Susan暑假作文日常杂记(4)--尼尔.沙斯特曼(为什么将是我最喜欢的作者)

 

尼尔.沙斯特曼 (为什么将是我最喜欢的作者)

 

By  Susan

 

我新找到了一个我将特别喜欢的作者!!!

 

猜猜是谁?估计你永远也猜不着——是尼尔.沙斯特曼!我才只读了他的几本书,但是我已经非常确信他将成为我新一轮最喜欢的作者。

 

我以前没有真正意义上的“最喜爱”的作者。我有一些非常非常喜欢的作者,但不是“最喜欢”的。J.K.罗琳不错,我曾经非常地喜欢她的《哈里.波特》系列。陶凯恩……我不喜欢他的写作风格,文章太长细节太多,但是我真的真的很喜欢他书中的故事情节(我在说《指环王》,如果你们不知道的话)。叶润.亨特写了《猫战士》系列和别的非常精彩的动物系列,但是我对作者知之不多,因为事实上那是四个作者在合用同一个笔名写作。艾莉森.古德曼……我对她也知之甚少,虽然我很喜欢她的书。皮尔斯.安东尼…… 我不得不说,直到最近他才是我最喜爱的作者。他的书中“关于作者”的部分通常都很长,这使我觉得和他之间真的有什么联系似的。好像我已经很了解他了。他在那些自我介绍中的语气是既严肃又有趣。当然,我非常地喜欢他的书。

 

等一下!我刚想到一个事儿——最喜欢的作者并非必须得和最喜欢的书相关。我喜欢作者不是因为他们的书有多么地好(那只是非常小的一个因素),而是喜欢他们做为一个作者时是个什么样的人。我一直以来最喜欢的一本书叫《EONA》,它的作者是艾莉森.古德曼。《EONA》曾经是我最喜欢的书!!但是古德曼不是我最喜欢的作者,因为我真的不了解她这个人怎么样。我不知道她会想什么、她喜欢什么,我也不知道她说话时会是什么样的声音(说到声音,我不是说高音或低音,我是说,一个人说话和想事儿的方式),其实我根本就不知道她的什么事儿。对于象皮尔斯.安东尼这样的作者,不管怎么说,我觉得我了解他,因为他的每一本书的作者简介部分都很长,都谈到了很多关于他自己的事情以及他是怎么写这些书的。他的书一直都不是我最喜欢的书,但是我很喜欢他这样的作者。

 

所以,回到我当前最喜欢的作者这儿来吧——尼尔.沙斯特曼。我不是特别地喜欢他的书,虽然我对他的书的评价,比我读过的所有书的平均值要高。我就是真的觉得这个作者太令人惊叹了。他写了这么多不同的体裁和风格的书!!从幽默到悬疑、从科幻到探险……哇!他好像已经成为了…….我的新偶像!我在很认真地说!我真的吃惊于他的写作技巧,他的那些故事是多么地吸引人。还有,我也吃惊于他多么地有创意!他在很多方面都是个天才!这简直……无法描述。太让人震惊了!那就是我的感觉。我惊讶于世上竟然存在着一个如此有才气和创意的人。他写的故事并非不凡,但是却跨越了很多种体裁,并且每一个都真是独一无二的好故事。他写的书中我最喜欢的是《黑暗爬行》(大约有二十个古怪离奇和有点恐怖的小故事,读起来很有趣),沙斯特曼在每一个小故事前都写一个介绍,提到他是怎么得到这些故事的灵感的。我喜欢读那些介绍!并且这些故事……哇,那真是一些令人着迷的故事,只要一拿起书来我就没法将书放下。它们真的很扭曲怪诞,很难让人相信所有这些灵感都来自于同一个人。

 

沙斯特曼真是一个天才,他比我读的所有书的作者都有才华(我的看法)。我想我最喜欢他的原因是他的创造性。他怎么能写出如此多的体裁和风格!好像他生来就是讲故事的!我太羡慕他了。我也很喜欢读他在每一个小故事前写的介绍。他的介绍让我觉得知道了不少有关他的事情,这样我就觉得已经很了解他了。于是,对我来说,好像他不再仅仅是写了几本书的一个形象模糊的人,他会很真切地存在于我的面前。再一次,我重复一遍,他的书不是我最喜爱的书,但是尼尔.沙斯特曼,这个作者,是我现在最喜欢的作者!

