美国中小学最重要的两门课是语言和数学，如想获得语言考试的好成绩，必须有很强的阅读能力。如果阅读跟不上，语言考试是很难过关的。因此，美国中小学特别重视对学生进行阅读训练。
他们的语言课主要是阅读，分精读和泛读。精读课有些像我们的语文课，而泛读课学生有较大自由，没有统一的课本，通常由老师提出一个书单，供学生选读，有时也指定若干本书为必读。
下面是美国中学规定阅读的十大经典英文小说，给大家作为参考。
《杀死一只知更鸟》
To Kill a Mockingbird
爱与真知的成长经典
Harper Lee's 1960 paean to the South is one of the most beloved American novels ever written. Some of that is due to the 1962 classic film adapted from it, which stars Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, a small-town lawyer who also happens to be the most upstanding and sympathetic father ever.
With its competing subplots about a black man on trial for allegedly raping a white woman and the children's attempts to learn about their reclusive neighbor Boo Radley, the novel is perfectly structured to provide half a dozen lessons about history and acceptance and injustice and compassion. No wonder it's the staple of all middle-school staples. Happy 50th, Mockingbird!
哈泼·李1960年对南方的赞歌，是美国历来最受喜爱的小说之一。部分是因为1962年的改编经典电影。格雷戈里·派克饰演小镇律师阿提卡斯·芬奇，也是一位最正直、最有同情心的父亲。
本书有两个次要情节：黑人男子涉嫌强奸白人妇女的审判以及兄妹意图了解孤独的邻居布·拉德利，其结构非常适于提供十几个有关历史、容纳、不公义、同情的教训。难怪本书是中学必读小说的重中之重。
《人鼠之间》
Of Mice And Men
被绝望逼退的美国梦
The plot traces the journey of George and Lennie, two migrant workers in California farm country. We meet them after they've been forced to leave their previous ranch in a chain of events chalked up to Lennie's odd behavior. Upon arriving at their new farm, owned and run by a character known simply as "The Boss," George and Lennie once again find themselves in crosshairs. The strong and complicated bond between the pair forces George to take weak Lennie's life into his own hands.
Along the way, their pursuit of the American Dream (and the attendant prospect of land ownership) falls by the wayside, the victim of a harsh economic downturn, a freak accident and mob hysteria.
故事叙述了加州农场民工乔治与伦尼的旅程。小说一开始，他们已经因为伦尼的古怪行为所引起的一连串事件，被迫离开了以往工作的牧场。他们到了一个新的农场，主人就叫做“老板”并且自己经营农场，乔治和伦尼再次成为注目的焦点。两人之间强烈又复杂的关系，致使乔治将脆弱的伦尼，掌控在自己的手中。
一路走来，他们的美国梦（以及随之而来，拥有土地的希望）遗弃在路边了，他们受害于严峻的经济衰退，罕见的意外事件以及歇斯底里的暴民。
《单独合约》
A Separate Peace
一群男孩的成熟故事
One of the great coming-of-age tales, A Separate Peace is also one of the darker novels assigned to teenagers. The plot revolves around two roommates at Devon, a New England boarding school, during the summer and winter of 1942. The narrator, Gene, an introverted, studious Southerner, recalls his relationship with his best friend Phineas, known as "Finny," a charismatic, gregarious athlete.
The novel chronicles the boys' maturation as the war encroaches further and further into their lives. While Knowles' tale of the journey from innocence to experience has been described as depressing, his capture of youthful emotion, surprising maturity and reactions to life's great tragedies make it a must-read during those awkward teenage years.
一部杰出的成长经验小说，也是少年指定读物中比较黑暗的。故事围绕在1942年夏季与冬季、新英格兰德文寄宿学校的两位室友。叙述者是一位内向、好学的南方人，回忆他与最好的朋友菲尼亚斯之间的关系。菲尼亚斯小名“芬尼”，是个魅力十足，爱交朋友的运动员。
《单独合约》记录了男孩的成熟过程，以及战争对他们的生活日益加深的影响。尽管作者诺尔斯的这个从天真到成熟的故事，被认为令人沮丧，他捕捉到青春的情感、惊人的成熟、对生命重大大悲剧的反应，使本书成为青少年尴尬时期的必读小说。
《麦田里的守望者》
The Catcher in the Rye
这个男孩的牢骚听起来就像生活
Published in 1951, Catcher has long been a literary touchstone for alienated high school students. Main character Holden Caulfield is the ultimate whiner — everyone's a phony, everyone's a crumbum, and the only person who is really worth a damn is his little sister.
