英文读后感模版汇编20篇

To Regain the Nature of Goodness

—— Review of ‘Oliver Twist

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 dont 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 peoples 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.

This is a story book, the inside of the story is preposterous, quirky and funny; This is a but with more than pages of books, the show is just a little girl in a long afternoon met there can all kinds of animals and men; This is also a even in fairy tale books seem most ordinary book, all the characters in the story can speak, all with their own idea-this and any a fairy tale almost no different than any.

From beginning to end, the story is so strange. Alice has been somehow become bigger or smaller that I almost drowned by his own tears; She met a lot of animals and a lot of people, try to talk and talk to them, but they are not completely normal, and it is not friendly; She has not been ?

翻译：

中文：这是一本故事书，里面的故事荒诞不经，离奇而可笑;这是一本不过百余页的书，所展现的仅仅是一个小女孩在一个漫长的下午遇见的各种不可能存在的动物和人;这也是一本即使在童话书中都显得极其普通的书，故事中的所有角色都会说话，都有自己的想法——这与任何一个童话故事相比几乎没有任何不同。

从头至尾，整个故事都是那样的奇怪。爱丽丝一直莫名其妙地变大变小，以至于差点被自己的眼泪淹死;她见到了很多动物和很多人，试着和他们聊天说话，只是他们都完全不正常，而且并不友好;她一直不停地问这问那，但是对方——不管是谁都不会给她一个合乎常理的答案，可是爱丽丝居然还会相信!这一切都让我如此地哭笑不得。当爱丽丝梦游的时候，我好像也在梦游。看着一堆错误赫然摆在眼前，而我，却束手无策：这就是所谓的“仙境”吗?

导语：《狂蟒之灾》在蜿蜒流长的亚马逊河流域的雨林深处，生活着古老而神秘的舒尔族。他们与世隔绝，以食人蛇为叩拜图腾。围绕着舒尔族人的传说和秘密让雨淋之外的人们振奋不已。下面是yuwenmi小编为大家整理的优秀英语读后感，欢迎阅读与借鉴，谢谢!

Every preconceived notion audiences might have about "Anaconda" is correct. This supposed serpentine shocker features doomed adventurers wading through murky water while a deadly snake approaches and "Jaws"-like music throbs. The plot retraces a formula employed by countless predecessors to kill off its supporting characters in a predictable sequence. And theres the bad guy with the foreign accent, and the requisite romance between handsome anthropologist and shapely journalist. Its all here, as is an ironic comfort in watching such a well-worn tale from the dark side.

Dr. Steven Cale (Eric Stoltz) is heading down the Amazon in search of an undocumented Indian tribe. Joining him is Terri Flores ("Selenas" Jennifer Lopez), a filmmaker charged with recording Dr. Cales quest. Ten minutes into their voyage, snaky Paul Sarone (Jon Voight) jumps aboard and commandeers the boat to begin a Captain Ahab-style hunt for his gigantic underwater nemesis: the titular anaconda upon whose nonexistent shoulders this movie rests. Despite satisfactory performances from the cast, the films human characters remain secondary to this nasty snake and the special effects that created it.

Scary, this movie isnt. The faux serpent, albeit an impressive creature, looks wholly unrealistic as it zips through water and air like a Saturday morning cartoon character. And such schlocky touches as the anacondas penchant for regurgitation are more gross (and funny) than frightening. What chills there are spring more from standard stalk-and-startle techniques than from the creepy characteristics associated with snakes. Director Luis Llosa ("The Specialist") shot "Anaconda" in Brazil, and the tropical setting imbues his movie with much-needed authenticity and cinematic richness. Llosa advances the story at an absorbing clip that never bores the audience, and he wisely eschews any high-minded discourse about good and evil. As cheesy, predictable horror flicks go, "Anaconda" squeezes considerable life from its limited aspirations.

If a woman has even a tiny sense of dignity, she must shoulder any number of sacrifices rather than have her love varnished with venal character by asking for money from her lover. Extravagances, luxury as well as all other empery pleasures are valuelein front of love. As long as you love me, I ask for nothing else.

-------Marguerite(La Dame Aux Camellias)

Whenever I lingered over the magnificant story, I cannot help deeply touched by the bitterly sweet love, which struck the world as gentle as an April shower, as pure as a blowing snow, as heady as an old wine. It condensed a paradise into a kept woman’s heart, which caught and held us transfixed against prejudice in mind and greed in nature, , and provided a journey that brought home to us a comprehensive understanding of love.

Marguerite, as a kept woman,did not undergo the usual penalty of confronting wrinkles appeared under her eyes, the first death of a courtesans, but was endowed enough fortune to enjoy an unselfish and gorgeous love during her ephemeral life, witch came as a wonderful oasis to lead supply a new prospect in a disparate desert, appeared as a miracle medication to heal her wound in the sinful life, figured as a brisk spring to refresh and revitalize her lonely heart, and emerged as a great beacon of courage to kill all her bad habits in the past and make a firm determination to seek for a peaceful but fantastic life with her loved one.

Lingering between the words, we could completely feel how kind and dignified she was. She refused Armond although she knew he was really loved her with his soul. because of her gloomy despair of life, she did not turn up in his life as a figure who was sad, ill, gay with a giant sadder than grief, besides witch, who spit blood and spent a hundred thousand francs in a year. Touching this words, how can we avoid our zealous sympathy for her? She bickered with the marquis and drove him away from her family, because she hated and refused to be treated as merchandise. Touching her deeds, how could we deny our high respect for her? At last, she renounced all her hope and life just because another woman’s name. What she e although you may get hurt, but it is the only way you can live absolutely. But what she experienced, what she faced and what she did made her a real sublime angle and an eternal ideal woman in people’ heart.

However, no matter what devout wish, no matter what gorgeous love, or no matter what strong struggle, the society was so stone stubborn that it would never show any mercy for a kept woman. Just as Armond said, when God allow a kept woman to accept a real love, it is indeed a grant comfort, but also remorselepunishment, for the man holds the cruel authority to say to his lover, “ Your love is just a kind of commodity”, though the woman had devoted all her heart and spirits to her loves. It cannot denied that it was Marguerite’s joyous fortune to have Armond in her poor destiny, but at the same time, it is also have to be admitted that what a hopeletorture she tolerated and what a disappointed suffering she endured at the last part of her life. It was really too much to her. We even cannot tell what kind our feeling soared inside our bosom, but just happy with her, sad with her, waiting with her, wishing with her, and disappointed with her……

shall we criticize Armond for his foolish and brute deed to Marguerite as he got the same hurt by his horrible vengeance? Shall we condemn Armond, father for his selfish monologue which destroys the kind woman’s dream? Shall we judge the motionlemerchant and policemen’s actions before the dying woman?

