Shel Silverstein的儿童诗# LeisureTime - 读书听歌看电影
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(刚发给K１２俱乐部给孩子爸妈看。这里有孩的人家也爱读他的诗吗？他给花花公子画
过漫画， 我还没见过。)
我第一次听说他的诗，还是大孩子才１，２岁的时候，一天电视节目＇NOGGING＇读了
首他的＂Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too＂， 一个男声慢慢地读， 语调很幽默，
那些字在一起听起来格外上口，好玩， 讲的内容又有点怪异荒诞，我很喜欢：
Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too
Went for a ride in a flying shoe.
"Hooray!"
"What fun!"
"It's time we flew!"
Said Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.
Ickle was captain, and Pickle was crew
And Tickle served coffee and mulligan stew
As higher
And higher
And higher they flew,
Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.
Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too,
Over the sun and beyond the blue.
"Hold on!"
"Stay in!"
"I hope we do!"
Cried Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.
Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle too
Never returned to the world they knew,
And nobody
Knows what's
Happened to
Dear Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.
后来， 陆陆续续地, 连借带买,给孩子读了好多他的诗集。从一开始,我们家的两个
男孩就都喜欢上了这个大胡子光头男人写的东西。现在孩子都八岁，十岁了， 每晚
的保留节目仍然是，睡前他们屋熄了灯，我靠着门边，借走廊的灯给他们念上一两首他
的诗。
小孩子喜欢他的诗， 主要是又上口又好笑。我家老二第一遍读，经常能咯咯地笑到肚
子疼。比如这个：
Bottle Opener
Openin' bottles with my teeth -
They call me funny.
Openin' bottles with my teeth -
They call me dummy.
Openin' bottles with my teeth -
They call me gummy.
插图是张着大嘴，一口牙只剩一两颗的一个傻瓜像。
还有这个：
Crowded Tub
There's too many kids in this tub.
There's too many elbows to scrub.
I just washed a behind
That I'm sure wasn t mine
There's too many kids in this tub.
这里面的 behind叫他们笑死了 -我家孩子对涉及到屁股和生理功能的词都很感兴趣 －
很低级趣味。 还有首是说一个留了大长胡子就不穿衣服的人，也是和光腚有关，插图画
得又好玩，用词一派语法错误, 他们看了一遍又一遍,笑个不停。
这些单纯好笑的诗也不是没有意义吧? 能让孩子因为好笑而喜欢阅读和读诗，能从Shel
Silverstein非常有创意的字词搭配中感受到语言的乐趣， 不是挺好的吗？而且，
他的诗大多有很强的节奏和音韵， 听上去很有趣， 很容易叫婴幼儿喜欢。所以，大人
在孩子还是婴幼儿时就可以读给孩子听,应该是对促进语言发育有好处吧。
Shel Silverstein的很多诗生动地描画了小孩子的特点， 大人孩子读起来都觉得
亲切。 比如这首妖怪妈妈和妖怪孩子的对话，我家到晚上就说害怕monster的孩子,听
了会心一笑：
Frightened
"There are kids underneath my bed,"
Cried little baby monster Fred.
Momma monster smiled."Oh, Fred,
There's no such thing as kids," she said.
还有这个装病不想上学的孩子：
Sick
"I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
...
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is -
what? What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is ... Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!"
当然还有讽刺自我中心，自恋的孩子（或者大人）的:
Tell me I'm clever,
Tell me I'm kind,
Tell me I'm talented,
Tell me I'm cute,
Tell me I'm sensitive,
Graceful and Wise
Tell me I'm perfect--
But tell me the TRUTH.
In Love
If my face could only twist,
Then I could give my cheek a kiss
And whisper in my lovely ear,
“You're so beautiful, my dear,”
And look into my eyes and see
Just how much I’m in love with me.
再看看这个被惯坏了的孩子是怎么求婚的：
My Rules
If you want to marry me, here's what you'll have to do:
You must learn how to make a perfect chicken-dumpling stew.
And you must sew my holey socks,
And soothe my troubled mind,
And develop the knack for scratching my back,
And keep my shoes spotlessly shined.
And while I rest you must rake up the leaves,
And when it is hailing and snowing
You must shovel the walk... and be still when I talk,
And--hey--where are you going?
