对于罗尔德·达尔（Roald Dahl, 1916—1990），中国读者耳熟能详的恐怕是他的一些儿童文学作品，而且国内外对他称呼最多的莫过于“儿童文学作家”。他的儿童文学作品的确十分畅销，已被翻译成多国文字出版发行，知名度颇高。可以说，在儿童文学作家中，罗尔德·达尔是最为成功、最为知名的作家之一。达尔的儿童文学作品得到很多国家小朋友的喜爱，这样的作品包括《詹姆斯与大仙桃》（James and the Giant Peach）、《查利与朱古力工厂》（Charlie and the Chocolate Factory）、《魔法手指》（The Magic Finger）、《查利与大玻璃升降机》（Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator）、《了不起的狐狸爸爸》（Fantastic Mr. Fox）、《特威特夫妇》（The Twits）、《女巫》（The Witches）、《好心眼儿的巨人》（The BFG，这部小说1983年获“惠特布雷德奖”，英文表述为“Whitbread Award”。）以及《玛蒂尔达》（Matilda）等。
罗尔德·达尔的父母是挪威人，但达尔本人1916年出生在英国格拉摩根郡的兰达夫（Llandaff, Glamorgan）[1]，并在雷普顿公学（Repton School）接受教育。第二次世界大战爆发，他应徵入伍，加入英国皇家空军，驻扎在奈洛比。后来，他加入了驻利比亚的一个战斗机中队，受了重伤。之后，又作为一名战斗机飞行员到希腊和叙利亚参加战斗。1942年，达尔作为英国大使馆的空军助理专员去了华盛顿。华盛顿成为他人生的转折点，因为在那里他开始了自己的创作生涯。随后，他被调到情报部。战争结束的时候，他成为英国皇家空军中校。他的第一批短篇小说共有12篇，都是根据自己在战争期间的经历所写。这12篇作品首先发表在美国的一些主流杂誌上，后来编撰成书出版，书名为《向你飞跃》（Over to You）。
罗尔德·达尔所有受到高度讚誉的作品都被译成多种文字，成为全世界的畅销书。安格利亚电视台（Anglia Television）将他的一些短篇小说改编成电视系列剧，冠以标题《出乎意料的故事集》（Tales of the Unexpected）。他的作品还包括两本自传──《男孩时代》（Boy）和《独闯天下》（Going Solo），还有赢得很多讚誉的小说《我的叔叔奥斯瓦尔德》（My Uncle Oswald）以及《罗尔德·达尔倾心的鬼怪故事集》（Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories）。最后一本是他自己编辑出版的。在生命的最后一年，他收集了一些奇闻轶事，并跟妻子弗利西蒂（Felicity）一起，整理了一些烹饪食谱，彙编成一本书。这本书1996年由企鹅出版集团出版，书名为《罗尔德·达尔的烹饪书》（Roald Dahl’s Cookbook）[2]。
罗尔德·达尔于1990年11月23日去世。英国《泰晤士报》（The Times）称其为“我们这一代人中最有影响力的作家之一，也是拥有极其广泛读者群的作家之一”（One of the most widely read and influential writers of our generation），并在写给他的讣告中写道：“孩子喜欢他写的故事，把他当成自己心目中最喜爱的人……他的作品将成为未来的经典之作”（Children loved his stories and made him their favourite . . . They will be classics of the future）。据报导，在2000年英国的“世界图书日”（World Book Day）投票中，罗尔德·达尔当选为“读者最喜爱的作家”（Favourite Author）[3]。
[1]格拉摩根原来是英国南威尔斯的一个郡。
[2]参见“Roald Dahl.The Best of Roald Dahl[M]. London: Penguin Books Ltd., 2006”。
[3]参见“Roald Dahl.The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl[M]. London: Penguin Books Ltd., 1992”。
主要评价
对于20世纪的英国作家罗尔德·达尔及其作品，《爱尔兰时报》（Irish Times）的一篇评论，可谓一语中的：“Roald Dahl is one of the few writers I know whose work can accurately be described as addictive. Through his tales runs a vein of macabre malevolence, the more effective because it springs from the slightest, almost inconsequential everyday things. The result is a black humour of the most sophisticated kind.”（罗尔德·达尔是我所认识的为数不多的作家之一，可以準确无误地说，其作品令人沉醉、上瘾。他的作品始终贯穿着一条主线，这条主线令人毛骨悚然，充满恶意和兇险，但却更加行之有效，因为其来源是一些不起眼的、几乎微不足道的日常事物。结果，最为错综複杂的黑色幽默便应运而生了）[1]。
"Dahl has the mastery of plot and characters possessed by great writers of the past, along with a wildness and wryness of his own. One of his trademarks is writing beautifully about the ugly, even the horrible." ──The Los Angeles Times
"An ingenious imagination, a fascination with odd and ordinary detail, and a lust for its thorough exploitation are the . . . strengths of Dahl's storytelling." ──The New York Times Book Review
An Interpretation of Short Stories by Roald Dahland Their Chinese Translations (Volume 1)
于本凤 王永胜 着
YU Ben-feng, WANG Yong-sheng
二、着者简介：
于本凤，（1973- ）：渤海大学讲师，主要从事英汉语言比较、辞彙以及跨文化交际等方面的研究。
YU Ben-feng (1973- ), a lecturer of Bohai University, mainly works at such professional researches as in the linguistic comparison between English and Chinese, lexicology, cross-cultural communications, etc.
