A level 4 Oxford Bookworms Library graded readers. Retold for Learners of English by Ralph Mowat
‘The Marquis lay there, like stone, with a knife pushed into his heart. On his chest lay a piece of paper, with the words: Drive him fast to the grave. This is from JACQUES.’
The French Revolution brings terror and death to many people. But even in these troubled times people can still love and be kind. They can be generous and true-hearted . . . and brave.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair...
با شکوه تر از این هم می شد شروع کرد؟؟
باز هم انقلاب فرانسه باز هم گیوتین باز هم هیاهوی خشگمین انقلابیون باز هم نفرت و کینه و البته مهر و گذشت، حتی نازک، حتی ترد و شکننده باز هم یک نویسنده بزرگ و سرانجام یک اثر ماندگار
مدتها بود که دوست داشتم این اثر مشهور دیکنز رو بخونم تا اینکه نسخه خلاصه ش رو پیدا کردم داستان دو شهر شناخته شده تر از از اون هست که بخوام توضیحی راجع بهش بدم
اگرچه که نسخه تلخیص شده، اون هم برای چنین اثری شاید همه التهاب و پیچیدگی و شور و نفرت و فریاد اثر اصلی رو منتقل نکنه اما خب فعلا برای سیراب کردن عطش دیرینه من ، همین چند قطره هم کافی بود
النسخة المختصرة من الرواية.. قرأت جزء وسمعت جزء.. أسلوب القاريء مميز.. لكنة بريطانية فخمة.. بيقرأ الأسامي بطريقة حلوة جدا.. دكتور مانيت مدام ديفاااج
الرواية بتحكي عن فترة الثورة الفرنسية والفوضى والرغبة الشديدة في الانتقام من النبلاء والأغنياء.. والظروف اللي وصلت الناس لكده بسبب الظلم اللي وقع عليهم، بس حسيت شوية بتعاطف الكاتب وإنه عاوز يقول إن في أبرياء راحوا في الرجلين...
شخصية "كارتون" اللي ضحى بنفسه وانقذ زوج حبيبته وراح مكانه للمقصلة عشان حبيبته تعيش سعيدة، معتقدش إنها ممكن تكون واقعية!!!
Well, I'm not really into this books especially classics. But I had to read it for my class and I saw that it was good! I enjoyed it. Maybe one of the things was that it was kind of a summary of what had happened in the book and it didn't have any description of the places or anything which I believe was the reason I enjoyed it.
A tale of two cities من أعجب الصدف التي مررت بها أن كان اختبار الترجمة الأدبية قريبًا وكعادة الاختبارات النهائية متكدسة تتنقل من قاعة إلى اخرى دون راحة فلم أجد وقتًا أتدرب فيه تدريبًا مكثفًا لهذا الاختبار بالذات واكتفيت بحفظ الجزء النظري فقط والاستماع إلى قصائد شكسبير في الساعات المتبقية وقلت: ييسرها ربي فيما يخص الجزء العملي من الترجمة، ولما بدأ الاختبار لم أمكث طويلًا عند الأسئلة الموضوعية فمعظم الدرجات تحسب للجزء العملي، فتحت الصفحة التالية للبدء في الترجمة التي ستأخذ كل وقتي وكانت صدمتي؛ لا وجود لشكسبير👍👎 فقد كان الدكتور يجهدنا طوال الفصل الدراسي بقصائده ومسرحياته حتى خيل إلينا أنه لا يوجد غيره في الأدب الإنجليزي، وكانت دهشتي الثانية أن كان أمامي أول فصل من (قصة مدينتين) يشع نوره وكأنه يقول: لا يمكنك تجاهلي، وهو ما كنت اقرؤه آنذاك، أي إنني أعرف المحتوى مسبقا فلا حاجة لتضييع الوقت في القراءة والتخطيط بل البدء بالتعبير مباشرةً، ومن عادات الدكتور أن يغير الكثير ليختبر مهاراتنا فجاءنا "بالترجمة" العربية للقصة وطلب أن نعيد ترجمتها للإنجليزية! (بلوت تويست يعني) وكنت أقرأ الإنجليزية فبدا وكأنني قد حفظت الإختبار غيبًا.
