全新版大学英语(第二版)综合教程2课文及翻译(13)

或许因为我本人也生长在佐治亚州的一个南方小镇的缘故，我觉得跟罗莎琳和吉米·卡特夫妇坐下交谈就如同在夏日午后荡在门廊的秋千椅上呷冰茶那么舒服。坐落于蓝岭山脉的卡特夫妇幽居的原木小屋前，恰好就有这样的秋千椅，往下看去是一条咆哮的山间溪流。和小屋里别的家具一样，这秋千椅是前总统卡特设计和制作的。卡特是一位手艺高明的木工，为了制作这些家具，他从其方圆160英亩的农庄上亲自遴选并砍伐树木，而后剥去树皮，将木料制成家具及其他用品。

2 "My daddy was a good man with tools," he recalls, "so learning how to use them was as natural as breathing for us. If something broke, we had to fix it ourselves. You didn't call somebody in to repair something or replace it with something new. We had these skills -- all farmers did during the Depression years."

“我父亲擅长使用工具，”他回忆道，“因此学习使用工具对我们来说就像呼吸一样自然。要是有什么东西坏了，我们就得自己修。我们不会请人来修理或换新的。我们有这种手艺 —— 大萧条时期，农民都有这一手。”

3 Over the years, Carter has made some 50 household items, about half of which he has given away as gifts. But some pieces still sit around the family's Plains house and have been in use for over 30 years. His wife is quick to point out, however, that his skills improved as time went on. "When we came home from the Navy in 1953, he built a sofa for the back porch. He used nails then. Now he builds everything without nails. He's studied woodworking and worked at it, and he's made really beautiful furniture for our home -- including a pencil-post bed and tables by the side."

多年来，卡特制作了约50件居家用品，差不多有一半已作为礼物馈赠他人。但有些制品仍留在普兰斯的家里，都用了30多年了。不过，他妻子赶紧指出，他的手艺在不断提高。“1953年我们刚从海军退役回家时，他做了只放在后门廊用的沙发。那时他还用钉子。现在他做什么都不用钉子了。他研究木工工艺，下功夫制作，他给家里做的家具真的非常漂亮，包括一张细柱床和配套的床头柜。”

4 His woodworking talent served Carter well during his political campaigns, particularly when meeting factory workers. "You don't have to say but a few things to people who work in a factory before they realize that you, yourself, have been a laborer. It may be a different kind of skill from theirs, but there's a bond, sort of like a brotherhood, among people who work with their hands."

卡特的木工才干在政治竞选中，尤其是在与工厂工人见面时发挥了很好的作用。“你不用跟在工厂干活的人多说，他们就会明白，原来你本人也是个劳动者。你的手艺或许跟他们不一样，但在干体力活的人之间有种天然的纽带，好似手足之情。”

5 Once he campaigned his way to the presidency, Carter occasionally managed to slip in a few hours at the carpenter's shed at Camp David, because, in his opinion, "What we need in our lives is a stock of factors that never change. (1)I think that skill