弗羅拉與松鼠俠的光明之旅

凱特·迪卡米洛（Kate Dicamillo）是美國最當(dāng)紅的兒童文學(xué)作家，被美國國會圖書館任命為第四任“青少年文學(xué)國家大使”，曾獲邁克奈特基金會作家獎金、紐伯瑞兒童文學(xué)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》稱贊她是“繼J. K. 羅琳后，美國童書界最耀眼的明星！”《弗羅拉與松鼠俠》（Flora Ulysses： The Illuminated Adventures）在美國出版后，連續(xù)四十多周穩(wěn)居美國童書暢銷榜榜首，并一舉摘得2014年紐伯瑞兒童文學(xué)獎金獎。

故事的開端便是一出慘劇，一只松鼠被一臺呼嘯而來的吸塵器吸了進(jìn)去，叛逆的小姑娘弗羅拉救下了這只松鼠，并將它帶回家。重生后的松鼠變得力大無窮，不僅會飛，還能用弗羅拉媽媽的打字機(jī)寫詩，這深深激怒了弗羅拉的作家媽媽，她決心鏟除這只松鼠！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），那么你就會明白，迪卡米洛的手里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(xiàn)在，讓我們跟著《弗羅拉與松鼠俠》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，“你在上面干什么呢？