《水浒传》是中国著名的古典长篇小说,叙述了中国北宋年间宋江等一百零八人如何从一个普通百姓或下层官吏被逼上梁山造反的过程,描写了他们抗巨官军、杀富济贫除暴安民的英雄壮举。小说以人物性格鲜明突出而著称,语言生动,故事性强,在中国文学发展史上占有重要地位。《水浒传》创作于公元14世纪,即元末明初。在此之前,水浒英雄的故事以话本或杂剧的形式在民间流传。《水浒传》成书以后,又以多种版本流传于民间,流传于全世界。 本书选用的英文译本,是由精通汉文的中国籍美国专家沙博理先生翻译的。
"The Patriotic and Righteous Outlaws of the Marsh is in one hundred chapters. Originally written by Shi Nai'an of Qiantang, and arranged by Luo Guanzhong." Luo Guanzhong, a native of Taiyuan, styled 'Wanderer of the Lakes and Seas.'He was solitary by nature, a writer of ballads and in esoteric language, which are original and fresh.
Shidney Shapiro was born in New York, USA, in 1915. In 1937 he graduated from the Faculty of Law at St. John's University, and began to practice as a lawyer. During the World War II he was recruited into the army, and later studied Chinese at Columbia University and Yale University. He came to China in April 1947, and in 1948 he married the Chinese writer Feng Fengzi (Phoenix). From 1952, Shapiro worked as an English-language speicalist at the magazine Chinese Literature, and later at China Pictorial. He took Chinese citizenship in 1963, and was a member of the sixth, seventh and eighth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He has translated Yuan Jing's Daughters and Sons, Ba Jin's Family, Mao Dun's Spring Silkworms, Qu Bo's Tracks in the Snowy Forest, Du Pengcheng's Defend Yan'an and Liu Qing's Builders of a New Life. Shapiro has also authored some books, including An American in China, My China, The law and lore of China: Criminal Justice, A Sampler of Chinese Literature- from the Ming Dynasty to Mao Zedong, Jews in Old China: Studies by Chinese Scholars and Ma Haide- Saga of an American Doctor George Hatem.