New series in Read On: Great works of English literature
Neues Jahr, neue Reihe – im Jahr 2025 widmet sich die Read On in einer neuen Rubrik bekannten Werken der englischsprachigen Literatur. Pünktlich zum Weihnachtsfest macht Eine Weihnachtsgeschichte von Charles Dickens den Anfang. Wie der Geizhals Ebenezer Scrooge doch noch sein Verhalten ändert und die wahre Bedeutung des Fests erkennt, lesen Sie in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Read On und als Auszug hier.
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
The story of a bitter old miser who learns the true meaning of Christmas.
By Siobhan Bruns
1 The story begins on Christmas Eve in an office where Ebenezer Scrooge and his clerk, Bob Cratchit, are at work. Scrooge is being horrible about the holiday. He doesn’t want to give his clerk Christmas Day off from work, won’t donate to charity, and refuses an invite from his nephew, Fred, to have Christmas dinner with his family.
2 But starting the very next day, Scrooge will spend the rest of his life honouring Christmas in his heart and keeping it all the year. That is because of what happens that night.
3 After Scrooge goes to bed on Christmas Eve, he is visited by the spirit of his former business partner, Jacob Marley, who died seven years earlier. Marley tells Scrooge that he is being punished in death because of the way he lived. He warns Scrooge the same thing will happen to him if he doesn’t change his ways.
4 Marley tells Scrooge he will be visited by three more spirits: the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
5 When the Ghost of Christmas Past visits, he shows Scrooge happy memories, like the big Christmas office party his first boss threw, but also reminds him of things that make him very sad: already as a young man, Scrooge had started to become a miser. It made him so unpleasant that his fiancée, Belle, no longer wanted to marry him and broke off the engagement.
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Den vollständigen Artikel lesen Sie in der aktuellen Ausgabe der Read On.
Vocabulary
0–1 A Christmas Carol dt. Titel: Eine Weihnachtsgeschichte — miser Geizhals — Christmas Eve Heiligabend — clerk Angestellte(r) — Christmas Day 1. Weihnachtsfeiertag — to donate to charity für wohltätige Zwecke spenden — invite (coll) Einladung
2–3 the very next day schon am nächsten Tag — to honour s.th. etw. ehren — to keep s.th. etw. bewahren — spirit Geist — to punish s.o. jdn. bestrafen — to change one’s ways (fig) sich ändern
4-5 the Ghost of Christmas Past der Geist der vergangenen Weihnacht — the Ghost of Christmas Present der Geist der gegenwärtigen Weihnacht — the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come der Geist der zukünftigen Weihnacht — fiancée Verlobte — to break off an engagement eine Verlobung lösen
Foto: Pixabay/neelam279