 

 【小哭介绍背景】我还记得当初我读完此文的感受。哇!Susan已经这么有思想了!她不但评书还评作者,并且还能从两条线来看待这些问题。这孩子的脑子真是不简单,感性和理性都发育得不错。前几天回波士顿,她曾经的写作指导老师(现在的副校长)和校长与我们交谈时,还说她简直生来就是写东西的(born writer)。可是当我转身发现她的日常表现一点也不“理性”,所有小孩容易犯的毛病,似乎没有她不犯的,甚至别人没有的毛病她还不少时,我的心情那真的是从高就滑到低了。

 

我明白,我也要用两条线看孩子。千万别因着她哪一点表现得有点天份就以为她所有的方面都会不错。恰恰相反!她在某一方面的“超强”可能代价就是另一方面的“超差”,因为时间用在了这里就不在那里,才能表现在了这里就不在那里。现在我不但这样看Susan,也这样看待很多人和事儿。我不觉得存在着一个完美的人,也不觉得存在着一件完美的事儿,但是我承认有差距,承认人与人之间的不同,我承认离完美的距离会因人而异。这大概算是一种基督精神了吧?(Sin实际上只是没有在Target的中心而已)

 

如果不翻译Susan的作文,那些作者和书名在我都是“穿肠而过”。可是现在就不同了,我不但要译,还要百度一下是否已经有更恰当的译法了。这翻译的工作真是可大可小。最近小宝刚刚上学,有了点闲空,马上就被翻译工作添满了。不过,干“业务”总是好过干“家务”,特别是几年来都没有机会正儿八经地做点用用脑子的活儿,真是挺珍惜现在这个刚刚到来的状态。本来想一边放1D的歌一边工作,却发现这种翻译的活,还真的是受不了打扰呢,常常在想词儿的时候需要安静,绝对的安静……

 

 

附上英文原文:

 

Neal Shusterman

 

I have just discovered a new favorite author!!

 

Guess who? You’ll never guess it—Neal Shusterman! I’ve only read a few of his books, but I’m already positive that he’s going to be my new favorite author.

 

I haven’t actually had a ‘favorite’ author before. I’ve had authors that I really, really liked, but no ‘favorites’. J.K. Rowling was good, and I really liked her Harry Potter series. Tolkein…I didn’t like his writing style, it was too long and detailed, but I really, really liked the plot of the story (I’m talking about Lord of the Rings, for those of you that don’t know). Erin Hunter wrote the Warrior Cats series and other series with animals that are really awesome, but I don’t know much about the author, since it’s actually four authors writing under one name. Alison Goodman…I don’t know much about her either, though I liked her books a lot. Piers Anthony…I’ve gotta say, he was my favorite author until lately. His ‘author’s notes’ part of his books are usually really long, and it makes me feel really connected to him. Like I know him already. His tone in those notes are really fun yet serious at the same time. And I liked his books a lot, of course.

 

Wait! I just realized something. Favorite authors don’t have to have a lot to do with favorite books. I like authors not because of how good their books are (that’s only a small part of it), but more because of what they’re like as people, as authors. My favorite book of all time, Eona, is written by Alison Goodman. That’s my favorite book ever!! But Goodman isn’t my favorite author, because I don’t really know much about her as a person. I don’t know how she thinks, I don't know what she’s like, I don’t know what her voice is like (by voice, I don’t mean alto or soprano, I mean, the way that person talks and thinks), I just don’t know much about her at all. With authors like Piers Anothony, however, I feel really connected to him, because the author’s note part  of each books are really long, and talked a lot about himself and how he wrote his books. His books aren’t my favvorite books ever, but I really like him as an author.

