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OK, so now shall we think about a topic linked to each novel?
好的，那么现在我们应该想一下与每部小说相关的主题了吧？
Yes. I've printed out a list of Dickens's novels in the order they were published, in the hope you'd agree to focus on him!
是的。我已经按照出版顺序打印了一份狄更斯的小说清单，希望你能同意把重点放在他身上！
You're lucky I did agree! Let's have a look.
你很幸运我同意了！让我们来看看。
OK, the first was The Pickwick Papers, published in 1836.
好的，第一本是1836年出版的《匹克威克外传》。
It was very successful when it came out, wasn't it, and was adapted for the theatre straight away.
这本小说一上市就非常成功，不是吗，而且很快就被改编成了话剧。
There's an interesting point, though, that there's a character who keeps falling asleep, and that medical condition was named after the book--Pickwickian Syndrome.
不过，有趣的是，书中有一个角色一直睡着，匹克威克综合症就是以这本书命名的。
Oh, so why don't we use that as the topic, and include some quotations from the novel?
哦，那我们为什么不以此为主题并引用小说中的一些语录呢？
Right. Next is Oliver Twist. There's a lot in the novel about poverty. But maybe something less obvious…
没错。下一本小说是《雾都孤儿》。这部小说中有很多关于贫困的内容。但也许有些不那么明显……
Well Oliver is taught how to steal, isn't he?
奥利弗学会了如何偷窃，不是吗？
We could use that to illustrate the fact that very few children went to school, particularly not poor children, so they learnt in other ways.
我们可以用这一点来说明这样一个事实，那时候很少有孩子上学，尤其是贫穷的孩子，所以他们通过其他方式学习。
Good idea. What's next?
好主意。下一本小说是什么？
Maybe Nicholas Nickleby. Actually, he taught in a really cruel school, didn't he?
也许是《尼古拉斯·尼克尔贝》。事实上，他在一所非常严酷的学校教书，不是吗？
That's right. But there's also the company of touring actors that Nicholas joins.
没错。但尼古拉斯也加入了巡演演员的公司。
We could do something on theatres and other amusements of the time.
我们可以找些有关当时的剧院和其他娱乐活动的话题。
We don't want only the bad things, do we?
我们不只是想要不好的东西，不是吗？
OK.
好的。
What about Martin Chuzzlewit? He goes to the USA, doesn't he?
《马丁·翟述伟》呢？他去美国了，是吗？
Yes, and Dickens himself had been there a year before and drew on his experience there in the novel.
是的，狄更斯本人在写这本小说的一年前去过那里，并把他在那里的经历写进了这本小说里。
I wonder, though … The main theme is selfishness, so we could do something on social justice?
但我想知道……主题是自私，那么我们可以在社会正义方面做些什么吗？
No, too general, let's keep to your idea--I think it would work well.
不，太笼统了，让我们坚持你的想法吧，我认为它会很好。
He wrote Bleak House next – that's my favourite of his novels.
他接下来写了《荒凉山庄》，这是我最喜欢的小说。
Yes, mine too. His satire of the legal system is pretty powerful.
是的，我也是。他对法律制度的讽刺相当有力。
That's true, but think about Esther, the heroine.
没错，但想想女主人公埃丝特吧。
As a child she lives with someone she doesn't know is her aunt, who treats her very badly.
她小时候和一个她不认识的人住在一起，那个人就是她的阿姨，她对她很不好。
Then she's very happy living with her guardian, and he puts her in charge of the household.
她很开心和她的监护人住在一起，他让她负责家务。
And at the end she gets married and her guardian gives her and her husband a house, where of course they're very happy.
最后，她结婚了，她的监护人给了她和她的丈夫一套房子，当然他们在那套房子里非常幸福地生活。
Yes, I like that.
是的，我喜欢。
What shall we take next? Little Dorrit? Old Mr Dorrit has been in a debtors' prison for years…
接下来我们要说哪本书呢？《小杜丽》？老杜丽先生被关押在债务人监狱里很多年……
So was Dickens's father, wasn't he?
狄更斯的父亲也是，不是吗？
That's right.
没错。
What about focusing on the part when Mr Dorrit inherits a fortune, and he starts pretending he's always been rich?
我们把重点放在杜丽先生继承了一笔财产之后开始假装自己一直很有钱那一段可以吧？
Good idea.
好主意。
OK, so next we need to think about what materials we want to illustrate each issue.
好的，接下来我们需要考虑我们想要用什么材料来说明每个问题。
That's going to be quite hard.
这将会非常困难。
