书名：The Piano 《钢琴之恋》
作者：Rosemary Border 罗斯玛丽·博德
简介：
音乐是从哪儿来的？是可以学会的吗？还是说，它仅仅是被赐予的才能，没有人知道它来自哪里？
这个故事里的小男孩在学校成绩不好，无论是语文还是数学他都不擅长。他喜欢和其他孩子一起唱歌，但是唱得并不出色。他第一次找工作就碰了壁。他是个好孩子，但没有什么特殊的才能。
然而有一天，他发现了一架钢琴。他还发现自己会弹钢琴。所以，或许我们可以说，不是他发现了音乐，而是音乐找到了他。
Chapter 3 A Farmer’s Boy乡下少年
Tony and his mother got on a bus in the middle of the town. At first they drove through streets of small, grey houses. Then the bus left the town and drove along a country road.
托尼和母亲在镇中心上了一辆公共汽车。起初，他们穿过一排排矮小的灰色房子，然后，汽车开出城外，开上了一条乡间小路。
The bus stopped in every village. Tony saw green fields and small, quiet villages. Every house had a garden. The smell of the flowers came in through the open windows of the bus.
公共汽车每到一个村子都会停下来。托尼看到绿色的田野和僻静的小村落。每座房子都带有花园，花香从开着的车窗透了进来。
At last the bus stopped. Tony could see a river and an old bridge. A small road ran across the bridge, through the fields and over a hill. ‘Come on, Tony,’ said his mother. They got out of the bus and walked two kilometers in the hot sun. There were white and yellow flowers at the side of the road. Tony did not know their names. He wanted to know more about them. He wanted to know more about the trees too. There were no flowers or trees in his street.
最后车停了下来。托尼看到一条小河和一座老旧的桥。一条小路越过小桥，穿过田野，延伸至一座小山丘的另一边。“来吧，托尼。”他的母亲说道。他们下了车，在热辣的阳光下走了两公里路。路边开着白色和黄色的花，托尼不知道它们的名字，他想更多地了解这些花，也想多了解了解那些树。在他住的那条街上，既没有花，也没有树。
He looked at the cows in the fields.
他看着田野里的奶牛。
‘I’ve never seen a real cow,’ he said to himself. He watched them moving very slowly through the long, green grass. They looked big and quiet.
“我还从没见过真正的奶牛。”他自言自语道。他看着奶牛在高高的绿草中缓缓地穿行。它们看起来既高大又安静。
Tony and his mother arrived at the farmhouse and walked through the farmyard. Chickens were looking for food. A fat white cat sat on a wall and watched them with sleepy eyes.
托尼和母亲来到农场里的房子那儿，穿过房子前的庭院。小鸡正在四处觅食。一只胖胖的白猫坐在墙上，睡眼朦胧地看着他们。
Mr Wood came to the door and spoke to Tony’s mother. ‘Hullo, Betty. It’s nice to see you again. Thank you for your letter. How are you?’ They talked together like old friends.
伍德先生来到门口，对托尼的母亲说道：“你好啊，贝蒂，真高兴又见到你了。谢谢你的来信。你还好吗？”他们像老朋友一样交谈起来。
Tony stood at the door. He felt lost and uncomfortable. But the farmer smiled at him.
托尼站在门口，他有点不知所措，觉得不大自在。可农场主对他笑了。
‘Is this your son, Betty?’ he asked.
“这就是你的儿子吧，贝蒂？”他问道。
‘Yes. This is Anthony — but we call him Tony at home. He left school two weeks ago. He’s a good boy, and he’s very strong. Please give him a job, Mr Wood. We need the money. We’ve got six children, you know.’
“是的。这就是安东尼——可是我们在家里都叫他托尼。他是在两个星期前离开学校的。他是个好孩子，身体也很壮实。请您给他找点活干吧，伍德先生。我们需要钱，要知道我们家里有六个孩子呢。”
The farmer looked at Tony. ‘How old are you, boy?’ he asked.
农场主看着托尼。“你多大了，孩子？”他问道。
‘Thirteen, sir.’
