Unit 1 SectionⅠWelcome to the unit Reading 课件（牛津译林版选修8） .ppt

nowadays.They are examples of great writing and wisdom，and even those written centuries ago can still be found in bookshops and libraries today. Because a lot of classics were written so long ago，their language characteristics are quite different from those of modern works.This makes them difficult for some people to read，so they are often left to gather dust on shelves.Many people do not read them，because they think classics are old and boring and have nothing to do with life today. However，if this is true，why do we still find these classics in bookshops and libraries？They have not disappeared and still have a place in the world.Why else would many films adapted from them be successful？ In 1995，an award-winning film based on Jane Austen’s novel Emma came out.Three years later，in 1998，a modern adaptation of Charles Dickens’s novel Great Expectations appeared in cinemas. Nobody would bother to make these classic novels into films if they had nothing to do with contemporary life. Charles Dickens：England’s greatest writer The novelist Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth，England in 1812.Oliver Twist，David Copperfield and Great Expectations are probably his best-known works. He first published many novels one chapter at a time in newspapers，and some were later performed on stage.For people at that time，his stories were like the soap operas we see on TV today.He died in 1870.His tomb reads，‘By his death，one of England’s greatest writers is lost to the world.’ Great Expectations Great Expectations is set in England in the early 1800s.The author uses Pip, the main character, to tell the story.Having lost his parents, Pip lives with his older sister and her husband Joe.Pip’s sister often abuses him, but Joe is a kind and simple man who would rather die than see any harm come to Pip. Pip, who is seven years old when the story begins, is in a foggy cemetery when a desperate criminal appears and frightens him. Mist is a symbol of danger in Great Expectations.Cl