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Catching Crabs

1 In the fall of our final year, our mood changed. the relaxed atmosphere of the preceding summer semester, the impromptu ball games, the boating on the Charles River, the late-night parties had disappeared, and we all started to get our heads down, studying late, and attendance at classes rose steeply again. We all sensed we were coming to the end of our stay here, that we would never get a chance like this again, and we became determined not to waste it. Most important of course were the final exams in April and May in the following year. No one wanted the humiliation of finishing last in class, so the peer group pressure to work hard was strong. Libraries which were once empty after five o'clock in the afternoon were standing room only until the early hours of the morning, and guys wore the bags under their eyes and their pale, sleepy faces with pride, like medals proving their diligence.

大学最后一年的秋天，我们的心情变了。刚刚过去的夏季学期的轻松氛围、即兴球赛、查尔斯河上的泛舟以及深夜晚会都不见了踪影，我们开始埋头学习，苦读到深夜，课堂出勤率再次急剧上升。我们都觉得在校时间不多了，以后再也不会有这样的学习机会了，所以都下定决心不再虚度光阴。当然，下一年四五月份的期末考试最为重要。我们谁都不想考全班倒数第一，那太丢人了，因此同学们之间的竞争压力特别大。以前每天下午五点以后，图书馆就空无一人了，现在却要等到天快亮时才会有空座，小伙子们熬夜熬出了眼袋，他们脸色苍白，睡眼惺忪，却很自豪，好像这些都是表彰他们勤奋好学的奖章。

2 But there was something else. At the back of everyone's mind was what we would do next, when we left university in a few months' time. It wasn't always the high flyers with the top grades who knew what they were going to do. Quite often it was the quieter, less impressive students who had the next stages of their life mapped out. One had landed a job in his brother's advertising firm in Madison Avenue, another had got a script under provisional acceptance in Hollywood. The most ambitious student among us was going to work as a party activist at a local level. We all saw him ending up in the Senate or in Congress one day. But most people were either looking to continue their studies, or to make a living with a white-collar job in a bank, local government, or anything which would pay them enough to have a comfortable time in their early twenties, and then settle down with a family, a mortgage and some hope of promotion. 还有别的事情让大家心情焦虑。每个人都在心里盘算着过几个月毕业离校之后该找份什么样的工作。并不总是那些心怀抱负、成绩拔尖的高材生才清楚自己将来要做什么，常常是那些平日里默默无闻的同学早早为自己下几个阶段的人生做好了规划。有位同学在位于麦迪逊大道他哥哥的广告公司得到了一份工作，另一位同学写的电影脚本已经与好莱坞草签了合约。我们当中野心最大的一位同学准备到地方上当一个政党活动家，我们都预料他最终会当上参议员或国会议员。但大多数同学不是准备继续深造，就是想在银行、地方政府或其他单位当个白领，希望在20出头的时候能挣到足够多的薪水，过上舒适的生活，然后就娶妻生子，贷款买房，期望升职，过安稳日子。

3 I went home at Thanksgiving, and inevitably, mybrothers and sisters kept asking me what I was planning to do. I didn't know what to say. Actually, I did know what to say, but I thought they'd probably criticize me, so I told them what everyone else was thinking of doing.

感恩节的时候我回了一趟家，兄弟姐妹们免不了不停地问我毕业后有什么打算，我不知道该

说什么。实际上，我知道该说什么，但我怕他们批评我，所以只对他们说了别人都准备干什么。

4 My father was watching me but saying nothing. Late in the evening, he invited me to his study. We sat down and he poured us a drink.

父亲看着我，什么也没说。夜深时，他叫我去他的书房。我们坐了下来，他给我们俩各倒了杯饮料。

5 \ “怎么样？”他问。 6 \ “啊，什么怎么样？”

7 \“你毕业后到底想做什么？”他问道。

8 My father was a lawyer, and I had always assumed he wanted me to go to law school, and follow his path through life. So I hesitated.

