6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
哈珀·李的《杀死一只知更鸟》
To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by Harper Lee published in 1960. Instantly successful, widely read in high schools and middle schools in the United States, it has become a classic of modern American literature, winning the Pulitzer Prize. The plot and characters are loosely based on Lee's observations of her family, her neighbors and an event that occurred near her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, in 1936, when she was ten.
《杀死一只知更鸟》是哈珀·李于1960年出版的一部小说。这部小说一经发表就声名鹊起，在美国高中和中学广为阅读，它已成为美国现代文学的经典，获得普利策奖。故事情节和人物大致上是来自哈珀·李对她的家庭、邻居以及1936年她十岁时在家乡阿拉巴马州蒙罗维尔附近发生的一件事的观察。
Brief Introduction:
Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird during a very tense time racially in her home state of Alabama. The South was still segregated, forcing blacks to use separate facilities apart from those used by whites, in almost every aspect of society. The Civil Rights Movement began to pick up steam when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in 1955. Following her bold defiance, Marin Luther King, Jr., became the leader of the movement, and the issue began to gain serious national attention. Clearly, a prime subject of To Kill a Mockingbird, namely the injustice of racism and inequality in the American South, was highly relevant at the time of its publication.
哈珀·李在她家乡阿拉巴马州的一个种族紧张时期写出小说《杀了一只知更鸟》。南方仍然实行种族隔离，迫使黑人在几乎社会的各个方面使用与白人不同的设施。1955年，在阿拉巴马州蒙哥马利市，当罗莎·帕克斯拒绝让座时，民权运动开始活跃起来。马林·路德·金大胆反抗后，成为该运动的领袖，这一问题开始引起全国的严重关注。显然，一个首要的主题是杀死一只知更鸟，即种族主义和不平等在美国南部的不公正，在其出版时是高度相关的。
Interestingly, Harper Lee decided to set the novel in the Depression era of the 1930s. The main character, Scout, is based on Lee's own childhood, and Dill is most likely based on her childhood friend and neighbor, Truman Capote. By placing her novel in the 1930s, Lee provided her readers with a historical background for current events of the time, and in doing so she exposed the deeply rooted history of the civil rights struggle in the South.
有趣的是，哈珀·李决定将这部小说定在20世纪30年代的大萧条时期，主角斯科特是根据哈珀·李自己的童年改编的，而迪尔很可能是根据她儿时的朋友和邻居杜鲁门·卡波特改编的。通过把她的小说放在20世纪30年代，哈珀·李为她的读者提供了一个时代事件的历史背景，并以此揭露了南方民权斗争的根深蒂固的历史。
哈珀·李的《杀死一只知更鸟》
7. Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne
A.A.米尔恩的《小熊维尼》
Winnie-the-Pooh, collection of children’s stories by A.A. Milne, published in 1926. Milne wrote the episodic stories of Winnie-the-Pooh and its sequel, The House at Pooh Corner (1928), for his young son, Christopher Robin, whose toy animals were the basis for many of the characters and whose name was used for the young boy who appears in the tales as the benign master of the animals.
小熊维尼，A.A.米尔恩的儿童故事集，1926年出版。米尔恩为他的小儿子克里斯托弗·罗宾（Christopher Robin）写了小熊维尼（Winnie the Pooh）的故事情节和续集《在小熊维尼角的房子》（the House at Pooh Corner）（1928），他的玩具动物是许多角色的基础，他的名字是用来形容故事中出现的小男孩，他是动物的仁慈主人。
The main character, Winnie-the-Pooh (sometimes called simply Pooh or Edward Bear), is a good-natured, yellow-furred, honey-loving bear who lives in the Forest surrounding the Hundred Acre Wood (modeled after Ashdown Forest in East Sussex, England). His companions are Eeyore, a gloomy gray donkey; Piglet, a timid pig; Owl, a pontificating bird; the meddlesome Rabbit; and Kanga, an energetic kangaroo whose inquisitive baby, Roo, lives in her pouch.
