追索漢字的演變，創意生動的學習，《漢字有意思》第2集，重磅上市！

　　認識各體漢字，發掘文字起源，欣賞書法之美，探尋趣味典故，學習中英語文，增添生活樂趣，立即學以致用！
　　Learn Hanzi etymology, appreciate calligraphy in its various forms, discover the origin of Chinese characters and the stories behind them, and find their use in daily life!

　　★書中有畫，畫中有字
　　每一個漢字，都有一幅劉墉手繪美麗的畫，手寫該字的「剪影」、「甲骨文」、「金文」、「小篆」到「楷書」，揭示漢字的誕生和演變過程，再加上深入淺出的生動中英文解說，孩子輕輕鬆鬆很快就能學會這個字。

　　★一個字一次捉迷藏，每個字都是尋寶
　　愈能用在生活中的學習方法，學起來就更簡單容易！

　　每一個漢字，都有一張取材自日常生活的照片當例子，讓孩子試著從照片找一找，找到這個字，會特別興奮，也會記得特別牢。以後上街看到招牌或餐館的菜單，隨時隨地都能學認字。

　　★圖像教法好記憶，增強聯想跟創意
　　當一個人用圖像記憶法學漢字，文字就不再生硬死板，非但可以幫助認字，而且能夠增加聯想，甚至由此加強創意。

　　★本書為「中英文對照」
　　本書英文由劉墉女兒劉倚帆從小邊學邊譯，經劉軒校正，盡力保持簡單易讀，適合孩子學習同步學習中英文。

　　劉墉：「過去幾十年，我總用圖像教漢字的方法做實驗。早年在美國大學教書，發現能讓洋孩子立刻愛上中文。後來生了女兒，用這套方法教ABC娃娃，居然也事半功倍，使她而今能在北京作中英文翻譯。而現在劉軒的孩子到了認字的年齡，也是用這一套方法學習漢字。
 
 

作者簡介

劉墉　Yung Liu

　　聞名兩岸的畫家、作家、教育家。出版文學藝術作品一百餘種，被譯為英、韓、泰、越等國文字，在世界各地個展三十餘次。

　　One of the most influential and popular writers of the Chinese speaking world, and also a renowned painter and educator, Mr. Liu has written over one hundred books of essays, prose, short fiction, inspiration literature and art analysis, and his books have been translated to English, Korean, Thai and many other international editions. As a painter, Mr. Liu has held more than thirty solo exhibitions throughout the world, and his artworks are regularly featured in Sotheby’s, Christie’s and other major auction houses.

劉軒　Xuan Liu

　　音樂家、作家、演說家及主持人，美國哈佛大學心理學碩士及博士研究，出版中、英、韓文作品十餘種。

　　Musician, writer, speaker, radio show host. Holds BA from Harvard University and M.Ed from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. He is also a classically trained pianist and one of the most in-demand DJs in Taiwan. As a writer, he has written eleven books and translated several other works.

劉倚帆　Yvonne Liu

　　美國哥倫比亞大學畢業，賓州大學華頓商學院研究生。曾任美國華納兄弟娛樂公司中國區經理，出版英文翻譯作品兩種。

　　Graduate of Columbia University and current MBA candidate at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Former Manager of China for Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. She as previously translated two books from Chinese to English.

 

【序】一個字、一張畫 、一個故事           劉墉
Preface：A character, a picture, a story／Yung Liu

這本書的使用方法  How to use this book
漢字有意思！ Hanzi Alive！
漢字是怎麼演進的  The evolution of Hanzi Characters
 

序                                                                 　　　　　

一個字、一張畫 、一個故事
A character, a picture, a story

劉墉　Yung Liu

　　多半的人小時候學寫漢字，都覺得挺辛苦。
　　Most people who learned to write Chinese characters when they were young, remember it as a difficult task.

　　可不是嗎？拼音文字只要會說，大概就能八九不離十地拼出來。漢字卻一筆一劃左撇右捺，簡直像畫畫。不過順著這條路想，如果小孩學漢字的時候，都能用遊戲的心情去畫，不是很有意思嗎？
　　And difficult it certainly was! Alphabetic writing systems can be learned in a logical way; if you can pronounce it, you can probably write it. But Chinese characters are drawn one by one, stroke by stroke, like miniature paintings. Though it seems laborious, if we follow this line of thought and let children treat Chinese as a drawing game, wouldn’t it make the whole task of learning much more fun?

　　譬如先畫個框框，裡面再畫個個小女孩，是形容女娃娃的「囡」；框框裡面畫個人，那人則成為關在裡面的囚犯。
　　For example, first draw a box frame, then draw a little girl inside. That is the character 「囡」, which means “a little girl”. But if inside the frame you draw an adult person「人」, the character 「囚」means “a prisoner.”

　　兩扇門當中畫個太陽，是中間的「間」；換成一個人影，是一閃而過的「閃」。
　　The sun 「日」in the middle of double doors 「門」makes 「間」which means “between.” If you change that sun to a person, it makes 「閃」, meaning “a flash.” You can imagine a person appearing in the doorway in a flash.

　　月亮還沒下去，太陽已經從草坡上露臉，是黎明的「朝」；太陽不但落進草地裡，還落了又落，落下兩個太陽，是「暮」。
　　The moon has not disappeared, but the sun has already risen from beyond the grassy slope: that is the character “朝” which means “dawn.” When the sun not only falls into the grass, but continues to fall, appearing as two suns in a double image, it becomes “暮”, meaning “dusk.”

　　把「口」裡的東西吐到「土」上，是「吐」；從「天」上掉東西到「口」裡，是「吞」。
　　From the "mouth"「口」onto “earth"「土」makes「吐」meaning “to spit”; from "the sky"「天」into “mouth” makes「吞」, which means “swallow".