Beowulf is the oldest poem in the English language and the most important specimen of Anglo-Saxon literature.The main stories are based on the folk legends of the primitive northern tribes.

Beowulf is the nephew of king of the Geats who lives in Denmark. He defeated the monster, which raided the hall built by the king of the Danes. Later on, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats. He at last dies a heroic death.

It is a pagan poem, which presents us an all-round picture of the tribal society.

《贝奥武甫》是中世纪欧洲第一篇民族史诗，英国文学的开山之作。其主要内容是讲述高特王子贝奥武甫带领十二勇士来到丹麦王国，除去恶魔葛婪代及其母亲，为丹麦解除祸患赢得和平，得到荣誉和重赏后回到故土;后来贝奥武甫做了高特国王，没想到在五十年后，一条火龙扰乱了王国的安宁，贝奥武甫虽然已经英雄暮年，但仍壮志不已，独战火龙，终于壮烈牺牲。

贝奥武甫的人格结构具有丰富的人性化内涵。他的童年经历对其心理结构的形成影响深刻，在他的身上，超我与本我不断碰撞与冲突。贝奥武甫以自己的死亡成就了英雄的完美，直到生命的最后，他终于找到了作为英雄的人格结构的和谐。

《红字》讲述了发生在北美殖民时期的恋爱悲剧。看完这部小说后就来看看语文迷为大家整理的英语读后感吧，希望你喜欢。

The Scarlet Letter offers an extraordinary insight into the norms and behavior of the 17th century if American Puritan society. The basic conflicts and problems of its main characters, however, are familiar to readers in the present. The female protagonist, has borne a child out of wedlock and has been jailed for over three months and sentenced to wear a symbol of her adultery, a scarlet “A” on her dress at all times. It concerns about the moral, emotional and psychological effect of the sin on people in general. It’s not simply a love story or a story of sin. The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the scarlet letters to symbolize the harshness of Puritan society, showing how they brand sinners for life. 英语文摘mmkey

The story happened in Boston about 200 years ago. It narrates love affairs between three persons. The punished woman. Hester Prynne and his husband. Who called himself Roger Chillingworth . He is an old misshapen man and a doctor. Hester does not love him at all. Another man is a young minister, Dimmesdale, who has a high position among ministers and is highly respected among his people in town. Hester and Dimmesdale love each other. But their love is forbidden in that time . It is sinful. Due to this,Hester is punished by society with a letter A on her chest, which considered an evil, a shame.

In this novel, the mainline seems to be around the letter A. Hester is brave enough to face the cruel reality. She is always with a mind of courage. She has been alone with her child for so long , with litter communication. Shame! Hopelessness! Loneliness! Hester has to wear the letter A day after day, seven years as for punishment and ill fame.

When a woman has lived through a difficult experience, her character changes a great deal. If she be all tenderness, she will die. If she survive, the tenderness will leave her .Hester’s charitable deeds and quiet humility have earned her a reprieve from the scorn of the community. The letter on her chest represents her work on earth , always helping others, without expecting any thanks. Never afterwards, does that scarlet letter leave her chest. The townspeople no longer view the letter as a punishment , but rather as representing her great strength and bravery and thy say it means “Able”.

But Arthur Dimmesdale, his sin against Hester and Pearl is that he will not acknowledge them as his wife and daughter in the daylight. He keeps his dreadful secret from all those under his care in the church for seven years for fear that he will lose their love and will not be forgiven. He is too weak to admit his sins. He suffers from mysterious heart trouble, seemingly caused by psychological distress. What’s worse, he is an advisor to the townspeople about their sins.

After Mr. Dimmesdale’s death , no one changes more in appearance than Roger Chilling worth. All his strength and energy has been used to harm his patient . This unhappy man has made his aim in life to add to the suffering of the young minister. When the evil old man no longer has such a purpose, the devil takes him back to the hell . It is a curious subject of observation, however, whether hatred or love are not of the same place. Each takes a great deal of emotion from one person. The two feelings seem basically the same, expect that one is smiled upon by God, while the other is worshipped by the devil.

The two lovers has ever decided to flee to Europe, where they can live with their dauthter Pearl as a family .They feel a sense of release there. However, their plan fails…… When Hester dies, she is buried next to Dimmesdale. The two share a single tombstone, with a deep colored letter A shining brightly.

《红字》是美国小说家霍桑最杰出的代表作,也是整个美国浪漫主义小说中最有声望的权威作品之一.小说的故事发生在十七世纪中期加尔文者派统治下的波士顿,作者从当时的社会现状入手,通过一个感人的爱情故事悲剧来揭露当局对人们精神,心灵和道德的摧残.

海丝特*白兰是一个在婚姻上遭到不幸的女人,年轻美貌,却嫁给了身体畸形多病的术士罗杰*齐灵沃斯,夫妻间根本谈不上爱情,后来,罗杰又在海上失踪,杳无音讯,白兰孤独的过着日子.这时一个英俊有气魄的青年牧师,亚瑟*丁梅斯代尔闯入了她的生活,他们真诚的相爱了,度过了一段隐私但热烈的爱情生活.不久,白兰由于怀孕的隐情暴露,以通*罪被抓,在狱中生下了女儿小珠儿.

按照当时的教规,白兰只有交代*夫的姓名才能获得赦免,否则将受惩罚.然而执行审讯任务的却正是他的情人.白兰宁愿独自忍受任何惩罚,为了把她和丁梅斯代尔之间的爱情深深地埋在心中,她坚强的挺住了.

海丝特*白兰受到了惩罚,她必须终身穿着一件绣着红色A字的外衣.字母A代表"通*(Adultery)"一词.白兰带着小珠儿离群独居,在郊外偏僻的茅舍中过者孤寂的生活.而用心险恶的前夫罗杰发现了丁梅斯代尔的反常表现,利用牧师痛苦和矛盾的心情,不断地折磨他,终于丁梅斯代尔在他即将升为主教的前夕,当众宣布了自己的秘密,丁梅斯代尔向周围的人们展露了这首爱情的颂歌.当他把自己的胸衣扯开时,一个猩红的A字烙在他的胸前.他在自己的爱人身边离开了人世.

