都知道看原版書是學英語的好方法，但是備考期間時間何其寶貴啊，沒有時間花大量時間閱讀原著。還有一些同學剛剛拿起原版書讀的時候，簡直和學數學一樣（也有可能只有我這樣）看見書就困。那麼怎麼辦呢？不讀了洗洗睡？別啊，讀不下來長篇、沒時間讀長篇，我們讀短篇不就好了？介紹給你們六本短篇小說，在線就能看哦！
《世界的最後一晚》
The Last Night of the World
by 雷·布萊伯利 Ray Bradbury
閱讀時長：7分鐘
內容簡介
布萊伯利最有名的是他的《華氏451度》（Fahrenheit 451），這本書是有關焚書的反烏托邦（dystopian）故事。但書迷們對他的短篇小說應該也很熟悉，比如《紋身人》（The Illustrated Man）和《火星紀事》（The Martian Chronicles）。
“The Last Night of the World” is a tender, simple story. The first line alone is universally intriguing: “What would you do if you knew this was the last night of the world?”
《世界的最後一晚》是個溫柔、簡單的故事。文章的第一句話就引人入勝：“如果這是世界的最後一晚，你會做些什麼？”
精彩選段
"Do you know, I won't miss anything but you and the girls. I never liked cities or autos or factories or my work or anything except you three. I won't miss a thing except my family and perhaps the change in the weather and a glass of cool water when the weather's hot, or the luxury of sleeping. Just little things, really."
“知道嗎？除了你和兩個女兒，我其實沒什麼好留戀的了。我從來不曾真正喜歡這座城市，或是汽車、工廠，我也不喜歡我的工作，或者任何你們三個以外的事。如果真要說有什麼捨不得的，恐怕只有四季的輪換、熱天裡一杯冰得透透涼涼的水、還有飽飽地睡一覺。都是些微不足道的小事，真的。”
They sat and read the papers and talked and listened to some radio music and then sat together by the fireplace looking at the charcoal embers as the clock struck ten-thirty and eleven and eleven-thirty. They thought of all the other people in the world who had spent their evening, each in their own special way.
他們坐著讀報紙、聊天、聽廣播裡的音樂，一起坐在爐火旁邊，看著火爐裡木炭發出的微光。時鐘走過了10點半，11點，11點半。他們想象著，世界上其他的人將如何度過這最後一晚，以自己特殊的方式。
全文鏈接：
http://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a14340/ray-bradbury-last-night-of-the-world-0251/
《幸福結局》
Happy Endings
by 瑪格麗特·阿特伍德 Margaret Atwood
閱讀時長：5分鐘
內容簡介
Atwood, the author of The Handmaid’s Tale, shows off her token snark in this very short story, which takes the reader through all of the different ways in which a fictional couple, John and Mary, could possibly end up. Hint: It’s not so happy.
阿特伍德，也就是最近大熱的《使女的故事》的作者，在這篇短小精悍的小說中盡情炫耀了一把自己標誌性的諷刺手法，帶領讀者體驗了一對虛構夫婦約翰和瑪麗可能經歷的各種不同結局。溫馨提示：這些結局並沒有那麼幸福。
精彩選段
You'll have to face it, the endings are the same however you slice it. Don't be deluded by any other endings, they're all fake, either deliberately fake, with malicious intent to deceive, or just motivated by excessive optimism if not by downright sentimentality.
你必須面對現實，無論你怎樣切分他們的故事，結局都是一樣的。不要被其他結局欺騙了，那些都是假的。要麼是居心叵測有意欺瞞造假，要麼就是樂觀過頭或太過多情而臆想出來的。
The only authentic ending is the one provided here:
以下才是唯一真實的結局：
John and Mary die. John and Mary die. John and Mary die.
約翰和瑪麗死了。約翰和瑪麗死了。約翰和瑪麗死了。
全文鏈接：
https://www.douban.com/note/638055052/
《學校》
The School
by 唐納德·巴塞爾姆 Donald Barthelme
閱讀時長：5分鐘
內容簡介
The entire story is a dramatic monologue, and shows off Barthelme's token humor and excellent experiments with form.
這個故事就是一段充滿戲劇性的獨白，展現了巴塞爾姆標誌性的幽默和在文體形式上的出色嘗試。
在這個看似荒誕的故事裡，橘樹、小動物、收養的孩子都接二連三死了，學校裡的孩子們感到困惑，不停地追問老師，就此展開對死亡、對生活意義的討論……
精彩選段
They asked me, where did they go? The trees, the salamander, the tropical fish, Edgar, the poppas and mommas, Matthew and Tony, where did they go? And I said, I don't know, I don't know. And they said, who knows? and I said, nobody knows. And they said, is death that which gives meaning to life? And I said no, life is that which gives meaning to life.
