英語美文名人勵(lì)志故事13:Andersen學(xué)習(xí)和寫作的故事
13. Hans Christian Andersen
13. 漢斯·克里斯蒂安·安徒生
Born on April 2, 1805, in Odense, Denmark, Andersen was an emotional, yet imaginative, child. His father, a poor shoemaker, died in 1816. With a mother who was very superstitious and unable to read or write, the boy received little education as a child.
安徒生1805年4月2日出生于丹麥歐登塞，他是一個(gè)多愁善感而富于想象力的孩子。他的父親是一個(gè)貧困的鞋匠，在1816年去世。由于母親非常迷信而且不會(huì)讀書寫字，這個(gè)男孩小時(shí)候沒受過什么教育。
Andersen traveled to Copenhagen. There, he hoped to become an actor or singer. He was lucky enough to spend some time with the Royal Theater, but when his voice changed, he had to leave. Luckily, one of the directors helped him by arranging his education。
14歲，安徒生前往哥本哈根。他希望能在那兒成為一名演員或歌手。他有幸能在皇家劇院待了一段時(shí)間，但當(dāng)他變聲以后，他不得不離開。幸運(yùn)的是，一位導(dǎo)演幫助他，為他安排接受教育。
Andersen gained admission to the University of Copenhagen in 1828, and his literary career began soon afterwards. He hoped to achieve success with poems and plays, and underestimated the kind of stories which have made him famous. Though not particularly fond of children, he had a gift for entertaining them. This led a friend to suggest he write down the stories he invented.
1828年安徒生獲準(zhǔn)進(jìn)入哥本哈根大學(xué)學(xué)習(xí)，隨后他的文學(xué)創(chuàng)作生涯很快就開始了。他原本希望能在詩和戲劇的領(lǐng)域里獲得成功，而低估了后來使他成名的那類故事。雖然他不是特別喜歡孩子，卻有使孩童快樂的天賦。這一點(diǎn)促使一位朋友建議他寫下自己創(chuàng)造的故事。
Many of Andersen's tales are based on folklore, and many are products of his own imagination. All of them are told in a humorous and informal style that children loved from the start. Few serious critics, however, took notice of them when they first appeared.
安徒生的很多故事是以民間傳說為根據(jù)，也有很多是他自己想象力的產(chǎn)物。所有的故事都以孩子們一聽就喜歡的詼諧和口語體講述。然而這些作品最初問世時(shí)，幾乎沒有嚴(yán)肅的評(píng)論家注意到它們。
Before his death in 1875, Andersen regularly traveled around Europe, and was enthusiastically welcomed everywhere he went. Because he had always wanted to be famous, he worked hard to gain a reputation in European literary circles. Being a rather vain man, he complained in "The Fairy Tale of My Life" one of three autobiographies he wrote, that people were not interested in his "serious" writing.
安徒生在1875年去世前，定期游歷歐洲各地，所到之處他都受到了熱烈的歡迎。由于安徒生長久以來一直渴望出名，于是他發(fā)奮工作以求能在歐洲文壇獲得聲望。安徒生是個(gè)頗為自命不凡的人，在他所著的三本自傳之一的《我童話般的人生》一書中，他抱怨人們對(duì)他“嚴(yán)肅”的作品不感興趣。
Nowadays, of course, Hans Christian Andersen is a household name. Whether he would have liked it or not, millions of children and adults will always be grateful for the magic his stories have brought to their lives.
現(xiàn)在，漢斯·克里斯蒂安·安徒生當(dāng)然是個(gè)家喻戶曉的名字。不管安徒生喜不喜歡，千千萬萬的兒童和大人會(huì)對(duì)他的故事給人生帶來的魔力永遠(yuǎn)滿懷感激。
