World classic, retold in simple Mandarin
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
汤姆·索亚历险记
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (汤姆·索亚历险记, Tāngmǔ Suǒyà lìxiǎn jì) is a classic by Mark Twain, retold in simple Mandarin as a 6-chapter story with audio for learners at about HSK 3 (Intermediate).
Retold from Mark Twain's classic novel: a clever boy tricks his friends into painting a fence, sees a secret at midnight, plays pirate on a river island, and gets lost in a cave full of treasure.
Meet the voices
- Narrator · 旁白 — The warm grandfatherly storyteller.
- Tom Sawyer · 汤姆 — A clever, cheeky boy who can talk anyone into anything.
- Aunt Polly · 波莉阿姨 — Tom's strict but loving aunt.
- Ben · 本 — A round-faced friend who cannot resist a game.
- Huck Finn · 哈克 — A free-spirited boy who lives outdoors and fears nothing except the dark.
- Becky Thatcher · 贝基 — The new girl at school with golden braids.
- Joe · 乔 — A scowling, dangerous man with a secret.
- The Doctor · 医生 — A calm town doctor who meets Joe at night.
- Old Potter · 老波特 — A gentle, drunken old man who is blamed for a crime.
- The Judge · 法官 — The serious judge in the courtroom.
6 chapters, one journey
Chapter 1: The Fence Trick
刷篱笆
Tom is ordered to whitewash a huge fence on a sunny Saturday. Then he has a very sneaky idea, and a friend shows up with an even stranger plan for midnight.
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Chapter 2: The Graveyard at Midnight
半夜的墓地
At midnight, Tom and Huck creep into the graveyard with a dead cat. What they see under the big tree is a secret so dangerous that they swear never to tell.
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Chapter 3: The New Girl
新同学
A golden-haired girl arrives at school and Tom will do anything to impress her. But a friend's bad news pushes him toward a wild plan.
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Chapter 4: The Pirates' Funeral
小岛上的海盗
Tom and Huck live like pirates on a river island, until a cannon booms across the water. Someone is crying for them back in town, and Tom has a big surprise planned.
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Chapter 5: The Trial and the Picnic
法庭和山洞
Tom must stand up in court and face the man he fears most. Weeks later, a school picnic leads him and Becky into a huge dark cave.
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Chapter 6: The Cave Treasure
山洞里的宝藏
Tom and Becky are lost in the dark with one candle left. Then Tom sees a light he wishes he hadn't, and a secret that could make two boys rich.
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Key words in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Behind the story
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was written by the American author Mark Twain and published in 1876. It is set in a small town on the Mississippi River, much like the one where Twain grew up, and follows a clever, mischievous boy from one adventure to the next.
In China the book is known as “汤姆·索亚历险记”, and it is one of the best-loved American stories in Chinese translation. It is often recommended to young readers as a fun book about friendship, courage and growing up.
Did you know?
- Mark Twain was a pen name. The author's real name was Samuel Clemens, and "mark twain" was a call used on Mississippi riverboats to say the water was two fathoms deep.
- The scene where Tom gets his friends to paint the fence for him is one of the most famous moments in American literature.
- Twain wrote a second book about Tom's friend Huck, called Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, in 1884.