1 O liver’s early lifeO liver Twist was born in a workhouse，and when he arrived in this hard world，it was very doubtful whether he would live beyond the first three minutes．He lay on a hard little bed and struggled to start breathing．O liver fought his first battle without much assistance from the two people present at his birth．One was an old woman，who was nearly always drunk， and the other was a busy local doctor，who was not paid enough to be very interested in O liver’s survival． After all，death was a common event in the workhouse，where only the poor and homeless lived．However，O liver managed to draw his first breath，and the n announced his arrival to the rest of the workhouse by crying loudly．His mother raised her pale young face from the pillow and whispered， ‘Le
