Chapter 1

Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal. Here is a copy of the drawing. In the book it said: “Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it. After that they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion.”

I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle. And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked like this:

I showed my masterpiece to the grown−ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them.

But they answered: “Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?”

My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown−ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing: I drew the inside of the boa constrictor, so that the grown−ups could see it clearly. They always need to have things explained. My Drawing Number Two looked like this:

The grown−ups’ response, this time, was to advise me to lay aside my drawings of boa constrictors, whether from the inside or the outside, and devote myself instead to geography, history, arithmetic and grammar. That is why, at the age of six, I gave up what might have been a magnificent career as a painter. I had been disheartened by the failure of my Drawing Number One and my Drawing Number Two. Grown−ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.

So then I chose another profession, and learned to pilot airplanes. I have flown a little over all parts of the world; and it is true that geography has been very useful to me. At a glance I can distinguish China from Arizona. If one gets lost in the night, such knowledge is valuable.

In the course of this life I have had a great many encounters with a great many people who have been concerned with matters of consequence. I have lived a great deal among grown−ups. I have seen them intimately, close at hand. And that hasn’t much improved my opinion of them.

Whenever I met one of them who seemed to me at all clear−sighted, I tried the experiment of showing him my Drawing Number One, which I have always kept. I would try to find out, so, if this was a person of true understanding. But, whoever it was, he, or she, would always say:

“That is a hat.” Then I would never talk to that person about boa constrictors, or primeval forests, or stars. I would bring myself down to his level. I would talk to him about bridge, and golf, and politics, and neckties. And the grown−up would be greatly pleased to have met such a sensible man.

Appendix

我 6 岁的时候在书上看到了一些令人震撼的图片，书名叫做《大自然真实的故事》，内容是关于原始森林的。有一张照片是一条蟒蛇在吞食猎物，书上说，蟒蛇会直接吞下整只动物，也不嚼，吃完之后就开始睡觉，用 6 个月的时间来消化食物。

后来我就经常想着丛林冒险，还用彩色铅笔画了一些画，其中一副是这样的：

我给大人看这幅画，问这幅画有没有吓到他们。他们却说，为什么要害怕一顶帽子？

我画的不是帽子，是一条吞掉了大象的蟒蛇。但是大人没能理解它，我就画了另外一副，把蟒蛇肚子里面的东西也画了出来，这样大人们就能明白了。

这次，大人们说，让我把这条蟒蛇的画放在一边，去关注地理、历史、数学和语文。这就是为什么我在 6 岁的时候，放弃了成为一个画家的机会。我对之前画的两幅画感到伤心，大人们自己永远也不会理解这些画，孩子们也总是懒得解释这些事情。

所以我选择了另一个专业，成为了飞行员。我飞行在世界上的任何一个地方，地理知识对我来说也确实有用。我瞥一眼就能区分中国和亚利桑那州。如果有人在夜晚迷失了方向，这些知识就更显得有价值了。

这一生中我遇到过很多人，发生过很多事情。我和成年人一起生活，近距离的观察他们。我并没有改变对成年人的观点。

每当我遇到聪明机智的人，我都会尝试把以前的两幅画给他们看，无一例外的，无论是男人或者女人，他们总是会说，这是一顶帽子。我无法开口谈论蟒蛇、原始森林、星星。我必须得把自己降低到和他们一样的水平，去谈论婚姻、高尔夫球、政治、领带，我想大多数人希望遇到的是这种类型“懂事”的成年人。