diff --git a/lib/rexml/parsers/baseparser.rb b/lib/rexml/parsers/baseparser.rb
index 2f068e0c..275372ee 100644
--- a/lib/rexml/parsers/baseparser.rb
+++ b/lib/rexml/parsers/baseparser.rb
@@ -132,6 +132,13 @@ module Private
         GEDECL_PATTERN = "\\s+#{NAME}\\s+#{ENTITYDEF}\\s*>"
         PEDECL_PATTERN = "\\s+(%)\\s+#{NAME}\\s+#{PEDEF}\\s*>"
         ENTITYDECL_PATTERN = /(?:#{GEDECL_PATTERN})|(?:#{PEDECL_PATTERN})/um
+        CARRIAGE_RETURN_NEWLINE_PATTERN = /\r\n?/
+        CHARACTER_REFERENCES = /&#0*((?:\d+)|(?:x[a-fA-F0-9]+));/
+        DEFAULT_ENTITIES_PATTERNS = {}
+        default_entities = ['gt', 'lt', 'quot', 'apos', 'amp']
+        default_entities.each do |term|
+          DEFAULT_ENTITIES_PATTERNS[term] = /&#{term};/
+        end
       end
       private_constant :Private
 
@@ -504,10 +511,10 @@ def normalize( input, entities=nil, entity_filter=nil )
 
       # Unescapes all possible entities
       def unnormalize( string, entities=nil, filter=nil )
-        rv = string.gsub( /\r\n?/, "\n" )
+        rv = string.gsub( Private::CARRIAGE_RETURN_NEWLINE_PATTERN, "\n" )
         matches = rv.scan( REFERENCE_RE )
         return rv if matches.size == 0
-        rv.gsub!( /&#0*((?:\d+)|(?:x[a-fA-F0-9]+));/ ) {
+        rv.gsub!( Private::CHARACTER_REFERENCES ) {
           m=$1
           m = "0#{m}" if m[0] == ?x
           [Integer(m)].pack('U*')
@@ -518,7 +525,7 @@ def unnormalize( string, entities=nil, filter=nil )
             unless filter and filter.include?(entity_reference)
               entity_value = entity( entity_reference, entities )
               if entity_value
-                re = /&#{entity_reference};/
+                re = Private::DEFAULT_ENTITIES_PATTERNS[entity_reference] || /&#{entity_reference};/
                 rv.gsub!( re, entity_value )
               else
                 er = DEFAULT_ENTITIES[entity_reference]
@@ -526,7 +533,7 @@ def unnormalize( string, entities=nil, filter=nil )
               end
             end
           end
-          rv.gsub!( /&/, '&' )
+          rv.gsub!( Private::DEFAULT_ENTITIES_PATTERNS['amp'], '&' )
         end
         rv
       end
diff --git a/test/test_pullparser.rb b/test/test_pullparser.rb
index 53a985ba..b6a48c93 100644
--- a/test/test_pullparser.rb
+++ b/test/test_pullparser.rb
@@ -62,6 +62,26 @@ def test_entity_replacement
       end
     end
 
+    def test_character_references
+      source = '<a>&#65;</a><b>&#x42;</b>'
+      parser = REXML::Parsers::PullParser.new( source )
+      element_name = ''
+      while parser.has_next?
+        event = parser.pull
+        case event.event_type
+        when :start_element
+          element_name = event[0]
+        when :text
+          case element_name
+          when 'a'
+            assert_equal('A', event[1])
+          when 'b'
+            assert_equal('B', event[1])
+          end
+        end
+      end
+    end
+
     def test_peek_unshift
       source = "<a><b/></a>"
       REXML::Parsers::PullParser.new(source)