A Christmas Carol读书报告

A Christmas CarolBy Charles DickensCharles Dickens, the greatest representative of English critical realism, generally considered the greatest novelist of the Victorian period. He was born on Feb. 7, 1812. At the age of 10 his families were forced t o move into debtors’ prison. When he was 15 years old, he became an apprentice in a law firm and later a civil court judge clerk and then a newspaper reporter stationed in parliament. He had many difficulties during his childhood. However, these experiences enriched his life, at the same time, supporting many writing materials for his writing. He had only a few years school life. But thanks to assiduous self-study he became a famous writer. Dickens is a prolific writer and created a large number of classical works by his hard work and talent. He is a key representative of 19th century British literary realism. Charles Dickens dies by stroke on June 9, 1870 and he was buried at Westminster Abbey in the Poet’s corner.A Christmas Carol is one of the most famous works of Charles Dickens. The story is about Ebenezer Scrooge, a lonely old man who has given up on everything in the world except his money and his selfish. Ebenezer Scrooge is a businessman who is so stingy and odd that he even doesn’t want to give one more coal to his poor clerk to make a fire, and even on Christmas Eve, he refuses his nephew’s invitation. That night, Scrooge is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley who had died seven years prior on Christmas Eve and is now forced to spend his afterlife carrying heavy chains that were forged from his own greedy ways. Marley warns Scrooge that he will suffer an even worse fate if he does not repent and foretells that he will be haunted by three ghosts that will help guide him.The first ghost is the Ghost of Christmas Past, which shows Scrooge the visions of his own past that take place on or around the Christmas. It makes us and Scrooge understand how he became the avaricious man he is now. During the visit of the firstghost, we could see that Scrooge was a poor boy having spent much of his childhood neglected by his father over the holidays at boarding school until he was finally brought home by his loving sister Fan, who died prematurely after giving birth to his nephew, Fred. Later he began a successful career in business and money lending, and became engaged to a woman named Belle. Unfortunately, she called off the engagement when he began to grow obsessed with accumulating his own wealth. Scrooge is unable to bear having to witness these events again because it makes him feel more lonely and silly. If he ever stopped his business thinking back for a few second, could he have not been a bitter man. Memories are a gift of the past. Nice memories can make you happy, and at the same time, painful memories can keep you awake. We can benefit from the past. Nice memories can make you happy and even the painful memories which we hate or maybe we don’t want remember can warn us not to make the same mistake.The second ghost is the Ghost of Christmas Present which shows Scrooge the happiness of his fellow men on Christmas Day. And Scrooge is touched by the Cratchits’ sickly young son Tiny Tim. He is dismayed to learn from the ghost that Tim may not have much time to live. Scrooge is ashamed and sad to hear his own spoken by the ghost, "If his life does not change soon, he will die before next Christmas. What does that matter? There are too many people in the world, so it's a good thing if some of them die. From his expression, we can find that he is still a kind man essentially. It is the money, the root of all evil, making him become a miser and lose happiness.The last spirit shows Scrooge his future that he has died: Fred and his wife are elated to inherit Scrooge's wealth. Scrooge's maid is shown to have robbed him, and the men who attended his funeral had only gone for free lunch. Tiny Tim is also shown to have died, leaving Bob Cratchit and his family to mourn him on Christmas. Scrooge regrets about his past, shames about his present, and now, he is afraid about his future. But you can still put the brakes on this thing. Scrooge is able to make up. Finally, he becomes a changed man who embodies the spirit of Christmas andenjoys a happy Christmas. The story concludes with Scrooge living the rest of his life as a second father to Tiny Tim, and as a changed man who embodies the spirit of Christmas.We need to learn from the past and use it for the future. Money is an indispensable component of life but it will not always bring happiness. A Christmas Carol rethinks the relation among people, convincing readers that human beings should be kind to each other. Being kind to other people will bring people's kindness back to you. Happiness does not lie in what you have gained but what you have dedicated. Maybe that's the spirit of Christmas.The World is FlatBy Tomas T. FriedmanThomas T. Friedman graduated from the Oxford University. Now he is the New York Times columnist and the only one journalist who had won three Pulitzer prizes. He writes articles about international affairs twice a week for the New York Times column. His articles are often reprinted by more than seven hundred newspapers around the world. He is proficient in Hebrew and Arabic. He gets five honorary doctorates at the universities of the United States. He is also a visiting professor at Harvard University, together with the former Harvard University President Lawrence summers and others to open a "global" course. Of course he is also one of the best-selling authors around the world. Before The World is Flat was published Thomas T. Friedman was already recognized one of the most influential journalists in the United States. After The World is Flat was published his influence has not just limited to the United States."One mark of a great book is that it makes you see things in a new way, and Mr. Friedman certainly succeeds in that goal," the Nobel laureate Joseph E. Stiglitz wrote in The New York Times reviewing The World Is Flat in 2005. In this new edition, Thomas L. Friedman includes fresh stories and insights to help us understand the flattening of the world. Weaving new information into his overall thesis, and answering the questions he has been most frequently asked by parents across the country, this third edition also includes two new chapters–on how to be a political activist and social entrepreneur in a flat world; and on the more troubling question of how to manage our reputations and privacy in a world where we are all becoming publishers and public figures.The World Is Flat is a bestselling book about the economic globalization in the current world, providing people with pleasure as well as knowledge about theeconomic globalization. The world is bulldozed by ten bulldozers and then people of different complexion have equal chances in the competition. In this book, Thomas L. Friedman illustrates a problem which everyone may be experiencing but has never thought over or realized: The world is changing significantly. Science and technology, politics and economical revolution are removing all kinds of barriers, making the world become much flatter. As a result, the environment of competition is becoming fairer and the chances people get are also becoming much more equal. These points of view all lead people to think about how to face the globalized revolution and how to adjust themselves to meet this revolution.In this book, Thomas T. Friedman describes a major change in the contemporary world. The progress of science, technology and communications such as lightning fast, can make people around the world an unprecedented close to each other. India and China create the explosive growth of the wealth. The author through its special interpretation of the complex foreign policy and economic issues, explain how the world become flat in the 21st century. What the trend means for countries, companies, society and individuals? How can the government and organizations accept the trend? Why should government accept this trend? And why the terrorists still want to do such things.In fact, The World Is Flat is not a very solid book about economy. It uses simple words, famous examples and hot spots which everyone must face to talk about the conditions of globalization and the effects brought by it. The author describes the process and reason of the world becoming flat in his unique perspective and divides the globalization into three phrases. In the book, he takes a lot of hot spots as examples and introduces many appealing markets and hottest jobs. Countries including China, India and some top companies and institutions in the world are described as important roles in the flatting world. When he puts all these together, he reveals an occurring change – the trend of globalization. With those motivations, the world is consequently becoming flat.The World Is Flat is attractive because of a simple but powerful concept: The world isflat. This concept, to some extent, also goes with the flow of the world development. At the same time, this book subtly grasps the most cutting-edge development of the Internet. Thus, when a lot of people read this book, they feel awed by the contents and think that they need to learn more to update their current knowledge. Of course I also think I need to learn more to update my current knowledge in order to keep pace with the times. I think The World Is Flat is a great book thought I don’t understand something about this book it still makes me see things in a new way and know the world in a new way.。