最忠实于原著的简写英语读物- 典范英语9-7 《大卫•科波菲尔》(David Copperfield by Charles Dic

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《大卫•科波菲尔》故事梗概 中文版
大卫·科波菲尔尚未出世时,父亲就去世了,他在母亲及女仆的照管下长大。不久,母亲改嫁,后父摩德斯通凶狠贪婪,他把大卫看作累赘,婚前就把大卫送到了女仆的哥哥佩克提家里。佩克提是个正直善良的渔民,住在雅茅斯海边一座用破船改成的小屋里,与收养的一对孤儿艾米丽和海穆相依为命,大卫和他们一起过着清苦和睦的生活。
出于对母亲的思念,大卫又回到了后父家。然而后父不但常常责打他,甚至剥夺了母亲对他关怀和爱抚的权利。母亲去世后,后父立即把不足10岁的大卫送去当洗刷酒瓶的童工,大卫从此过起了不能温饱的生活。他历尽艰辛,最后找到了姨婆贝西小姐。
贝西小姐生性怪僻,但心地善良。她收留了大卫,让他上学深造。大卫求学期间,寄宿在姨婆的律师威克菲尔家里,与他的女儿安妮斯结下了深厚的情谊。但大卫对威克菲尔雇用的一个名叫希普的书记极为反感,讨厌他那种阳奉阴违、曲意逢迎的丑态。
大卫中学毕业后外出旅行,邂逅了童年时代的同学斯蒂弗茨。两人一起来到雅茅斯,拜访佩克提一家。已经和海穆订婚的艾米丽经受不住阔少爷斯蒂弗茨的引诱,竟在结婚前夕与他私奔国外。佩克提痛苦万分,发誓要找回艾米丽。
大卫回到伦敦,在斯本罗律师事务所任见习生。他从安妮斯口中获悉,威克菲尔律师落入诡计多端的希普所设计的陷阱,正处在走投无路的境地,这使大卫非常愤慨。此时的大卫爱上了斯本罗律师的女儿朵拉,但两人婚后的生活并不理想。朵拉是个容貌美丽,但头脑简单的“洋娃娃”。贝西姨婆也濒临破产。这时,大卫再次遇见他当童工时的房东密考伯,密考伯现在是希普的秘书,经过激烈的思想斗争,他最终揭露了希普陷害威克菲尔并导致贝西小姐破产的种种阴谋。在事实面前,希普只好伏罪。
与此同时,佩克提和海穆经过多方奔波,终于找到了被斯蒂弗茨抛弃后,沦落在伦敦的艾米丽,并决定将她带回澳大利亚,开始新的生活。然而就在启程前夕,海上突然风狂雨骤,一艘来自西班牙的客轮在雅茅斯遇险沉没,只剩下一个濒死的旅客紧紧地抓着桅杆。海穆见状不顾自身危险,下海救他,不幸被巨浪吞没。当人们捞起他的尸体时,船上那名旅客的尸体也漂到了岸边,原来竟是诱拐艾米丽的斯蒂弗茨。艾米丽为海穆的行动深深地打动了,回到澳大利亚后,她终日在劳动中寻找安宁,并且终身未嫁。
大卫终于成了一名作家,朵拉却患上了重病,在佩克提返回澳大利亚前夕便离开了人世。大卫满怀悲痛地出国旅行散心,其间,安妮斯始终与他保持联系。当他三年后返回英国时,才发觉安妮斯一直爱着他。两人最终走到了一起,与姨婆贝西、女仆愉快地生活着。
David
Copperfield
The story traces the life of David Copperfield from childhood to maturity. David was born in Blunderston near Gt Yarmouth, Norfolk, England in 1820. David's father had died six months before he was born, and seven years later, his mother re-marries Mr. Edward Murdstone. David is given good reason to dislike his stepfather and has similar feelings for Mr Murdstone's sister Jane, who moves into the house soon afterwards. Mr Murdstone thrashes David for falling behind with his studies. Following one of these thrashings, David bites him and soon afterward is sent away to a boarding school, Salem House, with a ruthless headmaster, Mr. Creakle. Here he befriends James Steerforth and Tommy Traddles, both of whom become significant later on in the novel.
David returns home for the holidays to find out that his mother has had a baby boy. Soon after David goes back to Salem House, his mother and her baby die and David has to return home immediately. Mr Murdstone sends him to work in a factory in London, of which Murdstone is a joint owner. The grim reality of hand-to-mouth factory existence echoes Dickens' own travails in a blacking factory. Copperfield's landlord, Mr Wilkins Micawber, is sent to a debtor's prison (the King's Bench Prison) after going bankrupt and remains there for several months before being released and moving to Plymouth. No one remains to care for David in London, so he decides to run away.
He walks all the way from London to Dover, where he finds his only relative, aunt Miss Betsey Trotwood. This eccentric aunt agrees to raise him, despite Mr Murdstone's attempt to regain David's custody. David's aunt renames him 'Trotwood Copperfield', shortened to "Trot", and for the rest of the novel David is called by either name, depending on whether he is communicating with someone he has known for a long time or someone he has only recently met.
The story follows David as he grows to adulthood and is enlivened by the many well-known characters who enter, leave, and re-enter his life. These include Peggotty – his mother's faithful former housekeeper – and Peggotty's family, including her orphaned niece "Little Em'ly", who moves in with them and charms the young David. David's romantic but self-serving school friend, Steerforth, seduces and dishonors Little Em'ly, precipitating the novel's greatest tragedy, and his landlord's daughter and "angel in the house," Agnes Wickfield, becomes his confidante. The novel's two most familiar characters are David's sometime mentor, the debt-ridden Micawber, and the devious and fraudulent clerk, Uriah Heep, whose misdeeds are eventually revealed with Micawber's assistance. Micawber is painted sympathetically even as the narrator deplores his financial ineptitude. Micawber, like Dickens' own father, is briefly imprisoned for insolvency.
In typical Dickens fashion, the major characters eventually get some measure of what they deserve, and few narrative threads are left hanging. Dan Peggotty safely transports Little Em'ly to a new life in Australia; accompanied by Mrs. Gummidge and the Micawbers. All eventually find security and happiness in their adopted country. First, David marries the beautiful but naïve Dora Spenlow, who dies after failing to recover from a miscarriage early in their marriage. David then searches his soul and marries the sensible Agnes, who had always loved him and with whom he finds true happiness. David and Agnes then have three children, including a daughter named for Betsey Trotwood.