It's easy to poke fun at some of these outlandish readings. Could they perhaps be the products of parents so addled by a text that, following their umpteenth nightly recital, the words start acting like one of those magic-eye images? Stare at them long enough and sense will materialise. Or nonsense. How else could a 22-page picture book like The Very Hungry Caterpillar yield capitalist, Christian, feminist, Marxist, queer and anti-liberal messages?
這些古怪的解讀很容易被人嘲笑。它們可能只是床頭故事而已——在兒時(shí)無(wú)數(shù)次的夜里，孩子在父母柔和的朗讀聲中展開(kāi)魔幻的幻象。盯著這些幻象，越能感覺(jué)它們的實(shí)在。又或者，這是都是扯淡。難道說(shuō)只有22頁(yè)的畫冊(cè)《好餓的毛毛蟲(chóng)》能夠包含所有資本主義者、基督教徒、女權(quán)主義、馬克思主義者、同性戀者和反自由主義者的信息？

"I don't think you can ever dig too deeply for meaning," says Dr Alison Waller, Senior Lecturer at the University of Roehampton's National Centre of Research for Children's Literature. Her favourite class involves applying psychoanalytical theory to Judith Kerr's The Tiger Who Came to Tea, resulting in some decidedly Oedipal interpretations of that big cat and his relationship to the family."
"我認(rèn)為你不能太過(guò)于深挖兒童文學(xué)的深層含義。"艾莉森·沃特博士說(shuō)道。她是羅漢普頓大學(xué)國(guó)家兒童文學(xué)研究中心的高級(jí)講師。她最喜歡的課程是用心理分析理論來(lái)解讀朱迪思·克爾的《老虎來(lái)喝下午茶》，并從老虎和它的家庭關(guān)系中得出了一些戀母情結(jié)的結(jié)論。

"This is a very simple story, but simplicity is not the same as a lack of depth. There are some exquisite picture books that tackle existential issues like death and sadness head on: Michael Rosen's Sad Book and The Red Tree by Shaun Tan are great examples."
"這是一個(gè)非常簡(jiǎn)單的故事，但簡(jiǎn)單并不意味這沒(méi)有深度。一些精致的畫冊(cè)會(huì)直面像死亡和悲傷等存在主義問(wèn)題：邁克爾·羅森的《悲傷之書》和陳志勇的《緋紅樹(shù)》就是兩個(gè)很好的例子。"

Just because we might not be aware of such adult messages when we read books as kids, doesn't mean we aren't absorbing them, she adds. "However far this kind of 'message' seems to leap out at the adult reader, it is probably closer to the truth to say that the message has always been there but the knowledge that allows it to be recognised has not."
只是因?yàn)閮簳r(shí)讀這類書籍時(shí)，可能還沒(méi)意識(shí)到這類成人信息，但這并不是說(shuō)我們沒(méi)有受它們影響。她補(bǔ)充道。"而這些潛臺(tái)詞似乎并不會(huì)直接跳入成人眼中。更確切地說(shuō)，這些潛在信息一直都在那里，但是需要有相應(yīng)的知識(shí)去辨識(shí)出來(lái)。"

Of course, sometimes meanings seem hidden because we're too caught up in the story, or because we're simply too young. Only as an adult does Waller recognise the motivation of Max's mother in sending him to bed without supper when she reads Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are.
當(dāng)然，有時(shí)候這些潛在的信息無(wú)法察覺(jué)，是因?yàn)樘^(guò)于沉浸在故事情節(jié)中，或是因?yàn)槲覀冞€太年輕。所以，沃勒博士只有從成年人的角度再次翻閱莫里斯·森達(dá)克的《野獸家園》，她才明白書中馬克思媽媽把他送上床卻沒(méi)有吃晚飯這件事上的動(dòng)機(jī)。

（來(lái)源：滬江英語(yǔ) 編輯：丁一）