施勤敏

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《穿條紋睡衣的男孩》（The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas）是愛爾蘭作家約翰·伯恩（John Boyne）的第四部作品，作品出版后很快成為《紐約時報》評選出來的暢銷書、英國十大暢銷書，并且榮登歐洲許多暢銷書排行榜。本書除了諾貝爾文學(xué)獎，幾乎囊括歐美所有文學(xué)獎。

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偏遠郊區(qū)。布魯諾也因此不得不離開心愛的伙伴。寂寞無聊的布魯諾發(fā)現(xiàn)新家隔壁是一個很奇怪的農(nóng)場，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候，又被警告不許接近那里。實際上，布魯諾的父親對家人隱瞞了真相——隔壁是殺人工廠奧斯維辛集中營。然而鐵絲網(wǎng)無法阻攔布魯諾的好奇心，在一次“探險”的過程中，他遇見了鐵絲網(wǎng)那邊的一個小男孩——穿著條紋衣服的希姆爾（Shmuel）。于是在接下來的一年里，他們每天隔著鐵絲網(wǎng)見面，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，越過鐵絲網(wǎng)，和希姆爾進行一次終極“探險”——一次改變了所有人命運的探險。

[閱讀材料]

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 wasnt 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.

“Thats it，” he said to Shmuel. “Im 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， thats something，” he said， glad to be out of the storm for a few minutes at least. “I expect well have to wait here till it eases off and then Ill get to go home.”

Shmuel gathered himself very close to Bruno and looked up at him in fright.

“Im sorry we didnt find your papa，” said Bruno. “Its all right，” said Shmuel.

“And Im sorry we didnt really get to play， but when you come to Berlin， thats what well do. And Ill introduce you to… Oh， what were their names again？” he asked himself， frustrated because they were supposed to be his three best friends for life but they had all vanished from his memory now. He couldnt remember any of their names and he couldnt picture any of their faces.

“Actually，” he said， looking down at Shmuel， “it doesnt matter whether I do or dont. Theyre not my best friends any more anyway.” He looked down and did something quite out of character for him： he took hold of Shmuels tiny hand in his and squeezed it tightly.

“Youre my best friend， Shmuel，” he said. “My best friend for 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 gasp from all the marchers who had filled the room， as the door at the front was suddenly closed and a loud metallic sound rang through from the outside.

Bruno raised an eyebrow， unable to understand the sense of all this， but he assumed that it had something to do with keeping the rain out and stopping people from catching colds.

And then the room went very dark and somehow， despite the chaos that followed， Bruno found that he was still holding Shmuels hand in his own and nothing in the world would have persuaded him to let it go.

[參考譯文]

布魯諾皺皺眉頭。他抬頭看看天，這時又是一聲巨響，這次是頭頂?shù)睦茁暎炝⒖谈盗?，幾乎黑了，大雨傾盆而下，比早上的更猛烈。布魯諾閉上眼睛，感覺到雨把他給澆透了。當(dāng)他再次睜開眼睛的時候，與其說是他的雙腳在行進，還不如說是被人群擠著向前走。他能感覺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，”他對希姆爾說，“我這樣會感冒的。我得回家了?！?/p>

正說著，他的腳已經(jīng)把他帶上了幾級臺階，他繼續(xù)往前走，感覺沒有雨了，原來他們?nèi)煌七M了一個長長的房間里，里面驚人地溫暖。而且這間屋子造得很嚴(yán)實，因為沒有一點雨滴進來。其實應(yīng)該說，這里簡直就是完全密封的。

“嗯，現(xiàn)在好點了?！辈剪斨Z說，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，我們沒能找到你的爸爸。”布魯諾說。

“沒關(guān)系?！毕Ｄ窢栒f。

“而且很抱歉，我們沒能真正地在一起玩。但是等你來柏林的時候，我們就可以一起玩了。我會把你介紹給……哦，他們叫什么來著？”他問自己，并且為自己沒能記住一生中最好的三個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。

“事實上，”他低頭看著希姆爾，“無論我是否記得都沒關(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?！彼f，“我一生中最好的朋友。”

希姆爾應(yīng)該張嘴回應(yīng)了他，但是布魯諾再也聽不見了。因為這個時候，前面的門突然關(guān)上了，房間里所有的列隊行進者都發(fā)出了大聲的喘息聲，而屋外則傳來了刺耳的金屬鈴聲。

布魯諾揚起眉毛，對這一切都不甚理解，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。盡管接下來一片混亂，但是布魯諾發(fā)現(xiàn)他還是緊緊地握著希姆爾的手，世界上沒什么可以讓他放開希姆爾的手。

故事的最后，兩個男孩在溫暖的友誼中離開了這個世界。小說以令人痛心的方式批判了納粹對猶太人殘酷的殺戮。正如小說中那句話傳達的 Childhood is measured out by sounds and smells and sights， before the dark hour of reason grows（在黑暗的理性到來之前，用于丈量寂寞童年的是聽覺、嗅覺以及視覺）。孩子的純潔的心靈還無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。這個扣人心弦的故事不僅情節(jié)感人、寓意深刻，語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到小說語言的豐富和生動，例如，“裹挾在人群”中的表達有be swept along， be wrapped up；學(xué)生熟悉的單詞 cake用在the mud that was caked all over his body中作動詞表示“包裹了……”。其中對場景、人物動作和心理的描寫更是續(xù)寫教學(xué)的優(yōu)秀素材。例如，文中的幾個動作描寫，短小精悍，學(xué)生容易掌握和運用：1.Bruno frowned； 2.Shmuel gathered himself very close to Bruno and looked up at him in fright； 3.He took hold of Shmuels tiny hand in his and squeezed it tightly；

4.Bruno raised an eyebrow， unable to understand the sense of all this。

沉浸在小說的欣賞中習(xí)得語言該是件快樂的事情吧！