a story of mystery and suspense /Dickens' first historical novel/ blend of historical realism and Gothic melodrama / conspiracy, blackmail, abduction and retribution

Little Dorrit is a novel by Charles Dickens which satirises the shortcomings of both government and society, including the institution of debtors' prisons, where debtors were imprisoned, unable to work, until they repaid their debts. The prison in this case is the Marshalsea, where Dickens's own father had been imprisoned. Dickens is also critical of the lack of a social safety net, the treatment and safety of industrial workers, as well the bureaucracy of the British Treasury, in the form of his fictional "Circumlocution Office". In addition he satirises the stratification of society that results from the British class system. In his Introduction, David Gates argues that “intensity of imagination is the gift from which Dickens’s other great attributes derive: his eye and ear, his near-universal empathy, his ability to entertain both a sense of the ridiculous and a sense of ultimate significance.” Dickens criticizes the hierarchical society which would demand such an impossible thing of a man, and also questions which class of their acquaintance are good people and true friends.

The novel is a 19th-century semi-epistolary one. Armadale is a novel by Wilkie Collins, first published in 1864–66. Some linking passages consist of letters between the various characters, or of extracts from Lydia's journal, but the great majority of the text narrates the events as they occur. The novel has a convoluted plot about two distant cousins both named Allan Armadale. The father of one had murdered the father of the other (the two fathers are also named Allan Armadale).’The distortions of the plot, the violent and irrational reactions of the characters, reflect and dramatise the ways in which his readers’ perceptions were distorted by the assumptions and hypocrisies of the society in which they lived," writes Catherine Peters in the comment book.It is the third of Wilkie Collins’s four 'great novels' of the 1860s: after The Woman in White (1859–60) and No Name (1862), and before The Moonstone (1868).

George Eliot's novel The Mill on the Floss, orginally published in 1860 as three volumes. Maggie Tulliver is the protagonist and the story begins when she is 9 years old. Maggie Tulliver’s entire life has been spent in the shadow of Dorlcote Mill on the River Floss with her beloved older brother, Tom.The Mill on the Floss is the story of Maggie Tulliver’s search for love, and acceptance by her family and community, and of her need for intellectual and spiritual growth. Her relationship with her older brother Tom, and her romantic relationships with Philip Wakem and with Stephen Guest constitute the most significant narrative threads. Misunderstood Maggie Tulliver is torn. Her rebellious and passionate nature demands expression, while her provincial kin and community expect self-denial. Based closely on the author's own life, Maggie's story explores the conflicts of love and loyalty and the friction between desire and moral responsibility. A classic work of 19th century literature, "The Mill on the Floss" remains a popular and enduring example of George Eliot's impact on English literature.

vivid characterization /unfailingly realistic description/ impulse and fear and hesitation/ the most capacious and elastic and versatile kind of novel

本套书包括《艾格妮丝·格雷3册》和《威尔德菲尔庄园的房客6册》共9册。《艾格妮丝·格雷》Agnes Grey is the debut novel of English author Anne Bront? (writing under the pen name of Acton Bell), first published in December 1847, and republished in a second edition in 1850. The novel follows Agnes Grey, a governess, as she works within families of the English gentry. Scholarship and comments by Anne's sister Charlotte Bront? suggest the novel is largely based on Anne Bront?'s own experiences as a governess for five years. Agnes, her sister Mary, and their mother all try to keep expenses low and bring in extra money, but Agnes is frustrated that everyone treats her like a child. To prove herself and to earn money, she is determined to get a position as a governess. Eventually, she obtains a recommendation from a well-placed acquaintance, is offered a position, and secures her parents' permission. With some misgivings, she travels to Wellwood house to work for the Bloomfield family. The choice of central character allows Anne to deal with issues of oppression and abuse of women and governesses, isolation and ideas of empathy. An additional theme is the fair treatment of animals. Agnes Grey also mimics some of the stylistic approaches of bildungsromans, employing ideas of personal growth and coming to age, but representing a character who in fact does not gain in virtue.《威尔德菲尔庄园的房客》This work is the second and final novel by the English author Anne Bront?. It was first published in 1848 under the pseudonym Acton Bell. Probably the most shocking of the Bront?s' novels, it had an instant and phenomenal success, but after Anne's death her sister Charlotte prevented its re-publication. Most critics now consider The Tenant of Wildfell Hall to be one of the first feminist novels. The novel is framed as a series of letters from Gilbert Markham to his friend and brother-in-law about the events connected with the meeting of his wife. A mysterious young widow arrives at Wildfell Hall, an Elizabethan mansion which has been empty for many years, with her young son and a servant. She lives there in strict seclusion under the assumed name Helen Graham and soon finds herself the victim of local slander. Refusing to believe anything scandalous about her, Gilbert befriends Helen and discovers her past. In her diary, Helen depicts her husband's physical and moral decline through alcohol and her desperate attempts to save their son from his influence in the dissipated aristocratic society from which she ultimately flees. The depiction of marital strife and women's professional identification has also a strong moral message mitigated by the authors's belief in universal salvation.

