留學(xué)書單：赴英前必讀的5本書

去英國(guó)留學(xué)，提前了解一些英國(guó)的歷史文化和人情世故是必不可少的，能幫助大家快速融入英國(guó)留學(xué)生活，不管你是什么專業(yè)的，可以借以掃除一下偏見。去英國(guó)留學(xué)前必須讀的5本書，現(xiàn)在讀還不晚！希望對(duì)去英國(guó)留學(xué)的的同學(xué)們有所幫助。

1. The English: A Portrait of a People，By Jeremy Paxman
《The English: A Portrait of a People》，作者：杰里米·帕克斯曼

In The English, the famously no-nonsense journalist and broadcaster Jeremy Paxman assesses what it means to be English today – specifically English, that is, not Welsh, Scottish, or Irish. In this wide-ranging work, Paxman charts the rise of a peculiar stereotype of Englishness that arose abroad in response to British colonialism, and its subsequent obsolescence following the disintegration of Empire. Emphasising the pluralistic interconnections between England's regions, cultures, and classes, The English gives historical grounding to some of the country' scurious social quirks and places them in the context of its people’s fluctuating identities.
在《The English》里頭，以坦爽著稱的記者、主持人Jeremy Paxman開門見山地評(píng)估當(dāng)代英格蘭人對(duì)自我的認(rèn)識(shí)，并且分析其與威爾士人、蘇格蘭人、愛爾蘭等人的差別。此作品內(nèi)容廣泛，Paxman在書中寫道，大英帝國(guó)因在世界各地開拓殖民地，引起了當(dāng)?shù)厝藢?duì)英國(guó)人諸多的奇特偏見。如今，雖然大英帝國(guó)早已瓦解，但許多國(guó)家仍然保持著陳舊的偏見。通過描述英格蘭各個(gè)地區(qū)、文化和社會(huì)階級(jí)之間多樣化的關(guān)系，Paxman描繪了英國(guó)社會(huì)的一些奇特怪癖的歷史背景，并將它們和現(xiàn)代人變化多端的自我認(rèn)知作比較。

2. White Teeth, By Zadie Smith
《白牙》，作者：查蒂·史密斯

Treating a broad sweep of British post-war history,White Teeth deals with the issues of London's immigrant population and their often conflicting desires to both assimilate and preserve their indigenous cultural identities. In an inimitable style that is now painfully funny, now heartrending, Smith also satirises the British middle and working classes while writing sensitively on such social issues as the generation gap in immigrant families, and even religious fundamentalism. A must-read for those seeking to know more about the diversity of Britain's cities.
《白牙》以二戰(zhàn)后的英國(guó)歷史為背景，探尋了倫敦移民的困難境遇，他們陷入了既渴望融入英國(guó)社會(huì)、又想保留自己祖國(guó)文化的矛盾當(dāng)中。Smith用一種笑中帶淚的獨(dú)特方式，諷刺了英國(guó)的中產(chǎn)階級(jí)和工人階級(jí)，同時(shí)還用細(xì)致入微的筆觸描寫了一些社會(huì)問題，例如移民家庭內(nèi)部的代溝、宗教原教旨主義等等。如果你想了解英國(guó)城市中的多元文化，這是你的必讀之物。

3. Porterhouse Blue, Tom Sharpe
《Porterhouse Blue》，作者：湯姆·夏普

Whether you're looking to throw yourself bodily into life at Britain's most traditional educational institutions, or searching for a stick to beat them with, look no further than Tom Sharpe's rip-roaring parody of life at the fictional Cambridge college, Porterhouse. Crippled by the need to adhere to its own traditions, Porterhouse is thrown into disarray when the College Master dies before naming his successor; meanwhile, research student Lionel Zipser's desperation to keep a lid on his attraction to his maid leads him through a series of preposterous plotlines towards a hilarious finale. A taste at the cordon bleu end of fine British humour.
無(wú)論你是渴望去最傳統(tǒng)的英國(guó)高校求學(xué)，還是想嘲笑它們不合實(shí)際的習(xí)俗，都得來(lái)讀讀湯姆·夏普的這部作品，他在書中創(chuàng)造了一所虛擬的劍橋?qū)W院——Porterhouse，里面的故事肯定會(huì)令你捧腹大笑。按照Porterhouse學(xué)院悠久的傳統(tǒng)，只有學(xué)院院長(zhǎng)能夠選定自己的接任者。現(xiàn)任院長(zhǎng)的突然死亡使得整個(gè)學(xué)院陷入混亂之中。同時(shí)，研究生Lionel Zipser暗戀他的仆人，又要死命隱瞞，因而發(fā)生了一系列荒謬可笑的事件，結(jié)局也令人開懷大笑。讀Porterhouse能讓你體驗(yàn)最經(jīng)典的英式幽默。

4. The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell
《通往威根碼頭之路》，作者：?jiǎn)讨巍W威爾

In Wigan Pier, a middle-class writer composes one of the finest examples of working-class journalism ever set down on paper. The British are a nation acutely aware of social class, and navigating the proverbial minefield of class distinctions can often prove challenging for visiting students. Orwell documents living conditions for workers in the impoverished north of England in the late 1930s, before discussing the practical solutions to the problem. Very much a document of its time, but still one of great use for those interested in the roots of Britain’s ongoing class tensions
本書的作者是中產(chǎn)階級(jí)，而它是關(guān)于工人階級(jí)的有史以來(lái)最佳的調(diào)查研究報(bào)告之一。英國(guó)人對(duì)社會(huì)階級(jí)極端敏感，而錯(cuò)綜復(fù)雜的階級(jí)差別常令留學(xué)生感到莫名其妙。書的開頭講述了英國(guó)北部的勞動(dòng)人民在30年代的艱苦生活條件，接著提出了解決該社會(huì)問題的幾個(gè)實(shí)在的方案。作家的一些論點(diǎn)無(wú)疑已過時(shí)了，但本書仍能令人深入了解英國(guó)不同階級(jí)之間長(zhǎng)久矛盾的歷史背景。

5. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
《遠(yuǎn)大前程》，作者：查爾斯·狄更斯

Great Expectations may seem like an obvious choice, but it will do more than reward the Chinese penchant for Victorian high society. As well as being one of the most recognisable English-language stories, the novel explores social mobility, the contemporary class system, and empire, all backed up with a number of Dickens' larger-than-life characters and the first-person voice of the ever hopeful Pip. For the Chinese reader, it’s a cultural exploration of Britain at one of the most important points in her history, and a classic piece of literature by the second-most famous British writer of all time.
本書單包括《遠(yuǎn)大前程》似乎理所應(yīng)當(dāng)，但它的作用其實(shí)不只局限于滿足中國(guó)人對(duì)維多利亞時(shí)代上流社會(huì)的興趣。該小說不但是英文名著，還探究社會(huì)流動(dòng)性、維多利亞時(shí)代的社會(huì)階級(jí)系統(tǒng)和大英帝國(guó)的歷史。此書始終用第一人稱——永遠(yuǎn)充滿希望的“皮普”來(lái)敘事，并充斥著諸多非同凡響的人物故事。對(duì)于中國(guó)讀者而言，《遠(yuǎn)大前程》是一場(chǎng)文化之旅，探究英國(guó)歷史中最重要的一章，同時(shí)也是英國(guó)第二大作家的名垂千古的經(jīng)典之作。

（來(lái)源：譯言網(wǎng) 編輯：丁一）