编辑推荐
美国作家路易莎·奥尔科特的代表作《小妇人》,一部美国文学的经典著作,一本道德家世小说。马奇家四姐妹对自立的权力的追求,以及她们对家庭的忠诚眷顾构成了全书一贯的矛盾,使故事熠熠生辉,情节生动感人。《小妇人》出版后获得了巨大成功,成为公认的美国名著,100多年来一直受到读者热烈欢迎。入选美国图书协会、美国教育协会100种学生必备书,其中又精选出25种,《小妇人》列居榜首,世界上已有数十种不同语言的译本,30年代此书已风靡中国大陆。
本书为英文原版,同时提供配套英文朗读免费下载,下载方式详见图书封底博客链接。让读者在阅读精彩故事的同时,亦能提升英文阅读水平。
内容简介
《小妇人》美国作家路易莎·奥尔科特代表作,本书以家庭生活为描写对象,以家庭成员的感情纠葛为线索,描写了马奇一家的天伦之爱。马奇家的四姐妹中,无论是为了爱情甘于贫困的梅格,还是通过自己奋斗成为作家的乔,以及坦然面对死亡的贝思和以扶弱为己任的艾美,虽然她们的理想和命运都不尽相同,但是她们都具有自强自立的共同特点。着重描写了她们对家庭的眷恋;对爱的忠诚以及对亲情的渴望。本书故事情节简单而真实,感人至深,问世一百多年以来,多次被搬上银幕,并被译成各种文字,成为世界文学宝库中的经典名作。
本书为英文原版,同时提供配套朗读免费下载,下载方式详见图书封底博客链接。让读者在阅读精彩故事的同时,亦能提升英文阅读水平。
Little Women is a novel by American author Louisa May Alcott, which was originally published in two volumes. Alcott wrote the books rapidly over several months at the request of her publisher. The novel follows the lives of four sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March—detailing their passage from childhood to womanhood, and is loosely based on the author and her three sisters. It is an outstanding achievement of nineteenth-century American literature, and the first children's novel written in the United States to have become an enduring classic.
The book has been adapted for film twice as silent films, and four times with sound, in 1933, 1949, 1978 and 1994. Four television series were made, including two in Britain in the 1950s and two anime series in Japan in the 1980s. A musical version opened on Broadway in 2005. An American opera version in 1998 has been performed internationally and filmed for broadcast on US television in 2001.
作者简介
路易莎·M·奥尔科特(1832-1888),美国作家。1832年11月29日出生在宾夕法尼亚州的杰曼镇。路易莎10岁时便已热心于业余戏剧演出,15岁时写出第一部情节剧,21岁开始发表诗歌及小品。1868年,一位出版商建议她写一部关于“女孩子的书”,她便根据孩提的记忆写成《小妇人》。出乎作者意料的是《小妇人》打动了无数美国读者,尤其是女性读者的心弦。之后,路易莎又续写了《小男人》和《乔的男孩子们》,1873年又以小说形式出版了自传著作《经验的故事》。路易莎成名后,继续撰写小说和故事,并投身于妇女选举运动和禁酒运动。美国内战期间她在华盛顿做过军队救护人员,后来,她还担任过一家儿童刊物(Robert Merry's Museum)的编辑。
内页插图
目录
PART I
CHAPTER 1 PLAYING PILGRIMS /2
CHAPTER 2 A MERRY CHRISTMAS /15
CHAPTER 3 THE LAURENCE BOY /29
CHAPTER 4 BURDENS /41
CHAPTER 5 BEING NEIGHBORLY /55
CHAPTER 6 BETH FINDS THE PALACE BEAUTIFUL /69
CHAPTER 7 AMY’S VALLEY OF HUMILIATION /77
CHAPTER 8 JO MEETS APOLLYON /85
CHAPTER 9 MEG GOES TO VANITY FAIR /98
CHAPTER 10 THE P.C. AND P.O. /116
CHAPTER 11 EXPERIMENTS /130
CHAPTER 12 CAMP LAURENCE /143
CHAPTER 13 CASTLES IN THE AIR /165
CHAPTER 14 SECRETS /176
CHAPTER 15 A TELEGRAM /187
CHAPTER 16 LETTERS /197
CHAPTER 17 LITTLE FAITHFUL /208
CHAPTER 18 DARK DAYS /217
CHAPTER 19 AMY’S WILL /227
CHAPTER 20 CONFIDENTIAL /237
CHAPTER 21 LAURIE MAKES MISCHIEF, AND JO MAKES PEACE /245
CHAPTER 22 PLEASANT MEADOWS /259
CHAPTER 23 AUNT MARCH SETTLES THE QUESTION /268
PART II
CHAPTER 24 GOSSIP /282
CHAPTER 25 THE FIRST WEDDING /297
CHAPTER 26 ARTISTIC ATTEMPTS /305
CHAPTER 27 LITERARY LESSONS /317
CHAPTER 28 DOMESTIC EXPERIENCES /326
CHAPTER 29 CALLS /343
CHAPTER 30 CONSEQUENCES /357
CHAPTER 31 OUR FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT /371
CHAPTER 32 TENDER TROUBLES /383
CHAPTER 33 JO’S JOURNAL /397
CHAPTER 34 FRIEND /411
CHAPTER 35 HEARTACHE /429
CHAPTER 36 BETH’S SECRET /442
CHAPTER 37 NEW IMPRESSIONS /449
CHAPTER 38 ON THE SHELF /462
CHAPTER 39 LAZY LAURENCE /476
CHAPTER 40 THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW /492
CHAPTER 41 LEARNING TO FORGET /499
CHAPTER 42 ALL ALONE /514
