遠大前程（英文）

　　《最經典英語文庫：遠大前程（英文版）》的主人公皮普是個孤兒，由姐姐撫養(yǎng)長大。皮普本打算學習鐵匠手藝，跟善良的姐夫喬生活在一起。但一次偶遇，他深深地愛上了貴族郝薇香小姐的養(yǎng)女——美麗高傲的艾絲黛拉。為了俘獲她的芳心，皮普下決心成為一名紳士，并躋身于上層社會。為了追求不切實際的“遠大前程”，皮普顛覆了自己的人生觀，從一個單純善良的小孩，變成了高傲無情的勢利小人。他辜負了喬的培養(yǎng)、教育和幫助，并不止一次背叛了他。后來皮普在經歷了嚴酷的磨難后，才得知一切事實：他的資助者是一名他小時候冒險幫助過的流放犯；他深愛的艾絲黛拉，就是這個罪犯和另一個女殺人犯所生；他心目中的庇護人郝薇香小姐是個冷酷無情的報復狂——她收養(yǎng)艾絲黛拉的目的，是為了教唆她用美貌去折磨男人，對負心男人進行報復，以撫平心中積怨。而在整個過程中，自己僅是個報復對象的替身……直到此時，他才幡然醒悟。隨著恩人被捕、艾絲黛拉另嫁他人，皮普的“遠大前程”化為烏有。在追逐夢想以及夢幻破滅過程中，所有的經歷讓皮普漸漸清醒、成長、成熟，使他意識到，真正的遠大前程，不在于財富和地位，而在于擁有一顆正直、善良的心靈和勤勞、智慧的雙手。

　　Charles Dickens （February 1812-9 June 1870） was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's most memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. During his life， his works enjoyed unprecedented fame， and by the twentieth century his literary genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular.His novels， most published in monthly or weekly instalments， pioneered the serial publication of narrative fiction， which became the dominant Victorian mode for novel publication. His most famous novels are David Copperfield， Oliver Twist， Bleak House and Great Expectations.Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella， A Christmas Carol， is one of the most influential works ever written， and it remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. His creative genius has been praised by fellow writers-from Leo Tolstoy to G. K. Chesterton and George Orwell-for its realism， comedy， prose style， unique characterizations， and social criticism. On the other hand Oscar Wilde， Henry James and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth， loose writing， and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism.