书名：Black Beauty 黑骏马 
难度：Lexile蓝思阅读指数1020L
作者：Anna Sewell安娜·西韦尔
出版社名称：Signet
出版时间：2011
语种：英文 
ISBN：9780451531742
商品尺寸：10.6 x 1.6 x 17.1 cm
包装：简装
页数：222 （以实物为准）

Black Beauty《黑骏马》是一部十九世纪下半叶轰动欧洲文坛的经典儿童小说。小说主人公“黑骏马”是一匹漂亮的优种黑马，从小生活在贵族人家，受过良好的训练，性格温顺、善良，而且聪明、机智，主人非常喜欢他。但是好景不长，主人家里有了变故，黑骏马不得不被卖掉。他一连被卖过多次，接触过各种人：有喝多了酒就拿马撒气的醉汉，有动辄抽鞭子的出租马车车夫，有不把动物当回事的野蛮人，也有把动物当成朋友的好人家，尝尽了人间的甜酸苦辣。黑骏马通过自己的眼睛，用惟妙惟肖的语言，讲述了一个个娓娓动听的故事，向读者们传递着这么一个信息——动物也有感觉，也有思想，人类应该善待动物。
推荐理由：
1. 一部能引发人们的善心、同情心，使人们懂得该如何对待动物的动人故事；
2. 一部告诉孩子与人和自然平等、和谐共处的经典儿童小说；
3. Signet Classics系列，由Monty Roberts作序，Lucy Grealy写后记；
4. 轻型环保纸印刷，小巧轻便，方便随身携带阅读。

One of the best loved animal stories ever written, the dramatic and heartwarming Black Beauty is told by the magnificent horse himself, from his idyllic days on a country squire’s estate to his harsh fate as a London cab horse. No one can ever forget the gallant Black Beauty, a horse with a white star on his forehead and a heart of unyielding courage. 
Filled with vivid anecdotes about animal intelligence, the novel derives a special magic from the author’s love for all creatures, apparent on every page. But the book’s lasting impact comes from its moving depiction of a human society struggling to find thegoodness within itself, and its plea for kindness to all creatures, great and small—a message so powerful that this favorite classic began a crusade for animal rights that continues today.
With a New Introduction by Monty Roberts and an Afterword by Lucy Grealy.

安娜·西韦尔（1820－1878），出生在英国诺福克郡，母亲是一位民歌作者和少年读物作家，父亲是一位令人尊敬的银行经理。安娜·西韦尔从小就对动物有强烈的爱心，憎恶以任何形式虐待动物。她似乎天生就对马有一种亲切感，《黑骏马》中涉及的大量的马术知识，显然出自作者一生的体验。安娜十四岁时落下了残疾，从此拐杖就成了她行走时离不开的工具，但她仍然坚持自己驾驭由一匹矮种马拉的马车到处活动。她创作《黑骏马》的愿望就是引发人们的善心、同情心，使人们懂得该怎样对待动物。从《黑骏马》的故事中可以看出，作者不仅关心马，同样也关心人，对处境悲惨的人充满了同情和关爱。
Anna Sewell was born in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England, on March 30, 1820. Brought up in a strict Quaker family, Anna developed a strong interest in horses as a young girl. But a crippling bone disease and a fall in 1834 left her an invalid for most of her life. By her mid-thirties she was severely lame and could only get around in a pony cart, and characteristically she would never use a whip on the animal. In 1871, she was told she had eighteen months to live, and by the end of that year, she had begun her book,Black Beauty, hoping it might make people a little kinder to their faithful horses. Although she was seriously ill, she lived long enough to finish her book and see it published in 1877. On April 25, 1878, she died at her home in Old Catton near Norwich, England.Black Beauty, an enormous success from its first appearance, was soon adopted by the Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and used to improve the conditions of horses everywhere.

The first place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. Some shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and water-lilies grew at the deep end. Over the hedge on one side we looked into a plowed field, and on the other we looked over a gate at our master’s house, which stood by the roadside; at the top of the meadow was a grove of fir trees, and at the bottom a running brook overhung by a steep bank.
While I was young I lived upon my mother’s milk, as I could not eat grass. In the daytime I ran by her side, and at night I lay down close by her. When it was hot we used to stand by the pond in the shade of the trees, and when it was cold we had a nice warm shed near the grove.
As soon as I was old enough to eat grass my mother used to go out to work in the daytime, and come back in the evening.
There were six young colts in the meadow besides me; they were older than I was; some were nearly as large as grown-up horses. I used to run with them, and had great fun; we used to gallop all together round and round the field as hard as we could go. Sometimes we had rather rough play, for they would frequently bite and kick as well as gallop.
One day, when there was a good deal of kicking, my mother whinnied to me to come to her, and then she said:
"I wish you to pay attention to what I am going to say to you. The colts who live here are very good colts, but they are cart-horse colts, and of course they have not learned manners. You have been well-bred and well-born; your father has a great name in these parts, and your grandfather won the cup two years at the Newmarket races; your grandmother had the sweetest temper of any horse I ever knew, and I think you have never seen me kick or bite. I hope you will grow up gentle and good, and never learn bad ways; do your work with a good will, lift your feet up well when you trot, and never bite or kick even in play."
I have never forgotten my mother’s advice; I knew she was a wise old horse, and our master thought a great deal of her. Her name was Duchess, but he often called her Pet.
Our master was a good, kind man. He gave us good food, good lodging, and kind words; he spoke as kindly to us as he did to his little children. We were all fond of him, and my mother loved him very much. When she saw him at the gate she would neigh with joy, and trot up to him. He would pat and stroke her and say, "Well, old Pet, and how is your little Darkie?" I was a dull black, so he called me Darkie; then he would give me a piece of bread, which was very good, and sometimes he brought a carrot for my mother. All the horses would come to him, but I think we were his favorites. My mother always took him to the town on a market day in a light gig.