對於羅爾德·達爾（Roald Dahl, 1916—1990），中國讀者耳熟能詳的恐怕是他的一些兒童文學作品，而且國內外對他稱呼最多的莫過於“兒童文學作家”。他的兒童文學作品的確十分暢銷，已被翻譯成多國文字出版發行，知名度頗高。可以說，在兒童文學作家中，羅爾德·達爾是最為成功、最為知名的作家之一。達爾的兒童文學作品得到很多國家小朋友的喜愛，這樣的作品包括《詹姆斯與大仙桃》（James and the Giant Peach）、《查利與朱古力工廠》（Charlie and the Chocolate Factory）、《魔法手指》（The Magic Finger）、《查利與大玻璃升降機》（Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator）、《了不起的狐狸爸爸》（Fantastic Mr. Fox）、《特威特夫婦》（The Twits）、《女巫》（The Witches）、《好心眼兒的巨人》（The BFG，這部小說1983年獲“惠特布雷德獎”，英文表述為“Whitbread Award”。）以及《瑪蒂爾達》（Matilda）等。
羅爾德·達爾的父母是挪威人，但達爾本人1916年出生在英國格拉摩根郡的蘭達夫（Llandaff, Glamorgan）[1]，並在雷普頓公學（Repton School）接受教育。第二次世界大戰爆發，他應徵入伍，加入英國皇家空軍，駐紮在奈洛比。後來，他加入了駐利比亞的一個戰鬥機中隊，受了重傷。之後，又作為一名戰鬥機飛行員到希臘和敘利亞參加戰鬥。1942年，達爾作為英國大使館的空軍助理專員去了華盛頓。華盛頓成為他人生的轉折點，因為在那裡他開始了自己的創作生涯。隨後，他被調到情報部。戰爭結束的時候，他成為英國皇家空軍中校。他的第一批短篇小說共有12篇，都是根據自己在戰爭期間的經歷所寫。這12篇作品首先發表在美國的一些主流雜誌上，後來編撰成書出版，書名為《向你飛躍》（Over to You）。
羅爾德·達爾所有受到高度讚譽的作品都被譯成多種文字，成為全世界的暢銷書。安格利亞電視台（Anglia Television）將他的一些短篇小說改編成電視系列劇，冠以標題《出乎意料的故事集》（Tales of the Unexpected）。他的作品還包括兩本自傳──《男孩時代》（Boy）和《獨闖天下》（Going Solo），還有贏得很多讚譽的小說《我的叔叔奧斯瓦爾德》（My Uncle Oswald）以及《羅爾德·達爾傾心的鬼怪故事集》（Roald Dahl’s Book of Ghost Stories）。最後一本是他自己編輯出版的。在生命的最後一年，他收集了一些奇聞軼事，並跟妻子弗利西蒂（Felicity）一起，整理了一些烹飪食譜，彙編成一本書。這本書1996年由企鵝出版集團出版，書名為《羅爾德·達爾的烹飪書》（Roald Dahl’s Cookbook）[2]。
羅爾德·達爾於1990年11月23日去世。英國《泰晤士報》（The Times）稱其為“我們這一代人中最有影響力的作家之一，也是擁有極其廣泛讀者群的作家之一”（One of the most widely read and influential writers of our generation），並在寫給他的訃告中寫道：“孩子喜歡他寫的故事，把他當成自己心目中最喜愛的人……他的作品將成為未來的經典之作”（Children loved his stories and made him their favourite . . . They will be classics of the future）。據報導，在2000年英國的“世界圖書日”（World Book Day）投票中，羅爾德·達爾當選為“讀者最喜愛的作家”（Favourite Author）[3]。
[1]格拉摩根原來是英國南威爾斯的一個郡。
[2]參見“Roald Dahl.The Best of Roald Dahl[M]. London: Penguin Books Ltd., 2006”。
[3]參見“Roald Dahl.The Collected Short Stories of Roald Dahl[M]. London: Penguin Books Ltd., 1992”。
主要評價
對於20世紀的英國作家羅爾德·達爾及其作品，《愛爾蘭時報》（Irish Times）的一篇評論，可謂一語中的：“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.”（羅爾德·達爾是我所認識的為數不多的作家之一，可以準確無誤地說，其作品令人沉醉、上癮。他的作品始終貫穿著一條主線，這條主線令人毛骨悚然，充滿惡意和兇險，但卻更加行之有效，因為其來源是一些不起眼的、幾乎微不足道的日常事物。結果，最為錯綜複雜的黑色幽默便應運而生了）[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)
於本鳳 王永勝 著
YU Ben-feng, WANG Yong-sheng
二、著者簡介：
於本鳳，（1973- ）：渤海大學講師，主要從事英漢語言比較、辭彙以及跨文化交際等方面的研究。
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)
張躍偉 王永勝 著
ZHANG Yue-wei, WANG Yong-sheng
二、著者簡介：
張躍偉（1969- ）：教授，博士，碩士生導師，渤海大學外國語學院副院長。從事功能語言學、語篇分析和構式語法等研究工作。發表學術論文10篇，其中CSSCI檢索3篇，北大核心論文2篇；主持校級課題3項、省廳級課題1項、省社會科學規劃項目2項（1項結題，1項在研）；參與教育部人文社會科學研究一般項目1項（排名第二）。在國家一級出版社——廈門大學出版社，出版全英文撰寫的專著1部：《雙及物小句的功能-構式研究》（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.
