声音简介
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 constrictor swallowing a wild beast. Here is a copy of the picture.
In the book it said: "Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it. Afterward they are no longer able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion."
In those days I thought a lot about jungle adventures and eventually managed to make my first drawing using a coloured pencil. My drawing number 1 looked like this:
I showed the grown-ups my masterpiece, and asked them if my drawing scared them. But 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 couldn’t 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:
This time, the grown-ups advised me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, outside or inside, and devote 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 exhausting for children to provide explanations over and over again.
So then I had to choose another profession, 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 encounters with lots serious people. I have spent lots of time with the 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, whoever it was, he, or she, would always answer:
"That’s a hat."
Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or jungles, or stars. I would bring myself down to his level and talk about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And my grown-up was glad to know such a sensible man
音频列表
- 2022-01
查看更多
猜你喜欢
用户评论