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今天，我们一起来品读美国作家埃尔文·布鲁克斯·怀特（E· B· White）1952年发表的经典童话故事《夏洛的网》（Charlotte’s Web）. 这部童话故事被翻译成20多种文字，在全球发行5000多万册，名列美国十佳儿童文学名著榜首. 这部童话故事老少皆宜，简单来说，是一个挽救无辜动物的生命的故事，从更广阔的角度而言，则塑造了一个关于生命、死亡、友谊、语言的力量等的更大的故事.一天，当8岁的小姑娘费恩.阿拉布尔听到家里刚出生小猪幼崽因为生而弱小要被“消除掉”时非常震惊、极力阻拦，成功说服了父亲留住小猪的性命，并给他取名威尔伯加以精心照料. 费恩的父亲阿拉布尔先生清楚猪长大后要被宰掉吃肉，因此在小猪威尔伯长大一点后便把他卖给了费恩的舅舅农场主朱克曼.虽然费恩一有空就去农场看望威尔伯，但是这头小猪还是感到很孤单，并尝试和谷仓里其他的动物们交朋友. 谷仓里欢乐的动物们教天真的小猪认识这个世界. 很快，小猪威尔伯交到了他生命中最重要的朋友——蜘蛛夏洛.小猪威尔伯在谷仓里平静而愉快的生活节奏被老山羊带来的可怕消息打破了：小猪威尔伯恐怕难逃圣诞节前被农场主朱克曼宰掉吃肉的宿命. 小猪威尔伯即刻陷入苦恼绝望，直到好朋友蜘蛛夏洛向他承诺他不会死. 蜘蛛夏洛提出一个聪明的计划，她开始在蛛网上织出“some pig”“terrific”“radiant”的字样. 农场主朱克曼被蛛网上显示文字震惊，开始相信自己拥有的是一头真正特别的猪. 小猪威尔伯名声远扬，人们从各地赶来参观这一奇迹. 小猪威尔伯的命运开始扭转。农场主朱克曼带小猪威尔伯到集市上参赛. 小猪威尔伯说服了蜘蛛夏洛一同前往，并创造了最后的成名时刻. 蜘蛛夏洛自我超越，在网上织出了“humble”（谦虚）的字样，完美地诠释了小猪威尔伯. 至此，小猪威尔伯在所有人眼中都成为一头特别的猪，并在大赛中夺冠. 蜘蛛夏洛和小猪威尔伯终于可以松口气，因为他们终于证明了小猪威尔伯的特别，他再也不用被屠宰来做培根了.在集市上，蜘蛛夏洛产卵的时间到了，她开始变得越来越虚弱，无法回到农场. 在老鼠坦普尔顿的帮助下，小猪威尔伯成功地将蜘蛛夏洛的卵囊运回农场，拯救了蜘蛛夏洛所有的孩子. 悲伤的是，蜘蛛夏洛在集市广场上结束了自己的生命，但小猪威尔伯为等待蜘蛛宝宝们孵化而感到安慰. 春天来了，卵很快孵化，许多蜘蛛宝宝离开了谷仓去寻找合适的地方织网。暖心的是，蜘蛛夏洛其中三个女儿喜欢小猪威尔伯，选择留在谷仓陪伴他.很少有故事会像《夏洛的网》这样把蜘蛛作为主要人物之一. 事实上，许多人害怕蜘蛛，一旦发现就会千方百计想要杀死它. 正如蜘蛛夏洛在故事里雄辩指出：蜘蛛能将果蝇的量控制在可控范围之内，对环境的维持颇有裨益. 蜘蛛夏洛本人就是所谓的谷仓蜘蛛. 她的全名是Charlotte A. Cavatica，源于谷仓蜘蛛的学名Araneus cavaticus. 在故事的最后，蜘蛛夏洛的其中一个女儿自称Aranea，与该种蜘蛛分类的顺序有关. 谷仓蜘蛛是夜间活动的黄色和棕色蜘蛛，腿部有条纹. 它每天晚上都会拆除蛛网并重建另一个网.
