柳林风声:THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS

肯尼思·格雷厄姆(KennethGrahame)英国童话作家。出生于爱丁堡一个传统的苏格兰家庭，父亲是律师，却有严重的酗酒恶习。母亲因猩红热病逝后，外公外婆将其接到乡间抚养长大。他小时候流连的田野风光，后来成为《柳林风声》中鼹鼠、河鼠、獾与癞蛤蟆先生结伴畅游的世界。虽然格雷厄姆的童年充满烦恼，但他创作的《柳林风声》的基调却是甜美的。或许格雷厄姆发现，唯有在这些林间动物的身上，生命里蛰伏的希望与爱才能萌芽。柳林间的风声，其实在每颗心上吹拂。《柳林风声》曾经引起当时美国总统罗斯福的注意，他曾写信告诉作者，他把《柳林风声》一口气读了3遍。 1895年格雷厄姆了出版童书《黄金时代》，此书的巨大成功奠定了他在儿童文学史上的地位。而1908年出版的《柳林风声》则为格雷厄姆获得了更高的赞誉，被誉为英国儿童文学黄金时代的压轴之作。《柳林风声》以英文原版出版，随书附赠配套英文朗读光盘，让读者在欣赏精彩故事的同时，亦能提升英语水平。 A sentimental British favorite, The Wind inthe Willows is a far more interesting book than its popular and often juvenileaudience might suggest. It became established as the evergreen children's classicit is known as today. In 1908, Grahame retired from his positionas secretary of the Bank of England. He moved back to Cookham, Berkshire, wherehe had been brought up and spent his time by the River Thames doing much as theanimal characters in his book do. He wrote down the bedtime stories he had beentelling his son Alistair. In 1909, Theodore Roosevelt, then Presidentof the United States, wrote to Grahame to tell him that he had “read it andreread it, and have come to accept the characters as old friends”. The novelwas in its thirty-first printing when playwright A. A. Milne adapted a part of itfor the stage as Toad of Toad Hall in 1929. In 2003, The Wind in the Willowswas listed at No. 16 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.