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.
An edition of A Tale of Two Cities
(1800)
A Tale of Two Cities
by Charles Dickens
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"A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens, is part of a computerised reading program devised by journalist/author Dave McKay. The program, which paraphrases classic novels, primarily targets people who are learning English as a second language. It enables older students to quickly read classic novels despite having a very limited reading vocabulary. Each book has a number on the cover, showing how many different English words were used in McKay's translation of the book.
When reading them in the proper order, readers will find that no book includes more than 100 new words (i.e. word not already learned from reading the previous titles). "A Tale of two Cities: uses 1700 different easy English words, and should follow on after completing "Huckleberry Finn", which uses an English vocabulary list of 1600 words.
Other titles include: The King's New Clothes (400 words), Jungle Book (500 words), Robinson Crusoe (700 words), The Invisible Man (900 words), Uncle Tom's Cabin (1050 words) Julius Caesar (1200 words), Merchant of Venice (1300 words).
This reading program has been used extensively in Kenya and India.
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Jerry Cruncher, Jarvis Lorry, Alexandre Manette, Lucie Manette, Miss Pross, Charles Darnay, Sydney Carton, John Barsad, Roger Cly, Marquis St. Evrémonde, Madame Defarge, Monsieur Defarge, Mrs Cruncher, Théophile Gabelle, Ernest Defarge, Therese Defarge, Mrs. Cruncher, Mr. Stryver, Monseigneur, Gaspard, The Mender of Roads, The Vengeance, The Seamstress, Lucy ManetteShowing 19 featured editions. View all 2059 editions?
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The Works of Charles Dickens: A Tale of Two Cities
1868, Books, Inc
hardcover
in English
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A Tale of Two Cities is a historical novel published in 1859 by Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long imprisonment in the Bastille in Paris, and his release to live in London with his daughter Lucie whom he had never met. The story is set against the conditions that led up to the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror. In the Introduction to the Encyclopedia of Adventure Fiction, critic Don D'Ammassa argues that it is an adventure novel because the protagonists are in constant danger of being imprisoned or killed.
As Dickens's best-known work of historical fiction, A Tale of Two Cities is said to be one of the best-selling novels of all time. In 2003, the novel was ranked 63rd on the BBC's The Big Read poll. The novel has been adapted for film, television, radio, and the stage, and has continued to influence popular culture.
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