在斯蒂芬斯的众多作品中，《女佣的女儿》是他的重要代表作之一。《女佣的女儿》于1912年首次出版，该书出版一百多年来被译为世界上多种文字，影响深远，享誉世界。早在20世纪20年代，该小说由著名诗人徐志摩和民国才女沈性仁共同翻译引入中国，  《女佣的女儿(中文导读英文版)》编著者詹姆斯·斯蒂芬斯。

并一直受到读者的喜爱。时至今日，这部世界公认的文学名著仍然散发着永恒的魅力。基于以上原因，我们决定编译《女佣的女儿》，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故事主线。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，这样有利于了解故事背景，从而加快阅读速度。我们相信，该经典著作的引进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。

《女佣的女儿(中文导读英文版)》编著者詹姆斯·斯蒂芬斯。

《女佣的女儿(中文导读英文版)》是世界文学名著。主人公玛丽是女佣的女儿，住在都柏林城一间逼仄的小阁楼里。她生得美丽而温柔，犹如一朵含苞待放的蔷薇般纯净无暇。她有着孩童般的好奇心，爱着大自然的每一样馈赠，她也时时被穷困所困扰——不得不面对这个社会丑恶的贫富悬殊！巡警爱上了她，她怦然心动，第一次感受到小鹿乱撞的初恋感觉，可是她却迟疑，忧郁，迷惑……最底层的穷人的生活和最单纯的少女的爱情，被斯蒂芬斯用诗一般卷舒自如的语言娓娓道来。

无论作为语言学习的课本，还是作为通俗的文学读本，本书对当代中国的青少年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，在每章的开始部分增加了中文导读。

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There were so many people whom she knew bysight; almost daily she saw these somewhere, and sheoften followed them for a short distance, with afeeling of friendship; for the loneliness of the longday often drew down upon her like a weight, so thateven the distant companionship of these rememberedfaces that did not know her was comforting. Shewished she could find out who some of them were.--There was a tall man with a sweeping brown beard,whose heavy overcoat looked as though it had beenput on with a shovel; he wore spectacles, and his eyeswere blue, and always seemed as if they were goingto laugh; he, also, looked into the shops as he went along, and he seemed to know everybody. Every fewpaces people would halt and shake his hand, but thesepeople never spoke, because the big man with thebrown beard would instantly burst into a fury ofspeech which had no intervals; and when there wasno one with him at all he would talk to himself. Onthese occasions he did not see any one, and peoplehad to jump out of his way while he strode onwardsswinging his big head from one side to the other, andwith his eyes fixed on some place a great distanceaway. Once or twice, in passing, she heard himsinging to himself the most lugubrious song in theworld. There was another--a long, thin, blackman--who looked young and was always smilingsecretly to himself; his lips were never still for amoment, and, passing Mary Makebelieve a few times,she heard him buzzing like a great bee. He did notstop to shake hands with any one, and although manypeople saluted him he took no heed, but strode on,smiling his secret smile and buzzing serenely. Therewas a third man whom she often noticed: his clothingseemed as if it had been put on him a long time agoand had never been taken off again. He had a long,pale face, with a dark moustache drooping over amost beautiful mouth. His eyes were very big andlazy, and did not look quite human; they had a trickof looking sidewards—a most intimate, personal look.Sometimes he saw nothing in the world but thepavement, and at other times he saw everything. Helooked at Mary Makebelieve once, and she got afright; she had a queer idea that she had known himwell hundreds of years before, and that he remembered her also. She was afraid of that man, butshe liked him because he looked so gentle andso---there was something else he looked which as yetshe could not put a name to, but which her ancestryremembered dimly. There was a short, fair,pale-faced man, who looked like the tiredest man inthe world. He was often preoccupied, but not in thesingular way the others were. He seemed to bealways chewing the cud of remembrance, and lookedat people as if they reminded him of other peoplewho were dead a long time and whom he thought ofbut did not regret. He was a detached man even in acrowd, and carded with him a cold atmosphere, evenhis smile was bleak and aloof.

詹姆斯·斯蒂芬斯（James Stephens，1882—1950），爱尔兰著名小说家、诗人。

1882年2月9日，斯蒂芬斯出生在爱尔兰首都都柏林一个贫穷的家庭，后被别人收养。成人后的斯蒂芬斯个子矮小，因此被人亲切地称为“小提姆”。大学毕业后，他在一家律师事务所工作。由于对文学怀有浓厚的兴趣，之后他转向文学创作。斯蒂芬斯对爱尔兰传统的民间故事非常感兴趣，他经常使用盖尔人的民间故事进行创作。他善于将幻想、现实和讽刺幽默结合在一起，创作了许多新编爱尔兰神话和民间故事，其新编故事将幽默与抒情结合在一起。他的创作颇丰，代表作品有小说《金坛子》、《半人半神》、《被侵蚀的月光》、《迪尔德丽》、《女佣的女儿》和《爱尔兰神话故事》等；诗歌作品有《起义》、《想象之山》、《克莱的歌曲》、《再生》、《诗歌朗诵》、《严肃的乔伊》以及《国王与月亮》等。

在斯蒂芬斯的众多作品中，《女佣的女儿》是他的重要代表作之一。《女佣的女儿》于1912年首次出版，该书出版一百多年来被译为世界上多种文字，影响深远，享誉世界。早在20世纪20年代，该小说由著名诗人徐志摩和民国才女沈性仁共同翻译引入中国，并一直受到读者的喜爱。时至今日，这部世界公认的文学名著仍然散发着永恒的魅力。基于以上原因，我们决定编译《女佣的女儿》，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故事主线。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，这样有利于了解故事背景，从而加快阅读速度。我们相信，该经典著作的引进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。

本书是中文导读英文名著系列丛书中的一种，编写本系列丛书的另一个主要目的就是为准备参加英语国家留学考试的学生提供学习素材。对于留学考试，无论是SSAT、SAT，还是TOEFL、GRE，要取得好的成绩，就必须了解西方的社会、历史、文化、生活等方面的背景知识，而阅读西方原版名著是了解这些知识最重要的手段之一。

作为专门从事英语考试培训、留学规划和留学申请指导的教育机构，啄木鸟教育支持编写的这套中文导读英文原版名著系列图书，可以使读者在欣赏世界原版名著的同时，了解西方的历史、文化、传统、价值观等，并提高英语阅读速度、阅读水平和写作能力，从而在TOEFL、雅思、SSAT、SAT、GRE、GMAT等考试中取得好的成绩，进而帮助读者成功申请到更好的国外学校。

本书中文导读内容由李芳霞编译。参加本书故事素材搜集整理及编译工作的还有王勋、纪飞、郑佳、刘乃亚、赵雪、熊金玉、李丽秀、李智能、李鑫、熊红华、傅颖、乐贵明、王婷婷、熊志勇、聂利生、傅建平、蔡红昌、孟宪行、胡国平、李晓红、胡武荣、贡东兴、张镇、熊建国、张文绮、王多多、陈楠、彭勇、邵舒丽、黄福成、冯洁、王晓旭、王业伟、龚桂平、徐鑫、周丽萍、曹隽、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。