书名：Watership Down兔子共和国 

难度：Lexile蓝思阅读指数880L 

作者：Richard Adams 

出版社名称：Puffin Classics 

出版时间：2014 

语种：英文 

ISBN：9780141354965 

商品尺寸：12.8 x 3.9 x 19.4 cm 

包装：平装 

页数：656★获英国卡内基奖章、《卫报》儿童小说奖 ★《纽约时报》评选其为七本有意义的书之一 ★兰登书屋评选其为国民百大好书之一 ★全球热卖四十余年，比肩《哈利·波特》的畅销著作 Watership Down《兔子共和国》是与奥威尔《动物农场》齐名的经典作品，是兔子版《奥德赛》，完美地呈现了充满勇气与智慧的奇幻征途。曾被改编为多部电影、动画，同名改编剧本入围雨果奖剧情奖；2017年BBC、Netflix联合打造动画Watership Down原著小说。 媒体评论： 这是一本非常奇妙的书！——《哈利·波特》作者J.K.罗琳 一本真正的好书，自从《爱丽丝梦游仙境》后，就没有出现过这么梦幻及充满想象力的书了。 ——美国作家哈利森·沙尔兹柏瑞 茫茫书海，是有可能成为经典巨作的小说，全书结构完美，无懈可击。 ——《纽约日报》评论人贾德森·韩德 Watership Down是自托尔金的经典《魔戒》后很棒的奇幻小说；它让我不禁笑出声，掉下泪，并时刻思考着。——《村声杂志》评论家贝尔德·西尔斯 如果在儿童书店里不见Watership Down这本书，那么儿童文学就该结束了。 ——《经济学人》 自《柳林风声》之后杰出的动物故事。——英国《晚报》 一本了不起的书。一个完整而真实的世界，也是对人类世界的深刻揭示。——英国《卫报》 Watership Down by Richard Adams has become one of the most famous animals adventures ever written. In this epic story, a young rabbit called Fiver senses that something terrible is about to happen to the warren - he is sure of it. Fiver's sixth sense is never wrong according to his brother, Hazel. They had to leave immediately, and they had to persuade the other rabbits to join them. And so begins a long and perilous journey of a small band of rabbits in search of a safe home. Fiver's vision finally leads them to Watership Down, but here they face their most difficult challenge of all … Richard Adams grew up in Berkshire, the son of a country doctor. After an education at Oxford, he spent six years in the army and then went into the Civil Service. He originally began telling the story of Watership Down to his two daughters and they insisted he publish it as a book. It quickly became a huge success with both children and adults, and won the Guardian Children's Fiction Award and the Carnegie Medal in 1972. Richard Adams has written many novels and short stories, including Shardik and The Plague Dogs. 可怕的祸事就要降临。 兔子们必须离开旧领地，艰难漫长的旅程就此开始。 獾、狗、猎人……完全要靠运气才能躲过去。 他们的运气能维持多久？ 他们能否跋涉到向往的高地？ 他们能找到理想的家园、真正的自由以及美好的母兔子吗？ 兔子兄弟榛子和小多子出生在桑德福德领地。小多子天赋异禀，能预知将来，它预感到一场来自人类的毁灭性灾难已迫在眉睫。榛子和小多子建议兔子山梨带领兔群搬迁，然而，他们不但遭到了拒绝，还被指控煽动叛乱。于是榛子兄弟只好带领其他几只公兔子匆匆逃离领地，踏上艰辛的冒险旅程。 在经历了和人类以及其他天敌几番生死攸关的周旋后，兔子们终于到达了小多子预感中指出的新领地——瓦特希普荒原。而老领地这时已经变成了人类的建设用地，所有的兔子都被毒气杀死了！一路上榛子表现出的果敢、坚毅、体贴和智慧，也使它渐渐成为新的领导。 虽然瓦特希普荒原是安全的栖身之地，榛子意识到，没有足够的雌兔保证种族的繁衍，他们无法在这里长久地安居乐业。听了海鸥克哈尔的指示，他们去远方一个很大的兔子领地艾弗拉法求亲，但艾弗拉法是一个被暴君领导的专制国家，经过一番生死较量，榛子他们成功地带领大批母兔子回到瓦特希普。然而，战争还没有结束，一场报复开始了。 理查德·亚当斯（1920-2016），1920年生于英格兰伯克夏郡，英国小说家和历史学家，一生除了进行学术研究之外，独立或与他人合作共完成了19部儿童作品。在写作成名前，亚当斯只是一名普通的公职人员，但他心中一直有一个关于兔子的幻想故事。1960年代英国社会萎靡的乱象让亚当斯感到气愤，同时为了描绘出存在他心中已久的理想世界，他决定走向写作之路。Watership Down是其处女作，完成于1972年，并于当年获得英国儿童文学大奖卡内基奖以及《卫报》儿童小说奖，从而畅销英伦三岛内外，并一版再版，是一部堪与肯尼斯·格雷厄姆的《杨柳风》和乔治·奥威尔的《动物庄园》相媲美的现代经典作品，被当作青少年英语教材的读本，直到如今仍是成人读者心中公认的奇幻小说经典之作。此后亚当斯先后创作了《沙迪克》、《瘟狗》、《荡秋千的女孩》、《铁狼和其他故事》、《旅行者》、以及Watership Down的续篇《来自沃特希普荒原的传说》等。 Richard Adams grew up in Berkshire, the son of a country doctor. After an education at Oxford, he spent six years in the army and then went into the Civil Service. He originally began telling the story of Watership Down to his two daughters and they insisted he publish it as a book. It quickly became a huge success with both children and adults, and won the Guardian Children's Fiction Award and the Carnegie Medal in 1972. Richard Adams wrote many novels and short stories, including Shardik and The Plague Dogs. He died in 2016, aged 96. Part I The Journey Part II On Watership Down Part III Efrafa Part IV Hazel-rah The primroses were over. Toward the edge of the wood, where the ground became open and sloped down to an old fence and a brambly ditch beyond, only a few fading patches of pale yellow still showed among the dog’s mercury and oak-tree roots. On the other side of the fence, the upper part of the field was full of rabbit holes. In places the grass was gone altogether and everywhere there were clusters of dry droppings, through which nothing but the ragwort would grow. A hundred yards away, at the bottom of the slope, ran the brook, no more than three feet wide, half choked with kingcups, watercress and blue brooklime. The cart track crossed by a brick culvert and climbed the opposite slope to a five-barred gate in the thorn hedge. The gate led into the lane.

