C S 刘易斯(Clive Staples Lewis,1898-1963),出生于北爱尔兰首府贝尔法斯特的一个新教家庭,但长年居住于英格兰,是威尔士裔英国知名作家及护教士。他以儿童文学经典《纳尼亚传奇》系列闻名于世,此外他还写作了其他神学著作、中世纪文学研究等诸多作品。
刘易斯小时候因讨厌学校,只接受家庭教师授课。1916 年他获奖学金进入牛津大学就读,期间曾应征入伍参与第一次世界大战。1925 年起,他在牛津大学莫德林学院担任研究员,任教期间,他参加名为“吉光片羽(The Inklings)”读书会,并结识牛津大学英国文学教授N 柯格希尔,以及著名的《魔戒》作者J R R 托尔金,这场相遇改变了他整个人生。
1954 年,他当选为剑桥大学中世纪与文艺复兴期英国文学讲座教授,所写文学批评论文已成传世之作。他是一位甚受学生爱戴的老师。而他写作的神学和具神学深度的文学作品早已脍炙人口。其重要作品有:《纳尼亚传奇系列》、《太空三部曲》、《痛苦的奥秘》、《返璞归真》、《四种爱》等。
目錄:
Chapter 1 Behind The Gym 在体育馆的后边 001
Chapter 2 Jill Is Given A Task 吉尔得到一个任务 017
Chapter 3 The Sailing Of The King 国王出海远行 032
Chapter 4 A Parliament Of Owls 猫头鹰议会 049
Chapter 5 Puddleglum 浦都格伦 065
Chapter 6 The Wild Waste Lands Of The North 北方的荒原 081
Chapter 7 The Hill Of The Strange Trenches 有着奇怪壕沟的小山 098
Chapter 8 The House Of Harfang 哈方的内廷 114
Chapter 9 How They Discovered Something Worth Knowing 揭穿秘密 131
Chapter 10 Travels Without The Sun 暗无天日的旅行 146
Chapter 11 In The Dark Castle 在黑暗城堡中 163
Chapter 12 The Queen Of Underland 地下世界的女王 179
Chapter 13 Underland Without The Queen 没有女王的地下世界 195
Chapter 14 The Bottom Of The World 世界的底层 210
Chapter 15 The Disappearance Of Jill 吉尔失踪了 225
Chapter 16 The Healing Of Harms 医治创伤 239
向和平
2013年12月
文摘
Behind The Gym
在体育馆的后边
It was a dull autumn day and Jill Pole was crying behind the gym. She was crying because they had been bullying her. This is not going to be a school story, so I shall say as little as possible about Jill’s school, which is not a pleasant subject. It was Co-educational, a school for both boys and girls, what used to be called a “mixed” school; some said it was not nearly so mixed as the minds of the people who ran it. These people had the idea that boys and girls should be allowed to do what they liked. And unfortunately what ten or fifteen of the biggest boys and girls liked best was bullying the others. All sorts of things, horrid things, went on which at an ordinary school would have been found out and stopped in half a term; but at this school they weren’t. Or even if they were, the people who did them were not expelled or punished. The Head said they were interesting psychological cases and sent for them and talked to them for hours. And if you knew the right sort of things to say to the Head, the main result was that you became rather a favourite than otherwise.
That was why Jill Pole was crying on that dull autumn day on the damp little path which runs between the back of the gym and the shrubbery. And she hadn’t nearly finished her cry when a boy came round the corner of the gym whistling, with his hands in his pockets. He nearly ran into her.
“Can’t you look where you’re going?” said Jill Pole.
“All right,” said the boy, “you needn’t start—” and then he noticed her face. “I say, Pole,” he said, “what’s up?”
Jill only made faces; the sort you make when you’re trying to say something but find that if you speak you’ll start crying again.
“It’s Them, I suppose—as usual,” said the boy grimly, digging his hands further into his pockets. Jill nodded. There was no need for her to say any-thing, even if she could have said it. They both knew.
“Now, look here,” said the boy, “there’s no good us all—”
He meant well, but he did talk rather like someone beginning a lecture. Jill suddenly flew into a temper which is quite a likely thing to happen if you have been interrupted in a cry.
“Oh, go away and mind your own business,” she said. “Nobody asked you to come barging in, did they? And you’re a nice person to start telling us what we all ought to do, aren’t you? I suppose you mean we ought to spend all our time sucking up to Them, and currying favour, and dancing attendance on Them like you do.”
“Oh, Lor!” said the boy, sitting down on the grassy bank at the edge of the shrubbery and very quickly getting up again because the grass was soaking wet. His name unfortunately was Eustace Scrubb, but he wasn’t a bad sort.
“Pole!” he said. “Is that fair? Have I been doing anything of the sort this term? Didn’t I stand up to Carter about the rabbit? And didn’t I keep the secret about Spivvins—under torture too? And didn’t I—”
“I d-don’t know and I don’t care,” sobbed Jill.
