文 /曉 菲

◆原作節(jié)選◆

That was the last time the girl Wendy ever saw Peter.For a little longer she tried for his sake not to have growing pains;and she felt she was untrue to him when she got a prize for general knowledge.But the years came and went without bringing the careless boy;and when they met again,Wendy was a married woman,and Peter was no more to her than a little dust in the box in which she had kept her toys.

Wendy was married in white with a pink sash.It is strange to think that Peter did not alight in the church and forbid the banns—formal announcement of a marriage.

Years rolled on again,and Wendy had a daughter.

She was called Jane,and always had an odd inquiring look,as if from the moment she arrived on the mainland she wanted to ask questions.When she was old enough to ask them they were mostly about

這是小姑娘溫迪最后一次見到彼得。有一個(gè)時(shí)期，為了彼得的緣故，她努力不讓自己越來越痛苦。當(dāng)她在常識(shí)課上得了獎(jiǎng)時(shí)，她覺得自己是對(duì)彼得不忠實(shí)。但是，一年年過去了，這位粗心大意的孩子再也沒來。等到他們?cè)僖娒鏁r(shí)，溫迪已經(jīng)是一位結(jié)了婚的婦人。彼得對(duì)于她，只不過成了她收藏玩具的匣子里的一點(diǎn)灰塵。

溫迪結(jié)婚時(shí)，穿著一件白衣，系著一條粉紅飾帶。想來也挺奇怪，彼得竟沒有飛進(jìn)教堂，去反對(duì)這樁婚禮。

歲月如流水，溫迪有了一個(gè)女兒。

女兒名叫簡，她總帶著一種好發(fā)問的古怪神情，仿佛她一來到世上，就有許多問題要問。她的問題多半是關(guān)于彼得的。

“咱們現(xiàn)在看見什么啦？”Peter Pan.

“What do we see now？”

“I don’t think I see anything tonight,”says Wendy.

“Yes,youdo,”saysJane,“youseewhen you were a little girl.”

“That is a long time ago,sweetheart,”says Wendy.“Ah me,how time flies!”

“Does it fly,”asks the artful child,“the way you flew when you were a little girl？”

“The way Iflew? Do you know,Jane,I sometimes wonder whether I ever did really fly.”

“Yes,you did.”

“The dear old days when I could fly!”

“Why can’t you fly now,mother？”

“Because I am grown up,dearest.When people grow up they forget the way.”

“Why do they forget the way？”

“Because they are no longer gay and innocent and heartless.It is only the gay and innocent and heartless who can fly.”

“What is gay and innocent and heartless？I do wish I were gay and innocent and heartless.”

Or perhaps Wendy admits she does see something.

“I do believe,”she says,“that it is Peter.”

“I do believe it is,”says Jane.“Go on.”

They are now embarked on the great adventure of the night when Peter flew in looking for his shadow.

“The foolish fellow,”says Wendy,“tried to stick it on with soap,and when he could not he cried,and that woke me,and I sewed it on for him.”

“You have missed a bit,”interrupts Jane,who now knows the story better than her mother.“When you saw him sitting on the floor crying,what did you say？”

“I sat up in bed and I said,‘Boy,why are you crying？’”

“Yes,that was it,”says Jane,with a big breath.

“And then he flew us all away to the

“今晚我什么也沒看見?！睖氐险f。

“你看得見，”簡說，“你是一個(gè)小姑娘的時(shí)候，就看得見。”

“那是很久很久以前的事啦，我的寶貝，”溫迪說，“唉，時(shí)間飛得多快呀！”

“時(shí)間也會(huì)飛嗎？”這個(gè)機(jī)靈的孩子問，“就像你小時(shí)候那樣飛嗎？”

“像我那樣飛！你知道吧，簡，我有時(shí)候真鬧不清我是不是真的飛過?！?/p>

“你飛過?！?/p>

“我會(huì)飛的那個(gè)好時(shí)光，已經(jīng)一去不回了?！?/p>

“你現(xiàn)在為什么不能飛，媽媽？”

“因?yàn)槲议L大了，寶貝。人一長大，就忘了怎么飛了?！?/p>

“為什么忘了怎么飛？”

“因?yàn)樗麄儾辉偈强旎畹?、天真的、沒心沒肺的。只有快活的、天真的、沒心沒肺的人才能飛?！?/p>

“什么叫快活的、天真的、沒心沒肺的？我真希望我也是快活的、天真的、沒心沒肺的。”

