《王子与贫儿》是马克·吐温的代表作之一，也是他本人最满意的作品之一。该作品是童话体讽刺小说，故事虽然是虚构的，但情节描述却合情合理，展现了栩栩如生的社会生活，展示了某种人生境况。故事表达了对纯洁、善良、美好事物的向往，对正直、博爱、仁慈、坚毅、勇敢等高尚品质的赞颂以及对民主、平等、自由、友谊等的珍视，这些使这部小说成为富有教育价值的作品。

《王子与贫儿》是美国著名作家马克·吐温的代表作之一。故事的主人公爱德华和汤姆年龄相仿、相貌相似，他们虽然同时出生在繁华的伦敦城，但却来自两个完全不同的世界。爱德华是英国王位的继承人，而汤姆却是穷人家里的孩子。一次偶然的机会，爱德华和汤姆无意间交换了身份，各自开始了不同的历险生活，汤姆虽是假冒的王子，但凭着机智、正义和善良，他推行了一系列得民心的仁政，因而深受人民的爱戴；而王子爱德华却流落民间，亲眼目睹了底层民众生活的困苦与艰辛，除此之外，他还不得不忍受贫穷和乞丐们的欺凌和嘲讽。在好人亨顿的帮助下，历经劫难的爱德华最终回到了王宫，汤姆也将不属于自己的王位还给了爱德华此后，爱德华成了一位仁慈的君主，而汤姆和亨顿也都有了好的归宿。

该书自出版以来一直畅销至今，影响了一代又一代世界各地的读者，并且被改编成戏剧、电影、电视剧和卡通等。无论作为语言学习的课本，还是作为文学读本，该书对当代中国的读者都将产生积极的影响。为了使读者能够了解英文故事概况，进而提高阅读速度和阅读水平，在每篇的开始部分增加了中文导读。

第1章 王子和贫儿的诞生

第2章 汤姆的童年生活

第3章 汤姆遇见王子

第4章 王子开始蒙难

第5章 汤姆成了王子

第6章 汤姆学礼仪

第7章 汤姆的王官第一餐

第8章 玉玺问题

第9章 河上盛装游行

第10章 王子受尽折磨

第11章 在市政厅宴会堂

第12章 王子和他的恩人

第13章 王子失踪了

第14章 “老国王驾崩——新国王万岁”

第15章 汤姆成了国王

第16章 国王的晚餐

第17章 国王糊涂一世

第18章 混迹在游民中的王子

第19章 王子在农夫家中

?20章 王子遭遇隐士

第21章 亨顿救了王子

第22章 欺诈的牺牲品

第23章 王子成了囚犯

第24章 逃跑

第25章 亨顿庄园

第26章 不肯相认

第27章 在狱中

第28章 亨顿受刑

第29章 去伦敦

第30章 汤姆的进步

第31章 新国王出巡受贺

第32章 加冕大典

第33章 爱德华做了国王

尾声 赏罚分明

The house which Tom's father lived in was up a foul little pocket called Offal Court， out of Pudding Lane. It was small， decayed， and rickety， but it was packed full of wretchedly poor families. Canty's tribe occupied a room on the third floor. The mother and father had a sort of bedstead in the comer; but Tom，his grandmother， and his two sisters， Bet and Nan， were not restricted--they had all the floor to themselves， and might sleep where they chose. There were the remains of a blanket or two， and some bundles of ancient and dirty straw，but these could not rightly be called beds， for they were not organised; they were kicked into a general pile， mornings， and selections made from the mass at night， for service.

Bet and Nan were fifteen years old--twins. They were good-hearted girls，unclean， clothed in rags， and profoundly ignorant. Their mother was like them.But the father and the grandmother were a couple of fiends. They got drunk whenever they could; then they fought each other or anybody else who came in the way; they cursed and swore always， drunk or sober; John Canty was a thief，and his mother a beggar. They made beggars of the children， but failed to make thieves of them. Among， but not of， the dreadful rabble that inhabited the house，was a good old priest whom the King had turned out of house and home with a pension of a few farthings， and he used to get the children aside and teach them right ways secretly. Father Andrew also taught Tom a little Latin， and how to read and write; and would have done the same with the girls， but they were afraid of the jeers of their friends， who could not have endured such a queer accomplishment in them.

