弗羅拉與鬆鼠俠的光明之旅
美文共享
作者：Kate Dicamillo校譯：箐舞
凱特·迪卡米洛（Kate Dicamillo）是美國最當紅的兒童文學作家，被美國國會圖書館任命為第四任“青少年文學國家大使”，曾獲邁克奈特基金會作家獎金、紐伯瑞兒童文學獎銀獎（2001年）和金獎（2004年、2014年）、波士頓全球號角書獎金獎等諸多獎項。《紐約時報》稱讚她是“繼J. K. 羅琳後，美國童書界最耀眼的明星！”《弗羅拉與鬆鼠俠》（Flora & Ulysses： The Illuminated Adventures）在美國出版後，連續四十多周穩居美國童書暢銷榜榜首，並一舉摘得2014年紐伯瑞兒童文學獎金獎。
故事的開端便是一出慘劇，一隻鬆鼠被一台呼嘯而來的吸塵器吸了進去，叛逆的小姑娘弗羅拉救下了這隻鬆鼠，並將它帶回家。重生後的鬆鼠變得力大無窮，不僅會飛，還能用弗羅拉媽媽的打字機寫詩，這深深激怒了弗羅拉的作家媽媽，她決心鏟除這隻鬆鼠！一直對媽媽心存不滿的弗羅拉一氣之下離家出走……
如果你看過迪卡米洛的《愛德華的奇妙之旅》（CT曾在2014年6月號推薦過哦），那麼你就會明白，迪卡米洛的手裏有一大串神奇的鑰匙，她能夠隨意打開一扇你從未想過的門，把主人公送上一段不可思議的旅程。現在，讓我們跟著《弗羅拉與鬆鼠俠》踏上一段光明之旅吧！（編者注：
譯文參考自新蕾出版社2014年版。）
Chapter 1 A Natural-Born Cynic[憤世嫉俗者]
Flora Belle Buckman was in her room at her desk. She was very busy. She was doing two things at once. She was ignoring[忽略] her mother， and she was also reading a comic book entitled The Illuminated[被照明的] Adventures of the Amazing Incandesto注1！
“Flora，” her mother shouted， “what are you doing up there？”
“I’m reading！” Flora shouted back.
“Remember the contract[合同]！” her mother shouted.
“Do not forget the contract！”
At the beginning of summer， in a moment of weakness， Flora had made the mistake of signing a contract that said she would “work to turn her face away from the idiotic[愚蠢的] hijinks[狂歡作樂] of comics and toward the bright light of true literature.”
Those were the exact words of the contract. They were her mother’s words.
Flora’s mother was a writer. She was divorced[離婚的]，
and she wrote romance novels.
Talk about idiotic hijinks.
Flora hated romance novels.
第一章 一個天生的憤世嫉俗者
弗羅拉·貝拉正坐在書桌前。她可忙著呢。她正在同時做兩件事情——一邊無視她的媽媽，一邊讀一本漫畫書，書的名字叫作《神奇白熾燈俠的光明之旅》。
“弗羅拉，”媽媽吼道，“你在上麵幹什麼呢？”
“我讀書呢！”弗羅拉吼回去。
“記著點兒合同！”媽媽接著喊，“千萬別忘了合同！”
在夏天剛開始的時候，弗羅拉一時疏忽犯了錯。她簽了份合同，規定她要“努力遠離那些愚蠢、亂七八糟的漫畫，然後投身到真正的文學之光中去”。
那份合同就是這麼寫的——她媽媽的手筆。
弗羅拉的媽媽是個作家，她離婚後，以寫愛情小說為生。
愛情小說才是真正愚蠢、亂七八糟的東西。
弗羅拉討厭愛情小說。
In fact， she hated romance.
“I hate romance，” said Flora out loud to herself. She liked the way the words sounded. She imagined them floating above her in a comic-strip bubble. It was a comforting[令人安慰的] thing to have words hanging over her head， especially negative[消極的] words about romance.
Flora’s mother had often accused[指責]
Flora of being a “natural-born cynic.”
Flora suspected that this was true.
“She was a natural-born cynic who lived in defiance[無視] of contracts！”
Yep， thought Flora， that’s me. She bent her head and went back to reading about the amazing Incandesto.
She was interrupted[打斷] a few minutes later by a very loud noise.
It sounded as if a jet plane had landed in the Tickhams’ backyard.
實際上，她討厭愛情。
“我討厭愛情！”弗羅拉大聲對自己說。她喜歡這種說話的感覺。她想象著這些詞全變成了漫畫裏對話框中的文字，浮在她腦袋上方。想說的話若能懸在頭上，肯定是件很愜意的事，特別是這種關於愛情的反麵論調。
媽媽常指責弗羅拉是個“天生的憤世嫉俗者”。
弗羅拉認為她說得很對。
“她就是個天生的憤世嫉俗者，無視合同的約束而活著！”
是啊，弗羅拉想，這就是我。於是，她低下頭繼續讀她那神奇的白熾燈俠。
幾分鍾後，她的思緒被一聲巨響打斷了。
這響聲就像一架小型飛機降落到了鄰居蒂漢家的後院。
“What the heck？注2” said Flora. She got up from her
desk and looked out the window and saw Mrs. Tickham running around the backyard with a shiny， oversize[超大型的] vacuum cleaner[真空吸塵器]. It looked like she was vacuuming the yard.
That can’t be， thought Flora. Who vacuums their yard？
Actually， it didn’t look like Mrs. Tickham knew what she was doing. It was more like the vacuum cleaner was in charge[主管]. And the vacuum cleaner seemed to be out of its mind. Or its engine. Or something.