Scrubb saw that she wasn’t quite herself yet and very sensibly offered her a peppermint. He had one too. Presently Jill began to see things in a clearer light.
“I’m sorry, Scrubb,” she said presently. “I wasn’t fair. You have done all that—this term.”
“Then wash out last term if you can,” said Eustace. “I was a different chap then. I was—gosh! what a little tick I was.”
“Well, honestly, you were,” said Jill.
“You think there has been a change, then?” said Eustace.
“It’s not only me,” said Jill. “Everyone’s been saying so. They’ve noticed it. Eleanor Blakiston heard Adela Pennyfather talking about it in our changing room yesterday. She said, ‘Someone’s got hold of that Scrubb kid. He’s quite unmanageable this term. We shall have to attend to him next.’ ”
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那是一个多云暗淡的秋日,吉尔?珀尔正在体育馆后边哭泣。她之所以哭泣,是因为有些人一直在欺负她。这不是一个关于学校的故事,所以我要尽量少讲她的学校,那可不是一个令人愉快的题目。这是一所男女学生共同接受教育的学校,过去称之为“混合型”的学校。有人说,男女学生的混合还比不上办学者内心的混乱。校方的想法是,应该允许男女孩子们想做什么就做什么。不幸的是,有那么十多个大男生和大女生最喜欢做的,就是欺负别人。各种各样可怕的事情,如果发生在一所普通的学校,不到半个学期就会被发现,并且加以制止。但在这所学校却不是这样,即使这些坏事被人发现了,干坏事的学生也不会被开除或者受到惩处。校长说,这是一些很有趣的心理学个案,于是就把那些孩子找来,跟他们谈上几个钟头。如果你能够投其所好,说一些校长最爱听的话,结果你就成会成为校长的红人。
这正是为什么在那个阴郁的秋日,吉尔?珀尔站在一条潮湿的小路上哭泣的原因。那条小路位于体育馆后面和一个灌木丛之间。吉尔还在那里伤心流泪的时候,突然有个男孩子冒了出来。他两手插在口袋里,嘴里吹着口哨,转过体育馆的拐角,差一点跟她撞了个满怀。
“你走路怎么不看着点儿?”吉尔?珀尔说。
“好吧,”男孩子说,“你没有必要——”这时,他注意到她脸上的泪痕。“喂,珀尔,”他问道,“怎么回事?”
吉尔只是做了个鬼脸,没有回答。当你想说某件事,却发现自己一开口,又会忍不住哭起来时,往往就会做这种鬼脸。
“又是他们,我猜——像往常一样。”男孩子绷着脸说道,把双手往口袋深处伸了伸。吉尔点点头。即便她能够讲话,也没有必要再说了,他们两个都心知肚明。
“喂,听我说,”男孩子说道,“那毫无益处——”他的用意是好的,可是他说话的语气的确很像是要教训人。吉尔突然间大动肝火(正如你哭泣时被人打断,你往往会发脾气一样)。
“哦,走开,别管闲事,”她说,“谁也没请你来多嘴多舌,是吧?你倒是个好人,教训我们应该怎么做,是吧?我猜你的意思是说,我们应当随时随地拍他们的马屁,巴结他们,像你那样去讨好他们。”
“啊,天哪!”男孩子说着,在灌木丛边长满青草的斜坡上坐了下来,但他立马又站了起来,因为青草上湿漉漉的。很不巧,他的名字叫尤斯塔斯?斯克拉布a,其实他不是一个坏孩子。
“珀尔!”他说道,“你这话公平吗?这个学期我做过这样的事吗?就说那只兔子,我难道没有出来抵制卡特吗?难道我没有替司丕文保守秘密——而且还受到折磨?难道我——”
“我不-不知道,我也不管那么多。”吉尔抽噎着说。斯克拉布看出来,她的情绪还没有恢复正常,就善解人意地递给她一颗薄荷糖。他自己也吃了一颗。很快,吉尔就开始比较清醒地看待事物了。
“对不起,斯克拉布,”过了一会儿,她说,“我刚才不太公平。你的确做了那些事——这个学期。”
“如果可以的话,就忘掉上个学期,”尤斯塔斯说,“那时,我和现在不一样。我曾经是——嘿!我那时真是个小讨厌鬼。”
“嗯,说实在的,你那时真的很让人讨厌。”吉尔说。
“你觉得我有所改变,对吧?”尤斯塔斯说。
“不单是我,”吉尔说,“大家都在这么说。就连他们都注意到了。昨天,埃利诺?布拉吉斯顿在衣帽间听见阿黛拉?潘尼法热在议论此事。她说:‘有人控制住了斯克拉布家的那个小崽子。这个学期他相当不听话。下一回我们必须好好地修理他。’”
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