Chapter 1

Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book,called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest.  It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal.  Here is a copy of the drawing.

In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it.  After that they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion."

I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle.  And after some work with a coloured pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing.  My Drawing Numbe One.  It looked like this:

I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.

But they answered: "Frighten?  Why should any one be frightened by a hat?"

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant.  But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing:  I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see it clearly.  They always need to have things explained.  My Drawing Number Two looked like this:

The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar.  That is why, at the age of six, I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter.  I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two.  Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

So then I chose another profession, and learned to pilot airplanes.  I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me.  At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona.  If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable.

In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence.  I have lived a great deal among grown-ups.  I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn't much improved my opinion of them.

Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear-sighted, I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One, which I have always kept.  I would try to find out, so, if this was a person of true understanding.  But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say: "That is a hat."

Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or primeval forests, or stars.  I would bring myself down to his level.  I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties.  And the grown-up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.

一、可能的生词

primeval 太古的；原始的；远古的

swallow 吞咽

boa constrictor 大蟒蛇

chew 咀嚼；嚼(碎)

digestion 消化

ponder 思索；考虑

jungle 热带丛林；密林

devote 投入(时间、精力等)

dishearten 使泄气；使灰心

tiresome 讨厌的；烦人的；令人厌倦的

distinguish 区分；辨别；分清

encounter 偶遇；邂逅；(重要的)相逢

consequence 重要的；有价值的

intimately 亲密地；密切地

close at hand 非常接近

clear-sighted 有见识的；有决断力的

experiment 实验

necktie 领带

sensible 明智的，理智的，通情达理的

二、可能的难句

I have flown a little over all parts of the world

加上这个 a little 在中间是为何呢？你会怎么翻译？

In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence.

matters of consequence 也是本书的主题之一，你觉得是什么？

I have seen them intimately, close at hand.

intimately有很多义项，除了“亲密地；密切地”之外，还有“个人地；私下地；隐私地”之义。我也不确定第一部分我给的义项是否准确，你能告诉我么？