在《格林童话》的《睡美人》里,公主在被王子亲吻后冲破诅咒,从沉睡中醒了过来。这个童话故事早已家喻户晓。近日,英国的一位妈妈要求学校删除课程中的这部分内容,原因是“公主并没有同意王子亲吻她以及唤醒她”。
Mother calls for Sleeping Beauty to be banned from primary school
as it promotes 'inappropriate behaviour'
The Telegraph
A mother has asked for Sleep Beauty to be removed from the classes of younger children at her son's primary school as it promotes "inappropriate" sexual behaviour.
40岁的莎拉•霍尔是两个孩子的妈妈。她称,《睡美人》在向孩子们宣扬一个“不恰当的”信息:在女性睡着时亲吻她的行为是“可以接受的”。
Sarah Hall, from Northumberland Park, near Newcastle,raised the issueafter her six-year-old brought home a children's book version of the fairytale.
The mother-of-two said she was concerned about the message that the story, where a prince kisses Sleeping Beauty to wake her from her cursedslumber[睡眠], sent younger children.
However she added that she felt the story should not be completely removed from the curriculum and could be used to start a conversation with older children around consent.
霍尔也表示,但她并不认为有必要完全禁止这本书。她与儿子的校方取得联系,要求他们在低年级课堂内删除这部分内容。
Speaking tothe Newcastle Chronicle[《纽卡斯尔纪事报》], Ms Hall said: "I think it's a specific issue in the Sleeping Beauty story about sexual behaviour and consent. It's about saying is this still relevant, is it appropriate?"
"In today's society, it isn't appropriate - my son is only six,he absorbs everything he sees, and it isn't as if I can turn it into a constructive conversation."
霍尔称,在当今社会,这个童话故事显得很不合适;她的儿子只有6岁,他看到什么就会学什么。
"I don't think taking Sleeping Beauty books out of circulation completely would be right. I actually think it would bea great resource for older children, you could have a conversation around it, you could talk about consent, and how the Princess might feel."
"But I'm really concerned about it for younger children, [and]would really welcome a conversation about whether this is suitable material."
The story of Sleeping Beautyoriginates fromthe tale of the Sun, Moon, and Talia by the 16th century Italian poet Giambattista Basile. In the original telling a princess falls asleep under a spell and is raped by a king who finds her in her palace while out hunting. The princess later wakes up, falls in love with the king and marries him.
The fairytale was later adapted into the modern version, which sees a princess cursed by asorceress[女巫]who is not invited to the celebration of her birth. The curse says the princess will die afterpricking[1]her finger on aspindle[纺锤], but a good fairy manages to partiallyreverse the spellso that she instead falls asleep for 100 years.
[1]prick
1) to make a small hole in something using something sharp刺(破),戳(穿),扎(穿)
Prickthe sausages before you grill them.
烤之前把香肠戳孔。
2) if something pricks a part of your body, or if it pricks, you feel small sharp pains(使)〔身体的某个部位〕感到刺痛
Angry tearsprickedher eyes.
愤怒的泪水刺痛了她的双眼。
3)prick sb's conscience
if something pricks someone's conscience or their conscience pricks them, they feel guilty or ashamed使某人的良心受到谴责,使某人的良心不安
Her conscienceprickedher as she told the lie.
她撒谎的时候良心很不安。
4)prick (up) your ears
if you prick up your ears or your ears prick up, you listen carefully because you have heard something interesting〔人〕仔细倾听
Jaypricked uphis ears when I mentioned a vacation.
我提到假期时,杰伊竖起耳朵来仔细倾听。
The Sleeping Beauty princess is then woken from her slumber after being kissed by a prince who discovers her in the castle. The fairy tale was made into a famous Disney film in 1959.
In the book Ms Hall's son brought home a character called Kipper is seen telling the Prince to kiss the Princess, as "then she wakes up. Everyone knows that."
The 40-year-old said shewas partly prompted to take action overbook bythe coverage ofthe recentsexual harassment scandals.
When tweeting about the book her son brought home she used the #MeToo hashtag, which thousands of women and men have used to share their experiences of sexual harassmentin the wake ofthe Harvey Weinstein scandal.
The mother then left a comment in her son's record book and has since contacted the school to ask for the book to be removed from younger classes.
Ms Hall added: "Theseare indicative of[2]howingrained[3]that kind of behaviour is in society. All these small things build up, and they make a difference."
[2]be indicative of:to be a clear sign that a particular situation exists or that something is likely to be true 显示出…;是…的迹象
This behaviouris indicative ofher whole attitude,I'm afraid.
这一行为恐怕已表明了她的总体态度。
[3]ingrained:ingrained attitudes or behaviour are firmly established and therefore difficult to change〔态度或行为〕根深蒂固的,难以改变的
The idea of doing our duty is deeplyingrained inmost people.
恪尽职守这一信念在大多数人的心里根深蒂固。