海丝特*白兰,他坚强,有毅力,对爱情忠贞不渝.虽然被统治者认为有罪,但她是清白的,纯洁的.她的精神不断上升,成为真,善,美的化身.她的举动是对封建政权与教权压迫下的爱情,人权和自由的充分肯定.

丁梅斯代尔最初与白兰产生了炽热的的爱情,虽然他一度退却了,为自己能够隐蔽的安慰,但内心的痛苦并没有因他的安全而平息,相反,越来越强烈.他与白兰的约会,他在枷刑台上的自我忏悔,他们的逃跑计划,以及最后的公开演说,都成为了丁梅斯代尔向着爱情的祭坛一步步走近的脚印.最后他扯开上衣,人们见到了烙在他胸口的红色A字.这个A字实际上是烙在他的心上的,这是爱情的升华.

作者用蔷薇花象征美与善,用监狱象征死亡,用一道光,一只鸟……象征丁梅斯代尔与白兰之间的爱情的结晶——小珠儿,使作品充满着一股迷人的魄力.

在作品的最后,在白兰和丁梅斯代尔合用的墓碑上刻着这样一句话:"一片墓地上,刻着血红的A字."这句话不可谓不意味深长.

《德伯家的苔丝》是哈代的代表作，是“威塞克斯系列”中的一部。它描写了一位农村姑娘的悲惨命运。看过这部小说后你有什么感触呢?下面是小编为大家整理的英文读后感范文，希望对你有帮助。

She was seduced by a so-called gentleman—Alec, and from then on her life totally changed from this loss of innocence. People looked down on her and respected her no more. Actually she did nothing wrong because before she was seduced she knew nothing of men. She was just a girl when she first met that terrible man.

She was forced by the gossips and the church to blame herself for this accident, so she thought she deserved nothing good. In order to get rid of the past she decided to go to a distant dairy farm but was still saying to herself that she was wrong. Maybe God didn’t agree with that, because the Lord gave her someone she loved with her whole heart and life—Angel Chare. Angel popped the question to her but she refused him without saying why. She said she loved him deeply and perhaps no one in the world could love him more than she did but she could not marry him for some unspoken reason. Angel wasn’t satisfied with this vague answer and did his best to win Tess. Somehow she agreed and they soon fixed the wedding day. Soon after their wedding Angel confessed the crime he committed to a woman long time ago and asked for Tess’s forgiveness. Tess was not at all angry and forgave Angel at once; in fact she was rather happy and excited for she also had things to confess.

She sat and told everything to Angel, hoping he would forgive her as he was forgiven but she was wrong. She was not forgiven, not as she thought she was. The woman pays.

Without Angel’s love, nothing meant anything to her. The result wasn’t important now. Tess was arrested for her murder of that so-called gentleman. Why? She still loved Angel and when he finally went back to her and asked for HER forgiveness, after he regretted what he had done unfair to Tess, she was desperate. That was too late—Alec had always told Tess that Angel would never come back so he won Tess’s trust. Unluckily Angel did come back and found Tess.! Everything was too late!

Tess was deceived and she lost Angel for the second time! The strengh of her love was so strong that she had forgotten the difference between right and wrong. Before that she had done nothing wrong but when she killed Alec, everything really changed! She became a criminal! How could it be? She was as pure and innocent as the good wife in the Bible. Her whole character was honest and faithful. Angel figured out at last that a person should be judged not only on what he has done but also on what he wanted to do!

Tess didn’t want to be seduced by man and she had no power to defend herself so she lost her innocence and that’s all! Angel also did the wrong thing and it was even more serious than Tess’s crime but HE was not blamed for it. Why it is always the woman who pays? Why they are always hurt? Why was Tess’s girlish purity lost? Why does the wrong man take the wrong woman? Why do the bad often ruin the good? Why is beauty damaged by ugliness? Women are too weak! Thousands of years of history have shown us that women have always been treated unfairly!

In old China there was a culture, which didn’t think of women as human beings. If you asked one if he was the oldest in his family, he would probably answer “the oldest one” even if he had some elder sisters. If you asked why then he would say, “Ha, they are not included!”

People gave birth to many girls in order to have only one boy to keep the family name going. They thought girls had no use for the family. They would be married and go to live with their husbands’ home and be their wives some day sooner or later. So they were extremely hard on girls.

Girls should be hard working, faithful, loyal, intelligent, and virtuous and the most important thing was she must be a maiden! If her husband was the first man who touched her then she was a good girl, a good wife no matter how she thought. If she wasn’t, then she would gain a very bad reputation and nobody would dare to go near her. What about men? People did not care whether he was an experienced man or not, nor did they care about his character. They thought man equals power and power equals rights…

Now let’s not be so bitter. Nowadays women’s situations have become much better. Some are because of the change of society and some are because of civilization. Just let those poor painful women like TESS be just a memory.

Let me tell what I feel after reading the great work Jane Erye.I was really move by Jane Erye after closing the book.What a kind and good woman!Mrs Eyre had a heart of gold.She really loved everyone around her,and gave others help sincerely.She respected herself and did her best to do everything.I really love her.She are both a great teacher and a good friend of mine.Sometimes when I am confuse,I will think of her.I will imagine what will she do if she is I.Why not read Jane Erye my friends!

读完《野性的呼唤》这本书，我深深感受到了动物的思想和感情。

"The call of the wild" after reading this book, I deeply felt the animals thoughts and feelings.

小狗巴克生活在南方，过习惯了悠闲自得的生活，养成了温柔的性格，但是，这样的日子没过多久，因为，有一天园丁把巴克拐卖到了北方。它被想得到金子的人用作了雪橇狗，拉雪橇。祖先们原始的野性在它身上渐渐发出。巴克渐渐变得残酷，它让所有的和它一块儿拉雪橇的狗们都顺从了它，然后把狗群的首领咬死，自己当了首领。后来的主人桑顿对巴克很好，巴克也和桑顿过的像一家人一样亲密。可是后来，桑顿被河水淹死了。巴克一点儿牵挂都没了，就跑到森林里当了狼。

The dog back to live in the south, too accustomed to leisurely life, develop a gentle character, but this time, not long before, because, one day the gardener to buck abducted to the north. It is to want to obtain the gold used for the sled dog sled. Ancestors of the original wild on it began to make. Buck gradually become cruel, it makes it all together and the sled dogs are resigned to it, and then killed the princes of Gou Qun himself as leader. Later, master Thornton is good to buck, buck and Thornton had as a family intimacy. But then, Thornton was drowned. Buck was worried about not, went to the forest as a wolf.

