5000-word Bedside English Learning Reader 5: Vampire (English-Chinese Contrastive)

Author: Wang Ruoping
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: The love for interesting stories and novels is an innate human nature. Reading English novels is undoubtedly a good way to learn English, but many English learners have experienced the pain of not being able to understand novels. The Vampire (English-Chinese Parallel) narrates the entire story from the perspective of the protagonist, interwoven with various suspenseful events and the steadfast love between the main characters. It vividly recreates scenes of bloodshed, terror, sorrow, and emotion, making the reader feel as if they are living it, unable to put the book down. Jonathan Harker, a real estate businessman, travels alone to Dracula Castle in Budapest at the invitation of the Count Dracula to discuss the purchase of property in London for him. However, during his journey to the castle and after arriving, he experiences many unbelievable and frightening events. First, the locals' warnings make him feel strange and uneasy, then he sees Count Dracula, a pale, red-eyed strange man. During his days at the castle, he undergoes a series of unimaginable events and nearly loses his life, but finally he manages to escape from the castle. Meanwhile, Jonathan's wife, Mina, is deeply worried about her husband's safety. She writes to her friend Lucy, expressing her concerns, and learns from the correspondence that Lucy is being pursued by three excellent men and has accepted one named Arthur. Lucy comforts Mina and rushes to Whitby to be with her, but in Whitby, a series of strange events occur: first, a foreign ship sinks in a storm at night, and everyone on board dies in a mysterious manner. Then, Mina discovers that Lucy is sleepwalking with a strange man at night, and Lucy's health continues to deteriorate. But before she can deal with these matters, Mina receives a message from Jonathan and immediately travels to Budapest to see him. Lucy's condition worsens, causing Arthur, who is unaware of the cause, to become very concerned. He notifies Dr. Seward, Lucy's pursuer, who is also helpless in the face of Lucy's condition. Thus, he invites Professor Van Helsing from the Netherlands to treat Lucy. Through his examination of Lucy, Professor Van Helsing gradually realizes the severity of the situation. They do their best to save Lucy's life, but finally fail. Lucy is finally turned into a vampire by Count Dracula.
Professor Van Helsing visits Mina and learns about Jonathan's experiences from her. He then understands the entire situation and reveals it to the three men pursuing Lucy and the Jonathan couple. Together, they rescue Lucy's soul, allowing her to rest in peace, and decide to work together to eliminate the Count to prevent him from creating evil in London. First, they gather all the information about the Count and conduct a thorough analysis, deciding to target the boxes that sustain him, aiming to destroy them to eliminate the Count. They travel to several of the Count's properties in London and, with the arrangement of Professor Van Helsing and everyone's joint efforts, destroy the Count's forty-nine boxes. However, at this moment, sensing something is amiss, the Count escapes with his last box to his old nest—the Dracula Castle. The heroes track him to completely eliminate this evil perpetrator, but during the pursuit, Minaly falls victim to the Count's attack, her life hanging by a thread. Yet, these difficulties do not stop the heroes from moving forward. Finally, through relentless efforts, they eliminate the Count and save Mina's life, but their comrade-in-arms, Quens, sacrifices his life.
The novel narrates the entire story from the perspective of the protagonist, interwoven with various suspenseful events and the steadfast love between the main characters. It vividly recreates scenes of bloodshed, terror, sorrow, and emotion, making the reader feel as if they are living it, unable to put the book down.