愛與奉獻
——《夏洛的網》賞析

文/曉菲

愛與奉獻
——《夏洛的網》賞析

文/曉菲

◆原作節選◆

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

蟋蟀們在草叢中歌唱著。他們唱起了一曲悲傷又單調的、夏天的挽歌。“夏天去了，”他們唱，“去了，去了。夏天正在死亡，死亡。”

蟋蟀感到他們有責任警告每一個人，夏日的好時光不會永遠繼續下去。即使到了一年中最美麗的日子——夏即將被點染成秋的那一天——蟋蟀們也還是在傳唱著這些有關悲傷與變遷的傳說。

所有人都聽到了蟋蟀的歌聲。在塵土飛揚的路上走著的埃弗里和弗恩聽到這歌聲，知道學校不久就要開學了；小鵝們聽到這歌聲，知道他們將不再是小鵝了；夏洛聽到這歌聲，知道她已經沒有多少剩下的時間了；在廚房工作的朱克曼太太聽到這歌聲，心中也不由得一陣傷感。“又一個夏天過去了，”她輕聲嘆息；給威爾伯做板條箱的魯維聽到這歌聲，知道該挖土豆了。

“夏天去了。”蟋蟀一遍遍地哀唱，“離下霜時還剩幾天？”蟋蟀凄吟：“再見了，夏天，再見了，再見了！”

綿羊聽到蟋蟀的歌，感覺異常煩躁，以至竟在草場上的籬笆里撞出了一個洞，就從那里穿過小路茫然地徘徊到田野里。公鵝發現了這個洞，就領著他的一家人由此而去，走到果園去吃熟落在地上的蘋果。濕地上的小楓樹聽到蟋蟀的歌，由于焦急使自己變得鮮紅。

威爾伯現在是農場里最引人注目的。那些不斷送來的美餐和定期來參觀的人流足以表明這一點：威爾伯是一頭令任何人都足以驕傲的豬。每天都有超過一百人在他的院子里贊美他。夏洛已經把寫有“閃光”字樣的網織好了。在金色陽光下的威爾伯看起來也真的閃閃發光。自從這只蜘蛛幫助他以后，他一直盡力使自己做得更好。當夏洛的網里寫著“好豬”時，威爾伯努力使自己看上去像頭好豬；當夏洛的網里織著“很棒”時，威爾伯又勉強使自己看起來很棒；現在那網里說“閃光”，他便盡可能去做每一件使自己閃光的事。

看上去能閃光并不容易，但威爾伯還是愿意這樣去努力。他會輕輕地晃著腦袋，讓他長長的睫毛閃閃顫動起來。然后他再做一個深呼吸。當他的觀眾看膩了這些，他就會跳起來做一個后空翻。這時人群將會大聲喝彩。“那豬怎么樣？”朱克曼先生會滿心自豪地問別人。“那豬真是光彩照人。”

谷倉里的一些威爾伯的朋友擔心他會驕傲，但他不會的。威爾伯是最謙虛的，名氣不能毀了他。他現在還在為將來擔心，因為他幾乎不敢相信僅僅一只蜘蛛就能救他的命。有時夜里他還會做噩夢，夢見人們拿著刀子和槍來殺他。但那不過是個夢境罷了。白天，威爾伯總是感到快樂又自信。沒有一頭豬有過這么真誠的朋友。他意識到友誼是這世界上最令人幸福的東西之一。甚至連蟋蟀的歌也沒有讓威爾伯感到太悲傷。他知道他快去參加縣里的展覽會了，他渴望著這次旅行。如果他能在會上有卓越的表現，就可能贏得獎品，那時朱克曼更會善待他了。

夏洛則在為自己擔心，但沒對別人表露這一點。

那一整天，威爾伯都呆在谷倉里，享受著稻草堆里的舒適生活。夏洛休息了一會兒，吃了個螞蚱。她知道她以后不能再幫威爾伯了。幾天后她將停下手頭的一切，開始造一個用來盛放她的卵的美麗的小袋了。

Tips for learning

1.w ander up：wander做不及物動詞時，經常與up/at/about/into等介詞搭配。此處與up搭配，意為“徘徊”。如：I wander up in a bookstore and buy nothing.

2.live up to:固定搭配，不同語境下表示不同的意思。常用意思為“遵守（諾言）；符合；不辜負(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.

◆賞析◆

小說《夏洛的網》是由埃爾文·布魯克斯·懷特（E.B.White）先生所著。懷特先生（1899—1985）出生于美國紐約州蒙特弗農市，畢業于世界著名學府康奈爾大學。作為一名頗有造詣的美國當代著名作家、評論家，懷特先生為世人留下了很多珍貴的文學作品。他特別為孩子們寫了三本書：Stuart Little（《精靈鼠小弟》），Charlotte’s Web（《夏洛的網》）和The Trumpet of the Swan（《吹小號的天鵝》）。今天要為大家介紹的這部《夏洛的網》，曾被評選為“美國最偉大的十部兒童文學名著”之首。

該書用幽默的語氣、樸實的文字勾畫出了一個充滿愛與溫情的故事。體弱多病的小豬威爾伯被善良的弗恩從父親的屠刀下救出，并被送去朱克曼家的谷倉里，開始他全新的生活。在這個大集體里，快樂地生活著一群不同類別的動物們。其中當屬小豬威爾伯和蜘蛛夏洛之間的友誼最為真摯。看似并不搭界的兩種動物，卻應著夏洛那一句簡單的諾言“我救你”，開啟了動物與人類之間斗智斗勇的激烈戰爭。最終，夏洛以日夜不眠的決心，就著蜘蛛絲編織出了一張張震撼世人的大網。而精致細絲上折射出的文字，更是被人類嘆為奇觀，成功地讓威爾伯擺脫了被宰割做成熏肉火腿的悲慘命運。然而此刻，夏洛的生命走到了盡頭。縱使這份友情再堅固，威爾伯也改變不了殘酷的現實。只能陪伴著夏洛的后代，將這份情誼無限延伸下去。

懷特先生描述的這個關于友誼的故事，之所以能夠打動一代又一代讀者的心，人們不僅僅是感動于夏洛如何用智慧和意志幫助了她最好的朋友威爾伯，更多的是為了友情背后蘊藏的不計回報、無私奉獻，甚至付出生命來捍衛友誼的品質。

本期節選的是小說里第十五章的英文原文以及中文翻譯。我們可以通過作者對夏天即將過去時農場里大家內心活動的描述，來感受夏洛想要拯救威爾伯的焦慮心情，以及威爾伯雖然深信夏洛會奮力救他，卻對自己的未來茫然不知所措的復雜情緒。蟋蟀們單調而重復的歌聲，警告著人們一個最美季節的離去，更寓意著一個偉大生命也即將離我們遠去。無論多么不舍，無論友誼多么堅固，也挽回不了夏洛的生命。不過值得慶幸的是，正如春去秋來，四季輪回，視友情為生命的夏洛雖然離去了，但是她的子女會世代繁衍，而且必將無私奉獻的精神以及仗義而智慧的優秀品質延續下去。

陳曉菲（Sherly Chen）：畢業于北京師范大學英美文學專業，獲美國俄勒岡州政府獎學金赴美留學深造。精通英語，酷愛文學。愿用手中筆，記下心中愛。