World classic, retold in simple Mandarin
The Count of Monte Cristo: The Prisoner
基督山伯爵：囚徒
The Count of Monte Cristo: The Prisoner (基督山伯爵：囚徒, Jīdūshān bójué: qiútú) is a classic by Alexandre Dumas, retold in simple Mandarin as a 6-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 4 (Upper intermediate).
Retold from Alexandre Dumas's classic novel: a happy young sailor is betrayed by three men, locked away for fourteen years, and learns from a secret teacher how to escape and claim a fortune.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — The warm storyteller who sets the scene.
- Edmond Dantès · 爱德蒙 — An honest young sailor whose luck is stolen by jealous men.
- Mercédès · 梅赛苔丝 — The Catalan girl Edmond loves and promises to marry.
- Danglars · 邓格拉尔 — The ship's sour, jealous accountant.
- Fernand · 费尔南 — Mercédès's cousin, a fisherman who loves her too.
- Villefort · 维尔福 — A cold deputy prosecutor who guards his own career.
- Abbé Faria · 法里亚 — A wise old priest who digs a tunnel and teaches Edmond.
- Edmond's Father · 老唐泰斯 — Edmond's kind, proud old father.
- Jacopo · 雅科波 — A cheerful young smuggler who pulls Edmond from the sea.
- Mr. Morrel · 莫雷尔 — The kind shipowner who makes Edmond captain.
- Soldier · 士兵 — A stern soldier of the king (voice only).
- Jailer · 狱卒 — A bored jailer at the Château d'If (voice only).
6 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: The Letter
那封信
Edmond Dantès sails home a hero and is about to marry the girl he loves. Two jealous men write one secret letter, and that night soldiers knock on the door.
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Chapter 2: The Deputy
检察官
Edmond is sure the deputy prosecutor will send him home. But the name on the letter frightens the man who holds his fate, and Edmond's kind judge has a secret.
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Chapter 3: The Cell
牢房里的声音
Year after year in the dark, Edmond stops believing anyone remembers him. Then, one night, something starts scratching under the floor of his cell.
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Chapter 4: The Teacher
牢房里的老师
Old Faria turns a prison into a school and teaches Edmond to think. Then he shows Edmond a burned page that points to a fortune, and his hands begin to shake.
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Chapter 5: The Sack
海里的袋子
Faria's last night comes, and he leaves Edmond one wild plan. What happens next depends on a canvas sack, a cliff, and how deep Edmond can dive.
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Chapter 6: The Treasure
基督山的宝藏
Edmond wakes on a smuggler's ship, an island rises from the sea, and a dead man's promise comes due. Then Edmond decides who he will be, and who will pay.
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Key words in The Count of Monte Cristo: The Prisoner
Behind the story
The Count of Monte Cristo was published in installments in France in 1844 and 1846 and is one of the most famous adventure novels in the world. Its author, Alexandre Dumas, was inspired by a real story of a man wrongly imprisoned, and he turned it into a huge tale of betrayal, patience and justice.
Chinese readers know it as 基督山伯爵, and it has been translated many times and read in schools and libraries for over a century. This first part follows Edmond Dantès from his happiest day to his escape. The story continues with the second part, in which the sailor returns as a new man.
Did you know?
- Dumas wrote the book when Marseille and its harbor were among the busiest in France, and the Château d'If, the island fortress in the story, is a real building in the bay of Marseille.
- In Chinese, the novel's title is 基督山伯爵, and the word 伯爵 means "count", a noble title.
- The story is set in 1815, the year of Napoleon's final defeat, which is why a letter from his island exile was so dangerous.