让童年跟随“汉克”去历险

丁丁

（一）

2011年12月24日，暢销美国20多年的系列童书——《警犬汉克历险记》，由浙江工商大学出版社在北京西单图书大厦举行新书首发仪式。

在新书发布会现场，除了出版社邀请的各大媒体记者之外，同时还能看见很多小朋友拉着父母在座位上倾听，他们是被书店大厅广播吸引过来的小读者。首发仪式上，嘉宾之一《哈利·波特》丛书责任编辑王瑞琴女士说：“《警犬汉克历险记》是非常好的一套儿童书，它会与《哈利·波特》一样热销中国。”

《警犬汉克历险记》这套丛书从上个世纪80年代末开始，就由世界顶级出版商美国企鹅出版公司连年出版，到目前为止已经累计出版56册之多（目前，作者仍在不遗余力地创作，这套丛书的数量还会随着生活的继续而不断地增加），并且二十几年来始终畅销不衰。全世界已经有二十几个国家引进了该书的版权，并受到了这些国家的孩子的喜爱与热捧。《今日美国》的评价是“多年来美国家庭娱乐的首选”；《世界》杂志对它的评价是：生活的伴侣，精神给养的源泉。从这些热评可以看出，《警犬汉克历险记》是一套经得住岁月考验的经典之作。这在快餐文化风行世界的大背景下，尤其显得难能可贵。浙江工商大学出版社正是看好了《警犬汉克历险记》系列图书的这一特点，才花了极大气力引进并出版了这套优秀的少儿读物。

（二）

每本书故事情节生动，悬念设置引人入胜，让人手不释卷。这除了书中所展现的奇特的想象力与令人忍俊不禁的幽默感之外，还应归功于作者对各个角色的成功刻画。

作者在这个系列中塑造了许多个形象，最丰富、最饱满的当然是主人公警犬汉克。

汉克是一只牛仔犬，是牧场治安“长官”，它做起事情来经常容易冲动，完全不计后果，常常惹主人们生气；它遇事较真，但精神容易走神，常常一不留神就忘掉了自己原本想说的话，忘记了自己原本想干的事；它崇尚精神上的胜利，每当无法战胜对手时，它便退而求其次，以此来进行自我安慰。

就如同一枚硬币的两面，汉克的性格具有多重的两面性。

首先，汉克是一条忠实的狗，即使主人不重视它，想要另买一条更优秀的狗，它对主人依然是不离不弃。在第10册《时来运转》中，汉克由于闯了祸跑进溪边的一片柳林中躲避风头，可是，当它知道它的主人在赶牛群时身陷流沙中，并且主人所中意的那条狗根本没有去营救主人的意思时，它愤怒了——

觉得我的火气一下子蹿上来了，“嗨，那家伙是我的主人，如果你看到他陷在流沙里，为什么不去帮助他？……一只狗自以为是，根本不去帮助陷于困境当中的主人！我简直无法相信这一点。

其次，汉克是一条聪明的狗，当它身处险境时，总是善于审时度势、化险为夷。例如，在第29册《吸血鬼吸尘器案》中，汉克先是不幸地撞到了郊狼兄弟，接着又倒霉地遇到了一群流浪狗，进退维谷，形势简直糟透了。不过，汉克巧妙地挑起了郊狼与流浪狗之间的矛盾，把战火引到了他人身上，自己全身而退，化险为夷。

汉克还是一条勇敢的狗，当独眼种马扑向它喜欢的小女孩时，它能奋不顾身地扑上去营救她（第8册《独眼杀手案》）。

汉克的身上还有许多相互对立的性格，如世故与单纯、自信与多疑，等等。看到作者把一条狗的形象清清楚楚地表现在笔下，我们才惊觉，原来我们身边熟悉的狗狗，性格会这么复杂，心理会这么微妙，简直与人类没有什么两样。

