事发生在19世纪的英国。在皮普还是个15岁的孩子时，父母双亡，和姐姐、姐夫生活在一起。圣诞节前，皮普到墓地去悼念父母，遇到了越狱犯麦格维奇。皮普为他拿来了蛋糕充饥，令麦格维奇非常感动，但最后他还是被警察带走了。
圣诞过后，皮普被邀请到村里最富有的哈维汉姆小姐家做客。这个老妇人新婚当天丈夫没有出现，从此便再也没有脱下婚纱，多年来一直生活在回忆里。尽管她拥有财富，却从没有得到过幸福，因此一直活在愤恨中，性格怪癖。当皮普怀着忐忑不安的心情踏入这所老房子时，遇到了哈维汉姆小姐收养的女孩埃斯特拉，从此便一发不可收拾地爱上了她。但埃斯特拉是个傲慢又刻薄的女孩，根本不把皮普放在眼里。这令皮普很伤心，他暗自下决心要成为一名绅士好让埃斯特拉不再歧视自己。
机会终于来了。尽管皮普的姐夫只是一个铁匠，没有钱送他上学，但在几年后，突然有不愿意透露姓名的人提出资助皮普到伦敦去过上层社会的生活。皮普满心欢喜地来到伦敦，学习如何社交、如何跳舞、如何成为一名真正的绅士。此时的皮普已明显的感觉到自己无法再和做铁匠的姐夫顺畅沟通了，尽管是姐夫把他养大，感情也非常好。
埃斯特拉此时已长成亭亭玉立的少女从国外学习归来。皮普找到她，却发现她不断穿梭于许多男人之间并选择了其中一个成为她的丈夫。皮普痛苦得无法自拔。而此时在背后资助皮普的人终于出现了，他就是多年前被皮普搭救过的麦格维奇。他再次越狱后赚下了很多钱，他希望以资助皮普的方式感激他。但这次麦格维奇的出现没有以往那样幸运了，他被警察抓到死在了监狱里。皮普的财产也被没收，顿时成了穷光蛋。皮普无法接受这样残酷的现实，大病一场。
康复后的皮普认真审视自己，决定从头做起。几年后皮普凭借自己的努力，成为了真正拥有财富的绅士。他再次回到姐夫家中，和家人共度这一年的圣诞节。皮普在老房子里遇到了生活并不幸福的埃斯特拉，得知她从一开始就深爱着自己，但她是被哈维汉姆小姐收养用作报复男人的，她不愿皮普受到伤害才选择和别人结婚。隐藏在心中多年的情感终于爆发，这对有情人最终走到了一起。
Great Expectations is set in England in the early 1800s.Dickens uses Pip, the main character, to tell the story. Pip is not only a character, he also tells the story of Great Expectations. Pip lives with his older sister and her husband Joe. Pip’s sister seldom has a kind word to say, 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 misty field of tombs when a man appears and frightens him. Mist is a symbol of danger and uncertainty in Great Expectations. Classic novels often have symbols which add interest, tension or deeper meaning to the text. Readers may not be able to see the danger, so they need a symbol like the mist to make it clearer to them.
There is a twist in the plot when a very generous stranger gives Pip a lot of money. Pip is about 18 years old when this happens, and the fortune sets him free from the financial worries. Pip makes the abrupt decision to move from Kent, which is a constant remainder of his shabby beginnings, to the bright lights of London.
Excited by his move to London, Pip can hardly wait to begin his new life. Money and education have changed him, and before long he develops the shortcomings of being shallow and having prejudice, even against his old companions. Pip dislikes it when Joe comes to visit him in London. He has rigid ideas of what it means to be civil and to be a gentleman, and is embarrassed by Joe he does not fit these.
Pip is bent on becoming a gentleman and winning Estella’s love. Estella is a beautiful girl, and for Pip, she is a symbol of education and money. What it really means to be a gentleman is an important theme in Great Expectations. Is an educated person with a lot of money a gentleman? Or is a gentleman somebody who is kind and good to his friends?
By the end of the novel, Pip has changed a lot. He learns that wealth does not buy happiness and that friends are more important than a fancy education. This change in Pip is called character development and is an important part of any novel.