CHAPTER 43 SURPRISES /524
CHAPTER 44 MY LORD AND LADY /542
CHAPTER 45 DAISY AND DEMI /548
CHAPTER 46 UNDER THE UMBRELLA /555
CHAPTER 47 HARVEST TIME /572
精彩书摘
PLAYING PILGRIMS
“Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” grumbled Jo, lying on the rug.
“It’s so dreadful to be poor!” sighed Meg, looking down at her old dress.
“I don’t think it’s fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all,” added little Amy, with an injured sniff.
“We’ve got Father and Mother, and each other,” said Beth contentedly from her corner.
The four young faces on which the firelight shone brightened at the cheerful words, but darkened again as Jo said sadly, “We haven’t got Father, and shall not have him for a long time.” She didn’t say “perhaps never,” but each silently added it, thinking of Father far away, where the fighting was.
Nobody spoke for a minute; then Meg said in an altered tone, “You know the reason Mother proposed not having any presents this Christmas was because it is going to be a hard winter for everyone; and she thinks we ought not to spend money for pleasure, when our men are suffering so in the army. We can’t do much, but we can make our little sacrifices, and ought to do it gladly. But I am afraid I don’t,” and Meg shook her head, as she thought regretfully of all the pretty things she wanted.
“But I don’t think the little we should spend would do any good. We’ve each got a dollar, and the army wouldn’t be much helped by our giving that. I agree not to expect anything from Mother or you, but I do want to buy Undine and Sintram for myself. I’ve wanted it so long,” said Jo, who was a bookworm.
“I planned to spend mine in new music,” said Beth, with a little sigh, which no one heard but the hearth brush and kettle-holder.
“I shall get a nice box of Faber’s drawing pencils; I really need them,” said Amy decidedly.
“Mother didn’t say anything about our money, and she won’t wish us to give up everything. Let’s each buy what we want, and have a little fun; I’m sure we work hard enough to earn it,” cried Jo, examining the heels of her shoes in a gentlemanly manner.
“I know I do—teaching those tiresome children nearly all day, when I’m longing to enjoy myself at home,” began Meg, in the complaining tone again.
“You don’t have half such a hard time as I do,” said Jo. “How would you like to be shut up for hours with a nervous, fussy old lady, who keeps you trotting, is never satisfied, and worries you till you’re ready to fly out the window or cry?”
“It’s naughty to fret,—but I do think washing dishes and keeping things tidy is the worst work in the world. It makes me cross, and my hands get so stiff, I can’t practice well at all.” And Beth looked at her rough hands with a sigh that any one could hear that time.
“I don’t believe any of you suffer as I do,” cried Amy, “for you don’t have to go to school with impertinent girls, who plague you if you don’t know your lessons, and laugh at your dresses, and label your father if he isn’t rich, and insult you when your nose isn’t nice.”
“If you mean libel, I’d say so, and not talk about labels, as if Papa was a pickle bottle,” advised Jo, laughing.
“I know what I mean, and you needn’t be ‘statirical’ about it. It’s proper to use good words, and improve your vocabilary,” returned Amy, with dignity.
