2018-7-28
今天带小不点儿到图书馆,看到《The Diary of a Wimpy Kid》已经出到了第13期。记得当初这一系列书刚刚出第一本的时候,姐姐和妹妹都还在小学,也是小不点儿现在的岁数。
这本书的中译本叫《小屁孩日记》,台湾也有翻译,叫《遜咖日記》。
记得姐姐和妹妹都不怎么特喜欢这本书。小不点儿说已经读过前两册,借了第三第四册回家,马上就读完了第三册。我在图书馆读了一部分第二册,在家又和小不点儿一起读了一部分第四册。
读者和家长们对这本书的评价毁誉参半。英语语法方面,作者故意用一些常见的美国学生不太注意的语法现象,会误导低年级学生们的写作。例如很多地方用“Me and Rowley”作句子的主语。谓语的地方用很多“gonna”、“wanna”、“gotta”之类让语法老师们头疼的俚语和方言。更有很多地方,用连接词“then”、“so”、“and”、“but”等作句子的开头。还有很多该用句号的地方,用了逗号,以至于句子也拉得很长结构很松散,是非常不好的写作习惯的示范。不过这也是目前美国所谓的畅销书作者的通病,因为不能抄袭,因为要独出心裁,作者就要有自己独特的语言风格。怎么样才能有独特的风格?就是不遵守语法或故意违反语法,例如以写喜乐会出名的华裔作家谭爱美,就是其中的姣姣者。
在道德行为示范方面,这本书刚上市的时候,就有很多美国的家长们担忧贯穿于怂孩子的日记这套丛书中满满的负能量:
- I think this book is amusing on a pre-teen kid scale, it is not appropriate for someone under the age of at least 10. Older children have a better ability to distinguish between what is funny in fiction and what it appropriate in real-life. Just because it's on the NYT bestseller list does not mean it's okay for younger kids. If a child thinks that it's funny when someone is bullied or humiliated, fiction or not, I think that's a problem.
- Why read it when there are so many other more positive books. The children who do read a lot of this series pick up quickly to the bad humor and unacceptable language. It is a quick read (no real challenge) and you come away with nothing positive. If you like bad humor, unloyal friendships, lacking of respect between the sexes - go ahead spend your time on it. Inappropriate middle school behaviors and poor humor are being marketed to young readers in this book.
但无论如何,全世界的小孩子们都喜欢看,这写书和出书的目的就已经达到了,至于语法和道德方面的问题,是家长和语文老师们的责任了。