看电影学英文：圣诞颂歌AChristmasCarol(3)

从1843年到1848年间，狄更斯几乎在每年圣诞节都发表一个与节日有关的中篇小说，《圣诞颂歌》(A Christmas Carol )，《钟声》(The Chimes ) 和《炉边的窸蟀》(The Cricket on the Hearth)。被称为狄更斯的圣诞三部曲。其中《圣诞颂歌》具有极其特殊的地位。在《圣诞颂歌》出版的维多利亚时代，圣诞节并不为很多英国人所知。然而，书中的情节和人物在西方家喻户晓后，故事中的一些情节成了圣诞节的约定风俗，诸如家庭团聚、互换礼物、圣诞餐饮。一百多年来积聚的“人气”使其成为狄更斯的小说中最深入人心的一部。文学评论家认为，《圣诞颂歌》的发表是狄更斯的创作生涯中的重大转折点；而社会学家则相信，这部作品深刻地改变了现代圣诞节在西方世界的地位和价值，甚至“圣诞快乐”（Merry Christmas!）的说法也是由此而得以流行的，狄更斯本人也因此被称为“发明圣诞节”的人。
狄更斯不工诗，不谈玄，只是把小说的根基简简单单、扎扎实实地植于人性的大悲大喜、大是大非中：对善的无尽潜力始终抱定信心，对恶的危害也了然于胸。狄更斯的作品是呈现给大众的。
Plot
In 1843, on Christmas Eve, Ebenezer Scrooge, a miserly old moneylender at a London counting house, does not share the merriment of Christmas. He declines his cheerful nephew Fred's invitation to a Christmas dinner party, and rejects two gentlemen's offer to collect money for charity. His loyal employee Bob Cratchit asks Scrooge to allow him to have a day off on Christmas Day to spend time with his family, to which Scrooge reluctantly agrees before leaving. In his house, Scrooge encounters the ghost of his deceased business partner Jacob Marley, who warns him to repent his wicked ways or he will be condemned in the afterlife like he was, carrying heavy chains forged from his own greediness. Jacob informs Scrooge that he will be haunted by three spirits, who will guide him out of his misery.