美国语文第五册 第12期:农场少年(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. 你认为农场少年能做什么？依我看，没有少年的农场真的会非常糟糕。

　　What the boy does is the life of the farm. 他们在农场生活里须臾不可少，

　　He is the factotum¹, always in demand, always expected to do the thousand indispensable things that nobody else will do. 他们是农场的闲杂总管，男女老少大呼小叫的左膀右臂。在农场里，千头万绪的事零星琐碎，最为困难的事棘手庞杂，

　　Upon him fall all the odds² and ends, the most difficult things. 无一例外都落到他们肩上，其他人委实无法帮忙。

　　After everybody else is through, he has to finish up. 别人忙完了活儿，农场少年得去扫尾，

　　His work is like a woman's,—perpetually waiting on others. 有点像一直忙着为别人做嫁衣的嫁娘，总得听从他人使唤。

　　Everybody knows how much easier it is to eat a good dinner than it is to wash the dishes afterwards. 毋庸置疑，外出赴宴享受美味大餐永远比餐后洗碗刷碟轻松太多太多。

　　Consider what a boy on a farm is required to do,—things that must be done, or life would actually stop. 只要想象一下农场少年的活儿，那些需要做的，可又不得不做的，否则，生活将无法继续下去。

　　It is understood, in the first place, that he is to do all the errands, to go to the store, to the post office, and to carry all sorts of messages. 首先，众所周知，农场少年得去做完所有跑腿的活计，他要跑商店、上邮局、送消息、传信件，

　　If he had as many legs as a centiped, they would tire before night. 即使他拥有蜈蚣一样的几十条腿，晚上上床躺倒前亦会累个半死。

　　His two short limbs seem to him entirely³ inadequate⁴ to the task. 每天指望两条细腿跑路干活，看来远远不够，

　　He would like to have as many legs as a wheel has spokes⁵, and rotate about in the same way. 他们恨不得长有自行车轮毂上众多辐条般的腿，恐怕还要连轴转个不停。

　　This he sometimes tries to do; 有时，农场少年兴冲冲地到处奔跑，

　　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; 旁人看来，他们骑车忙着到处乱窜，或许还有人认为，他们纯粹是玩酷一族或借此消磨时光。

　　he was only trying to invent a new mode of locomotion⁶, so that he could economize⁷ his legs, and do his errands with greater dispatch. 其实，他们不过想创造某种新型的运动方式，以便节省腿力，完成更多支派或差遣。

1 factotum   

n.杂役；听差

参考例句：

• We need a factotum to take care of the workshop.我们需要一个杂役来负责车间的事情。
• I was employed as housekeeper,nanny,and general factotum.我是管家、保姆和总勤杂工。

2 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

3 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

4 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

5 spokes   

n.（车轮的）辐条( spoke的名词复数 )；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动

参考例句：

• Her baby caught his fingers in the spokes of the pram wheel. 她宝宝的手指被婴儿车轮的辐条卡住了。 来自辞典例句
• The new edges are called the spokes of the wheel. 新的边称为轮的辐。 来自辞典例句

6 locomotion   

n.运动，移动

参考例句：

• By land,air or sea,birds are masters of locomotion.无论是通过陆地，飞越空中还是穿过海洋，鸟应算是运动能手了。
• Food sources also elicit oriented locomotion and recognition behavior patterns in most insects.食物源也引诱大多数昆虫定向迁移和识别行为。

7 economize   

v.节约，节省

参考例句：

• We're going to have to economize from now on. 从现在开始，我们不得不节约开支。
• We have to economize on water during the dry season. 我们在旱季不得不节约用水。