Regarding, one day, in company with a humorous friend, a noble vessel of a somewhat novel construction sailing slowly out of port,

有一天，我与一位风趣幽默的朋友正在聊天，一艘造型颇为新奇的宏伟轮船缓缓地驶离港口，

he observed, “What a quantity of cold water somebody must have had down his back.”

他注视那船说道：“有的人脊梁骨上该是泼过多少凉水。”

In my innocence, I supposed that he alluded to the wet work of the artisans who had been building the vessel;

以我天真揣度，我猜想，朋友不过暗指那些顶风冒雨建造那艘轮船的工匠们，

but when I came to know him better,

但随着话语展开，

I found that this was the form of comment he always indulged in when contemplating any new and great work,

我才得以了解个中玄机。这位朋友长期沉湎于研究整套创新思维的话语体系，

and that his “somebody” was the designer of the vessel.

他说的“有的人”，指的是该艘轮船的设计者。

My friend had carefully studied the art of discouragement,

我的那位朋友曾深入研究过气馁艺术，

and there was a class of men whom he designated simply as “cold-water pourers.”

他将创新者定义为“被泼凉水的人”。

It was most amusing to hear him desCRIbe the lengthened sufferings of the man who first designed a wheel; of him who first built a boat;

听他叙述那位轮船设计师经久多年的痛苦煎熬，倒是挺有意思。那家伙第一次设计出车轮，第一次建造出小船；

of the adventurous personage who first proposed the daring enterprise of using buttons, instead of fish bones,

极爱冒险的他，也是第一次提出大胆创意，用按钮取代鱼骨

to fasten the scanty raiment of some savage tribe.

来固定原始部落野人身上那些衣不蔽体的衣服。

Warming with his theme, he would become quite eloquent in desCRIbing the long career of discouragement which these rash men had brought upon themselves,

一旦深入这类话题，朋友随即口若悬河，滔滔不绝地谈起那些鲁莽草率人士无端为自己带来气馁沮丧的漫长生涯。

and which he said, to his knowledge, must have shortened their lives.

据他所说，他清楚这些气馁沮丧无疑将缩短人的寿命，