根据伊拉克馆长英雄事迹写儿童故事

 

Heroism¹ of Iraqi Librarian Inspires Story for Children

根据伊拉克馆长英雄事迹写儿童故事

 

A true story from the Iraq war has inspired a new American children's book.

 

Jeanette Winter is the author and illustrator of The Librarian of Basra, a tell based on the real life heroism of an Iraqi librarian named Alia Muhammad Baker². With the help of others in her community, she managed to save 70% of the books in the central library of Basra a port city in Iraqi.

 

The cover of The Librarian of Basra shows a woman in a headscarf with her hands folded over a tall pile of books. She's surrounded by more books -- in stacks, bags and boxes. It is a picture of hope and determination in a story set against the backdrop of war. Jeanette Winter says she wanted to focus on the bravery of Alia Muhammad Baker and the idea that one person can make a difference.

 

Ms. Winter: I think that's so important for children to realize when they're young and they sometimes feel powerless. Alia was in such impossible circumstances, and she defied her surroundings and acted with such courage.

 

Jeanette Winter start writing The Librarian of Basra after reading an article about Alia Muhammad Baker in the New York Times newspaper. Before the war, the library where Ms. Baker worked had been a gathering³ place, filled with books of all kinds.

 

Ms. Winter: She had English books, Arabic books, and Spanish language [books], Korans and some very old manuscripts. There was one biography of Muhammad from around 1300. So there was quite a span of books that she felt extremely protective of, as all librarians do of the books in their care.

 

Moving from talk of war to the devastation⁴ of war to dreams of peace, the story describes how Alia Muhammad Baker turned to Iraqi officials for help when her library appeared to be threatened. When she was turned down, she set out to save the books on her own.

 

Jeanette Winter: After work she would bring them home in her car. After the invasion began, she called a friend who had a restaurant and asked if he would help her bring the books to safety. And he recruited other people, so they worked through the night to pack up as many books as they could. And they managed to save 30,000 books. And nine days after the war began, the library did burn to the ground. That was when she decided⁵ she needed to get the books out of the restaurant and into her home and into the homes of her friends.

 

How do you go about the researched story?

 

Ms. Winter: For this book I she mainly relied on the news paper article, but the pictures will be a little bit more about it. The first place went to the New York Public Library. "They have two Iraq files. Really most of the pictures in the file were war pictures from this war and the first Gulf⁶ War. Then I went to an exhibit of photographs taken by war correspondents in Iraq. Some of the pictures were blown up to almost wall sized. It was almost like stepping into the situation there.

 

Jeanette Winter also visited an exhibit of children's art done during wartime.

 

Ms. Winter: The pictures are almost matter of fact. And all the pictures they had airplanes. It was the dominant⁷ thing children were aware of during war…I guess, the terrors that the airplanes overhead bring.

 

And in depict⁸ Alia's dreams of peace, you have really serene⁹ looking picture of a man standing¹⁰ in a boat, with birds flying overhead. What gave you idea of that picture?

 

Ms. Winter: Among all the war pictures, there was one picture of a man in a boat in one of the canals or marshes¹². It looked like a picture of heaven among all the pictures of hell. And I thought, 'That's the picture I'm going to use for peace.' And later on I found that Saddam Hussein had drained the canals, and so it made my choice accidentally prophetic.

 

Jeanette Winter was not able to communicate directly with Alia Muhammad Baker while writing her story. But efforts are being made to send Ms. Baker a copy of the book she inspired.

 

And Harcourt, which published The Librarian of Basra, is donating part of the proceeds from its sales to a fund administered by the American Library Association. That fund will help rebuild the book collection of Basra's central library.

 

I am Nancy Beardsley.

 

注释：

illustrator [5ilEstreitE(r)] n. 插图画家

The Librarian of Basra《巴斯拉的图书馆长》

headscarf [hedskB:f] n. 女人的头巾

backdrop [5bAkdrRp] n.（事件的）背景

focus on 集中

surroundings [sE5raJndINz] n. 环境

manuscript [5mAnjuskript] n. 手稿，原稿

recruit [ri5kru:t] vt. 补充

step into 进入

marsh¹¹ [mB:F] n. 沼泽地

prophetic [prE5fetik] adj. 预言的

1 heroism   

n.大无畏精神，英勇

参考例句：

• He received a medal for his heroism.他由于英勇而获得一枚奖章。
• Stories of his heroism resounded through the country.他的英雄故事传遍全国。

2 baker   

n.面包师

参考例句：

• The baker bakes his bread in the bakery.面包师在面包房内烤面包。
• The baker frosted the cake with a mixture of sugar and whites of eggs.面包师在蛋糕上撒了一层白糖和蛋清的混合料。

3 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

4 devastation   

n.毁坏；荒废；极度震惊或悲伤

参考例句：

• The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
• There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

7 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

8 depict   

vt.描画，描绘；描写，描述

参考例句：

• I don't care to see plays or films that depict murders or violence.我不喜欢看描写谋杀或暴力的戏剧或电影。
• Children's books often depict farmyard animals as gentle,lovable creatures.儿童图书常常把农场的动物描写得温和而可爱。

9 serene   

adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的

参考例句：

• He has entered the serene autumn of his life.他已进入了美好的中年时期。
• He didn't speak much,he just smiled with that serene smile of his.他话不多，只是脸上露出他招牌式的淡定的微笑。

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

11 marsh   

n.沼泽，湿地

参考例句：

• There are a lot of frogs in the marsh.沼泽里有许多青蛙。
• I made my way slowly out of the marsh.我缓慢地走出这片沼泽地。

12 marshes   

n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Cows were grazing on the marshes. 牛群在湿地上吃草。
• We had to cross the marshes. 我们不得不穿过那片沼泽地。 来自《简明英汉词典》