除了上口，好玩，搞笑外，也有好多感伤的诗。那本很有名的＂The Giving Tree＂就
很伤感，但我不很喜欢，觉得太悲太沉重了 - 索取和给于到了近乎施虐和受虐的地步
。 他的好多哀伤都是关于衰老， 逝去和死亡。 比如这个想看看七月的雪人：
Snowman
Twas the first day of springtime,
And the snowman stood alone
As the winter snows were melting
And the pine trees seemed to groan,
“Ah, you poor sad smiling snowman,
You’ll be melting by and by.”
Said the snowman,”What a pity,
For I’d like to see July.
Yes, I’d like to see July, and please don’t ask me why.
But I’d like to, yes I’d like to, oh I’d like to see July.
Chirped a robin just arriving,
“Seasons come come and seasons go,
And the greatest ice crumble
When it’s flowers’ time to grow.
And as one thing is beginning
So another thing must die,
And there’s never been a snowman
Who has ever seen July.
No, they never see July, no matter how they try.
No, they never ever, never ever, never see July.”
But the snowman sniffed his carrot nose
And said, “At least I’ll try,”
And he bravely smiled his frosty smile
And blinked his coal black eye.
And there he stood and faced the sun
A blazin’ from the sky—
And I really cannot tell you
If he ever saw July.
Did he ever see July? You can guess as well as I
If he ever, if he never, if he ever saw July.
还有这个老人， 因为身体的衰老，变得和孩子一样笨拙，成了孩子般的弱者：
The Little Boy and the Old Man
Said the little boy, "Sometimes I drop my spoon."
Said the old man, "I do that too."
The little boy whispered, "I wet my pants."
"I do that too," laughed the little old man.
Said the little boy, "I often cry."
The old man nodded, "So do I."
"But worst of all," said the boy, "it seems
Grown-ups don't pay attention to me."
And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.
"I know what you mean," said the little old man.
还有首叙事诗， ‘Little Abigail And The Beautiful Pony’, 讲一个小女孩喜欢上
个矮脚马， 可父母不给买，小女孩说，如果不能有这个矮脚马， 她会死的。父母不信
， 结果小女孩回家后，真地抑郁而死。只是最后两句，号召小孩子在向父母要东西时
讲这个故事，加了幽默和荒诞的成分。
还有的诗讲孩子因为与众不同而遭排挤的悲伤。 THE LONG-HAIRED BOY讲一个小男孩的
头发
特别长，大家都笑话他， 他哭着哭着就飞起来， 飞走了:
"...
He treaded air above the town,
Sort of cryin’ and looking down
At all of us here on the ground.
Then up he flew, up into the clouds,
Flapping and flying so far and high,
Out past the hills and into the sky
Until a tiny speck against the sun
Was all we could see of him…then he was gone.”
另外,他的诗有些很荒诞， 还很阴郁黑暗， 有的还很恐怖（象有个小孩子掉到铰肉机
里，被不知情的别的孩子当汉堡给吃掉了）。 但小孩子也需要接触这种话题，这是他
们认识世界的一部分，小孩子也天生对黑暗的东西有好奇心。我觉得如果他们读到这些，
知道还有别人和他们一样想到过这些话题，会觉得自己很正常，心里感到踏实安全的。
想想看，最好的儿童读物， 从格林童话到刚去世的Maurice Sendak的Where the wild
things are， 都是带点黑暗色彩的。
其实Shel Silverstein的很多诗有很直接的教育意义和哲理的。 他自己是个自学成
材的天才，极具创造性，过的也不是循规蹈矩的生活，所以他倡导给孩子自由和独立，
鼓励孩子自己去探索和创造。下面的这首讽刺诗是不是表达了他对教育孩子的观点？
Before the Race
Mr. Flack tells his son Jack,
“Run hard—with no excuses.”
Mr. Brill tells his son Will
He’ll kill him if he loses.
Mr. Drew tells his son Lou
“Be fearless but beware.”
And little Trace, he won the race
(His father wasn’t there).
