第一章[第1页/共4页]

我把这幅佳构拿给大人们看，我问他们我的画是否让他们感到惊骇。

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.

每当碰到一个在我看来脑筋略微清楚的大人时，我就拿出随身带着的我那第一号作品来测试他。我想晓得他是否真的有了解才气。但是，不管我测试的人是谁，他或者她都会说：“这是顶帽子。”是以，我也就反面他们谈大蟒蛇啊、原始丛林啊，或者星星之类的事。我会把本身降落到他们的程度，和他们谈些桥牌啊、高尔夫球啊、政治啊、领带啊这些。因而大人们就非常欢畅能熟谙我如许一个通情达理的人。

以是从当时起，我挑选了别的一个职业，我学会了开飞机。我几近飞遍了天下的每个角落。的确，地理学对我非常有效。飞过天下各地的我一眼就能辩白出中国和亚利桑那州。如果夜里丢失了航向，如许的知识是很有代价的。

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.

这本书上说：“大蟒蛇把它们的猎物不加咀嚼地全部吞下去，以后，就再也不动了，然后通太长达六个月的就寝来消化掉这些食品。”

但是，我画的不是一顶帽子，画里代表的是一条蟒蛇正在消化着一头大象。为了让这些大人们能够了解，我只好又画了一张画：我把大蟒蛇肚子里的环境画了出来――这些大人们老是需求解释。我的第二号作品是如许的：

But they answered: "Frighten Why should any one be frightened by 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 to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this: