英語晨讀精華 Week 1 Day 5 Jimmy：Picture Books for Adults 幾米：畫給大人看的漫畫
迷宮般的城市，習(xí)慣看相同的景物，走相同的路線，到達相同的目的地；習(xí)慣讓人的生活不再變化；習(xí)慣讓人有種莫名的安全感，卻又有種莫名的寂寞。而你永遠不知道，你的習(xí)慣會讓你錯過什么?！?br /> 《向左走，向右走》 ，一個發(fā)生在城市—— 只可能發(fā)生在城市的、關(guān)于追尋的故事。作者以一種淡淡的、幽默的筆調(diào)緩緩述說，在故事情節(jié)與畫面中制造城市生活中的種種“巧合” ，讓人在閱讀時感到既熟悉又驚訝，不自覺地發(fā)出會心一笑。
Artists and authors use many different ways to talk about society; many write novels, while others paint pictures. An artist in Taipei has found a different way to talk about life, people, and the problems we all face. His name is Jimmy Liao, and he creates illustrated books.
Jimmy is both an illustrator and an author. He draws all of the colorful pictures in his books and writes all of the storylines. His small paperback books usually have only one or two lines of text per page, the rest being filled by his cute, simple drawings. Simplicity is one of Jimmy’s strong points; he doesn’t lose the reader in complex plots or dialogues.
Jimmy’s books speak to readers about the ups and downs of living in the modern world. One of his most popular stories, Turning Left, Turning Right, tells of a short romance between a couple that live next to each other. The lonely pair meet one day in the park and immediately fall in love. When they leave each other at the end of a fun-filled day, they exchange telephone numbers, but the rain causes the numbers to become illegible. They are unable to contact each other, and soon return to their lonely lives.
Sad, right? Don’t start crying yet; there’s a catch to the story. You see, this man and woman actually live in the same building! The problem is, when they leave their apartments, one always turns to the left, while the other always turns to the right. The result is that they never realize they are neighbors. The lesson of the story? Life is in the details: things that seem small and insignificant can actually turn out to be important. And this is another of Jimmy’s talents: he shows his readers how the “little things” in life are often more important than we realize.
[注釋]：
illustrate: 畫插圖
illustrator: 插圖畫家
storyline: 故事情節(jié)，故事大綱
paperback: a book having a flexible paper binding 平裝本，紙面本
drawing: the art of representing objects or forms on a surface chiefly by means of lines 線條
畫
simplicity: the property, condition, or quality of being simple or uncombined 簡單
plot: the plan of events or main story in a narrative or drama 情節(jié)
ups and downs：起起落落
romance: a love affair 戀愛，羅曼史
illegible: not legible or decipherable 無法辨認(rèn)的，字跡不清的
contact: to get in touch with; communicate with 聯(lián)絡(luò)，聯(lián)系
catch: a tricky or previously unsuspected condition or drawback 圈套，陷阱
insignificant: lacking in importance; trivial 無意義的，微小的
talent: a marked innate ability, as for artistic accomplishment 才能
