The Oldest Pictures in the World (Ⅰ)世界上最古老的圖畫（上）

By V. M. Hillyer V. M. 希利爾（仲秋?譯）

I was listening to the teacher， but I had my pencil in my hand. There were two little dots about an inch apart on my desk lid. Absent-mindedly I twisted my pencil point into one dot and then into the other. The two dots became two little eyes. I drew a circle around each eye， then I joined the two circles with a half-circle that made a pair of spectacles.

The next day I made a nose and a mouth to go with the eye and spectacles.

The next day I finished the face and added ears and some hair.

The next day I added a hat.

The next day I added a body， with arms， legs， and feet.

The next day I went over the drawing again， bearing heavily on my pencil. Over and over again I followed the lines till they became deep grooves in my desk lid.

我手上拿著一支鉛筆，一邊看著課桌，一邊聽老師講課。課桌上本來有兩個黑點，相距大約一英寸（2.5厘米）。我漫不經(jīng)心地用鉛筆尖在一個點上戳了一下，又在另一個點上描了一下，兩個黑點就成了一對小眼睛。我又在兩個黑點周圍各畫了一個圈，再用一條短弧線把兩個圓圈連接起來，于是，這對小眼睛就戴上了一副眼鏡。

第二天，我在眼睛和眼鏡底下畫上了鼻子和嘴巴。

第三天，我畫完了一張臉，還給他加上了耳朵和頭發(fā)。

第四天，我給他戴了頂帽子。

第五天，我給他畫了身體，包括胳膊、腿和腳。

第六天，我用鉛筆把畫描了一遍又一遍。我用力把畫的線條加深，直到它們在課桌上留下了一道道凹痕。

The next day my teacher caught me and I caught it！

The next day my father got a bill for a new desk and I got—Well， never mind what I got.

“Perhaps he’s going to be an artist，” said my mother.

“Heaven forbid！” said my father. “That would cost me much more than a new desk.” And heaven did forbid.

I know of a school that has a large wooden tablet in the hall for its pupils to draw upon. At the top of the tablet is printed：

If you just must draw， don’t draw on your desk， draw on this tablet.

If you put a pencil in any one’s hand， he just must draw something. Whether he is listening to a lesson or telephoning， he draws circles and faces or triangles and squares over the pad—if there is a pad. Otherwise he draws on the desk top or the wall， for he just must draw something.

第七天，我把畫作完成了！但與此同時，我也被老師發(fā)現(xiàn)了。

第八天，我爸爸收到了購買新課桌的賬單，而我得到了……嗯，不用在意我得到的是什么。

我媽媽說：“他可能會成為一名

畫家。”

我爸爸說：“天哪，那可得阻止他啊！要不然我要花的錢可就遠不止買一張新桌子啦。”后來，老天果然阻止了我。

據(jù)我所知，有所小學在學校大廳專門放了一張大木桌用來給學生們畫畫。在木桌的正上方寫著：

“如果你實在要畫畫，就畫在這張桌子上，請不要畫在課桌上。”

如果你把一支筆放在任何一個人的手中，他是絕對忍不住要畫些什么的。不管他是在聽老師講課還是在接電話，如果有本子，他就會在上面畫些東西：圓形、人臉或者是三角形、正方形什么的。如果沒有本子，那他就可能會在桌面或者墻面上畫了。總之，人都是會忍不住要畫點什么的。

Word? study

twist /tw?st/ v. （用手）轉動，旋轉

spectacles /'spekt?kls/ v. 眼鏡

groove /ɡru?v/ n. 溝;槽

pad /p?d/ n. 便箋本;拍紙簿

Have you ever seen any telephone pad that was not scribbled upon？ We say that’s human nature. It shows you are a human being.

Now， animals can learn to do a good many things that human beings can do， but one thing an animal can’t learn is to draw. Dogs can learn to walk on two legs and fetch the newspaper. Bears can learn to dance. Horses can learn to count. Monkeys can learn to drink out of a cup. Parrots can learn to speak. But human beings are the only animals that can learn to draw.

Every boy and girl who has ever lived has drawn something at some time. Haven’t you？ You have drawn， perhaps， a horse or a house， a ship or an automobile， a dog or a cat. The dog may have looked just like a cat or a caterpillar， but even this is more than any animal can do.

你想想看，哪本電話簿上沒有胡寫亂畫？我們把這叫作人之本性。因為幾乎只要是個人，他就會這么做。

如今，動物也可以學會許多人類會做的事，但是畫畫，動物是怎么都學不會的。狗可以學著用兩條腿走路，也能去取報紙;熊可以學會跳舞;馬可以被訓練得會數(shù)數(shù);猴子可以學會從杯子里喝水;鸚鵡可以學習我們講話……但是，只有人才是唯一可以學會畫畫的，其他動物都不能。

我敢打賭每個小孩都肯定在某時某地畫過畫，不論是男孩還是女孩，你是不是也被我說中了呢？我猜你可能畫過一匹馬、一座小屋、一艘船、一輛汽車？再不然最少也畫過一只貓咪或一條狗。也許你畫的那只狗看起來就像一只貓或是一條毛毛蟲。但是即便如此，你也比其他任何動物強多了，因為它們壓根就不會。

Even wild men who lived so long ago that there were no houses， only caves， to live in—men who were almost like wild animals， with long hair all over their bodies—could draw. There were no pencils or paper then. Men drew pictures on the walls of their caves. The pictures were not framed and hung on the walls. They were drawn right on the walls of the cave and on the ceiling too.

Sometimes the pictures were just scratched or cut into the wall and sometimes they were painted in afterward. The paints those men used were made of a colored clay mixed with grease， usually simply red or yellow. Or perhaps the paint was just blood， which was red at first and then turned almost black. Some of the pictures look as if they had been made with the end of a burned stick as you might make a black mark with the end of a burned match. Other pictures were cut into bone— on the horns of deer or on ivory tusks.

即使在很久很久以前，住在洞穴里的，渾身還長著長毛，看起來就像野生動物的原始人，他們也是會畫畫的。那個時候還沒有筆和紙，他們就在洞穴的壁上畫畫。那些圖畫可不像現(xiàn)在的藝術，被人們用框裝裱起來，然后再掛在墻上。它們被直接畫在洞穴的巖壁上，或者洞穴的壁頂上。

有時，這些圖畫是直接在墻上刻畫出來的，還有一些刻畫過之后又上了色。遠古時代人們使用的顏料一般由有色黏土和動物油脂混合而成，通常只有紅色和黃色這兩種。或者直接用動物的血做顏料，最初，圖畫呈現(xiàn)的是紅色，但最后幾乎變成了黑色。有些圖畫看起來，是用木棍燒成炭后畫出來的，就像我們用燃過的火柴可以畫出黑色的印記一樣。再有一些圖畫它們不是畫出來的，而是刻在骨頭上、鹿角上或者象牙上。

Word? study

scribble /'skr?bl/ v. 胡寫;亂畫

Someone had scribbled all over the table in crayon.

frame /fre?m/ v. 給……做框;給……鑲邊

The photograph had been framed.

ceiling /'si?l??/ n. 天花板;頂棚

She lay on her back staring up at the ceiling.

V. M. 希利爾（1875—1931），美國著名兒童教育家、科普作家，創(chuàng)建了卡爾弗特教育體系。他為孩子們編寫了一套趣味盎然的歷史、地理、藝術讀物，即《寫給孩子看的世界歷史》《寫給孩子看的世界地理》《寫給孩子看的藝術史》。本文選自《寫給孩子看的藝術史》，該書寫于20 世紀二三十年代。

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