Novel: A Tale Of Two Cities
Book the First: Recalled to Life
Chapter 1: The Period
Author: Charles Dickens
Narrator: Frank Muller
Source: Jiuliqiangwei

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;we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going directly to Heaven, we were all going the other way.In short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

这是最好的时代，这是最坏的时代；这是智慧的时代，这是愚蠢的时代；这是信仰的时期，这是怀疑的时期；这是光明的季节，这是黑暗的季节；这是希望之春，这是失望之冬；人们面前有着各样事物，人们面前一无所有；人们正在直登天堂，人们正在直下地狱。简而言之，那时跟现在非常相象，某些最喧嚣的权威坚持要用形容词的最高级来形容它。说它好，是最高级的；说它不好，也是最高级的。

A Tale of Two Cities And Charles Dickson

A Tale of Two Cities (1859) is a novel by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. It follows the lives of several protagonists through these events, most notably Charles Darnay, a French once-aristocrat who falls victim to the indiscriminate wrath of the revolution despite his virtuous nature, and Sydney Carton, a dissipated British barrister who endeavours to redeem his ill-spent life out of his unrequited love for Darnay's wife, Lucie Manette.

Charles Dickson was the most popular English novelist of the Victorian era. His work has been praised for its mastery of prose and unique personalities by writers such as George Gissing and G. K. Chesterton, though others, such as Henry James and Virginia Woolf, criticised him for sentimentality and implausibility.

林贝卡 2010夏 于美国