. Bumble, in a majestic voice.
   Oliver was about to say that he would go along with anybody with great readiness, when, glancing upward, he caught sight of Mrs. Mann, who had got behind the beadle's chair, and was shaking her fist at him with a furious countenance. He took the hint at once, for the fist had been too often impressed upon his body not to be deeply impressed upon his recollection.
   'Will she go with me?' inquired poor Oliver.
   'No, she can't,' replied Mr. Bumble. 'But she'll come and see you sometimes.'
   This was no very great consolation to the child. Young as he was, however, he had sense enough to make a feint of feeling great regret at going away. It was no very difficult matter for the boy to call tears into his eyes. Hunger and recent ill-usage are great assistants if you want to cry; and Oliver cried very naturally indeed. Mrs. Mann gave him a thousand embraces, and what Oliver wanted a great deal more, a piece of bread and butter, less he should seem too hungry when he got to the workhouse. With the slice of bread in his hand, and the little brown-cloth parish cap on his head, Oliver was then led away by Mr. Bumble from the wretched home where one kind word or look had never lighted the gloom of his infant years. And yet he burst into an agony of childish grief, as the cottage-gate closed after him. Wretched as were the little companions in misery he was leaving behind, they were the only friends he had ever known; and a sense of his loneliness in the great wide world, sank into the child's heart for the first time.
   Mr. Bumble walked on with long strides; little Oliver, firmly grasping his gold-laced cuff, trotted beside him, inquiring at the end of every quarter of a mile whether they were 'nearly there.' To these interrogations Mr. Bumble returned very brief and snappish replies; for the temporary blandness which gin-and-water awakens in some bosoms had by this time evaporated; and he was once again a beadle.
   Oliver had not been within the walls of the workhouse a quarter of an hour, and had scarcely completed the demolition of a second slice of bread, when Mr. Bumble, who had handed him over to the care of an old woman, returned; and, telling him it was a board night, informed him that the board had said he was to appear before it forthwith.
   Not having a very clearly defined notion of what a live board was, Oliver was rather astounded by this intelligence, and was not quite certain whether he ought to laugh or cry. He had no time to think about the matter, however; for Mr. Bumble gave him a tap on the head, with his cane, to wake him up: and another on the back to make him lively: and bidding him to follow, conducted him into a large white-washed room, where eight or ten fat gentlemen were sitting round a table. At the top of the table, seated in an arm-chair rather higher than the rest, was a particularly fat gentleman with a very round, red face.
   'Bow to the board,' said Bumble. Oliver brushed away two or three tears that were lingering in his eyes; and seeing no board but the table, fortunately bowed to that.
   'What's your name, boy?' said the gentleman in the high chair.
   Oliver was frightened at the sight of so many gentlemen, which made him tremble: and the beadle gave him another tap behind, which made him cry. These two causes made him answer in a very low and hesitating voice; whereupon a gentleman in a white waistcoat said he was a fool. Which was a capital way of raising his spirits, and putting him quite at his ease.
   'Boy,' said the gentleman in the high chair, 'listen to me. You know you're an orphan, I suppose?'
   'What's that, sir?' inquired poor Oliver.
   'The boy _is_ a fool--I thought he was,' said the gentleman in the white waistcoat.
   'Hush!' said the gentleman who had spoken first. 'You know you've got no father or mother, and that you were brought up by the parish, don't you?'
   'Yes, sir,' replied Oliver, weeping bitterly.
   'What are you crying for?' inquired the gentleman in the white waistcoat. And to be sure it was very extraordinary. What _could_ the boy be crying for?
   'I hope you say your prayers every night,' said another gentleman in a gruff voice; 'and pray for the people who feed you, and take care of you--like a Christian.'
   'Yes, sir,' stammered the boy. The gentleman who spoke last was unconsciously right. It would have been very like a Christian, and a marvellously good Christian too, if Oliver had prayed for the people who fed and took care of _him_. But he hadn't, because nobody had taught him.
   'Well! You have come here to be educated, and taught a useful trade,' said the red-faced gentleman in the high chair.
   'So you'll begin to pick oakum to-morrow morning at six o'clock,' added the surly one in the white waistcoat.
   For the combination of both these blessings in the one simple process of picking oakum, Oliver bowed low by the direction of the beadle, and was then hurried away to a large ward; where, on a rough, hard bed, he sobbed himself to sleep. What a novel illustration of the tender laws of England! They let the paupers go to sleep!