WANG Yong-sheng (1967- ), an associate professor of Bohai University, mainly works at such professional researches as in the theory and practice of E-C/C-E translation, rhetoric, lexicology, film literature, cultural comparison betweenChinaand English-speaking countries, etc.
LANG Hong-mei (1967- ), associate professor of School of Foreign Languages, Tieling Normal College, mainly engages in the teaching of several courses to English majors, such as Advanced English, English-Chinese translation, etc. Her major research direction is English language teaching and English literature.
WANG Yong-sheng (1967- ), an associate professor of Bohai University, mainly works at such professional researches as in the theory and practice of E-C/C-E translation, rhetoric, lexicology, film literature, cultural comparison between China and English-speaking countries, etc.
SHAN Chang, born in 1971, is now a professor and vice-director of Bohai University Research and Teaching Institute of College Foreign Languages, and she is also an instructor of post-graduate students. She has got a master's degree in the English language and literature. At present, besides teaching, she undertakes the research of English poetry, translation, and English education. She has published an academic book entitled "Studies on John Donne's Poetry" and co-authored the book "An Appreciation of Five-character Quatrains from Tang Dynasty and an Exploration of Their English Translation (Part 1/2)"(As the first author). Prof. Shan has got the title of the "2 Group of Core Teachers in Bohai University" and for two times the reward of "1 Prize in Academic Papers Sponsored by Jinzhou City Association of Social Science".
WANG Yong-sheng (1967- ), an associate professor of Bohai University, mainly undertakes such professional researches as in the theory and practice of E-C/C-E translation, rhetoric, lexicology, film literature, cultural comparison between China and English-speaking countries, etc.
An Interpretation of Short Stories by Roald Dahl and an Exploration of Their Chinese Translations (Volume 4)
张跃伟 王永胜 着
ZHANG Yue-wei, WANG Yong-sheng
二、着者简介：
张跃伟（1969- ）：教授，博士，硕士生导师，渤海大学外国语学院副院长。从事功能语言学、语篇分析和构式语法等研究工作。发表学术论文10篇，其中CSSCI检索3篇，北大核心论文2篇；主持校级课题3项、省厅级课题1项、省社会科学规划项目2项（1项结题，1项在研）；参与教育部人文社会科学研究一般项目1项（排名第二）。在国家一级出版社——厦门大学出版社，出版全英文撰写的专着1部：《双及物小句的功能-构式研究》（A Functional-Constructional Study of the Ditransitive Clause）。
WANG Yong-sheng (1967- ), an associate professor of Bohai University, mainly undertakes such professional researches as in the theory and practice of E-C/C-E translation, rhetoric, lexicology, film literature, cultural comparison between China and English-speaking countries, etc.
WANG Yong-sheng (1967- ), an associate professor of Bohai University, mainly undertakes such professional researches as in the theory and practice of E-C/C-E translation, rhetoric, lexicology, film literature, cultural comparison between China and English-speaking countries, etc.
