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1、ATaleofTwoCitiesCharlesDickensContextCharlesDickenswasborninPortsmouth,Englandin1812.Asthesecondofeightchildreninaverypoorfamily,helivedadifficultchildhood.Eventually,hisfatherwassenttodebtor’sprison,andDickenshimselfwenttoworkattheageoftwelvetohelppayoffth
2、efamily’sdebt.ThistroublesometimescarredDickensdeeplyandprovidedhimwithsubstantialmaterialforsuchstoriesasGreatExpectations,OliverTwist,andDavidCopperfield.Steepedinsocialcriticism,Dickens’swritingprovidesakeen,sympatheticchronicleoftheplightoftheurbanpoori
3、nnineteenth-centuryEngland.Duringhislifetime,Dickensenjoyedimmensepopularity,inpartbecauseofhisvividcharacterizations,andinpartbecausehepublishedhisnovelsininstallments,makingthemreadilyaffordabletoagreaternumberofpeople.TheIndustrialRevolution,whichsweptth
4、roughEuropeinthelateeighteenthcentury,originatedinEngland.TherapidmodernizationoftheEnglisheconomyinvolvedashiftfromruralhandicrafttolarge-scalefactorylabor.Technologicalinnovationsfacilitatedunprecedentedheightsofmanufactureandtrade,andEnglandleftbehindits
5、localized,cottage-industryeconomytobecomeacentralized,hyper-capitalistjuggernautofmassproduction.Intandemwiththistransformationcameasignificantshiftinthenation’sdemographics.Englishcitiesswelledasagrowingandimpoverishedworkingclassflockedtotheminsearchofwor
6、k.Asthisinfluxofworkersintourbancenterscontinued,thebourgeoisietookadvantageofthesurplusoflaborbykeepingwageslow.Thepoorthusremainedpoor,andoftenlivedcrampedinsqualor.Inmanyofhisnovels,Dickenschronicleshisprotagonists’attemptstofighttheirwayoutofsuchpoverty
7、anddespair.ATaleofTwoCities,originallypublishedfromAprilthroughNovemberof1859,appearedinanewmagazinethatDickenshadcreatedcalledAlltheYearRound.Dickensstartedthisventureafterafalling-outwithhisregularpublishers.Indeed,thisperiodinDickens’slifesawmanychanges.
8、WhilestarringinaplaybyWilkieCollinsentitledTheFrozenDeep,DickensfellinlovewithayoungactressnamedEllenTernan.Dickens’stwenty-three-yearmarriagetoCatherineHogarthhadbecomeasourceofunhappinessinrecentyear