在我们一般人看来，女人的胆量大多要比男人小的多。电影院里如果放映恐怖片，那么尖叫声大多来自缩在男友怀里的女生们；而恐怖小说也基本成为了男人们的专利；通常言情类的小说和影视作品才是女生们的专利。然而，这种传统认识在英国受到了挑战，很多英国女生不再关注言情类的影视小说，她们把目光集中在了恐怖题材的作品上。

    Forget the romantic novel. Most women are bored with, and cynical about, the well-trodden path of romantic fiction. They do not like happy endings and would rather read a thriller or crime novel.

    忘了言情小说吧。大多数的女性读者早已厌倦了写法老套的言情小说，她们不再喜欢言情小说的圆满结局，而更情愿看一本恐怖或者犯罪小说。

    But their literary idol is still Mr Darcy, the haughty hero of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.

    不过，她们心中的白马王子仍然是简•奥斯汀《傲慢与偏见》中那位傲慢的男主角达西先生。

    A survey of 1,500 predominantly married, working women aged 35 to 59 found that the majority would rather read a good book than have sex, shop, or sleep.

    一项针对1500名年龄在35岁至59岁、以已婚职业女性为主的调查结果显示，与做爱、购物和睡觉相比，大多数女性更喜欢阅读一本好书。

    Nearly half finished a book in less than a week, 48 per cent read more than one book at a time and, in the last year, one in five had spent £100 or more on novels.

    其中，近一半的人在不到一周的时间里就读完了一本书；48％的人同时阅读了多本书；五分之一的人去年在购买小说上的开销超过了100英镑。

    The women surveyed said their favourite types of fiction were thrillers (47 per cent), contemporary fiction (46 per cent) and crime (45 per cent) with science fiction and romance their least favourite.

    被调查者还指出，她们最喜欢的小说类型分别为恐怖小说（47％）、当代小说（46％）、科幻犯罪小说（45％），而最不喜欢的是言情小说。

    The findings correspond with public library statistics, published recently, which showed that in only 10 years the nation had ended its love affair with family sagas and books about romance and was devouring thrillers--the more ghoulish the better.

    该调查结果与最新公布的公共图书馆统计数据结果一致。该数据显示，仅仅10年的时间，女人们已厌弃传统的家庭爱情故事和浪漫的言情小说，她们开始迷恋恐怖小说，且内容越让人毛骨悚然越好。

    Comparative figures for 10 years ago showed that the late Catherine Cookson and Barbara Taylor Bradford, queens of raw family romances, were the authors most borrowed by adults from libraries.

    10年前的统计结果表明，已故的言情小说家凯瑟琳•库克森和有着“家庭言情小说女王”之称的芭芭拉•泰勒•布拉德福是图书馆最受欢迎小说的作者。

    The top 10 borrowed titles have a startlingly different feel now. Romance still made a showing, but the list was dominated by crime novels.

    如今，图书馆中最受欢迎的10种书籍已经较以前发生了巨大变化。言情小说仍有读者群，但犯罪小说已处于领先地位。

    However, today's survey by Woman & Home magazine found that if women could pick one book it would be the romantic classic Pride and Prejudice.

    但这个由《妇女与家庭》杂志举办的调查结果同时显示，如果一个女人挑了一本书来阅读，这本书一定还是浪漫小说的经典之作《傲慢与偏见》。

    Mr Darcy was also regarded as the sexiest fictional man, beating Heathcliffe (Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights), Rhett Butler (Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell) and Mr Rochester (Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte).

    书中男主角达西先生同样被认为是最性感的小说男主角，他击败了对手海希克里夫（艾米丽•勃朗特《呼啸山庄》中的男主角）、白瑞德（玛格丽特•米切尔《飘》中的男主角）和罗切斯特先生（夏洛特•勃朗特《简•爱》中的男主角）。

    The only modern hero to get a vote was Ian Fleming's James Bond. If they were to be a character in a book, most women would be Elizabeth Bennett. Gone with the Wind's Scarlett O'Hara was voted the most glamorous female character.

    而唯一入选的当代小说男主角是伊恩•弗莱明笔下的詹姆士•邦德。被调查者表示，如果她们可以化身为小说中的女主角，她们大都愿意成为伊丽莎白•班纳特（《傲慢与偏见》的女主角），而《飘》的女主角斯嘉丽•奥哈拉是她们眼中最富有魅力的女主人公。