在很多人眼里，经典小说一般又长、又无聊（long and ponderous）。但是，事情可并不总是这样的哦！实际上，有很多篇幅很短的经典小说，如果你希望读一本引人深思（thought-provoking）的书的话，不要错过今天小编给出短篇精品小说书单。 这份书单里的短篇小说都是可以一口气就读完的。下文中的书单按篇幅由短到长的顺序排列。通过阅读这不超过200页的内容，你一定会大有收获的！ 01 《变形记》
弗朗茨·卡夫卡 The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin. 一天早上，当格里高尔·萨姆沙从令人不安的睡梦中醒来的时候，他发现自己在床上变成了一只怪异的害虫—甲壳虫。 So begins The Metamorphosis, one of the most recognizable opening lines in literature. 于是，这场变形记开始了。《变形记》的开头是文学作品中最为出名的开头之一。 The story of Gregor Samsa, a young man who, after transforming overnight into a giant, beetle-like insect, becomes an object of disgrace to his family, an outsider in his own home, and a quintessentially alienated man. 在这个故事中，格里高尔·萨姆沙在一夜之间变成了一个巨大的，如同甲壳虫一般的昆虫。他变成了家庭的耻辱，并因此成了自己家的外人。此外，他还是一个典型的被疏远的人。 One of the most widely read and influential works of 20th-century fiction, The Metamorphosis is a harrowing yet absurdly comic meditation on inadequacy, guilt, and isolation. 这本书是二十世纪阅读量最大、影响力最深的小说之一。《变形记》这个故事对缺陷、罪恶及孤立的展现令人十分难过，但是奇怪的是它还有着喜剧效果。 02 《老人与海》
欧内斯特·海明威 The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway The last novel Ernest Hemingway saw published, The Old Man and the Sea has proved itself to be one of the enduring works of American fiction. 《老人与海》是欧内斯特·海明威在生前出版的最后一本小说，也是美国小说中最为经久不衰的作品之一。 It is the story of an old Cuban fisherman and his supreme ordeal: a relentless, agonizing battle with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream. 小说讲述了一位年老的古巴渔夫经历严酷考验的过程：在墨西哥湾，他坚持不懈、颇为痛苦地同一条巨大的枪鱼斗争。 Using the simple, powerful language of a fable, Hemingway takes the timeless themes of courage in the face of defeat and personal triumph won from loss and transforms them into a magnificent 20th-century classic. 书中使用了简单而有力的寓言体语言。海明威在这本书中运用了“在失败面前鼓起勇气”这个永恒的主题，并阐述了个人从损失中获益的主题，从而将这本书打造成为二十世纪颇为杰出的经典小说。 03 《动物庄园》
乔治·奥威尔 Animal Farm by George Orwell Animal Farm is the most famous by far of all 20th-century political allegories. 迄今为止，《动物庄园》是二十世纪最为著名的政治寓言。 Orwell is one of the very few modern satirists comparable to Jonathan Swift in power, artistry, and moral authority. 奥威尔是少有的几个可以在影响力、艺术技巧及道德权威方面同乔纳森·斯威夫特相提并论的现代讽刺作家之一。 It accounts a group of barnyard animals who revolt against their vicious human master, only to submit to a tyranny erected by their own kind. 书中讲述了一群住在农场中的动物在反抗残酷的人类主人成功之后，却再度臣服于他们中的猪建立起来的暴政之中的故事。 04 《人鼠之间》
约翰·斯坦贝克 Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck A controversial tale of friendship and tragedy during the Great Depression. 这部充满争议的小说描写是经济大萧条时期的友情和悲剧。 Over 75 years since its first publication, Steinbeck's tale of commitment, loneliness, hope, and loss remains one of America's most widely read and taught novels. 在首次出版的75年之后，约翰·斯坦贝克这本讲述承诺、孤独、希望、失落的小说依然是美国阅读量极广、并被作为教材的作品之一。 An unlikely pair, George and Lennie, two migrant workers in California during the Great Depression, grasp for their American Dream. 主人公乔治与莱尼看上去不太可能成为搭档。经济大萧条时期，他们两个都到加利福尼亚做外来务工人员，并追逐他们的美国梦。 Of Mice and Men represents an experiment in form. A rarity in American letters, it achieved remarkable success as a novel, a Broadway play, and three acclaimed films. 《人鼠之间》体现了一种形式上的实验。这本书是美国书信体作品中较为罕见的一部，并以小说的形式取得了突出的成就。该书曾被改编成为百老汇的剧目，以及三部评价极高的电影。 05 《野性的呼唤》
杰克•伦敦 The Call of the Wild by Jack London Half St. Bernard, half shepherd, Buck learns many hard lessons as a sled dog: the lesson of the leash, of the cold, of near-starvation and cruelty. 一半是圣伯纳犬，一半是牧羊犬的巴克在作为雪橇犬的过程中得到了许多教训：链条的教训，寒冷的教训，几近饿死的教训和残酷的教训。 The greatest lesson Buck learns from his last owner, John Thornton: the power of love and loyalty. 巴克得到的最大的收获来自于他的最后一个主人—约翰·桑顿：也就是爱的力量以及忠实。 Yet always, even at the side of the human he loves, Buck feels the pull in his bones, an urge to answer his wolf ancestors as they howl to him. 但是，尽管是在他喜欢的主人旁边，巴克还是能够感受到骨子里的力量，即对于他的祖先，也就是狼的呼唤做出回应的强烈欲望。 06 《局外人》
