第160期：《小红马》——成长的礼物

想成为我们的主播，欢迎加微信 xdfbook 投稿。 一段美文，一首英文歌，或是一点生活感想，全由你做主。 《小红马》——成长的礼物 The Red Pony “Ma’am, ma’am, there’s a catalog ).” Mrs. Tiflin was in the kitchen spooning clabbered milk ) into a cotton bag. She put down her work and rinsed ) her hands under the tap. “Here in the kitchen, Jody. Here I am.” He ran in and clattered ) his lunch pail ) on the sink. “Here it is. Can I open the catalog, ma’am?” Mrs. Tiflin took up the spoon again and went back to her cottage cheese ). “Don’t lose it, Jody. Your father will want to see it.” She scraped ) the last of the milk into the bag. “Oh, Jody, your father wants to see you before you go to do your chores.” The boy laid the catalog gently on the sink board. “Do you—is it something I did?” Mrs. Tiflin laughed. “Always a bad conscience ). What did you do?” “Nothing, ma’am,” he said lamely ). His mother hung the full bag on a nail where it could drip into the sink. “He just said he wanted to see you when you got home. He’s somewhere down by the barn.” Jody turned and went out the back door. Hearing his mother open the lunch pail and then gasp with rage, a memory stabbed him and he trotted ) away toward the barn, conscientiously ) not hearing the angry voice that called him from the house. Carl Tiflin and Billy Buck, the ranch-hand, stood against the lower pasture fence. They were talking slowly and aimlessly. In the pasture half a dozen horses nibbled ) contentedly at the sweet grass ). The mare, Nellie, stood backed up against the gate, rubbing her buttocks ) on the heavy post. Jody sidled ) uneasily near. He dragged one foot to give an impression of great innocence and nonchalance ). The two men glanced sideways at him. “I wanted to see you,” Carl said in the stern tone he reserved for children and animals. “Yes, sir,” said Jody guiltily. “Billy, here, says you took good care of the pony before it died.” No punishment was in the air. Jody grew bolder. “Yes, sir, I did.” “Billy says you have a good patient hand with horses.” Jody felt a sudden warm friendliness for the ranch-hand. Billy put in, “He trained that pony as good as anybody I ever seen.” Then Carl Tiflin came gradually to the point. “If you could have another horse would you work for it?” Jody shivered. “Yes, sir.” “Well, look here, then. Billy says the best way for you to be a good hand with horses is to raise a colt ).” “It’s the only good way,” Billy interrupted. “Now, look here, Jody,” continued Carl. “Jess Taylor, up to the ridge ranch, has a fair ) stallion ), but it’ll cost five dollars. I’ll put up ) the money, but you’ll have to work it out all summer. Will you do that?” Jody felt that his insides were shriveling ). “Yes, sir,” he said softly. “And no complaining? And no forgetting when