或許溫迪這時(shí)候真的悟到了什么?！拔蚁?，這都是因?yàn)楸说玫木壒?。”她說。

“我想也是，”簡說，“往下講吧?！?/p>

于是她們開始談到了大冒險(xiǎn)的那一夜，先是彼得飛進(jìn)來找他的影子。

“那個(gè)傻家伙，”溫迪說，“他想用肥皂把影子粘上，粘不上他就哭?？蘼暟盐殷@醒了，我就用針線給他縫上?！?/p>

“你漏掉了一點(diǎn)?！焙啿遄煺f，她現(xiàn)在比母親知道的還清楚，“你看見他坐在地板上哭的時(shí)候，你說什么來著？”

“我在床上坐起來，說：‘孩子，你為什么哭？’”

“對(duì)了，就是這樣?！焙喺f，出了一Neverland and the fairies and the pirates and the redskins and the mermaid’s lagoon,and the home under the ground,and the little house.”

“Yes!Which did you like best of all？”

“I think I liked the home under the ground best of all.”

“Yes,so do I.What was the last thing Peter ever said to you？”

“The last thing he ever said to me was,‘Just always be waiting for me,and then some night you will hear me crowing.’”

“Yes.”

“But,alas,he forgot all about me,”Wendy said it with a smile.She was as grown up as that.

“Whatdid hiscrow sound like?”Janeasked one evening.

“It was like this,”Wendy said,trying to imitate Peter’s crow.

“No,it wasn’t,”Jane said gravely, “it was like this”；and she did it ever so much better than her mother.

Wendy was a little startled.“My darling,how can you know？”

“I often hear it when I am sleeping,”Jane said.

“Ah yes,many girlshearitwhen they are sleeping,but I was the only one who heard it awake.”

“Lucky you,”said Jane.

As you look at Wendy,you may see her hair becoming white,and her figure little again,for all thishappened long ago.Jane isnow a common grown-up,with a daughter called Margaret；and every spring cleaning time,except when he forgets,Peter comes for Margaret and takes her to the Neverland,where she tells him stories about himself,to which he listens eagerly.When Margaret grows up she will have a daughter,who is to be Peter’s mother in turn；and thus it will go on,so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.大口氣。

“后來，他領(lǐng)著我飛到了夢(mèng)幻島。那兒有仙子，有海盜，有印第安人，還有人魚的礁湖；有地下的家，還有那間小屋子?！?/p>

“對(duì)了！你最喜歡的是什么？”

“我想我最喜歡的是地下的家?！?/p>

“對(duì)了，我也最喜歡。彼得最后對(duì)你說的話是什么？”

“他最后對(duì)我說的話是：‘只要你老是等著我，總有一夜你會(huì)聽到我的叫聲?！?/p>

“對(duì)了?！?/p>

“可是，唉！他已經(jīng)完全把我忘了。”溫迪微笑著說。她已經(jīng)長那么大了。

“彼得的叫聲是什么樣的？”有一晚簡問道。

“是這樣的?！睖氐险f，她試著學(xué)彼得叫。

“不對(duì)，不是這樣，”簡鄭重地說，“是這樣的?！彼龑W(xué)得比母親強(qiáng)多了。

溫迪有點(diǎn)吃驚：“寶貝，你怎么知道的？”

“我睡著的時(shí)候常常聽到?！焙喺f。

“啊，是啊，許多女孩睡著的時(shí)候都聽到過，可是只有我醒著聽到過?！?/p>

“你多幸運(yùn)?！焙喺f。

你再見到溫迪時(shí)，會(huì)看到她頭發(fā)變白了，身體又縮小了。因?yàn)?，這些事是老早老早以前發(fā)生的。簡現(xiàn)在是普通的成年人了，女兒名叫瑪格麗特；每到春季大掃除時(shí)節(jié)，除非彼得自己忘記了，他總是來帶瑪格麗特去夢(mèng)幻島。她給彼得講他自己的故事，彼得聚精會(huì)神地聽著?，敻覃愄亻L大后，又會(huì)有一個(gè)女兒，她又成了彼得的母親。事情就這樣周而復(fù)始，只要孩子們是快活的、天真的、沒心沒肺的。

