46 · 自己动手
Do It Yourself
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So great is our passion for doing things for ourselves, that we are becoming increasingly less dependent on specialized labour. No one can plead ignorance of a subject any longer, for there are countless do-it-yourself publications. Armed with the right tools and materials, newlyweds gaily embark on the task of decorating their own homes. Men, particularly, spend hours of their leisure time installing their own fireplaces, laying out their own gardens; building garages and making furniture. Some really keen enthusiasts go so far as to build their own computers. Shops cater for the do-it-yourself craze not only by running special advisory services for novices, but by offering consumers bits and pieces which they can assemble at home. Such things provide an excellent outlet for pent up creative energy, but unfortunately not all of us are born handymen.
Some wives tend to believe that their husbands are infinitely resourceful and can fix anything. Even men who can hardly drive a nail in straight are supposed to be born electricians, carpenters, plumbers and mechanics. When lights fuse, furniture gets rickety, pipes get clogged, or vacuum cleaners fail to operate, some women assume that their husbands will somehow put things right. The worst thing about the do-it-yourself game is that sometimes even men live under the delusion that they can do anything, even when they have repeatedly been proved wrong. It is a question of pride as much as anything else.
Last spring my wife suggested that I call in a man to look at our lawn mower. It had broken down the previous summer, and though I promised to repair it, I had never got round to it. I would not hear of the suggestion and said that I would fix it myself. One Saturday afternoon, I hauled the machine into the garden and had a close look at it. As far as I could see, it needed only a minor adjustment: a turn of a screw here, a little tightening up there, a drop of oil and it would be as good as new. Inevitably the repair job was not quite so simple. The mower firmly refused to mow, so I decided to dismantle it. The garden was soon littered with chunks of metal which had once made up a lawn mower. But I was extremely pleased with myself. I had traced the cause of the trouble. One of the links in the chain that drives the wheels had snapped. After buying a new chain I was faced with the insurmountable task of putting the confusing jigsaw puzzle together again. I was not surprised to find that the machine still refused to work after I had reassembled it, for the simple reason that I was left with several curiously shaped bits of metal which did not seem to fit anywhere. I gave up in despair. The weeks passed and the grass grew. When my wife nagged me to do something about it, I told her that either I would have to buy a new mower or let the grass grow. Needless to say our house is now surrounded by a jungle. Buried somewhere in deep grass there is a rusting lawn mower which I have promised to repair one day.
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整篇课文
So great is our passion for doing things for ourselves, that we are becoming increasingly less dependent on specialized labour. No one can plead ignorance of a subject any longer, for there are countless do-it-yourself publications. Armed with the right tools and materials, newlyweds gaily embark on the task of decorating their own homes. Men, particularly, spend hours of their leisure time installing their own fireplaces, laying out their own gardens; building garages and making furniture. Some really keen enthusiasts go so far as to build their own computers. Shops cater for the do-it-yourself craze not only by running special advisory services for novices, but by offering consumers bits and pieces which they can assemble at home. Such things provide an excellent outlet for pent up creative energy, but unfortunately not all of us are born handymen.
Some wives tend to believe that their husbands are infinitely resourceful and can fix anything. Even men who can hardly drive a nail in straight are supposed to be born electricians, carpenters, plumbers and mechanics. When lights fuse, furniture gets rickety, pipes get clogged, or vacuum cleaners fail to operate, some women assume that their husbands will somehow put things right. The worst thing about the do-it-yourself game is that sometimes even men live under the delusion that they can do anything, even when they have repeatedly been proved wrong. It is a question of pride as much as anything else.
Last spring my wife suggested that I call in a man to look at our lawn mower. It had broken down the previous summer, and though I promised to repair it, I had never got round to it. I would not hear of the suggestion and said that I would fix it myself. One Saturday afternoon, I hauled the machine into the garden and had a close look at it. As far as I could see, it needed only a minor adjustment: a turn of a screw here, a little tightening up there, a drop of oil and it would be as good as new. Inevitably the repair job was not quite so simple. The mower firmly refused to mow, so I decided to dismantle it. The garden was soon littered with chunks of metal which had once made up a lawn mower. But I was extremely pleased with myself. I had traced the cause of the trouble. One of the links in the chain that drives the wheels had snapped. After buying a new chain I was faced with the insurmountable task of putting the confusing jigsaw puzzle together again. I was not surprised to find that the machine still refused to work after I had reassembled it, for the simple reason that I was left with several curiously shaped bits of metal which did not seem to fit anywhere. I gave up in despair. The weeks passed and the grass grew. When my wife nagged me to do something about it, I told her that either I would have to buy a new mower or let the grass grow. Needless to say our house is now surrounded by a jungle. Buried somewhere in deep grass there is a rusting lawn mower which I have promised to repair one day.
我们太热衷于自己动手，以至于越来越不依赖专业人员了。有关自己动手的书刊多得数不清，再也没人能以“不懂”为由推脱。新婚夫妇备齐合适的工具和材料，便兴冲冲地开始自己装修。男人尤其喜欢把大把闲暇花在装壁炉、布置花园、建车库和做家具上，有些特别热衷的人，甚至自己动手造电脑。为了迎合这股热潮，商店不光为新手提供专门咨询，还出售各种零部件，让顾客带回家组装。这些事情确实能让积蓄已久的创造力找到出口，可惜，我们并非人人天生心灵手巧。
有些妻子总觉得丈夫无所不能，什么都修得好。即使一个男人连钉子都钉不直，也会被认为天生就懂电工、木工、水管维修和机械修理。电灯的保险丝烧断了、家具松动了、水管堵了、吸尘器不转了，有些女人总相信，丈夫总有办法弄好。自己动手这件事，最糟糕的地方是：有时连男人自己也幻想无所不能，哪怕事实已经一次次证明他做不到。这说到底，也关乎面子。
去年春天，妻子建议我请个人来看看割草机。它前一年夏天就坏了，我虽答应修，却一直没顾得上。我坚决不肯请人，声称自己就能修。一个星期六下午，我把机器拖到花园里，仔细检查了一番。在我看来，不过是这里拧一下螺丝，那里紧一紧，再滴点油，就能焕然如新。可维修果然没那么简单，割草机就是不肯割草，我于是决定把它拆开。没多久，花园里就到处散落着原本组成一台割草机的金属零件，我却颇为得意：故障的根源总算找到了，是驱动车轮的链条断了一节。买来新链条后，我才面对真正无从下手的任务——把这堆令人眼花缭乱的“拼图”重新拼好。装回去后，机器仍旧不转，我倒也不意外，原因很简单：手边还剩下几块形状古怪的金属件，怎么也找不到该装在哪儿。我绝望地放弃了。几个星期过去，草却越长越高。妻子催我想办法，我告诉她，要么买台新的，要么就任草长下去。不用说，如今我们家已被一片“丛林”包围。深草中的某个地方，还埋着那台正在生锈的割草机，而我答应过，总有一天会把它修好。
学完这一课
先写 Our interest is so great that…，再改成 So great is… 体会强调位置。
译文依据整理稿，由本站按中文表达重新校订；解析据吴应时、何景霖整理资料及首轮审校稿；词伙与练习提示为本站学习设计。原PDF第159—162页，2022年2月第3版。