1 The English: A Portrait of a People
作者:Jeremy Paxman 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》里头,以坦爽著称的记者、主持人Jeremy Paxman开门见山地评估当代英格兰人对自我的认识,并且分析其与威尔士人、苏格兰人、爱尔兰等人的差别。此作品内容广泛,Paxman在书中写道,大英帝国因在世界各地开拓殖民地,引起了当地人对英国人诸多的奇特偏见。如今,虽然大英帝国早已瓦解,但许多国家仍然保持着陈旧的偏见。通过描述英格兰各个地区、文化和社会阶级之间多样化的关系,Paxman描绘了英国社会的一些奇特怪癖的历史背景,并将它们和现代人变化多端的自我认知作比较。
小贴士:这本书更多偏向于对各个地区的英国人的解析,从中你可以知道英格兰人、苏格兰人、威尔士人、爱尔兰人的大致特征与差异,便于你更好的与他们相处。
2 White Teeth
作者:Zadie Smith 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》以二战后的英国历史为背景,探寻了伦敦移民的困难境遇,他们陷入了既渴望融入英国社会、又想保留自己祖国文化的矛盾当中。Smith用一种笑中带泪的独特方式,讽刺了英国的中产阶级和工人阶级,同时还用细致入微的笔触描写了一些社会问题,例如移民家庭内部的代沟、宗教原教旨主义等等。如果你想了解英国城市中的多元文化,这是你的必读之物。
小贴士:二战之后,英国的"日不落“帝国开始走向灭亡,这中间涌现了很多的移民问题,为英国之后多元化社会打下了坚实的基础。不管你的专业是什么,了解这一段历史总是对你的英国留学(推荐阅读:留学)有所帮助的。
3 Porterhouse Blue
作者:Tom Sharpe汤姆·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.
不论你是渴望去最传统的英国高校求学,还是想嘲笑它们不合实际的习俗,都得来读读汤姆·夏普的这部作品,他在书中创造了一所虚拟的剑桥学院——Porterhouse,里面的故事肯定会令你捧腹大笑。按照Porterhouse学院悠久的传统,只有学院院长能够选定自己的接任者。现任院长的突然死亡使得整个学院陷入混乱之中。同时,研究生Lionel Zipser暗恋他的仆人,又要死命隐瞒,因而发生了一系列荒谬可笑的事件,结局也令人开怀大笑。读Porterhouse能让你体验最经典的英式幽默。
小贴士:留学,留学,我们肯定接触最多的还是学院,这本书会让你身临其境般体会到里面的课堂故事,同时也会让你更加明白英式幽默的幽默处何在。
4 The Road to Wigan Pier
作者:George Orwell 乔治·奥威尔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.
本书的作者是中产阶级,而它是关于工人阶级的有史以来最佳的调查研究报告之一。英国人对社会阶级极端敏感,而错综复杂的阶级差别常令留学生感到莫名其妙。书的开头讲述了英国北部的劳动人民在30年代的艰苦生活条件,接着提出了解决该社会问题的几个实在的方案。作家的一些论点无疑已过时了,但本书仍能令人深入了解英国不同阶级之间长久矛盾的历史背景。
小贴士:英国的中产阶级对于社会阶级的连接起着十分关键的作用,例如当初征服者威廉在统一英格兰之后,法语席卷英国,但是法语只是在上层阶级中使用,而英语则广泛应用于下层阶级,而作为两个阶级的纽带——中产阶级很大程度扩展了英语词汇。在诺曼统治时期,大约有一万个法语词进入英语,其中大约四分之三使用至今。这些法语单词在各个领域都有,从政府和法律到艺术和文学。超过三分之一的英语单词或直接或间接源自法语,有统计表明,一位英语为母语,从未学习过法语的人已经能认识一万五千个法语单词。
5 Great Expectations
作者:Charles Dickens 查尔斯·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.
本书单包括《远大前程》似乎理所应当,但它的作用其实不只局限于满足中国人对维多利亚时代上流社会的兴趣。该小说不但是英文名著,还探究社会流动性、维多利亚时代的社会阶级系统和大英帝国的历史。此书始终用第一人称——永远充满希望的“皮普”来叙事,并充斥着诸多非同凡响的人物故事。对于中国读者而言,《远大前程》是一场文化之旅,探究英国历史中最重要的一章,同时也是英国第二大作家的名垂千古的经典之作。
小贴士:留学更多就是不同文化与文化之间的碰撞,从而更好的去接受其他文化,如果不了解对方历史,根本就碰撞不出火花。这本以第一人称写的书籍,会让你产生一个全新的英国文化之旅。
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