巴克在南方只是一条宠物狗，倒是要感激园丁的拐卖，幸而，才改变了它的一生。与生俱来的野性让它轻而易举成为群狗之首。忠诚和感恩使它和桑顿像一家人一样亲密。桑顿有危险时，是巴克勇敢地去救主人。虽然，巴克只是一条狗，但是它和人一样拥有情感，富有思想。

Buck in the south is a pet dog, it is to appreciate the abducted, fortunately, did not change his life. Born with the wild dogs to make it easy to become the first. Loyalty and gratitude to Thornton like a family intimacy. Thornton is in danger, Barker bravely to save the master. Although he is just a dog, but its like people have feelings, full of ideas.

Not long ago I just read the English version of "Diary of Anne Frank." In fact, this is not the first time I read this book. When I first read it in elementary school, and read the Chinese version. Then still small, still can not read, that means nothing. Now it seems there feeling very deeply.

Anne Frank was a Jewish girl. She could and ordinary girl, living a happy life, but she was not hiding different parents attic. Anne all day hiding in dark little attic to escape the Nazis killing. She could not get close to nature, can not be friends like before play. In the shadow of the shadow of death, Anne only keep a diary to get through tough every day. For her, the diary as her friends, her only friends can rely on and talk. She wrote in her diary a lot, there are silent on the racial discrimination complaint, more of the outside world, the natural yearning for thinking about life.

From her diary, I can imagine she was helpless, fear, but a more leisurely and calm. This is a great girl.

After reading the "Diary of Anne Frank", my heart is very heavy. Nazi racial discrimination, maiming and killing innocent pretty much the same as Annes children. War is always nasty, it makes human experience is a market catastrophe.

Thank you "Diary of Anne Frank" and let people see the ugliness of war, to get people to think about and condolences for the unfortunate people.

Do not like history repeating itself, pray for world peace forever.

参考翻译

不久前我刚看完了英文版的《安妮日记》。其实这不是我第一次看这本书了。第一次看的时候我才上小学，看的是中文版的。那时还小，还读不懂，觉得没什么意思。而现在看起来，却有很深很深的感触。

安妮 弗兰克是个犹太女孩。她本可以和普通女孩一样过着快乐的生活，但她却不得不同父母躲到阁楼里。小小的安妮整日躲在阴暗的阁楼里，躲避着纳粹的捕杀。她无法亲近自然，无法和朋友们像以前一样玩耍。在死亡阴影的笼罩下，安妮只有记日记来度过难熬的每一天。对于她来说，日记就像她的朋友，她唯一可以依赖和倾诉的朋友。她在她的日记里写下了很多，有对种族歧视的无声的控诉，更多的是对外面世界，对自然的向往，对人生的思考。

从她的日记中，我可以想像出她当时的无助，惶恐，但更有从容和镇定。这是一个了不起的女孩。

看完了《安妮日记》，我的内心很沉重。纳粹的种族歧视，残害了多少像安妮一样无辜可爱的孩子。战争从来都是可恶的，它让人类经历的是一场场劫难。

感谢《安妮日记》，让人们看到了战争的丑恶，让人们去思考，去为不幸的人们哀悼。

愿历史不要再重演，祈求世界永远和平。

This winter vacation, I read one of the world famous book called one thousand one night. It is also called Arabian Nights，This is an ancient book, there are many old stories about people in Arabia.

Once upon a time, there was a king, he married a woman every day, but the next morning the king killed his wife. After three years, he has killed more than one thousand women. Once, the prime minister’s daughter thought of a way to prevent the king’s cruel killing. Then, the girl asked the king to marry her. Every night, she told a wonderful story to the king, and when the king want to kill her, her story was getting into the most exciting part, so the king has to give up. Night after night, the girl told about one thousand one nights, and finally, it affected the king to change his mind about her. This is the origin of one thousand one night.

In this book, there are a lot of very strange story, the story of the fisherman and the devil , fisherman and four-color fish story, the story of Aladdin and the Magic Lamp and so on, some stories tell about the brave spirit of adventure, and some praise people’s brave daring to fight with the evil forces. there are humorous, sad, interesting, horrible, tragic and all sorts of stories.

I read a very interesting book, the name of the book is called "Tom Sawyer, I like the book in the little hero and some story happened on him.

Tom is a naughty, naive and lively children, but in the eyes of an adult who is also a real bad boy, he naughty, like mischief, play truant, the nature is the norm, not only in this way, he make trouble method also each time, let a person elusive, small-scale operations. Although he is a very bad very bad child, but also to make people laugh: penalty was painting the walls, and could come up with a good way to make a friend for him to complete, and make friends with him to take a variety of foods and toys for a chance to paint the walls. In this way, Tom not only comfortable, leisure and suddenly gained a lot of gifts.

Let me more impressive is the story of Tom and huck and Joe three people formed a team when the pirates fled to a desert island. In this adventure, he met with difficulties, but he didnt lose heart, dont give up, again and again to challenge difficulties bravely, until down with difficulty.

After reading this book, I feel that we meet with difficulties dont get discouraged, and strive to insist on. Tom lives full of sunshine also tells us: as long as there is joy, have a dream, a dream can come true!

我读了一本非常有趣的书，书的名字叫《汤姆索亚历险记》，我很喜欢这本书中的小主人公以及在他身上发生的一些故事。

汤姆是一个顽皮、天真并且十分活泼的孩子，但在大人的眼里他同时也是一个不折不扣的坏孩子，他调皮、喜欢恶作剧、逃学这些自然是家常便饭，不仅这样，他捣蛋的方法还一次比一次厉害，让人琢磨不透，防不胜防。他虽然是一个很坏很坏的孩子，但也会做出让人捧腹大笑的事情：被罚粉刷墙壁，竟能想出好办法让小伙伴替他完成，并让小伙伴们拿各种各样的食物和玩具来跟他换一次刷墙的机会。这样一来，汤姆不光悠闲自在，而且一下子就收获了很多礼物。

让我印象比较深刻的是故事中汤姆与哈克再加上乔三人组成了一个团队逃到了荒岛上当海盗。在这次冒险中，他遇到了种种困难，但他并不灰心，也不放弃，一次又一次勇敢地向困难挑战，直到打倒困难为止。

读了这本书以后，我觉得遇到困难我们不要轻易气馁，而要努力奋斗，坚持下去。汤姆充满阳光的生活里也告诉我们：只要有欢乐，有梦想，美梦便可以成真!

