走进剑桥大学 第15期:《小熊维尼》与米尔恩

Alan Alexander Milne was born on the 18th of January 1882 in Hampstead, London. He studied at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with a degree in mathematics in 1903. Milne’s first literary efforts were published in the humorous magazine Punch, where, in 1906 Milne started to work as Assistant Editor, In 1913 Milne married Daphne, the God-daughter of Punch editor.

1882年1月18日，艾伦亚历山大米尔恩出生于伦敦汉普斯特德。他就读于威 斯敏斯特学校和剑桥大学三一学院，1903年，他从剑桥大学数学专业毕业，并获得学士学位。米尔恩的第一部文学作品发表在幽默杂志《笨拙》上，而从1906年开始， 米尔恩就作为一名助理编辑开始工作。1913年，米尔恩和《笨拙》杂志一位编辑的教女达芙妮结婚。

With the outbreak of the First World War, Milne joined the army as a signaling officer in February 1915, despite being a pacifist. He was sent to France but he left the front lines later suffering from fever. After his recovery he was placed in charge of a signaling company at Fort Southwick until his discharge from the army in February 1919. After leaving the army, Milne resigned his post at Punch and concentrated on writing plays. In 1923 his first children poem Vespers was published in Vanity Fair. The poem featured his son Christopher,

尽管米尔恩是反战主义者，随着第一次世界大战的爆发，他还是在1915年2月参军了，并成为一名信号官。他被派到法国，但不久就因高烧不退被迫离开前线。米尔恩康复以后开始负责管理索思威克要塞的一家信号公司，直到1919年2月退伍。退伍后米尔恩辞去了他在《笨拙》杂志社的工作，专心致力于话剧写作。1923年他的第一首儿童诗《晚祷》发表在著名杂志《名利场》上，这首诗以他的儿子克里斯多夫为原型。

In 1924，after the success of Vespers Milne published a book of children’s poems entitled When We Were Very Young, with drawings by Punch illustrator, Ernest Shepard. This book included a poem about a Teddy Bear. This was Pooh’s first unofficial appearance in Milne’s writing. When We Were Very Young was proved to be an instant success and sold over 50,000 copies within eight weeks.

继《晚祷》的成功发表后，1924年，米尔恩又发表了一本儿童诗集《当我们还很小的时候》，诗集里配有《笨拙》插图画家欧内斯特谢泼德画的插图。这本诗集里收藏了一首关于玩具熊的诗。这是维尼熊在米尔恩写作生涯中的首次非正式现身。《当 我们还很小的时候》一经出版便大受欢迎，8周内卖出了5万本。

It was not until 1925 that Pooh officially came into being. Milne’s contribution for the Christmas Eve issue was a bedtime story that he had made up for his son about adventures he had with his Teddy Bear who was later known as Winnie the Pooh.

直到1925年，玩具熊维尼才正式进入人们的视野。米尔恩为圣诞前夕发行物所做的贡献就是创作了一个睡前故事，这个故事是为他儿子准备的，讲的是他儿子和玩具熊的冒险故事，这只玩具熊后来被称为“小熊维尼”。

This bedtime story formed the first chapter of Milne’s next book entitled Winnie-the-Pooh. This book was followed by The House at Pooh Comer in 1928. In an attempt to shield his son from the publicity generated by the success of the Pooh stories, Milne announced that The House at Pooh Corner would be his last Christopher Robin book.

这个睡前故事构成了米尔恩的下一本书《小熊维尼》的第一章。在1928年，米尔恩又发表了《菩角小屋》。“小熊维尼”系列故事书的成功使得公众开始密切关注他的儿子，为了保护儿子，米尔恩宣布《菩角小屋》将是以他儿子克里斯多夫罗宾为原型的最后一本书。

He also never read the stories and poems to his son Christopher, preferring rather to amuse him with the works of P.G. Wodehouse, one of Milne’s favourite authors. Although Milne went on to write plays and novels, these Pooh stories remain his best known works.

米尔恩再也没有给克里斯多夫读故事书和诗歌，而是选择用他最喜欢的作家 ! P.G.沃德豪斯的作品供儿子阅读。虽然米尔恩继续创作话剧和小说，“小熊维尼”系列仍是他最出名的作品。