八十天环绕地球(英文版) [平装]

《八十天环绕地球(英文版)》正值法国与普鲁士交战期间，凡尔纳刚刚办完父亲的丧事，以前的作品也因经济不景气而拿不到版税。一天，在巴黎的咖啡馆，愁闷中的凡尔纳偶然读到一则交通技术革新的新闻，精神陡然为之一振，一个环球旅行的故事便在脑子里悄然成形。
斐莱亚·福克，英国上流社会一位行事古板的绅士与人打赌，声称八十天即可完成环球旅行，赌注为2万英镑。于是，这位勇敢、正直的绅士偕同仆人万事通踏上了漫漫旅程，途经欧、非、亚、美四洲，以非凡的毅力和才智克服了无数的艰难险阻。凡尔纳生动细腻地构思了这一壮举，使全书的情节一波三折，而作者丰富的地理知识则使他能够为读者展现出一幅幅奇异、瑰丽的异域风光，令人目不暇接。在印度，这位鳏居的绅士有幸巧遇美丽、娴静的艾乌妲，将她从人殉的火堆上解救下来，携美眷归来。一百多年来，小说一直为各年龄层的读者所喜爱。

《八十天环绕地球(英文版)》：MR. PHILEAS FOGG lived, in I872, at No. 7, Saville Row, BurlingtonGardens, the house in which Sheridan died in I8i4. He was one of themost noticeable members of the Reform Club, though he seemedalways to avoid attracting attention; an enigmatical personage, aboutwhom little was known, except that he was a polished man of theworld. People said that he resembled Byron——at least that his headwas Byronic; but he was a bearded, tranquil Byron, who might live ona thousand years without growing old.Certainly an Englishman, it was more doubtful whether Phileas Foggwas a Londoner. He was never seen on 'Change,nor at the Bank, nor in the counting-rooms ofthe “City”; no ships ever came into Londondocks of which he was the owner;he had nopublic employment; he had never been enteredat any of the Inns of Court, either at the Temple,or Lincoln's Inn.
Around the World in Eighty Days was writtenduring difficult times both for France and forVerne. It was during the Franco-Prussian Warin which Verne was conscripted as acoastguard, he was having money difficulties（his previous works were not paid royalties）,his father had died recently and he hadwitnessed a public execution which haddisturbed him. However despite all this, Vernewas excited about his work on the new book,the idea of which came to him one afternoonin a Paris car6 while reading a newspaper.
In particular three technologicalbreakthroughs occurred in i869-7o thatmade a tourist-like around-the-world journeypossible for the first time: the completion ofthe First Transcontinental Railroad in America（x869）, the linking of the Indian railways acrossthe sub-continent （1870）, and the opening ofthe Suez Canal （1869）.