你或许对迈克尔·罗森(Michael Rosen)这个名字不太熟悉,但你一定知道这个自带音效的表情包:
这个表情包的本尊迈克尔·罗森,是一位英国著名的儿童文学作家。
近日,罗森在接受蚂蚁集团英文播客节目AntKast的采访时,谈到他得知自己在中国走红的经过。
罗森是伦敦大学金史密斯学院的教授,在儿童文学硕士项目的一堂课上,他被一群中国留学生认出来了,才知道自己在中国“火”了。他还得知中国网友给了他一个可爱的昵称——“Nice爷爷”。
And then they came rushing up to me and said, "We know you." And I said, "I don't think so." They said, "Yes, in China, you're known as 'nice granddad'." And then they explained that I had been "discovered" in China.
她们向我冲过来,然后对我说:“我们认识你。”我说,“不会吧。”她们说,“真的认识,在中国,你是非常有名的‘Nice爷爷’”。然后她们向我解释了我被中国网友发现的故事。
罗森说他很喜欢“Nice爷爷”的称呼,“想不到比这更好的称呼了,谢谢中国。”
I like it. I can't think of a better term than to be known by the Chinese people as nice granddad. Thank you China. It's an honor.
我很喜欢,我也想不到比中国网友取的“Nice爷爷”更好的称呼了。谢谢中国,这是我的荣幸。
罗森创作了许多畅销著作,曾获得“童话桂冠作家”的称号。他的作品包括《我们要去捉狗熊》(We Are Going on a Bear Hunt)。
他还在视频平台上建立了自己的个人频道,凭借充满感染力的表演收获了60万粉丝,而那个广为人知的表情包就出自一个教小朋友如何吃热土豆的故事视频《Hot Food》。
坎坷人生:大学被捕两次
这位看似搞笑幽默的老爷爷人生经历却十分坎坷。
1946年,罗森出生在英国哈罗的一个犹太家庭里。受父母的影响,他从小就对写作感兴趣:
"Sometime around the age of twelve and thirteen I began to get a sense that I liked writing, liked trying out different kinds of writing. I tried writing satirical poems about people I knew."
“大约在12、13岁的时候,我开始发现自己喜欢写作,我尝试写各种东西,其中包括讽刺熟人的诗句。”
后来他进入牛津大学英语专业学习,却在大学中两次被捕入狱。
"I was arrested twice: once for demonstrating against the war in Vietnam; once for demonstrating against a hairdresser in Oxford who refused to cut black people’s hair."
罗森说:“我曾两次被捕入狱:一次是因为反越战游行,一次是因为抗议牛津的一名理发师拒绝为黑人理发”。
1969年毕业后,罗森进入BBC工作,却在工作三年后,因为他的政治倾向被辞退,给出的理由是让他去做自由职业者(“I was asked to ‘go freelance’”)。
罗森毫不犹豫地离开了公司,因为他发现公司的许多做法也令他感到沮丧:
"Their view of 'educational' was narrow. The machine had decided this was the direction to take. Your own creativity was down the spout."
“他们对‘教育’的看法很狭隘,这个新闻机器决定你的工作方向,而自己的创造力直线下降。”
1972年,他开始了“自由创作”的时代。
中年经历丧子之痛
罗森经历了3次婚姻,一共拥有5个孩子,其中2个是继子。
中年时,他经历了丧子之痛,他的二儿子埃迪在18岁时因脑膜炎离世。这对罗森造成了极大的重创,他把这种痛苦融进了作品中,创作出了《伤心书》。
His second son Eddie died at the age of 18 from meningococcal septicaemia. This formed the inspiration for his 2004 work, Sad Book.
在书中,罗森如实记录了悲伤来袭时,自己最真实的心境。
“最让我伤心的,是想到我儿子埃迪的那一刻。他已经死了。我好爱他,好爱他,但是他还是离我而去了。”
“有时候,伤心来势汹汹,漫天盖地。到处都是,包围着我。”
“我很悲伤,但是我假装快乐。因为我怕大家不喜欢悲伤的我。”
2004年,英国协会授予《伤心书》“最佳儿童画册特别奖”。
感染新冠,将濒死体验写成书
2020年3月,他因感染新冠病毒入院,在不久后转入重症监护室,三次病危。在转出重症监护室后,又花了很长时间重新学习走路。
In March 2020, Rosen contracted COVID-19 and nearly died on three separate occasions. He spent two months in a medically induced coma and several more in recovery, learning to walk again.
迈克尔·罗森病中近照
5月份的时候,罗森出院了,他把这次濒死的体验写了本书《多种多样的爱》(Many Different Kinds of Love: A Story of Life, Death and the NHS)。
书中记录了他病重时的感受:卧床不起,呼吸急促,“感觉自己没有足够的空气”。在住院病房的孤独与绝望:“医院的夜晚漫长而悲伤”。
Despite spending nearly seven weeks in intensive care and having to learn to walk again after contracting COVID-19, Michael Rosen has written a new book in the weeks since he left hospital, describing his return to creativity as akin to being wrapped in “a very friendly blanket”.
感染新冠后,罗森在重症监护室待了将近七周,不得不重新学习走路。但在出院数周之后,他写了一本新书。他形容自己创造力回归的过程,就像被“非常舒服的毯子包裹”一样。
罗森的视力、听力和体力与以往相比有所受损,脚趾变得麻木。不过他还不忘幽默,开玩笑说:“人脚趾麻掉也能活下去(You can live with numb toes.)。”
生活总有一个转角
为什么写童书?写作是什么?在AntKast采访中,罗森说写作可以让自己进入一间令人愉快的头脑房间:
Writing is just such a great, lovely place for me to be in. I sometimes think of writing as like you go into a room, and it's a room full of possibility that you can make things and create things.
写作对我来说是一件愉快的事情。有时我把它比作走进一间房间,里面充满了创造的各种可能性。
...So when you go into the writhing room of your head, you're creating these objects and people and relationships and investigating them. In a way, it's a bit like a detective does real objects.
当你走进头脑中的写作房时,你在创造这些物品和人物,以及他们的关系,并调查他们。从某种角度来说,写作有点像一个侦探的探案现场。
迈克尔经历过人生的苦难,却依然选择用孩童般纯净的视角热爱生活。
如果用一句话描述一下人生,你会用哪句话?罗森回答说:生活总有转角(There's always a corner.)。
We've got this English expression, "I've turned a corner." and that means that you've got passed something and you're onto the next bit. The thing is, there is always a next bit. You get round that corner and you go, "Yeah, I've turned the corner." But when you get round that corner, there's another corner ahead.
英文中有句话叫做“我转过了一个弯”,意思是你经历了坎坷,进入了下一阶段。问题是,总会有下一个“下一阶段”。你渡过难关后会庆祝“我熬过来了”。但当你过了那个
So my phrase is: There"s always a corner. There"s always a challenge, a thing to try and do. If you work away at it, you get round it. That"s great.转角,前方又有一个转角。
所以我的总结是:生活总有一个转角,总有挑战,总有一些需要尝试的事情。如果你积极应对,你就能拐过转角。这就很好。
编辑:陈月华
实习生:张玺
来源:AntKast 环球时报 Inews 卫报 Michael Rosen个人网站