Antonina, or the Fall of Rome (1850) is an novel by Wilkie Collins. A romance of the fifth century, in which many of the scenes described in the 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire ' are reset to suit the purpose of the author.

In the early 1800s, John Astor made the fateful decision to make good on his long-held dream of establishing a fur-trading company in the Northwest United States. Astor later convinced Washington Irving, one of the most important figures in nineteenth-century American literature, to create a non-fiction account of the operation's origins. The result, Astoria, is a fascinating work of history. Astoria is a history book published in 1836 by Washington Irving. The full title being "Astoria: Or, Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains". The book was commissioned by John Jacob Astor as an official history of his company's expedition to Oregon in 1810–1812. The book became a bestseller in 1836 and at the time was required reading in some schools. Astoria has been read as a vivid and fascinating history, comparable indeed to the finest of romances, but rooted in the rough and hardy life of trapping, hunting, and exploration.

“Knickerbocker's History of New York” is the book by Washington Irving, an American writer who was born in New York City on April 3, 1783. It is published in December, 1809, with which Washington living, at the age of twenty-six, first won wide credit and influence. Knickerbocker's History of New York is a satire on self-important local history and contemporary politics. Prior to its publication, Irving started a hoax akin to today's viral marketing campaigns; he placed a series of missing person adverts in New York newspapers seeking information on Diedrich Knickerbocker, a crusty Dutch historian who had allegedly gone missing from his hotel in New York City. Today, author Washington Irving is best remembered for the iconic tales "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle." However, Irving also produced a number of well-regarded works of history and biography. This brilliant volume combines fact and fiction, offering a satirical history of New York from the perspective of make-believe Dutch historian Diedrich Knickerbocker.

Thomas Hardy’s final novel “Jude the Obscure” began as a serial publication on December 1894 before being published in book form the following year. It is the story of its titular character Jude Fawley, a young lower-class man with dreams of being a scholar, and his relationships with his wife, Arabella, and his free-spirited cousin, Sue Bridehead. The novel follows the life of Jude from his youth living in a village in southern England where he works in a bakery and studies Classical Greek and Latin in his spare time with hopes of one day becoming a scholar at Christminster, a fictional city modeled after Oxford. His dreams are dashed however when he becomes ensnared by deceit into marriage with Arabella Donn, a coarse and superficial girl. What follows is a classic and tragic tale that plays upon many themes, principally of which is the idea that one’s ruinous downfall is the product of having lived a sinful life. Having been harshly criticized in its day for its scandalous portrayals, “Jude the Obscure” has since been recognized as one of Hardy’s finest and most intricate works.

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea is a classic science fiction novel by French writer Jules Verne, published in 1870. It is about the fictional Captain Nemo and his submarine, Nautilus. It was inspired by a model of the French submarine Plongeur (launched in 1863) was displayed at the 1867 University Expo, where it was studied by Jules Verne. The description of Nemo's ship, the Nautilus, was considered ahead of its time, as it accurately describes features on submarines, which at the time were very primitive vessels. The book was highly acclaimed when it was released and still is. It is regarded as one of the premiere adventure novels and one of Verne's greatest works, along with Around the World in Eighty Days and Journey to the Center of the Earth.

本套书包括《木偶奇遇记3册》、《一个孩子的星星梦》、《圣诞颂歌小气财神3册》和《圣诞树》共8册。《木偶奇遇记》The Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi in 1883. It is about the mischievous adventures of an animated marionette named Pinocchio and his father, a poor woodcarver named Geppetto. The lonely woodcarver Geppetto carves himself a son—a mischievous puppet he names Pinocchio who learns that he can become a real boy by doing good deeds. From the moment Joseph the carpenter carves a puppet that can walk and talk, this wildly inventive fantasy takes Pinocchio through countless adventures, in the course of which his nose grows whenever he tells a lie, he is turned into a donkey, and is swallowed by a dogfish, before he gains real happiness. A narration is presented that has moral lessons and provokes to think in the right direction. An universal icon and a metaphor of the human condition, the book is considered a canonical piece of children's literature and has had great impact on world culture.《圣诞颂歌小气财神》A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843; the first edition was illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an old miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come. After their visits Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.In his "Ghostly little book," Charles Dickens invents the modern concept of Christmas Spirit and offers one of the world’s most adapted and imitated stories. We know Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, not only as fictional characters, but also as icons of the true meaning of Christmas in a world still plagued with avarice and cynicism.

