新蕾出的中文版为啥不用人家这个原版的封面尼？！
Hugh Lofting (1886 - 1947)
图片占位：http://img.tfd.com/authors/lofting.jpg
Hugh Lofting was born in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, on January 14, 1886 to John Brien Lofting and Elizabeth Agnes Gannon. Lofting attended Mount St. Mary's, a Jesuit boarding school in Chesterfield, Derbyshire until 1904, then went to MIT in the United States, where he was trained as a civil engineer.
While serving in the Irish Guard during World War 1, Lofting began writing letters home to his children that included the character of a country doctor who loved animals. The characters name was Dr. Dolittle. After being wounded, Lofting left the Guard and moved to New York City in the hopes of becoming a writer. He completed his first book, The Voyage of Dr. Dolittle, in 1922. The book was a success and earned him the "Best Children's Book of the Year Award" by The Newberry Committee (an award usually reserved for American authors). Several books followed, including Dr. Dolittle in the Moon (1928), Dr. Dolittle Returns (1933), and Dr. Dolittle and the Secret Lake (1948, published posthumously). Lofting also illustrated all of the books.
"... you will discover that the Doctor is not merely a peg on whom to hang exciting and various adventures but that he is himself a man of original and lively character. He is a very kindly, generous man, and anyone who has ever written stories will know that it is much more difficult to make kindly, generous characters interesting than unkindly and mean ones. But Dolittle is interesting. It is not only that he is quaint but that he is wise and knows what he is about. The reader, however young, who meets him gets very soon a sense that if he were in trouble, not necessarily medical, he would go to Dolittle and ask his advice about it. Dolittle seems to extend his hand from the page and grasp that of his reader, and I can see him going down the centuries a kind of Pied Piper with thousands of children at his heels. But not only is he a darling and alive and credible but his creator has also managed to invest everybody else in the book with the same kind of life." (from the introduction to Dr. Dolittle)
Lofting died in 1947.
中文简介：http://yn99.363.net/mz64.htm
英文版本在线阅读：
1、The Story of Doctor Dolittle
2、The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle
故事的开始（木马译）
1917年，法国某地。一名爱尔兰上尉坐到桌前，给他的两个孩子――伊莉沙白、科林――写了封信。
“从前线写信给小孩子，听起来很无聊，”多年后他回想，“战争的消息要么恐怖要么愚蠢，还得重重审查。”
“可是，有一件事，我越来越关注，”他说，“动物在世界大战中所扮演的角色耐人寻味……它们有机会和我们一起上前线。但它们的命运却和我们天差地别。”
“一个重伤的战士，不会被轻易剥夺生命，人们会想方设法，运用先进的外科术来抢救他。可是，重伤的马往往会被一颗及时的子弹送上天堂。”
“听起来非常不公平。如果我们让动物同样享有人类所有的机会，那为什么我们不能同样关心受伤者？不过很明显，给马做手术，必须得懂得马在‘说’什么。”
“这就是故事的开始：一位古怪的乡村医生，爱好自然史、热爱动物，他最终决定放弃给人看病，而转向服务动物，这更困难、更合他的心意，对他来说也更有意思……”
“医生的故事就成了我给孩子们写信的新情节。他们非常喜欢这些故事，我妻子建议把信编成书，让其他的孩子也能看到。”
这些珍贵的信，全是关于一个“能和动物交谈”的医生，1919年秋天，他和自己那一大家子，还有洛夫廷船长到非洲去的故事。一年以后，这些故事编成《杜利特医生故事集》出版，立刻在大西洋两岸大获成功。续集《杜利特医生航海纪》赢得1923年纽伯瑞奖，此后又连续出版了11部历险记。
图片占位：http://www.ffbooks.co.ukleadbbsfile/n5/n25405.jpg