Zi 字媒體

Illustrator and children』s book author Dick Bruna, the creator of the popular image Miffy, died at the age of 89 on Feb 16. On Twitter, many people posted the weeping white bunny in memory of this beloved Dutch man. 2月16日，插畫家、童書作者迪克·布魯納逝世，享年89歲。他是廣受歡迎的米菲兔形象的創作者。在推特上，很多人發表了哭泣的米菲兔來紀念這位深受愛戴的荷蘭人。Miffy, in Dutch, was originally called Nijntje (little rabbit), which Bruna created in 1955 by shortening the Dutch word for rabbit, Konijntje.米菲兔起先在荷蘭語版本中叫Nijntje（小兔子的意思）。1955年，布魯納把荷蘭語中的兔子Konijntje簡化創造了Nijntje這個詞。English translator Olive Jones gave the little rabbit the name Miffy in the 1960s.直到上個世紀60年代英國的譯者Olive Jones翻譯的時候給小白兔取名米菲兔。Over six decades, Bruna wrote and illustrated more than 100 books about Miffy, which are considered globally to be suitable for kids aged between eight months and two years old. 六十年間，布魯納創作並繪製了100多本米菲兔書，他的書在世界範圍內廣泛被認為適於8個月和2歲之間的兒童閱讀。So far, the Miffy stories have been translated into more than 50 languages, with more than 85 million copies of Miffy books having been sold in 85 countries so far. 迄今為止，米菲兔的故事已經被翻譯成50多種語言，在85個國家售出8500萬冊以上。Miffy is very popular in Japan. The Japan Times even has a section on its web page especially devoted to her. Besides this, a café in Tokyo serves food dedicated to her name. 米菲兔在日本很受歡迎。《日本時報》的網頁上還有一個專門留給米菲兔的板塊。東京有一家咖啡店賣的食物用米菲兔命名。Bruna disliked Hello Kitty, a Japanese kitten image with two black-dot eyes and no mouth that was launched in 1974. He thought it was a copy of Miffy.但是布魯納不喜歡Hello Kitty。1974年，Hello Kitty在日本發布，它眼睛是兩個黑點，沒有嘴巴。布魯納覺得那是翻版米菲兔。In an interview with Telegraph, he said:布魯納在接受《電訊報》採訪的時候說： 「I don』t like that at all. Try to make something that you think of yourself. After all… there』re so many nice things.」「我一點也不喜歡（Hello Kitty）。畫點自己的東西吧。畢竟，有那麼多好東西。」In 2004, Miffy was appointed the official 「family tourist ambassador to New York City」.2004年，米菲兔被指定為紐約旅遊官方大使。Miffy was first introduced to China in 2002 by Children』s Fun Publishing Co., which later published the second Chinese edition of the books in 2009. More than three million copies of the second Chinese edition have been sold so far. 的童趣公司於2002年引入米菲兔圖書，后又在2009年出版了第二個版本。迄今，第二版本已經售出300多萬冊了。In 2015, to celebrate Miffy』s 60th birthday, train carriages in Guangzhou were decorated with her image. 2015年，為了慶祝米菲的60歲生日，廣州捷運裝飾了米菲兔形象。Many European countries like Germany also have websites dedicated to Miffy. 德國等歐洲國家也都有專門的米菲兔網站。Bruna was born in August 1928 in Utrecht of the Netherlands. His father owned the country』s largest publishing company, A W Bruna and Zoon.布魯納於1928年8月出生於荷蘭烏特勒支市，父親是荷蘭最大的出版公司A W Bruna and Zoon的老闆。Against his father』s will, Bruna wanted to become an artist, rather than inherit the family business. 布魯納並沒有如他父親所願繼承家族產業，而想成為一名藝術家。He lived in Paris for a while and studied at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Amsterdam but unable to paint or master perspective, he became frustrated and did not finish. 他在巴黎住過一段時間，並在阿姆斯特丹的國家美術學院學習，但是由於學不會透視法無法繪畫，很抑鬱，沒有完成學業。When he got married, in order to earn a steady income, he worked as a designer at his father』s publishing company, designing posters, book covers and promotional materials for detective novels. 結婚以後，為了有穩定的收入，他去父親的出版公司當美編，為偵探小說畫海報、書封以及其他的宣傳資料。But besides work, Bruna painted side products. In 1953, he published his first book for children The Apple, which tells the story of life from an apple』s perspective. 除了工作，布魯納做一點副業。1953年，他出版了第一本童書《蘋果》，從蘋果的角度講述生命的故事。In 1955, when Bruna was spending vacation with his one-year-old son at the beach, they encountered a playful white rabbit. The rabbit inspired Bruna and every night he told his son a story about the rabbit. Later he drew the story and created the first Miffy book.1955年，布魯納帶著一歲的兒子在海邊度假，他們偶遇一隻活蹦亂跳的小白兔。