奇想英文书世界|美国少年的书单

这是一本写给成年人的书，很多大道理，只有做过孩子又在成年人游戏规则里打拼过的人回望过去才真的明白。那么读一下名句，体会一下又纯真又深邃的名作魅力。小王子的名句选读。

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.

Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them

One only understands the things that one tames,” said the fox. “Men have

no more time to understand anything. They buy things all ready made at the shops. But there is no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends anymore. If you want a friend, tame me. .

If you love a flower which happens to be on a star, it is sweet at night to gaze at the sky. All the stars are a riot of flowers.

It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, then you are indeed a man of true wisdom.

For to conceited men, all other men are admirers.

Growing up is not the problem, forgetting is.

高居纽约时报畅销榜5年，连续140周排第一！2015年时代杂志推荐给未成年人的最优秀百部小说之一。硬心肠的我在飞机上看电影不顾形象眼泪涟涟。必须推荐。

Wonder is a book by RJ Palacio centered around the story of a boy named August Pullman. August, or Auggie as everyone calls him, is ten years old。 He is ordinary in every way, enjoying ordinary things, talking like an ordinary kid. But he doesn’t look ordinary. He was born with distorted facial features that either scared or disgusted by people around him. Because of this, he can’t go to regular school and has been homeschooled by his mom. The story starts when he is about to join middle school, as he has to blend into society as a grown-up boy, and his mom has to go back to her own career.

Aussie生来脸部变形，人人见了他都害怕，从小只在家里跟妈妈一起学习，现在就要去上中学了，他的家庭和他自己都非常紧张，故事就是从这里展开的。

As expected, when he goes to school, he causes a stir. Kids and teachers alike stare at him, and one boy, Julian, goes so far to start leaving mean notes in his locker and to spread a nasty game where anyone who touches him has to wash their hands, otherwise they’ll end up looking like him. Auggie is very upset. But he is smart, and a tough boy, and he tries to make friends.

一个有生理缺陷的男孩子在中学里受到了来自方方面面的好奇和惧怕不说，还被其他男孩子欺负。在这样的环境里你是躲起来，还是勇敢做你自己，小英雄Aussie有自己的办法。

Thankfully, Auggie wins friendship from his new found friends Jack and Summer in school. And he gradually wins more respect from other kids as he has a big heart internally and they begin to see his personality, not just his looks. Luckily, he has his family to stand by him as always whenever he feels lost and sad.  They encourage him to be brave and stand tall, and Auggie does.

听上去，这是一个线索简单，有关突破自我的励志故事，但是，绝不仅仅如此。能够把我这么硬心肠的都弄哭了的一定另有原因。Aussie 经历的只是这本小说的主要线索。

Wonder begins from Auggie's point of view, but soon switches to include the perspectives of his classmates, his sister, her boyfriend, and others. As a community, everybody lives in and has his or her own struggle that others probably cannot see from outside. We only see a fragment of a whole person.

这才是这篇小说感人置身的原因。每个人都有自己的挣扎，自己的故事，和自己看到的事实，那并非全部。所以由此，引出了这篇小说真正想说的。

This book’s message is to always be kind. Kindness can help people get through so much. The kindness shown to Auggie, to his family, has helped him get through so much. Wonder emphasizes the fact that one small act of kindness can make a big difference in the lives of others, and that we always have the ability to choose kind.

Very well said, this book teaches us what is empathy, compassion, friendship, and ultimately, what is kindness.

介绍一本主题深刻复杂的短篇小说，1962年诺贝尔文学奖获得者美国作家John Steinbeck的是这样说的，In every bit of honest writing in the world there is a base theme（主题）. Try to understand men, if you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man well never leads to hate and nearly always leads to love。。。。Try to understand each other.这是作者的写作思想，每一个人都值得理解。那么我们来看看小说是怎样来表达这些。今天介绍小说的是高中生Stella，这部小说是9年级时候的学校英文课指定阅读书。

Set during the Great Depression（大萧条） in America, two men, George and Lennie, are in search of a job. Lennie suffers from some kind of mental disorder （精神错乱）and has a childlike disposition（孩童一样） which contrasts（对比） with his physical strength（身体强壮）. He likes soft things like bunnies（兔子）. Although George complains about having to take care of Lennie, he genuinely cares for his friend.Their dream is to own their own farm.

