去年发布了英文原著生词难度测量,以GRE和托福**词汇的多少来描述其生词难度,是国内首次比较客观的测量。
后来广州大学生物与化学工程学院钱黎明教授对这个测量计划很感兴趣,跟进研究之后向我指出方法学上的不足以及统计软件的一个bug,五爷受益匪浅,在此表示感谢。现经过测量工具的重新校正,直接测量电子版原著中不重复的词汇个数,这样不再依赖某种**的词汇,亦不受**(大纲)变革的影响。延续了计算原著前10000个单词的思路,可以较为客观和精细地描述一部原著阅读起来的生词难度。测量的原著增加到71本。
英文原著词汇绝对数测量
原著名称/作者
总词数/全部不重复词数/首万词不重复词数
Holy Bible GOD
837110 13511 1111
Who moved my cheese? Spencer Johnson
10886 1455 1396
The Chronicles of Narnia 2-The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe C.S. Lewis
37702 3334 1419
The Catcher in the rye
73711 4037 1423
The Chronicles of Narnia 1-The Magician's Nephew C.S. Lewis
41791 3729 1490
The Old Man And The Sea Ernest Hemingway
26988 2629 1554
The Chronicles of Narnia 7-The last battle C.S. Lewis
43871 3788 1573
Little Prince Antoine de Saint Exupéry
17161 2217 1613
The Chronicles of Narnia 5-The silver chair C.S. Lewis
53145 4525 1629
The Chronicles of Narnia 3-Prince Caspian C.S. Lewis
48743 4284 1663
Pride and prejudice Jane Austen
118307 6348 1684
Daughter of Deceit Victoria Holt
124575 6188 1684
The Odyssey Homer
117260 6508 1702
Lord of the rings 2-The Two Towers J.R.R. Tolkien
154450 8252 1715
Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe
122124 6274 1730
The Chronicles of Narnia 6-The horse and his boy C.S. Lewis
51988 6007 1778
Rich Dad, Poor Dad Robert Kiyosaki
57380 4716 1799
La Dame aux Camilias Alexandre Dumas, fils
66561 4570 1846
Harry Potter 1-Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone J.K. Rowling
78760 5889 1856
The Count of Monte Cristo Alexandre Dumas
464536 16409 1876
The Chronicles of Narnia 4-The Voyage of the Dawn Treader C.S. Lewis
45522 4675 1892
The moonstone Wilkie Collins
197946 9106 1915
Hearts in Atlantis Steven King
187275 12522 1943
The power of now Eckhart Tolle
63413 4594 1946
David Copperfield Charles Dickens
359101 14864 1954
Lord of the rings 0-The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien
95692 6584 1958
Crime and Punishment Fyodor Dostoyevsky
203189 9582 2015
War And Peace Leo Tolstoy
564614 18004 2019
Twilight 2 -New moon Stephenie Meyer
135351 7946 2021
Norwegian Wood Haruki Murakami
121121 7491 2024
Shawshank Redemption Steven King
40519 5006 2036
Harry Potter 4-Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire J.K. Rowling
196151 10581 2067
Harry Potter 2-Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets J.K. Rowling
86870 6966 2079
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea Jules Verne
100160 3120 2111
Harry Potter 6-Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince J.K. Rowling
173411 11089 2113
Twilight 3 -Eclipse Stephenie Meyer
157349 8564 2115
Twilight 1 Stephenie Meyer
119531 8292 2120
Winning Jack Welch
96048 7992 2142
Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth William Shakespear
105510 9161 2145
Lady Chatterley's lover D.H. Lawrence
117211 9187 2164
Harry Potter 3-Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban J.K. Rowling
106734 7509 2172
Howards End E. M. Forster
109860 9173 2179
Harry Potter 5-Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J.K. Rowling
262579 12685 2179
Twilight 4 -Breaking Dawn Stephenie Meyer
178140 10090 2202
The Godfather Mario Puzo
172190 10457 2213
Death on the Nile Agatha Christie
79452 6716 2228
The Return of Sherlock Holmes Conan Doyle
112901 8145 2228
The Bridges of Madison County Robert James Waller
36675 4504 2232
Gone with the wind Margaret Mitchell
423697 17189 2240
The three musketeers
229523 10349 2246
The red and the black Stendhal
152930 9785 2274
Sister Carrie Theodore Dieiser
157924 9567 2277
The Decameron Giovanni Boccaccio
307538 12949 2294
The adventures of Tom Sawyer Mark Twain
71656 7327 2295
Sons and lovers D.H. Lawrence
161056 9847 2295
The final diagnosis Arthur Hailey
116519 8523 2297
A tale of two cities Charles Dickens
136759 10150 2316
The Hunt for Red October Tom Clancy
163434 11134 2344
The Game Neil Strauss
149451 11163 2350
Vanity Fair William Thackeray
309652 16634 2354
One Hundred Years of Solitude Gabriel García Márquez
143272 10346 2371
Harry Potter 7-Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows J.K. Rowling
200885 11488 2376
HOTEL Arthur Hailey
138291 12110 2417
The moneychangers Arthur Hailey
156651 12913 2457
Freakonomics Steven Levitt
67974 8648 2465
Wheels Arthur Hailey
138065 12296 2486
Time Magazine 20070604 N/A
31135 6090 2519
Jane Eyre Charlotte Bronte
186804 13107 2522
The Hunchback of Notre Dame Victor Hugo
185305 14044 2526
Airport Arthur Hailey
160983 13109 2536
Tess of the D'urbervilles Thomas Hardy
150395 12462 2537
The Thorn Birds Colleen McCullough
225025 15350 2571
Lord of the rings 1-The fellowship of the Rings J.R.R. Tolkien
178794 16251 2600
Don Juan George Byron
126886 12959 2610
Lord of the rings 3-The Return of the King J.R.R. Tolkien
108117 12980 2626
Father Goriot Honoré de Balzac
103656 8869 2663
Angels and Demons Dan Brown
153853 12122 2684
The lost symbol Dan Brown
166319 11361 2690
Deception Point Dan Brown
143341 11570 2711
Digital Fortress Dan Brown
101572 9190 2734
The Da Vinci Code Dan Brown
139844 11390 2782
Wuthering Heights Emily Bronte
117071 9406 2929
再次声明,词汇多少不是你阅读原著感到难度的决定因素,这个表的顶部和底部就是最好的例子:《圣经》果然是最简洁之书,但篇幅最长,内容很枯燥(对于异教徒而言);丹布朗的《达芬奇密码》用词极多,但内容超级有趣(同样是讲耶稣,好看100倍)——五爷认为后者容易得多,因此词汇多少仅供参考。
当然,在一般情况下这个表还是很有指导意义的,稳坐“词汇之王”的《呼啸山庄》读起来肯定远远难过《谁动了我的奶酪?》、《小王子》了。
篇首列出初级(《纳尼亚传奇》)和中级(《哈里?波特》)两个透析7本套餐词汇量走势比较图,证实五爷这样推荐是有根有据的。