简·爱（英文版）

PREFACE

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 preface to the first edition of Jane Eyre being unneces-sary, I gave none: this second edition demands a few words both of acknowledgment and miscellaneous remark. 

My thanks are due in three quarters. 

To the Public, for the indulgent ear it has inclined to a plain tale with few pretensions. 

To the Press, for the fair field its honest suffrage has opened to an obscure aspirant. 

To my Publishers, for the aid their tact, their energy, their practical sense and frank liberality have afforded an unknown and unrecommended Author. 

The Press and the Public are but vague personifications for me, and I must thank them in vague terms; but my Publish-ers are definite: so are certain generous critics who have en-couraged me as only large-hearted and high-minded men know how to encourage a struggling stranger; to them, i.e., to my Publishers and the select Reviewers, I say cordially, Gentle-men, I thank you from my heart. 

Having thus acknowledged what I owe those who have aided and approved me, I turn to another class; a small one, so far as I know, but not, therefore, to be overlooked. I mean the timo-rous or carping few who doubt the tendency of such books as “Jane Eyre;” in whose eyes whatever is unusual is wrong; whose ears detect in each protest against bigotry—that parent of crime—an insult to piety, that regent of God on earth. I would suggest to such doubters certain obvious distinctions; I would remind them of certain simple truths. 

Conventionality is not morality. Self-righteousness is not religion. To attack the first is not to assail the last. To pluck the mask from the face of the Pharisee, is not to lift an impi-ous hand to the Crown of Thorns. 

These things and deeds are diametrically opposed: they are as distinct as is vice from virtue. Men too often confound them: they should not be confounded: appearance should not be mistaken for truth; narrow human doctrines, that only tend to elate and magnify a few, should not be substituted for the world-redeeming creed of Christ. There is—I repeat it— a difference; and it is a good, and not a bad action to mark broadly and clearly the line of separation between them. 

The world may not like to see these ideas dissevered, for it has been accustomed to blend them; finding it convenient to make external show pass for sterling worth—to let white-washed walls vouch for clean shrines. It may hate him who dares to scrutinise and expose—to rase the gilding, and show base metal under it—to penetrate the sepulchre, and reveal charnel relics: but hate as it will, it is indebted to him. 

Ahab did not like Micaiah, because he never prophesied good concerning him, but evil; probably he liked the syco-phant son of Chenaannah better; yet might Ahab have es-caped a bloody death, had he but stopped his ears to flattery, and opened them to faithful counsel. 

There is a man in our own days whose words are not framed to tickle delicate ears: who, to my thinking, comes before the great ones of society, much as the son of Imlah came before the throned Kings of Judah and Israel; and who speaks truth as deep, with a power as prophet-like and as vital—a mien as dauntless and as daring. Is the satirist of Vanity Fair admired in high places? I cannot tell; but I think if some of those amongst whom he hurls the Greek fire of his sarcasm, and over whom he flashes the levin-brand of his denunciation, were to take his warnings in time—they or their seed might yet escape a fatal Rimoth-Gilead. 

Why have I alluded to this man? I have alluded to him, Reader, because I think I see in him an intellect profounder and more unique than his contemporaries have yet recognised; because I regard him as the first social regenerator of the day— as the very master of that working corps who would restore to rectitude the warped system of things; because I think no commentator on his writings has yet found the comparison that suits him, the terms which rightly characterise his talent. They say he is like Fielding: they talk of his wit, humour, comic powers. He resembles Fielding as an eagle does a vul-ture: Fielding could stoop on carrion, but Thackeray never does. His wit is bright, his humour attractive, but both bear the same relation to his serious genius that the mere lambent sheet-lightning playing under the edge of the summer-cloud does to the electric death-spark hid in its womb. Finally, I have alluded to Mr. Thackeray, because to him—if he will accept the tribute of a total stranger—I have dedicated this second edition of Jane Eyre. 

Currer Bell 

December 21st, 1847

夏洛蒂·勃朗特（1816-1855)，英国19世纪最伟大的作家之一，被马克思誉为“现代英国的杰出的小说家”之一，代表作《简?爱》，另有小说《雪莉》《维利特》《教师》《艾玛》。

《简·爱》讲述一位心地善良的女人简?爱追求自由、独立、爱情的故事。她自幼父母双亡，寄居在舅舅家，受尽舅母及表哥的欺侮。一个偶然的机会她进了一所慈善学校，在那里做了6年学生、两年教师。后来她登报求职，来到桑菲尔德庄园当家庭教师，进而与庄园主罗切斯特相爱。但是，正当他们在教堂准备结婚之时，一个不速之客打断了婚礼的进程，当众宣布罗切斯特已有妻子。尽管罗切斯特有其苦衷，但简还是离他而去。简在饥寒交迫中病倒了，被圣约翰牧师所救并收留，不久他们发现原来彼此是表兄妹。冥冥之中简觉得罗切斯特在召唤她，于是她离开圣约翰去找罗切斯特。此时的罗切斯特已双目失明，失去了一条臂膀，成了一个残疾人。但简对他的爱情坚贞不移，最终与他安静地举行了婚礼。

Table of Contents

PREFACE 001

NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION 004

CHAPTER 1 005

CHAPTER 2 012

CHAPTER 3 021

CHAPTER 4 033

CHAPTER 5 053

CHAPTER 6 070

CHAPTER 7 080

CHAPTER 8 092

CHAPTER 9 102

CHAPTER 10 113

CHAPTER 11 127

CHAPTER 12 148

CHAPTER 13 162

CHAPTER 14 177

CHAPTER 15 194

CHAPTER 16 210

CHAPTER 17 223

CHAPTER 18 250

CHAPTER 19 270

CHAPTER 20 284

CHAPTER 21 304

CHAPTER 22 333

CHAPTER 23 342

CHAPTER 24 356

CHAPTER 25 381

CHAPTER 26 397

CHAPTER 27 412

CHAPTER 28 447

CHAPTER 29 469

CHAPTER 30 485

CHAPTER 31 498

CHAPTER 32 508

CHAPTER 33 523

CHAPTER 34 540

CHAPTER 35 570

CHAPTER 36 584

CHAPTER 37 597

CHAPTER 38 —CONCLUSION 623