讀點好英文:The Boys' Ambition 孩子們的志愿

The Boys' Ambition 孩子們的志愿

Mark Twain

When I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades in our village on the west bank of the Mississippi River. That was, to be a steamboat man. We had transient ambitions of other sorts, but they were only transient. When a circus came and went, it left us all burning to become clowns; the first Negro minstrel show that came to our section left us all suffering to try that kind of life; now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates. These ambitions faded out, each in its turn; but the ambition to be a steamboat man always remained.

Once a day a cheap, gaudy packet arrived upward from St. Louis, and another downward from Keokuk. Before these events, the day was glorious with expectancy; after them, the day was a dead and empty thing. Not only the boys, but the whole village, felt this. After all these years I can picture that old time to myself now, just as it was then.

My father was a justice of the peace, and I supposed he possessed the power of life and death over all men and could hang anybody that offended him. This was distinction enough for me as a general thing; but the desire to be a steamboat man kept intruding, nevertheless. I first wanted to be a cabin-boy, so that I could come out with a white apron on and shake a tablecloth over the side, where all my old comrades could see me; later I thought I would rather be the deckhand who stood on the end of the stage—plank with the coil of rope in lust hand, because he was particularly conspicuous. But these were only daydreams—they were too heavenly to be contemplated as real possibilities.

By and by one of our boys went away. He was not heard of for a long time. At last he turned up as apprentice engineer or "striker" on a steamboat. This thing shook the bottom out of all my Sunday-school teachings. That boy had been notoriously worldly, and I just the reverse; yet he was exalted to this eminence, and I left in obscurity and misery.

There was nothing generous about this fellow in his greatness. He would always manage to have a rusty bolt to scrub while his boat tarried at our town, and he would sit on the inside guard and scrub it, where we could all see him and envy him and loathe him. And whenever his boat was laid up he would come home and swell around the town in his blackest and greasiest clothes, so that nobody could help remembering that he was a steamboat man; and he used all sorts of steamboat technicalities in his talk, as if he were so used to them that he forgot common people could not understand them. Two or three of the boys had long been persons of consideration among us because they had been to St. Louis once and had a vague general knowledge of its wonders, but the day of their glory was over now. They lapsed into a humble silence, and learned to disappear when the ruthless "cub" -engineer approached. This fellow had money, too, and hair oil. If ever a youth was cordially admired and hated by his comrades, this one was. No gift could withstand his charms. He "cut out" every boy in the village.

When his boat blew up at last, it diffused a tranquil contentment among us such as we had not known for months. But when he came home the next week, alive, renowned, and appeared in church all battered up and bandaged, a shining hero, stared at and wondered over by everybody, it seemed to us that the partiality of Providence for an undeserving reptile had reached a point where it was open to criticism.

孩子們的志愿

［美］馬克·吐溫

在密西西比河西岸的小鎮(zhèn)上，我還是個小孩子的時候，家鄉(xiāng)的伙伴們都有一個恒久的志向，這個志向就是當一名輪船上的水手。我們也有過其他的愿望，但它們都不過是一時的想法。馬戲團在村子里表演過后，我們都積極踴躍地希望扮演小丑；第一次到附近看過黑人吟唱團的表演后，我們都急不可待地想要體驗一下那種生活。我們還有一個愿望：如果我們本分地過日子，上帝就會允許我們成為海盜。沒過多久，這些愿望都接二連三地被遺忘了。但在我們的內心深處，當水手的志愿沒有改變。

?每天都有一艘廉價但外表艷麗的郵船從圣路易斯開過來，有另一艘從奇奧庫克向下游駛去。船只抵達之前，人們翹首以盼，日子也變得津津有味。船只離開以后，日子又變得毫無生氣、無聊至極了。不單單是孩子們，整個鎮(zhèn)子上的人們都是同樣的感覺。盡管這么多年過去了，可到今天，我還能在心中回想出當日的情景，仿佛回到了過去。

