If people are buying a book, it must be good, right? Or when it comes to modern ones, they could just have a good marketing campaign, in which case we should reward those who came up with it anyway. Let's have a look on top ten books that made a killing and sort them based on the number of sold copies:
人们买书，总是买好的书，对吧？也许会买些仅仅是营销做得好的书，那就当是给想出这主意的人的酬谢吧。下面列出了10本最成功的书，以销量排序。

1. The Lord of the Rings, Author: J. R. R. Tolkien
《指环王》，作者：约翰.罗纳尔多.鲁埃尔. 托尔金

# of sold copies: 150 million
售出：1.5亿本

First edition: 1954
第一版： 1954

Although this series has become even more famous after being filmed, it's fair to say that the tale of Middle Earth is an ingenious work of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. It reaches deep inside of us and plays on our imagination, wishes and inspiration.
尽管魔戒系列在拍成电影后更加有名了，不得不说这个中土传说是托尔金的天才之作。它触及了我们的内心深处，激发了我们的想象，愿望和灵感。

The story of one little hobbit named Frodo Baggins succeeding where immortal elves or noble kings have failed gives us a very truthful message that literally nothing is impossible. Tolkien did a wonderful job in creating a living world and it will take a long time before his legacy is forgotten - if it will ever come to that.
这个故事讲述了一个叫弗罗多巴金斯的霍比特小矮人做到了精灵或者国王都没能做到的事，给我们的启示就是，没有什么是不可能的。托尔金创建的这个精彩的中土世界，人们即使过了很长时间都不会忘了它 - 如果有一天真的会忘的话。

2. Dream of the Red Chamber, Author: Cao Xueqin
《红楼梦》，作者：曹雪芹

# of sold copies: 100 million
售出：1亿本

First edition: 1759
第一版：1759

Let's not forget that China is indeed a big country and consequently, so being successful on the Chinese market has its charms. Although I personally never heard about this book in particular before, the numbers do not lie and over one hundred million sold copies seized the second place in our list.
别忘了中国是个大国，《红楼梦》在中国市场上如此的成功自有它的魅力。尽管我个人之前从没听说过这本书，数字是不会骗人的，1亿多本的销量使它排在第二的位置。

Dream of the Red Chamber is one of the Four Great Classical Novels, as they call them in China. It depicts traditional Chinese cuisine, mythology, proverbs etc. It is based on the author's own experience with the Chinese aristocracy in the 18th century.
红楼梦是中国四大名著之一， 它描述了中国传统的饮食，神话，格言等等。是18世纪作者根据自己在贵族社会的经历而写成的。

3. And Then There Were None，Author: Agatha Christie
《无人生还》，作者：阿加莎 克里斯蒂

# of sold copies: 100 million
售出：1亿本

First edition: 1939
第一版：1939

It's hardly a surprise that Agatha Christie as one of the best authors of detective novels out there made it to our top ten books list. She is well known for her excellent plots and surprising endings. She created a bit of a fuss by originally calling this book "Ten Little Niggers" - the name was changed to the current And Then There Were None so that it is not offensive towards Afro-Americans.
作为最好的侦探小说家之一的阿加莎克里斯蒂，她的书在我们前十的名单中并不意外。她的书以优秀的情节和意外的结局而闻名。 该书最初的名字叫《十个小黑人》，这给她带来了些麻烦。- 后来书名改成了《无人生还》,这样就不会有冒犯非裔美国人之嫌了。（译者注：Niggers在美国黑人中是个非常忌讳的词）

And what's going on in this book? Simply put, ten people of different social classes are invited to an island where they are accused of murders and they start dying, one by one - but you'll have to read it yourself, we all know it's a bad idea to talk about plots too much when it comes to detective stories.
这本书到底讲了什么？简单的说，就是10个来自不同阶层的人被邀请到一个岛上，在那里，他们被指控谋杀，开始一个一个的死去 - 你得自己去看，讨论过多的情节对侦探小说来说可不是个好主意，你懂得。

4. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Author: C. S. Lewis
《狮子，女巫和衣橱》（《纳尼亚传奇》），作者：C·S·路易斯

