{"id":3627,"date":"2018-01-04T21:25:18","date_gmt":"2018-01-04T13:25:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/2018\/01\/04\/rang_ri_zi_20180104\/"},"modified":"2018-01-04T21:25:18","modified_gmt":"2018-01-04T13:25:18","slug":"rang_ri_zi_20180104","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/2018\/01\/04\/rang_ri_zi_20180104\/","title":{"rendered":"The Secret to Mak\u00ading Days More Per\u00adfect \u2014 My Thoughts on the Trans\u00adla\u00adtion of \u201cA Per\u00adfect Day\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\u8ba9\u65e5\u5b50\u53d8\u5f97\u66f4\u5b8c\u7f8e\u7684\u79d8\u8bc0\u2014\u2014\u300a\u5b8c\u7f8e\u7684\u4e00\u5929\u300b\u8bd1\u540e\u611f\"<\/a>
\n   
\nLane Smith is an increas\u00ading\u00adly sought-after pic\u00adture book writer world\u00adwide. He has been writ\u00ading for thir\u00adty years and has won numer\u00adous awards, most notably two Calde\u00adcott Medals (1993 and 2012) and a Green\u00adaway Medal (2017). Over a dozen of his works have been trans\u00adlat\u00aded into Chi\u00adnese, but inter\u00adest\u00ading\u00adly, unless you\u2019re pay\u00ading close atten\u00adtion, you can\u2019t always attribute them to the same author.
\n
\n 
\n 
\nFor exam\u00adple, you might love \u201cGrand\u00adpa Green\u2019s Gar\u00adden,\u201d a qui\u00adet, beau\u00adti\u00adful, and bright\u00adly illus\u00adtrat\u00aded book. But would you believe that the same illus\u00adtra\u00adtor also drew the dark\u00adly humor\u00adous and sub\u00adver\u00adsive \u201cThe True Sto\u00adry of the Three Lit\u00adtle Pigs\u201d? A clos\u00ader look might sur\u00adprise you to dis\u00adcov\u00ader that he also drew the incred\u00adi\u00adbly bizarre \u201cThe Stinky Cheese Boy\u201d!
\n
\n 
\n 
\nYes, Ryan Smith is a mas\u00adter of diverse styles. When asked what medi\u00adums he typ\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly uses for his illus\u00adtra\u00adtions, he replies that he uses oil, pen\u00adcil, ink, water\u00adcol\u00ador, com\u00adput\u00ader graph\u00adics, col\u00adlage, and so on. He uses every medi\u00adum pos\u00adsi\u00adble, depend\u00ading on the needs of the spe\u00adcif\u00adic work. In oth\u00ader words, he choos\u00ades the right style for the sto\u00adry. This is why he can cre\u00adate some\u00adthing tru\u00adly bizarre, or he can cre\u00adate car\u00adtoon\u00adish, endear\u00ading, and play\u00adful char\u00adac\u00adters like in \u201cThis Is a Book,\u201d or he can cre\u00adate some\u00adthing incred\u00adi\u00adbly naive and dream\u00adlike, like in \u201cChil\u00addren of a Tribe.\u201d
\n
\n\"\u8ba9\u65e5\u5b50\u53d8\u5f97\u66f4\u5b8c\u7f8e\u7684\u79d8\u8bc0\u2014\u2014\u300a\u5b8c\u7f8e\u7684\u4e00\u5929\u300b\u8bd1\u540e\u611f\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 
\n 
\nIn \u201cA Per\u00adfect Day,\u201d he cre\u00adates an incred\u00adi\u00adbly warm, hazy, and near\u00adly per\u00adfect world. The ani\u00admals in the book\u2014kittens, pup\u00adpies, tits, squir\u00adrels, and bears\u2014are all adorable, espe\u00adcial\u00adly the small\u00ader ones, which have a slight\u00adly fur\u00adry feel. Up close, they don\u2019t appear to have been direct\u00adly drawn with a brush, but rather vague\u00adly rubbed from some\u00adwhere. Thanks to the inter\u00adnet, we can eas\u00adi\u00adly fol\u00adlow Smith in a live video broad\u00adcast on The New York Times\u2019 Face\u00adbook page, where he demon\u00adstrates how to cre\u00adate this effect at his work\u00adsta\u00adtion. He begins by draw\u00ading on a sheet of white paper, then imme\u00addi\u00adate\u00adly cov\u00aders it with anoth\u00ader sheet. The result\u00ading hazy rub\u00adbing cre\u00adates exact\u00adly the desired effect, which he then con\u00adtin\u00adues to manip\u00adu\u00adlate. For him, cre\u00adat\u00ading a book like this is a game, and the ran\u00addom\u00adness of the results makes it all the more fun. It\u2019s easy to imag\u00adine that he con\u00adjured count\u00adless effects through\u00adout the cre\u00adative process, and the one pre\u00adsent\u00aded to read\u00aders is only one of his final choic\u00ades. I can\u2019t help but won\u00adder what a pro\u00adfound enjoy\u00adment it is for a cre\u00adator so pas\u00adsion\u00adate about this craft to immerse him\u00adself in this mag\u00adi\u00adcal process.