还有,给孩子搭一座桥，但告诉孩子，剩下的路还要自己走：
The Bridge
This bridge will only take you halfway there
To those mysterious lands you long to see;
Through gypsy camps and swirling arab fairs
And moonlit woods where unicorns run free.
So come and walk awhile with me and share
The twisting trails and wonderous worlds I've known.
But this bridge will only take you halfway there-
The last few steps you'll have to take alone.
Shel Silverstein１９９９年去世， 但留下了大量未发表的诗， 眼下我们正在读的"
Everything on it"就是去年才整理出的。还有上千首没发表， 估计以后还会有新诗集
。 这就是所谓的"人死后，灵魂仍在影响活着的人"吧。 新集子的扉页的诗就很好地
传达了这个感人的意思：
Although I cannot see your face
As you flip these poems awhile,
Somewhere from some far-off place
I hear you laughing—and I smile.
书里选的最后一首， 是他身后对孩子的期望：
When I am gone what will you do?
Who will write and draw for you?
Someone smarter—someone new?
Someone better—maybe YOU!”
最后提一下，有好几个集子都翻成了中文， 好象评价很高。 但由于Shel Silverstein
喜欢用韵脚和双关语， 翻译就不能全表达出原意， 比如这首'Falling Up":
I tripped on my shoelace
And I fell up—
Up to the roof tops,
Up over the town,
Up past the tree tops,
Up over the mountains,
Up where the colors
Blend into the sounds.
But it got me so dizzy
When I looked around,
I got sick to my stomach
And I threw down.
翻译成"向上跌了一跤":
我给鞋带绊倒，
向上跌了一跤，
向上跌过屋顶，
向上跌过了树梢，
向上跌过了城市上面，
向上跌得比山还高，
向上跌到半空，
那儿声音和颜色交融在一道。
我向四周一看，
顿时眼花缭乱，昏头昏脑，
我的肚子实在难受，
于是直往下掉。
这首不用压韵， 但threw down是相关于fall up, 反着说threw up， 既是向下冲， 又
是呕吐. 好象没办法翻出来。
过漫画， 我还没见过。)
我第一次听说他的诗，还是大孩子才１，２岁的时候，一天电视节目＇NOGGING＇读了
首他的＂Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me Too＂， 一个男声慢慢地读， 语调很幽默，
那些字在一起听起来格外上口，好玩， 讲的内容又有点怪异荒诞，我很喜欢：
Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too
Went for a ride in a flying shoe.
"Hooray!"
"What fun!"
"It's time we flew!"
Said Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.
Ickle was captain, and Pickle was crew
And Tickle served coffee and mulligan stew
As higher
And higher
And higher they flew,
Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.
Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too,
Over the sun and beyond the blue.
"Hold on!"
"Stay in!"
"I hope we do!"
Cried Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.
Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle too
Never returned to the world they knew,
And nobody
Knows what's
Happened to
Dear Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too.
后来， 陆陆续续地, 连借带买,给孩子读了好多他的诗集。从一开始,我们家的两个
男孩就都喜欢上了这个大胡子光头男人写的东西。现在孩子都八岁，十岁了， 每晚
的保留节目仍然是，睡前他们屋熄了灯，我靠着门边，借走廊的灯给他们念上一两首他
的诗。
小孩子喜欢他的诗， 主要是又上口又好笑。我家老二第一遍读，经常能咯咯地笑到肚
子疼。比如这个：
Bottle Opener
Openin' bottles with my teeth -
They call me funny.
Openin' bottles with my teeth -
They call me dummy.
Openin' bottles with my teeth -
They call me gummy.
插图是张着大嘴，一口牙只剩一两颗的一个傻瓜像。
还有这个：
Crowded Tub
There's too many kids in this tub.
There's too many elbows to scrub.
I just washed a behind
That I'm sure wasn t mine
There's too many kids in this tub.
