美文欣賞：Do something for yourself做你自己

考研英語來源：文都教育 2017-02-03　

As a little boy, there was nothing I liked better than Sunday aftemoons at my grandfather's farm in western Pennsylvania. Surrounded by miles of winding stonewalls, the house and barn provided endless hours of fun for a city kid like me. I was used to parlors neat as a pin that seemed to whisper, "Not to be touched!"

我小時候最喜歡在爺爺的農場里度過每個星期天的下午。爺爺的農場在賓夕法尼亞州西部。農場四周都圍上了綿延幾英里的石墻。房子和谷倉給我這個城市男孩帶來了無窮的快樂時光。我習慣了城里整潔的客廳，似乎在低聲說：“不要摸！”。

I can still remember one afternoon when I was eight years old. Since my first visit to the farm, I'd wanted more than anything to be allowed to climb the stonewalls surrounding the property. My parents would never approve. The walls were old; some stones were missing, others loose and crumbling. Still, my yearning to scramble across those walls grew so strong. One spring afternoon, I summoned all my courage and entered the living room, where the adults had gathered after dinner.

我仍能記得我8歲那年一天下午的情景。因為我第一次去農場，所以我很想上那農場四周的那些石墻。可我的父母是絕不會同意的。這些墻年深日　，有的石頭不見了，有的石頭松動倒塌了。然而，我渴望這些墻的欲望非常強烈。一個春天的下午，我鼓足勇氣，走進客廳，大人們午飯后都聚在這里。

"I, uh, I want to climb the stonewalls," I said hesitantly. Everyone looked up. "Can I climb the stonewalls?" Instantly a chorus went up from the women in the room. "Heavens, no!" they cried in dismay. "You'll hurt yourself!" I wasn't too disappointed; the response was just as I'd expected. But before I could leave the room, I was stopped by my grandfather' s booming voice. "Hold on just a minute," I heard him say, "Let the boy climb the stonewalls. He has to learn to do things for himself."

“我，呃，我想爬那石墻，”我猶豫地說道。大家都抬起頭。“我能去爬那些石墻嗎？”屋里的女人們馬上齊聲叫了起來。“天哪，不能！”她們驚慌地叫首，“你會傷著自己的！”我并沒有太失望，我早就預料會是這樣的回答。但還沒等我離開客廳，爺爺低沉的聲音攔住了我。“等一會兒，”我聽到他說“讓孩子爬那些石墻吧。他必須學會自己做一些事。”

"Scoot," he said to me with a wink, "and come and see me when you get back." For the next two and a half hours I climbed those old walls and had the time of my life. Later I met with my grandfather to tell him about my adventure. I'll never forget what he said. "Fred," he said, grinning, "you made this day a special day just by being yourself. Always remember, there's only one person in this whole world like you, and I like you exactly as you are."

“快走吧，”他對我眨眨眼說。“你回來后找我。”接下來的兩個半小時，我爬上了這些古老的石墻，別提有多肝硬變。后來，我把自己冒險經歷告訴了爺爺。我永遠也不會忘記他說過的話。“弗雷德，”他咧著嘴笑道。“你做了一回自己，你讓這個日子因此而變得不同凡響。永遠記住，整個世界只有一個你，而且我喜歡真實的你。”

Many years have passed since then, and today I host the television program Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, seen by millions of children throughout America. There have been changes over the years, but one thing remains the same: my message to children at the end of almost every visit, "There's only one person in this whole world like you, and people can like you exactly as you are."

許多年過去了，現在我主持的電視節目《羅杰斯先生的街坊四鄰》，全美國幾百萬兒童都會收看。幾年過后，節目已經發生了一些變化，但有一點沒變：幾乎每期節日后我都會傳遞給孩子這樣一個信息，“這個世界上只有一個你，人們都喜歡真實的你。”