好故事让我们逃离现实世界

Sometimes we all get tired of hearing thenews from the real world—trade wars, political machinations, and slowingeconomies. So, it is great to getimmersed in a good long story. 

有时我们会对现实世界中的新闻感到烦躁——贸易战、政治阴谋以及经济放缓。所以一个长篇好故事会是很好的调剂。

Great stories are not escapism — not arejection of the world. Actually, theygive us a much deeper understanding of humanity than we can get from justlooking at daily events. I find thatstories written for children or teenagers are often the best. 

好故事并不会让你逃离现实。事实上，它们能加深我们对人性的认知。儿童和青少年类读物最好地展现了这一点。

So, in the past month or so I have turnedto three authors who I can highly recommend.

过去几个月，我发现三个值得特别推荐的作家。

I stayed up late too many nights readingthe six novels in K.B. Hoyle's Gateway Chroniclesseries. Very ambitiously, the stories are a homage toand retelling of C.S. Lewis' classicChronicles of Narniaseries. Hard as it is to believe, Hoyle's versionsurpasses the original in many ways.

我熬夜几晚看完了K.B.Hoyle的六部小说系列GatewayChronicles。这个系列是向C.S.Lewis的《纳尼亚传奇》系列小说致敬并重新讲述了纳尼亚的故事。难以置信的是，Hoyle的版本要比原著好很多。

The author, who lives in Birmingham,Alabama, is the mother of four sons, so she has a bit more realistic view ofchildhood growth than did Lewis, who was childless and who married only late inlife. In the Gateway Chronicles,Darcy, a 13-year-old girl who is pressed by her parents to go to a summer campin the woods of northern Michigan, discovers a portal to another world. 

Hoyle住在美国阿拉巴马州的伯明翰市，有四个儿子。所以她可能比C.S.Lewis更了解孩子成长的真实情况。Lewis结婚很晚而且没有孩子。GatewayChronicles系列中13岁的女孩Darcy是被父母要求才参加了密歇根州北部的丛林夏令营，继而发现了通往另一个世界的入口。

Over the course of repeated visits to thisalternative world, the strength of character of Darcy and her companions aretested in magical, but relatable and meaningful, ways. I especially liked Hoyle's realistic andworldly but spiritual view of the meaning of good and evil. 

Darcy和伙伴们多次往返于另一个世界，经受魔幻但有意义的考验。我特别喜欢作者对于善恶的现实有意义的描写。

These books are a great read foradults. More importantly, any parent ofteenagers should be pushing them to put away the video games and discovery K.B.Hoyle's deep and engaging tales.

成年人，特别是父母，应该放下电子游戏读一下这些内容深刻的故事。

I was also engrossed by the novels ofNigerian-American author, Nnedi Okorafor. HerBinti Trilogytells the story of an African teen-age girl inthe distant future who risks everything to leave her traditional upbringing toget a scientific education on a distant planet. Her human traveling companions are killed by an alien attacker on the wayto the university, so she at first looks for revenge. But only comes to understand herself and theuniverse when she can see the situation from the point of view of thealiens. 

尼日利亚裔美籍作家NnediOkorafor的小说也很吸引我。她的Binti Trilogy讲述了一个未来世界的非洲少女堵上一切，到遥远星球接受科学教育的故事。旅途上，她的同伴被外星人杀害，她首先想到的是复仇，但她具备了从外星人的角度看问题的能力时，她才真正了解自己和宇宙。

Okorafor is also the author ofLagoon,ascience fiction novel set in present day Lagos, Nigeria. Aliens choose to land in Africa, rather thanin the usual US or UK. This novel givesa vivid and, I think, realistic view of life in Nigeria—a much better view thanyou can get from reading factual treatises. 

Okorafor 也是科幻小说Lagoon的作者。这本书讲述外星人在非洲着陆，生动现实地刻画了当代尼日利亚人的生活。

About a year ago, I had a chance to go toUganda and Ethiopia for reporting trip. I was very lucky to see the positive sides of those countries, ratherthan the problems usually reported in the press. I saw some of million Chinese citizens whoare building businesses in Africa and also saw some of the key infrastructurebeing built as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. 

大约一年前，我出差去了乌干达和埃塞俄比亚，非常幸运地见识到这些国家的积极一面，而非经常出现在媒体上的负面新闻。我看到一些在非洲做生意的中国人，也看到一带一路理念指导下的基础设施。

Okorafor's novels are a great way to beginto understand the potential of the African continent.

Okorafor的小说是了解非洲大陆潜力的好途径。

Finally, I've enjoyed three novels foryounger children by China Daily's own Randy Wright. They recount the adventures of Wang Kaihao,an eight year old Chinese boy who lives in the US because his father has a jobthere. In the first book, Kai & theKidnappers, Kai rescues the president of the US, who had been kidnapped bysneering conspirators within the government. (Okay, that part took me out of my escapism back to the news.) In later books, he saves the InternationalSpace Station and finds a Ming Dynasty treasure so it can be returned toChina. Published in China, these booksinclude a vocabulary section at the end and should be a great way for kids tolearn English.  (I'd like to have somesimple but engaging books like this to help me learn Chinese.)

我还看了中国日报外籍专家写的儿童读物三部曲。RandyWright写了主人公王凯浩的冒险经历。这个八岁男孩住在美国，因为他的父亲在那里工作。第一部书中，他救了被政府内奸绑架的美国总统（这部分把我拉回了现实）。第二部中，他挽救了国际空间站，还找到明朝时期的宝物并运回中国。这些书都在中国出版，还附上了单词表，是孩子们学英语的好途径。（我希望能有类似的书帮我学中文）

Finally, one more good thing. The M Woods Art Museum in the Dongchengsection of Beijing has a large exhibition of the paintings of British artistDavid Hockney, loaned by the Tate museum in London. His colorful paintings of the Yorkshirelandscape are inspiring. I'd love tofigure out how to make photos that mimic his work.  See it before it closes on January 5.

北京市东城区的木木美术馆在展出英国艺术家DavidHockney的作品。他的作品描绘了约克郡的美丽风景。展览到明年1月5日结束。