读点好英文:The Boys' Ambition 孩子们的志愿

The Boys' Ambition 孩子们的志愿

Mark Twain

When I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades in our village on the west bank of the Mississippi River. That was, to be a steamboat man. We had transient ambitions of other sorts, but they were only transient. When a circus came and went, it left us all burning to become clowns; the first Negro minstrel show that came to our section left us all suffering to try that kind of life; now and then we had a hope that if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates. These ambitions faded out, each in its turn; but the ambition to be a steamboat man always remained.

Once a day a cheap, gaudy packet arrived upward from St. Louis, and another downward from Keokuk. Before these events, the day was glorious with expectancy; after them, the day was a dead and empty thing. Not only the boys, but the whole village, felt this. After all these years I can picture that old time to myself now, just as it was then.

My father was a justice of the peace, and I supposed he possessed the power of life and death over all men and could hang anybody that offended him. This was distinction enough for me as a general thing; but the desire to be a steamboat man kept intruding, nevertheless. I first wanted to be a cabin-boy, so that I could come out with a white apron on and shake a tablecloth over the side, where all my old comrades could see me; later I thought I would rather be the deckhand who stood on the end of the stage—plank with the coil of rope in lust hand, because he was particularly conspicuous. But these were only daydreams—they were too heavenly to be contemplated as real possibilities.

By and by one of our boys went away. He was not heard of for a long time. At last he turned up as apprentice engineer or "striker" on a steamboat. This thing shook the bottom out of all my Sunday-school teachings. That boy had been notoriously worldly, and I just the reverse; yet he was exalted to this eminence, and I left in obscurity and misery.

There was nothing generous about this fellow in his greatness. He would always manage to have a rusty bolt to scrub while his boat tarried at our town, and he would sit on the inside guard and scrub it, where we could all see him and envy him and loathe him. And whenever his boat was laid up he would come home and swell around the town in his blackest and greasiest clothes, so that nobody could help remembering that he was a steamboat man; and he used all sorts of steamboat technicalities in his talk, as if he were so used to them that he forgot common people could not understand them. Two or three of the boys had long been persons of consideration among us because they had been to St. Louis once and had a vague general knowledge of its wonders, but the day of their glory was over now. They lapsed into a humble silence, and learned to disappear when the ruthless "cub" -engineer approached. This fellow had money, too, and hair oil. If ever a youth was cordially admired and hated by his comrades, this one was. No gift could withstand his charms. He "cut out" every boy in the village.

When his boat blew up at last, it diffused a tranquil contentment among us such as we had not known for months. But when he came home the next week, alive, renowned, and appeared in church all battered up and bandaged, a shining hero, stared at and wondered over by everybody, it seemed to us that the partiality of Providence for an undeserving reptile had reached a point where it was open to criticism.

［美］马克·吐温

在密西西比河西岸的小镇上，我还是个小孩子的时候，家乡的伙伴们都有一个恒久的志向，这个志向就是当一名轮船上的水手。我们也有过其他的愿望，但它们都不过是一时的想法。马戏团在村子里表演过后，我们都积极踊跃地希望扮演小丑；第一次到附近看过黑人吟唱团的表演后，我们都急不可待地想要体验一下那种生活。我们还有一个愿望：如果我们本分地过日子，上帝就会允许我们成为海盗。没过多久，这些愿望都接二连三地被遗忘了。但在我们的内心深处，当水手的志愿没有改变。

每天都有一艘廉价但外表艳丽的邮船从圣路易斯开过来，有另一艘从奇奥库克向下游驶去。船只抵达之前，人们翘首以盼，日子也变得津津有味。船只离开以后，日子又变得毫无生气、无聊至极了。不单单是孩子们，整个镇子上的人们都是同样的感觉。尽管这么多年过去了，可到今天，我还能在心中回想出当日的情景，仿佛回到了过去。