   Poor Oliver! He little thought, as he lay sleeping in happy unconsciousness of all around him, that the board had that very day arrived at a decision which would exercise the most material influence over all his future fortunes. But they had. And this was it:
   The members of this board were very sage, deep, philosophical men; and when they came to turn their attention to the workhouse, they found out at once, what ordinary folks would never have discovered--the poor people liked it! It was a regular place of public entertainment for the poorer classes; a tavern where there was nothing to pay; a public breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper all the year round; a brick and mortar elysium, where it was all play and no work. 'Oho!' said the board, looking very knowing; 'we are the fellows to set this to rights; we'll stop it all, in no time.' So, they established the rule, that all poor people should have the alternative (for they would compel nobody, not they), of being starved by a gradual process in the house, or by a quick one out of it. With this view, they contracted with the water-works to lay on an unlimited supply of water; and with a corn-factor to supply periodically small quantities of oatmeal; and issued three meals of thin gruel a day, with an onion twice a week, and half a roll of Sundays. They made a great many other wise and humane regulations, having reference to the ladies, which it is not necessary to repeat; kindly undertook to divorce poor married people, in consequence of the great expense of a suit in Doctors' Commons; and, instead of compelling a man to support his family, as they had theretofore done, took his family away from him, and made him a bachelor! There is no saying how many applicants for relief, under these last two heads, might have started up in all classes of society, if it had not been coupled with the workhouse; but the board were long-headed men, and had provided for this difficulty. The relief was inseparable from the workhouse and the gruel; and that frightened people.
   For the first six months after Oliver Twist was removed, the system was in full operation. It was rather expensive at first, in consequence of the increase in the undertaker's bill, and the necessity of taking in the clothes of all the paupers, which fluttered loosely on their wasted, shrunken forms, after a week or two's gruel. But the number of workhouse inmates got thin as well as the paupers; and the board were in ecstasies.
   The room in which the boys were fed, was a large stone hall, with a copper at one end: out of which the master, dressed in an apron for the purpose, and assisted by one or two women, ladled the gruel at mealtimes. Of this festive composition each boy had one porringer, and no more--except on occasions of great public rejoicing, when he had two ounces and a quarter of bread besides.
   The bowls never wanted washing. The boys polished them with their spoons till they shone again; and when they had performed this operation (which never took very long, the spoons being nearly as large as the bowls), they would sit staring at the copper, with such eager eyes, as if they could have devoured the very bricks of which it was composed; employing themselves, meanwhile, in sucking their fingers most assiduously, with the view of catching up any stray splashes of gruel that might have been cast thereon. Boys have generally excellent appetites. Oliver Twist and his companions suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three months: at last they got so voracious and wild with hunger, that one boy, who was tall for his age, and hadn't been used to that sort of thing (for his father had kept a small cook-shop), hinted darkly to his companions, that unless he had another basin of gruel per diem, he was afraid he might some night happen to eat the boy who slept next him, who happened to be a weakly youth of tender age. He had a wild, hungry eye; and they implicitly believed him. A council was held; lots were cast who should walk up to the master after supper that evening, and ask for more; and it fell to Oliver Twist.
   The evening arrived; the boys took their places. The master, in his cook's uniform, stationed himself at the copper; his pauper assistants ranged themselves behind him; the gruel was served out; and a long grace was said over the short commons. The gruel disappeared; the boys whispered each other, and winked at Oliver; while his next neighbors nudged him. Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger, and reckless with misery. He rose from the table; and advancing to the master, basin and spoon in hand, said: somewhat alarmed at his own temerity:
   'Please, sir, I want some more.'
   The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned very pale. He gazed in stupefied astonishment on the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung for support to the copper. The assistants were paralysed with wonder; the boys with fear.
   'What!' said the master at length, in a faint voice.
   'Please, sir,' replied Oliver, 'I want some more.'
   The master aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the ladle; pinioned him in his arm; and shrieked aloud for the beadle.
   The board were sitting in solemn conclave, when Mr. Bumble rushed into the room in great excitement, and addressing the gentleman in the high chair, said,
   'Mr. Limbkins, I beg your pardon, sir! Oliver Twist has asked for more!'
   There was a general start. Horror was depicted on every countenance.
   'For _more_!' said Mr. Limbkins. 'Compose yourself, Bumble, and answer me distinctly. Do I understand that he asked for more, after he had eaten the supper allotted by the dietary?'
   'He did, sir,' replied Bumble.
   'That boy will be hung,' said the gentleman in the white waistcoat. 'I know that boy will be hung.'
   Nobody controverted the prophetic gentleman's opinion. An animated discussion took place. Oliver was ordered into instant confinement; and a bill was next morning pasted on the outside of the gate, offering a reward of five pounds to anybody who would take Oliver Twist off the hands of the parish. In other words, five pounds and Oliver Twist were offered to any man or woman who wanted an apprentice to any trade, business, or calling.
   'I never was more convinced of anything in my life,' said the gentleman in the white waistcoat, as he knocked at the gate and read the bill next morning: 'I never was more convinced of anything in my life, than I am that that boy will come to be hung.'
   As I purpose to show in the sequel whether the white waistcoated gentleman was right or not, I should perhaps mar the interest of this narrative (supposing it to possess any at all), if I ventured to hint just yet, whether the life of Oliver Twist had this violent termination or no.
shǒuyè>> wénxué>> 现实百态>> 查爾斯·狄更斯 Charles Dickens   英國 United Kingdom   漢諾威王朝   (1812年二月7日1870年六月9日)