他們問我說，那些東西都去哪兒了？樹苗、火蜥蜴、熱帶魚、小狗埃德加、爸爸媽媽們、馬修和託尼，他們到底去哪兒了？我說，我不知道，我也不知道。他們問，那誰知道呢？我說，沒人知道。他們說，是死亡給生活帶來了意義嗎？我說，不是，是生命為生活賦予了意義。
全文鏈接：
http://www.npr.org/programs/death/readings/stories/bart2.html
《一個乾淨明亮的地方》
A Clean, Well-Lighted Place
by 歐內斯特·海明威 Ernest Hemingway
閱讀時長：8分鐘
內容簡介
Hemingway’s writing can be minimalistic, a quality that lends itself well to short stories. In fact, Washington Post's books editor, Ron Charles, has said that Hemingway’s short stories are better than his novels.
You’ve probably read, or at least heard about, “Hills Like White Elephants,” a cryptic conversation between a man and a woman. “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place” is another classic, in which two waiters prepare for the end of the evening.
你可能讀過或者至少聽說過《白象似的群山》，那是發生在一男一女之間的一段晦澀對白。而《一個乾淨明亮的地方》則是另一個經典，講述了兩個男服務生準備結束一個夜晚的故事。
精彩選段
The two waiters inside the café knew that the old man was a little drunk, and while he was a good client they knew that if he became too drunk he would leave without paying, so they kept watch on him.
呆在餐館裡的兩個侍者知道這老人有點兒醉了，他雖然是個好主顧，可是，他們知道，如果他喝得太醉了，他會不付賬就走，所以他們一直在留神他。
"Last week he tried to commit suicide," one waiter said.
"上個星期他想自殺，"一個侍者說。
"Why?"
"為什麼？"
"He was in despair."
"他絕望啦。"
"What about?"
"為啥絕望？"
"Nothing."
"不為什麼。"
"How do you know it was nothing?"
"你怎麼知道是不為什麼？"
"He has plenty of money."
"他有很多錢。"
全文鏈接：
http://www.bigear.cn/news-65-20610.html
《窺鏡》
The Looking-Glass
by 安東·契訶夫 Anton Chekhov
閱讀時長：8分鐘
內容簡介
契訶夫被稱為“現代短篇小說之父”（“father of the modern short story”），他的作品特點是以人物為核心。
In “The Looking-Glass,” a woman feverishly attempts to seek help for her husband, sick with typhus, but is met with a surprise. This particular story nods to the author’s day job as a physician.
在《窺鏡》中，一個女人瘋狂地為她患了斑疹傷寒的丈夫尋求幫助，最終收穫了一個大“驚喜”。這部作品剛好與契訶夫醫生的職業相呼應。
精彩選段
Then she saw against the grey background how her husband every spring was in straits for money to pay the interest for the mortgage to the bank. He could not sleep, she could not sleep, and both racked their brains till their heads ached, thinking how to avoid being visited by the clerk of the Court.
在灰色的背景下，她看到丈夫每年春天為貸款利息而捉襟見肘。他夜不能寐，她也一樣，他們為此絞盡腦汁，想得腦袋生疼，生怕法庭找上門來。
She saw her children: the everlasting apprehension of colds, scarlet fever, diphtheria, bad marks at school, separation. Out of a brood of five or six one was sure to die.
她看到了她的孩子們，總是生活在無盡的恐懼中：他們害怕感冒、猩紅熱、白喉，害怕成績差，害怕被分開。一個人若離開了五六人的小群體，那將必死無疑。
全文鏈接：
http://www.eldritchpress.org/ac/jr/041.htm
《徵兆與象徵》
Symbols and Signs
by 弗拉基米爾·納博科夫Vladimir Nabokov
閱讀時長：10分鐘
內容簡介
Nabokov's prose is no doubt poetic, and his language enjoyably playful. Whether you've already read Lolita or Pale Fire, or are hesitating to pick them up, this short story about a delusional boy, his family, and his peers' attempt to buy him a birthday present, is sure to entertain you.
毫無疑問，納博科夫的散文充滿詩意，他的語言歡樂好玩。不管你是已經讀過《洛麗塔》和《微暗的火》，還是正猶豫著要不要翻開讀，這個關於妄想症男孩、他的家人及他的夥伴們打算給他買生日禮物的小故事，總能逗樂你。
精彩選段
The last time the boy had tried to do it, his method had been, in the doctor's words, a masterpiece of inventiveness; he would have succeeded had not an envious fellow-patient thought he was learning to fly and stopped him just in time. What he had really wanted to do was to tear a hole in his world and escape.
上一次他們的兒子企圖自殺，他的方法是，用醫生的話說，一個創造發明的傑作；如果不是一個嫉妒的病友以為他是在學著飛——而適時阻止了他，他就成功了。其實他真正想做的只是要在他的世界裡撕開一個洞好逃出去。
All this, and much more, she had accepted, for, after all, living does mean accepting the loss of one joy after another, not even joys in her case, mere possibilities of improvement.
這一點，以及其他種種，她都接受了，因為終究生活意味著要接受一個接一個快樂的喪失，在她這裡，甚至不是什麼快樂，只是生活改善的可能性而已。
（譯文參考：《世界文學》1995年第6期）
全文鏈接：
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1948/05/15/symbols-and-signs
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