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.

佳句赏析

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.

>大人们劝我把这些画着开着肚皮的、或闭上肚皮的蟒蛇的图画丢掉，把心思放在地理、历史、算术和语法上。

*介词短语作插入语；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国，哪是亚里桑那。要是夜里迷失了航向，这是很有用的。

*which引导的是非限定性定语从句，用逗号与主句隔开，修饰整个主句；tell在本句中表示“确切地判断”；at first glance，（只）一眼，表示这个意思更常用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.

>有时，遇到看起来挺明白的大人，我就拿出一直保存的一号作品来试探他一下。

*这是一个时间状语从句，从句和主句又各自嵌套一个定语从句；experiment on sb; experiment with sth进行试验。

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

>我只得迁就他们的水平，和他们谈些桥牌呀，高尔夫球呀，政治呀，领带什么的。

*put myself on his level；用bridge、golf、politics和neckties指代成人之间空洞无聊的话题。

名句大搜索

1. 每人大人都曾经是孩子（然而，记得这事儿的没几个）。

2. 一顶帽子有什么可怕的？

3. 就这样，在六岁那年，我放弃了当画家这一美好职业的心愿。

4. 这些大人们自己什么也弄不懂，老要孩子们一遍一遍地给他们解释，真烦人。

5. 我在大人们中间生活过很长时间。我仔细地观察过他们，但这并没有改变多少我对他们的看法。