“Don’t peck at one another, children. Don’t you wish we had the money Papa lost when we were little, Jo? Dear me! How happy and good we’d be, if we had no worries!” said Meg, who could remember better times.
“You said the other day you thought we were a deal happier than the King children, for they were fighting and fretting all the time, in spite of their money.”
“So I did, Beth. Well, I think we are. For though we do have to work, we make fun for ourselves, and are a pretty jolly set, as Jo would say.”
“Jo does use such slang words!” observed Amy, with a reproving look at the long figure stretched on the rug. Jo immediately sat up, put her hands in her pockets, and began to whistle.
“Don’t, Jo; It’s so boyish!”
“That’s why I do it.”
“I detest rude, unlady-like girls!”
“I hate affected, niminy-piminy chits!”
“Birds in their little nests agree,” sang Beth, the peace-maker, with such a funny face that both sharp voices softened to a laugh, and the “pecking” ended for that time.
“Really, girls, you are both to be blamed,” said Meg, beginning to lecture in her elder-sisterly fashion. “You are old enough to leave off boyish tricks, and to behave better, Josephine. It didn’t matter so much when you were a little girl, but now you are so tall, and turn up your hair, you should remember that you are a young lady.”
……
前言/序言
《傲慢与偏见》:在19世纪英格兰的庄园与礼仪中探寻真爱与社会藩篱 作者:简·奥斯汀 (Jane Austen) (以下为《傲慢与偏见》的详细图书简介,不涉及《小妇人》的内容) --- 引言:光芒万丈的贝内特家族与那份不可或缺的“好姻缘” 《傲慢与偏见》是英国文学史上最受人珍视的经典之一,它以辛辣的讽刺、敏锐的洞察力以及对人类情感的细腻描摹,构建了一个围绕着19世纪初英格兰乡绅阶层的生活画卷。故事的中心,是位于赫特福德郡朗伯恩的贝内特(Bennet)一家。 贝内特先生是一位拥有五位待嫁女儿的父亲,而他们的母亲,贝内特太太,毕生的目标便是要让这五位女儿——珍(Jane)、伊丽莎白(Elizabeth)、玛丽(Mary)、凯蒂(Kitty)和莉迪亚(Lydia)——找到体面且富裕的丈夫。在当时,由于财产继承法(Entailment)的限制,贝内特先生的庄园一旦他去世后便会传给一位远房的旁系亲属,使得婚姻成为贝内特家五个女儿唯一的经济保障。 这份对“好姻缘”的迫切追逐,为小说奠定了幽默而又充满压力的基调。然而,奥斯汀的精妙之处在于,她将这场婚姻的追逐,变成了一场关于智慧、偏见、社会阶层和真挚爱情的深刻辩论。 核心冲突:初遇的误解与心房的壁垒 故事的转折点,随着富有的单身汉查尔斯·宾利(Charles Bingley)先生搬到附近的尼日斐庄园(Netherfield Park)而拉开序幕。宾利先生的到来,立刻点燃了贝内特太太的希望之火。 