鲁迅作品来译介的原因，而更重要的还在于鲁迅小说的社会价值和认识价值。王际真在导言中做了这样的说明：“在鲁迅的这几篇小说中，读者将通过中国现代最伟大的一位文学家的锐敏和透彻的目光观察中国。这里，读者找不出故作姿态的怜悯（它的骨子里多半是屈尊俯就的傲气），也看不到作为阿Q主义标记的自我辩解和自卑感，鲁迅并不努力显得高雅，他也不着意于粉饰中国的弱点或者掩盖甚至抹杀她身上的创伤。”对于西方人来说，了解现代中国固然可以有多种途径，而阅读鲁迅的小说无疑是最为简便易行并且会大有收获的途径。

选集中的这11篇小说的译文都曾以单篇的形式在美国和中国的英文刊物上发表，但在收入本集时都做了一定程度的修订。我们以《伤逝》为例，这篇译文曾发表在上海的《天下月刊》（T'ien Hsia Monthly）第11卷（1940年8—9月）。在《伤逝》中有一段话描写涓生的心理活动，很能代表鲁迅对于爱情和人生的思考：

那里虽然没有书给我看，却还有安闲容得我想。待到孤身枯坐，回忆从前，这才觉得大半年来，只为了爱，——盲目的爱，——而将别的人生的要义全盘疏忽了。第一，便是生活。人必生活着，爱才有所附丽。世界上并非没有为了奋斗者而开的活路；我也还未忘却翅子的扇动，虽然比先前已经颓唐得多……。

《天下月刊》上这一段的译文是这样的：

Though there were no books that I wanted to read, I did find quiet and a chance to think, and then I realized that I had during the past seven or eight months, overlooked because of love—a blind love—the meaning and significance of human existence.The most important thing is life.One must live in order to embody love.It is not that there is in the world no road to life for those who are willing to make the struggle and I had not yet forgotten how to flap my wings, though somewhat less effectively than before...

《阿Q及其他——鲁迅小说选集》中修订为：

Though there were no books that I cared to read, I did find the atmosphere quiet and conducive to meditation.As I sat in the reading room and reviewed the past, I realized that during the past seven or eight months I had neglected—because of love, this blind love—other things in life just as important.The first of these is life itself, which is necessary for the embodiment of love and without which love cannot exist.There are still in this world roads to life for those who are willing to make the struggle, and I had not yet forgotten how to flap my wings, though I had become so much more ineffectual than I used to be.

细读这前后两份译文不难发现，后者显然更加忠实于原文，原文“待到孤身枯坐，回忆从前”在前一段中没有翻译出来，而在后一段中落实为“As I sat in the reading room and reviewed the past”；前文用“the meaning and significance of human existence”来翻译“别的人生的要义”也不够准确，特别是没有翻译出“别的”这层意思，后译用“other things in life”则要好得多。另外用neglect代替原来的overlook也更接近于“全盘疏忽”的原文表达。从这个例子可以