Children's Author Beverly Cleary童书作家贝弗利·克利里

In March 2021， the much-loved children’s author Beverly Cleary passed awayat age 104. Ms. Cleary’s writing changed the world of children’s books by showingthat stories about the lives of ordinary kids could be interesting， funny， and popular.

2021 年3 月，备受喜爱的儿童作家贝弗利·克利里去世，享年104 岁。克利里女士的作品通过展现普通儿童生活的故事也可以是有趣、好玩和受欢迎的而改变了童书的世界。

Beverly Cleary was the best-selling and award-winning"author of dozens of books for children， including Ramona the pest。The Mouse and the Motorcycle，Henry Huggins，and Dear Mr.Henshaw.

贝弗利·克利里是畅销书作家和获奖作家，她为儿童写了几十本书，包括《害虫雷蒙娜》《老鼠和摩托车》《亨利·哈金斯》和《亲爱的亨肖先生》。

Ms. Cleary was born in 1916. As a child， she had troublelearning to read. Even after she learned how to read， she stillfound many books boring. She felt like the people she wasreading about didn’t have much to do with her and her life.She wanted to read funny books about children like herself.

克利里女士出生于1916 年。小时候，她在学习阅读方面有困难。即使在她学会了阅读之后，她仍然觉得很多书很无聊。她觉得她读到的那些人与她和她的生活没有多大关系。她想读一些关于像她一样的孩子的有趣的书。

When she grew up， Ms. Cleary became a librarian. One day in the library， a boyasked her， “Where are the books about kids like us？”She realized there weren’tmany books about ordinary1 kids. So she set out to write books for children.

长大后，克利里成为了图书管理员。有一天，在图书馆里，一个男孩问她“： 关于我们这种孩子的书在哪里？”她意识到关于普通孩子的书很少。于是，她开始写童书。

Ms. Cleary’s first book， Henry Huggines， came out in1950. It told the story of a boy and the stray dog that hetakes in. Henry Huggins was an ordinary third-grader whosehair looked “like a scrubbing2 brush”. This book， with itsfunny， lovable characters， was a hit.

克利里女士的第一本书《亨利·哈金斯》于1950 年出版。它讲述了一个男孩和他收养的流浪狗的故事。亨利·哈金斯是一个普通的三年级学生，他的头发看起来“像一把刷子”。这本书因其有趣可爱的人物大受欢迎。

Ramona the Pest became Ms. Cleary’s best known book.Ramona is curious3 and stubborn4， and is always getting intotrouble.

《害虫雷蒙娜》成为了克利里女士最著名的一本书。雷蒙娜既好奇又固执，总是惹麻烦。

When Ramona gets in trouble， it’s often funny， but it’salso something most kids can understand. For many people，this was Ms. Cleary’s greatest strength： she remembered whatit really felt like to be a kid.

当雷蒙娜遇到麻烦时，通常都很有趣，而大多数孩子也能理解。对很多人来说，这是克利里女士最大的优势：她记得小时候的真实感受。

Ms. Cleary worked hard to get kids hooked5 on reading. When her son didn’t show much interest in books， she wrote The Mouse and the Motorcycle，The book tells the exciting"story of a motorcycle-riding mouse and his friendship with ayoung boy. The book was a hit， too.

克利里努力让孩子们迷上阅读。当她儿子对书籍不太感兴趣时，她写了《老鼠和摩托车》。这本书讲述了一个骑摩托车的老鼠与一个小男孩的友谊的激动人心的故事。这本书也很成功。

But that kind of fantasy was unusual for Ms. Cleary，who usually focused on real life， even when it involvedserious problems.

但那种童话对克利里来说并不常见，她通常关注现实生活，甚至会涉及严肃问题。

In several of the Ramona books， the parents have money trouble or are unhappywith their jobs. Dear Mr.Henshaw tells the story of a boy dealing with his parents’divorce6. Ms. Cleary deals with these situations with a gentle humor and a deepunderstanding.

在雷蒙娜系列中，父母会有经济困难或对工作不满意。《亲爱的亨肖先生》讲述了一个男孩应对父母离婚的故事。克利里女士以温和的幽默和深刻的理解来处理这些情节。

Ms. Cleary kept writing until she was 83， creating over 40 books in all. She wonalmost every award there is for children’s books， including the Newbery Medal andthe National Book Award.

克利里一直写作到83 岁，总共创作了40 多本书。她几乎赢得了所有童书奖项，包括纽伯瑞奖和美国国家图书奖。

More than 91 million copies of her books have been sold， and her stories havebeen translated into nearly 30 different languages.

她的作品已售出9100 多万册，她的故事被翻译成近30 种不同的语言。

Though Ms. Cleary is no longer with us， her characters and stories will be lovedand shared for years to come.

虽然克利里已经不在人世，但她笔下的人物和故事在未来的岁月里仍会被人们喜爱和分享。

（英语原文选自：www.seattletimes.com）

▏Notes

1. ordinary. 普通的；平凡的

2. scrub. 用力擦洗；使净化

3. curious. 好奇的，有求知欲的

4. stubborn. 顽固的；顽强的

5. hooked. 入迷的

6. divorce. 离婚；分离