Sarah came running in."Look what I found." Over the top of the paper I was reading came a crispy, crumbling long object that caused me to jump. It was a snake skin that had been shed by one of our many garden snakes.
"Isn't it beautiful?" said my wide-eyed seven-year-old.
薩拉跑進(jìn)來(lái)。"看，我發(fā)現(xiàn)了什么。"我正在看報(bào)，一條卷長(zhǎng)的有點(diǎn)支離破碎的東西出現(xiàn)在報(bào)紙上，把我嚇得跳了起來(lái)。那是一條蛇的蛻皮，我們的花園里有很多蛇。
"它難道不漂亮嗎？"我那7歲的小女兒眨著她的大眼睛問(wèn)道。
I stared at the organic wrapper and thought to myself that it really wasn' t that beautiful, but I have learned never to appear nonchalant or jaded with children. Everything they see for the first time is elementary to their sense of beauty and creativity; they see only merit and excellence in the world until educated otherwise.
"Why does it do this?" Sarah asked.
Robert, ever the innocent comedian, said:"We have a naked snake in our garden!"
我看著那條蛇皮，自忖它實(shí)在算不上漂亮，但我明白決不能對(duì)孩子冷淡抑或感到厭煩。孩子們初次見(jiàn)到的東西對(duì)于他們是形成美感以及創(chuàng)造力的基礎(chǔ)。在接受相關(guān)教育之前，他們應(yīng)當(dāng)只會(huì)看到世上美好的事物。
薩拉問(wèn)："蛇為什么要蛻皮？"
曾經(jīng)做過(guò)天真喜劇演員的羅伯特說(shuō)："我們花園里有一條光著身子的蛇。"
I also try to customize every opportunity to teach my children that there is almost always something beyond the obvious; that there is something else going on besides what they see in front of them."Snakes shed their skin because they need to renew themselves," I explained. As is so often the case in my family, the original subject leads to another and another, until we are discussing something quite different.
我也利用一切機(jī)會(huì)教給孩子們知道任何事物不單有其表像，更有其深層原因的含義。 我解釋說(shuō)："蛇為了獲得新生，所以要蛻皮。"正如我家常常出現(xiàn)的情況，初的話題會(huì)引出其它一個(gè)又一個(gè)新問(wèn)題，直到我們談?wù)摰膬?nèi)容與初的毫不沾邊為止。
"Why do they need to renew themselves?" Sarah asked.
Robert quipped:" 'Cos they don't like who they are and they want to be someone else."
Sarah and I politely ignored her brother. I suddenly remembered an article on this page many years ago where the writer was expressing her concept of renewal. She used layers of paper over a wall to describe how we hide our original selves, and said that by peeling away those layers one by one, we see the underlying original beneath.
薩拉問(wèn)："蛇為什么要獲得新生？"
羅伯特詼諧地說(shuō)："因?yàn)樗鼈儾幌矚g自己的樣子，想要變成另外的樣子。"
薩拉和我沒(méi)再理會(huì)她哥哥。我忽然記起許多年前報(bào)上曾有一篇文章，作者表述了她對(duì)新生的看法：她用糊在墻壁上的一層層的壁紙來(lái)形容我們是如何將真實(shí)的自我隱藏起來(lái)的，并且說(shuō)一層一層地剝?nèi)ツ切┍诩?，我們便?huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)藏在下面的純真。
"We often need to shed our skins, those coatings and facades that we cover ourselves with," I said to my now absorbed daughter. "We outgrow some things and find other stuff unwanted or unnecessary. This snake no longer needs this skin. It is probably too stiff and crinkly for him, and he probably doesn' t think he looks as smart in it as he once did. Like buying a new suit."
Of course, I' m sure this explanation won' t sit well with bonafide naturalists. But Sarah was getting the point. As we talked, I knew that she began to comprehend, albeit slightly, that renewal is part of progress; that we need to take a good look at ourselves, and our rooms and schoolwork and creativity and spirituality, and see what we need to keep and what we need to cast off. I was careful to point out that this is a natural process, not one to be forced.
