散文佳作108篇 第57期:A Boy and His Father Become Partners 父子伙伴情

A Boy and His Father Become Partners

父子伙伴情

Ralph Moody

拉爾夫·穆迪

I like all kinds of chocolate. Best of all, though，I like bitter baking chocolate. Mother had boughta bar of it， and somehow I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

我喜歡各種各樣的巧克力，不過(guò)我最喜歡那種做糕點(diǎn)用的無(wú)糖巧克力。媽媽買了一塊這種巧克力，我不知怎么總在不停地打它的主意。

I was helping father on the winnower. It was right then I got the idea.I could whack a chunk offthe end of that bar of chocolate. Mother would be sure miss it， but before she had any ideawho had done it， I could confess I’d taken it. Probably I would not even get a spanking.

我在幫爸爸揚(yáng)谷，這時(shí)我突然有了個(gè)主意，我可以從那塊巧克力的一頭敲下一塊來(lái)。媽媽肯定會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)丟了巧克力，但在她意識(shí)到這件事是誰(shuí)干的之前，我可以先承認(rèn)是我偷吃的，也許連屁股也不會(huì)挨打。

I waited until mother was out feeding the chickens. Then I told father I thought I’d go in for adrink of water.I got the bar down?but I heard mother coming just when I had the knife ready towhack. So I slipped the chocolate into the front of my shirt and left quickly. Before I went backto help father, I went to the barn and hid the chocolate there.

我一直等到媽媽出去喂雞，然后我對(duì)爸爸說(shuō)我要回屋去喝口水。我拿到那塊巧克力，但正當(dāng)我準(zhǔn)備用刀切的時(shí)候，我聽(tīng)見(jiàn)媽媽進(jìn)屋的聲音，所以就悄悄把巧克力塞進(jìn)我襯衫的硬襯胸中，趕緊溜出房間。在我回去幫爸爸干活之前，我走進(jìn)谷倉(cāng)把巧克力藏在那里。

I told myself that I hadn’t really stolen the whole bar of chocolate， because I meant to takeonly a little piece.If I put back the whole bar，I wouldn’t have done anything wrong at all.

我對(duì)自己說(shuō)，我并不真的要偷整塊巧克力，我只想弄那么一小塊。如果我把整塊巧克力放回去的話，那我就根本沒(méi)干過(guò)什么錯(cuò)事了。

I nearly decided to put it all back. But just thinking so much about chocolate made my tonguealmost taste the smooth bitterness of it. I got thinking that if I slice about half an inch off theend with a sharp knife?mother might never notice it.

我?guī)缀跻呀?jīng)決定把它完整無(wú)損地放回去了。但是，我對(duì)巧克力的向往使我的舌頭似乎嘗到它那絕妙的味道。我一再想，假如我用快刀從它的一頭切下半英寸，媽媽或許不會(huì)注意到它的。

I was nearly out to where the cows were when I remembered what father had said once—someof the family money was mine because I had helped to earn it. Why wouldn’t it be all right tofigure the bar of chocolate had been bought with my own money?That seemed to fixeverything.

我快走進(jìn)牛群的時(shí)候，突然記起了爸爸曾經(jīng)有一次講過(guò)的話——家里的錢有我一份，因?yàn)槲乙褞椭依飹赍X了。為什么不可以說(shuō)這塊巧克力是用我自己的錢買來(lái)的呢?看來(lái)一切都說(shuō)得過(guò)去。

That night I couldn’t sleep. At last I got up，slipped out into the yard， and took the ax fromthe chopping block. Then I went into the barn and got the chocolate. I took it outside and laidit on the lower rail of the corral fence. The moon gave enough light for me to see what I wasdoing.

那天晚上，我怎么也睡不著。最后，我翻身下床，悄悄溜到院子里，從劈柴墩上抓起一把斧頭，然后我進(jìn)入谷倉(cāng)把巧克力拿了出來(lái)。我把它拿到外面，擱在牛廄籬笆的下面橫欄上。月亮的光亮足以使我看得清要干的事。

Just as I was starting cut，father said:“Son!”

就在我動(dòng)手要切巧克力時(shí)，爸爸叫道:“孩子!”

I couldn’t think of a thing to say. I grabbed up the bar of chocolate and hid it next to my chestbefore I turned around. Father picked me up by the shoulder straps of my overalls and tookme over to the woodpile. I didn’t know anybody could spank as hard as he did!

我不知道說(shuō)什么好，轉(zhuǎn)身之前我抓起這塊巧克力把它藏進(jìn)胸前的襯衫里。爸爸抓住我工裝服上的背帶，把我?guī)У讲穸涯抢?。我不曉得還有誰(shuí)打屁股像他打得那樣狠!

Then he stood me on my feet and asked if I thought I had deserved it. He said it wasn’t somuch that I’d taken the chocolate， but that I’d tried to hide it from him.

然后他叫我站直，問(wèn)我這是不是我應(yīng)得的懲罰。他說(shuō)我拿走巧克力不算什么，但不該瞞著他。

“Son，”he said，“I know you help to earn the family money. We might say the chocolate wasyours in the first place.You could have had it if you’d asked for it， but I won’t have you beingsneaky about things. Now，do you want to keep your money separate from mine-or are wepartners?”

“孩子，”他說(shuō)，“我清楚你幫家里掙了錢，可以說(shuō)巧克力本來(lái)就是你的。要是你坦率地要它，你本可以得到它的，但我不允許你做事偷偷摸摸的。現(xiàn)在你是想把你的錢和我的分開(kāi)呢，還是與我結(jié)成伙伴呢?”

I never knew till then how much I wanted my money to go in with Father’s. When I went tosleep my hand was still hurting-from where he squeezed it when we shook hands.

直到這時(shí)，我才知道我是多么想把我的錢和爸爸的合在一起。我去睡覺(jué)時(shí)，我的那只手——我們握手時(shí)父親曾用力握過(guò)的地方——還在痛呢。