介绍:
想成为我们的主播，欢迎加微信 xdfbook 投稿。
一段美文，一首英文歌，或是一点生活感想，全由你做主。
《《天使雕像》——让秘密如影随形》
From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
E.L.柯尼斯伯格(E.L. Konigsburg, 1930~ 2013)，美国作家、插画家，是史上获得两次纽伯瑞儿童文学奖的六位作家之一，代表作有《小巫婆求仙记》(Jennifer, Hecate, Macbeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth)、《相约星期六》(The View from Saturday)等，《天使雕像》(From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler)为她赢得了纽伯瑞儿童文学金奖。该书讲述12岁的克劳迪娅(Claudia)厌倦了枯燥的生活，带着9岁的弟弟杰米(Jamie)离家出走的故事。他们藏在大都会博物馆一个星期，为揭开天使雕像(Angel)的秘密与福兰克威尔夫人(Mrs. Frankweiler)结下了友谊，也在这场冒险中收获成长，回家时已变得“不一样”。
下文选自小说第九章，讲述的是福兰克威尔夫人为他们揭开天使雕像的秘密之后与他们分享关于“秘密”的独特想法。
“You won’t tell my secret because if you do, I’ll write you out of my will . You would lose all that money. You said that the sketch was worth quite a boodle . So you’re going to be very good about keeping this secret. Claudia will keep quiet for a different reason. Her reason happens to be the same as mine.”
“Which is what?” Jamie asked.
“Simply because it is a secret. It will enable her to return to Greenwich different.”
Claudia looked at Jamie and nodded. Something I had just said made sense.
I continued, “Returning with a secret is what she really wants. Angel had a secret and that made her exciting, important. Claudia doesn’t want adventure. She likes baths and feeling comfortable too much for that kind of thing. Secrets are the kind of adventure she needs. Secrets are safe, and they do much to make you different. On the inside where it counts. I won’t actually be getting a secret from you; I’ll be getting details. I’m a collector of all kinds of things besides art,” I said pointing to my files.
“If all those files are secrets, and if secrets make you different on the inside, then your insides, Mrs. Frankweiler, must be the most mixed-up, the most different insides I’ve ever seen. Or any doctor has ever seen, either. ”
I grinned. “There’s a lifetime of secrets in those files. But there’s also just a lot of newspaper clippings. Junk. It’s a hodgepodge . Like my art collection. Now, you’ll tell me all about your running away, and I’ll add that to my files.
Whereas Jamie’s excitement bubbled out of him in grins and spurts of jittering around the room, Claudia’s excitement flowed not bubbled. I could see that she was a little surprised. She had known that Angel would have the answer, but she had expected it to be a loud bang, not a quiet soaking in. Of course secrets make a difference. That was why planning the runaway had been such fun; it was a secret. And hiding in the museum had been a secret. But they weren’t permanent; they had to come to an end. Angel wouldn’t. She could carry the secret of Angel inside her for twenty years just as I had. Now she wouldn’t have to be a heroine when she returned home … except to herself. And now she knew something about secrets that she hadn’t known before.
I could tell that she felt happy. Happiness is excitement that has found a settling down place, but there is always a little corner that keeps flapping around. Claudia could have kept her doubts to herself, but she was an honest child, and honorable child.
“Mrs. Fankweiler,” she said swallowing hard, “I really love the sketch. I really do. I love. Just love, love, love it. But don’t you think you ought to give it to the museum. They’re just dying to find out whether the statue is real or not.”
“Nonsense! What a conscience you suddenly have. I want to give it to you. In exchange. If you and Jamie want to give it to the museum after you inherit it, then you give it to the museum. I won’t let the museum people near here. If I could keep them out of Connecticut altogether, I would. I don’t want them to have it while I’m alive.”
Claudia wiped her forehead with the sleeve of her sweater and asked, “Why not?”
“I’ve thought about that for a long time, and I’ve decided ‘why not?’ What they’ll do is start investigating the authenticity of the sketch. They’ll call in authorities from all over the world. They’ll analyze the ink. And the paper. They’ll research all his illustrated notes and compare, compare, compare. In short, they’ll make a science of it. Some will say ‘yes.’ Some will say ‘no.’ Scholars will debate about it. They will poll all the authorities, and probably the majority will agree that the note and the statue are really the work of Michelangelo. At least that’s what they should conclude. But some stubborn ones won’t agree, and thereafter the statue and the sketch will appear in books with a big question mark. The experts don’t believe in coincidence as much as I do, and I don’t want them to throw doubt on something that I’ve felt always, and actually known for about twenty years.”
