有一位牛津大学的讲座教授霍克思(David
Hawks)，竟然不惜辞去职务，专心埋首于全部《红楼梦》的英译。他的译笔功力深邃，英文写得非常流畅。
请先欣赏霍克斯在《红楼梦》英译本自序中的最后一段感人的话：
"My one abiding principle has been to translate everything-even
puns. For although this is ,in the sense I have already indicated,
an 'unfinished' novel, it was written (and written) by a great
artist with his very life blood. I have therefore assumed that
whatever I find in it is there for a purpose and must be dealt with
somehow or other, I cannot pretend always to have done so
successfully, but if I can convey to the reader even a fraction of
the pleasure this Chinese novel given me , I shall not have lived
in vain."
第二十三回“西厢记妙词通戏语 牡丹亭艳曲惊芳心”林黛玉细读《西厢记》的片段：
“从头看去，越看越爱，不顿饭时，已看了好几出了。但觉词句警入，余香满口。一面看了只管出神。心内还默默记诵。“曹氏这种芊绵绮丽的文字，同样值得默默记诵。大家不妨试译这段短文，下文我会摘录霍氏的英译供你们观赏研习。
霍克思的译文：
"The more she read, the more she liked it, and before very long
she had read several acts, She felt the power of the words and
their lingering fragrance. Long after she had finished reading.
When she had laid down the book and was sitting there rapt and
silent, the lines continued to ring on in her head."
十一回，凤姐与尤氏谈论秦可卿的病情：
“凤姐听了，眼圈儿红了一会子，方说道：'天有不测风云，人有旦夕祸福，这点年纪，倘或因这病上有个长短，人生在世，还有什么趣儿呢！”
霍克思的译文：
"Xi feng's eyes became moist and for a moment she was too overcome to speak. ' I know "the weather and human life are both unpredictable,"' she said at last,'but she's only a child still.
If anything should happen to her as a result of this
illness, I think all the fun would go out of life!'"
贾宝玉与袭人的一段对话：
“宝玉听了这话，见她脸上气色非往日可比，便笑道：‘怎么又动了气呢？’袭人冷笑道：‘我那里敢动气呢？只是你从今别进这屋子了。横竖有人服待你，再不必支使我，我仍旧服侍老太太去。’”
霍克思的译文：
"The expression on her face as she uttered these words was
angrier than he had ever seen her look before. “He laughed. "'Oh
dear! Are you in a rage again?" "Aroma laughed mirthlessly.
"'It's not for the likes of me to get into rages, But I wish that
from now on you would stop coming into this room, After all, you
have got people to wait on you elsewhere . You don't really need my
services. I shall back to serving Her Old Ladyship, like I used
before.'"
青春就应该这样绽放 游戏测试：三国时期谁是你最好的兄弟！！ 你不得不信的星座秘密