当下英语已经不只是一门语言专业，更成了一个了解理论和先进知识的工具。 一直以来，在国内的英语学习法中风行着一种速成的论调：7天搞定单词，一个月攻破听力……仿佛学习者吃了一颗大补丸，英语水平就能立刻回血。然而尝试过速成法的学习者，往往发现这些方法都难以坚持下去。 在这本书中，作者刘晓光和伍君仪从自己英语逆袭的亲身经历入手，提供了一套理论清晰、操作性强的英语训练体系，向所有英语学习者传达了这样的理念：语言学习没有捷径，但没有捷径并不意味着学习者要坚持下去一定会十分艰辛。英语是一门人人都可以掌握的技能，并不是一门只停留在卷面上的学科。只要遵循书中阐释的科学的训练体系，在自己现有的水平上小梯度却不间断地前进，持续收获的正反馈会让自己毫不费力地坚持学习下去，在成就感的增长过程中变成一个能流利使用英语的大咖！

本书汇集了含引申义的常用词汇、高使用频率的表达法、词性变化而词义不变或者延伸的基本词汇、可多领域灵活使用的表达法、由谚语或名言改写而来的表达法。编排逻辑经过科学验证，词汇范围贯穿生活始终，学习方法能举一反三，帮助读者掌握精准、地道的英文表达。 本书按主题范围将这些词汇和表达法分为五个部分，分别为：（1）人及社会环境；（2）自然环境与农业、动植物；（3）社会和国家机构；（4）娱乐活动与体育运动；（5）文化和艺术。方便读者分门别类行整理和记忆，并灵活运用。

《速查速用旅游英语口语》收录了实用、新鲜的语料，囊括了旅行中的行前准备、出发乘机、旅行住宿、出行交通、旅游玩乐、旅行物、旅行美食，以及旅途麻烦等 50 个真正有用的旅游场景，涉及内容全面，切实贴合旅游者的需求。每个部分包含趣味情景对话中的高频词汇、旅游实用表达和知识加油站三个版块，让你循序渐地掌握基本英语口语，提高交际能力。

真人电影《沉睡魔咒2：恶魔夫人》是2014年影片《沉睡魔咒》的续集之作。经过几年的沉淀，这次的故事围绕玛琳菲森与即将成为女王的爱洛公主展，她们之间缓和且复杂的关系，推动着故事的发展，更有两人联手对付新反派，保护森林王国和神奇动物们的惊险历程。整部作品以黑暗魔女玛琳菲森的视角讲述，这场在人类王国与森林王国之间爆发的冲突和战争，使得玛琳菲森不仅要面对一个更强大的新挑战，并要在光明与黑暗中再次抉择与战斗。

历经严酷的考验，阿伦戴尔王国终于回归往日的宁静。艾莎女王、安娜公主，以及她们的好朋友雪宝、克斯托夫、驯鹿斯文过着平静安逸的生活。可近来，艾莎总会被阵阵神秘的吟唱所困扰。为了追寻真相，她义无反顾踏上了征途。出于担心姐姐的安全，安娜带上雪宝、克斯托夫紧紧跟随。在那座常年被浓雾所笼罩的森林里，不仅蕴藏着神秘的自然力量，更隐藏着关于阿伦戴尔王国、艾莎的魔法来源以及关于两位公主父母的秘密。与此同时，艾莎也启了一段寻找自我的旅程。

本书为《惊奇队长》电影同名英文小说，故事背景设定在20世纪90年代，讲述了在一场涉及两个外星种族的星系战争降临地球后，丹弗斯发现自己和一小群外星盟友成了这场风暴的中心的故事。本书为纯英文版本，英文地道，引自美国知名出版社，无删减、非改编。附赠配套核心词讲解与全文音频，可以帮助读者破阅读障碍，在阅读的同时用英文磨耳朵，提高听力水平。同一种题材，不同的媒介，给你带着不同的体验！

真人版电影《花木兰》改编自1998年同名动画影片，讲述了一位巾帼英雄的传奇历险故事。花木兰是中国古代传说的四大巾帼英雄之一，她的故事家喻户晓，被世代诵颂，也为中外读者所喜爱。故事发生在北魏时期，一位名叫花木兰的年轻女子为了救她年迈的父亲，假扮成男装，代父从军。穿越广袤土地的壮丽征程，花木兰从紧张的训练和战争中不断磨练，逐渐发现自己内心的战士，纳自己无限的潜能，赢得众人的尊敬。

《迪士尼大电影双语阅读.花木兰 Mulan》为电影同名双语小说，讲述了一位巾帼不让须眉的女子为了救她的父亲，假扮成男装代父从军、勇战匈奴的传奇历险故事。本书由迪士尼正版授权，中英双语对照，配有大量电影彩色剧照。同一种题材，不同的媒介，给你带着不同的体验！

《沉睡魔咒》改编自经典童话《睡美人》。天真无邪的小仙女玛琳菲森在摩尔王国邂逅了人类小男孩斯特凡。但是随着年龄的增长，斯特凡褪去了往日的纯真，被人类的贪欲所吸引。而玛琳菲森则成长为法术强大的仙女。斯特凡为了成为王位继承者，残忍地割下了玛琳菲森的翅膀。肉体的痛苦和心灵的创伤让玛琳菲森变成满怀仇恨的魔女，为了复仇，她给斯特凡的女儿爱洛公主施下了沉睡魔咒。然而随着爱洛的成长，玛琳菲森才逐渐意识到——这位小公主不仅能给两个世界带来和平，也许还能给自己带来真正的快乐。