特約主持:陳科芳
◎施勤敏 浙江省德清縣高級(jí)中學(xué)
《穿條紋睡衣的男孩》(The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas)是愛(ài)爾蘭作家約翰·伯恩(John Boyne)的第四部作品,作品出版后很快成為《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》評(píng)選出來(lái)的暢銷書(shū)、英國(guó)十大暢銷書(shū),并且榮登歐洲許多暢銷書(shū)排行榜。本書(shū)除了諾貝爾文學(xué)獎(jiǎng),幾乎囊括歐美所有文學(xué)獎(jiǎng)。
故事發(fā)生在20世紀(jì)40年代的柏林。八歲小男孩布魯諾(Bruno)的父親是納粹軍官,因升職調(diào)遣,帶著全家搬到了柏林外的一個(gè)偏遠(yuǎn)郊區(qū)。布魯諾也因此不得不離開(kāi)心愛(ài)的伙伴。寂寞無(wú)聊的布魯諾發(fā)現(xiàn)新家隔壁是一個(gè)很奇怪的農(nóng)場(chǎng),人們都穿著條紋睡衣(the Striped Pyjamas)在干活。正當(dāng)他想試著多去了解一些的時(shí)候,又被警告不許接近那里。實(shí)際上,布魯諾的父親對(duì)家人隱瞞了真相——隔壁是殺人工廠奧斯維辛集中營(yíng)。然而鐵絲網(wǎng)無(wú)法阻攔布魯諾的好奇心,在一次“探險(xiǎn)”的過(guò)程中,他遇見(jiàn)了鐵絲網(wǎng)那邊的一個(gè)小男孩——穿著條紋衣服的希姆爾(Shmuel)。于是在接下來(lái)的一年里,他們每天隔著鐵絲網(wǎng)見(jiàn)面,成了最好的朋友。為了幫助好友尋找失蹤多日的父親,布魯諾決定穿上條紋衣服,越過(guò)鐵絲網(wǎng),和希姆爾進(jìn)行一次終極“探險(xiǎn)”——一次改變了所有人命運(yùn)的探險(xiǎn)。
The Final Adventure
(excerpted from The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas)
Bruno frowned.He looked up at the sky,and as he did so there was another loud sound,this time the sound of thunder overhead,and just as quickly the sky seemed to grow even darker,almost black,and rain poured down even more heavily than it had in the morning.Bruno closed his eyes for a moment and felt it wash over him.When he opened them again he wasn’t so much marching as being swept along by the group of people,and all he could feel was the mud that was caked all over his body and his pyjamas clinging to his skin with all the rain and he longed to be back in his house,watching all this from a distance and not wrapped up in the centre of it.
“That’s it,”he said to Shmuel.“I’m going to catch a cold out here.I have to go home.”
But just as he said this,his feet brought him up a set of steps,and as he marched on he found there was no more rain coming down any more because they were all piling into a long room that was surprisingly warm and must have been very securely built because no rain was getting in anywhere.In fact it felt completely airtight.
“Well,that’s something,”he said,glad to be out of the storm for a few minutes at least.“I expect we’ll have to wait here till it eases of and then I’ll get to go home.”
Shmuel gathered himself very close to Bruno and looked up at him in fright.
“I’m sorry we didn’t find your papa,”said Bruno.“It’s all right,said Shmuel.
“And I’m sorry we didn’t really get to play,but when you come t Berlin,that’s what we’ll do.And I’ll introduce you to… Oh,what wer their names again?”he asked himself,frustrated because they wer supposed to be his three best friends for life but they had all vanishe from his memory now.He couldn’t remember any of their names an he couldn’t picture any of their faces.
“Actually,”he said,looking down at Shmuel,“it doesn’t matte whether I do or don’t.They’re not my best friends any more anyway.He looked down and did something quite out of character for him:h took hold of Shmuel’s tiny hand in his and squeezed it tightly.
“You’re my best friend,Shmuel,”he said.“My best friend fo life.”
Shmuel may well have opened his mouth to say something back but Bruno never heard it because at that moment there was a loud gas from all the marchers who had filled the room,as the door at the fron was suddenly closed and a loud metallic sound rang through from th outside.
Bruno raised an eyebrow,unable to understand the sense of al this,but he assumed that it had something to do with keeping the rai out and stopping people from catching colds.
