By V. M. Hillyer V. M. 希利尔（仲秋 译）

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.

我手上拿着一支铅笔，一边看着课桌，一边听老师讲课。课桌上本来有两个黑点，相距大约一英寸（2.5厘米）。我漫不经心地用铅笔尖在一个点上戳了一下，又在另一个点上描了一下，两个黑点就成了一对小眼睛。我又在两个黑点周围各画了一个圈，再用一条短弧线把两个圆圈连接起来，于是，这对小眼睛就戴上了一副眼镜。

第二天，我在眼睛和眼镜底下画上了鼻子和嘴巴。

第三天，我画完了一张脸，还给他加上了耳朵和头发。

第四天，我给他戴了顶帽子。

第五天，我给他画了身体，包括胳膊、腿和脚。

第六天，我用铅笔把画描了一遍又一遍。我用力把画的线条加深，直到它们在课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，我把画作完成了！但与此同时，我也被老师发现了。

第八天，我爸爸收到了购买新课桌的账单，而我得到了……嗯，不用在意我得到的是什么。

我妈妈说：“他可能会成为一名

画家。”

我爸爸说：“天哪，那可得阻止他啊！要不然我要花的錢可就远不止买一张新桌子啦。”后来，老天果然阻止了我。

据我所知，有所小学在学校大厅专门放了一张大木桌用来给学生们画画。在木桌的正上方写着：

“如果你实在要画画，就画在这张桌子上，请不要画在课桌上。”

如果你把一支笔放在任何一个人的手中，他是绝对忍不住要画些什么的。不管他是在听老师讲课还是在接电话，如果有本子，他就会在上面画些东西：圆形、人脸或者是三角形、正方形什么的。如果没有本子，那他就可能会在桌面或者墙面上画了。总之，人都是会忍不住要画点什么的。

Word  study

twist /twɪst/ v. （用手）转动，旋转

spectacles /'spektəkls/ v. 眼镜

groove /ɡruːv/ n. 沟;槽

pad /pæd/ n. 便笺本;拍纸簿

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，哪本电话簿上没有胡写乱画？我们把这叫作人之本性。因为几乎只要是个人，他就会这么做。

如今，动物也可以学会许多人类会做的事，但是画画，动物是怎么都学不会的。狗可以学着用两条腿走路，也能去取报纸;熊可以学会跳舞;马可以被训练得会数数;猴子可以学会从杯子里喝水;鹦鹉可以学习我们讲话……但是，只有人才是唯一可以学会画画的，其他动物都不能。

我敢打赌每个小孩都肯定在某时某地画过画，不论是男孩还是女孩，你是不是也被我说中了呢？我猜你可能画过一匹马、一座小屋、一艘船、一辆汽车？再不然最少也画过一只猫咪或一条狗。也许你画的那只狗看起来就像一只猫或是一条毛毛虫。但是即便如此，你也比其他任何动物强多了，因为它们压根就不会。

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，浑身还长着长毛，看起来就像野生动物的原始人，他们也是会画画的。那个时候还没有笔和纸，他们就在洞穴的壁上画画。那些图画可不像现在的艺术，被人们用框装裱起来，然后再挂在墙上。它们被直接画在洞穴的岩壁上，或者洞穴的壁顶上。

有时，这些图画是直接在墙上刻画出来的，还有一些刻画过之后又上了色。远古时代人们使用的颜料一般由有色黏土和动物油脂混合而成，通常只有红色和黄色这两种。或者直接用动物的血做颜料，最初，图画呈现的是红色，但最后几乎变成了黑色。有些图画看起来，是用木棍烧成炭后画出来的，就像我们用燃过的火柴可以画出黑色的印记一樣。再有一些图画它们不是画出来的，而是刻在骨头上、鹿角上或者象牙上。

Word  study

scribble /'skrɪbl/ v. 胡写;乱画

Someone had scribbled all over the table in crayon.

frame /freɪm/ v. 给……做框;给……镶边

The photograph had been framed.

ceiling /'siːlɪŋ/ n. 天花板;顶棚

She lay on her back staring up at the ceiling.

V. M. 希利尔（1875—1931），美国著名儿童教育家、科普作家，创建了卡尔弗特教育体系。他为孩子们编写了一套趣味盎然的历史、地理、艺术读物，即《写给孩子看的世界历史》《写给孩子看的世界地理》《写给孩子看的艺术史》。本文选自《写给孩子看的艺术史》，该书写于20 世纪二三十年代。

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