Do it yourself 自己動手

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

plead

v. 找(借口)，辯解

ignorance

n. 無知，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. 由于燒斷保險絲而短路

rickety

adj. 要散架的，晃動的

clog

v. 堵塞

delusion

n. 錯覺

lawn mower

割草機

adjustment

n. 調整

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)在我們自己動手做事的熱情很高，結果對于專業(yè)工人的依賴越來越少了。由于出版了不計其數的教人自己動手做事的書報雜志，沒有人再能說對某事一無所知。新婚夫婦找來合適的工具和材料，喜氣洋洋地開始布置新房。特別是男人，常利用空閑時間安裝壁爐、布置花園、建造車庫、制作家具。有些熱衷于自己動手的人甚至自己組裝電腦。為了滿足自己動手熱的需要，商店不僅為初學者提供專門的咨詢服務，而且為顧客準備了各種零件，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。

妻子常常認為她們的丈夫無比聰明能干。甚至那些連一枚釘子都釘不直的男人都被認為是天生的電工、木匠、水管工和機械師。每當電燈保險絲燒斷、家具榫頭松動、管道堵塞、吸塵器不動時，有些妻子認為丈夫總有辦法。自己動手的例子中最糟糕的是，有時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，妻子讓我請人檢查一下我家的割草機。那臺割草機去年夏天就壞了，盡管我答應修，但一直沒抽出時間，我不愿聽妻子的建議，說我自己會修。一個星期六的下午，我把割草機拉到了花園里，仔細檢查了一番。在我看來，只需稍加調整即可。這兒緊緊螺絲，那兒固定一下，再加幾滴油，就會像新的一樣了。事實上，修理工作遠不是那么簡單。修完后割草機還是紋絲不動。于是，我決定把它拆開。一會兒工夫，割草機便被拆成一個個金屬零件，亂七八糟地堆在花園里。但我卻非常高興，因為我找到了毛病所在。驅動輪子的鏈條斷了一節(jié)。我買來一根新鏈條后，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。等我裝完后，那臺割草機仍然一動不動，對此我倒并不感到吃驚。原因很簡單，因為還剩下幾個形狀奇特的零件似乎哪里也裝不上去。我無可奈何，只好罷休。幾個星期過去了，草長了起來。妻子喋喋不休讓我想點辦法。我告訴她，要么買一臺新割草機，要么讓草長下去。不用說，我家現(xiàn)在已被叢林包圍。深草叢中的某個地方有一臺正在生銹的割草機，那就是我曾答應某日要修理的割草機。

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