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.
六岁那一年，我在一本描写原始森林的书里看见一幅扣人心弦的图画。那本书的书名叫做“丛林奇遇记”。 图中画的是正在吞吃野兽的蟒蛇。 下面是这幅画的复印件。
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. “
书中说：“蟒蛇囫囵吞下猎物，肚子撑得它不能动弹，要躺六个月才能把猎物消化掉。”
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 something like this:
从此，我对丛林的种种奇事产生了无穷尽的遐想。我也用彩色铅笔绘下我的第一幅画。我称它为一号画。一号画如下:
I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.
我把我的杰作拿给大人看，还问他们，我的画是否吓坏了他们。
But they answered:” Frighten? Why should anyone be frightened by a hat?”
他们回答我说:“一顶帽子有什么可怕的？”
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 a 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，而是一条正在消化大象的蟒蛇啊。但是因为大人们不能理解，我又画了一幅画，画的是蟒蛇和它肚子里的大象，好让大人看懂我的画。他们总是需要我们给他们解释的。我的二号画如下：
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.
大人们劝我，别画这些肚子没打开或打开了的蟒蛇了，把心思放到地理、历史、算术、语法上去吧。就这样，我在六岁这一年放弃了画家的光辉生涯。一号画、二号画的失败令我垂头丧气。大人们老是需要孩子们费尽唇舌，给他们再三解释，不然就一窍不通，真把我们累的够呛。
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.
我只好选择另一门职业，我学会了驾驶飞机，几乎跑遍了世界各地。地理确实帮了我的大忙。在空中，我一眼就能认出中国和亚利桑那，这样的本领很管用—–如果夜航时迷了路
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.
我一生与许多重要人物打过交道，我在大人当中生活了很长时间，我仔细地观察过他们，然而我对他们的看法没有多大的改善。
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:
我始终保留着我的一号画。遇到一个我认为略为懂事的大人，我就用这幅画做实验，看他是否真的懂事，但他们总是这样回答我：
”That is a hat.”
这是一顶帽子
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.
听了这样的话，我就不再与他们讨论蟒蛇，原始森林，星星了。我谈他们能理解的事情，例如桥牌，高尔夫，政治，领带。大人们便很满意，以为他们认识了一个通情达理、善解人意的人