“13岁，先生。”
‘Do you like the country?’
“你喜欢乡下吗？”
‘Yes, sir,’ said Tony.
“喜欢，先生。”托尼答道。
‘Would you like to work for me, Tony?’ asked Mr Wood. ‘Would you like to be a farm boy?’
“你愿意替我干活吗，托尼？”伍德先生问道，“愿意做个在农场干活的乡下孩子吗？”
Tony thought about the factory and the shops. The shops were bad, but the factory was worse. When people came out of the factory in the evening their faces looked white and ill. ‘Nothing can be worse than that,’ he thought. He looked into the farmer’s smiling red face. ‘Yes, sir,’ he said. ‘Yes, please.’
托尼想了想工厂，又想了想商店。商店的情况不怎么样，可是工厂就更糟。人们晚上走出厂门的时候，一个个面色苍白，一脸病容。“没什么会比那更糟了。”他想道。他注视着农场主那张红红的笑脸，说：“是的，我愿意，先生，我愿意替您干活。”
His mother was right. Tony was a good, strong boy and he worked very hard for Mr Wood. The old farmer did not pay him much money. Tony ate his meals in the kitchen and he slept in a little room at the top of the farmhouse. But the farmer was kind to him and taught him a lot. Mr Wood had no sons. He had one daughter. Her name was Linda, and she was a year younger than Tony. Mr Wood loved Linda dearly, but he wanted a son very much. He was like a father to Tony.
他母亲说得没错。托尼是个壮实的好孩子。他替伍德先生干活很卖力。老农场主给他的报酬不多。托尼在厨房里吃饭，睡在农场楼房顶层的小阁楼里。但是农场主待他很好，而且还教给他很多东西。伍德先生没有儿子，只有一个女儿，名叫琳达，比托尼小一岁。伍德先生非常宠爱琳达，但他很想要个儿子。他待托尼如同自己的亲生孩子。
Tony was happy. At the end of every day his back was tired and his legs hurt, but he slept like a baby. He ate Mrs. Wood’s good country food. He drank a lot of milk. Soon he needed new clothes. He sent his old clothes home for his brothers. He sent his family money too.
托尼很开心。每天干完活他都会觉得背酸腿痛，但是他晚上睡得很好。他吃的是伍德太太做的可口的农家饭菜，还喝很多牛奶。旧衣服很快就穿不下了，他把旧衣服寄回家给弟弟们穿，还给家里寄钱。
Sometimes Tony visited his family. He enjoyed those visits, but he was always happy to leave again. ‘I’m a country boy now,’ he thought.
托尼有时候也回家看看。他喜欢回家逗留一阵子，但离开的时候也总是很高兴。“现在我是个乡下孩子了。”他这样想到。
In the school holidays Pip and his brother John came to the farm. Pip was seventeen and John was sixteen, but they were both still at school. Their father had a large shoe shop in the town. He wanted them to go to college and learn to be businessmen. But the boys spent all their holidays on Mr Wood’s farm.
学校放假的时候，皮普和他的弟弟约翰会到农场来。皮普17岁，约翰16岁，但兄弟俩仍旧在上学。他们的父亲在城里开了一家很大的鞋店，希望这兄弟俩能上大学，学习如何经商。但是两个男孩一到假期就来伍德先生的农场。
‘I want to be a farmer,’ said Pip.
“我想做个农场主。”皮普说道。
‘That’s right,’ said John. ‘Farming is the best job in the world!’
“对呀，”约翰答道，“农活儿是天底下最棒的活计！”
‘But you just come here in the summer!’ said Tony. ‘It isn’t always summer, you know. The sun doesn’t always shine. Farmer’s work hard in the winter too. It’s a hard, dirty job.’
“可是你们只有夏天才来！”托尼说道，“要知道，这里不会永远是夏天，也不会永远阳光灿烂。农夫们冬天也得辛苦劳作。这是份又累又脏的活计。”
‘But you like it!’ said John, and he was right. Tony liked his job very much.
“但是你喜欢干农活儿啊！”约翰说道。他说得对极了，托尼的确非常喜欢自己的工作。
