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A Tale of Two Cities《双城记》
作者：查尔斯·狄更斯（Charles Dickens）
首次出版：1859 年 4 月 30 日，
首发刊物为《All the Year Round》。
出版背景：英国原版刊印，后世多次校勘再版。
多国译本与双语选编版本广泛流传。
收录说明：该版本为原著定本，
故事以法国大革命为背景，穿梭于伦敦与巴黎两座城市。
交织着牺牲、爱情与救赎，
那句“这是最好的时代，也是最坏的时代”流传至今。
创作背景：
狄更斯有感于历史洪流里人性的挣扎与抉择。
借大革命的动荡，书写时代浪潮之下普通人的命运与爱的伟大。
英文原文
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 direct to Heaven,
we were all going direct 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.
There were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a plain face,
on the throne of England;
there were a king with a large jaw and a queen with a fair face,
on the throne of France.
In both countries it was clearer than crystal
to the lords of the State preserves of loaves and fishes,
that things in general were settled for ever.
It was the year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five.
France, less favoured on the whole as to matters spiritual
than her sister of the shield and trident,
rolled with exceeding smoothness down hill,
making paper money and spending it.
Under the guidance of her Christian pastors,
she entertained herself, besides,
with such humane achievements as
sentencing a youth to have his hands cut off,
his tongue torn out with pincers,
and his body burned alive,
because he had not kneeled down in the rain
to do honour to a dirty procession of monks.
It is likely enough that,
rooted in the woods of France and Norway,
there were growing trees,
when that sufferer was put to death,
already marked by the Woodman, Fate,
to come down and be sawn into boards,
to make a certain movable framework with a sack and a knife in it,
terrible in history.
It is likely enough that in the rough outhouses of some tillers of
the heavy lands adjacent to Paris,
there were sheltered from the weather that very day,
rude carts,
bespattered with rustic mire,
snuffed about by pigs,
and roosted in by poultry,
which the Farmer, Death,
had already set apart to be his tumbrils of the Revolution.
But that Woodman and that Farmer,
though they work unceasingly,
work silently,
and no one heard them as they went about with muffled tread:
the rather,
forasmuch as to entertain any suspicion that they were awake,
was to be atheistical and traitorous.
In England,
there was scarcely an amount of order and protection
to justify much national boasting.
Daring burglaries by armed men,
and highway robberies,
took place in the capital itself every night.
Families were publicly cautioned not to go out of town
without removing their furniture to upholsterers’ warehouses for security.
The highwayman in the dark was a City tradesman in the light,
and, being recognised
and challenged by his fellow-tradesman whom he stopped,
he shot him through the head and galloped away.
The post-chaise was waylaid by seven robbers,
and the guard shot three dead,
and then got shot dead himself by the other four,
“in consequence of the failure of his ammunition”:
after which the mail was robbed in peace.
All these things,
and a thousand like them,
came to pass in and close upon the
dear old year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five.
Environed by them,
while the Woodman and the Farmer worked unheeded,
those two of the large jaws,
and those other two of the plain and the fair faces,
trod with stir enough,
and carried their divine rights with a high hand.
Thus did the year one thousand seven hundred
and seventy-five conduct their Greatnesses,
and myriads of small creatures—
the creatures of this chronicle among the rest—
along the roads that lay before them.
译文
那是最美好的时代，
那是最糟糕的时代；
那是智慧的年头，
那是愚昧的年头；
那是信仰的时期，
那是怀疑的时期；
那是光明的季节，
那是黑暗的季节；
那是希望的春天，
那是绝望的冬天；
我们面前应有尽有，
我们面前一无所有；
我们全都直奔天堂，
我们全都直奔相反的方向——
简而言之，那时和当下极为相似，
一些喧嚣的权威人士执意认为，
无论好坏，
都只能用最高级来评判这个时代。
英格兰的王座之上，
坐着一位阔下巴的国王与相貌平平的王后；
法兰西的王座之上，
坐着一位阔下巴的国王与容貌姣好的王后。
两国那些把持权柄、攫取利益的权贵心中无比清楚，
世间的秩序会永久固定下来。
这是公元一千七百七十五年。
整体来看，在精神层面，
法国不如它那持盾握三叉戟的姊妹国度英国，
正一路无可挽回地滑向深渊，
不断印制纸币，肆意挥霍。
在基督教教士的引导之下，
法国还上演着所谓人道的暴行：
一个少年因不肯在雨中下跪，
向一支肮脏的僧侣队伍行礼，
被判处剁去双手，
用钳子拔去舌头，
最后活活烧死。
很有可能，
在这名受难者受刑之时，
在法国与挪威的密林深处，
已经生长着一些树木，
命运这位伐木工早已在树上做好标记，
等待日后被砍伐、锯成木板，
做成历史上那个恐怖的、配有布袋与利刃的刑具。
也很有可能，就在同一天，
在巴黎周边厚重土地上耕耘者简陋的棚屋里，
一些粗糙的马车避着风雨，
车身沾满乡野泥泞，
猪在车边嗅来嗅去，
家禽在上面栖息，
死神这位农夫早已选定它们，
作为大革命的死囚运输车。
但伐木工与农夫从未停歇，
却始终悄无声息，
脚步放得极轻，无人察觉。
倘若有人疑心他们正在运作，
便是离经叛道、背叛王权。
在英格兰，
社会秩序与安保状况糟糕，
根本不值得国人夸耀。
武装劫匪入室行窃、公路拦抢的案子，
每晚都在都城上演。
官方公开提醒各家，
出城之前要把家具送到家具商行仓库寄存，
才能保证安全。
夜里拦路的劫匪，白天就是城里的生意人。
一旦被拦下的同行认出、质问，
他便一枪击穿对方头颅，策马逃走。
一辆驿车遭到七名强盗伏击，
护卫打死三人，
随后被剩下四人射杀，
理由是“弹药耗尽”，
之后邮车便被从容洗劫。
诸如此类的事情，千千万万，
都发生在美好的一七七五年前后。
就在这些乱象之中，
伐木工与农夫默默劳作，无人留意；
两位阔下巴的君主，
以及两位王后，
依旧声势煊赫，
蛮横地行使着君权神授的特权。
一七七五年，便是这样引领着这些权贵，
以及千千万万渺小的普通人——
这个故事里的人物也在其中——
走上各自前方的道路。
🔍长难句赏析与拆解
原句：
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 direct to Heaven,
we were all going direct 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.
