选一些国外的评论，提供给豆友参考。
Customer Reviews
A CONTROVERSIAL Classic to promote family discussion
There are two extreme（极端） ways to interpret（说明） this book, as shown by the multiple（多样性） ratings（评级） of 1 and 5.
The first: This is a beautiful and sad story of unconditional love between a tree and a boy, in which the tree is generous and gives of itself （自然而然地） to help the boy whenever he is in trouble. The metaphor（暗喻） in this case is that of a mother and a child, or God and a human.
The second: This is a story of a very selfish（自私的） boy and a tree who loves him. Whenever he is in trouble, he returns to the tree who gives him another part of her self without ever setting limits, even though（即使） it makes her sad (and physically damages her) to do so（这样做）. In this case, you can compare the story to a metaphor （暗喻）（把这个故事做为一个比喻）of an abusive（滥用的）, codependent relationship（相互依赖的关系）.
I can understand both views of this story, but the fact that the second interpretation（解释） is just as valid（有效的） as the first makes me hesitate(疑惑) to recommend this book. Personally（就我而言）, I would NOT buy this book as a gift, or for my own children. If I had this book, I would wait to read it to my children until they reach the recommended 10 years old (or at least 8), and then I would discuss the book and its concepts (selfishness, limit setting/saying NO) with them. "What did you think of this book?" "Do you think that the tree/the boy did the right thing?" "What would you have done differently if you were the tree/the boy?" "If you were the tree, would you have said 'NO' to the boy at any point?"
A story that may be complementary（补充） to this one and more appropriate for （适合）younger audiences（年轻读者） is "Ladies First", also by Shel Silverstein (found in "A Light in the Attic" or "Free to Be, You and Me"), which is about a girl who always gets to be first to do everything, but in the end that is not to her advantage（优势）. At least in that book the message is clear that selfishness is not OK.
If you prefer to avoid this type of discussion, you might be better off sticking to one of the MANY childrens' books that are much less controversial and intended only for entertainment.
（长颈鹿 注：这个读者提出了一个尖锐的问题：父母的给予是无限制的么？父母面对孩子的“索取”（主要是物质方面的）时，在什么时候/前提下应该说“不”？孩子不应该滥用和利用“父母的无私奉献”。另外读者建议让孩子在8~10岁阅读这本书，并让孩子思考这些问题：你觉得这本书怎样？你觉得这棵树做的对麽？你觉得这个孩子做的对么？如果你是这棵树，你会怎么做？如果你是这个孩子，你会怎么做？如果你是这棵树，在任何时候，你都会对这孩子说不么？）
A children's book which never loses its power
The Giving Tree is a beautiful book about a tree who loves a little boy. In the beginning, the love the two share is enough to make them both happy. As the boy grows older, his needs change and the tree gives him everything in order to help him achieve happiness.
When the boy is gone and the tree is left with nothing, she is happy, but not really. Eventually最后 the boy returns and the tree has nothing left to give, but the boy has changed and no longer wants anything from the tree other than the companionship （友谊）they once shared, and both are happy once again.
I fell in love with this book the first time it was read to me, and my feelings have never changed. As I child I knew it was a sad book, but I didn't know why. Now that I am an adult, I can understand the cost of unconditional love and I know why the tree was sad. The fact that this book inspires （激起）so much debate is a testament to the power of Shel Silverstein's writing. There is a lesson in this book and a powerful message. For me, the key point is that in the end, the love the tree had for the boy was vindicated（维护） by his return- older, wiser（明智）, and more appreciative（感激）. My mother bought me this book when I was young because she thought it had a poignant（深刻的） lesson to teach. My mother tells me that the tree is every mother, and that the sadness felt by the tree is the sadness every mother feels when her child grows up and grows apart. She says every mother's hope is that her child will return someday, wanting nothing more than to sit together in silence and to be happy. Anyone who has ever loved someone enough to let them go will understand the painful choice highlighted in The Giving Tree.
I love this book and I give it to special people in my life to celebrate our friendship. I higly recommend this book to adult and child alike.
