A Boy and His Father Become Partners

父子伙伴情

Ralph Moody

拉爾夫·穆迪

I like all kinds of chocolate. Best of all, though，I like bitter baking chocolate. Mother had bought a bar of it， and somehow I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

我喜歡各種各樣的巧克力，不過我最喜歡那種做糕點(diǎn)用的無糖巧克力。媽媽買了一塊這種巧克力，我不知怎么總在不停地打它的主意。

I was helping father on the winnower. It was right then I got the idea.I could whack a chunk off the end of that bar of chocolate. Mother would be sure miss it， but before she had any idea who had done it， I could confess I’d taken it. Probably I would not even get a spanking.

我在幫爸爸揚(yáng)谷，這時我突然有了個主意，我可以從那塊巧克力的一頭敲下一塊來。媽媽肯定會發(fā)現(xiàn)丟了巧克力，但在她意識到這件事是誰干的之前，我可以先承認(rèn)是我偷吃的，也許連屁股也不會挨打。

I waited until mother was out feeding the chickens. Then I told father I thought I’d go in for a drink of water.I got the bar down?but I heard mother coming just when I had the knife ready to whack. So I slipped the chocolate into the front of my shirt and left quickly. Before I went back to help father, I went to the barn and hid the chocolate there.

我一直等到媽媽出去喂雞，然后我對爸爸說我要回屋去喝口水。我拿到那塊巧克力，但正當(dāng)我準(zhǔn)備用刀切的時候，我聽見媽媽進(jìn)屋的聲音，所以就悄悄把巧克力塞進(jìn)我襯衫的硬襯胸中，趕緊溜出房間。在我回去幫爸爸干活之前，我走進(jìn)谷倉把巧克力藏在那里。

I told myself that I hadn’t really stolen the whole bar of chocolate， because I meant to take only a little piece.If I put back the whole bar，I wouldn’t have done anything wrong at all.

我對自己說，我并不真的要偷整塊巧克力，我只想弄那么一小塊。如果我把整塊巧克力放回去的話，那我就根本沒干過什么錯事了。

I nearly decided to put it all back. But just thinking so much about chocolate made my tongue almost taste the smooth bitterness of it. I got thinking that if I slice about half an inch off the end with a sharp knife?mother might never notice it.

我?guī)缀跻呀?jīng)決定把它完整無損地放回去了。但是，我對巧克力的向往使我的舌頭似乎嘗到它那絕妙的味道。我一再想，假如我用快刀從它的一頭切下半英寸，媽媽或許不會注意到它的。

I was nearly out to where the cows were when I remembered what father had said once—some of the family money was mine because I had helped to earn it. Why wouldn’t it be all right to figure the bar of chocolate had been bought with my own money？That seemed to fix everything.

我快走進(jìn)牛群的時候，突然記起了爸爸曾經(jīng)有一次講過的話——家里的錢有我一份，因?yàn)槲乙褞椭依飹赍X了。為什么不可以說這塊巧克力是用我自己的錢買來的呢？看來一切都說得過去。

That night I couldn’t sleep. At last I got up，slipped out into the yard， and took the ax from the chopping block. Then I went into the barn and got the chocolate. I took it outside and laid it on the lower rail of the corral fence. The moon gave enough light for me to see what I was doing.

那天晚上，我怎么也睡不著。最后，我翻身下床，悄悄溜到院子里，從劈柴墩上抓起一把斧頭，然后我進(jìn)入谷倉把巧克力拿了出來。我把它拿到外面，擱在牛廄籬笆的下面橫欄上。月亮的光亮足以使我看得清要干的事。

Just as I was starting cut，father said:“Son！”

就在我動手要切巧克力時，爸爸叫道:“孩子！”

I couldn’t think of a thing to say. I grabbed up the bar of chocolate and hid it next to my chest before I turned around. Father picked me up by the shoulder straps of my overalls and took me over to the woodpile. I didn’t know anybody could spank as hard as he did！

我不知道說什么好，轉(zhuǎn)身之前我抓起這塊巧克力把它藏進(jìn)胸前的襯衫里。爸爸抓住我工裝服上的背帶，把我?guī)У讲穸涯抢铩Ｎ也粫缘眠€有誰打屁股像他打得那樣狠！

Then he stood me on my feet and asked if I thought I had deserved it. He said it wasn’t so much that I’d taken the chocolate， but that I’d tried to hide it from him.

然后他叫我站直，問我這是不是我應(yīng)得的懲罰。他說我拿走巧克力不算什么，但不該瞞著他。

“Son，”he said，“I know you help to earn the family money. We might say the chocolate was yours in the first place.You could have had it if you’d asked for it， but I won’t have you being sneaky about things. Now，do you want to keep your money separate from mine-or are we partners？”

“孩子，”他說，“我清楚你幫家里掙了錢，可以說巧克力本來就是你的。要是你坦率地要它，你本可以得到它的，但我不允許你做事偷偷摸摸的?，F(xiàn)在你是想把你的錢和我的分開呢，還是與我結(jié)成伙伴呢？”

I never knew till then how much I wanted my money to go in with Father’s. When I went to sleep my hand was still hurting-from where he squeezed it when we shook hands.

直到這時，我才知道我是多么想把我的錢和爸爸的合在一起。我去睡覺時，我的那只手——我們握手時父親曾用力握過的地方——還在痛呢。

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