The Olympic Games, which originated in ancient Greece, is the most distinguished sporting event in the world. Once every four years, the utmost athletes from all around are lured to gather together and spare no efforts to compete against each other and try to win a medal for the country that they represent. Frankly speaking, that was virtually all I knew about the world-famous Olympic Games before I had read a book entitled The Olympics published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press. However, I found even more philosophy beyond just winning medals from reading the book, which was beyond my imagination and considerably inspiring.

Someone once said, “Were everybody on earth involved in some kind of sport, our world would be free of war for long.” Starting from three thousand years ago, the ancient Olympic Games has long been an event not only for competition but also for peace. In ancient times, no war was allowed between the cities during the Games, which was rather surprising to me since I could hardly imagine warriors actally putting down their weapons and give a break for peace. The precious tradition of peace continued: I would never fail to recall the scene of the opening ceremonies when North and South Korean athletes entering the stadium with their hands held together. The two neighboring countries that used to be enemies are no longer enemies during the Games. Instead they became friends. Speaking of the XX Athens Olympics, perhaps most people would have the same opinion that the most noable part of the opening ceremony arrived when Iraqi and Afghan representatives showed up. These two unfortunate nations, the people of which have undergone innumerable wars, are coming back again to take their own responsibility in world sports after recent invasions by America. The fearless people of Iraq and Afghanistan are once more sharing the spirit of the Games with people from the rest of the world.

There is another story in this book that makes me deep in thoughts. There is no doubt that the most unusual Olympic Games ever in history is the 1936 Olympics held in Germany, which was then ruled by the Nazi Party. Led by Adolf Hitler, the Nazi believed that the so-called Aryan people were superior to all others in all aspects. They looked down upon Jews and blacks, the latter of which was a major constitution of the United States Olympic team. Despite the barrier that faced him, the African American Jesse Owens, who was a most outstanding runner and jumper, did all that he could and finally won gold medals for his country and went home a hero. This reveals another fact that no power on earth is able to hinder the sacred Olympic Games. For all participants, no matter what their gender, race, nationalities and backgrounds are, equality is distributed among every one who observes the Game’s rules.

At the XX Athens Olympics, our Chinese team did extraordinarily well. We ranked second on the medal lists for the first time in history. In my opinion, however, we should not only concentrate on the figure of medals; instead the strength and perseverance of those who failed to get any medals ought to be highly cherished. Whether ever success or failure, whether ever cheer or tear, whether ever medal or not, the never-gave-up spirits of athletes are always motivating us. I believe in the year 2008, the world will focus all their attention to Beijing, China, where the glory of the Games will continue to thrive forever!

I have the good story is called "the wizard of oz".

Cute girl much rosie aunt and uncle Henry, amber live in Kansas prairie, lived a simple life.

Tornado came, dorothy and the dog toto volume to a strange place. Suddenly, a fairy appeared and said, "want to go home, just look for the oates king." So we started dorothy with toto, the way, they met a scarecrow, he is a thinking mind; Tin man alive heart; The cowardly lion to courage. Together they find otzi king, climbing wading, find ways to solve the problems one by one and defeated the fierce tiger and bear. Finally met oates king, but oates king, the king asked them to beat west evil spirit, they have killed the west evil spirit with buckets of water. Because western bride what all not afraid, only afraid of water. But Mr King, is an old man, and dorothy depends on own strength to go home, the desire of the partners are achieved.

This is my favorite story books because dorothy and partners with wisdom and strength, to overcome all difficulties.

我有本好故事名叫《绿野仙踪》。

可爱的小女孩多萝茜和亨利叔叔、艾姆婶婶住在堪萨斯州大草原上，过着简单的生活。

龙卷风来了，把多萝西和小狗托托卷到一个陌生的地方。突然，一个仙女出现了，说：“想回家，就先找奥茨大王。”于是多萝西带托托出发了，路上，他们遇稻草人，他要一个会思考的脑子;铁皮人要颗鲜活的心脏;胆小狮要胆量。他们一起去找奥茨大王，爬山涉水，想方设法解决了一个一个的难题，打败了凶猛的虎头熊。最后终于见到了奥茨大王，可是奥茨大王要他们打败西方魔女，他们用桶水打死了西方魔女。因为西方魔女什么都不怕，唯一害怕水。但是奥茨大王是个老头，于是多萝西就靠自己的力量回家了，伙伴们的愿望也都实现了。

这是我最喜欢的故事书，因为多萝西和伙伴们拥有智慧和力量，战胜一切困难。

This is a wonderful, beautiful epic of a novel. Set in Afghanistan and the United States between the 1970s to the present day, it is a heartbreaking tale of a young boy, Amir, and his best friend who are torn apart. This is a classic word-of-mouth novel and is sure to become as universally loved as The God of Small Things and The Glass Palace.

Twelve year old Amir is desperate to win the approval of his father Baba, one of the richest and most respected merchants in Kabul. He has failed to do so through academia or brawn, but the one area where they connect is the annual kite fighting tournament. Amir is determined not just to win the competition but to run the last kite and bring it home triumphantly, to prove to his father that he has the makings of a man. His loyal friend Hassan is the best kite runner that Amir has ever seen, and he promises to help him - for Hassan always helps Amir out of trouble. But Hassan is a Shia Muslim and this is 1970s Afghanistan. Hassan is taunted and jeered at by Amirs school friends; he is merely a servant living in a shack at the back of Amirs house. So why does Amir feel such envy towards his friend? Then, what happens to Hassan on the afternoon of the tournament is to shatter all their lives, and define their futures.

The Kite Runner of Khaled Hosseinis deeply moving fiction debut is an illiterate Afghan boy with an uncanny instinct for predicting exactly where a downed kite will land. Growing up in the city of Kabul in the early 1970s, Hassan was narrator Amirs closest friend even though the loyal 11-year-old with "a face like a Chinese doll" was the son of Amirs fathers servant and a member of Afghanistans despised Hazara minority. But in 1975, on the day of Kabuls annual kite-fighting tournament, something unspeakable happened between the two boys.