Holden roams around New York City for a couple of days, gets into bars, dances with older women and gets beaten up while trying to procure a lady of ill repute. While it may seem like the boy is just drifting, that sounds like living! "I can't really feel bad for this rich kid with a weekend free in New York City," said one teacher, paraphrasing some of her students. But despite the generational gap, this book won't be leaving classrooms anytime soon.
1951年出版，对于疏离的高中生学生而言，长期以来一直是文学的试金石。主角霍尔顿·考菲尔德是个不折不扣的牢骚大王——每个人都是冒牌货，每个人都是废物，只有他的小妹才真的有点分量。这个故事相当忧郁，主角在哥哥死后可能发疯，搞砸了一切。
霍尔登在纽约闲荡了几天，混进了酒吧，与年纪较大的女人跳舞，想要跟不良妇女进行交易的时候受到殴打。尽管男孩似乎只是无所事事，这些听起却像是生活！一位老师转述学生的话：“一位富家子在纽约自由自在的过周末，我真的不会为此感到难过。”尽管有代沟，本书不会很快在教室中消失。
《动物庄园》
Animal Farm
从前有一只搞独裁的猪
This classic tale of an animal revolution gone rogue is George Orwell's allegorical take on Stalinism. Under two pigs named Snowball and Napoleon, a group of farm animals overthrow their drunken human caretaker and establish a new community based on seven commandments, including the tenet that all animals are equal.
Soon after, Snowball and Napoleon engage in a power struggle to control the farm, with Napoleon emerging on top. He quickly turns Snowball into a scapegoat for a failed windmill project and kills any animals who appear to have an allegiance to his opponent. As time passes, the swine adopt human traits, soon wearing clothes and walking on two legs. Before long, the lowly farm animals can no longer distinguish between the pigs and the people.
这个动物革命沦为暴力的经典故事，是乔治·奥威尔针对斯大林主义的寓言。在两只猪雪球和拿破仑的领导下，一群农场的动物推翻了他们酒醉的主人，并成立了一个基于六条诫命的社区，诫命之一是，所有的动物皆平等。
不久之后，雪球和拿破仑进行权力斗争，以控制农场，结果拿破仑获胜。拿破仑很快将雪球变成风车磨房失败的替罪羊，并杀死任何看起来对雪球效忠的动物。时间推移，猪采用了人类的特征，很快就穿上衣服，用两条腿走路。不久之后，农场中卑微的动物不再能区分猪与人。
《蝇王》
Lord of the Flies
天真的结束，人性的黑暗
The book begins when a plane carrying a group of British boarding-school students crashes on an isolated island. The boys (in the truest meaning of the word; the oldest is 13) establish a working society, with Ralph as their charismatic yet humble leader. Order breaks down as Ralph battles with Jack, the leader of the school's choir, and the entire group slowly descends into chaos.
The end, a brutal literal and figurative shattering of humanity, has served as the book's chief teaching point and mark of contention for half a century. Often seen as a cautionary tale about the breakdown of civilization, the book details "the end of innocence, the darkness of man's heart" and the horrific possibilities that lie within us all.
本书开始时，一架载有英国寄宿学校学生的飞机坠落于一个孤岛之上。飞机上的男孩（年龄最大的仅13岁）在该岛建立了一个劳动社会。领导者拉尔夫，有魅力却谦逊。拉尔夫与学校合唱团领导人杰克斗争之际，秩序开始无法维持，并且整个团体陷入混乱。
故事最后，人性经历了实质与象征性的破碎，成为本书的教学要点，也是长达半个世纪的争议之所在。本书常被视为文明崩溃的警世故事，详述了“天真的结束，人性的黑暗”，以及深藏所有人内心、令人害怕的种种可能。
《了不起的盖茨比》
The Great Gatsby
当东部的豪门遇上中西部的小康
Every school takes a field trip to Long Island, New York, at some point, visiting the Roaring '20s as only F. Scott Fitzgerald could write them. Thanks to its evocative setting, rich themes and masterly prose, The Great Gatsby has secured its standing as a reading-list staple as well as one of the greatest American novels ever written.