我告訴全神貫注的小女兒："我們常常要'蛻皮'，換掉身上那些衣服。我們長(zhǎng)大了，有些東西不想要了，有些不需要了。這條蛇不再需要這張皮了?？赡苁巧吒械竭@張皮既僵硬又難看，穿在身上不像以前那么漂亮。就像買一套新衣服那樣。"
當(dāng)然了，我敢肯定這樣的解釋不能讓真正的博物學(xué)家滿意。但薩拉聽(tīng)明白了。談話間，我知道薩拉盡管是朦朦朧朧的，但理解了新生是進(jìn)步的一部分，理解到我們需要好好審視自我、房間、功課、創(chuàng)造力以及靈性，想想需要留下什么，摒棄哪些。我用心地解釋這是自然過(guò)程，并非強(qiáng)迫著去做的。
"Snakes don' t peel off their skin when they feel like it." I explained. " It happens as a natural consequence of their growth."
"I see, Dad," said Sarah and jumped off my lap, grabbed the snakeskin, and ran off.
I hoped she would remember this. That often, in order to find our real selves underneath the layers of community and culture with which we cloak ourselves year after year, we need to start examining these layers. We need to gently peel some away, as we recognize them to be worthless, unnecessary, or flawed; or at best, store the discarded ones as mementoes of our promotion to a better vitality or spirit.
我解釋說(shuō)："蛇喜歡它的皮的時(shí)侯，就不會(huì)蛻皮。隨著它們的生長(zhǎng)，蛻皮是自然的過(guò)程。"
薩拉說(shuō)："爸爸，我懂了。"說(shuō)完從我腿上跳下去，拿著蛇皮跑了。
我希望她能記住這。為了找尋年復(fù)一年為社會(huì)和環(huán)境所掩蓋的真正的自我，我們需要檢查這些"壁紙"，一旦認(rèn)識(shí)到它們毫無(wú)價(jià)值，不再需要或者有缺陷，需要輕輕剝?nèi)ヒ恍檬菍⒛切┺饤壍臇|西塵封在記憶中，激勵(lì)我們更有活力和更有精神地前進(jìn)。
"Isn't it beautiful?" said my wide-eyed seven-year-old.
薩拉跑進(jìn)來(lái)。"看，我發(fā)現(xiàn)了什么。"我正在看報(bào)，一條卷長(zhǎng)的有點(diǎn)支離破碎的東西出現(xiàn)在報(bào)紙上，把我嚇得跳了起來(lái)。那是一條蛇的蛻皮，我們的花園里有很多蛇。
"它難道不漂亮嗎？"我那7歲的小女兒眨著她的大眼睛問(wèn)道。
I stared at the organic wrapper and thought to myself that it really wasn' t that beautiful, but I have learned never to appear nonchalant or jaded with children. Everything they see for the first time is elementary to their sense of beauty and creativity; they see only merit and excellence in the world until educated otherwise.
"Why does it do this?" Sarah asked.
Robert, ever the innocent comedian, said:"We have a naked snake in our garden!"
我看著那條蛇皮，自忖它實(shí)在算不上漂亮，但我明白決不能對(duì)孩子冷淡抑或感到厭煩。孩子們初次見(jiàn)到的東西對(duì)于他們是形成美感以及創(chuàng)造力的基礎(chǔ)。在接受相關(guān)教育之前，他們應(yīng)當(dāng)只會(huì)看到世上美好的事物。
薩拉問(wèn)："蛇為什么要蛻皮？"
曾經(jīng)做過(guò)天真喜劇演員的羅伯特說(shuō)："我們花園里有一條光著身子的蛇。"
I also try to customize every opportunity to teach my children that there is almost always something beyond the obvious; that there is something else going on besides what they see in front of them."Snakes shed their skin because they need to renew themselves," I explained. As is so often the case in my family, the original subject leads to another and another, until we are discussing something quite different.
