跟我读《小王子》（1）
To Leon Werth
I ask the indulgence of the children who may read this book for dedicating it to a grown-up. I have a serious reason: he is the best friend I have in the world. I have another reason: this grown-up understands everything, even books about children. I have a third reason: he lives in France where he is hungry and cold. He needs cheering up. If all these reasons are not enough, I will dedicate the book to the child from whom this grown-up grew. All grown-ups were once children-- although few of them remember it. And so I correct my dedication:
To Leon Werth
when he was a little boy
word link
indulgence
-ence
reference, preference, consequence, silence, patience
-ance
performance, acquaintance, elegance, forbearance (忍耐，克制，宽容)
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[ Chapter 1 ]
- we are introduced to the narrator, a pilot, and his ideas about grown-ups
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Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval (原始的) forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing.
In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it. After that they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion."
I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked like this:
I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.
But they answered: "Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?"
My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor 蟒蛇digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing: I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:
The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar. That is why, at the age of six, I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.
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读到这里，我想到两个单词，一个是 perspective, 我们看问题的视角不同，常常不用我们的想象力，因而看到的是事物的表面。儿童尚未失去想象力，他们在看到物体的时候，会想一下，或者猜一下物体里面是什么样子。如果不知道，他们也会问大人。而成年人，不会琢磨这些事，因为日程满满的都是要做的事，很少有这样闲暇时间。
这里advise这个单词用的好。大人自然而然地让孩子学点有用的，比如多了解地理、历史、几何和语法。大人往往忘记了，这些知识就是我们的先辈在生活中不断提问，不断思考，不断探索才总结出来的。如果孩子一味接受，不自觉探索，我们的后代岂不是会觉得我们没有创造出新的知识呢？ 当绘画成为一个孩子的职业的时候，其实就应该让他从小写写画画，而不是报个兴趣班这么简单粗暴地替孩子做决定。
最后一句中，作者表示“大家不懂，孩子需要一遍一遍地解释，很辛苦，也让他郁闷”。其实，生活中，我们往往还以为大人有真知灼见，小孩见得少，很少耐心地听孩子解释。
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So then I chose another profession, and learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable.
In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence. I have lived a great deal among grown-ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them.
Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted, I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One, which I have always kept. I would try to find out, so, if this was a person of true understanding. But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say:
"That is a hat.
Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or primeval forests, or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.
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当作者谈到bring myself down to his level, 显然是down的用词非常触目惊心。什么时候孩子们认识到宏大主题和人们可以关注的话题有用，想当sensible的人，做明智的事的时候，其实也就脱离了生活。
高大上的话题，有用的话题，其实都是成人生活中，关注到桥梁、高尔夫、政治和领带，也并不是不可能关注阳光、沙滩和森林。
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