父亲是镇上的治安官，在我看来，他掌管着每个人的生杀大权，任何一个得罪他的人都会被绞死。总的来说，就这一点就足以让我风光无限了。然而，当水手的念头还是不时地在我的脑海中闪现。起初我想当个船上的小伙计，因为这样我就可以系上白围裙，站在船边摇一摇桌布，以便让我儿时的小伙伴们看见我。可是随后，我想我宁愿成为一名水手，手中握着一卷绳子站在踏板边缘，因为那样才会吸引众人的目光。不过这些想法仅仅是白日梦而已，这些简直是天方夜谭，根本不可能会实现。

没多久，我们这群伙伴中的一个男孩离开了小镇。他销声匿迹了好长一段时间。最后，他终于以一种特殊的身份出现了——成了一艘轮船上的见习机械师或是“锤手”。我在主日学校所受的教诲也因为这件事而全部改变了。这个男孩曾是个臭名远扬的坏蛋，而我刚好与他不同。可是现在，他却得意洋洋，而我却一文不值，苦恼不堪。

这个小子发达之后，变得没有一点气量。一旦他的船停泊在我们小镇上，他总是能设法找来一块生锈的铁栓擦，并且他一直刻意地坐在靠岸的这边栏杆上擦，一定让我们都看见他，让我们对他又是羡慕又是嫉恨。如果一旦那艘船停得久一些，他就会回家看看。在镇上的每个角落，都可以看到他穿着那套油腻、肮脏的外套到处招摇，恨不得告诉每个人他是一名轮船水手。他一开口，便全是术语，好像已经习以为常似的，却忘记了普通人根本听不懂。我们那些伙伴中有两三个一直受到大家的羡慕，因为他们以前去过一次圣路易斯，对那儿的新鲜事略知一二，但是如今他们的光辉岁月已经结束了。他们很有自知之明，从此不再声张；而且一旦那个冷酷无情的机械师“小崽子”来到身边，他们赶紧溜走。这个家伙还有很多钱，头上抹着亮亮的发油。假如有个年轻人既能让他的伙伴羡慕不已，又能让伙伴对他恨之入骨，那么这个人就非他莫属。任何一个女孩都抵抗不了他的魅力，他是镇上风头“最胜”的男孩。

后来，传来他那条船爆炸的消息。私下里，我们所有人都对他的灾难感到很高兴，而且好几个月都没有这么开心了。然而，出乎意料的是，一个星期以后，这个家伙居然又活生生地回来了，并且还因此成了名人。他满身伤痕，绑着厚厚的绷带来到教堂，他成了名声显赫的大英雄。所有人都注视着他，每个人都对他吃惊不已。在我们看来，老天是如此偏袒一个一文不值的卑鄙小人，这简直令人无法忍受。

实战提升

Practising & Exercise

导读

马克·吐温（Mark Twain），美国的幽默大师、作家、演说家，19世纪后期美国现实主义文学的杰出代表。他的高超幽默、机智与名气，堪称是美国最知名的人士之一。他的作品集幽默和讽刺于一体，既富有独特的个人机智与妙语，又不乏深刻的社会洞察与剖析。

本篇选自马克·吐温名作《密西西比河上的生活》，作者在该文中阐述了童年的梦想。每个孩子的童年都有着色彩斑斓的愿望，这些童真是值得永远珍惜的。因为他们纯真、他们勇敢，他们有不达目的誓不罢休的冲劲。

核心单词

permanent [ˈpəːmənənt] adj. 永久的，永恒的；

minstrel [ˈminstrəl] n. 诗人；歌唱家；音乐家

notoriously [nəuˈtɔːriəsli] adv. 恶名昭彰地，声名狼藉地

tarry [ˈtɑːri] v. 耽搁，迟延

cordially [ˈkɔːdjəli] adv. 热诚地，诚挚地，友善地

tranquil [ˈtræŋkwil] adj. 平静的；安静的

reptile [ˈreptail] n. 可鄙的人，卑鄙屈节的小人

翻译

When I was a boy, there was but one permanent ambition among my comrades in our village on the west bank of the Mississippi River.

This was distinction enough for me as a general thing; but the desire to be a steamboat man kept intruding, nevertheless.

There was nothing generous about this fellow in his greatness.