　　也有些字很抽象，譬如：上面寫個「中」，下面畫隻手，正好抓住上面「中」的那一豎，是必須公正執中、不偏不倚的「史」；上面寫個中，下面畫個心，是把良心放在最中央的「忠」。
　　Some characters are also abstractly expressive. For example, if you write “middle”「中」on top with a hand on the bottom grasping the vertical stroke of the 中, it makes 「史」which means “history.” A hand writing something that is “balanced and impartial,” that seems to suggest the ideal of historical writing. If you write「中」and put a heart under it, that yields the character 「忠」which means “loyalty.” You can think of it as “loyalty is where you put your heart at the center.”

　　往複雜一點看：草莽的「莽」，筆劃雖然多，其實很簡單：上面是草，下面也是草，中間一隻狗在跑，不是很荒野、很草莽嗎？
　　Let’s look at a more complex character, such as 「莽」. Although the character has many strokes, it is actually very simple when you think about it as a picture: there grass is above, there is grass below, and a dog「犬」is running between the grass. Is it not a very “wild,” “grassy” image?

　　還有跳蚤的「蚤」，好像挺複雜，其實只要畫一隻手，在手指間畫兩個像是跳蚤的小點子，下面再加個「虫」字，就成了。     至於流水的「流」，只要在左邊畫三點水，右邊畫個長頭髮，頭朝下的「子」，好像一個人在水裡游泳就對了！
　　There is also the character for flea 「蚤」, which seems quite complicated at first glance. In fact, just draw a hand and two small dots like fleas between the fingers, then add the radical for insect 「虫」below, and there you have it! As for the character "flow" 「流」, draw three splashes of water on the left side, three strokes resembling long hair on the right side, and a "child" 「子」with his head down, as if swimming in the water.

　　以上都是這本書裡介紹的漢字，它們經過我挑選，讓小朋友和初學漢字的外國人，能夠很快進入漢字的王國。這個入門非常重要，一個人如果從起初就用圖畫的方式學習漢字，可以影響他一生。因為死記硬背學的漢字是死的，從圖象入手學的漢字是活的。好比你新認識一個人，起初只知道他的名字，但是如果有一天，那人邀請你去他家，你知道了他的家庭背景，甚至人生遭遇。下一次再見到他，他雖然還是那個樣子、還叫那個名字，但在你心裡感覺卻變得「親切」了。
　　These are the Chinese characters introduced in this book. They have been selected by me so that children and foreigners who are learning Chinese can quickly enter the land of imagery and imagination. This entry is very important. If a person learns characters this way from the start, it can influence the rest of the learning process. Chinese characters that are rote memorized are dull, but Chinese characters learned from imagery come alive. It’s like getting to know a new friend. At first you only know his name, but if one day, the person invites you to his home, and you learn about his family and his life story, next time when you see him again, even though he still looks the same and you call him the same name, he will feel "friendly" to your heart.

　　這本書是我和兒女合作的。兒子早年到美國才小學一年級，女兒則是美國出生，為了讓他們不忘本，我堅持教他們中文。兒子因為已經在國內學過一年，還好教些，女兒就難了，因為她生長在美語環境，為了讓她不排斥學漢字，我不得不設計一套「從圖畫到剪影到文字，外加生活照片」的方式。而且為了讓她知道漢字是怎麼演變成今天的樣子，我會把甲骨、大篆、小篆、隸書、行書和楷書都寫給她看。又為了確定她懂了，我在用中文解說之後，總要她翻譯成英文，並且鼓勵她說：將來可以出書。
　　This book is a collaboration with my children. My son Xuan lived in the United States since his early years, and my Yvonne daughter was born there. In order to educate them on their roots and culture, I insisted on teaching them Chinese myself. My son had his early education in Taiwan, so he already had the fundamentals, but my daughter was a different story. In the American environment, for her to accept learning Chinese characters, I had to design a system that taught her the characters as a set of pictures, from drawings to sketches to text, with the addition of photos from real life. And in order to let her know how Chinese characters have evolved into what they are today, I wrote out the oracle bone, big and small seal, clerical, semi-cursive and cursive versions of the scripts, all the way to the present-day regular script. And to make sure she truly understood, I always asked her to translate my explanations into English. I even encouraged her efforts by saying “one day, we can publish this as a book!”

　　二十多年後的今天，我的諾言終於實現了。因為女兒翻譯的時候年紀小，英文比較幼嫩，我還請劉軒作最後的校正，藉機會讓兒子又學了一次。太太則擔任中文校對和跟出版社的聯繫工作，真可以說是全家聯手的產品。
　　Today, more than twenty years later, my promise has finally come true. Because Yvonne was younger when she did the original English translation, I also asked Xuan to make the final edits. He said it was a good opportunity to refresh the material. My wife Weiwei did the proofreading and corresponded with the publishing house. It was a true family effort.

　　這本書的編輯工作，主要是我今年暑假在臺北完成，為了找到能夠配合的照片，我常常不得不頂著烈日出去拍攝。正在澳洲度假的兒子和在紐約工作的女兒，也被我隔海催稿，我們並決議把在台首版版稅全部捐作公益，以謝謝讀者幾十年來對我們的愛護！
　　The editorial work of this book was mainly done in Taipei this summer. In order to shoot suitable photos for the characters, I often had to venture out with my camera in the hot noon sun. My son who was on vacation in Australia, and my daughter who is working full time in New York, have also been “drafted” by me on short notice to complete this manuscript. Finally, we have decided as a family to donate all the royalties from the first Taiwan edition for social benefit, as gratitude for the many years of love and support we have received from readers like you. Thank you all!
 
劉墉 二零一八年七月
Yung Liu, July 2018