2 Chapter 1 A Boy from Virginia

Chapter I A Boy from Virginia On the night of February 22, 1732, Augustine Washington sat at a table by candlelight. A family Bible lay open before him. Gus, as everyone called him, was a tobacco farmer in the colony of

1732年2月22日晚上，奥古斯丁·华盛顿在烛光下坐在桌旁。 一本家庭圣经摊开在他面前。 大家都叫他格斯，他是殖民地的一个烟农

Virginia. With a pen made from the quill of a turkey, he wrote down the name of his son—George—who had been born that very morning. George's mother, Mary, was Gus's second wife. (His first wife had died, leaving him with two teenage sons.) One night not long before George was born, a bolt of lightning shot down the chimney of the Washingtons' farmhouse. It killed a woman who was visiting Mary. Mary worried that the lightning was a sign of bad luck. It might mean that there'd be something wrong with her baby. But George was a strong, healthy baby. People said he looked like his mother. He grew into a tall, athletic boy who loved to ride horses through the green countryside. In later years he was known as the best horseman in Virginia.

维吉尼亚州。他用一只用火鸡羽毛做成的笔写下了他儿子乔治的名字——他就在那天早上出生。 乔治的母亲玛丽是格斯的第二任妻子。 (他的第一任妻子去世了，留给他两个十几岁的儿子。)乔治出生前不久的一个晚上，一道闪电从华盛顿家农舍的烟囱里射了下来。 它杀死了一个探望玛丽的女人。 玛丽担心闪电是厄运的征兆。 这可能意味着她的孩子有问题。 但乔治是个强壮健康的孩子。 人们说他长得像他母亲。 他长成了一个高大健壮的男孩，喜欢骑马穿过绿色的乡村。 在后来的几年里，他被认为是弗吉尼亚最好的骑手。

When George was about seven, the family moved to Ferry Farm. It was across the river from Fredericksburg, Virginia. By this time George had a younger sister, Betty, and three younger brothers—Samuel, John, and Charles. (People said George

乔治七岁时，全家搬到了费里农场。 它与弗吉尼亚州的弗雷德里克斯堡隔河相望。 这时，乔治有了一个妹妹贝蒂和三个弟弟——塞缪尔、约翰和查尔斯。 (人们说乔治

and Betty looked a lot alike. As a grown woman, she would do funny imitations of her famous brother!) There isn't any information about how George and his father got along. But we do know he wasn't close to his mother. Mary Washington was a cold, bossy woman. All George's friends were scared of her. Strangely, she never took pride in her eldest son, not even after he became president. His letters to her would begin "Honored Madam" instead of "Dear Mother." And he never introduced his wife, Martha, to her! A FAMOUS LIE MANY GENERATIONS OF SCHOOLCHILDREN LEARNED THE STORY OF GEORGE WASHINGTON CHOPPING DOWN A CHERRY TREE ON HIS FAMILY'S FARM. WHEN HIS ANGRY FATHER ASKED WHO HAD

和贝蒂长得很像 作为一个成年女性，她会滑稽地模仿她著名的哥哥!)没有任何关于乔治和他父亲相处的信息。 但我们知道他和他母亲并不亲近。 玛丽·华盛顿是一个冷酷、专横的女人。 乔治所有的朋友都怕她。 奇怪的是，她从来没有为她的大儿子感到骄傲，甚至在他成为总统之后也没有。 他给她的信将以“尊敬的夫人”而不是“亲爱的母亲”开头。 而且他从来没有把他的妻子玛莎介绍给她!乔治·华盛顿在自家农场砍倒一棵樱桃树的故事，是一代又一代学童都知道的著名谎言。 当他生气的父亲问是谁的时候

DONE SUCH A TERRIBLE THING, GEORGE CONFESSED RIGHT AWAY. "I CANNOT TELL A LIE," HE SAID. "PA, IT WAS I WHO CHOPPED IT DOWN." THE STORY SHOWED HOW HONEST GEORGE WAS, EVEN AS A SMALL BOY. THE STORY, HOWEVER, WAS ENTIRELY MADE UP. SOON AFTER WASHINGTON'S DEATH, A MAN NAMED MASON LOCKE WEEMS WROTE A BOOK ABOUT THE FIRST PRESIDENT. WEEMS WANTED WASHINGTON TO SEEM PERFECT. AND SO HE MADE UP STORIES SUCH AS THE ONE ABOUT THE CHERRY TREE. IT TOOK MORE THAN A HUNDRED YEARS BEFORE THE TRUTH CAME OUT ABOUT THE UNTRUTHFUL BOOK.

做了这么可怕的事，乔治马上就承认了。 “我不能说谎，”他说。 “爸，是我砍的。” 这个故事表明乔治是多么诚实，即使是一个小男孩。 然而，这个故事完全是编造的。 华盛顿去世后不久，一个名叫梅森·洛克·威姆斯的人写了一本关于这位第一任总统的书。 威姆斯希望华盛顿看起来完美无缺。 于是他编了一些故事，比如关于樱桃树的故事。 过了一百多年，那本不真实的书的真相才大白于世。

The person he loved best in the world was his kind half-brother Lawrence. Lawrence was Gus's oldest son. He was fourteen years older than George. Lawrence had gone to school in England.

他在这个世界上最爱的人是他善良的同父异母的哥哥劳伦斯。 劳伦斯是格斯的大儿子。 他比乔治大十四岁。 劳伦斯在英国上过学。