摘　 要

《荆棘鸟》是考琳•麦卡洛所作的一本家世小说。它发表于1977年，随后被翻译成20多种语言，成为了最畅销的小说之一，被大家誉为澳大利亚的《飘》。小说主要以神父拉尔夫和女主人公梅吉的爱情纠葛为主线，描写了克利里一家三代人的故事，从1915年到1969年，时间跨度长达半个多世纪之久。传说荆棘鸟一生只唱一次，那歌声比世上一切生灵的歌声都动听。题目荆棘鸟不仅仅是关于传说的，也具有象征意义。其实每个人都是荆棘鸟，因为人们在生活中总会遇到荆棘。人们要勇于面对困难，就像对待人生道路上最长最尖的荆棘。这样的痛苦将会让人感受到快乐的来源。快乐是建立在痛苦的基础之上的，忍受了痛苦才更能感受得到快乐。一旦有了这样的经历，生命才更有价值。

关键词：荆棘鸟；爱情纠葛；象征意义；痛苦；快乐

Abstract

The Thorn Birds is a saga novel written by Colleen McCullough. It was published in 1977 and later it was translated into more than 20 languages and became one of the international best-selling novels. And it was considered as “Gone with the Wind of Australia”. This novel uses the heroine Meggie and Father Ralph’s love entanglement as the main line. It is a long story which spans three generations of the Cleary family from 1915 to 1969--more than half a century. There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. The title--The Thorn Birds -- not only is about legend, but also has symbolic meaning. Actually, everyone is a thorn bird because they will meet thorns in their life. One should face pain bravely and regard the most difficult thing in life as the longest and sharpest thorn. This pain will show a great source of happiness, which is built on the basis of pain, and only by enduring the pain can one feel happy. Once having this kind of experience, one exists as a real human and life becomes valuable.

Key words: the thorn birds; love entanglement; symbolic meaning; pain; happiness

1 Introduction
This paper is about The Thorn Birds, written by Colleen McCullough who is a famous Australian author. Since this novel was published in 1977, it has been translated into more than 20 languages and become popular in the world quickly as one of the international best-selling novels. In Western literature circles, it was known as the most successful saga novel and love legend after Gone with the Wind, and later it was considered as “Gone with the Wind of Australia”. And Times Magazine equals it to The Godfather which is one of the modern ten classics. And also it was made into TV miniseries.