The greatest British novel of all time is Middlemarch by George Eliot, according to new poll by the BBC.
英國廣播公司(BBC)進行的最新調查顯示，英國最經久不衰的小說是喬治·艾略特的《米德爾馬契》。

BBC Culture contributor Jane Ciabattari surveyed 82 book critics from outside of the UK, in order to get an outsider's perspective on British literature.
BBC文化專欄投稿人Jane Ciabattari通過調查82位來自英國以外國家的書籍評論家，獲得了外國人對英國文學的看法。

The Beeb said: "The British novel has influenced the form around the world for centuries, so we felt it was important to get a global perspective. The critics we polled live and work all over the world, from the United States and continental Europe to Australia, Africa, Asia, India and the Middle East ... Each who participated submitted a list of 10 British novels, with their pick for the greatest novel receiving 10 points. The points were added up to produce the final list."
BBC稱：“幾個世紀以來，英國小說一直影響著全球各地小說的形式，因此我們認為獲得全球性的看法非常重要。我們調查的這些評論家在全球各地生活和工作，有的來自美國，有的來自歐洲大陸、澳大利亞、非洲、亞洲、印度和中東……每個參與者都給出一份列有10部英國小說的清單，被他們選作最經久不衰的小說可以獲得10分。我們再對這些分數進行累加，得出最終的書單。”

The critics named 228 novels in all. These are the top 10:
這些評論家總共提到了228部小說，以下是獲評前10的小說：

10. Vanity Fair (William Makepeace Thackeray, 1848)
威廉·梅克皮斯·薩克雷《名利場》，1848年出版

This novel features probably the greatest anti-heroine in English literature, Becky Sharp, and a plot that revolves around class, social climbing and a financial crisis that will seem eerily familiar to modern readers.Vanity Fair has it all. It both speaks of its time, and speaks of all times.
這部小說的主角或許就是英國文學史上最知名的非正統派女主角——貝奇·夏普，小說的情節圍繞階級、社會、躋身上流社會以及現代讀者聽來又熟悉又害怕的金融危機。《名利場》這些要素全都具備, 講述那個年代，也講述著每一個年代。

9. Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1818)
瑪莉·雪萊《科學怪人》，1818年出版

This pioneering work of science fiction and Gothic horror developed an indelible 'monster' of a theme that has endured for centuries: of the scientist as a "modern Prometheus".
這部先鋒作品集科幻和哥特式恐怖于一身，營造了一個難以磨滅的“惡魔”主題，即科學家中的“現代普羅米修斯”，幾世紀以來經久不衰。

8. David Copperfield (Charles Dickens, 1850)
查爾斯·狄更斯《大衛·科波菲爾》，1850年出版

David Copperfield is populated by some of the most vivid characters ever created. They are as much a part of readers' world, and their way of thinking about the world, as people they have actually met.
《大衛·科波菲爾》人物形象眾多，性格鮮活的角色云集。這些人物角色仿佛是讀者所在真實世界的一部分，和讀者親身遇見的人一樣，有著相似的世界觀。

7. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bront?, 1847)
艾米莉·勃朗特《呼嘯山莊》，1847年出版

Wuthering Heights is "powered by more psychological energy than any book ever written". Readers admire Wuthering Heights because of "its layered narrative structure, because it is a work of incredible imagination, and because it is far more than a love story. The story shows 'the eternal rocks beneath' our fleeting desires.
《呼嘯山莊》“蘊含巨大的心理能量，沒有其它書籍能夠與之匹敵。”讀者推崇《呼嘯山莊》是因為其“層層疊疊的敘述結構”和豐富驚人的想象力，更因為《呼嘯山莊》超越了愛情故事本身，展現了我們轉瞬即逝的欲望之下“永恒的震撼”。

6. Bleak House (Charles Dickens, 1853)
查爾斯·狄更斯《荒涼之屋》，1853年出版

Bleak House is among Dickens novels, uniquely original in its alternation of first-person past-tense chapters with a concurrent third-person account in present tense.
《荒涼之屋》是狄更斯的小說之一，以第一人稱過去時所寫的章節與第三人稱現在時的敘述并行，兩者間的切換創新獨到。

5. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bront?, 1847)
夏洛蒂·勃朗特《簡·愛》，1847年出版

Bront?'s revolutionary 1847 Gothic romance about a young woman seeking a richer and more passionate life on her own still resonates with modern readers. Bront?'s novel features the orphan Jane Eyre's search for an identity, her powerful attraction to her master, Mr Rochester, and an intimate description of her complex moral choices and sometimes raw emotional states.
勃朗特這部哥特式愛情傳奇出版于1847年，內容革新，講述了一個年輕女性追尋更為充實激情的生活，至今仍能引起現代讀者的共鳴。 勃朗特小說的主人翁簡·愛是個孤兒，追尋著自我的身份，主人羅切斯特先生深深吸引著她，其情至真令簡`愛無法抗拒；小說真切描述了簡·愛復雜的道德抉擇及其有時顯得有些原始的情感狀態。

4. Great Expectations (Charles Dickens, 1861)
查爾斯·狄更斯《遠大前程》，1861年出版

Great Expectations might be the quintessential British novel. To re-read Dickens' classic as an adult is to discover its wit and brio, its influence, and its truth. It has all the elements of classic Dickens – endearing, flawed characters; a plot that skewers the politics of the time; subplots that skewer morality and culture; a love story; and a wonderful storyline.
《遠大前程》或許是最地道的英國小說。成年讀者重溫狄更斯經典，去發現其智慧與精彩、影響與真理。《遠大前程》有狄更斯經典的所有元素，討人歡喜卻不甚完美的角色、主要故事情節能牽住時局、副線情節串起道德與文化，是部情節精彩的愛情故事作品。

3. Mrs Dalloway (Virginia Woolf, 1925)
弗吉尼亞·伍爾芙《達洛衛夫人》，1925年出版

If the most precious gift of the novel as a medium is the power it has to break into the prison of human consciousness, to expose the gossamer weave of thought and feeling and memory that makes up our innermost lives, then Woolf's fourth novel stands alone at the pinnacle.Virginia Woolf made modernism live and breathe.
如果說這部小說作為媒介最天才之處在于其破除人類意識的囹圄、顯露人們細若蛛絲的思緒、顯露構成我們內心生活的記憶，那么伍爾芙的第四部小說本身就是鼎峰之作。弗吉尼亞讓現代主義煥發新生、重現生機。

2. To the Lighthouse (Virginia Woolf, 1927)
弗吉尼亞·伍爾芙《到燈塔去》，1927年出版

Subtle, beautiful, staggeringly intelligent and flat-out original. A masterpiece of modernism, its stream-of-consciousness, richness of language and perceptions has continued to reveal itself.
細膩美妙、智慧驚人，是不折不扣的原創之作。現代派的大師之作，運用意識流寫法，其語言豐富、觀察敏銳，不言自明。

1. Middlemarch (George Eliot, 1874)
喬治·艾略特《米德爾馬契》，1874年出版

A novel of great characters, it's an even greater novel of ideas and ideals. Middlemarch is the greatest social and psychological novel ever written in English.
這部小說人物角色卓越，更精妙之處在于其想法與理念。《米德爾馬契》是迄今最偉大的英文社會心理學小說。

（來源：中國日報網 滬江英語 編輯：丁一）