Narrated by Amir, a 40-year-old novelist living in California, The Kite Runner tells the gripping story of a boyhood friendship destroyed by jealousy, fear, and the kind of ruthless evil that transcends mere politics. Running parallel to this personal narrative of loss and redemption is the story of modern Afghanistan and of Amirs equally guilt-ridden relationship with the war-torn city of his birth. The first Afghan novel to be written in English, The Kite Runner begins in the final days of King Zahir Shahs 40-year reign and traces the countrys fall from a secluded oasis to a tank-strewn battlefield controlled by the Russians and then the trigger-happy Taliban. When Amir returns to Kabul to rescue Hassans orphaned child, the personal and the political get tangled together in a plot that is as suspenseful as it is taut with feeling.

The son of an Afghan diplomat whose family received political asylum in the United States in 1980, Hosseini combines the unflinching realism of a war correspondent with the satisfying emotional pull of master storytellers such as Rohinton Mistry. Like the kite that is its central image, the story line of this mesmerizing first novel occasionally dips and seems almost to dive to the ground. But Hosseini ultimately keeps everything airborne until his heartrending conclusion in an American picnic park.

one of the most interesting questions about gullivers travels is whether the houyhnhnms represent an ideal of rationality or whether on the other hand they are the butt of swifts satire. in other words, in book iv, is swift poking fun at the talking horses or does he intend for us to take them seriously as the proper way to act? if we look closely at the way that the houyhnhnms act, we can see that in fact swift does not take them seriously: he uses them to show the dangers of pride.

first we have to see that swift does not even take gullver seriously. for instance, his name sounds much like gullible, which suggests that he will believe anything. also, when he first sees the yahoos and they throw excrement on him, he responds by doing the same in return until they run away. he says, "i must needs discover some more rational being," even though as a human he is already the most rational being there is. this is why swift refers to erasmus darwins discovery of the origin of the species and the voyage of the beagle-to show how gulliver knows that people are at the top of the food chain. but if lemule gulliver is satirized, so are the houyhnhnms, whose voices sound like the call of castrati. they walk on two legs instead of four, and seem to be much like people. as gulliver says, "it was with the utmost astonishment that i witnessed these creatures playing the flute and dancing a vienese waltz. to my mind, they seemed like the greatest humans ever seen in court, even more dextrous than the lord edmund burke" . as this quote demonstrates, gulliver is terribly impressed, but his admiration for the houyhnhnms is short-lived because they are so prideful. for instance, the leader of the houyhnhnms claims that he has read all the works of charles dickens, and that he can singlehandedly recite the names of all the kings and queens of england up to george ii. swift subtly shows that this houyhnhnms pride is misplaced when, in the middle of the intellectual competition, he forgets the name of queen elizabeths husband.

swifts satire of the houyhnhnms comes out in other ways as well. one of the most memorable scenes is when the dapple grey mare attempts to woo the horse that guenivre has brought with him to the island. first she acts flirtatiously, parading around the bewildered horse. but when this does not have the desired effect, she gets another idea: "as i watched in amazement from my perch in the top of a tree, the sorrel nag dashed off and returned with a yahoo on her back who was yet more monstrous than mr. pope being fitted by a clothier. she dropped this creature before my nag as if offering up a sacrifice. my horse sniffed the creature and turned away." it might seem that we should take this scene seriously as a failed attempt at courtship, and that consequently we should see the grey mare as an unrequited lover. but it makes more sense if we see that swift is being satiric here: it is the female houyhnhnm who makes the move, which would not have happened in eighteenth-century england. the houyhnhm is being prideful, and it is that pride that makes him unable to impress gullivers horse. gulliver imagines the horse saying, sblood, the notion of creating the bare backed beast with an animal who had held mr. pope on her back makes me queezy .

a final indication that the houyhnmns are not meant to be taken seriously occurs when the leader of the houynhms visits lilliput, where he visits the french royal society. he goes into a room in which a scientist is trying to turn wine into water (itself a prideful act that refers to the marriage at gallilee). the scientist has been working hard at the experiment for many years without success, when the houyhnmn arrives and immediately knows that to do: "the creature no sooner stepped through the doorway than he struck upon a plan. slurping up all the wine in sight, he quickly made water in a bucket that sat near the door" .

he has accomplished the scientists goal, but the scientist is not happy, for his livelihood has now been destroyed. swifts clear implication is that even though the houyhnhmns are smart, they do not know how to use that knowledge for the benefit of society, only for their own prideful agrandizement.

throughout gullivers travels, the houyhnhms are shown to be an ideal gone wrong. though their intent might have been good, they dont know how to do what they want to do because they are filled with pride. they mislead gulliver and they even mislead themselves. the satire on them is particularly well explained by the new born houyhnhm who, having just been born, exclaims, "with this sort of entrance, what must i expect from the rest of my life!" .

Joy depicts the crisis of faith that overes Rabbi Banish of Komarov， who， having buried his four sons and two daughters. Only through the mercy of the God he has denied， manifest in a radiant vision of the dead Rebecca， his beloved youngest daughter， is the rabbi’s belief restored. The sense of wonder and the touch of heavenly joy that linger after the vision dissolves convince Rabbi Banish of the folly of judging God’s actions by human standards. The rabbi has interpreted the apparent tragedy of his children’s premature deaths as evidence of God’s alienation， forgetting that God is by definition inscrutable. That God’s purpose transcends man’s ability to prehend it is made clear to the expiring rabbi when the family dead approach his deathbed with arms outstretched to enfold him among them. For theirs is the kingdom of heaven to which a loving God has called them; and their deaths have evidenced not God’s wrath but his grace.

A version of Rabbi Banish’s deathbed revelation appears to Rabbi Nechemia in Something Is There. At twenty-seven he is already racked by the doubts that torment Rabbi Banish. So shaken is his belief in God that he deserts his rabbinical post in provincial Bechev for the flesh-posts of Warsaw. Although the prostitutes， unclean food， and shady business dealings which he witnesses there hold no attraction for the erstwhile rabbi， they intensify his revulsion from the world created by God and therefore his alienation from God himself. Unlike Rabbi Bainish， whose intimations of immortality and consequent rededication to God precede his radiant deathbed vision， Rabbi Nechemia cannot allay his doubts until the very moment of death， when a light he never knew was there flickered in hid brain.

