LESSON 5 A BOY ON A FARM 農(nóng)場(chǎng)少年

Charles Dudley Warner (b.1829, d.1900) was born at Plainfi eld, Mass.In 1851 he graduated at Hamilton College, and in 1856 was admitted to the bar at Philadelphia, but moved to Chicago to practice his profession.There he remained until 1860, when he became connected with the press at Hartford, Conn., and has ever since devoted himself to literature.“My Summer in a Garden,”“Saunterings,” and “Backlog Studies” are his best known works.The following extract is from“Being a Boy.”

1.Say what you will about the general usefulness of boys, it is my impression that a farm without a boy would very soon come to grief.What the boy does is the life of the farm.He is the factotum^[1], always in demand, always expected to do the thousand indispensable^[2] things that nobody else will do.Upon him fall all the odds and ends, the most diffi cult things.

2.After everybody else is through, he has to finish up.His work is like a woman’s,—perpetually^[3] waiting on others.Everybody knows how much easier it is to eat a good dinner than it is to wash the dishes afterwards.Consider what a boy on a farm is required to do,—things that must be done, or life would actually stop.

3.It is understood, in the fi rst place, that he is to do all the errands, to go to the store, to the post offi ce, and to carry all sorts of messages.If he had as many legs as a centiped^[4], they would tire before night.His two short limbs seem to him entirely inadequate to the task.He would like to have as many legs as a wheel has spokes, and rotate about in the same way.

4.This he sometimes tries to do; and the people who have seen him “turning cart wheels” along the side of the road, have supposed that he was amusing himself and idling his time; he was only trying to invent a new mode of locomotion, so that he could economize^[5] his legs, and do his errands with greater dispatch^[6].

5.He practices standing on his head, in order to accustom himself to any position.Leapfrog is one of his methods of getting over the ground quickly.He would willingly go an errand any distance if he could leapfrog it with a few other boys.

6.He has a natural genius for combining pleasure with business.This is the reason why, when he is sent to the spring for a pitcher of water, he is absent so long; for he stops to poke the frog that sits on the stone, or, if there is a penstock^[7], to put his hand over the spout, and squirt the water a little while.

7.He is the one who spreads the grass when the men have cut it; he mows it away in the barn; he rides the horse, to cultivate the corn, up and down the hot, weary rows; he picks up the potatoes when they are dug; he drives the cows night and morning; he brings wood and water, and splits kindling; he gets up the horse, and puts out the horse; whether he is in the house or out of it, there is always something for him to do.

8.Just before the school in winter he shovels paths; in summer he turns the grindstone.He knows where there are lots of wintergreens and sweet fl ags, but instead of going for them, he is to stay indoors and pare apples, and stone raisins, and pound something in a mortar.And yet, with his mind full of schemes of what he would like to do, and his hands full of occupations, he is an idle boy, who has nothing to busy himself with but school and chores^[8]!

9.He would gladly do all the work if somebody else would do the chores, he thinks; and yet I doubt if any boy ever amounted to anything in the world, or was of much use as a man, who did not enjoy the advantages of a liberal education in the way of chores.

【中文閱讀】

查爾斯·達(dá)德利·華納（1829—1900）出生于美國(guó)馬薩諸塞州麥斯·普蘭菲爾德市。1851年，他從漢密爾頓學(xué)院畢業(yè)，并于1856年在費(fèi)城取得律師執(zhí)照，他后來(lái)搬到芝加哥從事律師見(jiàn)習(xí)。1860年，他離開(kāi)芝加哥，與康涅狄格州哈特福德市的出版社聯(lián)系密切，從此投身于文學(xué)創(chuàng)作。他最著名的作品有《花園中的夏天》、《閑庭漫步》和《對(duì)滯壓工作的研究》，下面這篇文章節(jié)選自他的《少年當(dāng)自強(qiáng)》。

1.如果你讓我談?wù)勔粋€(gè)少年能做什么，我覺(jué)得，一個(gè)沒(méi)有少年的農(nóng)場(chǎng)大概很快就會(huì)前景黯淡。一個(gè)少年所做的事情，在農(nóng)場(chǎng)生活里須臾不可缺少。他是農(nóng)場(chǎng)的雜事總管，每個(gè)人都需要他，指望他做許多別人不愿意做，又必不可少的事情，各種各樣最困難的零雜瑣事都落在他的肩上。

