More goes in to settling on a title for a book than you might think. Even if you haven't read them, the names of these 10 classic tales are instantly recognizable. If the authors hadn't changed their minds, however, these novels may not have received the attention they deserved.
起书名是个技术活，要比你想象得复杂得多。即便你没有读过下面这十本经典小说，也一定能秒速认出书名。但要是这些小说的作者当初没改变心意，这些书或许就没有那么高的知名度了。
1. VALLEY OF THE DOLLS
《娃娃谷》
Would you have read a book called They Don't Build Statues to Businessmen? Me neither. It's a good thing Jacqueline Susann chose a snappier title.
你会想读一本名叫《他们不为男商人塑像》（They Don't Build Statues to Businessmen）的书吗？我也不想读。还好杰奎琳•苏珊（Jacqueline Susann）选了个更加活泼的名字。
2. LOLITA
《洛丽塔》
Thanks to Nabokov, the word "lolita" has entered common vernacular - but that wouldn't have happened had he named his book Kingdom By the Sea, as he wrote to a friend. The name was an homage to Edgar Allan Poe's poem "Annabel Lee," because in the novel, Humbert nicknamed his first teenage love after Poe's heroine. The poem goes, "It was many and many a year ago / In a kingdom by the sea, / That a maiden there lived whom you may know / By the name of Annabel Lee."
纳博科夫（Nabokov）使lolita（洛丽塔）一词进入了我们的日常用语。但要是像他在写给朋友的信里说的那样，以《海边王国》（Kingdom By the Sea）为这本书命名的话，这一切就不会发生了。《海边王国》这个名字是向埃德加•爱伦•坡（Edgar Allan Poe）的《安娜贝尔•李》（Annabel Lee）的致敬，因为在小说中，汉伯特（Humbert）用爱伦•坡这篇诗作的女主人公的名字称呼他青少年时期的初恋。爱伦•坡的诗中写道：“在很多很多 年以前/在一个海边的王国/居住着一位少女，你也许知道她/她的名字叫安娜贝尔•李。”
3. HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE
《哈利波特与火焰杯》
J.K. Rowling says that her working title for the fourth Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament, leaked before the book was ready. She also kicked around Harry Potter and the Triwizard Tournament, but decided on Goblet of Fire because, she said, "it's got that kind of 'cup of destiny' feel about it."
J•K•罗琳（J.K. Rowling）说《哈利•波特》系列第四部未定稿之前，暂定名《哈利•波特与宿命魔咒锦标赛》（ Harry Potter and the Doomspell Tournament）就泄露了。她还考虑过《哈利•波特与三强争霸赛》（Harry Potter and the Triwizard Tournament），但最终选择了“火焰杯”。罗琳表示，这是因为“火焰杯有一种‘命运之杯’的意味在里面。”
4. GOODNIGHT MOON
《晚安月亮》
It's a subtle difference, but Margaret Wise's classic board book was originally called Goodnight Room. Goodnight Moon feels much more like a child getting ready to drift off into dreamland, doesn't it?
玛格丽特•怀斯（Margaret Wise）的经典纸板童书《晚安月亮》最初叫做《晚安房间》（Goodnight Room），两版书名只差一个词。不过《晚安月亮》更有种孩子正昏昏欲睡进入梦乡的感觉，不是吗？
5. JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH
《詹姆斯与大仙桃》
Had Roald Dahl stuck with his original plan, the tome would have been titled James and the Giant Cherry instead. A peach is "prettier, bigger and squishier," Dahl decided.
要是罗尔德•达尔（Roald Dahl）坚持最初的想法，那这本大部头就会被命名为《詹姆斯和大樱桃》（James and the Giant Cherry）了。桃子最终胜出是因为达尔觉得桃子“更好看、更大也更多汁。”
6. THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR
《好饿的毛毛虫》
Believing that a caterpillar was more appealing than a worm, Eric Carle's editor, Ann Benaduce, suggested that he make a slight change to the book. It worked out well - Carle didn't have a clear ending in mind for A Week With Willie Worm, and switching allowed the story to arrive at the natural conclusion of his titular caterpillar transforming into a butterfly.
埃里克•卡尔（Eric Carle）的编辑安•伯南基（Ann Benaduce）觉得毛毛虫要比蠕虫更有吸引力，于是建议卡尔对书做些小变动。结果出乎意料的好，卡尔原本并没有想好《和蠕虫威利的一周》（A Week With Willie Worm）这本书该如何结尾，但将书名里的蠕虫换成毛毛虫后，就自然而然以毛毛虫变成蝴蝶结尾。
7. THE FOUNTAINHEAD
《源泉》
The first title of this novel by Ayn Rand was Second-Hand Lives, which explains her words on the dedication page of the manuscript: "To Frank O'Connor, who is less guilty of secondhandedness than anyone I have ever met."
安•兰德（Ayn Rand）这本小说的第一个名字是《二手生活》（Second-Hand Lives），这正呼应了她写在手稿献辞页的话，“献给弗兰克•奥康纳（Frank O'Connor），我所见过的人中最不二手的那一位。”
8. LORD OF THE FLIES
《蝇王》
William Golding's disturbing dystopian tale about murderous children stranded on an island was first titled Strangers From Within. That may have had something to do with why it was rejected six times.
威廉•戈尔丁（William Golding）所著的这部反乌托邦小说讲述了困在荒岛上的孩子相互残杀的骇人故事，这个故事最初被命名为《内心深处的陌生人》（Strangers From Within）。这或许是这个故事被拒绝了六次的部分原因。
9. OF MICE AND MEN
《人鼠之间》
Steinbeck's original title, Something That Happened, was supposed to show that, for better or worse, sometimes things happen, and that's just how life is.
斯坦贝克（Steinbeck）的这本书最初叫做《那些往事》（Something That Happened），这个书名是想传达这样一个意思，有时不管怎样，事情就是会发生，这就是生活。
10. THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER
《心是孤独的猎手》
Carson McCullers got straight to the point with the working title of her debut novel, simply calling it The Mute. She changed it at the suggestion of Houghton Mifflin’s sales manager.
卡森•麦卡勒斯（Carson McCullers）当年给她的处女作起的暂定名为《哑巴》（The Mute），这个书名直指主题。在霍顿•米夫林出版公司（Houghton Mifflin）销售经理的建议下才改掉了。
Vocabulary
snappy：诙谐活泼的，爽朗明快的
vernacular：本地话，方言
tome：大部头的书
squishy：湿润的
titular：标题的，书名的
dystopian：反乌托邦
murderous：蓄意谋杀的，杀人的