美丽、高傲的芭思希芭来到威瑟伯里继承她叔叔的农场。忠诚能干的奧克对她一见钟情，但遭到了拒绝。家境殷实的农场主波德伍德因为一次误会不断地向芭思希芭求爱。而芭思希芭却与英俊的中上特洛伊结了婚。然而，浪漫的爱情到结婚后便告终结。几番风波之后，波德伍德开枪打死了特洛伊，自己则向警方自首。失去了丈夫的芭思希芭同时又面临着失去农场的可能。这时奥克来到她的身边，给故事一个皆大欢喜的结局。 哈代是19世纪英国文学史上最重要的作家之一。他的作品通常围绕英国农村展开，讲述19世纪后期崛起的工业社会对传统社会的冲击。与许多作家不同的是，哈代的作品中很少出现皆大欢喜的结局。《远离尘嚣》是哈代第一部得到一致赞扬的长篇小说。在这部小说里，田园诗的气氛已经消失，远离尘嚣的穷乡僻壤也和人烟稠密的喧闹城市一样，在演出人生的悲剧。女主人公芭丝谢芭是一个农场主，美丽聪慧，但爱慕虚荣。她先后为三个男子所追求，但选择了一个金玉其外、败絮其中的青年军官特罗伊。最后虽然小说在芭丝谢芭与加布里埃尔的圆满爱情中结束，但全书中悲剧气氛多于喜剧气氛，已透露出作者创作中的悲剧性主题。 本书为“外国文学经典”系列中的一本，保持了英文版的原汁原味，值得一读。

美丽、高傲的芭思希芭来到威瑟伯里继承她叔叔的农场。忠诚能干的奧克对她一见钟情，但遭到了拒绝。家境殷实的农场主波德伍德因为一次误会不断地向芭思希芭求爱。而芭思希芭却与英俊的中上特洛伊结了婚。然而，浪漫的爱情到结婚后便告终结。几番风波之后，波德伍德开枪打死了特洛伊，自己则向警方自首。失去了丈夫的芭思希芭同时又面临着失去农场的可能。这时奥克来到她的身边，给故事一个皆大欢喜的结局。

Book Description Far from the Madding Crowd was the first of Hardy's novels to apply the name of Wessex to the landscape of south west England, and the first to gain him widespread popularity as a novelist. When the beautiful and spirited Bathsheba Everdene inherits her own farm, she attracts three very different suitors: the seemingly commonplace, man-of-the-soil Gabriel Oak, the dashing young soldier, Francis Troy, and the respectable, middle-aged Farmer Boldwood. Her choice, and the tragedy it provokes, lie at the centre of Hardy's ambivalent story. This edition presents a new text of the novel restoring several manuscript passages never before published with the novel, and many of the 1901 revisions missing from nearly all modern versions. This work tells the story of young farmer, Gabriel Oak, and his pursuit of the elusive Bathsheba Everdene, whose wayward nature lends her to both tragedy and true love. The background of this tale is the Wessex countryside in all its moods. The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature Novel by Thomas Hardy, published serially and anonymously in 1874 in The Cornhill Magazine and published in book form under Hardy's name the same year. It was his first popular success. The plot centers on Bathsheba Everdene, a farm owner, and her three suitors, Gabriel Oak (a generous shepherd), Sergeant Troy (a young, handsome, and inconsiderate soldier), and William Boldwood (the owner of the neighboring farm). The contrasting relationships between Bathsheba and her suitors are a study of the many faces of love, including honest, heartfelt love and unscrupulous and manipulative adoration. From Library Journal Random's Modern Library is reproducing this Hardy standard as a tie-in to a Masterpiece Theater presentation and offering a quality hardcover for a reasonable price. From AudioFile Those who relished the recent PBS series will be happy to know that this audio version is read by Gabriel Oak himself--Nathaniel Parker. He and Thomas Hardy make a fine team. As the rustic workers bring in the harvest, or shear the sheep, or barter at the market--their lively dialogue projects pictures of nineteenth-century Wessex that are almost as vivid as the paintings of John Constable. Nathaniel Parker seems to be one of them--or all of them--as he slips naturally from one character to another, even capturing the voice of Bathsheba as she laments her disastrous marriage. It all comes together in the end as she and Gabriel prepare to live happily ever after, the only Hardy characters so blessed! J.C. About Author Thomas Hardy (1840--1928), the author of Jude the Obscure, The Return of the Native, and Tess of the D'Urbervilles, was also an accomplished poet. Seventeen volumes of his work are available from Penguin Classics. Rosemarie Morgan teaches at Yale University and is the president of the Thomas Hardy Association. Shannon Russell holds a fellowship at Oxford University and is head of research for the Yale edition of Tennessee Williams's Journals. Book Dimension : length: (cm)19.8 　　　 　　　　　 　　　　　 width:(cm)12.6

《书虫•牛津英汉双语读物:远离尘嚣(5级)(适合高2、高3年级)》曾获第七届上海市中小学生优秀图书二等奖。《远离尘嚣》于1874年首次出版，立即畅销。故事发生在静谧的英国乡村的田野上、农场里。当时，人们收获靠手工，车靠马拉，他们的生活伴随着季节的变化而起伏。当然，那安静的乡村世界早已成为过去，但是，那支配着人们生活的激情却丝毫未变。春去秋来，循环往复，爱却一如既往，猛烈地、不可阻挡地燃烧着。 美丽的芭丝谢芭·伊芙丁自己拥有农场，没有必要嫁人。但是，她无法永远阻挡爱情。那位牧人盖伯瑞尔·奥克，他对芭丝谢芭的默默的爱稳定持久；那位农场主伯德伍德，他人至中年，严肃庄重，从未尝过爱情滋味；那位托伊中士，他红色戎装，英俊年轻……芭丝谢芭虽然自信、独立，但是，爱的猛烈、爱的激情，她要学的东西还很多很多。