《简爱（英文版）》是英国19世纪出色的小说之一。人们普遍认为《简爱(英文版)》是夏洛蒂·勃朗特”诗意的生平”的写照，是一部具有自传色彩的作品。小说一出现就在文坛引起了轰动，英国著名讽刺小说家萨克雷曾动情地说：“《简爱（英文版）》使我非常感动，我非常喜爱它。它是我能花好多天来读的一部英国小说。”《简爱(英文版)》之所以能够打动人心，并非以情节取胜，在作者对人性的描述中，我们隐约看到了自身卑劣或美丽的人性。在问世之后的一个半世纪的今天，《简爱(英文版)》仍在世界各种语言中拥有众多的读者，根据这部小说改编的电影亦荣获奥斯卡金像奖。
A PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION of Jane Eyre beingunnecessary, I gave none: this second edition demands a few wordsboth of acknowledgment and miscellaneous remark. My thanks are due in three quarters.
夏洛蒂·勃朗特，1816年，夏洛蒂·勃朗特出生于英国北部的一个牧师家庭。母亲早逝，八岁的夏洛蒂被送进一所寄宿学校。那里生活条件极其恶劣，她的两个姐姐因染上肺病而先后死去。于是夏洛蒂和妹妹艾米莉回到家乡，在荒凉的约克郡山区度过了童年。十五岁时夏洛蒂进了伍勒小姐办的学校读书，几年后又在这所学校当教师。她也曾做过家庭教师，终因不能忍受贵妇人、阔小姐对家庭教师的歧视和苛待而辞职。她曾打算自办学校，为此她在姨母的资助下去意大利进修法语和德语。然而由于没有学生，学校没能办成。但是在意大利学习的经历激发了夏洛蒂表现自我的强烈愿望，促使她投身于文学创作。
1846年，夏洛蒂创作完成了她的第二部小说《简·爱》，借一个出身寒微的年轻女子的奋斗经历，一抒胸中积愫。小说于1847年秋以柯勒·贝尔的笔名发表，大获成功，次年就再版两次，让这位名不见经传的作者就此跻身英国著名小说家的行列，被马克思归为以狄更斯、萨克雷为代表的“出色的一派”。
CHAPTER 1
There was no possibility of taking a walk that day.We had been wandering,indeed,in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning;but since dinner(Mrs.Reed,when there was no company,dined early)the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre,and a rain so penetrating,that further out-door exercise was now out of the question.
I was glad of it:I never liked long walks,especially on chilly afternoons:dreadful to me was the coming home in the raw twilight,with nipped fingers and toes,and a heart saddened by the chidings of Bessie,the nurse,and humbled by the consciousness of my physical inferiority to Eliza,John,and Georgiana Reed.
The said Eliza,John,and Georgiana were now clustered round their mama in the drawing-room:she lay reclined on a sofa by the fireside,and with her darlings about her(for the time neither quarrelling nor crying)looked perfectly happy.Me,she had dispensed from joining the group;saying,“She regretted to be under the necessity of keeping me at a distance;but that until she heard from Bessie,and could discover by her own observation,that I was endeavouring in good earnest to acquire a more sociable and childlike disposition,a more attractive and sprightly manner—something lighter,franker,more natural,as it were—she really must exclude me from privileges intended only for contented,happy,little children.”
“What does Bessie say I have done?”I asked.
“Jane,I don’t like cavillers or questioners;besides,there is something truly forbidding in a child taking up her elders in that manner.Be seated somewhere;and until you can speak pleasantly,remain silent.”
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