本書是英漢雙語版名著系列叢書中的一種，編寫本系列叢書的另一個主要目的就是為準備參加英語國家留學考試的學生提供學習素材。對于留學考試，無論是SSAT、SAT還是TOEFL、GRE，要取得好的成績，就必須了解西方的社會、歷史、文化、生活等方面的背景知識，而閱讀西方原版名著是了解這些知識*重要的手段之一。
弗·斯格特·菲茨杰拉德（Francis Scott Fitzgeald，1896—1940），20世紀美國*杰出的作家之一，“美國夢”*偉大的詮釋者。
1896年9月24日，菲茨杰拉德出生在美國明尼蘇達州圣保羅市一個小商人家庭。1913年，進入普林斯頓大學學習，中途輟學。1917年入伍，次年升為中尉軍官，1919年退伍，之后在一家商業公司當抄寫員，業余致力于文學創作。1920年，他出版了*部長篇小說《人間天堂》，該書一出版便成為當時美國*暢銷的小說之一，在社會上引起了極大的反響。繼《人間天堂》之后，他又陸續出版了《美國的悲劇》（1925年）、《了不起的蓋茨比》（1925年）和《夜色溫柔》（1934年）等。他在長篇小說創作方面取得了巨大的成就，特別是《了不起的蓋茨比》取得了巨大的成功，該作品確立了菲茨杰拉德在美國文學史上的地位，是他杰出的代表作。菲茨杰拉德是個多才多藝的小說家，除長篇小說之外，他主要的短篇小說也非常有特色，他主要的短篇小說集有：《爵士時代的故事》（1922）、《所有悲傷的年輕人的故事》（1926）等。短篇小說不僅給他帶來了商業上的成功，而且還為他贏得了一般大眾的認同和喜愛。他的短篇小說布局精巧曲折，文字細膩華麗，風格機智詼諧，經常有歐·亨利式的出人意料的結尾，讀起來是一種愉快的享受。
菲茨杰拉德是20世紀上半葉與海明威、福克納齊名的美國著名作家。20世紀的20年代和30年代是美國小說的黃金時代，這20年間可謂是群星璀璨。除菲茨杰拉德外，美國文壇還涌現出了像劉易斯、賽珍珠、福克納、海明威、斯坦貝克、莫里斯等飲譽世界的作家。這個年代也被稱為“爵士年代”，因為這是美國歷史上*會享樂、*絢麗的時代，也是空前繁榮的時代，是創造“美國夢”的時代。菲茨杰拉德的作品生動地反映了20世紀20年代“美國夢”的破滅，展示了大蕭條時期美國上層社會“荒原時代”的精神面貌。菲茨杰拉德縱情參與了“爵士時代”的酒食征逐，也完全融化在自己的作品之中。正因為如此，他才能栩栩如生地重現那個時代的社會風貌、生活氣息和感情節奏。但更重要的是，在沉湎其中的同時，他又能冷眼旁觀，體味“燈火闌珊，酒醒人散”的悵惘，用嚴峻的道德標準衡量一切，用凄婉的筆調抒寫了戰后“迷茫的一代”對于“美國夢”幻滅的悲哀。
一直以來，菲茨杰拉德在世界各地擁有廣泛的讀者。在中國，菲茨杰拉德的作品同樣受到廣大讀者的熱愛，這其中包括《像里茲飯店那樣大的鉆石》。基于以上原因，我們決定編譯《像里茲飯店那樣大的鉆石》，并采用中文導讀英文版的形式出版。在中文導讀中，我們盡力使其貼近原作的精髓。我們希望能夠編出為當代中國讀者所喜愛的經典讀本。讀者在閱讀每章之前，可以先閱讀中文導讀內容，這樣有利于了解每章的背景，從而加快閱讀速度。同時，為了讀者更好地理解故事內容，書中加入了大量的插圖。我們相信，該經典小說的引進對加強當代中國讀者，特別是大學生讀者的文學修養是非常有幫助的。
本書是英漢雙語版名著系列叢書中的一種，編寫本系列叢書的另一個主要目的就是為準備參加英語國家留學考試的學生提供學習素材。對于留學考試，無論是SSAT、SAT還是TOEFL、GRE，要取得好的成績，就必須了解西方的社會、歷史、文化、生活等方面的背景知識，而閱讀西方原版名著是了解這些知識*重要的手段之一。
本書中文導讀內容由紀飛編寫。參加本書故事素材搜集整理及編譯工作的還有趙雪、劉乃亞、蔡紅昌、陳起永、熊紅華、熊建國、程來川、徐平國、龔桂平、付澤新、熊志勇、胡貝貝、李軍、宋亭、張靈羚、張玉瑤、付建平等。限于我們的科學、人文素養和英語水平，書中難免會有不當之處，衷心希望讀者朋友批評指正。
三
早晨，約翰醒來時發現自己直接處在陽光的照耀下，紫檀木大房間有一半的墻邊已經消失。一個穿白制服的黑人恭敬地站在他旁邊。在這個黑人的安排下，約翰睡的床一端翹起，約翰順著床變成的斜板滑下一面墻壁，墻壁自動打開，約翰便直接來到了另外一個房間的大浴池里。水的溫度剛好，四周都是好看的水族箱。約翰先洗了熱的玫瑰浴和泡泡浴，然后用冷鹽水浴清醒了一下。期間，閃光的噴水效果讓約翰欣喜不已，黑人還提議看電影放映機，約翰禮貌地拒絕了，耳邊傳來動聽的音樂。等約翰再走進起居室時，早餐和佩西都已經在那里等著了。
orning. As he awoke he perceived drowsily that the room had at the same moment become dense with sunlight. The ebony panels of one wall had slid aside on a sort of track, leaving his chamber half open to the day. A large negro in a white uniform stood beside his bed.
“Good-evening,” muttered John, summoning his brains from the wild places.
“Good-morning, sir. Are you ready for your bath, sir? Oh, don’t get up—I’ll put you in, if you’ll just unbutton your pajamas—there. Thank you, sir.”
John lay quietly as his pajamas were removed—he was amused and delighted; he expected to be lifted like a child by this black Gargantua who was tending him, but nothing of the sort happened; instead he felt the bed tilt up
來到浴池
slowly on its side—he began to roll,startled at first, in the direction of the wall, but when he reached the wall its drapery gave way, and sliding two yards farther down a fleecy incline he plumped gently into water the same temperature as his body.