All Offal Court was just such another hive as Canty's house. Drunkenness，riot and brawling were the order， there， every night and nearly all night long.Broken heads were as common as hunger in that place. Yet little Tom was not unhappy. He had a hard time of it， but did not know it. It was the sort of time that all the Offal Court boys had， therefore he supposed it was the correct and comfortable thing. When he came home empty-handed at night， he knew his father would curse him and thrash him first， and that when he was done the awful grandmother would do it all over again and improve on it; and that away in the night his starving mother would slip to him stealthily with any miserable scrap or crust she had been able to save for him by going hungry herself，notwithstanding she was often caught in that sort of treason and soundly beaten for it by her husband.

No， Tom's life went along well enough， especially in summer. He only begged just enough to save himself， for the laws against mendicancy were stringent， and the penalties heavy; so he put in a good deal of his time listening to good Father Andrew's charming old tales and legends about giants and fairies， dwarfs and genii， and enchanted castles， and gorgeous kings and princes.His head grew to be full of these wonderful things， and many a night as he lay in the dark on his scant and offensive straw， tired， hungry， and smarting from a thrashing， he unleashed his imagination and soon forgot his aches and pains in delicious picturings to himself of the charmed life of a petted prince in a regal palace. One desire came in time to haunt him day and night: it was to see a real prince， with his own eyes. He spoke of it once to some of his Offal Court comrades; but they jeered him and scoffed him so unmercifully that he was glad to keep his dream to himself after that.

P4-5

马克·吐温(Mark Twain，1835—1910)，近代美国著名作家，被誉为“美国文学中的林肯”、“美国文学之父”。他原名塞缪尔·朗荷恩·克列门斯，马克·吐温是他的笔名。马克·吐温1835年11月30日．出生于美国密西西比河畔小城汉尼拔一个贫穷的律师家庭，从小出外独立谋生，当过排字工人、密西西比河水手、士兵和记者，还从事过木材业、矿业和出版业，但他最出色的工作是从事文学创作。

马克·吐温一生著作颇丰，代表作有《汤姆·索亚历险记》、《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》、《竞选州长》、《王子与贫儿》和《百万英镑》等。他的创作大致可分为三个时期：早期作品表现了对美国民主所存的幻想，以短篇为主，幽默与讽刺结合，如短篇小说《竞选州长》、《哥尔斯密的朋友再度出洋》等；中期作品以长篇小说为主，讽刺性加强，如《镀金时代》、《哈克贝利·费恩历险记》及《傻瓜威尔逊》等；后期作品则由幽默讽刺转到愤怒的揭发、谴责，甚至带有悲观的情绪，如《赤道环行记》、《败坏了哈德莱堡的人》、《神秘来客》等。他的作品对后来的美国文学产生了深远的影响，人们普遍认为马克·吐温是美国文学史上里程碑式的人物。他的主要作品大多已有中文译本。

在马克·吐温的众多作品中，《王子与贫儿》是他的代表作之一，也是他本人最满意的作品之一。该作品是童话体讽刺小说，故事虽然是虚构的，但情节描述却合情合理，展现了栩栩如生的社会生活，展示了某种人生境况。故事表达了对纯洁、善良、美好事物的向往，对正直、博爱、仁慈、坚毅、勇敢等高尚品质的赞颂以及对民主、平等、自由、友谊等的珍视，这些使这部小说成为富有教育价值的作品。该书一经出版，很快就成为当时最受关注和最畅销的小说，特别是受到青年人的热烈欢迎，至今已被译成世界上多种文字，曾经先后多次被改编成电影和电视。在中国，《王子与贫儿》同样是最受广大青少年读者欢迎的经典小说之一。基于以上原因，我们决定编译《王子与贫儿》，并采用中文导读英文版的形式出版。在中文导读中，我们尽力使其贴近原作的精髓，也尽可能保留原作的风格。我们希望能够编出为当代中国读者所喜爱的经典读本。读者在阅读英文故事之前，可以先阅读中文导读内容，这样有利于了解故事背景，从而加快阅读速度。我们相信，该书对加强当代中国读者，特别是青少年读者的人文修养是非常有帮助的。

本书主要内容由王勋、纪飞编译。参加本书故事素材搜集整理及编译工作的还有郑佳、刘乃亚、赵雪、熊金玉、李丽秀、熊红华、王婷婷、孟宪行、胡国平、李晓红、贡东兴、陈楠、邵舒丽、冯洁、王业伟、徐鑫、王晓旭、周丽萍、熊建国、徐平国、肖洁、王小红等。限于我们的科学、人文素养和英语水平，书中难免会有不当之处，衷心希望读者朋友批评指正。