双城记（英文）

　　《最经典英语文库：双城记（英文版）》是描述法国大革命的一部长篇历史小说，“双城”分别指的是巴黎与伦敦。后来被改编拍摄了多个版本的电影，也有音乐专辑以此为名。它也是狄更斯最重要的代表作之一，狄更斯47岁时发表，算是其中年的巅峰之作。早在创作《双城记》之前很久，狄更斯就对法国大革命极为关注，反复研读《法国革命史》和有关著作。他对法国大革命的浓厚兴趣，发端于对当时英国潜伏着的严重社会危机的担忧。1854年底，他说：“我相信，不满情绪像这样冒烟比火烧起来还要坏得多，这特别像法国在第一次革命爆发前的公众心理，这就有危险，由于千百种原因——如收成不好、贵族阶级的专横与无能，把已经紧张的局面最后一次加紧、海外战争的失利、国内偶发事件等等——变成从未见过的一场可怕的大火。”

　　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 infiuential 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.