Anita+Gates

今年6月28日，英国儿童文学巨匠迈克尔·邦德在伦敦辭世。他一生创作了近200部作品，其中最受欢迎的帕丁顿熊系列图书被翻译成至少40种语言，全球销量超过3500万册。自1957年诞生以来，帕丁顿熊一直以其善良、正直感染和温暖着世界各地的读者，抚慰人们的心灵，引领了一代又一代的孩子走进书的世界。如今，帕丁顿熊之父离开了我们，但他所创作的经典形象和精彩故事将一直留在我们心中。

Michael Bond， the genial British author who created Paddington Bear， the polite， good-natured but disaster-prone little hero of childrens novels， picture and activity books， television series， and films， died on Tuesday at his home in London. He was 91.

Mr. Bond lived in the Maida Vale section of London， not far from Paddington Station， where his fictional creations story began. “Mr. and Mrs. Brown first met Paddington on a railway platform” were the first words of A Bear Called Paddington， published in Britain in 1958. The small brown bear is spotted at that station， seated on an old leather suitcase and wearing a tag that reads： “Please look after this bear. Thank you.” He has emigrated from “darkest Peru，” the Browns learn， because his aunt has gone into a home for retired bears in Lima1）.

The Browns take him home to 32 Windsor Gardens and give him a new life that includes their children， Judy and Jonathan； their housekeeper， Mrs. Bird； a grouchy2） neighbor， Mr. Curry； and a Hungarian-born antiques dealer， Mr. Gruber.

Paddington， drawn by a half-dozen illustrators over the years， came to be known for his distinctive ensemble3） of blue duffel coat4） with toggle5） fastenings， floppy felt hat and red Wellington boots6）. The books have sold more than 35 million copies worldwide and have been translated into at least 40 languages.

“I am constantly surprised by all the translations，” Mr. Bond was quoted as saying on an official website for his creation， “because I thought that Paddington was essentially an English character.”

Certainly the character participated in some typical British activities in his books. They included London theater， a cricket match， a visit to a waxworks museum， a riding competition and antiques shopping on Portobello Road. Paddington also had a known predilection7） for marmalade sandwiches. But most important， he is unfailingly8） polite with a strong sense of morality， and he always tries to do the right thing.

For Mr. Bond， the story began on Christmas Eve 1956， when he was working as a BBC TV camera operator. On his way home， he stopped by Selfridges9） department store and spotted a toy bear alone on a shelf. “It looked rather forlorn10），” he told the London newspaper The Sunday Telegraph in 2007. He took the bear home as a stocking stuffer11） for his wife and soon began writing a story about it. After 10 days， he had a completed novel， which William Collins & Sons bought for ?75.endprint

Thomas Michael Bond was born in Newbury， Berkshire， England， on Jan. 13， 1926， the son of Norman Robert and Mary Frances Bond. Six weeks later， the family moved to Reading12）， where Mr. Bond worked for the Post Office.

Michael attended Presentation College， a Roman Catholic school in Reading， but dropped out of school at 14. During World War II， he served in both the Royal Air Force and the British Army.

Mr. Bond said Paddington Bear had partly been inspired by his memories of child evacuees13） passing through Reading from London.

“They all had a label round their neck with their name and address on and a little case or package containing all their treasured possessions，” he told The Guardian in 2014. “So Paddington， in a sense， was a refugee， and I do think that theres no sadder sight than refugees.”

Mr. Bond sold his first short story in 1945， to the magazine London Opinion， and said later that he had written it outside a tent in Cairo. Over the next decade， he had numerous short stories published and radio plays performed， but “it was a good year if I made a hundred pounds，” he wrote in Third Book of Junior Authors.

He began working for the BBC after the war and， even after A Bear Called Paddington was published， he did not immediately quit his day job. It was only in 1965， with six Paddington novels on the worlds bookshelves， that he became a full-time writer.

He did not limit his work to Paddington or to print， but animals did dominate his work. In 1968 he created The Herbs， an animated British television series with characters including Dill the Dog， Sage the Owl and the popular Parsley the Lion， who was rewarded with his own spinoff14） series.

Mr. Bond also wrote childrens books about Olga da Polga， a guinea pig15）， and a mouse called Thursday； for adult readers he created Monsieur Pamplemousse， a culinary detective with a dog named Pommes Frites.

But he was always best known for Paddington， whose fame grew wildly in the 1970s after the first stuffed animal16） version was produced and the first television series became a hit， on the BBC in Britain and later on various networks including PBS， Nickelodeon17） and HBO in the United States.

The merchandising made Mr. Bond wealthy， but the pressure took its toll.

