美国语文第四册 第69期:懒惰的后果(3)

 　　He could, without much difficulty, get along in the academy, where there were only two or three boys of his own class to laugh at him. 在专科学校时，他和别人相处并不难，因为班里只有两三个男生笑话他。

　　But now he had to go into a large recitation room, filled with students from all parts of the country. 但是现在他要进到一间非常大的诵读室里，里面坐着来自全国各地的学生。

　　In the presence of all these, he must rise and recite to a professor. Poor fellow! He paid dearly for his idleness. 在所有这些情形下，他必须站起来，面对教授背诵。可怜的家伙！他为懒惰付出了高昂的代价。

　　You would have pitied him if you could have seen him trembling in his seat, every moment expecting to be called upon to recite. 如果你看见他在颤抖中时刻等待被点名背诵时，你一定会可怜他。

　　And when he was called upon, he would stand up and take what the class called a "dead set;" that is, he could not recite at all. 当叫到他时，他站起身，采取被同学们戏称为“死套路”的办法，也就是说，他根本不能背诵。

　　Sometimes he would make such ludicrous blunders that the whole class would burst into a laugh. 有时他会犯一些非常莫名其妙的错误，全班顿时笑成一片。

　　Such are the applauses an idler gets. He was wretched, of course. 这是对懒惰者喝的倒彩。当然，他也很不幸。

　　He had been idle so long that he hardly knew how to apply his mind to study. 由于懒散了太长时间，他甚至不知道该如何将脑子用在学习上。

　　All the good scholars avoided him; they were ashamed to be seen in his company. 所有的好学生都躲着他，大家都觉得和他在一起很丢脸。

　　He became discouraged, and gradually grew dissipated. 他变得心灰意冷，开始慢慢地自暴自弃。

　　The officers of the college were soon compelled to suspend him. 很快，学校的领导不得不让他停课。

　　He returned in a few months, but did no better; and his father was then advised to take him from college. 几个月后，他回到学校，但并没有好转。有人建议他父亲把他从学校带走，

　　He left college, despised by everyone. A few months ago, I met him, a poor wanderer, without money and without friends. 所以他在每个人的鄙视中离开了大学校园。几个月前，我偶然遇到了他，一个可怜的流浪者，没有钱也没有朋友。

　　Such are the wages of idleness. 这些就是懒惰者的代价。

　　I hope every reader will, from this history, take warning, and "stamp improvement on the wings of time. 我"希望每位读者能用这则故事的内容引以为戒，要“在时间的翅膀上记录下你进步的印记。