这里面的 behind叫他们笑死了 -我家孩子对涉及到屁股和生理功能的词都很感兴趣 －
很低级趣味。 还有首是说一个留了大长胡子就不穿衣服的人，也是和光腚有关，插图画
得又好玩，用词一派语法错误, 他们看了一遍又一遍,笑个不停。
这些单纯好笑的诗也不是没有意义吧? 能让孩子因为好笑而喜欢阅读和读诗，能从Shel
Silverstein非常有创意的字词搭配中感受到语言的乐趣， 不是挺好的吗？而且，
他的诗大多有很强的节奏和音韵， 听上去很有趣， 很容易叫婴幼儿喜欢。所以，大人
在孩子还是婴幼儿时就可以读给孩子听,应该是对促进语言发育有好处吧。
Shel Silverstein的很多诗生动地描画了小孩子的特点， 大人孩子读起来都觉得
亲切。 比如这首妖怪妈妈和妖怪孩子的对话，我家到晚上就说害怕monster的孩子,听
了会心一笑：
Frightened
"There are kids underneath my bed,"
Cried little baby monster Fred.
Momma monster smiled."Oh, Fred,
There's no such thing as kids," she said.
还有这个装病不想上学的孩子：
Sick
"I cannot go to school today,"
Said little Peggy Ann McKay.
"I have the measles and the mumps,
A gash, a rash and purple bumps.
My mouth is wet, my throat is dry,
I'm going blind in my right eye.
...
My brain is shrunk, I cannot hear,
There is a hole inside my ear.
I have a hangnail, and my heart is -
what? What's that? What's that you say?
You say today is ... Saturday?
G'bye, I'm going out to play!"
当然还有讽刺自我中心，自恋的孩子（或者大人）的:
Tell me I'm clever,
Tell me I'm kind,
Tell me I'm talented,
Tell me I'm cute,
Tell me I'm sensitive,
Graceful and Wise
Tell me I'm perfect--
But tell me the TRUTH.
In Love
If my face could only twist,
Then I could give my cheek a kiss
And whisper in my lovely ear,
“You're so beautiful, my dear,”
And look into my eyes and see
Just how much I’m in love with me.
再看看这个被惯坏了的孩子是怎么求婚的：
My Rules
If you want to marry me, here's what you'll have to do:
You must learn how to make a perfect chicken-dumpling stew.
And you must sew my holey socks,
And soothe my troubled mind,
And develop the knack for scratching my back,
And keep my shoes spotlessly shined.
And while I rest you must rake up the leaves,
And when it is hailing and snowing
You must shovel the walk... and be still when I talk,
And--hey--where are you going?
除了上口，好玩，搞笑外，也有好多感伤的诗。那本很有名的＂The Giving Tree＂就
很伤感，但我不很喜欢，觉得太悲太沉重了 - 索取和给于到了近乎施虐和受虐的地步
。 他的好多哀伤都是关于衰老， 逝去和死亡。 比如这个想看看七月的雪人：
Snowman
Twas the first day of springtime,
And the snowman stood alone
As the winter snows were melting
And the pine trees seemed to groan,
“Ah, you poor sad smiling snowman,
You’ll be melting by and by.”
Said the snowman,”What a pity,
For I’d like to see July.
Yes, I’d like to see July, and please don’t ask me why.
But I’d like to, yes I’d like to, oh I’d like to see July.
Chirped a robin just arriving,
“Seasons come come and seasons go,
And the greatest ice crumble
When it’s flowers’ time to grow.
And as one thing is beginning
So another thing must die,
And there’s never been a snowman
Who has ever seen July.
No, they never see July, no matter how they try.
No, they never ever, never ever, never see July.”
But the snowman sniffed his carrot nose
And said, “At least I’ll try,”
And he bravely smiled his frosty smile
And blinked his coal black eye.
And there he stood and faced the sun
A blazin’ from the sky—
And I really cannot tell you
If he ever saw July.
Did he ever see July? You can guess as well as I
If he ever, if he never, if he ever saw July.
还有这个老人， 因为身体的衰老，变得和孩子一样笨拙，成了孩子般的弱者：
The Little Boy and the Old Man
Said the little boy, "Sometimes I drop my spoon."
Said the old man, "I do that too."
The little boy whispered, "I wet my pants."
"I do that too," laughed the little old man.
Said the little boy, "I often cry."
The old man nodded, "So do I."
"But worst of all," said the boy, "it seems
Grown-ups don't pay attention to me."
And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.
"I know what you mean," said the little old man.
