we are introduced to the narrator, a pilot, and his ideas about grown-ups

我们被引荐给了（本文）作者兼飞行员，并了解了他关于成年人的看法

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.

曾经，当我只有六岁的时候，我在一本叫做自然的真实故事、描写原始森林的书中看到了一张神奇的图片。画面中，一只巨蟒正在吞食一个动物。这里有那幅画的复制品。

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."

书中写到：“巨蟒，没有咀嚼就吞食了他们的食物。然后，他们不能动，而是需要睡眠长达6个月来消化。”

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

我仔细思考丛林冒险。然后用一只彩色的铅笔和一些功夫，我成功的画出了我的第一幅作品。我的作品一是这样的：

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

我向成年人们展示我的作品，并且问他们我的画作是否吓到他们了。

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

但是他们回答：“吓到？一个人为什么会被一顶帽子吓到？”

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:

我画的不是一顶帽子。它是一只巨蟒正在消化一只大象。但是，因为成年人们不能理解，所以我就重新画了一幅：我画出了巨蟒的内脏，这样大人们就可以看的清清楚楚了。他们总是需要事情被解释清楚。我的画作二是这样的：

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.

这次，大人们的回应是建议我先把我的画作放在一边，不管是从内部还是从外部，然后把我的精力放在地理，历史，算数和语法上。那就是为什么我六岁的时候放弃了成为一个伟大的画家。我已经被画作一和画作二的失败伤透了心。成年人们永远不能自己理解任何事情，孩子们感到很疲惫，总是需要给他们解释。

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.

所以，我选择了另一个职业，学开飞机。我已经飞过了世界上很多地方，地理确实对我非常有用。仅仅瞥一眼，我就可以区分中国和坦桑尼亚。如果一个人半夜失踪了，这些知识也非常的有用。

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.

在生活的课堂中，我和很多关心结果的人打过交道。我和很多成年人成活在一起过。我可以随时立即见到他们。但是这仍然没有改变我对他们的看法。

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:

每当我遇到他们之中任何一个对我来说是聪慧的人的时候，我就会重复之前的实验，向他们展示我随时带在身边的画作一。我会努力找出是否有人能够理解。但是，无论他是谁，他们总是会说：

"That is a hat."

那是一顶帽子。

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.

然后，我就不会跟那个人谈起巨蟒或者原始森林或者星星。我会把自己降到这样的水平。我会和他讨论大桥、高尔夫、政治和领带。那些成年人们也会非常开心遇到这样明智的人。