讓童年跟隨“漢克”去歷險(xiǎn)

丁丁

（一）

2011年12月24日，暢銷美國(guó)20多年的系列童書——《警犬漢克歷險(xiǎn)記》，由浙江工商大學(xué)出版社在北京西單圖書大廈舉行新書首發(fā)儀式。

在新書發(fā)布會(huì)現(xiàn)場(chǎng)，除了出版社邀請(qǐng)的各大媒體記者之外，同時(shí)還能看見很多小朋友拉著父母在座位上傾聽，他們是被書店大廳廣播吸引過(guò)來(lái)的小讀者。首發(fā)儀式上，嘉賓之一《哈利·波特》叢書責(zé)任編輯王瑞琴女士說(shuō)：“《警犬漢克歷險(xiǎn)記》是非常好的一套兒童書，它會(huì)與《哈利·波特》一樣熱銷中國(guó)?！?/p>

《警犬漢克歷險(xiǎn)記》這套叢書從上個(gè)世紀(jì)80年代末開始，就由世界頂級(jí)出版商美國(guó)企鵝出版公司連年出版，到目前為止已經(jīng)累計(jì)出版56冊(cè)之多（目前，作者仍在不遺余力地創(chuàng)作，這套叢書的數(shù)量還會(huì)隨著生活的繼續(xù)而不斷地增加），并且二十幾年來(lái)始終暢銷不衰。全世界已經(jīng)有二十幾個(gè)國(guó)家引進(jìn)了該書的版權(quán)，并受到了這些國(guó)家的孩子的喜愛與熱捧?！督袢彰绹?guó)》的評(píng)價(jià)是“多年來(lái)美國(guó)家庭娛樂(lè)的首選”；《世界》雜志對(duì)它的評(píng)價(jià)是：生活的伴侶，精神給養(yǎng)的源泉。從這些熱評(píng)可以看出，《警犬漢克歷險(xiǎn)記》是一套經(jīng)得住歲月考驗(yàn)的經(jīng)典之作。這在快餐文化風(fēng)行世界的大背景下，尤其顯得難能可貴。浙江工商大學(xué)出版社正是看好了《警犬漢克歷險(xiǎn)記》系列圖書的這一特點(diǎn)，才花了極大氣力引進(jìn)并出版了這套優(yōu)秀的少兒讀物。

（二）

每本書故事情節(jié)生動(dòng)，懸念設(shè)置引人入勝，讓人手不釋卷。這除了書中所展現(xiàn)的奇特的想象力與令人忍俊不禁的幽默感之外，還應(yīng)歸功于作者對(duì)各個(gè)角色的成功刻畫。

作者在這個(gè)系列中塑造了許多個(gè)形象，最豐富、最飽滿的當(dāng)然是主人公警犬漢克。

漢克是一只牛仔犬，是牧場(chǎng)治安“長(zhǎng)官”，它做起事情來(lái)經(jīng)常容易沖動(dòng)，完全不計(jì)后果，常常惹主人們生氣；它遇事較真，但精神容易走神，常常一不留神就忘掉了自己原本想說(shuō)的話，忘記了自己原本想干的事；它崇尚精神上的勝利，每當(dāng)無(wú)法戰(zhàn)勝對(duì)手時(shí)，它便退而求其次，以此來(lái)進(jìn)行自我安慰。

就如同一枚硬幣的兩面，漢克的性格具有多重的兩面性。

首先，漢克是一條忠實(shí)的狗，即使主人不重視它，想要另買一條更優(yōu)秀的狗，它對(duì)主人依然是不離不棄。在第10冊(cè)《時(shí)來(lái)運(yùn)轉(zhuǎn)》中，漢克由于闖了禍跑進(jìn)溪邊的一片柳林中躲避風(fēng)頭，可是，當(dāng)它知道它的主人在趕牛群時(shí)身陷流沙中，并且主人所中意的那條狗根本沒(méi)有去營(yíng)救主人的意思時(shí)，它憤怒了——

覺(jué)得我的火氣一下子躥上來(lái)了，“嗨，那家伙是我的主人，如果你看到他陷在流沙里，為什么不去幫助他？……一只狗自以為是，根本不去幫助陷于困境當(dāng)中的主人！我簡(jiǎn)直無(wú)法相信這一點(diǎn)。

其次，漢克是一條聰明的狗，當(dāng)它身處險(xiǎn)境時(shí)，總是善于審時(shí)度勢(shì)、化險(xiǎn)為夷。例如，在第29冊(cè)《吸血鬼吸塵器案》中，漢克先是不幸地撞到了郊狼兄弟，接著又倒霉地遇到了一群流浪狗，進(jìn)退維谷，形勢(shì)簡(jiǎn)直糟透了。不過(guò)，漢克巧妙地挑起了郊狼與流浪狗之間的矛盾，把戰(zhàn)火引到了他人身上，自己全身而退，化險(xiǎn)為夷。

漢克還是一條勇敢的狗，當(dāng)獨(dú)眼種馬撲向它喜歡的小女孩時(shí)，它能奮不顧身地?fù)渖先I(yíng)救她（第8冊(cè)《獨(dú)眼殺手案》）。

漢克的身上還有許多相互對(duì)立的性格，如世故與單純、自信與多疑，等等。看到作者把一條狗的形象清清楚楚地表現(xiàn)在筆下，我們才驚覺(jué)，原來(lái)我們身邊熟悉的狗狗，性格會(huì)這么復(fù)雜，心理會(huì)這么微妙，簡(jiǎn)直與人類沒(méi)有什么兩樣。