父亲是一名律师，我一直都认为他想让我去法学院深造，追随他的人生足迹，所以我有点儿犹豫。

9 Then I replied, “I want to travel, and I want to be a writer.” 过了会儿我回答说：“我想旅行，我想当个作家。”

10 This was not the answer I thought he would expect. Travel? Where? A writer? About what? I braced myself for some resistance to the idea. 我想这不是他所期待的答案。旅行？去哪儿旅行？当作家？写什么呀？我做好了遭到他反对的心理准备。

11 There was a long silence. 接着是一段长长的沉默。

12 \ “这想法有点意思，”他最后说。

13 There was another long silence. 接着又是一段长长的沉默。

14 \“我真有点希望自己在你这个年纪时能做这些事儿。”

15 I waited. 我在等他把话说完。

16 \ a career which pays well just at the moment. You need to find out what you really enjoy now, because if you don't, you won't be successful later.\

“你还有很多时间，不必急于进一个暂时报酬高的行业。你现在要搞清楚自己真正喜欢什么，如果你弄不清楚，以后就不可能成功。”

17 \那我该怎么办呢？

18 He thought for a moment. Then he said, \it's late. Let's take the boat out tomorrow morning, just you and me. Maybe we can catch some crabs for dinner, and we can talk more.\

他想了一会儿。然后他说道：“瞧，现在太晚了。我们明天早晨乘船出海去，就我们两个。也许我们能抓点螃蟹当晚餐，我们还可以再谈谈。”

19 It was a small motor boat, moored ten minutes away, and my father had owned it for years. Early next morning we set off along the estuary. We didn't talk much, but enjoyed the sound of the

seagulls and the sight of the estuary coastline and the sea beyond.

那是一艘小小的机动船，停泊在离我们家约十分钟路程的地方，是好些年前父亲买的。次日清晨，我们沿着港湾出发，一路上没说多少话，只是默默地欣赏着海鸥的叫声，还有港湾沿岸和远处大海的景色。

20 There was no surf on the coastal waters at that time of day, so it was a smooth half-hour ride until my father switched off the motor. \basket with a rope attached and threw it into the sea.

在这个时候沿海水域没什么风浪，船平稳地航行了半个小时之后父亲把船停了下来。他说：“咱们在这儿试试运气吧，”然后抓起一个系上绳子的生了锈的网状篓子抛到海里。

21 We waited a while, then my father stood up and said, \hauled up the crab cage onto the deck. 我们等了一会儿，父亲站起来说，“来帮我一把。”于是我们一起将蟹篓子拽上了甲板。 22 Crabs fascinated me. They were so easy to catch. It wasn't just that they crawled into such an obvious trap, through a small hole in the lid of the basket, but it seemed as if they couldn't be bothered to crawl out again even when you took the lid off. They just sat there, waving their claws at you.

螃蟹让我着迷，它们太容易抓了。不仅仅是因为它们顺着篓盖上的小孔爬进一个再明显不过的陷阱，更因为即便盖子打开了，它们似乎也懒得从里面爬出来，只会趴在那儿冲你挥动着蟹钳。

23 The cage was brimming with dozens of soft shell crabs, piled high on top of each other. \don't they try to escape?\

篓子里挤满了几十只软壳螃蟹，一只压着一只，堆得老高。“它们为什么不逃走啊？”我满腹狐疑地问父亲。

24 \every time the other crabs pull him back in,\

“你先观察一下，看那只螃蟹，那儿！它想爬出去，但每次都被同伴拽了回去，”父亲说。 25 And we watched. The crab climbed up the mesh towards the lid, and sure enough, just as it reached the top, one of its fellow crabs reached out, clamped its claw onto any available leg, and pulled it back. Several times the crab tried to defy his fellow captives, without luck.

我们接着观察。那只螃蟹顺着网眼向顶盖攀援，每当它爬到顶盖时，果然就会有另一只螃蟹举起蟹钳夹住它的腿把它拽下来。这只螃蟹尝试了好几次想挣脱它的狱中同伴，但都没能成功。

26 \ bored with this game.\“快看！”父亲说。“它开始对这种游戏感到不耐烦了。”

27 Not only did the crab give up its lengthy struggle to escape, but it actually began to help stop other crabs trying to escape. He'd finally chosen an easy way of life. 那只螃蟹不仅放弃了漫长的逃亡之战，而且还帮着把其他想逃跑的螃蟹拽下来。它最终选择了一种轻松的活法。

28 Suddenly I understood why my father had suggested catching crabs that morning. He looked at me. \and what you want in life. Look back at the classes you're taking, and think aboutwhich ones were most productive for you personally.Then think about what's really important to you, what really interests you, what skills you have. Try to figure out where you want to live, where you want to go, what you want to earn, how you want to work. And if you can't answer these questions now, then