Great Expectations is one of Charles Dickens’s best-known works. It is set in England in the early 1800s. Dickens uses Pip, the main character, to tell the story.
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（薄雾）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 to guide readers.
When Pip is about eighteen years old, a very generous stranger gives Pip a lot of money, which sets him free from financial worries. Pip makes the sudden decision to move from Kent, which is a constant reminder of his shabby beginnings, to the bright lights of London. However, money and education have changed him. 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. He has rigid（固执的）ideas of what it means to be civil and to be a gentleman, and is embarrassed by Joe because he doesn’t fit these.
Pip is determined to become 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. Does Joe forgive Pip? Does Pip get the girl of his dream? You will just have to read it yourself to find out!
60. Which of the following about Great Expectations is TRUE?
A. It uses mist as a symbol of hope in the darkness.
B. Its theme is the true love between Pip and Estella.
C. Dickens was inspired to write it when Pip told him the story.
D. It deals with the theme of what it means to be a gentleman.
61. What can we know about Pip according to the passage?
A. He spends his childhood with his strict sister and her rich husband.
B. Money and education have soon changed Pip into a caring gentleman.
C. He happens to find a great fortune in the tomb field and moves to London.
D. Pip realizes that friendship matters more than money and education in the end.
62. It can be inferred from the passage that __________.
A. Joe died while protecting Pip from being harmed
B. Pip’s sister forced him to live in a misty tomb field
C. Pip felt ashamed of his early shabby life when he got rich
D. Estella could not accept Pip because he was not a noble
63. What is the purpose of this passage?
A. To introduce the great novelist Charles Dickens.
B. To comment on one of Dickens’s best-known play.
C. To attract readers to read the novel Great Expectations.
D. To tell the readers the story of a real gentleman called Pip.