Everything they see for the first time is elementary to their sense of beauty and creativity.
Peeling Away Artifice for the Pure Original
Roy H.Barnacle
Sarah came running in. “Look what I found.” Over the top of the paper I was reading came a crispy crispy adj.卷曲的， 脆的， 易碎的 ， crumbling crumble v.弄碎， 粉碎， 崩溃 long object that caused me to jump. It was a snake skin that had been shed by one of our many garden snakes.
孩子们第一次看到的东西是形成他们美感和创造力的基础。
童真无瑕
罗伊·H.巴拿克
莎拉跑进来。“瞧我发现了什么。”我在读着报，一条弯曲的有些破损的东西出现在报纸上，有时让我吓了一跳。那是条蛇皮，在我们的花园里有很多蛇。
“Isnt it beautiful？” said my wideeyed sevenyearold daughter.
I stared at the organic wrapper and thought to myself that it really wasnt that beautiful， but I have learned never to appear nonchalantnonchalant adj.冷淡的 or jaded with children. Everything they see for the first time is elementary to their sense of beauty and creativity； they see only merit and excellence in the world until educated otherwise.
“Why does it do this？” Sarah asked.
Robert， ever the innocent comediancomedian n.喜剧演员 ， said： “We have a naked snake in our garden！”
I also try to customize every opportunity to teach my children that there is almost always something beyond the obvious； that there is something else going on besides what they see in front of them. “Snakes shed their skin because they need to renew themselves，” I explained.
“难道它不漂亮吗？”七岁的小女儿睁大眼睛问我。我盯着那条蛇皮，心里认为它真的不好看，但我认识到决不能对孩子表现出冷淡或感到厌烦的神情。孩子们第一次看到的东西是形成他们美感和创造力的基础。在受到相关教育之前，他们仅仅只会看到世上美好的一面。
莎拉问：“蛇为什么要蜕皮？”
曾当过喜剧演员的罗伯特说过：“我们花园里有条光着身子的蛇。”
我也利用一切机会教给孩子们知道凡事不单有其表象，更有其内在深层的含义。我解释说：“蛇蜕皮是为了重获新生。”
As is so often the case in my family， the original subject leads to another and another， until we are discussing something quite different.
“Why do they need to renew themselves？” Sarah asked.
Robert quipped： “ ‘Cos they dont like who they are and they want to be someone else.”
Sarah and I politely ignoredignore vt.不理睬， 忽视 her brother. I suddenly remembered an article on this page many years ago where the writer was expressing her concept of renewalrenewal n.更新， 复兴， 恢复， 续借， 重申， 补充 . She used layers of paper over a wall to describe how we hide our original selves， and said that by peelingpeel v.剥， 削， 剥落 away those layers one by one， we see the underlyingunderlying adj.在下面的， 根本的， 潜在的 original beneath.
正如我家常出现的情况，最初的话题会引出一个又一个的新话题，直到我们讨论的与最初的毫无关联为止。
莎拉问：“它们为什么要获得新生。”
罗伯特诙谐地说：“因为它们讨厌自己的模样，想要变成其他模样。”
莎拉和我没理会她哥哥。我忽然记起许多年前在报纸上看到的一篇文章，作者表达了她对新生的看法：她用糊在墙上的一层层壁纸来形容我们是怎样将纯真自我隐藏起来的，并且说剥去那些一层层的壁纸，我们便会发现藏在里面的纯真。
“We often need to shed our skins， those coatings and facades that we cover ourselves with，” I said to my now absorbed daughter. “We outgrow some things and find other stuff unwanted or unnecessary. This snake no longer needs this skin. It is probably too stiffstiff adj.硬的， 僵直的， 拘谨的， 呆板的， 艰难的 and crinklycrinkly adj.起皱的， 绉褶多的， 卷缩的 for him， and he probably doesnt think he looks as smart in it as he once did. Like buying a new suit.”
Of course， Im sure this explanation wont sit well with bonafide naturalists. But Sarah was getting the point. As we talked， I knew that she began to comprehend， albeit slightly， that renewal is part of progress； that we need to take a good look at ourselves， and our rooms and schoolwork and creativity and spiritualityspirituality n.精神性， 灵性 ， and see what we need to keep and what we need to cast off. I was careful to point out that this is a natural process， not one to be forced.
我对听得入神的小女儿说：“我们常要‘蜕皮’，脱掉身上那些衣服。我们长大后，不想要某些东西了，或者不需要某些东西了。这条蛇不再需要这张皮了。可能蛇感到这张皮既僵硬又难看，看起来没有以前那么漂亮。就像买套新衣服那样。”
当然，我敢确定这样的解释不能取悦于真正的裸体主义者。但莎拉听懂了。谈话的时候，我知道莎拉虽然有些懵懂的，但理解了新生是进步的一个部分，理解到我们需要好好审视自我、房间、功课、创造力和灵性，明白需要留下什么，放弃什么。我注意指出这是一个自然过程，并非强制性的。
“Snakes dont peel off their skin when they feel like it.” I explained. “ It happens as a natural consequence of their growth.”
“I see， Dad，” said Sarah and jumped off my lap， grabbed the snakeskin， and ran off.
I hoped she would remember this. That often， in order to find our real selves underneath the layers of community and culture with which we cloak ourselves year after year， we need to start examining these layers.
We need to gently peel some away， as we recognize them to be worthless， unnecessary， or flawed； or at best， store the discarded ones as mementoes of our promotion to a better vitalityvitality n.活力， 生命力， 生动性 or spirit.
我解释：“当蛇想要它的皮时，就不会蜕掉。蜕皮是它们生长的自然过程。”
莎拉说：“爸爸，我明白了。”接着跳离我的腿，拿着蛇皮跑开了。
我希望她将记住这一次。为了寻找年复一年为社会和环境掩盖之下的真正自我，我们开始需要检查这些“壁纸”。
一旦认识到它们毫无价值，不再需要或者有了缺陷时，需要轻轻剥去一些，或者最好是尘封那些放弃的东西，激励我们更富活力和力量地去前进。
蛇因为生长、发育的需要必须要蜕皮，其实，人生又何尝不是这样呢？不断地舍弃旧我，才能不断地有新我出现。在人生的路上，我们要展示真正的自我，每一刻都是新的开始，不要让自己活在怀念或记忆中，它是我们成长的养分，我们应该一路向前，不断完善自己，塑造完美自我。