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The Moon Is Down Author：John Steinbeck Retold：M. J. Paine Series Editor：John Milne Word Level：Intermediate Year of publishing：First published in 1942 Publishing company：William Heinemann Ltd Number of pages：80 "The Moon Is Down" refers to a phrase spoken by Banquo's son Fleance in Shakespeare's Macbeth. The story details a military occupation of a small town in Northern Europe by the army of an unnamed nation at war with England and Russia. It has been translated into many languages across the world. It was even made into a movie starring Cedric Hardwicke, Henry Travers and Lee J. Cobb in 1943 and it was also adapted into a play by the same name. In this story's beginning, the invaders arrived in town and the people were frightened. Nobody expected them. They soon killed local soldiers and took the town. Their goal is to control the coal mine and organize increased production and exportation of coal. The peace began to break up when a miner, who was a nice man in the town, killed one of the invader's officers with his pick because he forced him to work. They shot him and the town's people began to fight against them. We can view this story in two sides. One is the invaders and the other is the town's people. The people was stunned, confused and nothing they could do. Soon, their anger replaced their fear and a ragged resistance movement formed. The invader's commander tried to maintain peace without fights and troubles but failed. He followed orders from above and imposed repressive measures to keep the production going. In the end, all semblance of harmony is ended. The occupiers feel isolated and surrounded by hate. Coal production grinds to a halt due mostly to the fact that allied planes have been dropping dynamites for the people to use to sabotage railroads, food supplies, power sources, and the mine itself. The townspeople would rather starve and be killed than cooperate with the invaders. When I began to read this book, I guessed that the events took place in France or England during world war two, because I've studied their history about the revolutions in eighteen century. I knew what it is all about when I search it online. I like this book because it told me the spirit of the people： never give up. I think it's precious and a life philosophy. It's one of the study measures too! [JeT] 49777071 朱育瑩