主人公小熊维尼（有时简称小熊维尼或爱德华熊）是一只性情善良、长着黄色皮毛、爱吃蜂蜜的熊，生活在百亩树林（仿照英格兰东苏塞克斯郡的阿什当森林）周围的森林里。他的同伴是灰蒙蒙的驴伊约尔、胆小的猪小猪小猪、爱管闲事的鸟猫头鹰、爱管闲事的兔子，还有袋鼠，一只精力充沛的袋鼠，它好奇的小袋鼠就住在她的育儿袋里。
A.A.米尔恩的《小熊维尼》
8. The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
C.S.刘易斯的《狮王、女巫与魔衣橱》
Air-raids over London during WWII compel four siblings - Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy - to be sent away from the city to the house of a kindly but remote Professor "who lived in the heart of the country." There is much to discover in the country: woods, mountains, owls, eagles, maybe even hawks and snakes. But the children will soon discover that the Professor's large house, staffed by three servants, holds even more mystery. It is a house filled with unexpected places, including a room which holds nothing but a large wardrobe, which Lucy opens one rainy day, never dreaming that the wardrobe is a passageway into Narnia.
二战期间，伦敦上空的空袭迫使四个兄弟姐妹——彼得、苏珊、埃德蒙和露西——离开伦敦，送到一位“居住在这个国家的中心”的和蔼而偏僻的教授家里。这个国家有很多东西有待发现：森林、山脉、猫头鹰、鹰，甚至鹰和蛇。但是孩子们很快有了发现，教授的大房子里配有三个仆人，他们增加了神秘气氛。这个房子还有很多出人意外的地方，其中有一个房间，房间里除了一个大衣柜什么都没有。在一个雨天，露西打开了衣柜，她从来没有想到过衣柜有一个通道，直接通向纳尼亚。
A once peaceful world inhabited by Fauns, Dwarves, Giants, and Talking Beasts, Narnia has been frozen into perpetual winter by the fiendish White Witch who rules over it. Before long, Edmund steps into the wardrobe, and, in spite of himself, into Narnia, where he has a chilling encounter with the seductive White Witch. Soon, all of the children become embroiled in an adventure that includes themes of betrayal, forgiveness, death, and rebirth.
纳尼亚曾经是一个和平的世界，居住着农牧神、矮人、巨人和会说话的野兽，这里现在被邪恶的白巫婆统治着，它冰封雪地。不久，爱德蒙走进衣柜，不顾自己，走进了纳尼亚，在那里他与蛊惑人心的白巫婆有了一次令人毛骨悚然的邂逅。很快，所有的孩子都卷入了一场包括背叛、宽恕、死亡和重生等主题的冒险中。
This is the first installment of C.S. Lewis' renowned series, The Chronicles of Narnia. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, first published in 1950, has been enchanting the hearts and imaginations of millions for generations, with its story of four siblings who, with the help of a Lion named Aslan, must overcome their own failings to become heroes of a better world.
这是C.S.刘易斯著名系列小说《纳尼亚纪事》的第一部。《狮王、女巫与魔衣橱》于1950年首次出版，它的故事一代代地吸引着数百万人的好奇心和想象力，故事讲述了四个兄弟姐妹在一只名叫阿斯兰的狮子的帮助下，他们必须克服自己的失败，成为一个更美好世界的英雄。
9. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
夏洛特·勃朗特的《简·爱》
When the novel begins, the title character is a 10-year-old orphan who lives with her uncle’s family; her parents had died of typhus. Other than the nursemaid, the family ostracizes Jane. She is later sent to the austere Lowood Institution, a charity school, where she and the other girls are mistreated; “Lowood,” as the name suggests, is the “low” point in Jane’s young life. In the face of such adversity, however, she gathers strength and confidence.
