远大前程（英文）

　　《最经典英语文库：远大前程（英文版）》的主人公皮普是个孤儿，由姐姐抚养长大。皮普本打算学习铁匠手艺，跟善良的姐夫乔生活在一起。但一次偶遇，他深深地爱上了贵族郝薇香小姐的养女——美丽高傲的艾丝黛拉。为了俘获她的芳心，皮普下决心成为一名绅士，并跻身于上层社会。为了追求不切实际的“远大前程”，皮普颠覆了自己的人生观，从一个单纯善良的小孩，变成了高傲无情的势利小人。他辜负了乔的培养、教育和帮助，并不止一次背叛了他。后来皮普在经历了严酷的磨难后，才得知一切事实：他的资助者是一名他小时候冒险帮助过的流放犯；他深爱的艾丝黛拉，就是这个罪犯和另一个女杀人犯所生；他心目中的庇护人郝薇香小姐是个冷酷无情的报复狂——她收养艾丝黛拉的目的，是为了教唆她用美貌去折磨男人，对负心男人进行报复，以抚平心中积怨。而在整个过程中，自己仅是个报复对象的替身……直到此时，他才幡然醒悟。随着恩人被捕、艾丝黛拉另嫁他人，皮普的“远大前程”化为乌有。在追逐梦想以及梦幻破灭过程中，所有的经历让皮普渐渐清醒、成长、成熟，使他意识到，真正的远大前程，不在于财富和地位，而在于拥有一颗正直、善良的心灵和勤劳、智慧的双手。

　　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.