“A black cloud hung over me for about two years，” he told the London newspaper The Daily Mail in 1998. “I became overtired and started taking sleeping pills at night and a lot of whiskey to wake me up. I thought about suicide.”endprint

Mr. Bond credited the spirit of Paddington with helping him through difficult times. “There is something so upright about him，” he added. “I wouldnt want to let him down.”

Other series and television movies followed. A movie with live actors and a computer-animated bear， voiced by Ben Whishaw18）， was released in 2015. A sequel is expected this year.

Mr. Bond was made an officer of the Order of the British Empire19） in 1997， and then a commander of the order20） in 2015， for services to childrens literature.

The Paddington book series seemed to end in 1979， but in 2008， to celebrate the bears 50th anniversary， Mr. Bond wrote Paddington Here and Now， in which our hero has his shopping cart towed21） and his immigration status questioned. Mr. Bonds latest novel， Paddingtons Finest Hour， was published in April of this year.

Over the years， Mr. Bond received fan letters from adults who credited Paddington with feats of remarkable emotional support， and this did not surprise the bears creator. He told The Sunday Telegraph： “If I bumped into Paddington one day， I wouldnt be at all surprised. He feels very real to me， you see.”

迈克尔·邦德于周二（编注：英文原文发表于6月28日）在伦敦家中去世，享年91岁。这位和蔼可亲的英国作家是帕丁顿熊的创造者。礼貌、善良但又多灾多难的帕丁顿熊可是各种儿童小说、画册、活动手册、电视连续剧及电影的小主人公。

邦德先生生前住在伦敦的梅达谷区，离帕丁顿车站不远。他虚构的帕丁顿熊的故事正是在那里开始。“布朗先生和布朗太太在火车站台上第一次遇见帕丁顿。”这是1958年在英国出版的《名叫帕丁顿的熊》里的第一句话。这只褐色的小熊正是在那个车站被发现的，他坐在一个破旧的皮箱上，身上挂着一块标牌，上面写着：“请照看这只熊，谢谢。”布朗夫妇了解到，他是从“最黑暗的秘鲁”移居过来的，因为他的阿姨去了利马一家专门接收退休熊的养老院。

布朗夫妇把帕丁顿带到位于温莎花园32号的家中，给了他全新的生活。在这样的新生活里，有布朗夫妇的孩子朱迪和乔纳森、他们的管家伯德太太、满腹牢骚的邻居柯里先生，以及出生于匈牙利的古董商格鲁伯先生。

由六名插画师历时数年画出来的帕丁顿以别具一格的全套服装而出名：身穿缝有棒形纽扣的蓝色连帽粗呢风衣，头戴松软的帽子，脚蹬一双红色的威灵顿长筒靴。帕丁顿熊系列书籍在全球销售超过3500万册，并被翻译成至少40种语言。

在帕丁顿熊的官网上有邦德先生说过的这么一句话：“这些译本不断地让我感到惊喜，因为我原以为帕丁顿本质上是个英国角色。”

确实，这个角色在他的书中参加了许多典型的英式活动，包括去伦敦剧院、打板球、参观蜡像馆、参加骑马比赛以及去波特贝罗路的古董店购物。帕丁顿还喜欢吃果酱三明治，这一点众所周知。但最重要的是他道德观念很强，永远保持礼貌，总是试图做正确的事。

对于邦德先生来说，这个故事始于1956年的平安夜，那时他还在BBC做摄像师。回家路上，他在塞尔福里奇百货商店前停下了脚步，发现货架上有一只孤零零的玩具熊。“它看上去太孤苦伶仃了。”2007年邦德先生对伦敦的《周日电讯报》称。他把这只熊带回了家，作为送给妻子的圣诞礼物。不久之后，他开始写关于这只熊的故事。十天之后他就完成了一部小说。威廉·柯林斯集团用75英镑买下了这部小说的版权。

托馬斯·迈克尔·邦德于1926年1月13日在英国伯克郡的纽伯里出生。父亲是诺曼·罗伯特·邦德，母亲是玛丽·弗朗西丝·邦德。在他出生六周后，他们一家就搬去了里丁，他的父亲在那里的邮局工作。

迈克尔就读于示范学校，这是里丁的一家罗马天主教学校。但他14岁时就辍学了。二战期间，他在英国皇家空军和英国陆军都服过役。

邦德先生说过，帕丁顿熊的部分灵感源于他对疏散自伦敦、途经里丁的孩子们的记忆。

“他们脖子上都挂着标牌，上面写着姓名和地址，他们都带着一个小箱子或小包，里面装着所有他们珍爱的东西，”2014年邦德对《卫报》说，“所以帕丁顿从某种意义上说是个难民，而且我确信没有什么看起来比难民更令人悲伤了。”

