A CHRISTMAS CAROL/CHARLES DICKENS/14

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As Christmas is approaching some of my students want to tackle this beautiful story by Charles Dickens. The vocabulary is always very rich in his books, so I give you some help/translation for the first pages of the book.

1.SUMMARY OF  A CHRISTMAS CAROL BY CHARLES DICKENS

2.Vocabulary list regarding the reading you can listen to.

3. Power Point presentation with questions regarding the story.

 

SUMMARY :Ebeneezer Scrooge’s partner Marley is as dead as a door nail, that’s for sure and Scrooge the old miser is in his counting-house

not wanting to have anything to do with Christmas. As usual his employee, Bob Cratchit,is very cold because his employer doesn’t want to spend money on coal.

His nephew, Fred, comes to pay his uncle a visit and to wish him merry Christmas and to invite him to his home for Christmas dinner.  In answer to this

Scrooge is morose  and only spits out angrily „Bah! Humbug! He behaves in the same way towards  two portly gentlemen who drop by to ask in order to ask

for some money or help for the poor.

In the evening  Scrooge takes his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern, reads his newspapers and then goes to his gloomy rooms and to bed.

When he puts his key in the knocker, this turns into Marley’s face. In the room there is a fire in the grate and spoon and basin are ready,

but he can’t see anybody. Everything is very strange when suddenly the bell begins to ring and Marley’s enchained ghost leaps up and tells

or warns Scrooge that he is  continuously forced  and punished to wander  around the world to share what he didn’t share with the others but

could have  shared. Scrooge is informed that he has one last chance to escape the same fate and that therefore three spirits will appear.

The first Ghost represents Christmas Past. The strange phantom looks like a child but also like an old man diminished to a child’s proportions. It takes

Scrooge back to the Christmases of his childhood school days, where he meets a lonely child, to  his days as an apprentice at the jolly and generous merchant Fezziwig and his engagement with Bell, who left him because he became to absorbed in money and unable to love. Scrooge is very touched by what he sees

and sheds tears of regrets.

Scrooge is lying in bed when the bells toll one. He is expecting the second Ghost of Christmas Present. He gets up softly and shuffles to the door

and the moment his hand is on the lock he hears a strange voice calling him by his name. He enters the room which has undergone complete

transformation and  is full of delicious food and green leaves.

The Ghost of the Present is clothed in one simple deep green robe, bordered with a white fur. Scrooge is being taken to the Cratchit family so he can see how it prepares a miniature feast in the simple house and he also discovers the crippled son, Tiny Tim. This boy is very courageous, kind  and humble and warms

Scrooge’s heart. and he wants to know whether the boy is going to live.

The Spirit then takes Scrooge also to his nephew’s family or their Christmas celebration which  includs singing and playing games such as blind-man’s buff.

He is so delighted by what he sees that he wants to stay until the end.  As the day passes the spirit is getting older and towards the end of the day he

shows Scrooge two starving children. The boy is Ignorance and the girl is Want!

The Ghost of Christmas yet to come takes Scrooge through a sequence of strange scenes concerning an unnamed man’s death. The latter sees a

businessman speaking about the riches of the death man and some vagabonds are selling his personal things. One couple even expresses happiness

about the man’s death because now they don’t have to pay back a debt. The Ghost takes him to the churchyard where he sees his own name on the

tombstone and is really shocked. He pleads with the Ghost to give him another chance and that he will change his stingy ways, his indifference towards

others and celebrate Christmas.

He then wakes up in his bed.

He looks out of the window and is informed that it is Christmas  and because this answer makes him so happy that he  asks a boy to go and buy the

biggest turkey available at the Poulterer’s. He sends it then to the Cratchit house and attends Fred’s Christmas celebration. Tiny Tim doesn’t die

and he treats him as if were his son, gives generous gifts to the poor and treats the other human beings with kindness and understanding.

DISCUSSION: Is money more important or human relationships?

This link leads you to the exellent video version of the story:http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8817517652455175582#

And the following link  to the reading / audio or  part  of  stave I of the story.

http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video/Literature/European-Classics/A-Christmas-Carol/29311

This  is a  list of vocabulary or expressions  in general we heard in the reading. (From page 9-15 of the book)

the undertaker	der Leichenbestatter	impresario di pompe funebri
the clergyman	der Geistliche	il pastore anglicano
the mourner	der Trauernde	chi è in lutto
to squeeze	auspressen	spremere
to clutchto scrape moneyto grasp money	festhaltenGeld anhäufen	afferrareammucchiare soldi
solitary as an oyster	einsam wie eine Auster	solo come un pesce
to be wrenching	jemand der sich renkt und windet	qu. che distorce o altera
to be self-contained	distanziert	che vive solo per conto suo
the country is done for	erledigt sein	essere a terra
the wisdom/wise	die Weisheit/weise	la saggezza/saggio
as dead as a door nail	so tot, wie ein Nagel	morto come un chiodo stecchito
to shrivel	schrumpfen	avvizzire, contrarsi
a stiffened  gait	ein steifer Gang	una deambulazione irrigidita
wiry chin	drahtiges Gesicht	faccia matallica
to ice the office	das Büro vereisen	trasformare l’ufficio in ghiaccio
to thaw	auftauen	scongelare
hail and sleetpelting rain	Hagel und Matschprasselnder Regen	grandine e neve bagnatapioggia intensa
no beggar will implore you to bestow sth.on him	kein Bettler wird dich um eine milde Gage bitten	Nessun mendicante ti chiederà per un elemosina
the dog wags the tail	der Hund wedelt mit dem Schwanz	il cane codenzola
people wheezing up and down (the street)	die Leute, die die Strasse rauf und runter rannten	gente correndo su e giù
flaring candles	leuchtende Kerzen	candele illuminante
dismal	kläglich/verwahrlost	squallido
What reason do you have to be morose?	Was hast du für einen Grund, um so missmutig zu sein?	Che motivo hai per essere così scorbutico?
to be buried with a stake of holly through his heart.	beerdigt werden mit einem Stechpalmenast durch sein Herz	essere sepolto con un ramo d’agrifoglio attraverso il cuore
it’s a time to open shut-up hearts	es ist die Zeit, in der man Herzen öffnet	E’ il periodo per aprire i cuori chiusi
to keep an eye on sb.Workshheet:Christmas Carol	jd. überwachen	sorvegliare qu.