你聽(tīng)說(shuō)過(guò)"愿望小徑"嗎？

        The architectural term,pathways of desire, refers to dirt ruts1 in the grass that people make when they want a shortcut between prescribed routes. If you have a yard, you probably have at least a few of them. I live on a farm, and we have dozens. The path between the doghouse and the porch, the tight corner around the house on the south side, horse trails, the line between one gate and the next.I’m a firm believer in protecting pathways of desire, but I believe we have to be careful of them too.

　　“愿望小徑”是個(gè)建筑學(xué)上的術(shù)語(yǔ)，它是指人們希望在規(guī)定路線間建立一條捷徑時(shí)在草地上踩出的一條條土痕。如果你有庭院，那院子里可能至少也得有幾條這種小徑。我住在一個(gè)農(nóng)場(chǎng)里，那里有許多許多——犬舍到門(mén)廊間的小徑、房子南面緊貼墻角的轉(zhuǎn)彎處的小道、馬匹踩出來(lái)的土痕，還有從一扇門(mén)到下一扇門(mén)之間的小路。我深信，我們應(yīng)該保護(hù)這種打破規(guī)矩的開(kāi)創(chuàng)行為，但我也相信，我們必須謹(jǐn)慎對(duì)待它們。

　　On one hand, I hate rules. I’m pretty creative about finding ways around them, and I always think twice about thwarting2 those of others. I respect desire in my children and in the animals on my farm. Their pathways look, to me, likeindividual choices, and I respect those. But my respect is double-edged because pathways of desire can also lead us into trouble.

　　一方面，我不喜歡循規(guī)蹈矩，而會(huì)很有創(chuàng)造性地尋找其他方法，在阻止別人的這種“創(chuàng)造性”時(shí)，我會(huì)考慮再三。我尊重我的孩子和農(nóng)場(chǎng)里動(dòng)物們的愿望，對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)，他們腳下走出的小徑就像是他們個(gè)人的選擇——我也尊重這些選擇。但另一方面，我的這種尊重是把雙刃劍，因?yàn)樵竿竭€可能給我們帶來(lái)麻煩。