LESSON 5 A BOY ON A FARM 农场少年
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.
【中文阅读】
查尔斯·达德利·华纳（1829—1900）出生于美国马萨诸塞州麦斯·普兰菲尔德市。1851年，他从汉密尔顿学院毕业，并于1856年在费城取得律师执照，他后来搬到芝加哥从事律师见习。1860年，他离开芝加哥，与康涅狄格州哈特福德市的出版社联系密切，从此投身于文学创作。他最著名的作品有《花园中的夏天》、《闲庭漫步》和《对滞压工作的研究》，下面这篇文章节选自他的《少年当自强》。
1.如果你让我谈谈一个少年能做什么，我觉得，一个没有少年的农场大概很快就会前景黯淡。一个少年所做的事情，在农场生活里须臾不可缺少。他是农场的杂事总管，每个人都需要他，指望他做许多别人不愿意做，又必不可少的事情，各种各样最困难的零杂琐事都落在他的肩上。
2.当别人都忙完了以后，农场少年得去扫尾。他的工作有点像女人们的活儿——总是要伺候别人。毋庸置疑，外出赴宴享受美味大餐永远比餐后洗刷碗碟轻松太多太多。想想一个农场少年平时要干的活儿——这些事情必须得有人做，要不然，生活可就过不下去了。
3.首先，众所周知，农场少年得负责所有跑腿的差事，譬如去商店、上邮局、给大家传递各种各样的口信。哪怕他的腿像蜈蚣那么多，晚上上床躺倒前也还是会累个半死。他还那么小，指望两条小短腿干活儿真是远远不够。他恨不得再多长几条腿，像自行车轮上的辐条那么多，恐怕也还要连轴转个不停。
4.他有时会试着这么做，有些人曾见农场少年在路边“转着轮子”，以为他不过是闲着没事干，自娱自乐。实际上，他只不过是想发明一种新的运动方式，以便节省腿力，完成更多指派或差遣。
5.他还经常练习倒立，来训练自己习惯各种姿势。蛙跳行进堪称快捷走完路程的美妙方法之一，要是能与几个狐朋狗友互动互乐更好，这样的话，他会心甘情愿四下跑腿，路再远也毫不在乎。
6.忙中作乐，是农场少年与生俱来的天赋。所以，如果有人让他去泉水边汲水，很长时间他都不会回来。他会在路边停留片刻，捅捅趴在石头上的青蛙；要是路边有个水渠，他就会把手捂在喷口上一会儿，把水弄得飞溅。
7.大人们割下田里的草，农场少年需要把草铺开晒干，他还要把谷仓里的干草堆成垛。他要骑马，种玉米，在热浪熏天的一排排玉米田里劳作；大人们把土豆挖出来，他跟着收土豆；清晨，他赶着牛群外出放牧，黄昏，他牵着牛群打道回府；他还要拣柴、打水、生火、喂马、遛马……屋里屋外，他每天总有做不完的事情。
8.冬天，去上学前，农场少年总要先铲除路上的积雪；夏天，他便找出磨刀石来把砍柴刀好好磨磨。他知道哪里的鹿蹄草最多，哪里的白菖蒲最甜。但是，他可没空出门采摘，他得待在家里削苹果，把葡萄晾在石头上晒干，或是在研钵里臼些什么东西。但是，即使他总是要不停地忙着各种杂活，他脑子里却总会想着各种各样他想做的事情。除了学校和这些无穷无尽的家务以外，他仍是个自由的男孩！
9.农场少年觉得，如果有人愿意揽下这些闲杂琐事，他会很乐意去做那些正经活计。可是，我怀疑，如果一个男孩不愿意做这些杂活，没法从这些琐事中享受到自由成长的乐趣，他以后是否能在世上找到可干的事儿，能否像个男人一样承担自己的责任。
【注释】
[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.