They finally find a farm job in California, where they meet Curley, a jealous and violent man who declares that no man may set eyes on his wife. His wife, however, is flirtatious. This woman has no name in the novel, in fact, her only role was to portray 描画 the symbol of danger towards Lennie. Towards the end of novel, Lennie accidentally kills her and runs off.

George understands that Lennie would suffer from a horrible torture 折磨 before his death by Curley and his men. Out of mercy出于仁慈, he kills his best friend Lennie by shooting him in the back of his head.

Wow, what a sad and dramatic 戏剧化 ending 结局! 

The world is tough; people like Lennie would have an especially hard time with life. He would have a hard time finding a job, and  he also loses jobs quickly. He harms and angers people without meaning to. He kills a woman tragically and he has no place to escape 逃脱 his destiny命运. His life is a tragedy  even though he holds such a nice and simple dream in his heart. George cared greatly for Lennie, but he had to live with the terrible burden 沉重的负担of killing his best friend. There was no happy ending and George understood that there was no better choice, that things would not get better and he only spared Lennie from a worse fate. Even so, the fact that he killed Lennie by his own hand makes George feel very sad.

猫战士系列书适合10岁左右孩子性格特点。奇幻，想象，历险，友谊，忠诚，了解宠物猫世界以外的野生猫世界。 

Warrior Cats is the series we will talk about today. Warrior Cats is actually multiple series in the same fictional fantasy （想象）world with slight connections to each other. The original series （原系列）is called “The Prophecies（预言） Begin” and introduces us to the main character Rusty, who is a pet cat. Then we meet the clans（族）, the wild cats who live in the forest and have their own way of life. He joins them and many adventures begin, starting with Rusty taking on a new “warrior” name. Warriors are the cats in the clans who fight against the other clans, hunt, and generally keep the other cats safe and healthy. This main character, Rusty, or Fireheart as he is later called when he receives his warrior name, shows up a few more times as well in the later series’. The Warrior Cats are a very imaginative group of books and teaches us the importance of friendship, loyalty忠诚, love, and adventure历险. Mainly though it is a children’s book series, enjoyable to read about and imagine wild cats having their own lifestyles 生活方式far away from humankind人类. This series contains 16 books, and you could start from any of them.

小说主题：守望纯真，拒绝成长，疏离于虚伪成年世界。

“I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff—I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I’d do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all.”

“The best thing, though, in that museum was that everything always stayed right where it was. Nobody’d move. . . . Nobody’d be different. The only thing that would be different would be you. ” 

“Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.”

“Yes, sir. I know it is. I know it.”

Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right—I’ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot-shots, then what’s a game about it? Nothing. No game.

塞林格的小说是天才性的小说，开辟了一种新的小说语言和写法。今天讲讲语言，下次说主题很内容。

Quote1: 

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”

Quote2: 

“In my mind, I’m probably the biggest sex maniac you ever saw. Sometimes I can think of very crumby stuff I wouldn’t mind doing if the opportunity came up. I can even see how it might be quite a lot of fun, in a crumby way. . . . The thing is, though, I don’t like the idea. It stinks, if you analyze it. 

Quote3: 

He started going into this nodding routine. You never saw anybody nod as much in your life as old Spencer did. You never knew if he was nodding a lot because he was thinking and all, or just because he was a nice old guy that didn’t know his ass from his elbow.

