爱与奉献——《夏洛的网》赏析

文/晓菲

爱与奉献
——《夏洛的网》赏析

文/晓菲

◆原作节选◆

The Crickets

The crickets sang in the grasses.They sang the song of summer’s ending,a sad,monotonous song.“Summer is over and gone,”they sang.“Over and gone,over and gone.Summer is dying,dying.”

The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever.Even on the most beautiful days in the whole year-the days when summer is changing into fall the crickets spread the rumor of sadness and change.

Everybody heard the song of the crickets.Avery and Fern Arable heard it as they walked the dusty road.They knew that school would soon begin again. The young geese heard it and knew that they would never be little goslings again.Charlotte heard it and knew that she hadn’t much time left.Mrs. Zuckerman,at work in the kitchen,heard the crickets,and a sadness came over her,too.“Another summer gone,”she sighed.Lurvy,at work building a crate for Wilbur,heard the song and knew it was time to dig potatoes.

“Summer is over and gone.”repeated the crickets.“How many nights till frost？”sang the crickets.“Good-bye,summer,good-bye,good-bye!”

The sheep heard the crickets,and they felt so uneasy they broke a hole in the pasture fence and wandered up into the field across the road.The gander discovered the hole and led his family through,and they walked to the orchard and ate the apples that were lying on the ground.A little maple tree in the swamp heard the cricket song and turned bright red with anxiety.

Wilbur was now the center of attraction on the farm.Good food and regular hours were showing results：Wilbur was a pig any man would be proud of.One day more than a hundred people came to stand at his yard and admire him.Charlotte had written the word RADIANT,and Wilbur really looked radiant as he stood in the golden sunlight. Ever since the spider had befriended him,he had done his best to live up to his reputation.When Charlotte’s web said SOME PIG,Wilbur had tried hard to look like some pig.When Charlotte’s web said TERRIFIC,Wilbur had tried to look terrific. And now that the web said RADIANT,he did everything possible to make himself glow.

It is not easy to look radiant,but W ilbur threw himself into it with a will.He would turn his head slightly and blink his long eye-lashes.Then he would breathe deeply.And when his audience grew bored,he would spring into the air and do a back flip with a half twist.At this the crowd would yell and cheer.“How’s that for a pig？”Mr. Zuckerman would ask,well pleased with himself.“That pig is radiant.”

Some of W ilbur’s friends in the barn worriedfor fear all this attention would go to his head and make him stuck up.But it never did.Wilbur was modest;fame did not spoil him.He still worried some about the future,as he could hardly believe that a mere spider would be able to save his life. Sometimes at night he would have a bad dream.He would dream that men were coming to get him with knives and guns.But that was only a dream.In the daytime,Wilbur usually felt happy and confident.No pig ever had truer friends,and he realized that friendship is one of the most satisfying things in the world.Even the song of the crickets did not make Wilbur too sad.He knew it was almost time for the County Fair,and he was looking forward to the trip.

If he could distinguish himself at the Fair,and maybe win some prize money,he was sure Zuckerman would let him live.

Charlotte had worries of her own,but she kept quiet about them.

All that day Wilbur stayed inside,taking life easy in the straw.Charlotte rested and ate a grasshopper.She knew that she couldn’t help Wilbur much longer.In a few days she would have to drop everything and build the beautiful little sac that would hold her eggs.

蟋蟀

蟋蟀们在草丛中歌唱着。他们唱起了一曲悲伤又单调的、夏天的挽歌。“夏天去了，”他们唱，“去了，去了。夏天正在死亡，死亡。”

蟋蟀感到他们有责任警告每一个人，夏日的好时光不会永远继续下去。即使到了一年中最美丽的日子——夏即将被点染成秋的那一天——蟋蟀们也还是在传唱着这些有关悲伤与变迁的传说。

所有人都听到了蟋蟀的歌声。在尘土飞扬的路上走着的埃弗里和弗恩听到这歌声，知道学校不久就要开学了；小鹅们听到这歌声，知道他们将不再是小鹅了；夏洛听到这歌声，知道她已经没有多少剩下的时间了；在厨房工作的朱克曼太太听到这歌声，心中也不由得一阵伤感。“又一个夏天过去了，”她轻声叹息；给威尔伯做板条箱的鲁维听到这歌声，知道该挖土豆了。

“夏天去了。”蟋蟀一遍遍地哀唱，“离下霜时还剩几天？”蟋蟀凄吟：“再见了，夏天，再见了，再见了！”

绵羊听到蟋蟀的歌，感觉异常烦躁，以至竟在草场上的篱笆里撞出了一个洞，就从那里穿过小路茫然地徘徊到田野里。公鹅发现了这个洞，就领着他的一家人由此而去，走到果园去吃熟落在地上的苹果。湿地上的小枫树听到蟋蟀的歌，由于焦急使自己变得鲜红。

威尔伯现在是农场里最引人注目的。那些不断送来的美餐和定期来参观的人流足以表明这一点：威尔伯是一头令任何人都足以骄傲的猪。每天都有超过一百人在他的院子里赞美他。夏洛已经把写有“闪光”字样的网织好了。在金色阳光下的威尔伯看起来也真的闪闪发光。自从这只蜘蛛帮助他以后，他一直尽力使自己做得更好。当夏洛的网里写着“好猪”时，威尔伯努力使自己看上去像头好猪；当夏洛的网里织着“很棒”时，威尔伯又勉强使自己看起来很棒；现在那网里说“闪光”，他便尽可能去做每一件使自己闪光的事。