# of sold copies: 85 million
售出：8500万本

First edition: 1950
第一版：1950

C.S.Lewis has provided us with another grand tale of unusual heroes. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe is but one part of a gigantic masterpiece describing a strange world full of magic and strange creatures somehow co-existing with our own.
C·S·路易斯给了我们另一个不寻常英雄的宏伟故事。《狮子，女巫和衣橱》只是这部庞大的杰作的一部分，描述了这样一个奇怪的世界，里面充满了魔力，还有一些奇怪的半人半兽的生物。

4 siblings named Peter, Edmund, Susan and Lucy enter the world of Narnia through a wardrobe, only to find out that they are both persona non grata and expected saviors. In case you were thinking that Chronicles of Narnia and LOTR are a bit similar at times, keep in mind that Lewis and Tolkien were very close friends, in fact Lewis helped Tolkien with a few passages in LOTR.
4姐妹皮特，埃德蒙，苏珊和露西通过衣橱进入了纳尼亚的世界,发现他们不受欢迎却又被某些动物当成救世主。如果你碰巧发现纳尼亚和指环王的年代有点相似，别忘了路易斯和托尔金是很好的朋友，事实上路易斯还帮助托尔金写过指环王的几个章节。

5. The Da Vinci Code, Author: Dan Brown
《达芬奇密码》，作者：丹·布朗

# of sold copies: 80 million
售出：8千万本

First edition: 2003
第一版： 2003

Having a successful book release in the 21st century no longer depends simply on writing a good book, but also on the marketing and distributing channels. Dan Brown and his team obviously managed that, because selling 80 million copies over 7 years is simply remarkable.
在21世纪，新书要成功上市，不仅要写得好，市场营销和分销渠道也是很重要的。丹布朗的团队显然深谙此道，7年多售出8千万本确实很了不起。

The Da Vinci Code is a mysterious story depicting a cohesion between Catholic religious beliefs and the modern world. You should fasten your seat belts before you start reading it, because the pace is quick and you could easily get off track!
《达芬奇密码》是一本关于现代社会中天主教信仰的神秘小说。你在读之前最好坐稳了，因为它的节奏很快，你一不小心就会跟不上。

6. The Alchemist, Author: Paulo Coelho
《炼金术师》，作者：保罗 科埃略

# of sold copies: 65 million
售出：6千5百万本

First edition: 1988
第一版：1988

"When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you achieve it". I don't know how does the original in Portugese sound, so the translation will have to suffice. The point is that Paulo Coelho tells us that if you want something real badly, you shall have it.
“如果你想要什么， 整个宇宙都会帮你得到”。我不知道在葡萄牙原话是怎么说的，但基本上就是这个意思。重点是，保罗科埃略告诉我们，如果你真的十分想要某样东西，你应该拥有它。

The Alchemist tells a story of a young shepherd boy who overcomes love and danger on his quest for a treasure. Apparently, the story is so good that it had to be translated into 67 languages and breaking a Guiness record in translations for a living author.
《炼金术师》讲述了一个牧羊男孩克服了爱情和危险去探寻宝藏的故事，很显然，这个故事非常的棒以至于被翻译成了67种语言，也创造了现世作家作品被翻译的吉尼斯纪录。

What might especially young people find very appealing is that Paulo Coelho encourages people to use peer to peer networks, because he perfectly understands that people are honest and they will pay for good work - eventually.
保罗 科埃略鼓励人们使用p2p网络技术，因为他完全相信人们是诚实的，他们最终会用在好好工作上，对于年轻人来说，这点让他显得更加有魅力。

7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Author: J. K. Rowling
《哈利波特和死亡圣器》，作者：J·K·罗琳

# of sold copies: 44 million
售出：4千4百万本

First edition: 2007
第一版：2007

Yet another fairy tale made it to our list, people might like fairy tales after all... anyway, a lot of children around the world grew up on the stories about Harry, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and Hogwarts. As expected, the final piece of the Harry Potter puzzle with its quite original name Deathly Hallows was quite successful.
我们榜单中的另一个神话故事，也许人们毕竟还是喜欢神话故事的……不管怎样，世界上许多的孩子都是伴随着哈利波特，那个连名字都不能提的魔头，还有霍格沃茨的故事长大的。 《死亡圣器》作为哈利波特系列的最后一部，就像人们期待的一样，非常的成功。

Only time will tell whether the Harry Potter series has the qualities of say Lord of the Rings or it will fade with the upcoming seasons. On the other hand, no one can deny Miss Rowling a great impact on both children and their parents - that has to count for something...
只有时间知道哈利波特是否会和指环王一样优秀，或者会渐渐被淡忘。但是，没有人能否认罗琳女士对孩子和父母的带来的影响 - 这已经很了不起了。

