《时间的皱纹》——爱是最伟大的力量

马德琳·英格(Madeleine L''''Engle，1918~2007)出生在纽约曼哈顿的一个文艺之家，她一生创作了60多部作品，囊括了世界两大青少年文学最高奖项(“安徒生文学奖”和“纽伯瑞文学奖”)，以及“国家人文科学奖章”等多项荣誉和奖项，是世界最受欢迎的青少年文学作家之一。《时间的皱纹》是马德琳的成名作，讲述了一个关于爱、宽容与坚持的故事。故事主人公是一个15岁的女孩，名叫麦格·莫瑞(Meg Murry)。为了寻找失踪的科学家爸爸，麦格踏上了一条非同寻常的道路。该书于1962年出版，获得了1963年“纽伯瑞儿童文学奖”金奖，多年来一直受到读者的喜爱，累计销量超过1000万册。美国前总统乔治·布什曾说：“《时间的皱纹》一书激发了人们的想象力，代表了美国的创造精神。”

下文选自最后一章结尾部分，讲述了麦格不畏艰险救出小弟弟查理斯·韦莱斯，全家人终于团聚的故事。

精彩片段

Is that what I have that IT1) doesn''''t have?

"Nonsense," Charles Wallace said. "You have nothing that IT doesn''''t have."

"You''''re lying," she replied, and she felt only anger toward this boy who was not Charles Wallace at all. No, it was not anger; it was loathing; it was hatred, sheer and unadulterated2). And as she became lost in hatred she also began to be lost in IT. The red miasma3) swam before her eyes; her stomach churned4) in IT''''s rhythm; her body trembled with the strength of her hatred and the strength of IT.

With the last vestige5) of consciousness she jerked her mind and body. Hate was nothing that IT didn''''t have. IT knew all about hate.

"You are lying about that, and you were lying about Mrs. Whatsit6)!" she screamed.

"Mrs. Whatsit hates you," Charles Wallace said.

And that was where IT made IT''''s fatal mistake, for as Meg said, automatically, "Mrs. Whatsit loves me! That''''s what she told me! That she loves me." Suddenly she knew.

She knew!

Love.

That was what she had that IT did not have.

She had Mrs. Whatsit''''s love, and her father''''s, and her mother''''s, and the real Charles Wallace''''s love, and the twins'''', and Aunt Beast''''s.

And she had her love for them.

But how could she use it? What was she meant to do?

If she could give love to IT perhaps it would shrivel up7) and die, for she was sure that IT could not withstand love. But she, in all her weakness and foolishness and baseness8) and nothingness, was incapable of loving IT. Perhaps it was not too much to ask of her, but she could not do it.

But she could love Charles Wallace.

She could stand there and she could love Charles Wallace.

Her own Charles Wallace, the real Charles Wallace, the child for whom she had come back to Camazotz, to IT, the baby who was so much more than she was, and who was yet so utterly vulnerable.

She could love Charles Wallace.

Charles, I love you. My baby brother who always takes care of me, come back to me. Charles Wallace, come away from IT, come back, come home. I love you, Charles. Oh, Charles Wallace, I love you.

Tears were streaming down her cheeks, but she was unaware of them.

Now she was even able to look at him, at this animated9) thing that was not her own Charles Wallace at all. She was able to look and love.

I love you. Charles Wallace, you are my darling and my dear and the light of my life and the treasure of my heart. I love you. I love you. I love you.

Slowly his mouth closed. Slowly his eyes stopped their twirling. The tic10) in the forehead ceased its revolting11) twitch12). Slowly he advanced13) toward her.

"I love you!" she cried. "I love you, Charles! I love you!"

Then suddenly he was running, pelting14). He was in her arms.He was shrieking with sobs, "Meg! Meg! Meg!"

"I love you, Charles!" she cried again, her sobs almost as loud as his, her tears mingling15) with his. "I love you! I love you! I love you!"

A whirl16) of darkness. An icy cold blast. An angry, resentful howl that seemed to tear through her. Darkness again. Through the darkness to save her came a sense of Mrs. Whatsit''''s presence, so that she knew it could not be IT who now had her in its clutches.

And then the feel of earth beneath her, of something in her arms, and she was rolling over on the sweet smelling autumnal earth, and Charles Wallace was crying out, "Meg! Oh, Meg!"

Now she was hugging him close to her, and his little arms were grasped tightly about her neck. "Meg, you saved me! You saved me!" he said over and over.

"Meg!" came a call, and there were her father and Calvin hurrying through the darkness toward them.

Still holding Charles she struggled to stand up and look around. "Father! Calvin! Where are we?"

Charles Wallace, holding her hand tightly, was looking around, too, and suddenly he laughed, his own, sweet, contagious17) laugh. "In the twins'''' vegetable garden! And we landed in the broccoli18)!"