（长颈鹿注：这位读者是在小时候，他母亲给他介绍这本书，他很喜欢，认为这个一个关于爱的美丽而忧伤的故事。我被她母亲的话所打动： She says every mother's hope is that her child will return someday, wanting nothing more than to sit together in silence and to be happy.）
What can be read into it
Few books are as simple to read and open to interpretation as this children's classic by one of the greats of 20th century children's literature.
The story is simple, a boy takes different things from a tree his entire life, the tree gives without question, and at the end, both are together crippled with only each other for company.
Out of such a simple story can be drawn many lessons that are appropriate not just for children, but for human beings of all ages. First, total self-sacrifice（自我牺牲） only leads to happiness as long as those you give to are happy. If the last condition does not hold（如果最后一个条件不成立）, then the giver can never truly（真正地） be happy.
Second, always taking will never make you happy, for you will always find something more that you need or want to have.
Third, and probably most controversial（最有争议的）, this book provides a fitting commentary to the behavior of mankind towards nature. Written in the 1960s at the ascendancy（崛起） of the modern environmental movement （现代环保运动）in the USA, the story is a perfect corollary（假设） of how man takes from nature for various uses his entire life, without ever thinking of the long term consequences for both him and nature. The tree of course represents nature, as few objects are such a symbol象征 of nature within the American psyche.
Overall, a great book for people of all ages. It is one of those few books that provides morals （道德）and lessons for all readers, and each time you reread it, you learn something different.
（长颈鹿注：这个读者提出了一个新颖的观点，她从环保的角度提出这本书也隐喻了人类和大自然的关系，人类无止尽的从大自然那里索取，就像书中的小男孩无止尽地从苹果树那索取一样）
没有唯一的答案和评定，这大概是很多优秀作品所具有的魅力之一吧，有争议，在某方面可能就是这个作品充满生命力，经久不衰的原因。这样的书值得推荐给我们的孩子。
多说一句：宝宝现在21个月，我打算晚点再读给她听，大概3岁左右吧。
A CONTROVERSIAL Classic to promote family discussion
There are two extreme（极端） ways to interpret（说明） this book, as shown by the multiple（多样性） ratings（评级） of 1 and 5.
The first: This is a beautiful and sad story of unconditional love between a tree and a boy, in which the tree is generous and gives of itself （自然而然地） to help the boy whenever he is in trouble. The metaphor（暗喻） in this case is that of a mother and a child, or God and a human.
The second: This is a story of a very selfish（自私的） boy and a tree who loves him. Whenever he is in trouble, he returns to the tree who gives him another part of her self without ever setting limits, even though（即使） it makes her sad (and physically damages her) to do so（这样做）. In this case, you can compare the story to a metaphor （暗喻）（把这个故事做为一个比喻）of an abusive（滥用的）, codependent relationship（相互依赖的关系）.
I can understand both views of this story, but the fact that the second interpretation（解释） is just as valid（有效的） as the first makes me hesitate(疑惑) to recommend this book. Personally（就我而言）, I would NOT buy this book as a gift, or for my own children. If I had this book, I would wait to read it to my children until they reach the recommended 10 years old (or at least 8), and then I would discuss the book and its concepts (selfishness, limit setting/saying NO) with them. "What did you think of this book?" "Do you think that the tree/the boy did the right thing?" "What would you have done differently if you were the tree/the boy?" "If you were the tree, would you have said 'NO' to the boy at any point?"
A story that may be complementary（补充） to this one and more appropriate for （适合）younger audiences（年轻读者） is "Ladies First", also by Shel Silverstein (found in "A Light in the Attic" or "Free to Be, You and Me"), which is about a girl who always gets to be first to do everything, but in the end that is not to her advantage（优势）. At least in that book the message is clear that selfishness is not OK.
If you prefer to avoid this type of discussion, you might be better off sticking to one of the MANY childrens' books that are much less controversial and intended only for entertainment.
