# Truth in Fiction

????Fiction stories are one of the most interesting <u>phenomena</u> that human beings have. Human beings are storytelling creatures. We tell stories. Stories are <u>vital</u>. Stories are important. We can go back later to why they're vital. We can go back later to how they're important. We can go back later to <u>how long</u> they have been around.

????**But** the important thing to understand is that storied are part of us.? And we convey truth with stories, which is <u>fundamentally</u> the most <u>gloriously giant contradiction</u> that you can ever imagine. What we're saying is we are using lies. We're using <u>memorable</u> lies. We are taking people who do not exist and things that did not happen to those people in places that aren't, and we are using those things to communicate true things to kids.

????<u>Now whether you're looking at--And to each other</u>. I mean, we're-- not just kids, but it begins with kids. You tell a child the story of "<u>Little Red Riding Hood</u>," and there are lots of takeaways from that story.

????**But** one of the takeaways that is taken is, you know, there are people out there who may not mean you well.

????There are people out there, who when they say, where are you going, what are you doing, you may not want to tell them. That might get your grandmother eaten. Might get you eaten. There are people it is best to avoid. Some people...some wolves are <u>hairy on the inside</u>, and some wolves are <u>hairy on the outside</u>, and perhaps, you're best keeping yourself safe.

????And it's a true thing. It's a good thing to learn. It may be not something that we are <u>automatically</u> told, so a story like that gives us that as information. You're telling a reader something that you hope will stay with them, something honest, something important, something vital.

????**But** you're using lies. "Little Red Riding Hood" never existed. Wolves don't eat grandmothers and then climb into beds <u>disguised</u> as grandmothers. And if they did, Little Red Riding Hood would walk in and go, that is a wolf. She would not be sitting there going, grandmother, what big eyes you have. All the better to see you with, my-- And wolves can't talk.

????**But** we understand that. We, as human beings, are really good at taking that information. That is the magic of stories. Because it's giving you something big and true and important that you might not <u>otherwise</u> get.

????And you can carry it in your heart, and you can tell it to your children and your children's children.

生詞：

phenomena: 現(xiàn)象

creatures: 生物

vital: 必不可少

fundamentally: 根本上(天底下)

giant: [?d?a??nt] 巨人

contradiction：[?kɑ?ntr??d?k?n] 矛盾

Little Red Riding Hood:小紅帽

automatically:自動地；機(jī)械地；無意識地

memorable: 耐人尋味的

takeaways: 感想

mean: 不善良；刻薄

hairy: 毛茸茸

disguised: 偽裝

otherwise: 另外；否則