◆賞析◆

小時(shí)候，我們總覺得時(shí)間過得很慢。坐在略帶涼意的草坪上數(shù)石頭，直到腿麻了，眼睛疲了，心煩了，卻依舊沒數(shù)完；忘帶鑰匙的那日，守著母親下班回來的路口，看著落日余暉似散似離，將路人的影子拉得很長；伙伴拋過來的沙包，在天空中畫出清晰的弧線，我們用雙眼認(rèn)真地凝視著，仿佛全身的力量都追隨過去，那么地執(zhí)著……純真年代里的“永遠(yuǎn)”，就是這樣吧。日頭遲遲，歡聲笑語，哪有煩惱掛心頭。只是青春逝去，回憶的畫面漸漸清晰。在午夜茫然回首之時(shí)，我們不禁感慨，曾翹首企盼的“長大”，為何如此殘酷；年少時(shí)許諾給自己耀眼奪目的人生，為何還未兌現(xiàn)。從自由到束縛，從快樂到壓抑，從期盼到遺憾，這難道就是傳說中的成長的代價(jià)嗎？可否選擇讓時(shí)間靜止，哪怕身旁人腳步都已匆匆走遠(yuǎn)，自己也不為之動(dòng)容呢？

詹姆斯·巴里（1860—1937）筆下的彼得·潘做到了。作者用短短17個(gè)篇章，為讀者生動(dòng)地刻畫了主人公彼得·潘生活的世界。在那個(gè)單純的世界里，有永恒的童年、永無止境的探險(xiǎn)精神、燃燒不盡的熱情，這些讓無數(shù)的孩子為之癡迷。選篇中提到的女孩溫迪，曾經(jīng)就是彼得·潘最忠誠的追隨者之一。聰明的彼得·潘察覺出溫迪三姐弟正經(jīng)歷著不屬于孩童時(shí)代的煩惱，便在入夜之后，教會(huì)孩子們飛行，并帶他們?nèi)チ擞肋h(yuǎn)不會(huì)讓人長大的“夢(mèng)幻島”。在他們享受小島美景的同時(shí)，一場場神奇的冒險(xiǎn)也隨之展開。當(dāng)一切回歸平靜，孩子們相繼回到原來的生活軌跡，長大成人。唯有彼得·潘永遠(yuǎn)留在了這個(gè)小島。

作者巴里生于蘇格蘭，是一個(gè)生長在織布工人家庭的普通孩子。他自幼酷愛讀書、寫作，后來成為英國著名的小說家、劇作家。他一生為孩子們寫了許多童話故事和童話劇，《小飛俠彼得·潘》是其最具影響力的代表作。孩童時(shí)，巴里看到幾個(gè)孩子拿樹枝蓋房子，拿泥巴做點(diǎn)心，扮仙女、扮海盜，玩得很開心，由此激發(fā)了他創(chuàng)作這個(gè)童話故事的想法。

時(shí)間的發(fā)條依舊追著我們不停地往前走。長大后的世界，遠(yuǎn)不如想象中美好。在希望、失望、絕望的惡性循環(huán)里，美好單純的事物會(huì)被漸漸遺忘，只剩下被剝奪了想象力的身體。大多數(shù)人，比如書里出現(xiàn)的溫迪、約翰、邁克爾、簡、瑪格麗特等等，也只能無可奈何地接受現(xiàn)實(shí)。

作者巴里正是看到了、也經(jīng)歷了這些，才會(huì)提筆創(chuàng)作，圓所有讀者一個(gè)璞玉之夢(mèng)吧。生活中經(jīng)歷再多的挫折，并不影響我們坦然面對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)；再感到孤寂，也沒人能阻止我們滿懷赤忱地生活。在絕望中，這些過程被沉淀下來，終將成為生命里最天然的底色，映襯我們內(nèi)心的火花。也只有如此，方能對(duì)得起躲在云彩之上、俗世之外的那個(gè)長不大的自己。

愿你心底那個(gè)“彼得·潘”，從未離開過。

1.sash n.腰帶；肩帶 2.alight v.降落；下來

3.banns n.（教會(huì)的）結(jié)婚預(yù)告 4.announcement n.預(yù)告；通告

5.innocent adj.天真無邪的 6.embark v.著手；從事

7.sew v.縫紉 8.mermaid n.（傳說中的）美人魚

9.lagoon n.礁湖 10.crow v.叫聲

11.imitate v.模仿 12.gravely adv.嚴(yán)肅地