Who are your heroes? Most of us choose them young. First, by about age 12, we pick heroes from sports, music and fiction. These choices matter. “Most people are influenced far more than they would care to admit by novels, serial stories, films and so forth,” wrote George Orwell. Especially influential, he thought, were the books “that are read earliest in life. It is probable that many people who would consider themselves extremely sophisticated . . . are actually carrying through life an imaginative background which they acquired in childhood from (for instance) Sapper and Ian Hay” — or Harry Potter, or Superman.
谁是你的英雄？我们大多数人在年少时就选定了他们。大约在12岁时，我们会从体育、音乐和小说中挑选自己的英雄。这些选择意义重大。乔治•奥威尔(George Orwell)曾写道：“大多数人受到小说、连载故事、电影等的影响，远比他们愿意承认的要大得多。”他认为，尤其具有影响力的是“人生最早阅读的书籍。很可能许多自认为极为老练的人，实际上终其一生都带着他们童年时从（比如）萨珀和伊恩•海(Ian Hay)那里获得的想象背景”——或者哈利•波特(Harry Potter)，或者超人。