TREVOR: Have you been reading lots of children's stories, to help you decide whether to take the course?

特雷弗：你有没有读过很多儿童故事，帮助你决定要不要修读这门课程？

STEPHANIE: Yeah. I've gone as far back as the late seventeenth century, though I know there were earlier children's stories.

史蒂芬妮：读过。我已经读到了十七世纪末的儿童故事，虽然我知道还有更早的儿童故事。

TREVOR: So does that mean you've read Perrault' s fairy tales?

特雷弗：那么你是否读过佩罗的童话故事？

Cinderella, The Sleeping Beauty, and so on.

《灰姑娘》，《睡美人》，等等。

STEPHANIE: Yes. They must be important, because no stories of that type had been written before, these were the first.

史蒂芬妮：读过。它们一定非常重要，因为这种类型的故事以前没有过，它们是最早的一批。

Then there's The Swiss Family Robinson.

然后还有《来自瑞士的罗宾逊一家》。

TREVOR: I haven't read that.

特雷弗：我没读过。

STEPHANIE: The English name makes it sound as though Robinson is the family's surname, but a more accurate translation would be The Swiss Robinsons, because it's about a Swiss family who are shipwrecked, like Robinson Crusoe in the novel of a century earlier.

史蒂芬妮：它的英文名听起来好像罗宾逊是这个家族的姓氏，但更精确的翻译将是《瑞士一家人的罗宾逊奇遇记》，因为它是关于一个遭遇海难的瑞士家庭，就像一个世纪前的小说中的鲁宾逊·克鲁索伊一样。

TREVOR: Well I never knew that!

特雷弗：天哪我从来没有听说过！

STEPHANIE: Have you read Hoffmann's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King?

史蒂芬妮：你读过霍夫曼的《胡桃夹子和老鼠国王》吗？

TREVOR: Wasn't that the basis for Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker?

特雷弗：这不是柴可夫斯基的芭蕾舞剧《胡桃夹子》的原型吗？

STEPHANIE: That's right.

史蒂芬妮：是的。

It has some quite bizarre elements.

这本书里面有很多相当奇异的元素。

TREVOR: I hope you've read Oscar Wilde's The Happy Prince.

特雷弗：希望你读过奥斯卡·王尔德的《快乐王子》。

It's probably my favourite children's story of all time.

这可能是我最喜欢的儿童故事了。

STEPHANIE: Mine too! And it's so surprising, because Wilde is best known for his plays, and most of them are very witty, but The Happy Prince is really moving.

史蒂芬妮：我也是！而且这非常令人惊讶，因为王尔德是以他的戏剧而闻名，而且他的戏剧中大多数都非常诙谐，但是《快乐王子》真的非常令人感动。

I struggled with Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings - three long books, and I gave up after one.

我挣扎着去读托尔金的《指环王》系列——三本长篇小说，然而尝试读了一本之后我就放弃了。

TREVOR: It's extremely popular, though.

特雷弗：不过《指环王》相当受欢迎。

STEPHANIE: Yeah, but whereas something like The Happy Prince just carried me along with it.

史蒂芬妮：是的，但《快乐王子》那样的故事可以让我顺畅读下去。

The Lord of the Rings took more effort than I was prepared to give it.

而阅读《指环王》却要付出比预期更多的努力。

TREVOR: I didn't find that - I love it.

特雷弗：我不这么想——我还挺爱读的。

STEPHANIE: Another one I've read is War Horse.

史蒂芬妮：我还读了一本书叫《战马》。

TREVOR: Oh yes. It's about the First World War, isn't it?

特雷弗：噢对。它讲的是一战时的故事，对不对？

Hardly what you'd expect for a children's story.

很难想象这是给孩子们读的故事。

STEPHANIE: Exactly, but it's been very successful.

史蒂芬妮：确实是，不过这本书还挺成功的。

Have you read any ...

你读过……