It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity; it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us; we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.
The translation of "A Tale of Two Cities" is not explicitly attributed to a specific translator in the text provided. The novel itself is the work of Charles Dickens, and while it has been translated into various languages, the text does not mention the name of the translator. If the question refers to the Chinese translation, it is likely that multiple translators have worked on different editions, as the novel has been translated and re-translated over the years.
The novel opens in the year 1775, during a moonlit night in Paris, where the young doctor Manette is compelled by theEvremond de Ravoux brothers to make a house call. Witnessing the desperate plight of a lunatic peasant woman and a dying youth, the doctor learns of the murders committed by the brothers for their own selfish pleasures. Refusing their substantial bribe, he pens a letter to the authorities exposing their crimes. Unbeknownst to him, the letter falls into the hands of the accused, and he is imprisoned in the Bastille, disappearing from the world. Two years later, his wife succumbs to despair. His daughter Lucie, raised by their friend Mr. Lorry, grows up in London.
Eighteen years pass before Manette is released. This fragile, elderly man is taken in by his former servant, Defarge, a wine seller in the Saint安东尼区 of Paris. Meanwhile, Lucie, now a grown woman, travels to Paris to retrieve her father. En route, they encounter the Frenchman Charles Darnay, who shows them great kindness. Unknown to them, Darnay is the son of the Marquis and has renounced his inheritance and noble name to live in London as a French teacher. Falling in love with Lucie, he discloses his past to her and her father, who agrees to their marriage.
Back in France, Darnay's parents die, and his uncle, the Marquis, continues his tyrannical ways. After killing a peasant's child in a carriage accident, he is slain by the child's father. As a storm of revolution brews, Defarge's tavern becomes a meeting place for revolutionary activities, with his wife documenting the aristocrats' atrocities on her shawls.
In 1789, the storm of the French Revolution finally breaks. The people of Paris storm the Bastille, sending the nobility to the guillotine. Darnay risks returning to France to save his servant, Gabelle, and is arrested upon his arrival. Learning of his fate, Manette and Lucie rush to Paris. The doctor's testimony saves Darnay, but he is rearrested hours later. In court, Defarge reads the doctor's blood-stained letter, sentencing Darnay to death.
At the last moment, the lawyer's assistant, Carton, arrives in Paris, bribes his way into the prison, and takes Darnay's place, having fallen unconscious. Manette and Lucie, ready to leave, are overjoyed at Darnay's return. Defarge's wife is killed in a gunfight while searching for Lucie and her child. Carton, willing to sacrifice his life for love, allows Darnay to escape and is executed in his place.
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