ومن الجميل أن الكتاب كان معي في حقيبتي وأريته لصديقاتي عند خروجنا من القاعة، كان شعورًا كالحلم وكأنني كنت أعرف محتوى الاختبار قبل دخوله بعدها تركت الكتاب لبضعه أشهر لا أعرف قد يكون شيئًا يخص مشاعر التخرج لم أقدر على قراءته، وها أنا الآن بدأت قراءته من جديد وأنهيته بفضل الله مستحضرةً تلك المصادفة.
أملك مجموعة من كتب اكسفورد منذ زمن وقرأت منها عددًا وقد كانت مفيدة وممتعة في المستويات الأولى إذ تطرح قصصًا مشهورة بطرافة وسلاسة. لكن مع تقدم المستويات أخذ الانزعاج يزداد، وأعلم أن المقصد من هذه السلسلة هو تسهيل تعلم اللغة ودمجها بالأدب العالمي إلا أن هذا النهج لا يناسب المستويات الاخيرة من السلسلة حيث انها تعتمد على الاختصار الشديد وعلى سبيل المثال في قصة مدينتين: هنا كل شي يجري بسرعة من تقديم الشخصيات إلى افتتاح الأحداث وسيرها وأخيرًا والأهم المشاعر والروابط الإنسانية تسير وكأنها ظلال عابرة.
يقدم الكتاب مفاهيم حب الخير مقابل الشر والتضحية والعائلة داعمةً كانت أم مدمرة والظلم والحرية والشعب والحكومة والتغرب و،،،الخ كلها مجردة ويسلط عليها الضوء كعناوين عريضة أكثر من كونها مشاعر متجسدة في النص، ليتأكد من أنك لن تغلق الكتاب قبل أن تعرف أن القصة تحمل هذه المفاهيم لا أكثر. هذا ما جعل القراءة مشتتة ومضطربة كمل تخلى الكتاب عن أسلوب تشارلز ديكنز تمامًا.
ولهذا، في المستويات الأخيرة من السلسلة يصعب الأمر باقتباس قصص طويلة وأعمال أدبية دسمة ثقيلة فلن تصور بالطريقة المثلى بل تبدوا وكأنها تلخيص أحد الهواة.
I appreciate Dickens. I really do. I believe that if Dickens had never written books like these, the English language would be much worse off. Yet I can't say that I liked this book, or that I even liked the way Dickens wrote this book. Laboring through Dickens's beautiful sentences, packed full of clauses and appositives and kitchen sinks, was much more of a chore than an enjoyable experience. Granted, I did read this over a weekend, and yes, failing a quiz on this book may have had something to do with that rate. Yet I didn't get much out of it.
First, Dickens lets the setting and the plot tell the story here. Yet, and call me classical, I believe that letting the characters tell a plot works much better. But Dickens delighted in describing people as objects, mechanical things that exist to perform plot objectives, and only really gives them a personality when they are not doing anything great. The first two books nearly drowned in this excess, this holding of plot and setting over characters. But in the third book, Dickens does make a comeback and infuses these characters with passion that I wish had been there before. Mr. Lorry is the only character that remains consistently interesting throughout; it's a pity he's so disliked.
There is potential in this book, but the flaws in it detracted greatly from my favor. Maybe I'll come back to it five, fifteen years from now, and see the genius of the soulless (which I don't use as a pejorative - I simply mean the lack of characters with souls) plot and ornate setting. But as for now, this remains to me as a book that went nowhere. At least it ends with a bright spark.
1. OXFORD & STAGE 4 2. 90min. 3. French, Revolution, brings, death, people, kind, love 4. a)The older brother's voice was cold and hard; he seemed to think the boy was less important than a horse or a dog. b) I think this man's way of thinking about life is wrong. Lives should be equal whether rich man or not. 5. This is the first time for me to read classic book. In old days, the way of thinking was really cruel. And people, who lived that era, were killed easily. People said "you have to die!" As I said in 4.b), lives should be equal. On these days, we can see animals, which treat badly or were killed by people, on Twitter. I would say animals are also respected same as human because each of them also have a life. This book was good!