Stream of consciousness: 意识流

First Person Narrative 第一人称叙事

Crap：廉价垃圾废物

Cultivated taste：被培养的品味

几乎200年前的人工智能生物存在于一位19岁女性作家的科幻小说里。Frankenstein，科幻小说鼻祖，警示人类当下的科技爆炸的隐忧。文学的先锋性在此可见一斑。美国高中英文课的精读小说。

In English class, we were required to read the novel Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. The novel was named for the main character of the book, Victor Frankenstein. He is a scientific genius （天才）who wanted to create life from nothing. Eventually he created a human like creature who is very tall, with a capacity to think and feel. However, he is very, very ugly.  In the book, he is referred to as “the creature” （生物）and has no name. Frankenstein is disgusted（厌恶） by the hideous nature of his creation and runs away, neglecting （忽视遗弃）the creature.

主人公Frankenstein是科学狂人，造了一个人，具有人的智慧和感情，但是外形巨大而丑陋，于是Frankenstein遗弃了他。后来怎么样呢？

The creature is feared by all that he meets because of his appearance（外表）. In the beginning, he was kind to the people around him and even saved a girl’s life, but he wasn’t accepted（不被接受）. He longs（渴望） for love, care, and a companion （伙伴）as any human would. He becomes angry and vengeful because Frankenstein brought him to life but left him alone in an unknown world. He kills Frankenstein’s younger brother.

来到这个世界的Creature，和人一样需要爱和关怀，但是他的外表让人害怕不被社会接受，我记得说里提到他希望Frankenstein能够给他制造一个女人作伴，而Frankenstein担心带来更多的恐慌最终并没有，于是the creature开始了对他的制造者和遗弃者Frankenstein的报复。

The creature asks Victor to build him a mate（伴侣）. Eventually, Victor refuses too and the creature begins to kill more of his loved ones. Because of these continuous deaths, Frankenstein has no one left. He chases the creature all the way to Arctic, determined to kill the creature. In the end, they both die.

唉，这个故事听下来，是不是集中了很多现代科幻的元素，野心勃勃的科技狂人，对于可能的灾难毫无责任和准备，具备甚至高于人类智力的人工智慧生物，孤独地不见于人类群体，最后冤冤相报，走向灭亡。

Although it may seem like the creature is the monster, the novel shows that Victor may be the true monster（怪物）. Most of his actions stem from selfishness（自私） and self preservation（自我保护）. He refused to assume responsibility for the creature, immediately running away from it. His arrogance （傲慢）and ambition（野心） lead him to creating the creature, but that knowledge was dangerous; he tampered with something that should have been left alone.

Stella这里试图分析Frankenstein这个人物，他的自私自负自大，如果没有道德和理性的束缚，他拥有的知识则是危险的，他所试图进入的领域是不应该去挑战的。人物分析是高中英文课上的常见要求

In addition, in the beginning of the novel, he ignored （忽略）a professor’s criticisms（批评）, preferring a different professor that told him he was great. This demonstrates （表现出）a kind of immaturity （不成熟）due to his inability to take criticism. Victor’s flaws lead to him abandoning（抛弃） the monster, which resulted in the deaths of those he loved.

一首深邃的儿童诗，讲述给予索取与轮回。孩子喜欢，大人落泪。Silverstein最为著名的诗歌。中文译作爱心树，只能说是意译。不如翻译做给予树

诗歌全文我就不上传了。分享几张插页。

给儿童的诗，配以儿童气质的插画。

Hello,ximalaya, this is Lindsay from New York, Today we will talk about the book of poems by Shel Silverstein, titled Where The Sidewalk Ends, the other one is the Giving tree.

各位听友好。今天我们来说儿童诗。儿童充满好奇心和想象力，他们喜欢的东西，已经在现实生活里磨掉了棱角的成年人未见得明白。1930年出生的美国儿童诗大家Shel Silverstein 早在70年代已经成名，但至今畅销奉为经典。他的诗作不是通常想象里过于甜腻腻偏女性化的内容，男孩子和女孩子都非常喜欢。来看看官网上是怎么描述诗集Where the sidewalk ends:

Come in…for where the sidewalk ends, Shel Silverstein's world begins. You'll meet a boy who turns into a TV set, and a girl who eats a whale. The Unicorn and the Bloath live there, and so does Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout who will not take the garbage out. It is a place where you wash your shadow and plant diamond gardens, a place where shoes fly, sisters are auctioned off, and crocodiles go to the dentist.

