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John Thomas’s Cube
约翰·托马斯的立方体
John Leimert
约翰·莱默特
John Thomas Thompson, aged eight years and nine months, lived in a house with an old, warped, but extremely large and fruitful apple tree in the back yard. Beneath this tree, leaning with his back against the trunk, or in it, wedged between forking limbs, John Thomas often took refuge. Here he came to escape the turmoil of his expanding world and to dream the dreams and think the thoughts important to a boy aged eight years and nine months.
约翰·托马斯·汤普森时年八岁零九个月。他住的房子后院里长着一棵弯弯扭扭的老苹果树，这棵树十分巨大，果实累累。约翰·托马斯经常躲在这棵树下，背倚着树干或是爬到树上挤在分叉的树枝中间。他来到这儿是为了躲避他那越来越大的世界所带来的骚扰。在这里他做着对一个八岁零九个月的孩子来说极为重要的美梦，思考着一个八岁零九个月的孩子认为是重要的事情。
John Thomas went out to visit this tree at seven-thirty o’clock of the morning of September 30. He didn’t even wait for his breakfast. He just tumbled out of bed, threw his clothes on, and dashed out. He wasn’t much more than past the door when he set up a clamor for his mother to come and see what he had found. His mother, however, was busy making toast, and frying bacon, and pouring John's father's coffee. She called to him to hurry back into the house and eat his breakfast, and to be sure his hands and face were clean, or else he would be late for school.
约翰·托马斯于9月30日早晨7点30分出门去到那棵树下。他甚至没等吃早饭。他一骨碌从床上爬了起来，匆匆套上衣服，冲了出去。他刚一出门就大声嚷起来，要他母亲出去看看他的发现。然而，他母亲正忙着烤面包，煎熏肉，给约翰的父亲倒咖啡。她叫约翰赶快回到屋里吃早饭，并且洗干净自己的手和脸，不然他上学就要迟到了。
John Thomas ordinarily was an obedient boy, but on this morning he ignored his mother's summons. "But, Mother,"he said, "it's the queerest thing I've found. A little block of metal so heavy I can't lift it. Come and see. Please, Mother."
约翰·托马斯平日是一个顺从的孩子，但是那个早上他却没有听他母亲的召唤。“可是，妈妈，”他说，“这是我发现的最奇怪的东西。这么一小块金属却重得我提都提不起来。快来看啊，妈妈。”
"You might just as well," John Thomas's father said.
“你还是去看看吧，”约翰·托马斯的父亲说道。
