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。……