他所描述的世界千奇百怪，男孩子变成电视，女孩子吃掉鲸鱼，影子可以洗掉，还能种植一个钻石花园，鞋子能飞，鳄鱼看牙医。。。匪夷所思的这些，正是孩子们的天马行空无拘无束。谢尔西尔斯坦是一个大胡子男人，他不仅创造了这些故事和文字，而且，书里的画作也大多出自他的手笔。他非常强调文字，插画，排版，甚至书大小纸质都要符合孩子符合他创造的诗的世界。出版商出书，这些他都要过目。

This collection is filled with humorous poems as well as poems that require a bit more reflection （原意是反射，倒影，这里做严肃思考讲）.These poems became a part of my childhood. I would read them through every day and marvel（纳罕称奇，漫威电影也是这个词） at the words, and laugh at the funny poems.

让我们来听一下LIndsay喜欢的

ENTER THIS DESERTED HOUSE

But please walk softly as you do.

Frogs dwell （居住）here and crickets too.

Ain’t no ceiling, only blue

Jays dwell here and sunbeams too.

Floors are flowers-take a few.

Ferns grow here and daisies too.

Whoosh, swoosh - too-whit, too-woo,

Bats dwell here and hoot owls too.

Ha-ha-ha, hee-hee, hoo-hooo,

Gnomes dwell here and goblins too.

And my child, I thought you knew

I dwell here… and so do you.

Why do you like this one?

I have always interpreted this poem as the house being the world. We live in this world and we must tread carefully to not disturb the beauty and nature that surrounds us.

这是一篇很美，描述自然是我们的家我们的房子。

A second poem that I have also enjoyed reading is quite short, titled LISTEN TO THE MUSTN’TS.

Listen to the MUSTN’TS, child,

Listen to the DON’TS

Listen to the SHOULDN’TS

The IMPOSSIBLES, the WON’TS

Listen to the NEVER HAVES

Then listen close to me-

Anything can happen, child,

ANYTHING can be.

这一篇用了很多语气的不可以，不能够，不应该，不可能，就好像父母经常批评孩子时候会用的词。

This poem means, to me, that you should listen to the negatives（负面的事物） in life, but remember the positives（正面）. That way, when you listen to negatives you know how to improve it to be positive.

That is very smart interpretation（解读）. 在规矩和禁戒里，看到可能，看到未知。

今天我们说到这里。下次我们来讲SilverStein 更为出名的诗：The Giving Tree，爱心树。

Aesthetic 审美。语言是艺术，英文的语言美感要带着发现美的好奇心去感受和挖掘。学习语言应超越实用主义，带着理想主义。有了美的引领，才有努力的动力。阅读经典吧！

实用了不起的盖茨比以及诗人惠特曼的草叶集作引子说明。

“The city seen from the Queensboro Bridge is always the city seen for the first time, in its first wild promise of all the mystery and the beauty of the world.”

‘Anything can happen now that we’ve slid over this bridge,’ I thought; ‘anything at all….’

从皇后区大桥看去，这座城市永远好像是初次看见一样，那样引人入胜，充满了世界上所有的神秘和瑰丽。一切都有可能发生，当我们从桥上驶过，我想，任何事。。。。

我们奋力前行，小舟逆水而上，不断地被浪潮推回到过去。

-------------The Great Gatsby ----------------------

I celebrate myself

And what I assume you shall assume

For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

I loafe and invite my soul,

I lean and loafe at my ease…. Observing a spear of summer grass.

6) A child said, what is the grass? Fetching it to me with full hands;

How could I answer the child? …. I do not know what it is any more than he

I guess it must be the flag of my disposition, out of hopeful green stuff woven.

Or I guess it is the handkerchief of he Lord,

A scented gift and remembrancer designedly dropped.

Bearing the owner’s name someway in the corners, that we may see and remard, and say Whose?

----------------------- The Leave of Grass -----------------------