Agatha Christie—The Queen of Detective Novels

◎朱广春

Track 4

她是吉尼斯世界纪录中最畅销的推理小说家，她是举世公认的侦探小说女王，她被《纽约时报》称为“神秘的第一夫人”，法国总统戴高乐、英国玛丽王后、中国著名武侠小说家金庸等都是她的粉丝。她，正是国内侦探推理小说迷心中的“阿婆”——阿加莎·克里斯蒂。

Agatha Christie was born in Devon, England in 1890.When she was very young, her father died and she was raised by her mother.

After the outbreak of World War I, Agatha went to the hospital as a volunteer.Over several years, she became a qualified1)pharmacist and learnt a lot about poisons and drugs.In 1920, the great2)detective Hercule Poirot made his debut along with the novelThe Mysterious Affair at Styles.

Agatha Christie created over a hundred works, with more than 70 of them being detective novels.In her prolific writing career spanning half a century, she has never disappointed her readers.

The novelAnd Then There Were Noneis considered her masterpiece and also one of her most popular mysteries: Ten house guests on an isolated island are all3)accused of murder, and one by one they disappear, until the truth is revealed,but no one survives.

The novelEvil Under The Sunis thought one of her best mystery novels: A beautiful flirt, who makes as many enemies as she has suitors at a hotel resort in southern England, is found strangled to death on the beach.Detective Poirot gathers all the suspects to try to solve the4)case.

The novelA Murder Is Announcedis selected as a classic textbook of Criminal Psychology: The villagers who love to join in the fun came to Letty’s house at the set time stated in the murder notice published in the newspaper, thinking it was just a game, but it turned out to be a real murder.Miss Jane Marple, the rural female detective, was called upon to solve this mystery.

Murder on the Orient Expressis Christie’s most successful “the snowstorm villa model”mystery novel: On a train from Istanbul to Paris, Detective Poirot must sort through 13 suspects.They all had a5)motive to kill a hated millionaire.Later, this novel and another classicDeath on the Nilewere adapted into films, both of which became classic detective films.

Jin Yong once commented on Agatha’s works, “The writing skill is first-class.The content is realistic.The logic is smooth.And she is also good at using language to create amusement.Reading her novels, I will be involved in a battle of wits with the author until the solution is revealed, and this process is very enjoyable!The brilliance of her work lies in the clever arrangement that completely surprises people, and when the mystery is6)exposed, it is also very reasonable, making it impossible for people not to be convinced.”

In 1971, Agatha was made a Dame of the British Empire.In 1976, she passed away peacefully at the age of 86.

Reflecting on her life, Agatha said,“I like living.I have sometimes been wildly, despairingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow, but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.”

1) pharmacistn.药剂师

2) detectiven.侦探

3) accusev.控告

4) casen.案件

5) motiven.动机

6) exposev.使暴露

1890 年，阿加莎·克里斯蒂出生于英国德文郡。在她很小的时候，父亲便去世了，她是由母亲抚养长大的。

第一次世界大战爆发后，阿加莎前往医院当志愿者。几年的时间里，她成为一名有资质的药剂师，学到大量有关毒物、药物的知识。1920 年，大侦探赫尔克里·波洛就在此时与小说《斯泰尔斯庄园奇案》一起问世。

阿加莎·克里斯蒂一生创作了百余部作品，其中侦探小说70 余部。在历时半个世纪的高产写作生涯中，她从来没有让读者失望过。

小说《无人生还》被认为是她的一部杰作，也是她最受欢迎的侦探小说之一：一座孤岛上的十位住客全被指控为疑凶，随后一个接一个地失踪，最终，真相大白，但无人生还。

小说《阳光下的罪恶》被认为是她最好的悬疑小说之一：一位美丽的风情女子在英格兰南部的一家度假酒店吸引了众多的爱慕者，同时树敌良多。其后，有人发现她被人掐死在海滩上。波洛侦探集中所有嫌疑人，试图破解这个案子。

小说《谋杀启事》，则被选作犯罪心理学的经典教材：爱凑热闹的村里人按照报纸上登载的一则“谋杀启事”约定的时间来到利蒂家，原以为只是一场游戏，却真的发生了谋杀案。乡村女侦探简·马普尔小姐被找来解开这个疑案。

《东方快车谋杀案》是克里斯蒂最成功的“暴风雪山庄模式”推理小说：在一列由伊斯坦布尔开往巴黎的火车上，波洛侦探必须鉴别13 名嫌疑人，他们都有动机杀死一名遭人厌恨的百万富翁。后来，这部小说与另一部经典小说《尼罗河上的惨案》分别被改编成电影，均成为侦探电影的经典之作。

金庸曾这么评价阿加莎的作品:“写作功力一流，内容写实、逻辑性顺畅，也很会运用语言的趣味，阅读她的小说，在谜底没有揭露前，我会与作者斗智，这种过程令人非常享受！她作品的高明与精彩之处在于:布局的巧妙使人完全意想不到，而谜底揭穿时，又十分合理，让人不得不信服。”

1971 年，阿加莎获封为英帝国女爵士。1976，她平静离世，享年86 岁。

回顾她的生活，阿加莎说：“我喜欢活着。我有时会痛苦难耐、会绝望无比、会饱受忧愁的折磨。可是当一切经历过去之后，我仍然很清楚地认识到，好好活着就是最了不起的事情。”