（长颈鹿 注：这个读者提出了一个尖锐的问题：父母的给予是无限制的么？父母面对孩子的“索取”（主要是物质方面的）时，在什么时候/前提下应该说“不”？孩子不应该滥用和利用“父母的无私奉献”。另外读者建议让孩子在8~10岁阅读这本书，并让孩子思考这些问题：你觉得这本书怎样？你觉得这棵树做的对麽？你觉得这个孩子做的对么？如果你是这棵树，你会怎么做？如果你是这个孩子，你会怎么做？如果你是这棵树，在任何时候，你都会对这孩子说不么？）
A children's book which never loses its power
The Giving Tree is a beautiful book about a tree who loves a little boy. In the beginning, the love the two share is enough to make them both happy. As the boy grows older, his needs change and the tree gives him everything in order to help him achieve happiness.
When the boy is gone and the tree is left with nothing, she is happy, but not really. Eventually最后 the boy returns and the tree has nothing left to give, but the boy has changed and no longer wants anything from the tree other than the companionship （友谊）they once shared, and both are happy once again.
I fell in love with this book the first time it was read to me, and my feelings have never changed. As I child I knew it was a sad book, but I didn't know why. Now that I am an adult, I can understand the cost of unconditional love and I know why the tree was sad. The fact that this book inspires （激起）so much debate is a testament to the power of Shel Silverstein's writing. There is a lesson in this book and a powerful message. For me, the key point is that in the end, the love the tree had for the boy was vindicated（维护） by his return- older, wiser（明智）, and more appreciative（感激）. My mother bought me this book when I was young because she thought it had a poignant（深刻的） lesson to teach. My mother tells me that the tree is every mother, and that the sadness felt by the tree is the sadness every mother feels when her child grows up and grows apart. She says every mother's hope is that her child will return someday, wanting nothing more than to sit together in silence and to be happy. Anyone who has ever loved someone enough to let them go will understand the painful choice highlighted in The Giving Tree.
I love this book and I give it to special people in my life to celebrate our friendship. I higly recommend this book to adult and child alike.
（长颈鹿注：这位读者是在小时候，他母亲给他介绍这本书，他很喜欢，认为这个一个关于爱的美丽而忧伤的故事。我被她母亲的话所打动： She says every mother's hope is that her child will return someday, wanting nothing more than to sit together in silence and to be happy.）
What can be read into it
Few books are as simple to read and open to interpretation as this children's classic by one of the greats of 20th century children's literature.
The story is simple, a boy takes different things from a tree his entire life, the tree gives without question, and at the end, both are together crippled with only each other for company.
Out of such a simple story can be drawn many lessons that are appropriate not just for children, but for human beings of all ages. First, total self-sacrifice（自我牺牲） only leads to happiness as long as those you give to are happy. If the last condition does not hold（如果最后一个条件不成立）, then the giver can never truly（真正地） be happy.
Second, always taking will never make you happy, for you will always find something more that you need or want to have.
Third, and probably most controversial（最有争议的）, this book provides a fitting commentary to the behavior of mankind towards nature. Written in the 1960s at the ascendancy（崛起） of the modern environmental movement （现代环保运动）in the USA, the story is a perfect corollary（假设） of how man takes from nature for various uses his entire life, without ever thinking of the long term consequences for both him and nature. The tree of course represents nature, as few objects are such a symbol象征 of nature within the American psyche.
Overall, a great book for people of all ages. It is one of those few books that provides morals （道德）and lessons for all readers, and each time you reread it, you learn something different.
（长颈鹿注：这个读者提出了一个新颖的观点，她从环保的角度提出这本书也隐喻了人类和大自然的关系，人类无止尽的从大自然那里索取，就像书中的小男孩无止尽地从苹果树那索取一样）
没有唯一的答案和评定，这大概是很多优秀作品所具有的魅力之一吧，有争议，在某方面可能就是这个作品充满生命力，经久不衰的原因。这样的书值得推荐给我们的孩子。
多说一句：宝宝现在21个月，我打算晚点再读给她听，大概3岁左右吧。
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