英语小说网

 Bracebridge Hall is a series of intimate character sketches that complete an idealized portrait of rural life in the 19th century. Set in the countryside of Yorkshire, Washington Irving’s Bracebridge Hall follows the events leading to the marriage of a young couple, detouring to explore the personalities of the residents in the historic manor.

《红楼梦》是一部具有高度思想性和艺术性的伟大作品，作为一部成书于封建社会晚期，清朝中期的文学作品，该书系统总结了中国封建社会的文化、制度，对封建社会的各个方面进行了深刻的批判，并且提出了朦胧的带有初步民主主义性质的理想和主张。

 "Mrs. Lirriper's Lodging" unwaveringly presents Charles Dickens' idealistic approach. It tells the story of an affectionate, humanistic lady Mrs. Emma Lirriper. She has come out of the pit of suffering and distress with new optimistic vision.

The surprise winner of the 2003 Man Booker Prize, DBC Pierre's debut novel, Vernon God Little, makes few apologies in its darkly comedic portrait of Martirio, Texas, a town reeling in the aftermath of a horrific school shooting. Fifteen-year-old Vernon Little narrates the first-person story with a cynical twang and a four-letter barb for each of his diet-obsessed townsfolk. His mother, endlessly awaiting the delivery of a new refrigerator, seems to exist only to twist an emotional knife in his back; her friend, Palmyra, structures her life around the next meal at the Bar-B-Chew Barn; officer Vaine Gurie has Vernon convicted of the crime before she's begun the investigation; reporter Eulalio Ledesma hovers between a comforting father-figure and a sadistic Bond villain; and Jesus, his best friend in the world, is dead--a victim of the killings. As his life explodes before him, Vernon flees his home in pursuit of a tropical fantasy: a cabin on a beach in Mexico he once saw in the movie Against All Odds. But the police--and TV crews--are in hot pursuit. Vernon God Little is a daring novel and demands a patient reader, not because it is challenging to read--Pierre's prose flows effortlessly, only occasionally slipping from the unmistakable voice of his hero--but because the book skates so precariously between the almost taboo subject of school violence and the literary gamesmanship of postmodern fiction. Yet, as the novel unfolds, Pierre's parodic version of American culture never crosses the line into caricature, even when it climaxes in a death-row reality TV show. And Vernon, whose cynicism and smart-ass "learnings" give way to a poignant curiosity about the meaning of life, becomes a fully human, profoundly sympathetic character.

充满了趣味与欢笑，让你心情愉快，容易受感染，与你同乐。给人亲切的感觉，谈笑之间趣味横生。幽默使人神采奕奕、容光焕发。看了这些笑话，除了使你开怀大笑、忘却烦忧之外，还能让你在各个场合得心应手，轻易营造欢乐气氛，成为众人目光焦点。从笑话中学习英语，轻松自在，让你充满自信。

英国作家萨拉·沃特斯透过描写维多利亚时代的窃贼文化，编织出结构严谨的历史悬疑小说。作品后被翻拍成 BBC热门影集《指匠情挑》。内容简介：在伦敦郊区的一个大庄园内，居住着李里先生和他的外甥女莫德，李里先生性格乖戾，驱使莫德终日在图书室里整理和朗读藏书。可怜的姑娘从小到大都未踏出过庄园一步，过着暗无天日的生活。某日，一位陌生人的闯入给莫德干涸已久的心灵带来生机，他就是来教莫德画画的瑞斯佛，可天知道，瑞斯佛的真实身份竟然是一个贼，他听说莫德有4万英镑的嫁妆，便想出骗婚这条生财之道。为了确保成功，瑞弗士又找来盗窃团伙里的苏打下手，经过安排，苏成为莫德的贴身女仆。在一步步精心策划下，事情如瑞佛士所期望的方向发展，他不知道的是，莫德和苏之间竟产生了真挚的爱情。苏越来越内疚自责，看到莫德即将被送入疯人院，苏心碎欲绝。可事情很快急转直下，原来一切都非苏想像的那般简单，十几年前就开始精心酿造的大阴谋在等待所有的人，一个晴天霹雳般的真相已呼之欲出

故事发生在两百多年前的波士顿。 海丝特·白兰因犯了通奸罪受到加尔文教派权力机构的惩罚， 由于未能找出共犯，也无从证实海斯特的丈夫是生是死，海斯特被免于死刑，但却要 胸 前佩戴着标志通奸的红色“A”（Adultery）字站在古老的枷刑台上示众。她的手中抱着这个罪孽的证据：一个出生仅数月的婴儿。在人们无情的注视下，她拒绝了年轻牧师阿瑟·丁梅斯代尔提出的忏悔并供出同犯的要求。受过惩罚后，海丝特并未逃离这座城市而是在城外远离人群的一间小茅屋里住了下来。她以作针线活维生，并细心地照料着她的女儿——珠儿。 示众时，海斯特在人群中认出了肩膀一高一矮的丈夫来。他满怀仇恨地改名为罗杰·奇林沃思，以医生的身份暗中察访与海丝特通奸的同犯，并当海斯特仍在狱中时与其相认，并让她帮他保守身份的秘密。 很快七年过去了。珠儿已成长为一个美丽可爱的小姑娘。而海丝特因为不断热心接济和帮助别人，最终赢得了人们的尊敬，使胸前那本来代表耻辱的红字变成了美好善良德行的象征。 由于狄梅斯代尔的身处高位和自身的懦弱，当年未能站出承担自己的责任，也一直遭受着内心的煎熬和忏悔，身体日益虚弱。罗杰作为医生被教会邀请治疗德高望重的年轻牧师，在于牧师接触中经过多年的窥探， 罗杰也认定了“道德伟大”的丁梅斯代尔牧师就是那个隐藏的同犯， 旁敲侧击，冷嘲热讽，不停地在精神上对牧师进行折磨。 牧师有一个动作，就是手一直会捂住胸口，而后被证实其胸口也有一个肉印的“A”。 海丝特为了使丁梅斯代尔逃离丈夫的阴影，决心带着女儿和他一起逃走，但却被罗杰发现，计划失败了。而对罗杰的恐惧和自己隐瞒罪责的煎熬使丁梅斯代尔的健康每况愈下。终于在离开尘世前夕，他在全体教众的面前，他挽着海丝特和他们的女儿珠儿登上了枷刑台，用以生命为代价的深切忏悔换取了道德上的新生。

Doctor Marigold is a poor hawker

Poses the author: Will the world ever wake to the true character of these four-legged impostors and realize that instead of being disinterested and sincere most family pets are consummate hypocrites?