Claudia’s eyes widened, “But, Mrs. Frankweiler, if there is the slightest doubt that either the statue or the sketch is a forgery , don’t you want to know? Don’t you want the last little bit of doubt cleared up?
“No,” I answered abruptly.
“你不会泄露我的秘密，因为如果你那样做了，我将把你从我的遗嘱中删掉。你将得不到那一大笔钱。你说过那幅素描很值钱。因此你会好好保守这个秘密的。克劳迪娅则会出于另外的原因保持沉默。她的原因刚好和我的一样。”
“是什么呢？”杰米问。
“只因为那是个秘密。那会让她回到格林威治时‘不一样’。”
克劳迪娅看着杰米，点了点头。我刚刚说的话是有道理的。
我接着说：“带着秘密回去是她真正想要的。天使雕像有个秘密，这让它变得令人兴奋，变得重要。克劳迪娅不想冒险。她太喜欢洗澡、喜欢舒适的感觉，不会喜欢那种事。秘密是她需要的那种冒险。秘密既安全，又足以令你与众不同。这种不同重要的是内心的感受。确切地说，我不是要从你们这里探听一个秘密，我要的是细节。除了艺术品之外，我还收集各种东西，”我指着我的文件堆说。
“如果那些文件记录的都是秘密，而且如果秘密让你的内心变得不同，那么你的内心，福兰克威尔夫人，肯定是我见过的最复杂、最与众不同的。恐怕也没有医生搞清楚过吧。”
我咧嘴笑了笑。“那些文件里有我一辈子收集的秘密。不过，其中也有很多不过是些剪报。垃圾。那是个大杂烩。就像我的艺术品收藏一样。现在，把你们这次离家出走的经过全部告诉我，我把它添加到我的文件里去。”
杰米的兴奋抑制不住，咧着嘴傻笑，突然紧张不安地在屋里乱转，而克劳迪娅的兴奋却流露得很平静。我看得出她有些吃惊。她之前已经知道天使雕像会有答案，但她期望那会是一声轰天巨响，而不是无声无息铭记在心。当然秘密有重要作用。那就是为什么计划这次离家出走是那么地有趣；它是个秘密。躲藏在博物馆里也是个秘密。但它们都不长久，都得结束。天使雕像则不会。她可以把天使雕像的秘密藏在心里二十年，就像我做的那样。现在，她不必在回家时当个女英雄了……除了对她自己而言。现在，关于秘密，她知道了一些从前不知道的事。
我看得出她感到快乐。快乐是兴奋已找到安顿之处的感觉，但总会有一个小角落始终四处飘动。克劳迪娅本可以把疑惑放在心里，但她是个诚实的孩子，一个光明磊落的孩子。
“福兰克威尔夫人，”她强压着内心的激动说，“我真的喜欢那幅素描。我真的喜欢。我喜欢。我就喜欢它，喜欢它，喜欢它。可是你不觉得你应该把它送给博物馆吗。他们正迫不及待地想弄清楚那座雕像是真是假呢。”
“胡说！你突然良心发现了呢。我想把它给你们。作为交换。如果你和杰米在继承它之后想把它送给博物馆，那你们就把它送给博物馆。我不会让博物馆的人靠近这里。如果我能彻底阻止他们来康涅狄格，我会的。我不希望在我活着的时候让他们得到它。”
克劳迪娅用毛衣袖子擦了擦额头，问道：“为什么不呢？”
“这件事我已经想了很久，我已经决定了‘为什么不？’。他们将要做的是着手调查素描的真实性。他们将召集全世界的专家。他们会分析墨水，分析纸张。他们会把他(编注：指米开朗琪罗)所有绘有插图的笔记研究个遍，然后与这幅素描进行比较、比较、再比较。简而言之，他们将把它当作科学研究。有的人会说‘是真的’，有的人会说‘是假的’。学者们将会为它展开争论。他们会让全体专家投票，很可能大部分人会赞同这笔记和雕像的确是米开朗基罗的作品。至少那是他们应该得出的结论。但是有些顽固的人不会赞同，于是日后这座雕像和这幅素描将会带着大大的问号出现在书里。那些专家不像我这么相信巧合，我不希望他们对我一直相信、而且已经确实知道了约二十年的事情提出质疑。”
克劳迪娅的眼睛瞪大了：“可是，福兰克威尔夫人，如果雕像或素描有一丝是赝品的可能，你不想知道吗？你不想把最后的一丝怀疑消除吗？”
“不。”我不客气地回答道。
…………
文章摘自：《新东方英语·中学生》杂志2016年7月号
