史蒂芬·弗莱 | 朗读《丑小鸭》有感

I've just read one of the greatest fairy stories, one of the greatest stories for children ever written, the Ugly Duckling, by Hans Christian Andersen. It's a story I knew when I was... I suppose my mother read it to me when I was four or five years old, and I loved it, because it was beautiful.

我刚刚读了安徒生写的一个非常棒的童话故事——《丑小鸭》，这是写给孩子们的最伟大的童话故事之一。在我四五岁的时候，我母亲把这个故事讲给我听，我很喜欢，因为故事真的很美。

But when you're in it now as an adult, you see in it so much more, it's the story, really the primal story about bullying and about self-belief.

不过，长大后再看这个故事时，我们就会发现它另含深意。其实，这原本是一个关于霸凌和建立自信的故事。

And in an age now where we're concerned about how gay children, for example, feel different and bullied, and made to feel dreadful, and made to feel different and not part of the ordinary in an inner world, in which people are not good at athletics, for example, are made to feel weedy and geeky.

在如今这个时代，我们关心那些性取向为同性的孩子，例如，关心他们为何感觉与世界格格不入，被欺凌恐吓；关心他们为何感到害怕，觉得自己与众不同，而且内心缺乏归属感。这就好比现在不擅长运动的人会被视为软弱无能一样。

In a world in which anybody doesn't fit as a child in particular, the news is that it could get better and that you can grow into something splendid.

这世界让有点儿特别的孩子无法融入其中。不过，好消息是这些孩子们的处境会逐渐好转，他们也将会成长为出色的人。

And that the bullies and those who think everybody should be the same are the ones who always end up as the drunken-tramp, sitting in the doorways.

那些恃强凌弱者和那些认为每个人都应该一模一样的人，终究会沦落为坐在门口的醉汉。

（“Leave him alone! He's not doing any harm.” quacked mother duck. “He's too big and strange .” the handsome drake replied.）

（“别去打扰他！他不会伤害你们的！”鸭妈妈说。“但他体型太庞大、太怪异了。”这只英俊的小鸭子说。）

This is just a genuinely marvelous tale. I don't think I could love anybody who wasn't moved and engaged by it.

这真的是一个奇妙的故事，所以我无法和对这个故事无动于衷的人聊得来。

（“You are an ugly fellow.” the wild ducks told him, “ but you can't stay here so long as you don't marry any of us.” But the poor ugly duckling wasn't thinking of marriage, he just wanted to hide away in the weeds where no one could see him and mock him.）

（“你可真是个丑家伙！”野鸭说，“但是只要你不与我们当中的任何人结婚，你留下来也行。”可怜的丑小鸭压根没有想过结婚，他只想躲在这里的芦苇丛中，因为在这儿没有人能看到他，也没有人会嘲笑他。）

It’s particularly important to be reading it for UNICEF which is one of the great organizations in the world that looks after children and has done for decades.

为联合国儿童基金会阅读这个故事尤为重要，联合国儿童基金会是世界上关爱儿童的伟大组织之一，几十年来都致力于关爱儿童。

It goes in into dangerous places and it looks after the educational and the cultural and the living standards that children all around the world have and tries to improve them, and improve them in all kinds of ways and not least, of course, his is culture and education and giving them a chance to achieve their potential.

它深入危险之境，关注全世界儿童的教育、文化和生活水平问题，并用各种方法帮助他们改变现状。当然，除了改善文化和教育，最重要的是让孩子们都有机会发挥自身潜能。

（“Even a dog wouldn't eat me.” the poor duckling thought. He didn't know whether to be glad or sad. Winter arrived, bitterly cold, the water froze and one night the duckling got stuck in the ice.）

（“我太丑了，丑到连狗都不想吃我！”可怜的丑小鸭心想。他不知道自己是该高兴还是难过。冬天来了，天气非常寒冷，水都结成冰了。有一天晚上，丑小鸭被困在了冰里。）

And that's also what the story the ugly duckling is about. It’s about achieving or achieving a potential. It’s from a scant childhood to a full adulthood.

这是丑小鸭的故事，一个关于自我实现和激发潜能的故事；同时也是一个从卑微童年迈向美好成人的故事。