EARNING A PLAYGROUND
获得游乐场
Edward W. Frentz
爱德华·w·弗伦茨
Boys and girls must have places to play.
男孩和女孩们得有地方玩。
The streets are often dangerous in this day of swift automobiles,
在汽车飞速运行的今天，街道通常很危险。
and of course they do not make the best kind of playground.
所以，街道肯定不是最合适的游乐场所。
Sometimes older people are not as thoughtful as they should be in giving children playgrounds.
有时，老人在给孩子们选地儿时，考虑得并不那么周到。
This story tells how some boys who were willing to work for their fun won a playground,
这个故事讲述了一些男孩如何赢得了一个游乐场作为他们玩耍的地方，
not only for themselves, but for all boys and girls who might ever live in their town.
不仅是为他们自己，还为了所有可能住在镇上的男孩和女孩儿们。
Between the Long Road and the Cross Road near Brookvale lay a large three-cornered field,
在长路和布鲁克维尔附近的十字路之间，有一片大的三角地，
a part of the old Ross farm. Around it stretched an old fence, now only a post here and there, still holding together a few rails.
这个地方是老罗斯农场的一部分。四周有一圈旧栅栏，现在只有一根杆子矗在那，用围栏连在一起。
Along the fence line had grown up a row of bushes almost as thick as a hedge.
篱笆边长出了一排灌木，几乎和树篱一样粗。
At the lower end of the field stood some tall old elm trees that kept it always shady.
尽头有几棵高大的老榆树，总是能带来阴凉。
No other place in town made so good a ball field on a hot day.
这么热的天，镇上没有比这更好的地方了。
But now some one had bought the old place,
但现在有人买下了这块旧地，
and the boys of the town had heard that the new owner was going to rebuild the fences,
镇上的孩子们听说新主人要重建篱笆，
plow the fields, and make a real farm of it.
耕地，把它变成一个真正的农场。