Meg began to laugh, too, at the same time that she was trying to hug her father, to hug Calvin, and not to let go of Charles Wallace for one second.

"Meg, you did it!" Calvin shouted. "You saved Charles!"

"I''''m very proud of you, my daughter." Mr. Murry kissed her gravely, then turned toward the house. "Now I must go in to Mother." Meg could tell that he was trying to control his anxiety and eagerness.

"Look!" she pointed to the house, and there were the twins and Mrs. Murry walking toward them through the long, wet grass.

"First thing tomorrow I must get some new glasses," Mr. Murry said, squinting19) in the moonlight, and then starting to run toward his wife.

Dennys'''' voice came crossly20) over the lawn. "Hey, Meg, it''''s bedtime."

Sandy suddenly yelled, "Father!"

Mr. Murry was running across the lawn, Mrs. Murry running toward him, and they were in each other''''s arms, and then there was a tremendous21) happy jumble of arms and legs and hugging, the older Murrys and Meg and Charles Wallace and the twins, and Calvin grinning22) by them until Meg reached out and pulled him in and Mrs. Murry gave him a special hug all of his own. They were talking and laughing all at once, when they were startled by a crash, and Fortinbras, who could bear being left out of the happiness not one second longer, catapulted23) his sleek24) black body right through the screened door to the kitchen. He dashed across the lawn to join in the joy, and almost knocked them all over with the exuberance25) of his greeting.

那就是我拥有而IT没有的东西吗？

“胡说八道，”查理斯·韦莱斯说，“你并没有IT所没有的东西。”

“你撒谎！”麦格回答道，这个男孩不再是她认识的查理斯·韦莱斯了，她对他只剩下了愤怒。不，不是愤怒，而是厌恶；是憎恨，十足的、纯粹的憎恨。当她沉浸在憎恨中时，她也开始迷失在IT的陷阱中。红色的雾瘴在她眼前弥漫开来；她的胃随着IT的节奏猛烈翻腾；她的身体由于内心的憎恨和IT的魔力而在颤抖。

凭借最后一丝残存的意识，她猛地将自己的思想和肉体拉回现实。IT根本不乏憎恨，IT对憎恨了如指掌。

“你那是在撒谎，沃兹特夫人的事你刚才也是在撒谎！”她尖叫道。

“沃兹特夫人讨厌你。”查理斯·韦莱斯说。

那正是IT犯的致命错误，因为麦格脱口而出：“沃兹特夫人爱我！那是她亲口对我说的！她爱我。”她突然明白了。

她明白了！

爱。

那正是她拥有而IT没有的。

她拥有沃兹特夫人的爱，父亲的爱，母亲的爱，真正的查理斯·韦莱斯的爱，双胞胎兄弟的爱，还有野兽阿姨的爱。

而且，她也拥有对他们的爱。

但是她要怎样运用爱呢？她该做些什么？

如果她能把爱给予IT，IT也许会萎缩而死，因为她确信IT是无法承受爱的。然而，由于她的柔弱怯懦、愚笨无知、卑微低贱、无足轻重，她无法去爱IT。也许这对她来说并不苛刻，但她就是做不到。

但她可以爱查理斯·韦莱斯。

她可以站在那里，她可以去爱查理斯·韦莱斯。

她的查理斯·韦莱斯，真正的查理斯·韦莱斯，为了他，她重返卡玛左滋星球，深入IT的巢穴，因为这个孩子比她自己更为重要，而且现在还是那么易受伤害。

她可以去爱查理斯·韦莱斯。

查理斯，我爱你。总是悉心照顾我的小弟弟，回到我身边来吧。查理斯·韦莱斯，离开IT，回来吧，回家吧。我爱你，查理斯。哦，查理斯·韦莱斯，我爱你。

泪水顺着她的脸颊流淌下来，但她却对此毫无察觉。

她现在甚至可以看着他，看着这个活生生的小生命，但他却早已不是她的查理斯·韦莱斯了。她可以去看，可以去爱。

我爱你。查理斯·韦莱斯，你是我的宝贝、我的心肝，是我的生命之光、心灵之宝。我爱你。我爱你。我爱你。

慢慢地，他把嘴闭上了。慢慢地，他的眼睛也不再乱转。前额的痉挛停止了令人反感的抽搐。慢慢地，他朝她走来。

“我爱你！”她哭喊着，“我爱你，查理斯！我爱你！”

突然，他跑了起来，越跑越快。他扑进了她的怀抱。他啜泣着喊道：“麦格！麦格！麦格！”

“我爱你，查理斯！”她又哭了起来，她哭得几乎和他一样大声，两人的泪水交织在一起。“我爱你！我爱你！我爱你！”