The May sunset was red in clouds, and there was still half an hour to twilight. The dry slope was dotted with rabbits— some nibbling at the thin grass near their holes, others pushing further down to look for dandelions or perhaps a cowslip that the rest had missed. Here and there one sat upright on an ant heap and looked about, with ears erect and nose in the wind. But a blackbird, singing undisturbed on the outskirts of the wood, showed that there was nothing alarming there, and in the other direction, along the brook, all was plain to be seen, empty and quiet. The warren was at peace. At the top of the bank, close to the wild cherry where the blackbird sang, was a little group of holes almost hidden by brambles. In the green half-light, at the mouth of one of these holes, two rabbits were sitting together side by side. At length, the larger of the two came out, slipped along the bank under cover of the brambles and so down into the ditch and up into the field. A few moments later the other followed. The first rabbit stopped in a sunny patch and scratched his ear with rapid movements of his hind leg. Although he was a yearling and still below full weight, he had not the harassed look of most “outskirters”—that is, the rank and file of ordinary rabbits in their first year who, lacking either aristocratic parentage or unusual size and strength, get sat on by their elders and live as best they can—often in the open—on the edge of their warren. He looked as though he knew how to take care of himself. There was a shrewd, buoyant air about him as he sat up, looked round and rubbed both front paws over his nose. As soon as he was satisfied that all was well, he laid back his ears and set to work on the grass.