2.當(dāng)別人都忙完了以后，農(nóng)場(chǎng)少年得去掃尾。他的工作有點(diǎn)像女人們的活兒——總是要伺候別人。毋庸置疑，外出赴宴享受美味大餐永遠(yuǎn)比餐后洗刷碗碟輕松太多太多。想想一個(gè)農(nóng)場(chǎng)少年平時(shí)要干的活兒——這些事情必須得有人做，要不然，生活可就過(guò)不下去了。

3.首先，眾所周知，農(nóng)場(chǎng)少年得負(fù)責(zé)所有跑腿的差事，譬如去商店、上郵局、給大家傳遞各種各樣的口信。哪怕他的腿像蜈蚣那么多，晚上上床躺倒前也還是會(huì)累個(gè)半死。他還那么小，指望兩條小短腿干活兒真是遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠。他恨不得再多長(zhǎng)幾條腿，像自行車輪上的輻條那么多，恐怕也還要連軸轉(zhuǎn)個(gè)不停。

4.他有時(shí)會(huì)試著這么做，有些人曾見(jiàn)農(nóng)場(chǎng)少年在路邊“轉(zhuǎn)著輪子”，以為他不過(guò)是閑著沒(méi)事干，自?shī)首詷?lè)。實(shí)際上，他只不過(guò)是想發(fā)明一種新的運(yùn)動(dòng)方式，以便節(jié)省腿力，完成更多指派或差遣。

5.他還經(jīng)常練習(xí)倒立，來(lái)訓(xùn)練自己習(xí)慣各種姿勢(shì)。蛙跳行進(jìn)堪稱快捷走完路程的美妙方法之一，要是能與幾個(gè)狐朋狗友互動(dòng)互樂(lè)更好，這樣的話，他會(huì)心甘情愿四下跑腿，路再遠(yuǎn)也毫不在乎。

6.忙中作樂(lè)，是農(nóng)場(chǎng)少年與生俱來(lái)的天賦。所以，如果有人讓他去泉水邊汲水，很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間他都不會(huì)回來(lái)。他會(huì)在路邊停留片刻，捅捅趴在石頭上的青蛙；要是路邊有個(gè)水渠，他就會(huì)把手捂在噴口上一會(huì)兒，把水弄得飛濺。

7.大人們割下田里的草，農(nóng)場(chǎng)少年需要把草鋪開(kāi)曬干，他還要把谷倉(cāng)里的干草堆成垛。他要騎馬，種玉米，在熱浪熏天的一排排玉米田里勞作；大人們把土豆挖出來(lái)，他跟著收土豆；清晨，他趕著牛群外出放牧，黃昏，他牽著牛群打道回府；他還要揀柴、打水、生火、喂馬、遛馬……屋里屋外，他每天總有做不完的事情。

8.冬天，去上學(xué)前，農(nóng)場(chǎng)少年總要先鏟除路上的積雪；夏天，他便找出磨刀石來(lái)把砍柴刀好好磨磨。他知道哪里的鹿蹄草最多，哪里的白菖蒲最甜。但是，他可沒(méi)空出門(mén)采摘，他得待在家里削蘋(píng)果，把葡萄晾在石頭上曬干，或是在研缽里臼些什么東西。但是，即使他總是要不停地忙著各種雜活，他腦子里卻總會(huì)想著各種各樣他想做的事情。除了學(xué)校和這些無(wú)窮無(wú)盡的家務(wù)以外，他仍是個(gè)自由的男孩！

9.農(nóng)場(chǎng)少年覺(jué)得，如果有人愿意攬下這些閑雜瑣事，他會(huì)很樂(lè)意去做那些正經(jīng)活計(jì)。可是，我懷疑，如果一個(gè)男孩不愿意做這些雜活，沒(méi)法從這些瑣事中享受到自由成長(zhǎng)的樂(lè)趣，他以后是否能在世上找到可干的事兒，能否像個(gè)男人一樣承擔(dān)自己的責(zé)任。

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【注釋】

[1] Factotum, a person employed to do all kinds of work.

[2] Indispensable, absolutely necessary.

[3] Perpetually, continually.

[4] Centiped, an insect with a great number of feet.

[5] Economize, to save.

[6] Dispatch, diligence, haste.

[7] Penstock, a wooden tube for conducting water.

[8] Chores, the light work of the household either within or without doors.