Brief introduction to Grimm's Fairy Tales

湖北孝感市综合高级中学 曹文英

背景导读

《儿童与家庭童话集》，俗称《格林童话》，是德国格林兄弟出版的一部著名童话集，首版出版于1812年。全书共收录童话200余则，大部分源自民间的口头传说，其中的《灰姑娘》《白雪公主》《小红帽》《青蛙王子》等童话故事较为闻名。

《格林童话》是世界童话的经典之作，自问世以来，在世界各地影响十分广泛。格林兄弟以其丰富的想象、优美的语言给孩子们讲述了一个个神奇而又浪漫的童话故事。在中国、日本也有根据《格林童话》创作的故事集。

《格林童话》内容广泛、体裁多样，除了童话外，还有民间故事、笑话、寓言等。

情景对话

Sean:It's my nephew's birthday next week and I have no idea what to get him.You've got kids;any suggestions?

Jennifer:How old is he?

Sean:He's going to be 6.

Jennifer:Oh，you can't go wrong with a book.How about Grimm's Fairy Tales?

Sean:What's it about?

Jennifer:You haven't heard of it?

Sean:Nope.

Jennifer:I bet you have but you just don't realize.It's a famous collection of German fairy tales.It was first published back in 1812 by the Grimm brothers.

Sean:So did the Grimm brothers write the stories?

Jennifer:No，they were German academics and they collected folk lore and mythologies that had been passed from generation to generation in Germany.However，they did rewrite the tales to make them less gruesome and more palatable to the tastes of the time.

Sean:So they made them less violent?

Jennifer:Well，not necessarily.They changed things like evil mothers，who they changed to stepmothers and they removed sexual references but in some ways the violence was increased，especially when it came to punishing the villains.

Sean:Wow，are they really suitable for children?

Jennifer:Yeah，it's fine.Kids love them when the bad guys get their comeuppance.

Sean:So what are the stories like?

Jennifer:I guarantee you have heard of some of them.Things like Snow White， Hansel and Gretel，Rapunzel...

Sean:Oh，so Disney type stuff.That's fine.I thought you were talking about horror stories or something!

Jennifer:Well，some of the stories have been turned into movies by Disney but the original stories are more attractive.The cartoons don't really do them justice.It really is best to read them because then you can use your imagination rather than having the images dictated to you by Disney.

Sean:I like the Disney movies.They're good fun.I've seen quite a few with my nephew.

Jennifer:Oh， the book is much， much better.If you get it for your nephew,you'll definitely be his favourite uncle!

Sean:Hmm，I'm not sure about that.I've heard that his other uncle is going to buy him an Xbox!

译文助读

肖恩：下星期是我侄子的生日，我也不知道该送给他什么礼物。你有孩子，能给我一点建议吗？

珍妮弗：他多大呢？

肖恩：他马上就6岁了。

珍妮弗：噢，那买一本书准没错。《格林童话》怎么样？

肖恩：是关于什么的？

珍妮弗：你没听说过吗？

肖恩：没有。

珍妮弗：我敢肯定你听说过，只是你没意识到而已。它是一本著名的德国童话故事集，于1812年由格林兄弟首次出版的。

肖恩：那么那些故事是格林兄弟写的吗？

珍妮弗：不是的，他们是德国学者，收集在德国代代相传的民间文学和传说。然而他们确实改写了那些故事，使故事变得不那么吓人，也更符合当时人们的审美品位。

肖恩：所以他们减少了那些故事中的暴力色彩，对吗？

珍妮弗：嗯，那也不一定。他们把邪恶的母亲之类的人物改成了继母，并且删除了一些性暗示的部分，不过有些部分的暴力色彩却增加了，尤其是在描述惩罚坏人的时候。

肖恩：哇，那这些故事真的适合小孩子读吗？

珍妮弗：适合呀，这没关系的。小孩子喜欢听到坏人获得应有的惩罚。

肖恩：那都是些什么样的故事呢？

珍妮弗：我保证你听过。比如，《白雪公主》《汉赛尔和格雷特尔》《莴苣姑娘》……

肖恩：噢，是迪士尼一类的故事呀。那挺好的，我还以为你说的是恐怖故事之类的呢！

珍妮弗：嗯，其中的一些故事已经被迪士尼制作成了电影，不过原著的故事更吸引人。动画片没有完全再现原著的故事。所以最好还是去读一读，因为你可以发挥自己的想象力，而不用被动地接受迪士尼所制作的形象。

肖恩：我喜欢迪士尼的电影。它们都很有意思。我和我的侄子去看过好几部呢。

珍妮弗：噢，那本书可比电影好多了。如果你送一本给你的侄子，那么你会成为他最爱的叔叔！

肖恩：嗯，我也不确定会不会那样。我听说他的另一个叔叔要给他买一个Xbox游戏机！

阅读扫障

1.gruesome adj.可怕的；令人毛骨悚然的

2.palatable adj.可接受的

3.villain n.坏人；恶棍

4.comeuppance n.应得的惩罚；因果报应

5.folk lore民间文学

6.do justice公正对待