美国小学英语教材6:第154课年轻的乔治·华盛顿(5)（打印版）

Had his mother not interfered, he would certainly have gone to sea at the age of fourteen,

如果不是他的妈妈干预，他一定在14时当了一名水手，

for Captain Lawrence encouraged the idea. Fortunately, however, Mrs. Washington promptly forbade the plan,

因为劳伦苏上校鼓励这种想法，幸运的是，华盛顿的妈妈立马反对这个计划，

and her son returned to Ferry Farm to finish his schooling under a man named James Marye,

她的儿子回到了“渡口农场”完成了学业，他的老师名叫詹姆斯·马尔晔，

who taught him a little Latin and generally improved his education. Washington was not a solemn old man of a boy.

他教授了他一点拉丁文，普遍上提高了他的教育水平，华盛顿不是一名表情严肃的老男孩。

He was a lively, quick-tempered, companionable youngster who wrestled with the boys and romped with the girls,

他是一个性格活泼，急脾气，友善的年轻人，他和男孩子摔跤，和女孩子嬉戏喧闹，

but had plenty of good, hard commonsense. His schoolmates quickly learned this, and he was often selected to decide disputes,

但他有很多好的，强有力的常识，他的同学迅速了解了这一点，他通常都被选择来决定纷争，

not as an outsider, but as a fellow who could be serious when it was necessary and was known to play fairly and squarely at every kind of sport.

而不是局外人，但他也是一个在必要时刻严肃的人，在各项运动中他都可以做到公平竞争。

Although he was not particularly studious, Washington could work as hard as he could play,

尽管他不是特别勤奋，但华盛顿在工作上也可以像他玩耍时一样努力，

and he was clever enough to know that if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well. One of his schoolbooks,

他清楚地知道，如果一件事情值得去做，那就值得去做好，他的一本课本

called The Young Man's Companion, is still in existence. From its exercises anyone can see where he acquired his good, clear handwriting,

名叫“年轻人的伴侣”，如今这本书还在，从书的练习册人们就知道他的一手好字出自哪里，

and how faithfully he stuck to its figures and accounts until he trained himself to exactness and order.

他准确地按照数字和账目执行，直到把自己训练到十分精准和有秩序。

There were plenty of boys in Virginia who were quite as well educated and promising as he was at the age of sixteen,

弗吉尼亚有很多男孩接受了很好的教育，也像他在16岁一样前程似锦，

but the little he had learned from books, he had learned thoroughly.

但他很少从书本中得到知识，他的涉及范围很广泛。