《Where The Wild Things Are》是比较早（1963年出版）的经典了，属于各种大奖（包括凯迪克金奖、国际安徒生奖等等）拿到手软的那种。虽然这么多年过去了，但是今天看它完全感觉不到有什么时间的隔阂，只会觉得不虚此名，果然是一部伟大的儿童狂想曲。
The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind
开篇平平常常，小主人公 Max 登场，穿着狼外套在家里胡闹。这里用了个 make mischief 来表达孩子“胡闹/恶作剧”的意思，可以学习一下。
his mother called him "Wild Thing!" and Max said "I"LL EAT YOU UP!" so he was sent to bed without eatinganything.
小屁孩胡闹之后，自然要被妈妈收拾了：不给吃晚饭，直接上床睡觉去！所以 Max 也是一副悻悻之色。这很真实啊，哪个孩子会毫无怨言地接受惩罚呢？^_^
注意此处有点题之语：Wild Thing——你这个小野兽！可能正是受了妈妈这一骂的刺激，引出了 Max 后面的“野兽国”之旅。
That very night in Max's room a forest grew
幻想世界开始？抑或是入梦？
and grew—
瞧瞧小 Max 捂嘴偷笑的得意劲儿！
and grew until his ceiling hung with vines and and the walls became the world all around
美景啊！画面细腻，光影逼真。我们跟着 Max 一起降临到了森林野境。
and an ocean tumbled by with a private boat for Max and he sailed off through night and day
海浪、帆船也出来了。帆船还是“Max 号”呢，怪不得 Max 一看就知道是“a private boat”，当仁不让地乘船出航喽！
And when he came to the place where the wild things are, they roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws
终于！来到了野兽国！哇，迎接他的是可怕的大怪兽耶！吼声、利牙、大眼、尖爪，无不可怕至极！
但是，为什么又好像大怪兽都有点萌萌哒的感觉？小冰研究了一下，应该是作者在保留上述可怕特征的同时，更突出了大头、短腿、圆身子的萌特征。
till Max said "BE STILL!" and tamed them with the magic trick of staring into all their yellow eyes without blinking once and they were frightened and called him the most wild things of all
哇！Max 威力乍现，一下子就镇住了所有野兽。
怎么办到？凭借“一眨不眨盯着看野兽们的黄眼睛”……哈哈，这个魔法很搞笑哦！这就成了“最野的野兽（the most wild things of all）”啦？
and made him king of all wild things.
甚至于竟奉他为王！
看到这，读者再不用为 Max 的安危担心了。同时也好笑的是，小小的 Max 在此大野兽国竟拥有如此巨大的统领权，这不是狂想是什么？
之后，他带领着大野兽们跳舞、玩单杠、游行……
可谓玩得尽兴，玩得痛快，应该是把平日在家里不得妈妈允许的胡天胡地都发泄了出来吧？
终于 ，
"Now stop!" said Max and sent the wild things off to bed without their supper. And Max the king of all wild things waslonely and wanted to be where someone loved him best of all.
Then all around from far away across the world, he smelled good things to eat, so he gave up being king of where the wild things are.
Max 小国王喊“停”了。胡闹够了，他开始想念温暖的爱了。
这时候他闻到了美食的香味，so he gave up being king of where the wildthings are——哈哈，这里接得好自然，好平常。但是细思却是太好笑：野兽国之王，这是多威风的名头，多大的权力？！却因为对一顿饭的想念就放弃？
但这正是孩童的心理。
权力是大人之最高欲望，却不是孩子的。
孩子最想要的，是爱，是温暖，是妈妈做的饭菜。
But the wild things cried, "Oh please don't go -- we'll eat you up -- we love you so!" And Max said, "No!"
The wild things roared their terrible roars andgnashed their terrible teeth and rolled their terrible eyes and showed their terrible claws but Max stepped into his private boat and waved goodbye
所以 Max 毅然决然地踏上了回家之路。
野兽们故技重施，张牙舞爪，但是当初吓不到初来乍到的 Max，此时自然更加吓不到一心回家的 Max。
and into the night of his very own room where he found his supper waiting for him and it was still hot.
在温暖的家里，桌上放着热腾腾的饭菜。
Max 笑了。
对于孩子，这是一个欢乐的狂想曲，满足他们上天入地的想象力，好好释放一下胡天胡地的冒险欲^_^
对于家长，这个故事则是一个很好的儿童心理教育读本。它让你静下来去体悟孩子的心理，在失笑之余理解了孩子的欲望和强烈的情感，并给予尽可能的尊重。给他们一个天地，而不是把他们禁锢在小小的牢笼之中，他们将发挥出你想象不到的能量，将成长到你预见不了的高度。
而闯过天地之后，他们最后总是要回家的。
冒险的大世界和温暖的小家，永远是孩子成长中的一体两面。缺了任何一面，另一面都变成了毒药。