Narrator: Listen to part of a lecture in a literature class.

独白：请听文学课上一段演讲辞

Professor: Now we can't really talk about fairy tales without first talking about folktales because there's a strong connection between these two genres, these two types of stories.

教授：在讲童话之前我们要讲一下民谣，因为这两种不同类型的故事之间有很紧密的关联。

In fact, many fairy tales started out as folktales.

事实上，很多童话故事都是以民谣的形式开始的。

So, what's a folktale?

那么什么是民谣呢？

How would you characterize them? Jeff?

民谣又有什么特征呢？Jeff你觉得呢？

Jeff: Well, they are old stories, traditional stories.

Jeff：嗯，民谣是古老的故事，传统的故事。

They were passed down orally within cultures from generation to generation, so they changed a lot over time.

他们是在某一文化领域内代代口头相传下来的。因此他们随着时代的变迁而改变。

I mean, every storyteller, or, maybe every town, might have had a slightly different version of the same folktale.

我的意思是，每一个讲民谣的人，抑或在每一个不同的城镇，都有对同一个故事不同的描述。

Professor: That's right. There's local difference.

教授：你说得对。这就是当地的不同之处。

And that's why we say folktales are communal.

也是为什么我们说民谣是公共的。

By communal, we mean they reflect the traits and the concerns of a particular community at a particular time.

说他们是公共的，我们指的是他们反映了在某一特定时段某一群体的特征和重要的事。

So essentially the same tale could be told in different communities, with certain aspects of the tale adapted to fit the specific community.

因此本质上说，同一个故事在不同的群体中会有不同的版本，而故事的某一方面符合当地群体的某一方面特征。

Um, not the plot, the details of what happens in the story would remain constant.

嗯，故事中的情节和细节都不会一成不变。

That was the thread that held the tale together.

情节起到穿针引线的作用。

But all the other elements, like the location or characters, might be modified for each audience.

而其他因素，比如故事发生的地点人物的特征，每一个听众都有可能有所修改。

Okay. So what about fairy tales?

好的，那么童话呢？

They also are found in most cultures, but how are they different from folktales?

童话也产生于大多数文化，但他们与民谣相比有什么不同呢？

I guess the first question is: what is a fairy tale?

我想第一个问题就是：什么是童话？

And don't anyone say “a story with a fairy in it”, because we all know that very few fairy tales actually have those tiny magical creatures in them.

不要说故事中有仙女出现就是童话，因为我们都知道童话里面真的很少会出现这些小型的魔法精灵。

But, what else can we say about them? Mary.

那么，还有什么其他的因素呢？Mary你来说说。

Mary: Well, they seem to be less realistic than folktales, like they have something improbable happening - a frog turning into a prince, say.

Mary：嗯，童话似乎没有比民谣真实。童话中有一些事是不可能发生的，比如青蛙变王子。

Oh, that's another common element, royalty - a prince or princess.

哦，还有另一个一般的因素：王室，王子和公主的故事。

And fairy tales all seem to take place in a location that's nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

还有，童话故事发生的地点不是可以不存在，也可以同时在任何一个地方。

Professor: What's the line-up?

教授：童话故事是怎么进展的呢？

How do all those stories start?

故事是怎么开始的呢？

Once upon a time, in a faraway land... oh, in the case of folktales, each storyteller would specify a particular location and time, though the time and location would differ for different storytellers.

很久以前，在一个遥远的地方……哦，民谣中，讲故事的人都会说到事件发生的时间和地点，尽管这两者对不同的人来说有所不同。

With fairy tales, however, the location is generally unspecified, no matter who the storyteller is.

然而，童话中的地点通常是不具体的，不管是谁讲的故事。

That land far away... We'll come back to this point in a few minutes.

遥远的地方……过后我们在回过头来说这点。

Student: Um... I, I thought that a fairy tale was just a written version of an oral folktale.

学生：嗯，我，我想童话故事就是口头民谣的书面版本。

Professor: Well, not exactly, though that is how many fairy tales developed.

教授：嗯，不一定。尽管有多少民谣就有多少童话。

For example, in the late 18th century, the Grimm Brothers traveled throughout what's now Germany, recording local folktales.

比如，十八世纪晚期，格林兄弟周游现在的德国境内，记录下当地的民谣。

These were eventually published as fairy tales, but not before undergoing a process of evolution.

这些记录最后都被当做童话故事出版，但是在经历了改革的浪潮之后才出版的。

Now, a number of things happen when an oral tale gets written down.

当口头故事被记录下来的时候相伴着会有很多东西改变。

First, the language changes.

首先是语言的变化。

It becomes more formal, more standard - some might say, “Less colorful”.

语言变得更为正式，更为标准，一些人可能会说，逊色了不少。

It's like the difference in your language depending on whether you are talking to someone, or writing them a letter.

这种不同之处就像你使用语言时一样，看你是跟某人说话还是给某人写信。

Second, when an orally transmitted story is written down, an authoritative version with a recognized author is created.

其次，当口头相传的故事写下来的时候，就诞生知名作家的权威版本。

The communal aspect gets lost.

公共的成分就丢失了。

The tale no longer belongs to the community.

故事不在属于某一群体。

It belongs to the world, so to speak.

而是，可以说属于全世界了。

Because of this, elements like place and time can no longer be tailored to suit a particular audience.

因此，故事发生的地点和时间不再适合某一特定的听众。

So they become less identifiable, more generalizable to any audience.

因此故事的特征变得不明显，而是很普遍。

On the other hand, descriptions of characters and settings can be developed more completely.

换句话说，人物特征和故事场景的描述发展得更为完善。

In folktales, characters might be identified by a name, but you wouldn't know anything more about them.

民谣中的人物可以通过名字来识别，但你会知道更多信息。

But in fairy tales, people no longer have to remember plots.

而在童话中，人们不在需要记住情节，

They're written down, right?

因为已经写下来了对吧？

So more energy can be put into other elements of the story like character and setting.

那么读者能把更多精力放在其他因素上，像人物和场景描述。

So you get more details about the characters, about where the action takes place, what people's houses were like, ur, whether they're small cabins or grand palaces.

这样你得到更多人物的细节信息，故事发生的地点，人物所住的房子什么样，额，他们是否住在小平房中还是宏伟的宫殿。

And it's worth investing that energy because the story, now in book form, isn't in danger of being lost.

把精力投入到这些上是值得的，因为以书本形式呈现出来的故事不会有丢失的风险。

Those details won't be forgotten.

人们不会忘记故事的细节。

If a folktale isn't repeated by each generation, it may be lost for all time.

如果民谣没有通过每一代人反复陈述，也可能会永远消失。

But with a fairy tale, it's always there in a book, waiting to be discovered, again and again.

但是童话故事却安逸得待在书本中，等待一次又一次的发现。

Another interesting difference involves the change in audience.

另外一个有趣的不同是关于听众的改变。

Who the stories are meant for?

故事是讲给谁听的？

Contrary to what many people believe today, folktales were originally intended for adults, not for children.

和现在人们所想不同的是，民谣一开始是面向成人的，而不是儿童的。

So, why is it that fairy tales seem targeted toward children nowadays?

那么为什么现在似乎童话的目标读者是儿童呢？