（三）

埃里克森筆下的漢克世界，是一個(gè)充滿想象力與冒險(xiǎn)的世界。

如今，隨著城市化進(jìn)程的加速，人類被禁錮在鋼筋水泥的都市之中，觸目所及的高樓大廈讓人類的想象力漸漸枯竭，而對(duì)孩子們來(lái)說(shuō)，最可怕的代價(jià)就是想象力的匱乏。

然而，在這套書中，在一片一望無(wú)際的牧場(chǎng)上，想象力卻如同脫韁的野馬般縱橫馳騁，沒(méi)有束縛，沒(méi)有羈絆：在這里，月亮由奶酪制成，棉白楊樹上可以生出棉白楊糖，樹蔭會(huì)被熾熱的陽(yáng)光燒灼掉……這些超乎尋常的想象力，緊緊地與原生態(tài)的大自然聯(lián)系在一起，讓讀者感覺(jué)從未這樣貼近過(guò)大自然，仿佛回到了記憶中的童年。

而把一條牛仔犬作為主人公、以第一人稱來(lái)講述這個(gè)故事，卻是本套叢書最大的想象力。我們習(xí)以為常的世界，我們理所當(dāng)然地認(rèn)為它應(yīng)該這樣存在的世界，在一只牛仔犬的眼里，卻如同嬰兒對(duì)身外世界的初次窺探，一切都欣欣向榮，充滿了朝氣。

在作者的眼中，漢克并不是一只完美的狗，他既聰明又愚蠢，既勇敢又懦弱，既善良又固執(zhí)，既單純又世故，既信心滿滿又疑心重重，經(jīng)常處于困境之中卻總能憑借自身的才智審時(shí)度勢(shì)化險(xiǎn)為夷，它是我們所熟悉的狗，作者把我們對(duì)狗模模糊糊的感覺(jué)，變成了筆下清清楚楚的存在。

這個(gè)由幽默感與想象力打造的奇幻世界，與其他許多魔幻類的少兒讀物截然不同，它沒(méi)有妖魔鬼怪那樣超現(xiàn)實(shí)的東西，書中所出現(xiàn)的全部都是現(xiàn)實(shí)世界中真實(shí)存在的動(dòng)物，因此，它更像是一部動(dòng)物世界的童話。在這個(gè)奇幻的世界里，漢克進(jìn)行了一系列奇特的冒險(xiǎn)。這是送給自己童年最好的禮物，讓自己的童年跟隨漢克去冒險(xiǎn)，還有什么比這更快樂(lè)的事嗎？！□

Take Adventures with Hank the Cowdog

By Ding Ding

December 24, 2011 was a big day for Zhejiang Gongshang University Press, a publishing house based in Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province. On that day, the press officially launched Hank the Cowdog at the Xidan Book Center in Beijing, arguably Chinas most important book re-tail center. It was a big day also for young Chinese readers, for Hank the Cowdog, a series of humor-ous childrens mystery novels written by John R. Erickson and illustrated by Gerald L. Homes, made its debut on the Chinese mainland that day and they would be able to follow Hank on his thrilling adven-tures.

The series made its debut in 1982 and 56 novels about Hank and his adventures have been published. Penguin took the series over in the late 1980s and has been publishing it since then. Hank the Cowdog is a bestseller over the past 20 some years and more than 20 countries have bought the copyrights and introduced them to young readers in their respective countries. The books of the series as bestsellers have stood the test of popularity, an everlasting phenomenon against a background of fast-changing world. This is exactly why the series appeals to Zhejiang Gongshang University Press and why the press made up its mind to buy the rights to publish the series in China.

The series may appeal to young Chinese readers for two major reasons.

First, Hank the Cowdog is an attractive character. He styles him-self as the "Head of Ranch Security" and conducts security sweeps and nightly patrols. However, his real task is to serve as the as-sistant to Slim and Loper in herding cattle. Hank has a superiority complex that causes him to have an inflated sense of his own intel-ligence, strength, courage and attractiveness. Because of this, Hank frequently finds himself in sticky situations, usually of his own creation. He has good qualities: loyalty, bravery, and intelligence.Hank has contradictions in his personality. He is both sophisticated and na.ve, and he is both confident and suspicious. Moreover, other dogs are equally interesting and complex personalities. To our sur-prise, we find these dogs are as complex and subtle as we human beings are.

Secondly, Hanks world under the pen of Erickson is full of adventures and fun. Hanks world is fantastic, a creation based on fancy and wild imagination. The moon is made of cheese. Trees can produce sugar. The tree shade can be burned off by the sweltering sunlight. These imaginative descriptions give the reader an oppor-tunity to approach nature in a pleasant way. There must be a time in everybodys early childhood years when things are just like what Erickson portrays and Hank sees. Hanks adventures are all related in the first person, giving the reader a unique perspective to look at the world and examine its wonders. The authors choice of the first person as the narrator is an imaginative decision.

On the other hand, however, the series present no supernatural creatures and things. All the animals in Hanks world are real ani-mals. So the adventures read like fairytales in the animal world. For young readers, Hank the Cowdog is a best friend, a best gift. What could be more fun than go with Hank on his adventures when you are still young? □