Nineteenth-century life had dealt the ten-year-old London 1)lad a bad hand. While his father 2)languished in debtor’s jail, painful 3)pangs of hunger 4)gnawed at his stomach. To feed himself, the boy took a job pasting labels on 5)blacking bottles in a 6)grim, 7)rat-infested 8)warehouse. He slept in a 9)dismal 10)attic room with two other street 11)urchins, while secretly dreaming of becoming a writer. With only four years of 12)schooling, he had little confidence in his ability. To avoid the 13)jeering laughter he expected, he 14)sneaked out in the dead of night to mail his first 15)manuscript.

Story after story was refused, until finally one was accepted. He wasn’t paid for it, but still, one editor had praised his work.

The recognition he received through the printing of that one story changed his life. If it hadn’t been for the encouragement of that one editor, he might have spent his entire working life in a rat-infested factory.

You may have heard of this boy, whose books brought about so many reforms in the treatment of children and the poor: his name was Charles Dickens, author of A Christmas 16)Carol.

作家

19世纪时，生活没有礼遇这名十岁的伦敦少年。他的父亲因为债台高筑而心力交瘁，他的胃还饱受饥饿的痛苦折磨。为了能吃饱，男孩找了份工作--在一个条件简陋、耗子滋生的仓库里往鞋油瓶上粘商标。他和另外两个街上的流浪儿一起睡在光线幽暗的阁楼房间里，内心一边暗暗地梦想着成为作家。因为只上过四年学，他对自己是否具备此能力几乎不怀任何信心。为了避免遭受他人的愚弄和嘲笑，他的第一份稿件是等到深夜才悄悄地投寄出去的。

遭遇了一次又一次的退稿后，终于有一份稿件被录用了。没有稿费，但他的作品受到一名编辑的赞扬。

那份发表的稿件使他获得认可，并改变了他的一生。如果不是因为那名编辑的鼓励，他这一辈子也许都将在耗子滋生的工厂里度过。

你可能已经听说过这个男孩了，他写下的许多书使孩子们与穷人的待遇得到极大改善。他叫查尔斯·狄更斯，《圣诞颂歌》即出自他的手笔。

1) lad [lAd] n. 少年，青年男子

2) languish [5lANgwiF]v. 憔悴

3) pang [pAN ]n. 剧痛，悲痛

4) gnaw [nC:] v. 折磨，侵蚀

5) blacking [5blAkiN] n. 黑色鞋油

6) grim [grim] a. 严酷的，讨厌的

7) rat-infested [rAt-in5festitid] a. 老鼠滋生的

8) warehouse [5wZE-haus] n. 仓库

9) dismal [5dizmEl] a. 阴沉的，使人消沉的

10) attic [5Atik] n. 阁楼

11) urchin [5E:tFin] n. 顽童

12) schooling [5sku:liN] n. 学校教育

13) jeering [5dViEriN] a. 嘲弄的

14) sneak [sni:k] v. 鬼鬼祟祟地做事

15) manuscript [5mAnjuskript] n. 手稿，原稿

16) carol [5kArEl] n. 颂歌