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Narrator:Listen to part of a lecture in a literature class.
独白:请听文学课上一部分内容。
Professor:Now we can't really talk about fairy tales without first talking about folk tales because there's a strong connection between these two genres, these two types of stories.
教授:在讲童话之前我们首先要提及一下民谣，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 folk tales.
事实上，很多童话故事都是以民谣的形式开始的。
So, what's a folk tale?
那么什么是民谣呢？
How would you characterize them? Jeff?
民谣又有什么特征呢？杰夫你怎么看？
Jeff:Well, they are old stories, traditional stories.
杰夫: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 story teller, or, maybe every town, might have had a slightly different version of the same folk tale.
我的意思是，每一个讲民谣的人，抑或在每一个不同的城镇，都有对同一个故事的不同描述。
Professor:That's right.
教授:你说得对。
There's local difference.
这就是当地的不同之处。
And that's why we say folk tales 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，我们指的是它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,
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，
with certain aspects of the tale adapted to fit the specific community.
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，不只情节，故事中的细节都会一成不变。
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？
Th…they also are found in most cultures,
童话也起源于大多数文化，
but how are they different from folk tales?
但与民谣相比何不同呢？
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？玛丽说说你的见解。
Mary:Well, they seem to be less realistic than folk tales…
玛丽:嗯，童话似乎没有比民谣真实。
like they have something improbable happening-a frog turning into a prince, say.
比如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，王子和公主的那些事。
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没有在任何地方，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 the stories start?
故事是怎么开始的呢？
Once upon a time, in a far away land...
很久以前，在一个遥远的地方…
oh, in the case of folk tales, each story teller would specify a particular location and time, though the time and location would differ for different story tellers.
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 story teller 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。。过会儿我们再回过头来说这点。
Student:Um... I, I thought that a fairy tale was just a written version of an oral folk tale.
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,
教授:嗯，不一定。
though that is how many fairy tales developed.
尽管童话已经发展很多。
For example, in the late 18th century, the Grimm Brothers traveled throughout what's now Germany, recording local folk tales.
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会有很多东西随之改变。
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.
公共的成分就丧失了。
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。
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，角色描写和故事场景设置发展得更为完善。
In folk tales, characters might be identified by a name,
民谣中的人物可以通过名字来识别，
but you wouldn't know anything more about them.
但你不会知道更多信息。
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,
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，
ur, whether they're small cabins or grand palaces.
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 folk tale 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，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, folk tales were originally intended for adults, not for children.
和现在人们所想不同的是，童话一开始是面向成人，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？