While his dying words—something is there—resolve his crisis of faith， they e too late to affect the spiritual renewal attained by Rabbi Banish. No explicit promise of immortality， let along of salvation， attends Rabbi Nechemia’s vision. Perhaps grace is accorded Rabbi Banish because his doubt is triggered by devastating personal losses， and withheld from Rabbi Nechemia because his despair is the bitter fruit of idle speculation about the unknown. Whatever the reason， relatively few of Singer’s characters are granted at the moment of death the transcendent vision of unity between man and God that appears to Rabbi Banish in Joy. For the fortunate few， release from time into eternity is affected by a divine visitation which obliterates distinctions between past and present， living and dead.

These kinds of characters are lost in their world because of the seducement of the material world. They doubt their formal faith and gradually give up what they believed. But after they have experienced so much hardship， they realize that they cannot adapt to the life of the outer world so they regress to the former life with formal faith. They realize the importance of God and they begin to think seriously about the relationship between man and God. At last they find their right way of their life.

This is a story about a special and ueserved woman who has been exposed to a hostile environment but continuously and fearlessly struggling for her ideal life. The story can be interpreted as a symbol of the independent spirit.

It seems to me that many readers’ English reading experience starts with Jane Eyer. I am of no exception. As we refer to the movie “Jane Eyer”, it is not surprising to find some differences because of its being filmized and retold in a new way, but the spirit of the novel remains----to be an independent person, both physically and mentally.

Jane Eyer was a born resister, whose parents went off when she was very young, and her aunt，the only relative she had，treated her as badly as a ragtag. Since Jane’s education in Lomon person, just the same as any other girl around. The suffers from being humiliated and devastated teach Jane to be persevering and prize dignity over anything else.As a reward of revolting the ruthless oppression, Jane got a chance to be a tutor in Thornfield Garden. There she made the acquaintance of lovely Adele and that garden’s owner, Rochester, a man with warm heart despite a cold face outside. Jane expected to change the life from then on, but fate had decided otherwise: After Jane and Rochester fell in love with each other and got down to get marry, she unfortunately came to know in fact Rochester had got a legal wife, who seemed to be the shadow following

Rochester and led to his moodiness all the time ----Rochester was also a despairing person in need of salvation. Jane did want to give him a hand, however, she made up her mind to leave, because she didn’t want to betray her own principles, because she was Jane Eyer. The film has finally got a symbolist end: Jane inherited a large number of legacies and finally returned. After finding Rochester’s misfortune brought by his original mad wife, Jane chose to stay with him forever.

I don’t know what others feel, but frankly speaking, I would rather regard the section that Jane began her teaching job in Thornfield as the film’s end----especially when I heard Jane’s words “Never in my life have I been awaken so happily.” For one thing, this ideal and brand-new beginning of life was what Jane had been imagining for long as a suffering person; for another, this should be what the audiences with my views hoped her to get. But the professional judgment of producing films reminded me to wait for a totally different result: There must be something wrong coming with the excellence----perhaps not only should another section be added to eich the story, but also we may see from the next transition of Jane’s life that “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you would get.” (By Forrest Gump’s mother, in the film “Forrest Gump”)

What’s more, this film didn’t end when Jane left Thornfield. For Jane Eyer herself, there should always be somewhere to realize her great ideal of being independent considering her fortitude, but for Rochester, how he can get salvation?

The film gives the answer tentatively: Jane eventually got back to Rochester. In fact, when Jane

met Rochester for the first time, she scared his horse and made his heel strained, to a certain extent, which meant Rochester would get retrieval because of Jane. We can consider Rochester’s experiences as that of religion meaning. The fire by his frantic wife was the punishment for the cynicism early in his life. After it, Rochester got the mercy of the God and the love of the woman whom he loved. Here we can say: human nature and divinity get united perfectly in order to let such a story accord with the requirements of both two sides. The value of this film may be due to its efforts to explore a new way for the development of humanism under the faith of religion.

Life is ceaselessly changing, but our living principles remain. Firmly persisting for the rights of being independent gives us enough confidence and courage, which is like the beacon over the capriccioso sea of life. In the world of the film, we have found the stories of ourselves, which makes us so concerned about the fate of the dramatis personae.

In this era of rapid social and technological change leading to increasing life complexity and psychological displacement, both physical and mental effects on us call for a balance. We are likely to find ourselves bogged down in the Sargasso Sea of information overload and living unconsciousness. It’s our spirit that makes the life meaningful.

Heart is the engine of body, brain is the resource of thought, and great films are the mirrors of life. In

dubitably, “Jane Eyer” is one of them.

Book Review: “Camille”

I read the Chinese version of “Camille” a few years ago. At that time I was deeply moved by the main character Marguerite Gautier. “Camille” or “The Lady of the Camellias” by Alexandre Dumas, fils, is the story of Marguerite Gautier, a young courtesan, or kept woman, in Paris in the mid 1800s, and how she falls in love with a young man, Armand Duval, and then tries to escape from her questionable past. Unfortunately, it comes back to haunt her and she ends up returning to that life and dies painfully and alone, but with the knowledge that she was a noble woman at heart. When I first began to read the book, I did not care for Marguerite or her attitude or lifestyle, but as I got further into the narrative, I realized that her saucy attitude was a front to cover the lonely woman that she really was. She felt used, abused and unloved, until the gentle Armand Duval came into her life and showed her that he loved her as a person and not for what she could do for him. It must have taken great courage for Marguerite to leave the life she had lived for so long, knowing all along that it was probably too good to be true and would not last indefinitely. And it also showed that Marguerite really loved Armand Duval for she could even change herself for him.

However, happiness didn’t last for long. When M. Duval, Armands father, came to her, pleading for her to leave Armand to save both Armands reputation and that of his younger innocent sister, Marguerite saw a way to become pure of heart, if not in body. She felt that it was her duty, because she loved Armand so much, to do this even though it meant giving up her own happiness and hurting Armand temporarily. She reluctantly returned to her former life, knowing that some day Armand would forgive her. Sadly, she died in debt and basically alone, except for her one female friend, Julie Duprat, who helped her during her illness. She had her journal sent to Armand after her death, explaining why she had made the choices she had. I think Dumass last few lines about Marguerite being the exception, not the rule were quite true, and I also agreed with his view that while her lifestyle could not be condoned, we as a society assume that all of these type of women are cold and heartless, while this may not always be the case. A person can make the wrong choices in life when they are young, and try to redeem themselves, but sometimes past situations prevent them from changing their lives, even though they desperately wish to do so. This applies to both men and women in many different types of circumstances: involvement in crime; drug or alcohol abuse; gambling; prostitution; financial problems; poor marriage choices; etc. And this is the fact, which exists in the whole society.