父親是鎮(zhèn)上的治安官，在我看來，他掌管著每個人的生殺大權，任何一個得罪他的人都會被絞死?？偟膩碚f，就這一點就足以讓我風光無限了。然而，當水手的念頭還是不時地在我的腦海中閃現(xiàn)。起初我想當個船上的小伙計，因為這樣我就可以系上白圍裙，站在船邊搖一搖桌布，以便讓我兒時的小伙伴們看見我。可是隨后，我想我寧愿成為一名水手，手中握著一卷繩子站在踏板邊緣，因為那樣才會吸引眾人的目光。不過這些想法僅僅是白日夢而已，這些簡直是天方夜譚，根本不可能會實現(xiàn)。

沒多久，我們這群伙伴中的一個男孩離開了小鎮(zhèn)。他銷聲匿跡了好長一段時間。最后，他終于以一種特殊的身份出現(xiàn)了——成了一艘輪船上的見習機械師或是“錘手”。我在主日學校所受的教誨也因為這件事而全部改變了。這個男孩曾是個臭名遠揚的壞蛋，而我剛好與他不同?？墒乾F(xiàn)在，他卻得意洋洋，而我卻一文不值，苦惱不堪。

這個小子發(fā)達之后，變得沒有一點氣量。一旦他的船停泊在我們小鎮(zhèn)上，他總是能設法找來一塊生銹的鐵栓擦，并且他一直刻意地坐在靠岸的這邊欄桿上擦，一定讓我們都看見他，讓我們對他又是羨慕又是嫉恨。如果一旦那艘船停得久一些，他就會回家看看。在鎮(zhèn)上的每個角落，都可以看到他穿著那套油膩、骯臟的外套到處招搖，恨不得告訴每個人他是一名輪船水手。他一開口，便全是術語，好像已經習以為常似的，卻忘記了普通人根本聽不懂。我們那些伙伴中有兩三個一直受到大家的羨慕，因為他們以前去過一次圣路易斯，對那兒的新鮮事略知一二，但是如今他們的光輝歲月已經結束了。他們很有自知之明，從此不再聲張；而且一旦那個冷酷無情的機械師“小崽子”來到身邊，他們趕緊溜走。這個家伙還有很多錢，頭上抹著亮亮的發(fā)油。假如有個年輕人既能讓他的伙伴羨慕不已，又能讓伙伴對他恨之入骨，那么這個人就非他莫屬。任何一個女孩都抵抗不了他的魅力，他是鎮(zhèn)上風頭“最勝”的男孩。

后來，傳來他那條船爆炸的消息。私下里，我們所有人都對他的災難感到很高興，而且好幾個月都沒有這么開心了。然而，出乎意料的是，一個星期以后，這個家伙居然又活生生地回來了，并且還因此成了名人。他滿身傷痕，綁著厚厚的繃帶來到教堂，他成了名聲顯赫的大英雄。所有人都注視著他，每個人都對他吃驚不已。在我們看來，老天是如此偏袒一個一文不值的卑鄙小人，這簡直令人無法忍受。

實戰(zhàn)提升

Practising & Exercise

導讀

馬克·吐溫（Mark Twain），美國的幽默大師、作家、演說家，19世紀后期美國現(xiàn)實主義文學的杰出代表。他的高超幽默、機智與名氣，堪稱是美國最知名的人士之一。他的作品集幽默和諷刺于一體，既富有獨特的個人機智與妙語，又不乏深刻的社會洞察與剖析。

本篇選自馬克·吐溫名作《密西西比河上的生活》，作者在該文中闡述了童年的夢想。每個孩子的童年都有著色彩斑斕的愿望，這些童真是值得永遠珍惜的。因為他們純真、他們勇敢，他們有不達目的誓不罷休的沖勁。

核心單詞

permanent [?p??m?n?nt] adj. 永久的，永恒的；

minstrel [?minstr?l] n. 詩人；歌唱家；音樂家

notoriously [n?u?t??ri?sli] adv. 惡名昭彰地，聲名狼藉地

tarry [?tɑ?ri] v. 耽擱，遲延

cordially [?k??dj?li] adv. 熱誠地，誠摯地，友善地

tranquil [?tr??kwil] adj. 平靜的；安靜的

reptile [?reptail] n. 可鄙的人，卑鄙屈節(jié)的小人

翻譯

When I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades in our village on the west bank of the Mississippi River.

This was distinction enough for me as a general thing; but the desire to be a steamboat man kept intruding, nevertheless.

There was nothing generous about this fellow in his greatness.