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到头来，大人们都劝告我，不要再去画蟒蛇整体图、蟒蛇剖面图了，还是好好去学地理、历史、算术和语法吧。就这样，在六岁的时候，我就不得不放弃了当画家的远大理想。我的第一号与第二号绘画作品的失败，特别使我灰心丧气。大人们从来都不自己把事情弄明白，而老要我们小孩解释个没完没了，这真是特别累人的事。 于是，我选择了另一种职业，学会了驾飞机。世界各地我都飞过。的确，地理知识对我有很大的帮助， 它使我一眼就能识别中国与美国亚利桑那州的不同。万一夜间迷航，这可大有用处。 The grown-ups' response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar. That is why, at the age of six, I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had been disheartened 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 chose another profession, and learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable. |
