12. 重新拿起画笔（讲解）

节目文稿

For I do not want any one to read my book carelessly. I have suffered too much grief in setting down these memories. Six years have already passed since my friend went away from me, with his sheep. If I try to describe him here, it is to make sure that I shall not forget him. To forget a friend is sad. Not every one has had a friend. And if I forget him, I may become like the grown-ups who are no longer interested in anything but figures . . .

It is for that purpose, again, that I have bought a box of paints and some pencils. It is hard to take up drawing again at my age, when I have never made any pictures except those of the boa constrictor from the outside and the boa constrictor from the inside, since I was six. I shall certainly try to make my portraits as true to life as possible. But I am not at all sure of success. One drawing goes along all right, and another has no resemblance to its subject. I make some errors, too, in the little prince's height: in one place he is too tall and in another too short. And I feel some doubts about the color of his costume. So I fumble along as best I can, now good, now bad, and I hope generally fair-to-middling.

In certain more important details I shall make mistakes, also. But that is something that will not be my fault. My friend never explained anything to me. He thought, perhaps, that I was like himself. But I, alas, do not know how to see sheep through the walls of boxes. Perhaps I am a little like the grown-ups. I have had to grow old.

语言点

- suffer：v. 遭受；例：He suffered a heart attack. 他心脏病发作了。
- grief：n. 悲伤
- paint：n. 油漆；paints：n. 绘画颜料
- to take up：开始学；例：He decided to take up the piano at the age of 50. 50岁的他决定开始学钢琴。
- be true to：忠实于某物；例：The movie is true to the original novel. 这部电影很忠实于原著。
- resemblance：n. 相似；例：The resemblance is uncanny! 不同寻常的相似！
- subject：n. 表现对象；例：to focus the camera on the subject 将相机聚焦到拍摄对象上
- fumble：v. 笨拙地做事；例：John fumbled around in his bag and found his pen. 小强（约翰）在书包里摸了半天终于找到了他的笔。
- fair-to-middling：中等略偏上
- alas：哎呀

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