课外阅读 大卫 科波菲尔 Chapter 3 学案

CHAPTER 3 Working in the warehouse I howled the cry of an orphan. It felt as if my whole world had just been shattered. But Ms. Creakle was very kind to me that day. She let me stay in the parlour. I cried and slept and cried and slept. When I finally went out into the playground, I felt the eyes of the other boys on me. I felt different, strange. I left Salem House the following afternoon, never to return. As soon as I got home, I was in Peggotty's arms, the two of us sobbing together. My baby brother was dead too. He had only lived a day longer than my mother. That night Peggotty told me about my mother's last days. ‘She got more and more terrified,' Peggotty told me. 'Living with the cruel Murdstones used up every bit of her strength.' The morning after my mother's funeral, Mr. Murdstone sacked Peggotty. I was horrified. She left with many tears and promised to help me whenever she could. But I was now entirely alone. What were the Murdstones going to do with me? I wasn't prepared for what did happen. The Murdstones simply behaved as if I wasn't there. It seemed that no one cared whether I was alive or dead. Then one day, some weeks later, Mr Murdstone called for me. 'You are a difficult boy,' he said coldly, 'and you need a good deal of correcting.' 'He needs to be crushed,' chipped in Miss Murdstone. 'I am sending you to London to work for Mr Quinion,' Mr Murdstone continued. He manages a wine warehouse belonging to my company --- Murdstone and Grinby.' The following day, I set off for the warehouse which was by the River Thames in Blackfriars. The whole place stank of dirt and smoke. Its floors and staircases were in ruins and there were swarms of rats in the cellar. There were four of us boys, working in the warehouse. My jobs were to wash empty wine bottles, paste labels on full ones, put corks in bottles, place seals on the corks and pack the finished bottles into boxes. The days were very long and the work was mind-numbing. As I worked in my corner of th