句式解读：
并列排比句，so…that引导结果状语从句。
句子主干：
the period was so far like the present period.
原句：
It is likely enough that,
rooted in the woods of France and Norway,
there were growing trees,
when that sufferer was put to death,
already marked by the Woodman, Fate,
to come down and be sawn into boards,
to make a certain movable framework with a sack and a knife in it,
terrible in history.
句式解读：
that引导主语从句，
when引导时间状语从句，
marked过去分词作后置定语。
句子主干：
It is likely enough that there were growing trees.
原句：
But that Woodman and that Farmer,
though they work unceasingly,
work silently,
and no one heard them as they went about with muffled tread:
the rather,
forasmuch as to entertain any suspicion that they were awake,
was to be atheistical and traitorous.
句式解读：
though引导让步状语从句，
as引导时间状语从句，
that引导同位语从句。
句子主干：
But that Woodman and that Farmer work silently, and no one heard them.
文学赏析
开篇这段是《双城记》传世的经典引子。
狄更斯用一组工整、强烈的正反排比，
拉开时代的帷幕。
作者不急于讲人物故事，
先铺展英法两国在1775年的社会图景：
一边是王室权贵自以为统治万古不变，
肆意践踏底层生命；
另一边，苦难在暗中积蓄，
命运与死神静静筹备着一场席卷一切的革命。
文中把命运比作伐木工、死神比作农夫，
是极具张力的隐喻。
行刑的木头、运送死囚的马车，
此刻就藏在寻常乡野之间，
只是世人浑然不觉。
繁华安稳只是假象，
残酷与变革早已在暗处生根。
文字自带一种宏大的宿命感：
时代同时容纳光明与黑暗、希望与绝望，
每个人都被裹挟在浪潮之中，
无人可以置身事外。
写作迁移点拨
适合写作主题：时代洪流、矛盾辩证、
危机潜藏、理性看待当下、历史反思。
高分仿写：
It is the hour of gain,
and also the hour of loss;
it is the moment of reunion,
and also the moment of parting.
仿写运用：
适合议论文开头，
用对比排比引出话题，
增强文采与思辨感。
📖全篇句式特点
大量平行排比结构，
节奏庄重铿锵；
多用比喻隐喻，
赋予抽象的命运、死亡具象形象。
从句嵌套丰富，
包含主语从句、让步状语从句、结果状语从句、同位语从句，
是英语文学长句的典范。
语言厚重典雅，
适合积累、模仿用于书面作文。
核心词汇
1. epoch
/ˈiːpɒk/
时代，纪元
名词 (n.)
2. incredulity
/ˌɪnkrəˈdjuːləti/
怀疑，不信
名词 (n.)
3. preserve
/prɪˈzɜːv/
专属利益，特权；保护区
名词 (n.)
4. trident
/ˈtraɪdənt/
三叉戟
名词 (n.)
5. pincer
/ˈpɪnsə(r)/
钳子
名词 (n.)
6. tumbril
/ˈtʌmbrəl/
死囚运输车
名词 (n.)
7. unceasingly
/ʌnˈsiːsɪŋli/
不停地，持续地
副词 (adv.)
8. muffled
/ˈmʌfld/
压低的，沉闷的
形容词 (adj.)
9. atheistical
/ˌeɪθiˈɪstɪkl/
无神论的，离经叛道的
形容词 (adj.)
10. highwayman
/ˈhaɪweɪmən/
拦路劫匪
名词 (n.)
💡主旨品读
任何一个时代，
都同时并存美好与丑恶，
希望与绝望。
权贵沉醉在永久统治的幻梦里，
漠视底层苦难，
却看不见风暴正在暗处孕育。
历史从不会突然剧变，
所有惊天动地的变革，
早已在无人留意的角落悄悄酝酿。
身在时代之中，
我们应当看见繁华之下潜藏的危机，
看见喧嚣背后无声的力量，
辩证地看待身处的世界。
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