难上的一课

A Hard Lesson

作者：John I. White

来源：http://www.highlightskids.com

(生词可拖选或双击)

　

(Illustrated by Gary Undercuffler)

 

        Benjamin Franklin is remembered as an inventor, author, statesman, and signer of the Declaration of Independence. But all great people were kids once and got into mischief. In writing about his life, Franklin recalled a youthful event that he later regretted.

Franklin was born in Boston in 1706. His father, whom Ben admired and respected, was a soapmaker and candlemaker with a large family. At the age of ten, Ben was taken out of school and put to work in the shop.

Ben described his duties as “cutting wick for the candles, filling the dipping mold and the molds for cast candles, attending the shop, going on errands, etc.” But of course he preferred playing outdoors with his friends.

The Franklin family lived near the water, so Ben learned to swim well and to handle small boats.

He wrote that he was a leader among the boys in his neighborhood and “sometimes led them into scrapes.” One such episode is told here in his own words.

“There was a salt-marsh that bounded part of the mill-pond, on the edge of which, at high water, we used to stand to fish for minnows. By much trampling, we had made it a mere quagmire. My proposal was to build a wharf there fit for us to stand upon, and I showed my comrades a large heap of stones, which were intended for a new house near the marsh, and which would very well suit our purpose. Accordingly, in the evening, when the workmen were gone, I assembled a number of my play-fellows, and working with them diligently like so many emmets [ants], sometimes two or three to a stone, we brought them all away and built our little wharf. The next morning the workmen were surprised at missing the stones, which were found in our wharf. Inquiry was made after the removers; we were discovered and complained of; several of us were corrected by our fathers; and, though I pleaded the usefulness of the work, mine convinced me that nothing was useful which was not honest.”

 

附：最后一段参考译文

       在水车贮水池的一边有一个盐泽，在涨潮的时候，我们时常站在盐泽的边上钓鲦鱼。由于践踏得多了，我们把盐泽的边沿弄成一个泥沼了。我提议在那里修筑一个我们可以站立的码头，我把一大堆石块指点给我的同伴们看，这些石块原是为了在盐泽边上建筑一所新屋预备的，它们却很符合我们的需要。因此在晚上当工人们已经离开的时候，我召集了几个同伴，我们像一群蚂蚁似的不辞劳苦地工作着，有时候两三个人搬一块石头，我们终于把石块全搬来了，修好了我们的小码头。第二天早晨工人们不见了石块大为惊异，后来才在我们的码头上找到了。他们查究这是谁干的。接着他们发现了这是我们的把戏，就向我们的家长告状。我们中有几个就因此受到了父亲的责备。虽然我辩解说这桩事是有益的，但是我父亲使我深信：不诚实的事是不会有益的。