眩晕的黑暗，冰冷的疾风，一声充满愤怒与怨恨的嚎叫仿佛要将她撕裂。黑暗再一次袭来。黑暗中她感觉到沃兹特夫人就在身边来拯救她，因而她知道那不可能是正牢牢控制着她的IT。

然后她就感觉到大地就在脚下，她怀里好像抱着什么东西，而她正在秋日芬芳的土地上打着滚，查理斯·韦莱斯则在叫喊着：“麦格！噢，麦格！”

现在她正紧紧抱着他，他小小的胳膊紧紧地搂住她的脖子。“麦格，你救了我！你救了我！”他一遍又一遍地说道。

“麦格！”有人叫了一声，她的父亲和加尔文正从黑暗中向他们匆忙赶来。

她挣扎着站起来，依然抱着查理斯，然后环顾四周。 “爸爸！加尔文！我们这是在哪儿？”

查理斯·韦莱斯紧握着她的手也四处张望，忽然，他笑了，那是他独有的、悦耳的、富有感染力的笑声。“在双胞胎的菜园里！我们落在花椰菜地里啦！”

麦格也笑了起来，此时，她想去拥抱父亲，拥抱加尔文，但也不愿让查理斯·韦莱斯离开她半步。

“麦格，你成功了！”加尔文喊道，“你救了查理斯！”

“我为你感到无比骄傲，我的女儿。”莫瑞先生郑重地吻了她一下，然后转向屋子，“现在我要进去见见你妈妈。”麦格看得出，他正努力控制着自己的焦急与渴望。

“快看呀！”她指着房子，双胞胎兄弟和莫瑞太太正穿过好久没有修剪草都长长了的、湿漉漉的草坪向他们走来。

“明天我要做的第一件事就是去整一副新眼镜。”莫瑞先生在月光下眯着眼睛说道，接着便向他的妻子跑去。

丹尼斯气呼呼的声音从草坪上传来：“嘿，麦格，该睡觉了。”

森迪突然大叫道：“爸爸！”

莫瑞先生奔跑着穿过草坪，莫瑞太太也向他跑来，他们拥抱在一起。接着又是莫瑞夫妇和麦格、查理斯·韦莱斯以及双胞胎兄弟手舞足蹈，热烈拥抱，呈现出一派欢天喜地的景象。加尔文一直在一旁咧着嘴笑，直到麦格伸手把他拉了进来，莫瑞太太给了他一个专属于他的特别的拥抱。一时间欢声笑语。突然，砰的一声将大家吓了一跳，原来是福特布拉斯(编注：麦格家的小狗)。这个一刻也无法忍受被排除在快乐之外的家伙，拖着它亮滑而又黝黑的身体径直冲出厨房的纱门。它飞奔过草坪，迫不及待地加入这欢乐的海洋，它热情的问候方式几乎把所有人都撞倒了。