And then the room went very dark and somehow,despite the chao that followed,Bruno found that he was still holding Shmuel’s hand i his own and nothing in the world would have persuaded him to let it go
布魯諾皺皺眉頭。他抬頭看看天,這時(shí)又是一聲巨響,這次是頭頂?shù)睦茁?,天立刻更暗了,幾乎黑了,大雨傾盆而下,比早上的更猛烈。布魯諾閉上眼睛,感覺(jué)到雨把他給澆透了。當(dāng)他再次睜開(kāi)眼睛的時(shí)候,與其說(shuō)是他的雙腳在行進(jìn),還不如說(shuō)是被人群擠著向前走。他能感覺(jué)到的是全身包裹的泥土,和已經(jīng)濕透了并緊貼在皮膚上的條紋衣服。他真希望能夠回到家里,從窗戶里旁觀這一切,而不是被包圍在人群里親身經(jīng)歷這一切。
“夠了,”他對(duì)希姆爾說(shuō),“我這樣會(huì)感冒的。我得回家了?!?/p>
正說(shuō)著,他的腳已經(jīng)把他帶上了幾級(jí)臺(tái)階,他繼續(xù)往前走,感覺(jué)沒(méi)有雨了,原來(lái)他們?nèi)煌七M(jìn)了一個(gè)長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的房間里,里面驚人地溫暖。而且這間屋子造得很嚴(yán)實(shí),因?yàn)闆](méi)有一點(diǎn)雨滴進(jìn)來(lái)。其實(shí)應(yīng)該說(shuō),這里簡(jiǎn)直就是完全密封的。
“嗯,現(xiàn)在好點(diǎn)了。”布魯諾說(shuō),他為至少能少淋幾分鐘的雨而感到高興,“我想我們可能要在這里等到雨停,然后我就可以回家了?!?/p>
希姆爾緊緊貼著布魯諾,驚恐地看著他。
“很抱歉,我們沒(méi)能找到你的爸爸?!辈剪斨Z說(shuō)。
“沒(méi)關(guān)系。”希姆爾說(shuō)。
“而且很抱歉,我們沒(méi)能真正地在一起玩。但是等你來(lái)柏林的時(shí)候,我們就可以一起玩了。我會(huì)把你介紹給……哦,他們叫什么來(lái)著?”他問(wèn)自己,并且為自己沒(méi)能記住一生中最好的三個(gè)朋友的名字而感到沮喪,他們現(xiàn)在已經(jīng)完全從他的記憶中褪去了。他不再記得他們的名字,也不記得他們的模樣。
“事實(shí)上,”他低頭看著希姆爾,“無(wú)論我是否記得都沒(méi)關(guān)系。他們不再是我最好的朋友了?!彼拖骂^,做了一件不符合他性格的事情:他把希姆爾的小手握在自己的手中,緊緊地抓住。
“你是我最好的朋友,希姆爾。”他說(shuō),“我一生中最好的朋友?!?/p>
希姆爾應(yīng)該張嘴回應(yīng)了他,但是布魯諾再也聽(tīng)不見(jiàn)了。因?yàn)檫@個(gè)時(shí)候,前面的門(mén)突然關(guān)上了,房間里所有的列隊(duì)行進(jìn)者都發(fā)出了大聲的喘息聲,而屋外則傳來(lái)了刺耳的金屬鈴聲。
布魯諾揚(yáng)起眉毛,對(duì)這一切都不甚理解,但是他想,這可能是為了防雨,以免讓人們感冒。
然后房間驟然變得黑暗起來(lái)。盡管接下來(lái)一片混亂,但是布魯諾發(fā)現(xiàn)他還是緊緊地握著希姆爾的手,世界上沒(méi)什么可以讓他放開(kāi)希姆爾的手。
故事的最后,兩個(gè)男孩在溫暖的友誼中離開(kāi)了這個(gè)世界。小說(shuō)以令人痛心的方式批判了納粹對(duì)猶太人殘酷的殺戮。正如小說(shuō)中那句話傳達(dá)的Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells an sights,before the dark hour of reason grows(在黑暗的理性到來(lái)之前用于丈量寂寞童年的是聽(tīng)覺(jué)、嗅覺(jué)以及視覺(jué))。孩子的純潔的心靈還無(wú)法了解成人世界的丑惡,而正是孩子緊握的雙手帶給了人類和解的希望。這個(gè)扣人心弦的故事不僅情節(jié)感人、寓意深刻,語(yǔ)言也十分適合高中生閱讀。
窺一斑而知全豹,節(jié)選的段落完全能讓我們體會(huì)到小說(shuō)語(yǔ)言的豐富和生動(dòng),例如,“裹挾在人群”中的表達(dá)有be swept along,b wrapped up;學(xué)生熟悉的單詞cake用在the mud that was caked al over his body中作動(dòng)詞表示“包裹了……”。其中對(duì)場(chǎng)景、人物動(dòng)作和心理的描寫(xiě)更是續(xù)寫(xiě)教學(xué)的優(yōu)秀素材。例如,文中的幾個(gè)動(dòng)作描寫(xiě),短小精悍,學(xué)生容易掌握和運(yùn)用:1.Bruno frowned;2.Shmue gathered himself very close to Bruno and looked up at him in fright 3.He took hold of Shmuel’s tiny hand in his and squeezed it tightly;4.Bruno raised an eyebrow,unable to understand the sense of all this。
沉浸在小說(shuō)的欣賞中習(xí)得語(yǔ)言該是件快樂(lè)的事情吧!