 

So, that brings us back to my new favorite author—Neal Shusterman. I don’t really like his book super duper much, although they’re above average on my book ratings meter. I’m just really amazed by the author. He writes so many different genres!! From humor to suspense to sci-fi to adventure…wow! He’s became, like, my new idol! Seriously! I’m really amazed by his writing skills, by how captivating his stories are. Also, I’m amazed by how creative he is! He’s got a lot of talent! It’s…impossible to describe. Amazed. That’s how I feel. Amazed that someone so talented and creative can exist. His stories aren’t phenomenal, but they span a LOT of genres, and are all really unique and really good stories. In my favorite book of his, Darkness Creeping (it’s twenty really weird and kind of scary short stories that are very fun to read), Shusterman wrote a note before each story that kind of talked about how he got his idead for those stories. I loved reading those notes! And the stories…wow, they’re really amazing stories, I couldn’t put the book down from beginning to end. They’re all really twisted and weird, and it’s hard to believe all these ideas sprouted from one man.

 

Shusterman is really talented, more talented than all of the authors I’ve read (my opinion). I think my favorite thing about him is his creativity, how he is able to write in so many genres. It’s like he was created to tell stories! I admire him a lot, I really enjoyed reading his notes before each short story he wrote. I feel like a know a lot about him from what he wrote, and that’s what makes me feel like I know him, like he’s not just a vague figure that wrote some books. It makes him real for me. Again, I repeat, his books aren’t my favorite, but Neal Shusterman, the author, is my favorite author, ever!






天地一弘 (2013-08-27 15:17:38)

Susan有自己的思想,学习了。

周小哭 (2013-08-27 15:42:39)

她看着厚道,不喜欢争辩,但她很有自己的想法。文字中的她和生活中的她很不一样。

刘瑛依旧 (2013-09-14 20:06:36)

你翻译得真好!栩栩如生地展示了你女儿语言表述的特有灵动。

你女儿真不简单,小小年级,就能从两条线来看问题

周小哭 (2013-09-14 20:13:15)

谢谢夸奖。她现在的作文,我觉得其中的思考是最让我欣赏的。

春山如笑 (2013-09-17 05:33:49)

twisted and weired, 我想twisted翻译成扭曲更符合你女儿的口气,尽管有些夸张。

你的翻译确实非常好!学习了。

周小哭 (2013-09-17 14:01:44)

谢谢春山,我马上改正过来!!!

春山如笑 (2013-09-17 16:39:32)

小哭,twisted and weirded 是两层意思,扭曲、怪诞。可能我没表达清楚,害你删掉后者。

谢谢你采纳我的建议,看到你和女儿珠联璧合的文章和翻译,才冒昧鸡蛋里挑骨头。呵呵,这还是我第一次在网上胆大妄为地这样做,问好!

周小哭 (2013-09-17 16:51:20)

那我再加上后者吧:)

你不是鸡蛋里挑骨头!我感谢都来不及!!!我有心将这些译文和以后的系列做成电子书,给国内的妈妈们免费阅读。我会在说明中注上背景,就是孩子的文章中有低级错误,我的也有。同时,我们的文章中都还有因为知识有限所犯的连自己也不知道的错误。就算如此,我也还是愿意呈现给读者更好的作品,所以如果能够有人给予指正,帮助的不仅仅是我们母女,会让更多的年青的妈妈们受益。

我日常生活忙忙碌碌,带着两孩子有着永远也干不完的杂活,人也比较直接,所以我有的时候会很直率地指正别人。正因为如此,我非常感谢能够指正我的朋友。如果译文和发文的付出能够换来别人的指正,那可能没有什么比指正更是我所期待的了。

谢谢春山,期待着更多着更多的“骨头”。我有悄悄话给你。