When I was a very little boy I was very inquisitive.  小时候就是个非常好奇的孩子，

At least that's what my nurse called me. 至少我的保姆是这样说的。

One day when I was walking with her along the city pavements, I asked:Jane, what's under the pavement?  一天她带我一起走在城市的人行道上，我问她：简，人行道下面是什么？

Oh, just dirt, she replied. And what is under the dirt? Oh, more dirt, she replied.  哦，就是泥土。她回答说。那泥土下面呢？哦，更多的泥土。她回答说。

Well, what's under that? I asked. I wasn't satisfied.  嗯，那再下面是什么呢？我不满意这个回答，又问她。

Oh, nothing-I don't know—why are you always so inquisitive? she asked. 哦，什么都没有—我不知道—你为什么总是这么好奇呢？她问我。

I knew there must be something underneath that, and I just wanted to know what it was—I was just inquisitive.  我想那下面一定有东西，我就是想知道那到底是什么东西—我很好奇。

I had heard that the place bad boys went when they died was down under the ground somewhere—a big cave, perhaps—and I wanted to know if that were so.  我曾听说坏孩子死了之后会到地下的一个什么地方—也许是个大洞—我想知道是不是那样。

And then I had heard that all the way down through on the other side of the World Chinamen lived, head down, and walked upside down like flies on the ceiling.  我还听说绕着地球直到走到另一面是中国人住的地方，人们都是头朝下，倒过来走路的，就像苍蝇趴在天花板上。

I wanted to find out if that were so too. So I made up my mind I'd dig down through the World;  我想看看到底是不是那样。于是我下定决心要自己挖通世界；

down, down, down, till I came through on the other side, and then I'd know.  向下一直挖，一直挖，一直挖到世界的另一面，那时我就知道了。

I was a very little boy, you see. With a tin shovel I started a hole in the back yard behind the grapevines, where no one would know what I was doing.  要知道我当时很小，我开始用一把铁锹在后院葡萄藤后面挖了个洞，没人知道我在那儿干什么。

I wanted to keep it a secret until I had dug all the way through.  我想在我彻底挖通之前保守秘密。

Day after day I worked, digging up first soft ground—that was easy—then I got down to solid ground; that was hard.  我一天又一天地干着，先挖到软软的土层—那很容易，然后我挖到了坚硬的土，很难挖。

I had a hole which I could stand in up to my waist. 我挖出了一个齐腰深的坑。

Then one evening my father asked, What's that hole in the back yard?  后来有天晚上，爸爸问我：后院里那个坑是怎么回事？

My secret was out.  我的秘密被发现了。

He didn't laugh when I told him— at least out loud—but he asked me if I knew how far I'd have to dig. 当我告诉他的时候他并没有笑我—至少没有大声笑出来—但他问我知不知道我得挖多深才能挖得通。