讓童年跟隨“漢克”去歷險

丁丁

（一）

2011年12月24日，暢銷美國20多年的系列童書——《警犬漢克歷險記》，由浙江工商大學出版社在北京西單圖書大廈舉行新書首發儀式。

在新書發布會現場，除了出版社邀請的各大媒體記者之外，同時還能看見很多小朋友拉著父母在座位上傾聽，他們是被書店大廳廣播吸引過來的小讀者。首發儀式上，嘉賓之一《哈利·波特》叢書責任編輯王瑞琴女士說：“《警犬漢克歷險記》是非常好的一套兒童書，它會與《哈利·波特》一樣熱銷中國。”

《警犬漢克歷險記》這套叢書從上個世紀80年代末開始，就由世界頂級出版商美國企鵝出版公司連年出版，到目前為止已經累計出版56冊之多（目前，作者仍在不遺余力地創作，這套叢書的數量還會隨著生活的繼續而不斷地增加），并且二十幾年來始終暢銷不衰。全世界已經有二十幾個國家引進了該書的版權，并受到了這些國家的孩子的喜愛與熱捧。《今日美國》的評價是“多年來美國家庭娛樂的首選”；《世界》雜志對它的評價是：生活的伴侶，精神給養的源泉。從這些熱評可以看出，《警犬漢克歷險記》是一套經得住歲月考驗的經典之作。這在快餐文化風行世界的大背景下，尤其顯得難能可貴。浙江工商大學出版社正是看好了《警犬漢克歷險記》系列圖書的這一特點，才花了極大氣力引進并出版了這套優秀的少兒讀物。

（二）

每本書故事情節生動，懸念設置引人入勝，讓人手不釋卷。這除了書中所展現的奇特的想象力與令人忍俊不禁的幽默感之外，還應歸功于作者對各個角色的成功刻畫。

作者在這個系列中塑造了許多個形象，最豐富、最飽滿的當然是主人公警犬漢克。

漢克是一只牛仔犬，是牧場治安“長官”，它做起事情來經常容易沖動，完全不計后果，常常惹主人們生氣；它遇事較真，但精神容易走神，常常一不留神就忘掉了自己原本想說的話，忘記了自己原本想干的事；它崇尚精神上的勝利，每當無法戰勝對手時，它便退而求其次，以此來進行自我安慰。

就如同一枚硬幣的兩面，漢克的性格具有多重的兩面性。

首先，漢克是一條忠實的狗，即使主人不重視它，想要另買一條更優秀的狗，它對主人依然是不離不棄。在第10冊《時來運轉》中，漢克由于闖了禍跑進溪邊的一片柳林中躲避風頭，可是，當它知道它的主人在趕牛群時身陷流沙中，并且主人所中意的那條狗根本沒有去營救主人的意思時，它憤怒了——

覺得我的火氣一下子躥上來了，“嗨，那家伙是我的主人，如果你看到他陷在流沙里，為什么不去幫助他？……一只狗自以為是，根本不去幫助陷于困境當中的主人！我簡直無法相信這一點。

其次，漢克是一條聰明的狗，當它身處險境時，總是善于審時度勢、化險為夷。例如，在第29冊《吸血鬼吸塵器案》中，漢克先是不幸地撞到了郊狼兄弟，接著又倒霉地遇到了一群流浪狗，進退維谷，形勢簡直糟透了。不過，漢克巧妙地挑起了郊狼與流浪狗之間的矛盾，把戰火引到了他人身上，自己全身而退，化險為夷。

漢克還是一條勇敢的狗，當獨眼種馬撲向它喜歡的小女孩時，它能奮不顧身地撲上去營救她（第8冊《獨眼殺手案》）。

漢克的身上還有許多相互對立的性格，如世故與單純、自信與多疑，等等。看到作者把一條狗的形象清清楚楚地表現在筆下，我們才驚覺，原來我們身邊熟悉的狗狗，性格會這么復雜，心理會這么微妙，簡直與人類沒有什么兩樣。

（三）

埃里克森筆下的漢克世界，是一個充滿想象力與冒險的世界。

如今，隨著城市化進程的加速，人類被禁錮在鋼筋水泥的都市之中，觸目所及的高樓大廈讓人類的想象力漸漸枯竭，而對孩子們來說，最可怕的代價就是想象力的匱乏。

然而，在這套書中，在一片一望無際的牧場上，想象力卻如同脫韁的野馬般縱橫馳騁，沒有束縛，沒有羈絆：在這里，月亮由奶酪制成，棉白楊樹上可以生出棉白楊糖，樹蔭會被熾熱的陽光燒灼掉……這些超乎尋常的想象力，緊緊地與原生態的大自然聯系在一起，讓讀者感覺從未這樣貼近過大自然，仿佛回到了記憶中的童年。

而把一條牛仔犬作為主人公、以第一人稱來講述這個故事，卻是本套叢書最大的想象力。我們習以為常的世界，我們理所當然地認為它應該這樣存在的世界，在一只牛仔犬的眼里，卻如同嬰兒對身外世界的初次窺探，一切都欣欣向榮，充滿了朝氣。

在作者的眼中，漢克并不是一只完美的狗，他既聰明又愚蠢，既勇敢又懦弱，既善良又固執，既單純又世故，既信心滿滿又疑心重重，經常處于困境之中卻總能憑借自身的才智審時度勢化險為夷，它是我們所熟悉的狗，作者把我們對狗模模糊糊的感覺，變成了筆下清清楚楚的存在。

這個由幽默感與想象力打造的奇幻世界，與其他許多魔幻類的少兒讀物截然不同，它沒有妖魔鬼怪那樣超現實的東西，書中所出現的全部都是現實世界中真實存在的動物，因此，它更像是一部動物世界的童話。在這個奇幻的世界里，漢克進行了一系列奇特的冒險。這是送給自己童年最好的禮物，讓自己的童年跟隨漢克去冒險，還有什么比這更快樂的事嗎？！□

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? □