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Oceanic innocence
再见了，海绵宝宝之父
Stephen Hillenburg, the US animator whose childhood summers on a Maine island later inspired him to create the famous cartoon SpongeBob SquarePants, passed away on Nov 26 at the age of 57.
11月26日，美国动画师史蒂芬·海伦伯格逝世，享年57岁。他童年时的夏天曾在缅因州的一座海岛上度过，后来这段经历启发他创作出著名动画片《海绵宝宝》。
Hillenburg was interested in the ocean as a child and developed a love for art. He studied Natural Resource Planning and Interpretation at college, with an emphasis on marine resources. "It dawned on me that if I was going to do a show on animals, I'd do a show about undersea animals – all the ones that I'm interested in and know a lot about," Hillenburg told Entertainment Weekly in 2010. "I focused on the sponge because it's one of the more peculiar creatures."
海伦伯格孩提时便对海洋产生兴趣，并且萌生了对艺术的热爱。他在大学中学习自然资源规划与阐释的相关课程，并重点关注海洋资源。“我意识到，如果要做动物节目的话，我会制作一档关于海底动物的节目 —— 那都是我感兴趣且十分熟悉的动物，”海伦伯格2010年在接受《娱乐周刊》采访时表示。“我关注海绵动物，是因为它们是一种更为不寻常的生物。”
But although he wasn't sure whether people would like a cartoon about the ocean, he stuck with it. "We just try to make ourselves laugh, then ask if it's appropriate for children," Hillenburg told The Associated Press in 2001. "The essence of the show is that SpongeBob is an innocent in a world of worldly characters."
尽管他并不确定人们是否会喜欢一部关于海洋的动画片，但他还是坚持做了下来。“我们只是试图逗笑自己，并且考虑是否适合孩子们观看，”海伦伯格2001年在接受美联社采访时如此表示。“这档节目的精髓就在于，在一众世俗的角色当中，海绵宝宝是一个纯真的人。”
What Hillenburg probably didn't expect was that the adventures of this "innocent" character in his underwater hometown would be such a success. There have been nearly 250 episodes to date. It has won several Emmy Awards, and has been shown in more than 60 languages.
海伦伯格没有想到的是，这个“纯真”的角色在其水下故乡的历险大获成功。到目前为止，节目已经播出了近250集，数次获得艾美奖，并且被翻译成60多种语言。
SpongeBob was popular because he appealed not only to children but to older viewers as well, including college students, who held viewing parties for the show. Children liked SpongeBob's innocence, teenagers and young adults loved the show's humor, while the more mature enjoyed it as part of meme culture.
海绵宝宝大受欢迎的原因在于他不光吸引孩子们，年纪大些的观众也很爱看，大学生们还会举办《海绵宝宝》的观影派对。孩子们喜欢海绵宝宝的纯真，青少年和年轻人喜欢节目的幽默，而更成熟的成年人则喜欢其中的表情包文化。
But it was above all the character's innocence that attracted people.
但节目最吸引人的一点仍是角色的纯真。
The show's most important message, Hillenburg once said, "is that innocence prevails – which I don't think it always does in real life".
海伦伯格曾表示，节目所传递的最重要的信息便是“纯真战胜一切 —— 但在现实生活中却常常并非如此。”