（三）

埃里克森笔下的汉克世界，是一个充满想象力与冒险的世界。

如今，随着城市化进程的加速，人类被禁锢在钢筋水泥的都市之中，触目所及的高楼大厦让人类的想象力渐渐枯竭，而对孩子们来说，最可怕的代价就是想象力的匮乏。

然而，在这套书中，在一片一望无际的牧场上，想象力却如同脱缰的野马般纵横驰骋，没有束缚，没有羁绊：在这里，月亮由奶酪制成，棉白杨树上可以生出棉白杨糖，树荫会被炽热的阳光烧灼掉……这些超乎寻常的想象力，紧紧地与原生态的大自然联系在一起，让读者感觉从未这样贴近过大自然，仿佛回到了记忆中的童年。

而把一条牛仔犬作为主人公、以第一人称来讲述这个故事，却是本套丛书最大的想象力。我们习以为常的世界，我们理所当然地认为它应该这样存在的世界，在一只牛仔犬的眼里，却如同婴儿对身外世界的初次窥探，一切都欣欣向荣，充满了朝气。

在作者的眼中，汉克并不是一只完美的狗，他既聪明又愚蠢，既勇敢又懦弱，既善良又固执，既单纯又世故，既信心满满又疑心重重，经常处于困境之中却总能凭借自身的才智审时度势化险为夷，它是我们所熟悉的狗，作者把我们对狗模模糊糊的感觉，变成了笔下清清楚楚的存在。

这个由幽默感与想象力打造的奇幻世界，与其他许多魔幻类的少儿读物截然不同，它没有妖魔鬼怪那样超现实的东西，书中所出现的全部都是现实世界中真实存在的动物，因此，它更像是一部动物世界的童话。在这个奇幻的世界里，汉克进行了一系列奇特的冒险。这是送给自己童年最好的礼物，让自己的童年跟随汉克去冒险，还有什么比这更快乐的事吗？！□

Take Adventures with Hank the Cowdog

By Ding Ding

December 24, 2011 was a big day for Zhejiang Gongshang University Press, a publishing house based in Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang Province. On that day, the press officially launched Hank the Cowdog at the Xidan Book Center in Beijing, arguably Chinas most important book re-tail center. It was a big day also for young Chinese readers, for Hank the Cowdog, a series of humor-ous childrens mystery novels written by John R. Erickson and illustrated by Gerald L. Homes, made its debut on the Chinese mainland that day and they would be able to follow Hank on his thrilling adven-tures.

The series made its debut in 1982 and 56 novels about Hank and his adventures have been published. Penguin took the series over in the late 1980s and has been publishing it since then. Hank the Cowdog is a bestseller over the past 20 some years and more than 20 countries have bought the copyrights and introduced them to young readers in their respective countries. The books of the series as bestsellers have stood the test of popularity, an everlasting phenomenon against a background of fast-changing world. This is exactly why the series appeals to Zhejiang Gongshang University Press and why the press made up its mind to buy the rights to publish the series in China.

The series may appeal to young Chinese readers for two major reasons.

First, Hank the Cowdog is an attractive character. He styles him-self as the "Head of Ranch Security" and conducts security sweeps and nightly patrols. However, his real task is to serve as the as-sistant to Slim and Loper in herding cattle. Hank has a superiority complex that causes him to have an inflated sense of his own intel-ligence, strength, courage and attractiveness. Because of this, Hank frequently finds himself in sticky situations, usually of his own creation. He has good qualities: loyalty, bravery, and intelligence.Hank has contradictions in his personality. He is both sophisticated and na.ve, and he is both confident and suspicious. Moreover, other dogs are equally interesting and complex personalities. To our sur-prise, we find these dogs are as complex and subtle as we human beings are.

Secondly, Hanks world under the pen of Erickson is full of adventures and fun. Hanks world is fantastic, a creation based on fancy and wild imagination. The moon is made of cheese. Trees can produce sugar. The tree shade can be burned off by the sweltering sunlight. These imaginative descriptions give the reader an oppor-tunity to approach nature in a pleasant way. There must be a time in everybodys early childhood years when things are just like what Erickson portrays and Hank sees. Hanks adventures are all related in the first person, giving the reader a unique perspective to look at the world and examine its wonders. The authors choice of the first person as the narrator is an imaginative decision.

On the other hand, however, the series present no supernatural creatures and things. All the animals in Hanks world are real ani-mals. So the adventures read like fairytales in the animal world. For young readers, Hank the Cowdog is a best friend, a best gift. What could be more fun than go with Hank on his adventures when you are still young? □