\n
\n 
\n 
\nHow\u00adev\u00ader, as a trans\u00adla\u00adtor, I\u2019m more con\u00adcerned with the lan\u00adguage of this book. Author Ryan Smith, too, delights in play\u00ading with lan\u00adguage. He intend\u00aded an audi\u00adence that would be com\u00adpat\u00adi\u00adble with infants and tod\u00addlers, so aside from the essen\u00adtial names of plants and ani\u00admals, he chose words of only one or two syl\u00adla\u00adbles, very sim\u00adple in Eng\u00adlish. He avoid\u00aded rhyming, which would have facil\u00adi\u00adtat\u00aded sim\u00adple, flu\u00adent, and clear expres\u00adsion. Yet, he delib\u00ader\u00adate\u00adly arranged the text like poet\u00adry, using repeat\u00aded rep\u00ade\u00adti\u00adtions through\u00adout the struc\u00adture. This cre\u00adates an archi\u00adtec\u00adtur\u00adal aes\u00adthet\u00adic and a clear rhythm. As you read, you\u2019ll dis\u00adcov\u00ader that this heart\u00adwarm\u00ading lit\u00adtle sto\u00adry is tru\u00adly a poem.
\n
\n 
\n 
\nAt the cli\u00admax of the sto\u00adry, his lan\u00adguage game also reached its cli\u00admax. A big bear broke into the yard where the kit\u00adten, pup\u00adpy, tit and squir\u00adrel were enjoy\u00ading them\u00adselves. From the sur\u00adprised expres\u00adsions and actions of the tit and squir\u00adrel, we already knew that some\u00adthing \u201cbig\u201d was going to hap\u00adpen. But how was this \u201cbig thing\u201d described in the text? The orig\u00adi\u00adnal Eng\u00adlish text actu\u00adal\u00adly just repeat\u00aded the excla\u00adma\u00adtions of the lit\u00adtle ani\u00admals four times, such as the squir\u00adrel\u2019s \u201cIt
\nwas a per\u00adfect day for Squir\u00adrel.\u201d The descrip\u00adtion here is still \u201cIt was<\/b> a per\u00adfect
\nday for
\nSquir\u00adrel.\u201d The word \u201cwas\u201d was just heav\u00adi\u00adly bold\u00aded. What does this mean? Here we have to com\u00adbine the pic\u00adture. We see that the big bear holds the corn cob that orig\u00adi\u00adnal\u00adly belonged to the squir\u00adrel in his mouth, and the squir\u00adrel flees in pan\u00adic in the low\u00ader right cor\u00adner of the pic\u00adture. We know that the author is play\u00ading a lit\u00adtle bit of black humor here. The squir\u00adrel\u2019s \u201cper\u00adfect day\u201d has become a thing of the past. Unfor\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly, there is no way to use the same expres\u00adsion in Chi\u00adnese. I can only trans\u00adlate the first part as \u201cFor the squir\u00adrel, this is a per\u00adfect day.\u201d The sec\u00adond part becomes \u201cFor the squir\u00adrel, this is a per\u00adfect day.\u201conce<\/b>It was a per\u00adfect day.\u201d
\n
