重读童话：再也不是小时候的那个单纯世界

 　　Adults often find surprising subtexts in children’s literature – but are they really there? Hephzibah Anderson delves¹ into the world of Freud and fairy tales.

　　成年人经常能在儿童读物中发现令人意想不到的潜台词——但这些潜台词真的存在吗？赫弗齐芭?安德森深入探究了弗洛伊德理论和童话世界。

　　As a child many of my favourite books had food as a theme. One in particular told the story of a boy who helped save his local burger bar by becoming a gastro-sleuth to track down a lost secret ingredient.

　　小时候，我最喜欢看的是以食物为主题的书。令我印象尤为深刻的一个故事是：有一个小男孩为了拯救当地的汉堡店，从而化身为“味觉侦探”去寻找遗失的秘方。

　　重读童话：再也不是小时候的那个单纯世界

　　Long after losing track of the book and forgetting its title, I found myself in Edinburgh to interview Alexander McCall Smith. He was already the mega-selling author of The No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series, but years earlier, he had published a few children’s books. There among them on a shelf was The Perfect Hamburger.

　　很多年过去了，书已经找不到了，甚至连书名也已记不清。直到我去爱丁堡拜访亚历山大·考尔史密斯。那时他已经凭着《第一女子侦探事务所》系列小说成为了超级畅销作家，但早年，他也出版过一些儿童书籍。这些书籍在他的书架上放着，其中有一本就是《一个完美的汉堡》。

　　It was my book. Except that it wasn’t – not really. While burgers do indeed feature in lip-smacking detail, this time it was clear to me that The Perfect Hamburger is actually a tale of corporate² greed and the fate of small businesses forced to compete with big chains.

　　这就是我说的那本小说。其实不是——至少不完全是。小时候我觉得这是一个关于美味的汉堡的故事，而如今我再次读它，看到的却是一个大企业的贪婪以及小企业被迫同大型连锁店竞争的悲惨命运。

　　Revisiting kids’ books in adulthood³ can yield all sorts of weird⁴ and wonderful subtexts, some more obvious than others. How could Dr Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas be anything other than a parable⁵ of consumerism? Why would it not seem blindingly clear that CS Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia are in fact a fantastical re-imagining of Christian⁶ theology?

　　成年人重读儿童读物总会衍生出很多奇特的潜台词，而且有的尤其明显。苏斯博士的《圣诞怪杰》其实是一个消费主义的预言。而C.S.路易斯的《纳尼亚传奇》实际上是一个关于基督教神学的神奇重构。

　　Similar close readings have rendered the Paddington Bear books fables⁷ about immigration and Babar the Elephant an endorsement⁸ of French colonialism. Alice’s Wonderland adventures have been seen as everything from a paean⁹ to mathematical logic¹⁰ to a satire¹¹ about the War of the Roses or a trippy caper¹² with drugs as an underlying¹³ theme.

　　同样地，当你重新细读《小熊帕丁顿》系列丛书时，你会发现，这是关于移民问题的寓言，而《大象巴巴》则是对法国殖民主义的认可。《爱丽丝梦游仙境》的再读便会发现小说是从“对数理逻辑的赞歌”，到“玫瑰战争的讽刺”，再到“以毒品为潜在主题的迷幻剧”。

　　And what about The Little Engine That Could? You might know it as a story about trains that fosters can-do optimism, but it has also been taken as a you-go-girl feminist¹⁴ tale. (The eponymous little engine is a lady train and when she breaks down, only another female train will stop to help out.) As for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: why, it’s an allegorical representation of the debate surrounding late 19th Century US monetary¹⁵ policy, of course.

　　那么《小火车头做到了》呢？你可能会认为这是一本能够培养积极进取的乐观精神的小火车头历险故事。但它也是一个宣扬女权主义的故事。（故事中同名的小火车头是一个女孩形象，而且当她遇到故障时，只有另一辆女性火车停下来帮助她。）至于《绿野仙踪》，它就美国十九世纪后期货币政策的大争论进行了寓言式的描述。

1 delves   

v.深入探究，钻研( delve的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• That delves the grave duly. 误不了你的洞房。 来自互联网
• The exhibition delves deep into the physics, aromatics and even the timbre of flatulence. 此次展览向人们介绍了人体物理、气味甚至肠胃胀气的声音等各方面知识。 来自互联网

2 corporate   

adj.共同的，全体的；公司的，企业的

参考例句：

• This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
• His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。

3 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

4 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

5 parable   

n.寓言，比喻

参考例句：

• This is an ancient parable.这是一个古老的寓言。
• The minister preached a sermon on the parable of the lost sheep.牧师讲道时用了亡羊的比喻。

6 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

7 fables   

n.寓言( fable的名词复数 )；神话，传说

参考例句：

• Some of Aesop's Fables are satires. 《伊索寓言》中有一些是讽刺作品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Little Mexican boys also breathe the American fables. 墨西哥族的小孩子对美国神话也都耳濡目染。 来自辞典例句

8 endorsement   

n.背书；赞成，认可，担保；签(注)，批注

参考例句：

• We are happy to give the product our full endorsement.我们很高兴给予该产品完全的认可。
• His presidential campaign won endorsement from several celebrities.他参加总统竞选得到一些社会名流的支持。

9 paean   

n.赞美歌，欢乐歌

参考例句：

• She struck up the first paean on the grand piano.她开始在那架大钢琴上演奏起第一首颂歌。
• The novel is a paean to the end of empire.该小说奏响了一个帝国落寞的赞歌。

10 logic   

n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性

参考例句：

• What sort of logic is that?这是什么逻辑？
• I don't follow the logic of your argument.我不明白你的论点逻辑性何在。

11 satire   

n.讽刺，讽刺文学，讽刺作品

参考例句：

• The movie is a clever satire on the advertising industry.那部影片是关于广告业的一部巧妙的讽刺作品。
• Satire is often a form of protest against injustice.讽刺往往是一种对不公正的抗议形式。

12 caper   

v.雀跃，欢蹦；n.雀跃，跳跃；续随子，刺山柑花蕾；嬉戏

参考例句：

• The children cut a caper in the yard.孩子们在院子里兴高采烈地乱蹦乱跳。
• The girl's caper cost her a twisted ankle.小姑娘又蹦又跳，结果扭伤了脚踝。

13 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

14 feminist   

adj.主张男女平等的，女权主义的

参考例句：

• She followed the feminist movement.她支持女权运动。
• From then on,feminist studies on literature boomed.从那时起，男女平等受教育的现象开始迅速兴起。

15 monetary   

adj.货币的，钱的；通货的；金融的；财政的

参考例句：

• The monetary system of some countries used to be based on gold.过去有些国家的货币制度是金本位制的。
• Education in the wilderness is not a matter of monetary means.荒凉地区的教育不是钱财问题。