小白兔給了布魯納靈感，每天晚上他都會給兒子講一個小白兔的故事。後來他把故事畫出來，成了第一本米菲書。Bruna himself was not sure whether Miffy was a boy or a girl until 1970 when he worked on the sixth book, Miffy』s Birthday. He put her in a dress because he liked to draw dresses more than trousers.布魯納自己也不知道米菲是男孩還是女孩，直到1970年，他畫第六本書《米菲的生日》的時候，給她穿上了裙子，因為他更想畫裙子，不太喜歡畫褲子。Miffy was always a cheerful little white rabbit enjoying moments of happiness while taking small adventures: a trip with her family to the zoo, visiting a museum or playing in snow.米菲兔總是一隻歡樂的小白兔，日常有一些小冒險，有些幸福的時刻：跟家人一起去動物園，參觀美術館，或是在雪裡玩耍。Bruna』s painting style was influenced by the bold lines and two-dimensionality of Henri Matisee and Fernand Leger. He loved using primary colors and clear lines, trying to eliminate unnecessary elements in his drawing, and reduce the little rabbit to the absolute minimum. 布魯納的繪畫風格受到野獸派創始人亨利·馬蒂斯和喜歡簡化的法國畫家費爾南德·萊熱的影響。他喜歡使用原色和清晰的線條，試圖去除不必要的元素，將小兔子極簡化。For example, in order to draw a crying Miffy, Bruna gave her three teardrops at first, but later reduced it to only one, but added another drop to express heartbreak.例如，起先畫哭泣的米菲的時候，布魯納畫了三滴淚，但是後來減少到一滴，而後為了表現心碎的傷心，又加了一滴淚。Bruna once said: 「I spend a long time making my drawings as simple as possible, throwing lots away, before I reach that moment of recognition… I leave plenty of space for children』s imagination.」布魯納曾說過，「我花很長時間將我的畫儘可能簡化，在達到理想時刻之前去除很多累贅……這樣留給兒童很多想象的空間。」Besides books, there are many other Miffy products such as stationery and videos.除了書之外，米菲兔還有很多周邊產品，比如文具，錄像和其他。Bruna became very rich, but he maintained a simple life until he had a stroke at 84 - worked six days a week, woke up at six every morning, then rode a bike to his studio before eight and ate lunch with his wife every day. It is said that every person in Utrecht knew him. 布魯納非常富有，但他一直過著簡單的生活，直到84歲中風：一周工作六天，每天六點醒來，騎腳踏車八點前到達工作室，每天都與妻子吃午餐。據說烏特勒支市的所有人都認識他。「In the Netherlands, everyone has always liked Dick Bruna as a person as well,」 Agnes Vogt, a children』s book specialist at the Dutch Foundation for Literature, told New York Times. 「He was such a modest and kind man who lived a very simple life, although he was very rich.」 「在荷蘭，大家都喜歡迪克·布魯納這個人，」荷蘭文學基金會童書專家艾格尼絲·沃格特在接受《紐約時報》採訪的時候說。「他是個非常謙遜善良的人，儘管很富有，但是生活很簡單。」Miffy was introduced to China in 2002. At that time, compared with other children's books, Miffy books looked smaller, thinner and more expensive. As a result, Miffy was not widely accepted by Chinese parents until 2009.2002年，米菲兔被引入，但是在那個時候，跟其他童書比，米菲兔的書看起來又小又薄又貴。因此直到2009年，米菲兔才被的父母廣泛接受。At the suggestion of A Jia, a children's book specialist, Children's Fun Publishing Co. re-translated the books. A Jia, one of the translators, spent eight months translating the first ten books, trying to make it understandable for children between eight months and two years old. 在童書專家阿甲的建議下，童趣公司重新翻譯了這本書。阿甲是翻譯之一。他花八個月才翻完第一輯的十本書。翻譯的過程中，他一直試圖翻出能讓八個月到兩歲之間的孩子聽得懂的譯文。童書專家阿甲"Bruna first spent an average of one month finishing painting 12 pictures for one book, and then wrote the story in strict poetic style," says 46-year-old A Jia. 「布魯納首先花1個月的時間把12幅畫畫出來，然後再用嚴格的詩歌體把故事寫出來，」 46歲的阿甲說。Bruna said that when he was working on the books, he imagined there was a child sitting across from him. 布魯納說在他創作的時候，他想象有個小孩坐在他對面。"It's really not an easy job to create a text that is easy to be understood by small babies. It's even harder to imagine how Bruna can continue on for decades," he says.「要想創作一個文本讓嬰幼兒容易理解是一件挺難的事。更難得的是，布魯納數十年來一直在做這樣的工作，」他說。"I fell in love with Miffy at first sight in 2002. It's so simple but so expressive with so few lines," he says.「2002年的時候我一看到米菲兔就喜歡上了。她的線條如此簡單，但是內涵卻如此豐富，」 他說。