評論
打印
Narrator:Listen to part of a lecture in a literature class.
獨白:請聽文學課上一部分內容。
Professor:Now we can't really talk about fairy tales without first talking about folk tales because there's a strong connection between these two genres, these two types of stories.
教授:在講童話之前我們首先要提及一下民謠，因為這兩種不同類型的故事之間有很緊密的關聯。
In fact, many fairy tales started out as folk tales.
事實上，很多童話故事都是以民謠的形式開始的。
So, what's a folk tale?
那么什么是民謠呢？
How would you characterize them? Jeff?
民謠又有什么特征呢？杰夫你怎么看？
Jeff:Well, they are old stories, traditional stories.
杰夫:嗯，民謠是古老的故事，傳統的故事。
They were passed down orally within cultures from generation to generation, so they changed a lot over time.
他們是在某一文化領域內代代口頭相傳下來的。因此他們隨著時代的變遷而改變。
I mean, every story teller, or, maybe every town, might have had a slightly different version of the same folk tale.
我的意思是，每一個講民謠的人，抑或在每一個不同的城鎮，都有對同一個故事的不同描述。
Professor:That's right.
教授:你說得對。
There's local difference.
這就是當地的不同之處。
And that's why we say folk tales are communal.
也是為什么我們說民謠是公共的。
By communal, we mean they reflect the traits and the concerns of a particular community at a particular time.
說他們是公共的，我們指的是它們反映了在某一特定時段某一群體的特征和重要的事。
So essentially the same tale could be told in different communities,
因此本質上說，同一個故事在不同的群體中會有不同的版本，
with certain aspects of the tale adapted to fit the specific community.
而故事的某一方面符合當地群體的某一方面特征。
Um, not the plot, the details of what happens in the story would remain constant.
嗯，不只情節，故事中的細節都會一成不變。
That was the thread that held the tale together.
情節起到穿針引線的作用。
But all the other elements, like the location or characters, might be modified for each audience.
而其他因素，比如故事發生的地點人物的特征，每一個聽眾都有可能有所修改。
Okay. So what about fairy tales?
好的，那么童話呢？
Th…they also are found in most cultures,
童話也起源于大多數文化，
but how are they different from folk tales?
但與民謠相比何不同呢？
I guess the first question is:what is a fairy tale?
我想第一個問題就是:什么是童話？
And don't anyone say “a story with a fairy in it” because we all know that very few fairy tales actually have those tiny magical creatures in them.
不要說故事中有仙女出現就是童話，因為我們都知道童話里面真的很少會出現這些小的魔法精靈。
But, what else can we say about them? Mary.
那么，還有什么其他的因素呢？瑪麗說說你的見解。
Mary:Well, they seem to be less realistic than folk tales…
瑪麗:嗯，童話似乎沒有比民謠真實。
like they have something improbable happening-a frog turning into a prince, say.
比如童話中有一些事是不可能發生的，比如青蛙變王子。
Oh, that's another common element, royalty-a prince or princess.
哦，還有另一個一般的因素:王室，王子和公主的那些事。
And fairy tales all seem to take place in a location that's nowhere and everywhere at the same time.
還有，童話故事發生的地點沒有在任何地方，也可以同時在任何一個地方。
Professor:What's the line-up?
教授:童話故事是怎么進展的呢？
How do all the stories start?
故事是怎么開始的呢？
Once upon a time, in a far away land...
很久以前，在一個遙遠的地方…
oh, in the case of folk tales, each story teller would specify a particular location and time, though the time and location would differ for different story tellers.
哦，民謠中，講故事的人都會說到事件發生的時間和地點，盡管這兩者對不同的人來說有所不同。
With fairy tales, however, the location is generally unspecified, no matter who the story teller is.
然而，童話中的地點通常是不具體的，不管是誰講的故事。
That land far away... We'll come back to this point in a few minutes.
遙遠的地方。。過會兒我們再回過頭來說這點。
Student:Um... I, I thought that a fairy tale was just a written version of an oral folk tale.
學生:嗯，我，我想童話故事就是口頭民謠的書面版本。
Professor:Well, not exactly,
教授:嗯，不一定。
though that is how many fairy tales developed.
盡管童話已經發展很多。
For example, in the late 18th century, the Grimm Brothers traveled throughout what's now Germany, recording local folk tales.
比如，十八世紀晚期，格林兄弟周游現在的德國境內，記錄下當地的民謠。
These were eventually published as fairy tales, but not before undergoing a process of evolution.
這些記錄最后都被當做童話故事出版，但是在經歷了改革的浪潮之后才出版的。
Now, a number of things happen when an oral tale gets written down.
當口頭故事被記錄下來的時候會有很多東西隨之改變。
First, the language changes.
首先是語言的變化。
It becomes more formal, more standard-some might say, "less colorful".
語言變得更為正式，更為標準，一些人可能會說“遜色了不少”。
It's like the difference in your language depending on whether you are talking to someone, or writing them a letter.
這種不同之處就像你使用語言時一樣，看你是跟某人說話還是給某人寫信。
Second, when an orally transmitted story is written down, an authoritative version with a recognized author is created.
其次，當口頭相傳的故事寫下來的時候，就誕生知名作家的權威版本。
The communal aspect gets lost.
公共的成分就喪失了。
The tale no longer belongs to the community.
故事不在屬于某一群體。
It belongs to the world, so to speak.
而是可以說屬于全世界。
Because of this, elements like place and time can no longer be tailored to suit a particular audience.
因此，故事發生的地點和時間不再適合某一特定的聽眾。
So they become less identifiable, more generalizable to any audience.
因此故事的特征變得不明顯，而是很普遍。
On the other hand, descriptions of characters and settings can be developed more completely.
換句話說，角色描寫和故事場景設置發展得更為完善。
In folk tales, characters might be identified by a name,
民謠中的人物可以通過名字來識別，
but you wouldn't know anything more about them.
但你不會知道更多信息。
But in fairy tales, people no longer have to remember plots.
而在童話中，人們不在需要記住情節，
They're written down, right?
因為已經寫下來了對吧？
So more energy can be put into other elements of the story like character and setting.
那么讀者能把更多精力放在其他因素上，像人物和場景描述。
So you get more details about the characters, about where the action takes place, what people's houses were like,
這樣你得到更多人物的細節信息，故事發生的地點，人物所住的房子什么樣，
ur, whether they're small cabins or grand palaces.
額，他們是否住在小平房中還是宏偉的宮殿。
And it's worth investing that energy because the story, now in book form, isn't in danger of being lost.
把精力投入到這些上是值得的，因為以書本形式呈現出來的故事不會有丟失的風險。
Those details won't be forgotten.
人們不會忘記故事的細節。
If a folk tale isn't repeated by each generation, it may be lost for all time.
如果民謠沒有通過每一代人反復，也可能會永遠消失。
But with a fairy tale, it's always there in a book, waiting to be discovered, again and again.
但是童話故事卻安逸得待在書本中，等待一次又一次的發現。
Another interesting difference involves the change in audience.
另一個有趣的不同是關于聽眾的改變。
Who the stories are meant for?
故事是講給誰聽的？
Contrary to what many people believe today, folk tales were originally intended for adults, not for children.
和現在人們所想不同的是，童話一開始是面向成人，而不是兒童的。
So why is it that fairy tales seem targeted toward children nowadays?
那么為什么現在似乎童話的目標讀者是兒童呢？