看上去能闪光并不容易，但威尔伯还是愿意这样去努力。他会轻轻地晃着脑袋，让他长长的睫毛闪闪颤动起来。然后他再做一个深呼吸。当他的观众看腻了这些，他就会跳起来做一个后空翻。这时人群将会大声喝彩。“那猪怎么样？”朱克曼先生会满心自豪地问别人。“那猪真是光彩照人。”

谷仓里的一些威尔伯的朋友担心他会骄傲，但他不会的。威尔伯是最谦虚的，名气不能毁了他。他现在还在为将来担心，因为他几乎不敢相信仅仅一只蜘蛛就能救他的命。有时夜里他还会做噩梦，梦见人们拿着刀子和枪来杀他。但那不过是个梦境罢了。白天，威尔伯总是感到快乐又自信。没有一头猪有过这么真诚的朋友。他意识到友谊是这世界上最令人幸福的东西之一。甚至连蟋蟀的歌也没有让威尔伯感到太悲伤。他知道他快去参加县里的展览会了，他渴望着这次旅行。如果他能在会上有卓越的表现，就可能赢得奖品，那时朱克曼更会善待他了。

夏洛则在为自己担心，但没对别人表露这一点。

那一整天，威尔伯都呆在谷仓里，享受着稻草堆里的舒适生活。夏洛休息了一会儿，吃了个蚂蚱。她知道她以后不能再帮威尔伯了。几天后她将停下手头的一切，开始造一个用来盛放她的卵的美丽的小袋了。

Tips for learning

1.w ander up：wander做不及物动词时，经常与up/at/about/into等介词搭配。此处与up搭配，意为“徘徊”。如：I wander up in a bookstore and buy nothing.

2.live up to:固定搭配，不同语境下表示不同的意思。常用意思为“遵守（诺言）；符合；不辜负(期望)”。如：1）He lived up to his prom ise till his death.2）Unfortunately,he failed to live up to his teacher’s expectation.

◆赏析◆

小说《夏洛的网》是由埃尔文·布鲁克斯·怀特（E.B.White）先生所著。怀特先生（1899—1985）出生于美国纽约州蒙特弗农市，毕业于世界著名学府康奈尔大学。作为一名颇有造诣的美国当代著名作家、评论家，怀特先生为世人留下了很多珍贵的文学作品。他特别为孩子们写了三本书：Stuart Little（《精灵鼠小弟》），Charlotte’s Web（《夏洛的网》）和The Trumpet of the Swan（《吹小号的天鹅》）。今天要为大家介绍的这部《夏洛的网》，曾被评选为“美国最伟大的十部儿童文学名著”之首。

该书用幽默的语气、朴实的文字勾画出了一个充满爱与温情的故事。体弱多病的小猪威尔伯被善良的弗恩从父亲的屠刀下救出，并被送去朱克曼家的谷仓里，开始他全新的生活。在这个大集体里，快乐地生活着一群不同类别的动物们。其中当属小猪威尔伯和蜘蛛夏洛之间的友谊最为真挚。看似并不搭界的两种动物，却应着夏洛那一句简单的诺言“我救你”，开启了动物与人类之间斗智斗勇的激烈战争。最终，夏洛以日夜不眠的决心，就着蜘蛛丝编织出了一张张震撼世人的大网。而精致细丝上折射出的文字，更是被人类叹为奇观，成功地让威尔伯摆脱了被宰割做成熏肉火腿的悲惨命运。然而此刻，夏洛的生命走到了尽头。纵使这份友情再坚固，威尔伯也改变不了残酷的现实。只能陪伴着夏洛的后代，将这份情谊无限延伸下去。

怀特先生描述的这个关于友谊的故事，之所以能够打动一代又一代读者的心，人们不仅仅是感动于夏洛如何用智慧和意志帮助了她最好的朋友威尔伯，更多的是为了友情背后蕴藏的不计回报、无私奉献，甚至付出生命来捍卫友谊的品质。

本期节选的是小说里第十五章的英文原文以及中文翻译。我们可以通过作者对夏天即将过去时农场里大家内心活动的描述，来感受夏洛想要拯救威尔伯的焦虑心情，以及威尔伯虽然深信夏洛会奋力救他，却对自己的未来茫然不知所措的复杂情绪。蟋蟀们单调而重复的歌声，警告着人们一个最美季节的离去，更寓意着一个伟大生命也即将离我们远去。无论多么不舍，无论友谊多么坚固，也挽回不了夏洛的生命。不过值得庆幸的是，正如春去秋来，四季轮回，视友情为生命的夏洛虽然离去了，但是她的子女会世代繁衍，而且必将无私奉献的精神以及仗义而智慧的优秀品质延续下去。

陈晓菲（Sherly Chen）：毕业于北京师范大学英美文学专业，获美国俄勒冈州政府奖学金赴美留学深造。精通英语，酷爱文学。愿用手中笔，记下心中爱。