Here, the moneyed East meets the modest Midwest, and Fitzgerald's memorable characters — Jay Gatsby, Daisy and Tom Buchanan, Jordan Baker — perpetuate a lavish lifestyle that, alas, doesn't offer much of a life. The enigmatic Gatsby has the best parties, but it's Daisy he really wants. He may have no shortage of party guests, but he's sorely lacking in funeral attendees. Narrator Nick Carraway is witness to the glitz that ultimately reflects emptiness, not success.
每间学校到了一定时候，总要到纽约州长岛做“实地考察”，在书中探索只有史考特·菲茨杰拉德笔下才能呈现的咆哮1920年代。由于《了不起的盖茨比》有唤起感情的场景、丰富有趣的主题、精湛的文笔，已确定其在必读书单中的地位以及美国最伟大的小说之一。
在书中，东部的豪门遇上中西部的小康。菲茨杰拉德令人难忘的人物——杰伊·盖茨比、黛西、汤姆布·坎南，约旦·贝克——使那种豪华的生活方式永垂不朽；我的天，那真算不得什么生活。神秘的盖茨比很会开派对，但他真正想要的是黛西。他或许宴会从不缺嘉宾，但是葬礼就门可罗雀。叙述者尼克·卡拉韦见证了浮华最终反映的是空虚，不是成功。
《永别了，武器》
A Farewell to Arms
即使离开了战场，也逃不掉死亡的阴影
When Ernest Hemingway combined his "consciously bald" style with his experiences as a World War I ambulance driver, the resulting novel was an immediate success. Published in 1929, A Farewell to Arms not only revisits the conflict that had ended just a decade earlier; it also tells of romance.
Sadly — not that dutiful American-lit students would expect to be cheered up by Hemingway — the love story isn't any less tragic than the war. Lieutenant Frederic Henry and English nurse Catherine Barkley have to face the fact that death can make its presence known off the battlefield as well as on.
海明威结合了“自觉地光秃”风格与自己在一战时救护车司机的经验，写出来的小说立刻走红。《永别了，武器》出版于1929年，不仅重现了10年前刚结束的战争冲突，也讲述了一个浪漫故事。
可悲的是，这个爱情故事跟战争一样是个悲剧，倒不是说一位认真的美国文学学生，会期望海明威的故事能鼓舞人心。弗雷德里克·亨利中尉和英国护士凯瑟琳·巴克利，不得不面对一个事实：即使离开了战场，也逃不掉死亡的阴影。
《红字》
The Scarlet Letter
一个女人背上的枷锁
Nathaniel Hawthorne's best-known work opens in Puritan Boston, with young Hester Prynne on trial for adultery. Because she refuses to name the father of her infant daughter Pearl, Hester is ostracized by the community and forced to wear a scarlet piece of cloth in the shape of an "A" on her chest — an enduring symbol throughout the book. This central conflict is the basis for all the themes the novel examines: sin, repentance, moral purity, forgiveness.
纳撒尼尔·霍桑最著名的作品，场景开始在清教徒的波士顿。年轻的海丝特·白兰，因通奸罪受审。因为她拒绝说出谁是女婴珍珠的父亲，受到社会排斥，被迫在胸前佩戴一个布做的猩红“A”字——这是贯穿全书的象征。这个核心的冲突是小说一切探讨主题的基础：罪、悔改、道德的无瑕、宽恕。
《麦克白》
Macbeth
写透人性的弱点与性格
The tersely written play spares no human frailty — and few characters — on the battlefield of 11th century Scotland. Whereas decisiveness, the lack thereof and revenge drive the other Great High School Shakespearean Play, Hamlet, ambition and personal morality are at the center of the plot of Macbeth.
Upon losing his wife in the fray, Macbeth delivers his epic "tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" soliloquy, which captures the sensation of despair as well as any other verse in the English language.
《麦克白》（1606）是莎士比亚戏剧中心理描写的佳作。全剧弥漫着一种阴郁可怕的气氛。莎士比亚通过对曾经屡建奇勋的英雄麦克白变成一个残忍暴君的过程的描述，批判了野心对良知的侵蚀作用。在迷信、罪恶、恐怖的氛围里，作者不时让他笔下的罪人深思、反省、剖析内心，麦克白夫妇弑君前后的心理变化显得层次分明，这就更加增大了悲剧的深度。
在失去了他的妻子之后，麦克白写下了提供他的史诗“明天再明天”的独白，其中捕捉到的绝望之情与英文里的其他词语有异曲同工之妙。
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