在第一次的舞会上,贝内特家的长女珍,以其温婉的美貌和善良的性情,立刻赢得了宾利先生的好感。两人之间迅速滋长出一种令人愉悦、几乎是完美的爱慕之情。 与此形成鲜明对比的,是二女儿伊丽莎白·贝内特。她聪明伶俐,言辞犀利,是五姐妹中最具独立思想的一个。伊丽莎白对社会虚伪现象持有毫不留情的批判态度,她的“傲慢”与“偏见”也正是在此时初露端倪。 伊丽莎白与宾利先生的密友——那位更为英俊、但性格孤傲的菲茨威廉·达西(Fitzwilliam Darcy)先生——相遇了。达西先生因其巨大的财富和高贵的出身,本应是所有女性追逐的目标,但他却表现出一种对周遭社会格格不入的冷漠与轻蔑。 在初次见面时,达西先生拒绝与伊丽莎白共舞,并轻蔑地评价她“尚可忍受,但不足以吸引我跳舞”。这句话被伊丽莎白偶然听到。这件事点燃了她对达西的深深“偏见”,她开始用审视一切的锐利目光观察达西先生的每一个举动,并将其解读为傲慢与对社会阶层的鄙视。 情感的迷宫:误导、审判与深刻的自我反思 随着故事的发展,复杂的情感网络开始交织。 达西的挣扎: 尽管达西先生最初瞧不起贝内特一家的社会地位,但他却无法抗拒伊丽莎白独特的个性和闪光的智慧。他内心的“傲慢”在与伊丽莎白相处的过程中,受到了前所未有的挑战。最终,他以一种近乎傲慢的方式——极力强调女方家族的低微——向伊丽莎白求婚。 伊丽莎白的拒绝与指控: 伊丽莎白对达西的求婚感到震惊和愤怒。她当面拒绝了他,并尖锐地指责了他两件事:一是蓄意拆散了她姐姐珍与宾利先生的恋情;二是残忍地对待了她那位正直而迷人的朋友乔治·威克汉姆(George Wickham)。威克汉姆以其英俊的外表和悲惨的“遭遇”,成功地激发了伊丽莎白的同情与对达西的憎恨。 关键的转折:达西的回信: 在被严厉拒绝后,达西先生并未退缩。他写了一封长信给伊丽莎白,详细解释了自己干预珍与宾利婚事的原因——他误认为珍对宾利的感情不够真挚,且贝内特家族的行为举止有失体面。更重要的是,信中揭露了威克汉姆的真实面目:一个品行不端、企图诱骗达西妹妹乔治亚的骗子。 这封信是小说真正的核心。伊丽莎白在阅读后,经历了痛苦而深刻的自我审视。她意识到,自己一直以来引以为傲的“洞察力”是多么的肤浅和盲目。她被自己的“偏见”蒙蔽了双眼,对一个正直的人产生了不公的厌恶,却对一个伪君子投以了同情。 危机与救赎:对家族名誉的考验 当伊丽莎白认为自己对达西的偏见正在消解时,一场巨大的家族危机爆发了。贝内特家最小、最轻浮的妹妹莉迪亚,与威克汉姆私奔。这在当时的社会背景下,意味着家族荣誉的彻底毁灭和所有姐妹婚嫁前景的破灭。 正当贝内特家陷入绝望之际,达西先生再次秘密介入。他动用了巨大的财力和人脉,找到了威克汉姆,迫使他与莉迪亚结婚,并支付了大量的嫁妆,以此挽救了贝内特家族的名声。然而,达西要求伊丽莎白对此事保密,他深知,若让伊丽莎白知道他做了这一切,只会让她感到屈辱。 当伊丽莎白通过贝内特家的家庭教师夏洛特·卢卡斯(Charlotte Lucas)的丈夫柯林斯先生的妻子,无意中得知了达西的慷慨行为后,她对达西的感情彻底转变。她明白了,这位傲慢的绅士,其实拥有一颗无比高贵和无私的心灵。 结局:傲慢的放下,偏见的消除 在真相大白和危机解除后,达西与伊丽莎白之间的情感障碍开始消融。宾利先生在达西的鼓励下,重新向珍求婚,两对有情人终成眷属。 最后的障碍,来自达西的姑妈,那位高傲的凯瑟琳·德·包尔(Lady Catherine de Bourgh)女士,她试图阻止达西与伊丽莎白结合。然而,伊丽莎白坚定的拒绝和对自身权利的维护,反而无意中给了达西希望。 最终,达西鼓起勇气,第二次向伊丽莎白求婚。这一次,没有了偏见的遮蔽,没有了傲慢的伪装,两人坦诚地承认了各自曾经的错误——达西承认了自己昔日的傲慢和干涉,伊丽莎白则为自己过去的鲁莽和偏见深感抱歉。 他们明白了,真正的爱,建立在互相的尊重和对彼此本性的深刻理解之上。 主题与文学价值 《傲慢与偏见》超越了一般的爱情故事,它对以下主题进行了深刻的探讨: 1. 社会阶层与财富: 小说无情地揭示了19世纪英国社会对金钱和地位的痴迷,以及这种痴迷如何影响了个人的选择和幸福。 2. 理智与情感的平衡: 贝内特姐妹代表了不同的情感路径:珍的温柔与被动,伊丽莎白的理智与热情,莉迪亚的轻浮与冲动。奥斯汀倡导一种既保有独立思考能力又不失人情温暖的生活态度。 3. 自知之明: 故事的核心教训是,只有当我们敢于审视自己的缺点——达西的骄傲,伊丽莎白的偏见——我们才能真正看清他人的优点,并找到幸福。 通过其生动的人物塑造、如画般的田园风光描写,以及简·奥斯汀那永不过时的机智幽默,《傲慢与偏见》至今仍是一部关于如何跨越自我局限、获得真正理解与爱情的永恒经典。