童年與詩Childhood and Poetry
巴勃羅·聶魯達/ Pablo Neruda
巴勃羅·聶魯達(1904—1973)，20世紀最偉大的拉丁美洲詩人，智利外交官。1945年獲智利國家文學獎。1950年獲得國際和平獎。1953年獲國際列寧和平獎。1971年獲諾貝爾文學獎。第一部詩集《霞光》和成名作《二十首情詩和一支絕望的歌》帶有濃厚的浪漫主義色彩。聶魯達最重要的詩作是1950年完成的《詩歌總集》，此後陸續發表詩集《要素之歌》《葡萄和風》《一百首愛情十四行詩》等。
在拉丁美洲文學史上，聶魯達是現代主義思潮興盛之後崛起的詩人，他的作品具有高度的思想性和藝術力量，對拉丁美洲詩歌產生了深刻影響。
Practicing for Better Learning
Think about the questions before you read this article.
1. Who had made an impact on your life?
2. How vivid are your memories from your childhood?
One time, investigating in the backyard of our house in Temuco the tiny objects and minuscule beings of my world, I came upon a hole in one of the boards of the fence. I looked through the hole and saw a landscape like that behind our house, uncared for, and wild. I moved back a few steps, because I sensed vaguely that something was about to happen. All of a sudden a hand appeared—a tiny hand of a boy about my own age. By the time I came close again, the hand was gone, and in its place there was a marvelous white sheep.
The sheep’s wool was faded. Its wheels had escaped. All of this only made it more authentic. I had never seen such a wonderful sheep. I looked back through the hole but the boy had disappeared. I went into the house and brought out a treasure of my own: a pinecone, opened, full of odor and resin, which I adored. I set it down in the same spot and went off with the sheep.
I never saw either the hand or the boy again. And I have never again seen a sheep like that either. The toy I lost finally in a fire. But even now, in 1954, almost fifty years old, whenever I pass a toy shop, I look furtively into the window, but it’s no use. They don’t make sheep like that anymore.