Do it yourself
原文
Lesson 46
Do it yourself
Did the writer repair his lawn mower in the end? Why/Why not?
So great is our passion for doing things for ourselves,
that we are becoming increasingly less dependent on specialized labour.
No one can plead ignorance of a subject any longer, for there are countless do-it-yourself publications.
Armed with the right tools and materials, newlyweds gaily embark on the task of decorating their own homes.
Men, particularly, spend hours of their leisure time installing their own fireplaces,
laying out their own gardens; building garages and making furniture.
Some really keen enthusiasts go so far as to build their own computers.
Shops cater for the do-it-yourself craze not only by running special advisory services for novices,
but by offering consumers bits and pieces which they can assemble at home.
Such things provide an excellent outlet for pent up creative energy, but unfortunately not all of us are born handymen.
Some wives tend to believe that their husbands are infinitely resourceful and can fix anything.
Even men who can hardly drive a nail in straight are supposed to be born electricians, carpenters, plumbers and mechanics.
When lights fuse, furniture gets rickety, pipes get clogged, or vacuum cleaners fail to operate,
some women assume that their husbands will somehow put things right.
The worst thing about the do-it-yourself game is that sometimes even men live under the delusion that they can do anything,
even when they have repeatedly been proved wrong.
It is a question of pride as much as anything else.
Last spring my wife suggested that I call in a man to look at our lawn mower.
It had broken down the previous summer, and though I promised to repair it, I had never got round to it.
I would not hear of the suggestion and said that I would fix it myself.
One Saturday afternoon, I hauled the machine into the garden and had a close look at it.
As far as I could see, it needed only a minor adjustment:
a turn of a screw here, a little tightening up there, a drop of oil and it would be as good as new.
Inevitably the repair job was not quite so simple.
The mower firmly refused to mow, so I decided to dismantle it.
The garden was soon littered with chunks of metal which had once made up a lawn mower.
But I was extremely pleased with myself. I had traced the cause of the trouble.
One of the links in the chain that drives the wheels had snapped.
After buying a new chain I was faced with the insurmountable task of putting the confusing jigsaw puzzle together again.
I was not surprised to find that the machine still refused to work after I had reassembled it,
for the simple reason that I was left with several curiously shaped bits of metal which did not seem to fit anywhere.
I gave up in despair.
The weeks passed and the grass grew.
When my wife nagged me to do something about it,
I told her that either I would have to buy a new mower or let the grass grow.
Needless to say our house is now surrounded by a jungle.
Buried somewhere in deep grass there is a rusting lawn mower which I have promised to repair one day.
译文
第46课
自己动手做吧。
最后，作者修好了他的割草机吗？为什么（或为什么不）？
我们对亲自动手做事的热情是如此之强烈，
以至于我们越来越不依赖专业劳动力了。
如今，再没有人能够以“对某个主题一无所知”为借口了，因为市面上有数不胜数的 DIY（自己动手做）类出版物可供参考。
配备了合适的工具和材料后，新婚夫妇便兴高采烈地开始装饰自己的家。
尤其是男性，他们会花费大量的闲暇时间来自己安装壁炉。
他们自己规划花园的布局，建造车库，并制作家具。
一些非常热衷的爱好者甚至会自己组装电脑。
商店不仅通过为新手提供专门的咨询服务，
还通过向消费者提供各种可以自行组装的零件来迎合这股热潮。
这类活动为人们提供了释放内心创造力的绝佳途径，可惜并不是每个人天生就擅长动手做事（或：并不是每个人天生都具备动手能力）。
有些妻子总是认为自己的丈夫无所不能，什么问题都能解决。
即使是那些连把钉子都钉不直的男人，也被认为天生就适合从事电工、木匠、水管工或机械师等工作。
当保险丝烧断、家具摇晃、管道堵塞或吸尘器失灵时，
有些女性认为，她们的丈夫会想办法把事情解决好。
自己动手这事儿最糟糕的地方在于，有时候连男人自己都会误以为无所不能，
即使他们的观点已经被多次证明是错误的，他们仍然坚持自己的立场。
这主要是面子问题。
去年春天，我妻子建议我请一位专业人士来检查一下我们的割草机。
它在前一个夏天就坏掉了，虽然我答应过要修理它，但一直没能抽空去修。
我断然拒绝了她的建议，说我自己能修。
一个星期六的下午，我把那台机器搬到了花园里，仔细地观察了它一番。
据我所见，它只需要进行微小的调整即可。
这里拧个螺丝，那里紧一紧，再滴几滴油，它就能焕然一新了。
不可避免地，这次维修工作并没有那么简单。
割草机就是不肯割草，于是我决定把它拆开。
花园里很快就散落着许多金属碎片——那些碎片原本是割草机的一部分。
但我对自己感到非常满意。我已经找到了问题的根源。
驱动轮子的链条上有一节断了。
买了新链条后，我面临着一个无法完成的任务：把这个令人头疼的拼图重新装回去。
当我重新组装好这台机器后，发现它仍然无法正常工作时，我并不感到惊讶。
原因很简单：我手里还剩几块形状古怪的金属片，怎么也装不上去。
我绝望地放弃了。
几周过去了，草也长高了。
当妻子催我处理这事时，
我告诉她，要么我得买一台新的割草机，要么就任由草继续长下去。
不用说，我们家现在被一片丛林包围了。
在茂密的草丛中，埋着一把生锈的割草机；我曾承诺有朝一日一定会把它修好。