小说开始时，主人公是一个10岁的孤儿，她和叔叔的家人住在一起；她的父母死于斑疹伤寒。除了保姆，这个家庭都排斥简。她后来被送到简朴的洛伍德学校，一所慈善学校，在那里她和其他女孩受到虐待；学校名称“洛伍德”，顾名思义，是简年轻生活中的“低谷”。然而，面对这样的逆境，她却积聚了力量和信心。
In early adulthood, after several years as a student and then teacher at Lowood, Jane musters the courage to leave. She finds work as a governess at Thornfield Hall, where she meets her dashing and Byronic employer, the wealthy and impetuous Edward Rochester. At Thornfield Jane looks after young Adèle, the daughter of a French dancer who was one of Rochester’s mistresses, and is befriended by the kindly housekeeper Mrs. Alice Fairfax. Jane falls in love with Rochester, though he is expected to marry the snobbish and socially prominent Blanche Ingram. Rochester eventually reciprocates Jane’s feelings and proposes marriage. However, on their wedding day, Jane discovers that Rochester cannot legally marry her, because he already has a wife, Bertha Mason, who has gone mad and is locked away on the third floor because of her violent behaviour; her presence explains the strange noises Jane has heard in the mansion. Believing that he was tricked into that marriage, Rochester feels justified in pursuing his relationship with Jane. He pleads with her to join him in France, where they can live as husband and wife despite the legal prohibitions, but Jane refuses on principle and flees Thornfield.
在成年早期，简在洛伍德当了几年学生和老师后，鼓起了离开的勇气。她在桑菲尔德庄园找到了一份家庭教师的工作，在那里她遇到了她那潇洒而拜伦式的雇主，富有而浮躁的爱德华·罗切斯特。在桑菲尔德，简照料着年轻的艾德勒，艾德勒是罗切斯特的情妇之一的一位法国舞女的女儿，她受到了好心的管家爱丽丝·费尔法克斯太太的友好款待。简爱上了罗切斯特，尽管他有望娶势利和社会地位显赫的布兰奇·英格拉姆。罗切斯特最终回应了简的感受并提出了结婚的建议。然而，在他们结婚的那天，简发现罗切斯特不能合法地娶她，因为他已经有了一个妻子伯莎·梅森，伯莎·梅森早已得了疯病，她因为暴力行为而被锁在三楼；伯莎·梅森的出现解释了简在豪宅里听到的奇怪的声音。罗切斯特认为自己被骗进了那桩婚姻，他觉得有理由追求与简的爱情。他恳求简和他一起去法国，尽管法律禁止，他们在那里可以作为夫妻生活，但简原则上拒绝了，逃离了桑菲尔德。
Jane is taken in by people she later discovers are her cousins. One of them is St. John, a principled clergyman. He gives her a job and soon proposes marriage, suggesting that she join him as a missionary in India. Jane initially agrees to leave with him but not as his wife. However, St. John pressures her to reconsider his proposal, and a wavering Jane finally appeals to Heaven to show her what to do. Just then, she hears a mesmeric call from Rochester. Jane returns to Thornfield to find the estate burned, set on fire by Rochester’s wife, who then jumped to her death. Rochester, in an attempt to save her, was blinded. Reunited, Jane and Rochester marry. Rochester later regains some of his sight, and the couple have a son.
简被人收留了，她后来发现收留他的人是她的表亲。其中之一是圣约翰，一个有原则的牧师。他给了她一份工作，并很快提出结婚，建议她加入他的团队，同他一道赴印度当传教士。简最初同意和他一起离开，但不是作为他的妻子。然而，圣约翰逼迫她重新考虑他的建议，一个犹豫不决的简终于向上帝求助，让她看看该怎么做。就在这时，她听到罗切斯特的来自心底的呼唤。简回到桑菲尔德，发现庄园被罗切斯特的妻子烧了，罗切斯特的妻子随后跳楼自杀。为了救她，罗切斯特双眼失明。简和罗切斯特团聚了。罗切斯特后来恢复了一些视力，这对夫妇有了一个儿子。
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