美国国家公共电台 NPR A Very Happy 50th Birthday To 'The Very Hungry Caterpillar'

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

One of the most beloved picture books in the world is turning 50...

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ERIC CARLE: (Reading) In the light of the moon, a little egg lay on a leaf.

MARTIN: ..."The Very Hungry Caterpillar¹," read there by author Eric Carle. Since the book's publication in 1969, it has sold almost 50 million copies, been translated into over 60 languages, adapted to television stage and song.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR SONG")

MATT REVER: (Singing) I'm a caterpillar. I'm a caterpillar. I'm very hungry...

MARTIN: NPR's Neda Ulaby has more.

NEDA ULABY, BYLINE²: The caterpillar in Eric Carle's illustrations is a fuzzy squiggle, with emerald eyes and an oval, vermillion head. He nearly started as a very hungry worm, but a very clever editor made the author change it. Today, Eric Carle is almost 90, too frail³ for an interview, but there's a 2012 online video of Carle reading the book.

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CARLE: (Reading) On Saturday, he ate through one piece of chocolate cake, one ice-cream cone⁴, one pickle⁵, one slice of Swiss cheese, one slice of salami, one lollipop⁶, one...

ULABY: The lollipop, the salami and the caterpillar shine on the page. They're collages⁷ of layered and painted tissue paper. Michelle Martin is a professor at the University of Washington who studies children's literature. She says the author's simple, resonant⁸ language helps kids grasp concepts like numbers and the days of the week and unfamiliar⁹ words. Martin recently read the book with her 4-year-old niece.

MICHELLE MARTIN: And when she got to salami, it stopped her because, you know, she knew about sausage, she knew about hot dogs, but she didn't know what salami was.

ULABY: That's literacy-building. Eric Carle wanted his book to evoke¹⁰ the joy he remembered as a child making art with big paint brushes and bright colors and walking through nature with his dad. But Carle's immigrant family moved from the U.S. back home to Germany in the 1930s because his mother was homesick. His childhood was defined by the violence of World War II and physical punishment by teachers. As a young man, Carle returned to the U.S. and worked in advertising¹¹ before switching to picture books. He wanted, he said, to make childhood sweeter.

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CARLE: (Reading) On Wednesday, he ate three plums. But he was still hungry.

LIAM CICHOWICZ: Three plums.

ULABY: Childhood is sweeter for a 3-year-old named Liam Cichowicz (ph), thanks to "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" and his very patient dad.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: He ate through how many strawberries?

CICHOWICZ: Four strawberries.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: But he was still hungry.

ULABY: Little kids can stick their fingers through holes in the book's pages, as if a caterpillar tunneled through the story. It makes the book a bridge between a book and a toy. Eric Carle wanted "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" to be a literary cocoon¹² for a child getting ready for kindergarten, with a happy ending.

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UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) He was a beautiful butterfly.

ULABY: As in this recent video version, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" tells little kids they can fly.

Neda Ulaby, NPR News.

1 caterpillar   

n.毛虫，蝴蝶的幼虫

参考例句：

• A butterfly is produced by metamorphosis from a caterpillar.蝴蝶是由毛虫脱胎变成的。
• A caterpillar must pass through the cocoon stage to become a butterfly.毛毛虫必须经过茧的阶段才能变成蝴蝶。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 frail   

adj.身体虚弱的；易损坏的

参考例句：

• Mrs. Warner is already 96 and too frail to live by herself.华纳太太已经九十六岁了，身体虚弱，不便独居。
• She lay in bed looking particularly frail.她躺在床上，看上去特别虚弱。

4 cone   

n.圆锥体，圆锥形东西，球果

参考例句：

• Saw-dust piled up in a great cone.锯屑堆积如山。
• The police have sectioned off part of the road with traffic cone.警察用锥形路标把部分路面分隔开来。

5 pickle   

n.腌汁，泡菜；v.腌，泡

参考例句：

• Mother used to pickle onions.妈妈过去常腌制洋葱。
• Meat can be preserved in pickle.肉可以保存在卤水里。

6 lollipop   

n.棒棒糖

参考例句：

• The child put out his tongue and licked his lollipop.那孩子伸出舌头舔着棒棒糖。
• I ate popcorn,banana and lollipop.我吃了爆米花、香蕉和棒棒糖。

7 collages   

n.拼贴画( collage的名词复数 )；杂烩

参考例句：

• My work includes mixed media, paintings and digital collages. 我的工作包括混合媒介，绘画和数码拼贴。 来自互联网
• I love making photo collages. 我喜欢做照片拼贴。 来自互联网

8 resonant   

adj.(声音)洪亮的，共鸣的

参考例句：

• She has a resonant voice.她的嗓子真亮。
• He responded with a resonant laugh.他报以洪亮的笑声。

9 unfamiliar   

adj.陌生的，不熟悉的

参考例句：

• I am unfamiliar with the place and the people here.我在这儿人地生疏。
• The man seemed unfamiliar to me.这人很面生。

10 evoke   

vt.唤起，引起，使人想起

参考例句：

• These images are likely to evoke a strong response in the viewer.这些图像可能会在观众中产生强烈反响。
• Her only resource was the sympathy she could evoke.她以凭借的唯一力量就是她能从人们心底里激起的同情。

11 advertising   

n.广告业；广告活动 a.广告的；广告业务的

参考例句：

• Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
• The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。

12 cocoon   

n.茧

参考例句：

• A cocoon is a kind of silk covering made by an insect.蚕茧是由昆虫制造的一种由丝组成的外包层。
• The beautiful butterfly emerged from the cocoon.美丽的蝴蝶自茧中出现。