Lesson 46

So great is our passion for doing things for ourselves, that we are becoming increasingly less dependent on specialized labour.
我们自己动手做事的欲望是如此强烈，以至于我们正变得越来越不依赖专业分工。
No one can plead ignorance of a subject any longer, for there are countless do-it-yourself publications.
没有人可以再以对某一学科一无所知为借口了，因为有无数的自助出版物。
Armed with the right tools and materials, newlyweds gaily embark on the task of decorating their own homes.
装备了正确的工具和材料，新婚夫妇愉快地开始布置自己的家。
Men, particularly, spend hours of their leisure time installing their own fireplaces, laying out their own gardens; building garages and making furniture.
男人，尤其是，在闲暇时间花费数小时安装他们自己的壁炉，规划布局他们自己的花园；建造车库以及制作家具。
Some really keen enthusiasts go so far as to build their own computers.
一些非常热心的爱好者竟然发展到自己组装计算机的地步。
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.
商店迎合“自己动手”的热潮，不仅通过为初学者提供专门的咨询服务，还通过向消费者提供可以在家组装的零碎部件。
Such things provide an excellent outlet for pent up creative energy, but unfortunately not all of us are born handymen.
这些东西为积压的创造力提供了一个极佳的宣泄口，但不幸的是，并非我们所有人都是天生的能工巧匠。
Some wives tend to believe that their husbands are infinitely resourceful and can fix anything.
一些妻子倾向于认为他们的丈夫是足智多谋的，并且能修理任何东西。
Even men who can hardly drive a nail in straight are supposed to be born electricians, carpenters, plumbers and mechanics.
甚至那些连钉子都钉不直的男人，也被认为天生就是电工、木工、水管工和机械师。
When lights fuse, furniture gets rickety, pipes get clogged, or vacuum cleaners fail to operate, some women assume that their husbands will somehow put things right.
当灯泡烧坏、家具摇晃、管道堵塞或吸尘器坏了时，一些女性认为她们的丈夫总会设法把事情修好。
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.
这种“自己动手”游戏最糟糕的地方在于，有时甚至男人也生活在一种错觉中，认为自己无所不能，甚至在他们一再被证明是错误的时候。
It is a question of pride as much as anything else.
这与其说是别的东西，不如说是自尊的问题。
Last spring my wife suggested that I call in a man to look at our lawn mower.
去年春天，我妻子建议我请个人来修理我们的割草机。
It had broken down the previous summer, and though I promised to repair it, I had never got round to it.
它在去年夏天就坏了，虽然我答应过要修理它，但我一直没能抽出时间来处理。
I would not hear of the suggestion and said that I would fix it myself.
我不愿听从这个建议，并说我会亲自修理它。
One Saturday afternoon, I hauled the machine into the garden and had a close look at it.
一个周六的下午，我把机器拖进花园，仔细检查了一番。
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.
就我所见，它只需要一点微调：这里拧下螺丝，那里加固一下，再滴一点油，它就会焕然一新。
Inevitably the repair job was not quite so simple.
不可避免地，这项修理工作并不完全是那么简单。
The mower firmly refused to mow, so I decided to dismantle it.
这台割草机坚决拒绝割草，所以我决定拆卸它。
The garden was soon littered with chunks of metal which had once made up a lawn mower.
花园里很快就散落着金属碎片，这些碎片曾经是一台割草机。
But I was extremely pleased with myself.
但我对我自己感到极其满意。
I had traced the cause of the trouble.
我追踪到了麻烦的原因。
One of the links in the chain that drives the wheels had snapped.
驱动轮子的链条中的一个链节断裂了。
After buying a new chain I was faced with the insurmountable task of putting the confusing jigsaw puzzle together again.
在买了一条新链条之后，我面临着一项艰巨的任务，即要把这令人困惑的拼图重新拼凑在一起。
I was not surprised to find that the 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.
我并不惊讶地发现，在我重新组装好之后，这台机器仍然无法运转，因为一个简单的原因：我剩下了几个奇形怪状的金属零件，它们似乎哪儿也装不上去。
I gave up in despair.
我绝望地放弃了。
The weeks passed and the grass grew.
几周过去了，草也长高了。
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.
当我的妻子为了这件事唠叨我时，我告诉她，我要么得买一台新割草机，要么就让草长着。
Needless to say our house is now surrounded by a jungle.
不用说，我们的房子现在被一片丛林包围了。
Buried somewhere in deep grass there is a rusting lawn mower which I have promised to repair one day.
深草丛中的某个地方埋着一台生锈的割草机，我曾承诺总有一天会修理它。