阿尔贝·加缪 The Stranger by Albert Camus With millions of copies sold The Stranger is one of the most widely read novels in the world. It stands as perhaps the greatest existentialist tale ever conceived. 《局外人》已被发行数百万本，是世界上阅读量最大的小说之一。这本书可能是目前最伟大的存在主义小说了。 When a young Algerian named Meursault kills a man, his subsequent imprisonment and trial are puzzling and absurd. 当阿尔及利亚青年莫尔索杀死一个男人之后，他被收监入狱，并经历了莫名其妙且荒诞的审判过程。 This remarkable translation by Matthew Ward has been considered the definitive English version since its original publication. 马修·华德的英译本非常不错，被看做是自原作出版以来最佳的英译本。 07 《华氏451度》
雷·布雷德伯里 Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury Ray Bradbury's internationally acclaimed novel Fahrenheit 451 is a masterwork of 20th-century literature set in a bleak, dystopian future. 雷·布雷德伯里的《华氏451度》是二十世纪的杰作，在国际上广受赞誉。该书的背景设定在暗淡且反乌托邦的未来。 Guy Montag is a fireman. In his world, where television rules and literature is on the brink of extinction, firemen start fires rather than put them out. His job is to destroy the most illegal of commodities, the printed book, along with the houses in which they are hidden. 盖伊·蒙泰戈是一名消防员。在他的世界里，电视大行其道，而文学作品则濒临灭绝。消防员的工作也是放火，而不是灭火。盖伊·蒙泰戈的职责是消灭违法的商品，也就是印刷书以及藏匿这些图书的房屋。 Montag never questions the destruction and ruin his actions produce, returning each day to his bland life and wife. 盖伊·蒙泰戈从来都不质疑自己带有破坏性的行动会带来怎样的恶果。每一天，他都一次次地面对着他平淡乏味的生活和索然无趣的老婆。 But then he meets an eccentric young neighbor, Clarisse, who introduces him to a past where people didn’t live in fear and to a present where one sees the world through the ideas in books instead of the mindless chatter of television... 可是，后来他遇到了一个古怪的年轻邻居——克拉丽丝。克拉丽丝向他介绍了过去的情况。那时候，人们不用生活在恐惧之中。他们从书籍中获得见解，而不是依赖没头脑且喋喋不休的电视…… 08 《了不起的盖茨比》
F·弗朗西斯·菲茨杰拉德 The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald The exemplary novel of the Jazz Age, F. Scott Fitzgeralds' third book, The Great Gatsby (1925), stands as the supreme achievement of his career. 《了不起的盖茨比》是爵士时代的典型小说，于1925年首次出版。该书是F·弗朗西斯·菲茨杰拉德所写的第三本书，被视作是他写作事业的巅峰之作。 T. S. Eliot read it three times and saw it as the "first step" American fiction had taken since Henry James. 托马斯·艾略特把这本书读了三遍，并将其看做是美国小说继享利·詹姆斯之后走出的“第一步”。 A novel of lyrical beauty yet brutal realism, of magic, romance, and mysticism, The Great Gatsby is one of the great classics of 20th-century literature. 小说的抒情很优美，但是它却有残酷的现实主义风格，兼备魔力、浪漫主义及神秘主义。《了不起的盖茨比》是二十世纪最为经典的文学作品之一。 09 《最蓝的眼睛》
托妮·莫里森 The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison Pecola Breedlove, a young black girl, prays every day for beauty. 皮科拉·布里德洛瓦是一名年轻的黑人女孩。每天，她都在祈祷自己会变得更加美丽一些。 Mocked by other children for the dark skin, curly hair, and brown eyes that set her apart, she yearns for normalcy, for the blond hair and blue eyes that she believes will allow her to finally fit in. 其他的孩子都嘲笑她与众不同的黑色皮肤、卷卷的头发和棕色的眼睛。她渴望自己可以变得同其他人一样，拥有金色的头发和蓝色的眼睛。她相信这样一来自己就可以被接纳了。 Yet as her dream grows more fervent, her life slowly starts to disintegrate in the face of adversity and strife. 但是，随着她对梦想越来越执着，她的生活却慢慢地在逆境和麻烦中走起了下坡路。 A powerful examination of our obsession with beauty and conformity, Toni Morrison’s virtuosic first novel asks powerful questions about race, class, and gender with the subtlety and grace that have always characterized her writing. 托妮·莫里森这本具有名家风范的处女作有力地表现了我们对于美貌的迷恋及从众心理。她在书中颇具力度地提出了关于种族、阶层和性别的问题。书中精妙而优雅的文笔是托妮·莫里森一贯的风格。 下一页更精彩：在路上，怎能少了这18本经典短篇小说？ |
