Do it yourself 自己動(dòng)手

So great is our passion for doing things for ourselves, that we are becoming increasingly less dependent on specialized labour. No one can plead ignorance of a subject any longer, for there are countless do-it-yourself publications. Armed with the right tools and materials, newlyweds gaily embark on the task of decorating their own homes. Men, particularly, spend hours of their leisure time installing their own fireplaces, laying out their own gardens; building garages and making furniture. Some really keen enthusiasts go so far as to build their own computers. Shops cater for the do-it-yourself craze not only by running special advisory services for novices, but by offering consumers bits and pieces which they can assemble at home. Such things provide an excellent outlet for pent up creative energy, but unfortunately not all of us are born handymen.

Some wives tend to believe that their husbands are infinitely resourceful and can fix anything. Even men who can hardly drive a nail in straight are supposed to be born electricians, carpenters, plumbers and mechanics. When lights fuse, furniture gets rickety, pipes get clogged, or vacuum cleaners fail to operate, some woman assume that their husbands will somehow put things right. The worst thing about the do-it-yourself game is that sometimes even men live under the delusion that they can do anything, even when they have repeatedly been proved wrong. It is a question of pride as much as anything else.

Last spring my wife suggested that I call in a man to look at our lawn mower. It had broken down the previous summer, and though I promised to repair it, I had never got round to it. I would not hear of the suggestion and said that I would fix it myself. One Saturday afternoon, I hauled the machine into the garden and had a close look at it. As far as I could see, it needed only a minor adjustment: a turn of a screw here, a little tightening up there, a drop of oil and it would be as good as new. Inevitably the repair job was not quite so simple. The mower firmly refused to mow, so I decided to dismantle it. The garden was soon littered with chunks of metal which had once made up a lawn mower. But I was extremely pleased with myself. I had traced the cause of the trouble. One of the links in the chain that drives the wheels had snapped. After buying a new chain I was faced with the insurmountable task of putting the confusing jigsaw puzzle together again. I was not surprised to find that machine still refused to work after I had reassembled it, for the simple reason that I was left with several curiously shaped bits of metal which did not seem to fit anywhere. I gave up in despair. The weeks passed and the grass grew. When my wife nagged me to do something about it, I told her that either I would have to buy a new mower or let the grass grow. Needless to say our house is now surrounded by a jungle. Buried somewhere in deep grass there is a rusting lawn mower which I have promised to repair one day.

New words and expressions 生詞與短語(yǔ)

plead

v. 找(借口)，辯解

ignorance

n. 無(wú)知，不懂

publication

n. 出版物

newlyweds

n. 新婚夫婦

gaily

adv. 愉快地，高興地

leisure

n. 空閑

keen

adj. 熱心的，渴望的

advisory

adj. 咨詢的

novice

n. 新手

consumer

n. 消費(fèi)者，顧客

assemble

v. 裝配，組裝

outlet

n. 出路

creative

adj. 創(chuàng)造性的

handyman

n. 手巧的人，能工巧匠

resourceful

adj. 足智多謀的

fuse

v. 由于燒斷保險(xiǎn)絲而短路

rickety

adj. 要散架的，晃動(dòng)的

clog

v. 堵塞

delusion

n. 錯(cuò)覺(jué)

lawn mower

割草機(jī)

adjustment

n. 調(diào)整

screw

n. 螺絲釘

dismantle

v. 拆卸

chunk

n. (厚)塊

snap

v. 繃斷

insurmountable

adj. 不能克服的，難以對(duì)付的

jigsaw

n. 線鋸

nag

v. 嘮叨不休

rust

v. 生銹

本文參考譯文

現(xiàn)在我們自己動(dòng)手做事的熱情很高，結(jié)果對(duì)于專業(yè)工人的依賴越來(lái)越少了。由于出版了不計(jì)其數(shù)的教人自己動(dòng)手做事的書報(bào)雜志，沒(méi)有人再能說(shuō)對(duì)某事一無(wú)所知。新婚夫婦找來(lái)合適的工具和材料，喜氣洋洋地開(kāi)始布置新房。特別是男人，常利用空閑時(shí)間安裝壁爐、布置花園、建造車庫(kù)、制作家具。有些熱衷于自己動(dòng)手的人甚至自己組裝電腦。為了滿足自己動(dòng)手熱的需要，商店不僅為初學(xué)者提供專門的咨詢服務(wù)，而且為顧客準(zhǔn)備了各種零件，供他們買回家去安裝。這些東西為人們潛在的創(chuàng)造力提供了一個(gè)絕妙的用武之地。但不幸的是，我們并非人人都是能工巧匠。

妻子常常認(rèn)為她們的丈夫無(wú)比聰明能干。甚至那些連一枚釘子都釘不直的男人都被認(rèn)為是天生的電工、木匠、水管工和機(jī)械師。每當(dāng)電燈保險(xiǎn)絲燒斷、家具榫頭松動(dòng)、管道堵塞、吸塵器不動(dòng)時(shí)，有些妻子認(rèn)為丈夫總有辦法。自己動(dòng)手的例子中最糟糕的是，有時(shí)甚至是男人盡管接連失敗卻還誤以為自己什么都行，原因就是要面子。

今年春天，妻子讓我請(qǐng)人檢查一下我家的割草機(jī)。那臺(tái)割草機(jī)去年夏天就壞了，盡管我答應(yīng)修，但一直沒(méi)抽出時(shí)間，我不愿聽(tīng)妻子的建議，說(shuō)我自己會(huì)修。一個(gè)星期六的下午，我把割草機(jī)拉到了花園里，仔細(xì)檢查了一番。在我看來(lái)，只需稍加調(diào)整即可。這兒緊緊螺絲，那兒固定一下，再加幾滴油，就會(huì)像新的一樣了。事實(shí)上，修理工作遠(yuǎn)不是那么簡(jiǎn)單。修完后割草機(jī)還是紋絲不動(dòng)。于是，我決定把它拆開(kāi)。一會(huì)兒工夫，割草機(jī)便被拆成一個(gè)個(gè)金屬零件，亂七八糟地堆在花園里。但我卻非常高興，因?yàn)槲艺业搅嗣�病所在。�?qū)動(dòng)輪子的鏈條斷了一節(jié)。我買來(lái)一根新鏈條后，面臨的就是如何把這些令人眼花繚亂的拼板重新組裝起來(lái)。等我裝完后，那臺(tái)割草機(jī)仍然一動(dòng)不動(dòng)，對(duì)此我倒并不感到吃驚。原因很簡(jiǎn)單，因?yàn)檫�剩下幾個(gè)形狀奇特的零件似乎哪里也裝不上去。我無(wú)可奈何，只好罷休。幾個(gè)星期過(guò)去了，草長(zhǎng)了起來(lái)。妻子喋喋不休讓我想點(diǎn)辦法。我告訴她，要么買一臺(tái)新割草機(jī)，要么讓草長(zhǎng)下去。不用說(shuō)，我家現(xiàn)在已被叢林包圍。深草叢中的某個(gè)地方有一臺(tái)正在生銹的割草機(jī)，那就是我曾答應(yīng)某日要修理的割草機(jī)。

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