在本栏目我们回顾历史上本周发生的历史事件——查尔斯·狄更斯，听听下面的短文，做做下面的练习，学习一些相关的英语表达形式。
本周是2月6日至2月12日历史上发生的事件。 | | On the 7th of February 1812 Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth. His father John worked as a clerk and the family were used to a comfortable life, but John Dickens was not good at looking after his money or keeping his job, and they had to move several times, always to cheaper accommodation and a worse job. As a child Dickens liked reading and going to the theatre. |
| When he was ten the family moved to London. John Dickens found it more and more difficult to support his wife and six children. He even had to sell the furniture to pay debts. Charles didn't go to school and spent most of his time walking the streets, observing the people who would later live again in his books. When he was twelve his father and the rest of the family were sent to prison for a year for non-payment of debts. Charles worked, trying to make enough money to stay alive.
The family's bad luck ended when a grandmother died, leaving them money. They paid off their debts and Charles went to school for three years. He then got a job in a law office before becoming a journalist for the "Morning Chronicle". Later he started work on his first major book, "The Pickwick Papers". At first his stories were not a success, but their popularity grew and soon Charles Dickens, the writer became famous. He married Catherine Hogarth and they lived in a house in Doughty Street with Catherine's sister Mary. Mary died suddenly at the age of seventeen, and Charles later based the character of Little Nell in "The Old Curiosity Shop" on her.
By the age of twenty seven he had nine children and was working as hard as ever. He loved amateur dramatics and performed twice in front of Queen Victoria. A love affair with the actress Ellen Ternan ended his marriage, an event which caused a scandal in Victorian England. In later years he gave readings from his books, visited other countries and worked on schemes to help the poor. Unlike his father Charles was careful with his money, and was a rich man when he died on 9th June 1870. He was buried in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey.
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