Chapter 1

To Leon Werth

I ask children to forgive me for dedicating this book to a grown-up. I have a serious reason: this grown-up is the best friend I have in the world. I have another reason: this grown-up can understand everything, even books for children. I have a third reason: he lives in France where he is hungry and cold. He needs to be comforted. If all these reasons are not enough, then I want to dedicate the book to the child whom this grown-up once was. All grown-ups were children first. (Although few of them remember it.) So I correct my dedication:

To Leon Werth

When he was a little boy

Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book about the jungle,called True Stories from Nature. It showed a boa constrictorswallowing a wild beast. Here is a copy of the picture.

In the book it said: “Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing. After that they are not able to move, and they sleep during the six months of their digestion. ”

In those days I thought a lot about jungle adventures, and eventually managed to make my first drawing, using a colored pencil. My drawing Number One looked like this:

I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and I asked them if my drawing scared them.

They answered: “Why be scared of 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 explanations. My drawing Number Two looked like this:

The grown-ups advised me to put away my drawings of boa constrictors, outside or inside, and apply myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar. That is why I abandoned, at the age of six, a magnificent career as an artist. I had been discouraged 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 had to choose another career, and I learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown almost everywhere in the world. And, as a matter of fact, geography has been a big help to me. I could tell China from Arizona at first glance, which is very useful if you get lost during the night.

So I have had, in the course of my life, lots of encounterswith lots of serious people. I have lots of time with grown-ups. I have seen them at close range, which hasn't much improved my opinion of them.

Whenever I encountered a grown-up who seemed to me at all enlightened, I would experiment on him with my drawing Number One, which I have always kept. I wanted to see if he really understood anything. But he would always answer, “That is a hat.” Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors or jungles or stars. I would put myself on his level and talk about bridge and golf and politics and neckties. And my grown-up was glad to know such a reasonable person.

佳句賞析

1. The grown-ups advised me to put away my drawings of boa constrictors, outside or inside, and apply myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar.

>大人們勸我把這些畫著開著肚皮的、或閉上肚皮的蟒蛇的圖畫丟掉，把心思放在地理、歷史、算術和語法上。

*介詞短語作插入語；apply oneself to…致力于……

2. I could tell China from Arizona at first glance, which is very useful if you get lost during the night.

>我一眼就能分辨出哪是中國，哪是亞里桑那。要是夜里迷失了航向，這是很有用的。

*which引導的是非限定性定語從句，用逗號與主句隔開，修飾整個主句；tell在本句中表示“確切地判斷”；at first glance，（只）一眼，表示這個意思更常用at a (single) glance。

3. Whenever I encountered a grown-up who seemed to me at all enlightened, I would experiment on him with my drawing Number One, which I have always kept.

>有時，遇到看起來挺明白的大人，我就拿出一直保存的一號作品來試探他一下。

*這是一個時間狀語從句，從句和主句又各自嵌套一個定語從句；experiment on sb; experiment with sth進行試驗。

4. I would put myself on his level and talk about bridge and golf and politics and neckties.

>我只得遷就他們的水平，和他們談些橋牌呀，高爾夫球呀，政治呀，領帶什么的。

*put myself on his level；用bridge、golf、politics和neckties指代成人之間空洞無聊的話題。

名句大搜索

1. 每人大人都曾經(jīng)是孩子（然而，記得這事兒的沒幾個）。

2. 一頂帽子有什么可怕的？

3. 就這樣，在六歲那年，我放棄了當畫家這一美好職業(yè)的心愿。

4. 這些大人們自己什么也弄不懂，老要孩子們一遍一遍地給他們解釋，真煩人。

5. 我在大人們中間生活過很長時間。我仔細地觀察過他們，但這并沒有改變多少我對他們的看法。