蜘蛛的寿命差不多一两季，和人类比较起来几乎是眨眼一瞬间. 童话故事里的谷仓蜘蛛夏洛在其短暂的生命中，与小猪威尔伯缔结友谊，忠诚于友谊，当小猪威尔伯面临被屠宰的宿命而惊恐绝望时，她坚定地表示“你不会死，我救你！” 她是这么说的，也是这么做的，凭借智慧和辛劳，一次又一次地在猪栏上用自己的丝在网上织出文字，被人类视为奇迹，拯救了朋友的性命. 在生命走到尽头时，拥有云淡风轻的从容，向朋友吐露心声，认为通过帮助小猪威尔伯，自己的生命价值也得到了提升：“You have been my friend,” replied Charlotte. “That in itself is a tremendous thing, I wove my webs for you because I liked you. After all, what’s a life, anyway? We’re born, we live a little while, we die. A spider’s life can’t help being something of a mess, with all this trapping and eating flies. By helping you, perhaps I was trying to lift up my life a trifle. Heaven knows anyone’s life can stand a little of that.”“A little tired, perhaps. But I feel peaceful. Your success in the ring this morning was, to a small degree, my success. Your future is assured. You will live, secure and safe, Wilbur. Nothing can harm you now. These autumn days will shorten and grow cold. The leaves will shake loose from the trees and fall. Christmas will come, then the snows of winter. You will live to enjoy the beauty of the frozen world, for you mean a great deal to Zukerman and he will not harm you, ever. Winter will pass, the days will lengthen, the ice will melt in the pasture pond. The song sparrow will return and sing, the frogs will awake, the warm wind will blow again. All these sights and sounds and smells will be yours to enjoy, Wilbur—this lovely world, these precious days…”从这里可以看到，蜘蛛夏洛带着劳累后的疲倦，但有为自己做成事情而感到的欣慰；有为即将离开人世的淡淡忧伤，却有对朋友能够继续活下去的真诚祝福，有对生活对朋友的无限依恋.而当她用尽力气挥动前腿和朋友再见后，也走到了生命的终点.没有人知道一只灰蜘蛛曾经起过最重要的作用。在她死的时候，没有任何谁陪在她身边.“Good-bye!” She whispered. Then she summoned all her strength and waved one of her front legs at him.She never moved again. Next day, as the Ferris wheel being taken apart and the race horses were being leaded into vans and the entertainers were packing up their belongings and driving away in their trailers, Charlotte died. The Fair Grounds were soon deserted. The sheds and buildings were empty and forlorn. The infield was littered with bottles and trash. Nobody, of the hundreds of people that had visited the Fair, knew that a grey spider had played the most important part of all. No one was with her when she died.读到这段不禁令人泪目. 然而，蜘蛛夏洛并不孤单. 她费尽心力拯救了朋友小猪威尔伯的生命，拥有了最珍贵的友情，小猪威尔伯在她生命弥留之际传承了这份情谊，用自己的方式获得老鼠坦普尔顿的协助，成功地将蜘蛛夏洛的卵囊带回谷仓，了却了她生前的心愿. 蜘蛛夏洛短暂的生命是一次伟大的修行，她毫无保留付出真心的爱，是对最为珍贵和纯真友情的终极诠释.小猪威尔伯因为与蜘蛛夏洛的这段友谊，从一开始的得悉被宰杀宿命时只会尖叫哭泣，到随着蜘蛛夏洛编织出的文字竭尽所能表现，再到最后勇敢地救下蜘蛛夏洛的孩子们，一点点成长.《夏洛的网》语言凝练鲜明、幽默生动、极具感染力. 以下摘取部分，一起来欣赏吧~ 【 Frank 下雨天 】.mp3 来自英语说HernelEnglishSchool 00:00 01:31 下雨天
在一个阴郁的雨天，小猪威尔伯第一次感到了孤单失落，极度渴望友情。一起来看看作者笔下勾勒出的雨天景象吧. The next day was rainy and dark. Rain fell on the roof of the barn and dripped steadily from the eaves. Rain fell in the barnyard and ran in crooked courses down into the lane where thistles and pigweed grew. Rain spattered against Mrs. Zukerman’s kitchen windows and came gushing out of the downspouts. Rain fell on the backs of the sheep as they gazed in the meadow. When the sheep tired of standing in the rain, they walked slowly up the lane and into the fold. 一连串的动词和介词搭配，fall on，drip from，fall in，run down into，spatter against，come gushing out of勾勒出雨天里雨珠或滴落、或敲打、或汇流等画面，似乎一曲交响乐一样，雨天的景象和声音跃然纸上. 【 Frank 一头欢快的猪 】.mp 来自英语说HernelEnglishSchool 00:00 00:35 一头欢快的猪 小猪威尔伯在鹅的鼓动下逃出谷仓，作者用一系列的动词描写初享自由的他. He gave a jump in the air, twirled, ran a few steps, stopped, looked all around, sniffed the smells of afternoon, and then set off walking down through the orchard. Pausing in the shade of an apple tree, he put his strong snout into the ground and began pushing, digging, and rooting. He felt very happy. He had plowed up quite a piece of ground before anyone noticed him.
【 Frank 静谧夜晚 】.mp3 来自英语说HernelEnglishSchool 00:00 01:37 静谧夜晚 小猪威尔伯初次听到蜘蛛夏洛跟他说愿意和他做朋友，在安静的夜晚焦急又不得不耐心等待天亮。配合小猪威尔伯的心境观察到安静夜晚中各种细微的声音.
A dozen times during the night Wilbur woke and stared into the blackness, listening to the sounds and trying to figure out what time it was. A barn is never perfectly quiet. Even at midnight there is usually something stirring. The first time he woke, he heard Templeton gnawing a hole in the grain bin. Templeton’s teeth scraped loudly against the wood and made quite a racket. … The second time Wilbur woke, he heard the goose turning on her nest and chuckling to herself. About half an hour before dawn, Wilbur woke and listened. The barn was still dark. The sheep lay motionless. Even the goose was quiet. Overhead, on the main floor, nothing stirred: the cows were resting, the horses dozed. Templeton had quit work and gone off somewhere on an errand. The only sound was a slight scraping noise from the rooftop, where the weather-vane swung back and forth. Wilbur loved the barn when it was like this—calm and quiet, waiting for light.
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