8. War and Peace, Author: Leo Tolstoy
《战争与和平》，作者：列夫·托尔斯泰

# of sold copies: 36 million (in the USSR)
售出：3千6百万本（苏联）

First edition: 1869
第一版：1869

Leo Tolstoy, a Russian writer, decided to demonstrate his beliefs that there is some greater power forming our history. Along with the fact he didn't like popular history and being a war veteran, he then wrote one of the largest and most popular novels in the world literature, War and Peace.
列夫 托尔斯泰，一个决心要证明历史是由某种超力量形成的俄罗斯作家。由于不喜欢通俗史，并且当过兵，他写下了文学史上最流行的长篇小说之一，《战争与和平》。

This jewel among books is divided in four volumes, each being a follow up of the previous one. War and Peace has indeed a lot of characters, both fictional and real historic figures. The plot is set in the beginning of the 19th century when Napoleon invades Russia.
该书分为4卷，每卷的情节相互衔接。战争与和平描写了很多人物，有虚构的或真实的历史人物。 故事的背景设在19世纪拿破仑开始入侵俄罗斯时。

Interesting fact is that although War and Peace is clearly a Russian literature from a Russian author, parts of the book are written in French - probably because most of the story is focused on 5 noble families and nobility in Russia used to speak French in that particular era.
有趣的是，这本由俄罗斯人写的俄罗斯小说，部分的章节却是在法国写的 - 可能因为大部分的故事都是围绕5个贵族家庭的，当时，俄罗斯的贵族习惯于说法语。

9. Think and Grow Rich, Author: Napoleon Hill
《思考致富》，作者：拿破仑·希尔

# of sold copies: 30 million
售出：3千万本

First edition: 1937
第一版：1937

There are tons of motivational books these days. Some are better, some are worse and it's up to you to choose the one that can really help you. Think and Grow Rich is probably a safe bet, because it takes a bit of ingenuity to write something everybody knows these days - only 70 years ahead.
如今，励志书数不胜数，有好有坏，选择一本对你有用的完全取决于你自己。 《思考致富》可能是比较靠谱的选择，因为它天才般的把目前大家都知道的东西写了出来 - 只是提早了70年而已。

The best way how to become successful is to find out what others did before success came to them - and that's exactly what Napoleon Hill did. According to his mentor's (A. Carnegie) advice, he studied the life paths of 16 wealthy individuals and pointed out their steps to victory.
成功最好的方式是知道别人是如何成功的 - 拿破仑就是这么做的。根据导师的建议，他研究了16个成功人士的生活道路并得出了他们的成功方式。

If you're looking for personal development tools, Think and Grow Rich should be on the top of your priorities.
如果你在寻求个人发展工具，《思考致富》应该是你的首选。

10. Nineteen Eighty-Four, Author: George Orwell
《1984》，作者：乔治 奥威尔

# of sold copies: 25 million
售出：2千5百万

First edition:1949
第一版：1949

History has shown us that mankind is capable of both terrible and good things and it's a matter of conscience which side prevails. George Orwell took the liberty to tell us how what the world look like if despotic and oppressive regimes took the upper hand.
历史已经告诉我们人类既能变得很好也能变得很坏，取决于良心站在哪边。乔治奥威尔大胆的告诉我们在专横暴虐的政权下这个世界会变成怎样。

In the imaginary year 1984 the Earth is divided among three major nations which constantly wage war against each other. The main character named Winston Smith lives in Oceania ruled by one party - called The Party. Everything is scarce, basic human right and emotions are constantly being twisted and above all, The Big Brother is always watching.
故事中的1984年，地球上有3个主要的国家，相互间经常打仗。 主人公温斯顿史密斯生活在一个被Party政党掌权的太平洋群岛上。 任何东西都是稀缺的，基本的人权和情感经常被扭曲，最重要的是，独裁者一直都在盯着你。

Although 1984 is quite gloomy and despairing, we have to acknowledge that it's still in our "grasp" to create such a scenario. It needed to be said out loud in order to realize how absurd and sick such totalitarian practices are.
尽管《1984》是十分黑暗和令人绝望的，我们得感谢我们还能够写这么一段简介。它需要大声说出来让人们明白极权主义是多么的荒谬和病态。