you’re told to do something?” “Yes, sir.” “Well, all right, then. Tomorrow morning you take Nellie up to the ridge ranch and get her bred. You’ll have to take care of her, too, till she throws the colt.” “Yes, sir.” “You better get to the chickens and the wood now.” Jody slid away. His shoulders swayed a little with maturity and importance. He went to his work with unprecedented ) seriousness. This night he did not dump the can of grain to the chickens so that they had to leap over each other and struggle to get it. No, he spread the wheat so far and so carefully that the hens couldn’t find some of it at all. And in the house, after listening to his mother’s despair over boys who filled their lunch pails with slimy, suffocated reptiles, and bugs, he promised never to do it again. Indeed, Jody felt that all such foolishness was lost in the past. He was far too grown up ever to put toads in his lunch pail any more. He carried in so much wood and built such a high structure with it that his mother walked in fear of an avalanche ) of oak. When he was done, when he had gathered eggs that had remained hidden for weeks, Jody walked down again past the cypress ) tree, and past the bunkhouse toward the pasture. A fat toad that looked out at him from under the watering trough ) had no emotional effect on him at all. “妈，妈，有一本产品册子。” 厨房里，蒂福林太太将凝乳一勺勺舀进棉布袋。她放下手中的活儿，在水龙头下面洗了洗手。“在厨房这儿，乔迪。我在这里。” 他跑了进去，哐啷一声把他的午饭桶扔进了水槽。“就是这本。妈，我可以打开看看吗？” 蒂福林太太又拿起勺子，继续做她的农家鲜干酪。“别把它弄丢了，乔迪。你爸爸还要看的。”她把最后一点儿凝乳刮进袋子里。“对啦，乔迪，去干活之前，你爸爸想见见你。” 乔迪把册子轻轻地放在水槽板上。“您是说——我做错什么了吗？” 蒂福林太太笑了。“又心虚了吧。你做了什么吗？” “没做什么呀，妈。”他的回答毫无说服力。 他妈妈把满满一袋子凝乳挂在钉子上，这样袋子里的水就可以滴进水槽中。“他刚才只说让你回家后去见他。他在下面的牲口棚附近。” 乔迪转身从后门出去了。他听见妈妈打开午饭桶，紧接着气得直喘，这让他猛地想起了自己干的事，于是他赶紧朝牲口棚小跑过去，很小心地不去听屋里传来的那叫他的怒喊声。 卡尔•蒂福林和农场帮工比利•巴克背靠低矮的牧场围栏站着。他们不紧不慢、不着边际地聊着天。牧场上有六匹马在啃咬着甜味草，一副心满意足的样子。母马内莉则倚靠着大门站着，不停地在笨重的柱子上蹭着自己的后臀。 乔迪提心吊胆、小心翼翼地走到旁边。他拖着一只脚，装出一副清白无辜、若无其事的样子。 这两个男人瞟了他一眼。 “我正要找你。”卡尔用一种对孩子和牲畜惯有的严厉口吻说道。 “好的，爸爸。”乔迪心虚地说。 “比利说那只小马没死之前你照料得很好。” 不是惩罚的语气。乔迪变的大胆了一些。“是的，爸爸，我是那样做的。” “比利说你照看马时很有耐心。” 乔迪突然对这位农场帮工的友好感到格外暖心。 比利插话说：“他对那只小马的训练不比我见过的任何人差。” 这时卡尔•蒂福林渐渐进入正题。“要是你可以再有一匹马，你会好好伺候它吗？” 乔迪颤抖着。“会的，爸爸。” “好，那么听我说。比利说让你成为养马能手的最好办法是从养小马驹开始。” “这是唯一不错的办法。”比利打断道。 “现在听我说，乔迪，”卡尔继续说，“山上牧场的杰斯•泰勒有一匹漂亮的种马，不过得花五美元才能配种。钱我先垫上，但是你必须干一夏天的活。你愿意这么做吗？” 乔迪感到心头一紧。“愿意，爸爸。”他轻声说道。 “不会抱怨？也不会忘记交待给你的事情？” “不会的，爸爸。” “嗯，那就这样说好了。明天一大早，你把内莉牵到山上的牧场，给它配种。你还必须照料好它，一直等到它生出小马驹来。” “好的，爸爸。” “你现在最好去喂鸡、拾柴火吧。” 乔迪一溜烟跑了，双肩抖了一下，一副长大了、了不得的样子。 他从未这样认真地干过活。这天晚上，他没有把整桶谷物倒进鸡群里，让它们必须踩着彼此蹦来跳去地争食吃。他没有这样做，而是小心地把小麦撒得远远的，以至于有些麦粒母鸡们根本都找不到。回屋后，听到妈妈对男孩们往午饭桶里塞那些令人窒息的、粘糊糊的爬虫和臭虫感到很失望后，他保证再也不搞恶作剧了。乔迪甚至觉得所有这些傻事都已经是过去的事了。现在他长大了，不会再把癞蛤蟆放进自己的午饭桶里。他拾了很多柴火，把它们堆成高高的柴火堆，害得他妈妈路过时都担心橡木柴火堆会塌下来。在干完这个活儿，又捡完好几周都没被发现的那些鸡蛋后，乔迪穿过那棵柏树，走过那间农舍，一路朝牧场走去。一只胖乎乎的癞蛤蟆从牲口的饮水槽底下看着他，可他根本没有兴趣去抓它。 文章摘自：《新东方英语·中学生》杂志2016年10月号