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The week my eldest son finished nursery, I decided to clear out the playroom where he had spent much of his young life forming bonds with inanimate objects.
大儿子上完幼儿园的那个星期，我决定清理游戏房，他年幼时的大多时光都在那个房间里与无生命的物体建立联系。
Toys had kept him company whenever other duties or distractions had occupied his mother and me, and over the years we had amassed a truly crass number of them.
每当我和他妈妈有其他任务或分心的事情时，玩具就会陪伴他。这些年来我们积累了相当数量的玩具。
As I sifted through pile after pile, I felt as though I was in the pit of an immense archaeological dig.
当我在一堆堆玩具中进行筛选时，我觉得自己仿佛置身于一个巨大的考古挖掘深坑中。
I had not considered us to be particularly pushy or indulgent parents; mostly, I wanted my children to grow up to be financially independent and live lives of nothing worse than common unhappiness.
我认为我们不是特别强势或纵容的父母; 最主要的是，我希望我的孩子长大后经济独立，过得比普通不快乐的生活好一点。
But the artefacts in our playroom midden told another tale.
但我们游戏房堆放的手工玩具则讲述了另一个故事。
Here is a partial inventory of what I found: 13 floor puzzles, including several meant to teach the alphabet.
以下是我发现的部分玩具清单: 13个楼层拼图，包括几个教字母表的拼图。
Two sets of magnetic tiles, along with dozens of figurines and matchbox cars, for constructive and imaginary play.
两组磁力贴以及几十个雕刻工艺品和火柴盒汽车(用于建设性和想象力的游戏)。
Xylophones and tambourines to foster musical ability, and a smattering of finger paints to inspire artistic creativity.
培养音乐能力的木琴和铃鼓，以及几张用于激发艺术创造力的手指画。
Four logic games and a set of dice for practising maths.
练习数学用的四个逻辑游戏和一套骰子。
A speaker box that could play Mozart or children’s versions of the Iliad and Odyssey. Endless Duplo.
一个可以播放莫扎特或儿童版《伊利亚特》和《奥德赛》的音箱。数不清的高乐积木。
And, to teach our kids how to unwind after the vigorously pedagogical afternoon those other things were meant to facilitate, the Fisher-Price Meditation Mouse, an electronic plush toy offering guided stretching and relaxation exercises (advertising copy: “help your little one learn how to nama-stay relaxed”).
另外，为了教会我们的孩子在经历一下午精力充沛的教学之后如何放松，其他产品旨在提供便利，费雪推出了一款电子毛绒玩具冥想鼠标，提供指导拉伸和放松练习(广告文案: “帮助你的孩子学会如何保持放松”)。
Our heap of playthings may have been extreme, but it was by no means atypical.
我们堆积如山的玩具可能很极端，但这绝不是独此一家的现象。
American families spend, on average, around $600 per year on toys; a typical 10-year-old child in the UK may have possessed 238 toys in her short life, totalling about ￡6,500.
美国家庭平均每年在玩具上的花费约为600美元; 一个英国10岁的普通孩子在短暂的一生中可能拥有238个玩具，总价值约为6500英镑。
That abundance bespeaks an entire world – of a postwar boom in plastics, babies and disposable income, of humans in Chinese factories and Madison Avenue marketing agencies, of the not always benign neglect of parents with relentless careers or hangovers or an aversion to spending time with other emotionally volatile beings.
这种丰富反映了一个世界——战后塑料制品暴涨、婴儿生育飙升、可支配收入激增；中国工厂和麦迪逊大道营销机构人员充足；父母疏忽孩子不总是善意的，要么因为没完没了的工作、要么因为酗酒宿醉、要么因为不愿与情绪不稳定的孩子相处。
Above all, perhaps, the glut of toys reveals a particular vision of what play and childhood are for.
也许，最重要的是，玩具过剩揭示了玩耍与童年的特殊意义。