二
In the beginning of the book, a character named Pip lived on a forge near some marshes in England. His family was generally poor. He lived with his older sister and her husband named Joe. Joe was a fairly poor blacksmith. One day, Pip was walking on the marshes. Suddenly, a strange man came up to Pip and threatened him. The strange man was a convict who was put to die on the marshes. He was handcuffed and chained. He told Pip that he would kill him if he didn't bring him a steel file and something to eat. Pip then ran back to the forge and brought the convict a steel file and some food. This vivid occurrence haunted Pip for the rest of his life.
After the incident on the marshes, Pip met a lady named Miss Havesham. Miss Havesham was a very weird lady. She always wore her wedding dress in her house. She never left her house. Miss Havesham had a very beautiful adopted daughter named Estella. She was an arrogant woman. While looking at her, Pip fell in love with Estella.
One day, a mysterious man came to Joe's forge. This man was sent by a secret benefactor who was residing in London. The man didn't give his name. He told Pip and Joe that someone in London was requesting him. The secret benefactor wanted Pip to come to London so that he could become a gentleman. Pip was very excited when he heard that he could work in London. Pip and Joe agreed upon the proposal. Later in that same week, Pip left Joe's forge to travel to London. There he could be a gentleman with a bright and bold future.
While in London, Pip encountered many strange mysteries. Pip finally met his secret benefactor. Read the book to find out who the secret benefactor was...
Overall, Great Expectations was an outstanding book. It really captivated the vast stretches of life. Great Expectations really made me feel quite sad. I felt very sorry for Pip. He had a very difficult life. He had changed his personality forever once he became a gentleman. I would recommend this book to anybody who enjoys reading classics. I have read other excellent books by the wonderful author Charles Dickens. I have read Oliver Twist and The Christmas Carol. They were also excellent books.
贫苦的乡下孤儿匹普从小由姐姐一手带大。姐姐粗俗泼辣，动辄责骂全家人。姐夫乔·葛吉瑞则是一位和蔼温良、诚实厚道的铁匠，也是家中惟一真正关心匹普的人。他起初为匹普安排了一条辛苦而充实的生活道路。匹普也把当姐夫的学徒作为自己的最高理想，并以此为满足。
但后来经历的两件事使他的人生追求和命运发生了根本转变。在沼泽地里匹浦偶遇逃犯，在极不情愿的情况下，他偷了家中的食品与锉刀解救罪犯于危难之中。这件事是他对物质生活态度的转折点。当地贵族郝薇香小姐给匹普的精神世界带来了极大的震撼。尽管郝家的宽敞富硕、凄凉凝重的气氛使他惊羡，但真正触动他心灵的却是郝薇香小姐的养女——艾丝黛拉小姐。艾丝黛拉的刻薄无理与无情嘲弄深深刺痛了匹普的自尊心，使他开始不再希望成为一个铁匠，不再满足于朴素诚实的生活，他决心跻身有教养的绅士行列，娶艾丝黛拉小姐为妻。
怀着新的生活理想，匹普拼命自修，期望能找到充满幸福和富贵的“远大前程"。终于有一天一位律师通知他有位恩人要出钱资助他去伦敦学习，培养他成为一位体面的绅土。这位恩人没有透露真实身份，但匹普认定是郝香薇小姐有意栽培他，以成全他与艾丝黛拉结成美满姻缘。来到伦敦后，他饱食终曰，游手好闲，挥金如土，开始变得轻浮、虚荣、自私。
不久他心中的疑团终于解开，他的远大前程也随之受到了重创。原来他的资助者不是郝薇香小姐，而是一名叫马格维奇的流放犯，他深爱的艾丝黛拉小姐就是这个罪犯和一个女杀人犯所生的。他心目中的庇护人郝薇香小姐却是一个冷酷无情的复仇者。她邀他去家中，只是为了培养艾丝黛拉使男人心碎的本领，以解心中积怨。
这时，随着恩人被捕、艾丝黛拉小姐另嫁他人，他对“远大前程”的希望彻底破灭了。于是他逐渐清醒，痛悟前非，重又找回过去美好的品德，开始了崭新的生活。
在小说的结尾，孤独无依、年迈体衰的郝薇香小姐对自己的所为心生悔意，她在一次火灾中受重伤而死
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