《神秘及幻想故事集》为《书虫牛津英汉双语读物》系列之一的《神秘及幻想故事集》分册。“书虫”是外语教学与研究出版社和牛津大学出版社共同奉献给广大英语学习者的一大精品。书虫在英语中大概是颇可爱的形象。想象一下，有那么一只勤勉的小虫，它如痴如醉地沉迷于书卷，孜孜不倦地咀嚼着字母……
　　如今这只“书虫”漂洋过海，轻盈落在了中国英语学习者的掌中。“书虫”首先将给你自信，即使你目前只有几百的词汇量，也可以不大费劲地阅览世界名作了。

　　爱伦·坡（Allan Poe，1809—1849）， 9世纪美国著名小说家、诗人、评论家。出生于波士顿一个流浪艺人家庭，3岁时母亲去世，由富商约翰·爱伦收蒜，接受了良好的教育。17岁时，进入弗吉尼亚大学，后因酗酒而退学。21岁时，进入西点军校深造，又因玩忽职守被开除。之后正式开始了写作生涯。他写过诗歌、小说、文学批评，后发现哥特式的恐怖小说很畅销，而转向写恐怖小说，并取得了不俗的成绩。1835年，爱伦·坡与表妹结婚，十余年后妻子因病去世，他便从此终日借酒浇愁。1849年在巴尔的孽的一次彻底的痛醉中结束了自己的一生。爱伦·坡一生刨怍了六七十篇短篇小说，提出了“为艺术而艺术”的口号。他的创作理论和实践，是西方现代主义的先声，对西方现代派诗歌和现代派小说的发展产生了深远影响．他也因此被誉为“侦探小说的鼻祖”和“恐怖小说之父”。

　　想象一下，你正置身于湖畔的一座古旧宅邸之中。时间是夜里，外面暴雨肆虐，狂风绕着灰色的石墙嘶吼。房子下面的一间阴森的地窖里放着一口棺材，里面躺着玛德琳小姐的尸体。同你一起待在房间里的是她的哥哥，正在用疯狂的目光望着你。想象一下吧……你这是在鄂榭府上。
　　翻到另一页，可以见到一只黑猫被人勒住脖子吊在树上。再翻一页，你就会听到一次美妙绝伦的假面舞会上响起的音乐声，看见一千个人在唱歌、跳舞。你现在是在普洛斯佩罗亲王的城堡中。城堡里面灯火通明、生气勃勃，人人纵情狂欢；但是在城墙外面，逡巡着那可怕的载面具的红死魔……
　　这些故事将会带你进入一个阴暗的幻想世界，一个充满了恐怖、梦幻与疯狂的世界。
　　不要一个人读它们！

The Fall of the House of Usher
鄂榭府崩溃记
The Black Cat
黑猫
The Masque of the Red Death
红死魔假面舞会
William Wilson
威廉·威尔逊
The Tell-Tale Heart
泄密的心
Exercises

　　It was a grey autumn day and the sky was full of large black clouds．All day I had ridden through flat and uninteresting countryside，but at last，as it began to grow dark，I saw the end of my journey.
　　There，in front of me，stood the House of Usher．And at once — I do not know why — a strange feeling of deep gloom came down on me and covered me like a blanket．I looked up at the old house with its high stone walls and narrow windows．I looked around at the thin dry grass and the old dying trees，and an icy hand seemed to take hold of my heart．I felt cold and sick，and could not think of one happy thought to chase away my gloom.
　　Why，I wondered，did the House of Usher make me feel so sad？I could find no answer.
　　There was a lake next to the house and I rode my horse up to the edge and stopped．Perhaps from here the house would not seem so sad，so full of gloom．I looked down into the mirror of dark，still water，and saw again the empty，eye-like windows of the house and the dying trees all around it．The feeling of gloom was stronger than ever.
　　It was in this house that I was going to spend the next few weeks．Its owner，Roderick Usher，had been a good friend of mine when I was a boy．I had not seen him for many years，but recently he had sent me a letter — a sad and terrible letter．He wrote that he was ill，ill in body and ill in mind；that he wanted and needed to see me．I was his only friend，the only person who could help him in his illness.
　　Although we had been good friends when we were young，I knew very little about him．He had never spoken much about himself，but I knew that he came from a very old family of which he was the last living man．I also knew that in the Usher family there had never been many children and so for hundreds of years the family name，together with the family home，had passed straight from father to son.
　　As I stood by the lake，my feeling of gloom grew and grew．I knew also that underneath my gloom lay fear，and fear does strange things to the mind．I began to imagine that the gloom was not in my mind，but was something real．It was like a mysterious cloud，which seemed to come straight from the dark lake and the dying trees and the old walls of the house．A heavy grey cloud，which carried with it disease and fear.
　　This was a dream，I told myself，and I looked more carefully at the building in front of me．It was，indeed，very old and I noticed that every stone had cracks and holes in it．But there was nothing really wrong with the building．No stones were missing．The only thing that I noticed was a very small crack which started at the top of the building and continued all the way down into the dark waters of the lake.
　　I went up to the front of the house．A servant took my horse and I stepped into the large hall．Another servant led me silently upstairs．On the walls there were many strange，dark pictures which made me feel nervous．I remembered these pictures from my earlier visits to the house when I was a child．But the feelings that the pictures gave me on this visit were new to me.
　　On the stairs we met the family doctor．He had a strange look on his face，a look that I did not like．I hurried on，and finally the servant opened a door and took me into the study.
　　The room was large and long，with high narrow windows，which let in only a little light．Shadows lay in all the corners of the room and around the dark pieces of furniture．There were many books and a few guitars，but there was no life，no happiness in the room．Deep gloom filled the air.