1. IT: 《时间的皱纹》一书中一个巨大的心灵感应式大脑，是邪恶的象征。它在书中统治着一个名叫“卡玛左滋”的星球(小说主人公麦格的父亲就被困在这里)，让那里的所有人都像机器人一样做着同样的动作。

2. unadulterated [??n??d?lt?re?t?d] adj. 纯粹的

3. miasma [mi??zm?; ma???zm?] n. (腐烂有机物发出的)臭气，瘴气

4. churn [t???n] vi. (由于紧张或情绪激动而)感到胃在搅动，胃中难受

5. vestige [?vest?d?] n. 残留部分，残余

6. Mrs. Whatsit: 沃兹特夫人。她是“鬼屋”的主人，也是三位星际天使中最年轻的一位，却已有20亿年的寿命，一直致力于消灭邪恶力量。

7. shrivel up: (使)枯萎，干枯，皱缩

8. baseness [?be?sn?s] n. 卑鄙；下贱

9. animated [??n?me?t?d] adj. 活生生的

10. tic [t?k] n. 【医】抽搐

11. revolting [r??v??lt??] adj. 令人作呕的，使人反感的

12. twitch [tw?t?] n. 抽动，抽搐；痉挛

13. advance [?d?vɑ?ns] vi. 前进；向前移动

14. pelt [pelt] vi. 匆匆地走

15. mingle [?m??ɡl] vi. 混合起来，相混合

16. whirl [w??l] n. 眩晕

17. contagious [k?n?te?d??s] adj. (情绪等)感染性的，会蔓延开的

18. broccoli [?br?k?li] n. 【植】花椰菜

19. squint [skw?nt] vi. 眯着眼看

20. crossly [kr?sli] adv. 生气地，发怒地

21. tremendous [tr??mend?s] adj. 巨大的，极大的

22. grin [ɡr?n] vi. 咧嘴而笑，露齿而笑

23. catapult [?k?t?p?lt] vt. (像被弹弓射出或弹射器发射那样)迅速运动，飞跃

24. sleek [sli?k] adj. 光滑的

25. exuberance [?ɡ?zju?b?r?ns] n. (感情等的)过度表现

赏析

故事主人公麦格·莫瑞原本有个幸福完美的家：有博学多识的科学家父亲莫瑞先生，有美丽优雅的科学家母亲莫瑞夫人，有十岁大的双胞胎兄弟森迪和丹尼斯，还有五岁的天才小弟弟查理斯。可父亲在研究“五维空间”时却离奇失踪，幸福至此蒙上了阴影。麦格和“哑巴弟弟”查理斯常常因为父亲的原因而被同学排挤、嘲讽，他们与同学打架，被老师责罚……在旁人眼中，他们是怪胎，是异类……故事看似会按苦大仇深的女孩如何自立自强，如何通过自己的努力使众人刮目相看，让阴影笼罩下的家庭重获光明的套路走。然而，作者却别具匠心，带给我们一次非同寻常的冒险之旅，一个比《千与千寻》更加曲折离奇的寻亲故事。

一个狂风肆虐的夜晚，查理斯无意中发现树林里一处废弃的“鬼屋”并与其主人沃兹特夫人成了朋友。这位友人的一次深夜造访给莫瑞夫人带来了“五维空间”的信息，聪明的麦格和查理斯从母亲的神情中觉察到沃兹特夫人一定知道父亲的下落，于是决定去问个究竟。途中，他们遇到了高年级的同学加尔文。加尔文被麦格独特的个性和内在的智慧所吸引和折服，成了麦格的好朋友。最终，三人一同前往“鬼屋”寻找沃兹特夫人，并结识了沃兹特夫人的两位朋友：总是爱引经据典的壶夫人和说话结巴的尾趣夫人。他们同这三位神秘而友善的星际天使一起踏上了寻找麦格父亲的冒险旅程。

他们旅行的工具不是飞机，不是火箭，也不是时空穿梭机；他们旅行用的是神奇的“时间皱纹”，即从一个平面入口迅速到达另一遥远的星球，所用的时间几乎可以忽略不计。在旅行中，他们看到了美也看到了丑，看到了光明也看到了黑暗，遇到了善也遇到了恶。

他们到过美丽而充满光明和爱的尤瑞尔星球，在这里麦格学会了聆听，学会了欣赏，而不再执着于寻求一个合理的解释。他们去了麦格父亲被困的卡玛左滋星球，拜访了那里的梅迪姆，透过她的水晶球看清了包围着卡玛左滋星球的邪恶力量，见识了卡玛左滋星球上人们诡异的生活：他们只有同一种表情，以同一速度做着同样的动作。可见，屈服于没有灵魂的IT，生活就是这么可怕！

麦格的父亲就因拒绝屈从于IT而被囚禁在卡玛左滋星球。幸运的是，麦格的父亲并没有被IT夺去思想，麦格和卡尔文在星际天使的帮助下将他解救了出来。但是麦格的弟弟查理斯却在这个过程中不幸被IT控制了思想，留在了卡玛左滋星球上。

麦格本来已经和父亲逃离了卡玛左滋星球，途中差点儿丧命。她深知回去救弟弟有多么危险，但她深爱着自己的弟弟，坚决不肯放弃。在星际天使的帮助下，麦格独身返回了卡玛左滋星球去救查理斯。这次，麦格没有任何依靠，她必须找到一种她拥有而IT没有的力量才能战胜IT。可这种力量到底是什么呢？节选的这部分讲述的正是麦格如何找到这种力量并救出了弟弟查理斯。麦格在和思想被控制的查理斯的对话中突然发现：爱，正是她拥有而IT没有的力量。最终，麦格用她所有的爱帮助弟弟摆脱了IT的思想控制，救回了弟弟，全家幸福团聚。

或许我们并不清楚故事中的“尤瑞尔星球”和“卡玛左滋星球”是否真的存在，对所谓的“五维空间”和“时间皱纹”更是有些摸不着头脑。但这些只会激发我们无穷无尽的想象力，勾起我们对神秘外星世界、外星物质和时空穿梭的强烈兴趣；只会更让我们体会到这场奇异星际之旅中布满的艰辛和危险，更让我们看到主人公们坚定不移的信念，看到他们彼此之间的宽容与关爱，更让我们明白：生活中的困难与挫折在所难免，但只要我们坚定信念，宽以待人，勇于承担，做到心中有爱，就一定能够战胜任何的艰难险阻，因为世界上最伟大的力量就是爱！

本书英文版封面