1945年，邦德先生将他的第一部短篇小说卖给了《伦敦观点》杂志。他后来表示这部小说是在开罗的一处帐篷外写成的。接下来的十年里，他出版的短篇小说和根据他的故事改编的广播剧不胜枚举，但是他却在《青年作家的第三本书》中写道：“如果我能赚到一百英镑，那这一年就算是个好年头。”endprint

战后他开始在BBC工作。即便在《名叫帕丁顿的熊》出版后，他也没有立马辞掉这份白天的正式职位。直到1965年，当六本帕丁顿的小说出现在世界各地的书架上，他才成为全职作家。

他并没有将自己的工作局限于帕丁顿熊或出书上，但动物在他的作品中的确占有主导地位。1968年，他创作了英国电视动画系列片《药草》，里面的角色包括莳萝狗、鼠尾草猫头鹰和极具人气的欧芹狮，其中欧芹狮还因广受欢迎有了单独的续集系列片。

邦德先生还写了关于豚鼠奥尔加·达·波尔加和老鼠“星期四”的儿童图书。他还为成年读者创造了柚子先生，柚子先生是名美食侦探，带着一条名叫“炸薯条”的小狗。

不过，邦德最为人熟知的一直是帕丁顿。20世纪70年代，帕丁顿的第一版填充玩具问世，第一部电视连续剧也相继在英国BBC和各大电视网热播，其中包括美国的PBS、尼克国际儿童频道和HBO，之后这只小熊逐渐名声大噪。

作品的推销给邦德先生带来了财富，但随之而来的压力也让他付出了代价。

“大约两年的时间，总有一团乌云笼罩在我头上，”1998年他对伦敦的《每日邮报》说，“我变得过度劳累，开始在晚上服用安眠药，为了醒过来又要喝很多威士忌。我想到了自杀。”

邦德先生认为是帕丁顿的精神帮他度过了困难时期。“他身上有种极为正直的东西，”邦德补充道，“我不想让他失望。”

其他电视剧和电影也随之诞生。2015年，一部既有真人演员又有由电脑制作的动画熊的电影上映了，其中帕丁顿由本·威士肖配音。该影片的续集预计将于今年上映。

1997年，邦德先生因在儿童文学领域做出的贡献而被授予大英帝国官佐勋章勋衔，2015年又被授予大英帝国司令勋章勋衔。

帕丁顿系列书籍似乎在1979年就结束了。但在2008年，为了纪念帕丁顿熊诞生50周年，邦德先生写了《此时此地的帕丁顿》。在这本书里，我们主人公的购物车被拉走了，他的移民身份也遭到了质疑。邦德先生最新的小说《帕丁顿最美好的时光》于今年4月出版。

这些年来，邦德先生收到过很多成年粉丝的来信。这些粉丝认为帕丁顿给他们带来了强大的情感支撑。这并没有让这只熊的创作者感到惊讶。他曾对《周日电讯报》表示：“如果哪天我碰到了帕丁顿，我一点也不会感到惊讶。你知道，他对我来说十分真实。”

1. Lima：利马，秘鲁首都

2. grouchy [?ɡra?t?i] adj. 脾气很坏的，牢骚满腹的

3. ensemble [?n?s?mb（?）l] n. 配套服装；全套服装

4. duffel coat：连帽粗呢风雪大衣

5. toggle [?t?ɡ（?）l] n. 棒形纽扣

6. Wellington boots：威灵顿长筒靴

7. predilection [?pri?d??lek?（?）n] n. 偏爱；偏好；特别喜爱

8. unfailingly [?n?fe?l???li] adv. 无限地，连续不断地；可靠地

9. Selfridges：塞尔福里奇百货公司，伦敦最著名的百货公司之一，创于1909年。

10. forlorn [f?（r）?l??（r）n] adj. 孤苦伶仃的New Oriental English .

11. stocking stuffer：圣诞节礼物（尤指可塞入儿童圣诞袜中作为圣诞礼物的小玩具）

12. Reading：里丁，伯克郡首府，位于英格兰北部

13. evacuee [??v?kju?i?] n. 撤离者；被疏散者

14. spinoff [&apos；sp?n??f] n. （由受欢迎的书籍、电影等派生出来的）续集；派生作品

15. guinea pig：豚鼠；天竺鼠

16. stuffed animal：填充（动物）玩具

17. Nickelodeon：尼克国际儿童频道，美国知名有线电视频道New Oriental English .

18. Ben Whishaw：本·威士肖（1980～），英国男演员、戏剧演员，代表作包括《007：大破天幕杀机》（Skyfall）和《云图》（Cloud Atlas）。

19. 指大英帝国官佐勋章勋衔，大英帝国勋章中的第四级。

20. 指大英帝國司令勋章勋衔，大英帝国勋章中的第三级。

21. tow [t??] vt. 拖；拉endprint