As far as the other characters in the book, I think Marguerite was right in saying that no one truly cared about her, but only wanted something from her, the only exceptions being Armand and Julie Duprat. Of course, the Comte de G. and Comte de N. wanted her body and appearance. The Duke needed to “wake up and smell the coffee” and realize that she could never replace his dead daughter. If he truly cared, he could have helped her leave her lifestyle without “keeping” her himself. And lastly, Prudence was a blood-sucking leech who used Marguerite almost worse than the men. I also think she was jealous of the fact that Marguerite had so much more courage than herself and someone truly loved her.

Last morning, when tiding my bookshelf, I took this book out of the shelf, and a dried flower flew away from the book. It was pale blue, very transparent, with thin fine veins. a dried flower flew away from the book. It was pale blue, very transparent, with thin fine veins. I held it against the morning light and blew on it. The soft breeze carried it away. Camille is just like the camellia, she could never escape from the destiny of withering. But it wasn’t her fault; it’s because of the evil of Capitalism and the hideousness of that society.

Suddenly, I remembered a saying: “Women are like the flowers”. Those pretty women are like those beautiful flowers; their delicate beauty makes people feel they are the miracle of life. However, even the God envies their beauty. It seems that beautiful women always have tragic endings. As we are normal persons, even we can see the hideousness of humanity that results in their fate of withering, we can at most ask quietly in our hearts: Where have those beautiful flowers gone? Where have they gone?

Titanic, the ship of dreams. Is also known as Unsinkable, and it was unsinkable on its departure on April 10th, 1912. And on its epic journey a poor artist named Jack Dawson and a rich girl Rose DeWitt Bukator fall in love, until one night, their fairytale love for one another turns into a struggle for survival on a ship about to founder to the bottom of the North Atlantic. Rose leaves her fiancée Caledon Hockley for this poor artist, but when the Titanic collides with the Iceberg on April 14th, 1912, and then when the ship sinks on April 15th, 1912 at 2:20 in the morning, Jack dies and Rose survives and 84 years later Rose tells the story about her life on Titanic to her grand daughter and friends on the Keldysh and explains the first sight of Jack that falls into love, then into a fight for survival. When Rose gets saved by one lifeboat that comes back, they take her to the Carpathia with the 6 saved with Rose and the 700 people saved in the lifeboats. The Carpathia Immigration Officer asks Rose what her name is and she loved Jack so much she says her name is not Rose DeWitt Bukator, but her name is Rose Dawson. She seen Cal looking for her, but he doesnt see her, and they never ended up together, her mom, Cal, and friends of the family has know choice but to think that she died on the Titanic. But in the crash of 1929, Cal is married, but then he put a pistol in his mouth and committed suicid. So Rose is an actress in the 20s, and now 84 years later Rose Calvert is 100 years old and tells her grand daughter Lizzy Calvert, Brock Lovett, Lewis Bodine, Bobby Buell, and Anatoly Mikailavich the whole story from departure until the death of Titanic on its first and last voyage, and then to Rose all Titanic and the real love of her life Jack Dawson is all an existence inside of her memory, and Titanic is to rest in peace at the bottom of the North Atlantic from 1912 until the end of time.

Written by Scotty McCoy

---Book Review: “Camille”

I read the Chinese version of “Camille” a few years ago. At that time I was deeply moved by the main character Marguerite Gautier. “Camille” or “The Lady of the Camellias” by Alexandre Dumas, fils, is the story of Marguerite Gautier, a young courtesan, or kept woman, in Paris in the mid 1800s, and how she falls in love with a young man, Armand Duval, and then tries to escape from her questionable past. Unfortunately, it comes back to haunt her and she ends up returning to that life and dies painfully and alone, but with the knowledge that she was a noble woman at heart. When I first began to read the book, I did not care for Marguerite or her attitude or lifestyle, but as I got further into the narrative, I realized that her saucy attitude was a front to cover the lonely woman that she really was. She felt used, abused and unloved, until the gentle Armand Duval came into her life and showed her that he loved her as a person and not for what she could do for him. It must have taken great courage for Marguerite to leave the life she had lived for so long, knowing all along that it was probably too good to be true and would not last indefinitely. And it also showed that Marguerite really loved Armand Duval for she could even change herself for him.

However, happiness didn’t last for long. When M. Duval, Armands father, came to her, pleading for her to leave Armand to save both Armands reputation and that of his younger innocent sister, Marguerite saw a way to become pure of heart, if not in body. She felt that it was her duty, because she loved Armand so much, to do this even though it meant giving up her own happiness and hurting Armand temporarily. She reluctantly returned to her former life, knowing that some day Armand would forgive her. Sadly, she died in debt and basically alone, except for her one female friend, Julie Duprat, who helped her during her illness. She had her journal sent to Armand after her death, explaining why she had made the choices she had. I think Dumass last few lines about Marguerite being the exception, not the rule were quite true, and I also agreed with his view that while her lifestyle could not be condoned, we as a society assume that all of these type of women are cold and heartless, while this may not always be the case. A person can make the wrong choices in life when they are young, and try to redeem themselves, but sometimes past situations prevent them from changing their lives, even though they desperately wish to do so. This applies to both men and women in many different types of circumstances: involvement in crime; drug or alcohol abuse; gambling; prostitution; financial problems; poor marriage choices; etc. And this is the fact, which exists in the whole society.

As far as the other characters in the book, I think Marguerite was right in saying that no one truly cared about her, but only wanted something from her, the only exceptions being Armand and Julie Duprat. Of course, the Comte de G. and Comte de N. wanted her body and appearance. The Duke needed to “wake up and smell the coffee” and realize that she could never replace his dead daughter. If he truly cared, he could have helped her leave her lifestyle without “keeping” her himself. And lastly, Prudence was a blood-sucking leech who used Marguerite almost worse than the men. I also think she was jealous of the fact that Marguerite had so much more courage than herself and someone truly loved her.