Great Expectations: Part 1: Mandarin Companion Graded Readers Level 2

Great Expectations is hailed as Charles Dickens’ masterpiece. A gripping tale of love and loss, aspiration and moral redemption, the story follows the young orphan Xiaomao (Pip) from poverty to a life of unexpected opportunity and wealth.

In Part 1, Xiaomao (Pip) is raised by his short-tempered older sister and her husband who run a small repair shop in the outskirts of Shanghai. Xiaomao dreams of leaving his life of poverty behind after becoming playmates with the beautiful Bingbing (Estella), daughter of the eccentric Bai Xiaojie (Ms. Havisham). His prospects for the future are bleak, until one day a mysterious benefactor gives Xiaomao the opportunity of a lifetime.

Adaptation Notes

The story has been adapted from Victorian London of the 1800’s to modern-day Shanghai, China. Both periods feature stark contrasts between the old and the new, the wealthy and the poor.

The following is a list of the characters from this Chinese story followed by their corresponding English names from Charles Dickens’ original story. The names below are not translations; they are new Chinese names used for the Chinese versions of the original characters. Think of them as all-new characters in a Chinese story.

• 吴小毛 (Wú Xiǎomáo) – Pip
• 姐姐 (Jiějiě) – Mrs. Joe Gargery
• 姐夫 (Jiěfu) – Joe Gargery
• 胖子 (Pàngzi) – Dolge Orlick
• 思思(Sīsī) – Biddy
• 白小姐 (Bái Xiǎojiě) – Miss Havisham
• 冰冰 (Bīngbīng) – Estella
• 金子王 (Jīn Zǐwén) – Mr. Jaggers