\n\"\u8ba9\u65e5\u5b50\u53d8\u5f97\u66f4\u5b8c\u7f8e\u7684\u79d8\u8bc0\u2014\u2014\u300a\u5b8c\u7f8e\u7684\u4e00\u5929\u300b\u8bd1\u540e\u611f\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\u8ba9\u65e5\u5b50\u53d8\u5f97\u66f4\u5b8c\u7f8e\u7684\u79d8\u8bc0\u2014\u2014\u300a\u5b8c\u7f8e\u7684\u4e00\u5929\u300b\u8bd1\u540e\u611f\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 
\n 
\nIt\u2019s a shame that the two con\u00adtrast\u00ading mean\u00adings can\u2019t be expressed in the same lit\u00ader\u00adal sen\u00adtence. For\u00adtu\u00adnate\u00adly, how\u00adev\u00ader, the main thrust and humor of Lane Smith\u2019s sto\u00adry are large\u00adly pre\u00adserved, thanks to the flaw\u00adless illus\u00adtra\u00adtions. Final\u00adly, the read\u00ader sees the bear, well-fed and com\u00adfort\u00adably nap\u00adping in a flower bed, and no doubt agrees, \u201cIt\u2019s a per\u00adfect day for a bear.\u201d But this also rais\u00ades a new ques\u00adtion: how should the kit\u00adten, pup\u00adpy, tit, and squir\u00adrel eval\u00adu\u00adate this day? Isn\u2019t this end\u00ading a bit unfair to the ani\u00admals?
\n
\n 
\n 
\nOut of curios\u00adi\u00adty, I checked read\u00ader feed\u00adback on Ama\u00adzon and Goodreads in the US. I found that the vast major\u00adi\u00adty of read\u00aders were delight\u00aded with the end\u00ading, enjoy\u00ading the author\u2019s sub\u00adtle touch of dark humor. They also thought it was a great exam\u00adple of help\u00ading chil\u00addren under\u00adstand how dif\u00adfer\u00adent per\u00adspec\u00adtives can lead to dif\u00adfer\u00adent atti\u00adtudes toward the same sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion. I agree. Fur\u00adther\u00admore, the big bear\u2019s appear\u00adance and the \u201csteal\u00ading\u201d of the ani\u00admals\u2019 per\u00adfec\u00adtion was a per\u00adfect\u00adly nat\u00adur\u00adal process, ide\u00adal\u00adly han\u00addled with a light\u00adheart\u00aded humor. But I think the author did\u00adn\u2019t stop there; he actu\u00adal\u00adly pro\u00advid\u00aded a per\u00adfect end\u00ading for the ani\u00admals as well. The final scene is an oval frame, itself a per\u00adfect shape. With\u00adin the frame, the ani\u00admals, though some\u00adwhat ner\u00advous\u00adly star\u00ading at the intrud\u00ading bear, are actu\u00adal\u00adly hud\u00addled togeth\u00ader with their good friend Bert. While the bear\u2019s sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion is cer\u00adtain\u00adly per\u00adfect, aren\u2019t theirs as well? Enjoy\u00ading life with friends is per\u00adfect, and hid\u00ading in a shel\u00adter with friends and feel\u00ading a lit\u00adtle anx\u00adious is also a kind of per\u00adfec\u00adtion, isn\u2019t it?
