世界文学名著表现了作者描述的特定时代的文化。阅读这些名著可以领略著者流畅的文笔、逼真的描述、详细的刻画，让读者如同置身当时的历史文化之中。为此，我们将这套精心编辑的“名著典藏”奉献给广大读者。我们找来了专门研究西方历史、西方文化的专家学者，请教了专业的翻译人员，精心挑选了这些可以代表西方文学的著作，并听取了一些国外专门研究文学的朋友的建议，不删节、不做任何人为改动，严格按照原著的风格，提供原汁原味的西方名著，让读者能享受纯正的英文名著。

　　So he came in and sat down across the hearth from me， and neither of us said anything。 The firelight flickered over the room， bringing out the faded hues of the old Japanese prints on the walls， gleaming in the mother-of-pearl eyes of the dragon on the screen， setting a grotesque god on a cabinet to nodding。 And it threw into relief the strong profile of the man across from me， as he stared at the fire。 “I am afraid I am not very interesting” I said at last， when he showed no sign of breaking the silence。 “The - the illness of the butler and - Miss Caruthers‘ arrival， have been upsetting。” He suddenly roused with a start from a brown reverie。 “I beg your pardon，” he said， “I - oh， of course not！ I was wondering if I - if you were offended at what I said earlier in the evening; the - Brushwood Boy， you know， and all that。”
　　“Offended？” I repeated， puzzled。 “You see， I have been living out of the world so long， and never seeing any women but Indian squaws” - so there were no Spanishgirls！- “that I’m afraid I say what comes into my mind with out ckcumlocution， And then - I did not know you were married。” “No， oh， no，” I said hastily。 “But， of course， the more a woman ismarried - I mean， you can not say too many nice things to married women。 They - need them， you know。”
　　……