我也利用一切機(jī)會(huì)教給孩子們知道任何事物不單有其表像，更有其深層原因的含義。 我解釋說(shuō)："蛇為了獲得新生，所以要蛻皮。"正如我家常常出現(xiàn)的情況，初的話題會(huì)引出其它一個(gè)又一個(gè)新問(wèn)題，直到我們談?wù)摰膬?nèi)容與初的毫不沾邊為止。
"Why do they need to renew themselves?" Sarah asked.
Robert quipped:" 'Cos they don't like who they are and they want to be someone else."
Sarah and I politely ignored her brother. I suddenly remembered an article on this page many years ago where the writer was expressing her concept of renewal. She used layers of paper over a wall to describe how we hide our original selves, and said that by peeling away those layers one by one, we see the underlying original beneath.
薩拉問(wèn)："蛇為什么要獲得新生？"
羅伯特詼諧地說(shuō)："因?yàn)樗鼈儾幌矚g自己的樣子，想要變成另外的樣子。"
薩拉和我沒(méi)再理會(huì)她哥哥。我忽然記起許多年前報(bào)上曾有一篇文章，作者表述了她對(duì)新生的看法：她用糊在墻壁上的一層層的壁紙來(lái)形容我們是如何將真實(shí)的自我隱藏起來(lái)的，并且說(shuō)一層一層地剝?nèi)ツ切┍诩?，我們便?huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)藏在下面的純真。
"We often need to shed our skins, those coatings and facades that we cover ourselves with," I said to my now absorbed daughter. "We outgrow some things and find other stuff unwanted or unnecessary. This snake no longer needs this skin. It is probably too stiff and crinkly for him, and he probably doesn' t think he looks as smart in it as he once did. Like buying a new suit."
Of course, I' m sure this explanation won' t sit well with bonafide naturalists. But Sarah was getting the point. As we talked, I knew that she began to comprehend, albeit slightly, that renewal is part of progress; that we need to take a good look at ourselves, and our rooms and schoolwork and creativity and spirituality, and see what we need to keep and what we need to cast off. I was careful to point out that this is a natural process, not one to be forced.
我告訴全神貫注的小女兒："我們常常要'蛻皮'，換掉身上那些衣服。我們長(zhǎng)大了，有些東西不想要了，有些不需要了。這條蛇不再需要這張皮了?？赡苁巧吒械竭@張皮既僵硬又難看，穿在身上不像以前那么漂亮。就像買一套新衣服那樣。"
當(dāng)然了，我敢肯定這樣的解釋不能讓真正的博物學(xué)家滿意。但薩拉聽(tīng)明白了。談話間，我知道薩拉盡管是朦朦朧朧的，但理解了新生是進(jìn)步的一部分，理解到我們需要好好審視自我、房間、功課、創(chuàng)造力以及靈性，想想需要留下什么，摒棄哪些。我用心地解釋這是自然過(guò)程，并非強(qiáng)迫著去做的。
"Snakes don' t peel off their skin when they feel like it." I explained. " It happens as a natural consequence of their growth."
"I see, Dad," said Sarah and jumped off my lap, grabbed the snakeskin, and ran off.
I hoped she would remember this. That often, in order to find our real selves underneath the layers of community and culture with which we cloak ourselves year after year, we need to start examining these layers. We need to gently peel some away, as we recognize them to be worthless, unnecessary, or flawed; or at best, store the discarded ones as mementoes of our promotion to a better vitality or spirit.
我解釋說(shuō)："蛇喜歡它的皮的時(shí)侯，就不會(huì)蛻皮。隨著它們的生長(zhǎng)，蛻皮是自然的過(guò)程。"
薩拉說(shuō)："爸爸，我懂了。"說(shuō)完從我腿上跳下去，拿著蛇皮跑了。
我希望她能記住這。為了找尋年復(fù)一年為社會(huì)和環(huán)境所掩蓋的真正的自我，我們需要檢查這些"壁紙"，一旦認(rèn)識(shí)到它們毫無(wú)價(jià)值，不再需要或者有缺陷，需要輕輕剝?nèi)ヒ恍檬菍⒛切┺饤壍臇|西塵封在記憶中，激勵(lì)我們更有活力和更有精神地前進(jìn)。