世界上最优秀的10本书[1]
If people are buying a book, it must be good, right? Or when it comes to modern ones, they could just have a good marketing campaign, in which case we should reward those who came up with it anyway. Let's have a look on top ten books that made a killing and sort them based on the number of sold copies:
人们买书,总是买好的书,对吧?也许会买些仅仅是营销做得好的书,那就当是给想出这主意的人的酬谢吧。下面列出了10本最成功的书,以销量排序。
1. The Lord of the Rings, Author: J. R. R. Tolkien
《指环王》,作者:约翰.罗纳尔多.鲁埃尔. 托尔金
# of sold copies: 150 million
售出:1.5亿本
First edition: 1954
第一版: 1954
Although this series has become even more famous after being filmed, it's fair to say that the tale of Middle Earth is an ingenious work of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. It reaches deep inside of us and plays on our imagination, wishes and inspiration.
尽管魔戒系列在拍成电影后更加有名了,不得不说这个中土传说是托尔金的天才之作。它触及了我们的内心深处,激发了我们的想象,愿望和灵感。
The story of one little hobbit named Frodo Baggins succeeding where immortal elves or noble kings have failed gives us a very truthful message that literally nothing is impossible. Tolkien did a wonderful job in creating a living world and it will take a long time before his legacy is forgotten - if it will ever come to that.
这个故事讲述了一个叫弗罗多巴金斯的霍比特小矮人做到了精灵或者国王都没能做到的事,给我们的启示就是,没有什么是不可能的。托尔金创建的这个精彩的中土世界,人们即使过了很长时间都不会忘了它 - 如果有一天真的会忘的话。
2. Dream of the Red Chamber, Author: Cao Xueqin
《红楼梦》,作者:曹雪芹
# of sold copies: 100 million
售出:1亿本
First edition: 1759
第一版:1759
Let's not forget that China is indeed a big country and consequently, so being successful on the Chinese market has its charms. Although I personally never heard about this book in particular before, the numbers do not lie and over one hundred million sold copies seized the second place in our list.
别忘了中国是个大国,《红楼梦》在中国市场上如此的成功自有它的魅力。尽管我个人之前从没听说过这本书,数字是不会骗人的,1亿多本的销量使它排在第二的位置。
Dream of the Red Chamber is one of the Four Great Classical Novels, as they call them in China. It depicts traditional Chinese cuisine, mythology, proverbs etc. It is based on the author's own experience with the Chinese aristocracy in the 18th century.
红楼梦是中国四大名著之一, 它描述了中国传统的饮食,神话,格言等等。是18世纪作者根据自己在贵族社会的经历而写成的。
3. And Then There Were None,Author: Agatha Christie
《无人生还》,作者:阿加莎 克里斯蒂
# of sold copies: 100 million
售出:1亿本
First edition: 1939
第一版:1939
It's hardly a surprise that Agatha Christie as one of the best authors of detective novels out there made it to our top ten books list. She is well known for her excellent plots and surprising endings. She created a bit of a fuss by originally calling this book "Ten Little Niggers" - the name was changed to the current And Then There Were None so that it is not offensive towards Afro-Americans.
作为最好的侦探小说家之一的阿加莎克里斯蒂,她的书在我们前十的名单中并不意外。她的书以优秀的情节和意外的结局而闻名。 该书最初的名字叫《十个小黑人》,这给她带来了些麻烦。- 后来书名改成了《无人生还》,这样就不会有冒犯非裔美国人之嫌了。(译者注:Niggers在美国黑人中是个非常忌讳的词)
And what's going on in this book? Simply put, ten people of different social classes are invited to an island where they are accused of murders and they start dying, one by one - but you'll have to read it yourself, we all know it's a bad idea to talk about plots too much when it comes to detective stories.
这本书到底讲了什么?简单的说,就是10个来自不同阶层的人被邀请到一个岛上,在那里,他们被指控谋杀,开始一个一个的死去 - 你得自己去看,讨论过多的情节对侦探小说来说可不是个好主意,你懂得。