原文作者：刘爱红

　the room in which the boys were fed, was alarge stone hall, with a copper at one end: out ofwhich the master, dressed in an apron for thepurpose, and assisted by one or two women, la-dled the gruel at meal times. of this festive com-position2 each boy had one porringer, and nomore--except on occasions of great public re-joicing, when he had two ounces and a quarter ofbread besides. the bowls never wanted washing.the boys polished them with their spoons till theyshone again; and when they had performed thisoperation (which never took very long, the spoonsbeing nearly as large as the bowls), they would sitstaring at the copper, with such eager eyes, as ifthey could have devoured the very bricks ofwhich it was composed; employing themselves,meanwhile, in sucking their fingers most assid-uously, with the view of catching up anystray splashes of gruel that might havebeen cast thereon) boys have gener-ally excellent appetites. oliver twistand his companions suffered the torturesof slow starvation for three months: at lastthey got so voracious4 and wild with hunger, thatone boy, who was tall for his age, and hadn't [论文网]