《霧都孤兒》英文讀書筆記

　　篇一：

　　Oliver Twist, one of the most famous works of Charles Dickens’, is a novel reflecting the tragic fact of the life in Britain in 18th century. The author who himself was born in a poor family wrote this novel in his twenties with a view to reveal the ugly masks of those cruel criminals and to expose the horror and violence hidden underneath the narrow and dirty streets in London. The hero of this novel was Oliver Twist, an orphan, who was thrown into a world full of poverty and crime. He suffered enormous pain, such as hunger, thirst, beating and abuse. While reading the tragic experiences of the little Oliver, I was shocked by his sufferings. I felt for the poor boy, but at the same time I detested the evil Fagin and the brutal Bill. To my relief, as was written in all the best stories, the goodness eventually conquered devil and Oliver lived a happy life in the end. One of the plots that attracted me most is that after the theft, little Oliver was allowed to recover in the kind care of Mrs. Maylie and Rose and began a new life. He went for walks with them, or Rose read to him, and he worked hard at his lessons. He felt as if he had left behind forever the world of crime and hardship and poverty. How can such a little boy who had already suffered oppressive affliction remain pure in body and mind The reason is the nature of goodness. I think it is the most important information implied in the novel by Dickens-he believed that goodness could conquer every difficulty. Although I don’t think goodness is omnipotent, yet I do believe that those who are kind-hearted live more happily than those who are evil-minded. For me, the nature of goodness is one of the most necessary character for a person. Goodness is to humans what water is to fish. He who is without goodness is an utterly worthless person. On the contrary, as the famous saying goes, ‘The fragrance always stays in the hand that gives the rose’, he who is with goodness undoubtedly is a happy and useful person. People receiving his help are grateful to him and he also gets gratified from what he has done, and thus he can do good to both the people he has helped and himself. To my disappointment, nowadays some people seem to doubt the existence of the goodness in humanity. They look down on people’s honesty and kindness, thinking it foolish of people to be warm-hearted. As a result, they show no sympathy to those who are in trouble and seldom offer to help others. On the other hand, they attach importance to money and benefit. In their opinion, money is the only real object while emotions and morality are nihility. If they cannot get profit from showing their ‘kindness’, they draw back when others are faced with trouble and even hit a man when he is down. They are one of the sorts that I really detest. Francis Bacon said in his essay, ‘Goodness, of all virtues and dignities of the mind, is the greatest, being the character of the Deity, and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, no better than a kind of vermin.’

　　That is to say a person without goodness is destined to lose everything. Therefore, I, a kind person, want to tell those ‘vermin-to-be’ to learn from the kind Oliver and regain the nature of goodness.

　　篇二：

　　Here I am sitting on a couch alone, thinking about what I have just finished reading with tears of sadness filling my eyes and fire of indignation filling my heart, which revived my exhausted soul that has already been covered by the cruelty and the selfishness of the secular world for a long time. It is truly what I felt after reading Oliver Twist, written by the prominent British author Charles Dickens.

　　The resonance between me and the book makes me feel not only the kindness and the wickedness of all the characters in the novel, but what this aloof society lacks, and what I lack deep inside. These supreme resources I’m talking about right now are somewhat different from minerals, oil that we usually mention. They’re abstract like feelings, and some kinds of spiritual stimulation that all of us desire anxiously from one another —— love and care.

　　Those charitable figures whom Dickens created in the novel are really what we need in life. They showed love and care to others, just as the gentle rain from the sky fell upon the earth, which was carved into my heart deeply.

　　Mr. Brownlow is one such person.

　　The other day he had one of his elaborate watches stolen by two skilled teenage thieves, Artful Dodger and Charley Bates, and thought naturally it was Oliver, who was an orphan and forced to live with a gang of thieves, that had done it because he was the only one near by after the theft had taken place. Being wrathful, he caught Oliver, and sent him to the police station where the ill-tempered, unfair magistrates worked. Fortunately for him, Oliver was proved innocent by one onlooker afterwards. With sympathy, Mr. Brownlow took the injured, poor Oliver to his own home. There Oliver lived freely and gleefully for some months as if he were Mr. Brownlow’s own son. One day, however, Mr. Brownlow asked Oliver to return some books to the bookseller and to send some money for the new books that he had already collected. The thief Oliver once stayed with kidnapped him. After that he disappeared in Mr. Brownlow’s life. Searching for a while, Mr. Brownlow had to believe the fact that he had run away with his money. But dramatically, they came across each other again a few years later. Without hesitation, Mr. Brownlow took Oliver home for the second time not caring if he had done something evil.

　　Perhaps most of us would feel confused about Mr. Brownlow’s reaction. But as a matter of fact, this is just the lesson we should learn from him. Jesus said in the Bible. “Forgive not seven times, but seventy-times seven.” Why is that Because forgiveness is our ability to remove negative thoughts and neutralize them so our energy may be spent on doing what we came here for. We cannot move forward in our future if past issues cloud our thinking. Stop put Mr. Brownlow into the list of your models. Always give people a second chance no matter what they might have done. That’s also a substantial part of loving and caring others.

　　Then there are Mrs. Maylie and Rose, Oliver’s other benefactors. Maybe the reason they loved and cared Oliver was not because of forgiveness. In my point of view, it was trust. They had faith in Oliver when he was considered to be a filthy burglar who tried to break the front door of Maylie’s at midnight. But this wasn’t how these two ladies saw the whole thing. They denied Oliver’s crime immediately and listened attentively to Oliver’s own description of his miserable life. They were deeply touched by Oliver’s strong perseverance and astonishing vitality. Accordingly, they remedied Oliver’s body and heart and turned him into a different boy. He began to wear appropriate and clean suits which were tailor-made for him and receive education.

　　As far as we can see, it is trust that helps us all live together without precaution. Sometimes trust can even lead us to miracles, which we often expect to come about, so why not trust Trust yourself, trust others, and you’ll salute miracles every single day.