He looked about him. The runway or rollway on which he had arrived had folded gently back into place. He had been projected into another chamber and was sitting in a sunken bath with his head just above the level of the floor. All about him, lining the walls of the room and the sides and bottom of the bath itself, was a blue aquarium, and gazing through the crystal surface on which he sat, he could see fish swimming among amber lights and even gliding without curiosity past his outstretched toes, which were separated from them only by the thickness of the crystal. From overhead, sunlight came down through sea-green glass.
“I suppose, sir, that you’d like hot rosewater and soapsuds this morning, sir—and perhaps cold salt water to finish.”
The negro was standing beside him.
“Yes,” agreed John, smiling inanely, “as you please.” Any idea of ordering this bath according to his own meagre standards of living would have been priggish and not a little wicked.
The negro pressed a button and a warm rain began to fall, apparently from overhead, but really, so John discovered after a moment, from a fountain arrangement near by. The water turned to a pale rose color and jets of liquid soap spurted into it from four miniature walrus heads at the corners of the bath. In a moment a dozen little paddlewheels, fixed to the sides, had churned the mixture into a radiant rainbow of pink foam which enveloped him softly with its delicious lightness, and burst in shining, rosy bubbles here and there about him.
“Shall I turn on the moving-picture machine, sir?” suggested the negro deferentially. “ There’s a good one-reel comedy in this machine to-day, or I can put in a serious piece in a moment, if you prefer it.”
“No, thanks,” answered John, politely but firmly. He was enjoying his bath too much to desire any distraction. But distraction came. In a moment he was listening intently to the sound of flutes from just outside, flutes dripping a melody that was like a waterfall, cool and green as the room itself, accompanying a frothy piccolo, in play more fragile than the lace of suds that covered and charmed him.
After a cold salt-water bracer and a cold fresh finish, he stepped out and into a fleecy robe, and upon a couch covered with the same material he was rubbed with oil, alcohol, and spice. Later he sat in a voluptuous chair while he was shaved and his hair was trimmed.
“Mr. Percy is waiting in your sitting-room,” said the negro, when these operations were finished. “ My name is Gygsum, Mr. Unger, sir. I am to see to Mr. Unger every morning.”
John walked out into the brisk sunshine of his living-room, where he found breakfast waiting for him and Percy, gorgeous in white kid knickerbockers, smoking in an easy chair.’
……
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