Vampire - The Stairway to the English Free Realm (5) (5000-word Bedside English Learning Reader) (English-Chinese Contrastive Translation)

Author: Bram Stoker (Ireland)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2007-01-01
Features: Real estate businessman Jonathan Harker is summoned by the Count Dracula to visit the Dracula Castle in Budapest to discuss purchasing property in London for him. However, on his way to the castle and after arriving, he experiences many incredible and terrifying events. First, the locals' warnings make him feel strange and somewhat uneasy, then he sees Count Dracula, a pale and red-eyed strange man. During his time at the castle, he undergoes a series of unimaginable events and nearly loses his life, but finally he manages to escape from the castle by luck. Meanwhile, Jonathan's wife, Mina, is very worried about her husband's safety. She communicates with her friend Lucy, informing her of her concerns, and from the correspondence, she learns 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 at night with a strange man, 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 visit him. Lucy's condition worsens, causing Arthur, who doesn't understand the reason, to become very worried and notify Lucy's pursuer—the doctor Seward. Dr. Seward is also helpless in dealing with Lucy's condition, so he invites Professor Van Helsing from the Netherlands. After Professor Van Helsing examines Lucy, he gradually realizes the severity of the situation. They do their best to save Lucy's life, but finally they fail. Lucy is finally turned into a vampire by Count Dracula.
Professor Van Helsing visits Mina and learns about Jonathan's experiences from her, so he understands the entire situation and tells 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 causing evil in London. First, they gather all the information about the Count and conduct a serious 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 efforts, manage to destroy the Count's forty-nine boxes. However, at this moment, sensing something is wrong, 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, Mina is unfortunately attacked by the Count, 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, Quincy, sacrifices his life.
The novel is narrated from the perspective of the protagonist, interspersed with various suspenseful events and the steadfast love between the main characters, vividlying scenes of bloodshed, terror, sorrow, and emotion, making the reader feel as if they are living the story and unable to put the book down.