摘要：
如今的英國女性讀者早已厭倦了寫法老套的言情小說，她們不再喜歡言情小說的圓滿結局，而更情願看一本恐怖或犯罪小說。不過，她們心中的白馬王子仍然是簡·奧斯汀《傲慢與偏見》中的男主角達西先生，而她們自己也最願成為書中女主角伊麗莎白·班納特那樣的女人。
Forget the romantic novel. Most women are bored with, and cynical about, the well-trodden path of romantic fiction.They do not like happy endings and would rather read a thriller or crime novel. But their literary idol is still Mr Darcy, the haughty hero of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
如今的英國女性讀者早已厭倦了寫法老套的言情小說，她們不再喜歡言情小說的圓滿結局，而更情願看一本恐怖或犯罪小說。不過，她們心中的白馬王子仍然是簡·奧斯汀《傲慢與偏見》中的男主角達西先生，而她們自己也最願成為書中女主角伊麗莎白·班納特那樣的女人。
大部分女性仍是小說迷
據《每日電訊報》4月13日報道，英國《婦女與家庭》雜誌對1500名、年齡在35歲至59歲、以已婚女性為主的職業女性進行了調查。調查結果顯示，與做愛、購物和睡覺相比較，她們中的大部分人更喜歡閱讀一本好書。其中，近一半的人在不到一週的時間裏就讀完了一本書；48％的人同時閱讀多本書；五分之一的人去年在購買小說上的開銷超過了100英鎊。
許多女性表示，在閱讀完一本書後，她們有了做其他事情的興致——如旅行、換工作、回學校深造、暫別伴侶或者嘗試自己創作小說等。
10年前後讀者口味大變化
被調查者還指出，她們最喜歡的小說類型分別為恐怖小說（47％）、當代小說（46％）、科幻犯罪小說（45％），而最不喜歡的是言情小說，且僅有十分之四的人喜歡結局圓滿的故事。該調查結果與英國最新公佈的公共圖書館統計數據結果相一致。該數據顯示，在不到10年的時間裏，英國人已逐漸厭棄傳統的家庭愛情故事和浪漫的言情小說，開始迷戀恐怖和犯罪小說，且內容越讓人毛骨悚然書就越暢銷。
10年前的統計結果還表明，已故的言情小說家凱瑟琳·庫克森和有著“家庭言情小說女王”之稱的芭芭拉·泰勒·布拉德福是圖書館最受歡迎小說的作者。如今，圖書館中最受歡迎的10種書籍已經較以前發生了巨大變化，言情小說仍有讀者群，但犯罪小說已佔據了領先位置。
愛爾蘭當代小說家梅芙·賓奇是言情小說的頂級作家，她無疑是一位受歡迎的小說家。但在讀者最喜愛的作者排行榜中，伊恩·蘭欽、派特麗夏·康威爾、PD詹姆士和丹·布朗，這些恐怖或犯罪小說大師們擊敗了賓奇和安尼塔·斯裏夫等言情小說家。
《傲慢與偏見》仍是經典之作
但調查結果同時顯示，如果一個女人隨手拿起一本書來閱讀，這本書一定還是浪漫小說經典之作《傲慢與偏見》。
書中男主角達西先生同樣被認為是最性感的小說男主角，他擊敗了對手海希克裏夫（艾米麗·勃朗特《呼嘯山莊》中的男主角）、白瑞德（瑪格麗特·米切爾《飄》中的男主角）和羅切斯特先生（夏洛特·勃朗特《簡·愛》中的男主角）。而唯一入選的當代小說男主角為伊恩·弗萊明筆下的詹姆士·邦德。
被調查者還表示，如果她們可以化身為小說中的女主角，她們大都願意成為伊麗莎白·班納特（《傲慢與偏見》的女主角），而《飄》的女主角斯嘉麗是她們眼中最富有魅力的女主人公。
（國際線上獨家資訊 蔣黎黎）
Forget the romantic novel. Most women are bored with, and cynical about, the well-trodden path of romantic fiction.
They do not like happy endings and would rather read a thriller or crime novel. But their literary idol is still Mr Darcy, the haughty hero of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice.
A survey of 1,500 predominantly married, working women aged 35 to 59 found that the majority would rather read a good book than have sex, shop, or sleep.
Nearly half finished a book in less than a week, 48 per cent read more than one book at a time and, in the last year, one in five had spent ?100 or more on novels.
The women surveyed said their favourite types of fiction were thrillers (47 per cent), contemporary fiction (46 per cent) and crime (45 per cent) with science fiction and romance their least favourite.
The findings correspond with public library statistics, published recently, which showed that in only 10 years the nation had ended its love affair with family sagas and books about romance and was devouring thrillers - the more ghoulish the better.
Comparative figures for 10 years ago showed that the late Catherine Cookson and Barbara Taylor Bradford, queens of raw family romances, were the authors most borrowed by adults from libraries.
The top 10 borrowed titles have a startlingly different feel now. Romance still made a showing, but the list was dominated by crime novels.
However, today's survey by Woman & Home magazine found that if women could pick one "desert island" book it would be the romantic classic Pride and Prejudice.
Mr Darcy was also regarded as the sexiest fictional man, beating Heathcliffe (Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights), Rhett Butler (Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell) and Mr Rochester (Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte).
The only modern hero to get a vote was Ian Fleming's James Bond. If they were to be a character in a book, most women would be Elizabeth Bennett. Gone with the Wind's Scarlett O'Hara was voted the most glamorous female character.
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