­　　When I recently met with Shirley Temple Black, the great child star of the 1930s and 40s，we said nothing to each other at first. We simply cried together, for she could share a pain with me that only others like my close friends Elizabeth Taylor and McCauley Culkin knew. I do not tell you this to gain your sympathy but to impress upon you my first important point—it is not just Hollywood child stars that have suffered from a nonexistent childhood.

­　　前些时候，我有幸遇到了三四十年代的一位童星秀兰邓波儿，一见面我们什么都不说，只是一起哭，因为她能分担我的痛苦，这种痛苦只有我的一些密友,伊 丽莎白泰勒和麦考利库尔金他们才知道。我说这些并不是要博得大家的同情， 只是想让大家牢记一点这种失去童年的痛苦不仅仅属于好莱坞的童星。现在，这已经成为全世界的灾难。童年成了当代生活的牺牲品。我们使很多 孩子失去欢乐，失去自由，失去相应的权利，而且还认为一个孩子就该是这样的。

­　　Today, it’s a universal calamity, a global catastrophe. Childhood has become the great casualty of modern-day living. All around us we are producing scores of kids who have not had the joy, who have not been accorded the right, who have not been allowed the freedom, or knowing what it’s like to be a kid. Today children are constantly encouraged to grow up faster, as if this period known as childhood is a burdensome stage, to be endured and ushered through, as swiftly as possible. And on that subject, I am certainly one of the world’s greatest experts. Ours is a generation that has witnessed the abrogation of the parent-child covenant.

­　　现在，孩子们经常被鼓励长大得快一些，好像这个叫做童年的时期是一个累赘的阶段，大人们很不耐烦地想着法儿让它尽可能地快些结束。在这个问题上，我无疑是世界上最专业的人士之一了。我正是见证亲子盟约废除的一代人。

­　　Psychologists are publishing libraries of books detailing the destructive effects of denying one’s children the unconditional love that is so necessary to the healthy development of their minds and character. And because of all the neglect， too many of our kids have, essentially, to raise themselves. They are growing more distant from their parents, grandparents and other family members, as all around us the indestructible bond that once glued together the generations, unravels. This violation has bred a new generation, Generation O let us call it, that has now picked up the torch from Generation X. The O stands for a generation that has everything on the outside-wealth, success, fancy clothing and fancy cars, but an aching emptiness on the inside. That cavity in our chests, that barrenness at our core, that void in our center is the place where the heart once beat and which love once occupied. And it，s not just the kids who are suffering. It，s the parents as well. For the more we cultivate little adults in kids，bodies, the more removed we ourselves become from our own childlike qualities，and there is so much about being a child that is worth retaining in adult life.

­　　心理学家在书中详述了因为不给予孩子绝对的爱而导致毁灭性的影响，由此说明这种无条件的爱对他们精神和人格的健康发展是极其必要的。很多孩子因为被忽视就自己照顾自己。他们渐渐疏远自己的父母亲、祖父母以及其他的家庭成员，我们身边那种曾经团结过一代人的不灭的凝集力就这样散开了。这种违背常理的行为造就了一代新人一~我们称之为“0时代”，他们继承着“X时代”人的使命——拥 有所有外在的东西，例如财富、成功、时装和跑车，但他们的内心却是痛苦和空虚 的。心胸空洞，灵魂荒芜，而那些空白的地方曾经搏动着我们的心脏，曾经被爱占 据。其实，这不仅是孩子的痛苦，也是父母的煎熬。我们越是让孩子们早熟，我们 就越来越远离了天真，而这种天真就算孩子成为成年人后也值得拥有。