9 Plantation Life

CHAPTER 9 Plantation Life For the next two years, I built up my lands and my crops. They yielded little, mainly food for me and my staff to eat and stay healthy. The promise of success looked excellent, though, and I was pleased with my progress so far. A young man owned the plantation next to mine. He was Portuguese by birth, but his

第九章种植园生活在接下来的两年里，我耕种我的土地，种植我的庄稼。 它们产出很少，主要是供我和我的工作人员吃和保持健康的食物。 不过，成功的希望看起来很好，我对自己目前的进步感到满意。 一个年轻人拥有我旁边的种植园。 他出生在葡萄牙，但他的

parents were English. His name was Wells. We became good friends and even better neighbors. Over those two years, our farms developed at pretty much the same speed. We were both well on our way to having successful sugarcane plantations. Wells and I often took long walks together. We talked about all kinds of things: our farms, our plans for the future, and our pasts. I remember telling him one day that I felt like a man stuck on deserted island there in Brazil. I told him about my father, and about how much I missed him and my mother. He said that it was natural to miss my parents. He was right. My father would have been happy to see me. I had created a good life. I was happy and safe, and on my way to being wealthy. We had a good crop the next year as well. I had everything a man could want—a good,

我的父母是英国人。他的名字叫威尔斯。 我们成了好朋友，甚至是好邻居。 在这两年里，我们的农场几乎以同样的速度发展。 我们俩都在成功种植甘蔗的路上走得很好。 威尔斯和我经常一起长时间散步。 我们谈论了各种各样的事情：我们的农场，我们对未来的计划，还有我们的过去。 我记得有一天告诉他，我感觉自己像一个被困在巴西荒岛上的人。 我告诉他我的父亲，以及我是多么想念他和我的母亲。 他说想念父母是很自然的。 他是对的。我父亲见到我一定很高兴。 我创造了美好的生活。 我很快乐，很安全，在致富的路上。 第二年我们的收成也很好。 我拥有一个男人想要的一切——好的，

working farm, money, friends—but I wasn't satisfied. Deep in my heart I knew these feelings would soon take over common sense. My foolish desire for excitement often got the better of me. In those days, I spoke about my adventures at sea to anyone who would listen. Each time I told the stories, the tales grew bigger. A group of fellow plantation owners were very interested in my travels. The opportunity for them to become even richer excited them. Soon, we had made plans to outfit a ship for a voyage to Africa. In my heart, I knew this was a foolish decision. But once it started rolling like a rock down a hill, I was powerless to stop it. I had no need to increase my wealth. I had no need to change my life. I had no need for an adventure. I was my own destroyer. I couldn't resist the offer, just as I refused to listen to my father all those years ago.

工作的农场、金钱、朋友——但我并不满足。 在我的内心深处，我知道这些感觉很快就会取代常识。 我对刺激的愚蠢渴望常常使我占上风。 在那些日子里，只要有人愿意听，我就讲我在海上的冒险经历。 我每讲一次故事，故事就变得更大。 一群种植园主对我的旅行很感兴趣。 让他们变得更加富有的机会让他们兴奋不已。 不久，我们就计划为去非洲航行的船装备装备。 在我心里，我知道这是一个愚蠢的决定。 但一旦它开始像石头一样滚下山，我就无力阻止它了。 我不需要增加我的财富。 我不需要改变我的生活。 我不需要冒险。 我是我自己的毁灭者。我无法拒绝这个提议，就像多年前我拒绝听父亲的话一样。

The voyage dates were set and the ship was soon ready for the trip. We drew up formal trading plans and I created a will. I left Wells in charge of everything, confident that he would take care of my farm while I was gone.

航行日期定好了，船很快就准备好了。 我们起草了正式的交易计划，我立了遗嘱。 我让威尔斯负责一切，相信他会在我不在的时候照顾好我的农场。