去英國留學，提前了解一些英國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留學生活，不管你是什么專業(yè)的，可以借以掃除一下偏見。去英國留學前必須讀的5本書，現(xiàn)在讀還不晚！希望對去英國留學的的同學們有所幫助。
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開門見山地評估當代英格蘭人對自我的認識，并且分析其與威爾士人、蘇格蘭人、愛爾蘭等人的差別。此作品內容廣泛，Paxman在書中寫道，大英帝國因在世界各地開拓殖民地，引起了當地人對英國人諸多的奇特偏見。如今，雖然大英帝國早已瓦解，但許多國家仍然保持著陳舊的偏見。通過描述英格蘭各個地區(qū)、文化和社會階級之間多樣化的關系，Paxman描繪了英國社會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社會、又想保留自己祖國文化的矛盾當中。Smith用一種笑中帶淚的獨特方式，諷刺了英國的中產階級和工人階級，同時還用細致入微的筆觸描寫了一些社會問題，例如移民家庭內部的代溝、宗教原教旨主義等等。如果你想了解英國城市中的多元文化，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.
無論你是渴望去最傳統(tǒng)的英國高校求學，還是想嘲笑它們不合實際的習俗，都得來讀讀湯姆·夏普的這部作品，他在書中創(chuàng)造了一所虛擬的劍橋學院——Porterhouse，里面的故事肯定會令你捧腹大笑。按照Porterhouse學院悠久的傳統(tǒng)，只有學院院長能夠選定自己的接任者�，F(xiàn)任院長的突然死亡使得整個學院陷入混亂之中。同時，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，結局也令人開懷大笑。讀Porterhouse能讓你體驗最經典的英式幽默。
4. The Road to Wigan Pier, George Orwell
《通往威根碼頭之路》，作者：喬治·奧威爾
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
本書的作者是中產階級，而它是關于工人階級的有史以來最佳的調查研究報告之一。英國人對社會階級極端敏感，而錯綜復雜的階級差別常令留學生感到莫名其妙。書的開頭講述了英國北部的勞動人民在30年代的艱苦生活條件，接著提出了解決該社會問題的幾個實在的方案。作家的一些論點無疑已過時了，但本書仍能令人深入了解英國不同階級之間長久矛盾的歷史背景。
5. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
《遠大前程》，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《遠大前程》似乎理所應當，但它的作用其實不只局限于滿足中國人對維多利亞時代上流社會的興趣。該小說不但是英文名著，還探究社會流動性、維多利亞時代的社會階級系統(tǒng)和大英帝國的歷史。此書始終用第一人稱——永遠充滿希望的“皮普”來敘事，并充斥著諸多非同凡響的人物故事。對于中國讀者而言，《遠大前程》是一場文化之旅，探究英國歷史中最重要的一章，同時也是英國第二大作家的名垂千古的經典之作。
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