\n
\n\"\u8ba9\u65e5\u5b50\u53d8\u5f97\u66f4\u5b8c\u7f8e\u7684\u79d8\u8bc0\u2014\u2014\u300a\u5b8c\u7f8e\u7684\u4e00\u5929\u300b\u8bd1\u540e\u611f\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 
\n 
\nGoing back to the begin\u00adning of the sto\u00adry, atten\u00adtive read\u00aders will find that it is indeed the flower beds, pad\u00addling pools, bird feed\u00aders and corn cobs that make the kit\u00adten, pup\u00adpy, tit and squir\u00adrel feel per\u00adfect, but was\u00adn\u2019t it their good friend Bert who pre\u00adpared all these for them? So, what real\u00adly makes life more per\u00adfect is the car\u00ading com\u00adpan\u00adions.
\n
\n 
\n 
\nRyan Smith\u2019s work is indeed becom\u00ading increas\u00ading\u00adly sophis\u00adti\u00adcat\u00aded, but when read\u00ading his pic\u00adture books, it\u2019s easy to over\u00adlook a small detail\u2014one that requires care\u00adful atten\u00adtion. Almost all of his pic\u00adture books, includ\u00ading \u201cA Per\u00adfect Day,\u201d are designed by a sin\u00adgle per\u00adson: Mol\u00adly Rich. Mol\u00adly designed \u201cThe Stinky Cheese Boy,\u201d pub\u00adlished in 1992, her first book for him. It\u2019s hard to imag\u00adine that with\u00adout her bold use of such wild\u00adly bizarre and incred\u00adi\u00adbly play\u00adful design tech\u00adniques, the book would have won the Calde\u00adcott Medal the fol\u00adlow\u00ading year. Ryan is deeply grate\u00adful to Mol\u00adly, and in inter\u00adviews he often express\u00ades his dis\u00adap\u00adproval of her, say\u00ading that most read\u00aders, unaware of book design, tend to attribute the visu\u00adal suc\u00adcess of a book sole\u00adly to the illus\u00adtra\u00adtor. Ryan says that with\u00adout Mol\u00adly\u2019s designs, his books would\u00adn\u2019t have achieved such suc\u00adcess.
\n
\n 
\n 
\nToday, Ryan and Mol\u00adly col\u00adlab\u00ado\u00adrate almost dai\u00adly. These two qui\u00adet artists exchange numer\u00adous emails, shar\u00ading ideas and works, but they work in the same stu\u00addio, only 10 steps away from each oth\u00ader. They both find this col\u00adlab\u00ado\u00adra\u00adtion per\u00adfect.
\n
\n\"\u8ba9\u65e5\u5b50\u53d8\u5f97\u66f4\u5b8c\u7f8e\u7684\u79d8\u8bc0\u2014\u2014\u300a\u5b8c\u7f8e\u7684\u4e00\u5929\u300b\u8bd1\u540e\u611f\"<\/a>
\nBy the way, they have been mar\u00adried for many years. You see, the world is per\u00adfect like this!<\/p>\n

\nAjia \u2026
\nWrit\u00adten on Sep\u00adtem\u00adber 16, 2017<\/p>\n

\"\u8ba9\u65e5\u5b50\u53d8\u5f97\u66f4\u5b8c\u7f8e\u7684\u79d8\u8bc0\u2014\u2014\u300a\u5b8c\u7f8e\u7684\u4e00\u5929\u300b\u8bd1\u540e\u611f\"<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u83b1\u6069\u00b7\u53f2\u5bc6\u65af\u662f\u5f53\u4eca\u4e16\u754c\u8d8a\u6765\u8d8a\u7099\u624b\u53ef\u70ed\u7684\u56fe\u753b\u4e66\u5927\u5bb6\uff0c\u4ed6\u51fa\u9053\u5df2\u6709\u4e09\u5341\u5e74\uff0c\u62ff\u8fc7\u8bb8\u591a\u5927\u5956\uff0c\u6700\u5f15\u4eba\u6ce8\u76ee\u7684\u662f\u4e24\u6b21\u7f8e […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3620,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[5,6,26,24],"class_list":["post-3627","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-timemachine","tag-5","tag-6","tag-26","tag-24"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/001Cukigzy7h7oUsd9h53.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3627","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3627\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ajia.site\/blog\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}