最近两个礼拜读完了《Wonder》这本书。书的作者是 R. J. Palacio。 故事的主人公是一个即将要上五年级的男生，叫 August，平时大家都叫他 Auggie。 Auggie 是一个有严重面部畸形的孩子。在五年级以前，他的爸爸妈妈在家里教他。到了他该上五年级的时候，他的妈妈认为他应该去学校念书，于是 Auggie 开始了他的五年级旅程，这本书讲述了 Auggie 在五年级经历。
在书中，有一次 Auggie 的朋友这样描述他：“He was such a good sport about himself. That’s one of the things I like the most about Auggie.” “A good sport about himself ”， 这里是指 Auggie 很能接受自己有严重面部畸形这个事实，甚至可以拿自己面部畸形这件事情开玩笑。我很喜欢 Auggie 的性格。他是一个有自信的小男孩，相信爸爸妈妈和姐姐都很爱自己，相信自己的死党们不在乎自己的外貌，相信友谊，相信爱。Auggie 也是一个很会表达爱的孩子。这种自信我想是来自于他的父母和姐姐对他的无条件的永远也用不完的爱。
下面是我读到的比较喜欢的部分。
1. Here’s what I think: the only reason I’m not ordinary is that no one else sees me that way.
2. And Mom and Dad don’t see me as ordinary, either. They see me as extraordinary.
3. “And learning who you are is what you’re here to do.”
这是 Auggie 的英文老师 Mr. Browne 在开学的第一节课对大家说的，“认识自己是我们要在学校里学习的。” 对于这点，不能同意更多。感觉在每一个人生阶段都需要 make an effort to know myself better.
4. Mr. Browne’s September precept: when given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind. —Dr. Wayne W. Dyer
Mr. Browne 在每个月都会分享给他的学生一句他认为写得很棒的句子，然后他会让学生在月末的时候交一个作业，写出自己对这个句子的想法。每年暑假的时候，Mr. Browne 鼓励同学们每人找到一句对自己很有意义的句子，然后写在明信片上寄给他。有些学生会每年暑假都寄给 Mr. Browne这样一张明信片，毕业后也会每年坚持寄。感觉 Mr. Browne 是个很有心很有趣的老师。
5. Mr. Browne’s precept for October was: Your deeds are your monuments. —inscription on an Egyptian tomb
下面是 Auggie 写的对于这句箴言的理解：
This precept means that we should be remembered for the things we do. The things we do are the most important things of all. They are more important than what we say or what we look like. The things we do outlast our mortality. The things we do are like monuments that people build to honor heroes after they’ve died. They’re like the pyramids that the Egyptians built to honor the pharaohs. Only instead of being made out of stone, they’re made out of the memories people have of you. That’s why your deeds are like your monuments. Built with memories instead of with stone.
6. Now here is my secret. It is very simple. It is only with one’s heart that one can see clearly. What is essential is invisible to the eye. —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
7. “Jack, sometimes you don’t have to mean to hurt someone to hurt someone. You understand?”
8. Mr. Browne’s December precept was: Fortune favors the bold. —Virgil
9. Olivia reminds me of a bird sometimes, how her feathers get all ruffled when she’s mad. And when she’s fragile like this, she’s a little lost bird looking for its nest. So I give her my wing to hide under.
Auggie 的姐姐 Olivia 男友的一段独白。
10. You purchase a ticket when you’re born. And it’s all just random whether you get a good ticket or a bad ticket. It’s all just luck. My head swirls on this, but then softer thoughts soothe, like a flatted third on a major chord. No, no, it’s not all random, if it really was all random, the universe would abandon us completely. And the universe doesn’t. It takes care of its most fragile creations in ways we can’t see. Like with parents who adore you blindly. And a big sister who feels guilty for being human over you. And a little gravelly-voiced kid whose friends have left him over you. And even a pink-haired girl who carries your picture in her wallet. Maybe it is a lottery, but the universe makes it all even out in the end. The universe takes care of all its birds.
Auggie 的姐姐 Olivia 男友的另一段独白。
11. Funny how sometimes you worry a lot about something and it turns out to be nothing.
12. “Do people look the same when they get to heaven?” “I don’t know. I don’t think so.” “Then how do people recognize each other?” “I don’t know, sweetie.” She sounded tired. “They just feel it. You don’t need your eyes to love, right? You just feel it inside you. That’s how it is in heaven. It’s just love, and no one forgets who they love.”
Auggie的外婆刚刚去世不久，这是某天晚上Auggie和妈妈的对话。
13. “There are always going to be jerks in the world, Auggie,” she said, looking at me. “But I really believe, and Daddy really believes, that there are more good people on this earth than bad people, and the good people watch out for each other and take care of each other. Just like Jack was there for you. And Amos. And those other kids.”
Auggie 和妈妈的对话。
14. I missed seeing your face, Auggie. I know you don’t always love it, but you have to understand … I love it. I love this face of yours, Auggie, completely and passionately. And it kind of broke my heart that you were always covering it up.”
Auggie 和爸爸的对话。
15. But the best way to measure how much you’ve grown isn’t by inches or the number of laps you can now run around the track, or even your grade point average—though those things are important, to be sure. It’s what you’ve done with your time, how you’ve chosen to spend your days, and whom you have touched this year. That, to me, is the greatest measure of success.
Auggie 所在学校的校长 Mr. Tushman 在五年级毕业典礼上对大家说的话。他还引用了《The Little White Bird》by J. M. Barrie 中的一句话：
“ ‘Shall we make a new rule of life … always to try to be a little kinder than is necessary?’ ”
16. “Courage. Kindness. Friendship. Character. These are the qualities that define us as human beings, and propel us, on occasion, to greatness. And this is what the Henry Ward Beecher medal is about: recognizing greatness.”
“ ‘Greatness,’ wrote Beecher, ‘lies not in being strong, but in the right using of strength.… He is the greatest whose strength carries up the most hearts …’ ”
校长Mr. Tushman 在给 Auggie 颁奖时说的话。
17. “Thank you, Auggie,” she answered softly. “For what?” “For everything you’ve given us,” she said. “For coming into our lives. For being you.” She bent down and whispered in my ear. “You really are a wonder, Auggie. You are a wonder.”
Auggie 和妈妈的对话。
18. Mr. Browne’s precepts:
No man is an island, entire of itself. —John Donne
It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers. —James Thurber
Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much. —Blaise Pascal
What is beautiful is good, and who is good will soon be beautiful. —Sappho
Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, In all the places you can, At all the times you can, To all the people you can, As long as you ever can. —John Wesley’s Rule
19. Postcard Precepts from Students:
It’s not enough to be friendly. You have to be a friend.
Flowers are great, but love is better. —Justin Bieber
Don’t try too hard to be cool. It always shows, and that’s uncool.
Everyone in the world should get a standing ovation at least once in their life because we all overcometh the world. —Auggie
20. “Somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.” How else to explain this life we’ve built together? I am grateful every day.
这本书的作者 R. J. Palacio 在本书的致谢里写给她丈夫的话。“Somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good.” —- 这句话来自于一个我特别喜欢的电影《音乐之声》
