3 Chapter 2 Life on the Mississippi

Chapter 2 Life on the Mississippi "Work consists of whatever a body is obliged to do, and play consists of whatever a body is not obliged to do." —Mark Twain In March 1847, Sam's father caught pneumonia and died. Sam was only eleven. He felt terrible about his father's death. It wasn't because the two had been close—they hadn't. (Sam said he never saw his father laugh.) But Sam felt bad that he hadn't been a better son.

第二章密西西比河上的生活“工作包括身体必须做的事情，而玩耍包括身体没有义务做的事情。” -马克·吐温1847年3月，萨姆的父亲得了肺炎去世了。 山姆只有十一岁。他对父亲的死感到很难过。 这并不是因为他们俩曾经很亲密——他们没有。 (山姆说他从没见父亲笑过。)但山姆感到很难过，他没有成为一个更好的儿子。

The family fell on especially hard times. Jane Clemens had to take Sam out of school and put him to work. He became a printer's apprentice at the Missouri Courier newspaper. In those days, every letter of every word had to be set by hand from individual metal block letters. Sam's job included setting stories in type, running and cleaning the printing press, sweeping the floors, and delivering papers. In return, Sam received free room and board. He was not paid any money, nor were apprentices in most trades. Learning a trade was considered

这个家庭陷入了特别困难的时期。 简·克莱门斯不得不让山姆辍学，让他去工作。 他成为密苏里信使报的印刷学徒。 在那些日子里，每个单词的每个字母都必须用单个的金属正楷手工拼出来。 山姆的工作包括排版、操作和清洁印刷机、扫地和送报纸。 作为回报，萨姆得到了免费的食宿。 他一分钱也没有，大多数行业的学徒也没有。 学习一门手艺是被考虑的

payment enough. Sam's "room" was a straw mattress on the floor of the printing office. His "board" consisted of meals so skimpy that he stole potatoes and onions from the cellar. Sam also consumed a steady diet of books—everything he could get his hands on. In 1850 he went to work for his older brother, Orion, at the Hannibal Journal.

支付足够的。山姆的“房间”是印刷办公室地板上的一张稻草床垫。 他的“伙食”很少，他从地窖里偷土豆和洋葱。 萨姆还经常看书——凡是他能弄到的书。 1850年，他在《汉尼拔日报》为他的哥哥奥里翁工作。

Before long, Sam, now a teenager, began to write. His humorous stories, poetry, and local news were published in the Journal. To liven up the paper, he sometimes signed his pieces W. Epaminondas Adrastus Blab, or he caught readers' attention with headlines like:

不久，萨姆，现在是一个青少年，开始写作。 他的幽默故事、诗歌和当地新闻都刊登在《华尔街日报》上。 为了使文章生动活泼，他有时会在文章上署名W。 伊巴密农达斯·阿德拉斯图斯·布拉，或者他以这样的标题吸引读者的注意力:

TERRIBLE ACCIDENT! 500 MEN KILLED AND MISSING! We had set the above head up expecting (of course) to use it, but as the accident hasn't happened yet, we'll say (To be Continued,) Sam's lively reporting sold more copies of the Journal, but Orion didn't appreciate his brother stretching, twisting, and even inventing news. Journalism was supposed to be fact, not fiction. When Sam was seventeen, he packed his bags. His restless spirit took him first to St. Louis, then to New York, Philadelphia, Keokuk (Iowa), Chicago, and Cincinnati.

可怕的事故!500人死亡和失踪!我们设定了上面的标题(当然)，希望使用它，但由于事故还没有发生，我们会说(待续)，山姆的生动报道卖出了更多的《华尔街日报》，但奥里翁不喜欢他的兄弟拉长、扭曲，甚至捏造新闻。 新闻应该是事实，而不是虚构。 当山姆十七岁时，他收拾行装。 他不安的心情首先把他带到圣。 然后去了纽约、费城、基奥卡克(爱荷华州)、芝加哥和辛辛那提。

Sam worked at various printing jobs in each new place. For a time, he wrote travel letters for the Keokuk Post, signing the humorous pieces Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass. Sam had fun writing. To him, it wasn't work. But the printing jobs were boring. Sam later admitted that he did them "lazily, repiningly, complainingly, disgustedly, and always shirking the work when I was not watched." Sam also wanted to make money—lots of money. So when he read about people making fortunes trading the cocoa plant in South America, he decided to go there. It was the first of many get-rich-quick schemes Sam made the mistake of pursuing. He headed south on the Mississippi

萨姆在每个新地方都做过各种各样的印刷工作。 有一段时间，他为《基奥卡克邮报》(Keokuk Post)写旅行信，署名幽默作品托马斯·杰斐逊·斯诺德格拉斯(Thomas Jefferson Snodgrass)。 山姆很喜欢写作。对他来说，这不是工作。 但是印刷工作很无聊。 山姆后来承认，他做这些事情时“懒惰、抱怨、抱怨、厌恶，而且总是在没人看着的时候逃避工作。” 萨姆也想赚钱——赚很多很多的钱。 因此，当他读到有人在南美洲通过交易可可树发家致富时，他决定去那里。 这是山姆犯下的许多一夜暴富的错误中的第一个。 他沿着密西西比河向南驶去