为你读书：《做你自己》Do Something for Yourself

 

原文（节选）欣赏

 

As a little boy, there was nothing I liked better than Sunday aftemoons at my grandfather's farm in western Pennsylvania. Surrounded by miles of winding stonewalls, the house and barn provided endless hours of fun for a city kid like me. I was used to parlors neat as a pin that seemed to whisper, "Not to be touched!"

我小时候最喜欢在爷爷的农场里度过每个星期天的下午。爷爷的农场在宾夕法尼亚州西部。农场四周都围上了绵延弯曲几英里的石墙。房子和谷仓给我这个城市男孩带来了无穷的快乐时光。我习惯了城里整洁的客厅，似乎在低声说：“不要摸!”。

 

I can still remember one afternoon when I was eight years old. Since my first visit to the farm, I'd wanted more than anything to be allowed to climb the stonewalls surrounding the property（财产，拥有物）. My parents would never approve. The walls were old; some stones were missing, others looseandcrumbling. Still, my yearning toscramble across those walls grew so strong. One spring afternoon, I summoned all my courage and entered the living room, where the adults had gathered after dinner.

我仍能记得我8岁那年一天下午的情景。因为我第一次去农场，所以我想上那农场四周的那些石墙胜过任何一切。可我的父母是绝不会同意的。这些墙有好些年头了，有的石头不见了，有的石头松动倒塌了。然而，我渴望攀爬这些墙的欲望非常强烈。一个春天的下午，我鼓足勇气，走进客厅，大人们午饭后都聚在这里。

 

"I, uh, I want to climb the stonewalls," I said hesitantly. Everyone looked up. "Can I climb the stonewalls?" Instantly a chorus went up from the women in the room. "Heavens, no!" they cried in dismay. "You'll hurt yourself!" I wasn't too disappointed; the response was just as I'd expected. But before I could leave the room, I was stopped by my grandfather' s booming voice. "Hold on just a minute," I heard him say, "Let the boy climb the stonewalls. He has to learn to do things for himself."

“我，呃，我想爬那石墙，”我犹豫地说道。大家都抬起头。“我能去爬那些石墙吗?”瞬间屋里的女人们马上齐声叫了起来。“天哪，不能!”她们惊慌地叫首，“你会伤着自己的!”我并没有太失望，我早就预料会是这样的回答。但还没等我离开客厅，爷爷低沉的声音拦住了我。“等一会儿，”我听到他说“让孩子爬那些石墙吧。他必须学会自己做一些事。”

 

"Scoot," he said to me with a wink, "and come and see me when you get back." For the next two and a half hours I climbed those old walls and had the time of my life（我生命中的时光）. Later I met with my grandfather to tell him about my adventure. I'll never forget what he said. "Fred," he said, grinning, "you made this day a special day just by being yourself. Always remember, there's only one person in this whole world like you, and I like you exactly as you are."

“快走吧，”他对我眨眨眼说。“你回来后找我。”接下来的两个半小时，我爬上了这些古老的石墙，别提有多高兴了。后来，我把自己冒险经历告诉了爷爷。我永远也不会忘记他说过的话。“弗雷德，”他咧着嘴笑道。“你做了一回自己，你让这个日子因此而变得不同凡响。永远记住，整个世界只有一个你，而且我喜欢真实的你。”