还有首叙事诗， ‘Little Abigail And The Beautiful Pony’, 讲一个小女孩喜欢上
个矮脚马， 可父母不给买，小女孩说，如果不能有这个矮脚马， 她会死的。父母不信
， 结果小女孩回家后，真地抑郁而死。只是最后两句，号召小孩子在向父母要东西时
讲这个故事，加了幽默和荒诞的成分。
还有的诗讲孩子因为与众不同而遭排挤的悲伤。 THE LONG-HAIRED BOY讲一个小男孩的
头发
特别长，大家都笑话他， 他哭着哭着就飞起来， 飞走了:
"...
He treaded air above the town,
Sort of cryin’ and looking down
At all of us here on the ground.
Then up he flew, up into the clouds,
Flapping and flying so far and high,
Out past the hills and into the sky
Until a tiny speck against the sun
Was all we could see of him…then he was gone.”
另外,他的诗有些很荒诞， 还很阴郁黑暗， 有的还很恐怖（象有个小孩子掉到铰肉机
里，被不知情的别的孩子当汉堡给吃掉了）。 但小孩子也需要接触这种话题，这是他
们认识世界的一部分，小孩子也天生对黑暗的东西有好奇心。我觉得如果他们读到这些，
知道还有别人和他们一样想到过这些话题，会觉得自己很正常，心里感到踏实安全的。
想想看，最好的儿童读物， 从格林童话到刚去世的Maurice Sendak的Where the wild
things are， 都是带点黑暗色彩的。
其实Shel Silverstein的很多诗有很直接的教育意义和哲理的。 他自己是个自学成
材的天才，极具创造性，过的也不是循规蹈矩的生活，所以他倡导给孩子自由和独立，
鼓励孩子自己去探索和创造。下面的这首讽刺诗是不是表达了他对教育孩子的观点？
Before the Race
Mr. Flack tells his son Jack,
“Run hard—with no excuses.”
Mr. Brill tells his son Will
He’ll kill him if he loses.
Mr. Drew tells his son Lou
“Be fearless but beware.”
And little Trace, he won the race
(His father wasn’t there).
还有,给孩子搭一座桥，但告诉孩子，剩下的路还要自己走：
The Bridge
This bridge will only take you halfway there
To those mysterious lands you long to see;
Through gypsy camps and swirling arab fairs
And moonlit woods where unicorns run free.
So come and walk awhile with me and share
The twisting trails and wonderous worlds I've known.
But this bridge will only take you halfway there-
The last few steps you'll have to take alone.
Shel Silverstein１９９９年去世， 但留下了大量未发表的诗， 眼下我们正在读的"
Everything on it"就是去年才整理出的。还有上千首没发表， 估计以后还会有新诗集
。 这就是所谓的"人死后，灵魂仍在影响活着的人"吧。 新集子的扉页的诗就很好地
传达了这个感人的意思：
Although I cannot see your face
As you flip these poems awhile,
Somewhere from some far-off place
I hear you laughing—and I smile.
书里选的最后一首， 是他身后对孩子的期望：
When I am gone what will you do?
Who will write and draw for you?
Someone smarter—someone new?
Someone better—maybe YOU!”
最后提一下，有好几个集子都翻成了中文， 好象评价很高。 但由于Shel Silverstein
喜欢用韵脚和双关语， 翻译就不能全表达出原意， 比如这首'Falling Up":
I tripped on my shoelace
And I fell up—
Up to the roof tops,
Up over the town,
Up past the tree tops,
Up over the mountains,
Up where the colors
Blend into the sounds.
But it got me so dizzy
When I looked around,
I got sick to my stomach
And I threw down.
翻译成"向上跌了一跤":
我给鞋带绊倒，
向上跌了一跤，
向上跌过屋顶，
向上跌过了树梢，
向上跌过了城市上面，
向上跌得比山还高，
向上跌到半空，
那儿声音和颜色交融在一道。
我向四周一看，
顿时眼花缭乱，昏头昏脑，
我的肚子实在难受，
于是直往下掉。
这首不用压韵， 但threw down是相关于fall up, 反着说threw up， 既是向下冲， 又
是呕吐. 好象没办法翻出来。