If you want to know how life was before and after the French Revolution in France and what British people thought about it this is the book to read. You can find love, excitement, politics , history in it. I definietly recommend it.
A Greatest story of two diffrents World , A full of meaning and themes . Talking about love , faith , death and promises .. Worth ti read it , It's really a great Tale .
I got this version of the book thinking it was just a slim volume, but it's for readers who are learning to read English, so it was adapted from Dickens's actual writing. So I'll have to read his version at some point. But I did get the gist of the story from this version. A lot happens with these characters that I look forward to expanding on when I read the original version.
*Apparently I've already read this, according to my previous book uploads. I don't have a recollection of reading it at all for some reason. :(
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair... "
This quote remains deeply resonant when reflecting on the tumultuous revolutions of some other nations decades ago.
I read this book because of a 'go on a blind date with a book' thing organised at uni. It is a simplified-language, shortened version of Dickens' novel. It was an hour well spent, especially since I hadn't read the novel and wasn't acquainted with its content. Even in this simplified version, the story is good, nearly brought a tear to my eye.
کتاب داستان کلاس زبان - سطح 4 من قبلاً نسخهی کوتاه شده این رمان رو به فارسی خونده بودم و اصلأ دوست نداشتم. این هم با اینکه خیلی خلاصه بود، ولی نسبتاً جذاب بود. پایانِ بهشدت غمانگیز و تأثیرگذاری هم داشت. واقعاً چارلز دیکنز فوقالعاده است!
Lo he tenido que leer por el instituto, aunque no me ha aburrido demasiado. Al principio no entendía nada, pero poco a poco se van descubriendo detalles y el libro se va haciendo más interesante. El final me ha dejado 🥹, y me alegro de haberlo leído (se hace muy corto, lo he acabado en una tarde!)
Sydney Carton is a good lawyer and good man too. In the end Sydney saved Charles Darnay's life. He was so brave....After i finished this book, i watched its full movie immediately. I enjoyed both of book and movie. French Revolution....History says that it comes out with much blood. This novel reached to my heart deeply and got desires to study more about French Revolution in future.
What a great -also pathetic- history of France. I didn't know the details about French Revolution, now I'm a bit learning but still I have the curiousity about it. I'm willing to read this in its long-form novel.
I bought this book because it was necessary to read as it'll bring questions on English exam about the book. At first pages I found the plot so complex but hey 'how could you dare to shorten the story while it was a great and historical and full of details -about 300 pages originally- as a novel?!' Still good anyway.
Hope I can find the opportunity to read its original book and fall in love with Carton maybe a several times. And maybe I watch the movie that my dad suggested itself.
The plot overall was amazing even if its summary or kind of. I loved how people in those centuries of cruelness and wildness can be still kind, in love and brave despite of those real animals. I loved how the story is not unpredictible and you just kinda need the sentence twice or maybe three-times. And I don't think I'll ever forgotten those final lines of thoughts of Sydney Carton. BRILLIANT HISTORY MAN.
I really enjoyed the poetic sentences in this book. Might and might not read it again. I am not the biggest fan of summaries. I would have rather read the complete version. But overall loved the ending.
Lastly, my favorite thing about this book is that it showed both sides, the good and the bad, in every situation like when it showed that the revolutionists were just as wrong as the noblemen in some way..
The part that discusses how people are being sent to the Guillotine all over France in the name of freedom and revolution, and how judges didn't dare to make the right decision just because they feared the anger of people , shows how easily movements are turned to something that might be more cruel than the whole system they moved against
Some girl's dad loses his memory from being in prison so long. To calm himself down he makes shoes, and he is rich. There's this French guy that goes to England. He marries the rich guy's daughter. He gets put in prison because he's the nephew of and evil French Aristocrat.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I will definetly read the comlete book... Sydney remind me of how Will Herondale compare himself to him. However, I felt very sorry for Sydney, because he loves Lucie but he thinks that he is not worthy of her, and to the end he was so brave!