Chinese New Curriculum Standard Required Reading: How the Steel Was Tempered

Author: (Russian) Ostrovsky
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: "How the Steel Was Tempered" reflects the battle flames, construction scenes, and social life of a specific era through the description of the growth process of Pavlo Korchagin, possessing unique cognitive and educational value. Pavlo was born into a poor railway worker family, being innocent and mischievous from a young age, with a strong sense of resistance. With the help of the underground activist Zhukhrai, Pavlo gradually took the path of revolution. He bravely rescued Zhukhrai from bandits, only to be arrested himself and severely tortured, but he revealed nothing. After going to the front line, Pavlo fought bravely, earning several merits and being wounded multiple times, eventually having to leave the front due to the loss of his right eye. On the home front, Pavlo continued to work tirelessly on the construction front, ignoring his injuries and working day and night. On the freezing construction site, Pavlo, along with the League members, fought against the cold, hunger, illness, and bandit raids. Even with his feet frozen and suffering from high fever, he did not leave the front line until he collapsed on the construction site, nearly dying from typhoid fever. After suffering the heavy blows of losing his eyesight and being paralyzed, Pavlo did not think about the length of his life but how to return to the battlefront as soon as possible. He finally found a way to fight with a smile instead of a knife, realizing his dream of rejoining the ranks day and night.