Tony did not often hear music. His family was poor, and poor people did not often hear music. There was no TV or radio in those days. There were concerts in the town, of course, but poor people did not go to concerts. Sometimes an Italian street musician came to town. He had a little piano on wheels, and a poor thin monkey which sat on top of it. The people came out of their houses to listen to his music. Then the monkey went round with a little tin cup. "Give us a penny!" sang the musician. But when the monkey came back, the tin cup was always empty. The musician shook his head and pushed his little piano away.
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托尼难得听到音乐。他家境贫寒，而穷苦人家总是没什么音乐可听的。那个时候既没有电视，也没有收音机，城里当然也举行音乐会，但穷人是去不起的。城里偶尔也会来一个意大利流浪琴师。他有架带轮子的小钢琴，琴上还坐着一只可怜的小瘦猴。人们纷纷走出门来听他演奏。接着，小猴就拿着一只小小的锡杯在人群里转一圈。“施舍点吧！”琴师喝道。可是小猴回来的时候，杯子总是空的。琴师只有摇摇头，推着小小的钢琴走了。
There were six children in the Evans family, and Tony was the oldest. They lived in a very small house at the end of a long, grey street. The toilet was outside, in the yard. There was no bathroom. Everybody washed in the kitchen. On Saturday evenings everybody in the family had a bath one after another in an old tin bath in front of the fire. It took all evening. Every Monday Mrs Evans washed all the family's clothes in the tin bath. But the Evans were clean and they had enough to eat. Tony did not feel poor, because all his friends were poor too.
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埃文斯家有六个孩子，托尼是老大。他们一家住在一条阴暗的长巷子尽头一幢很小很小的房子里。马桶在外面的院子里。家里没地方洗漱，全家人只得在厨房里将就。每到周六晚上，一家人就一个接一个在炉火前用一个旧的锡澡盆洗澡，要一整晚才能全部洗完。每个星期一，埃文斯太太都要把一家人的衣服泡在锡澡盆里洗干净。但是埃文斯一家衣着干净，也能吃得饱饭。托尼不觉得自己家穷，因为他的朋友们也都很穷。
In those days, poor children usually left school when they were thirteen. Most of Tony's friends found jobs in shops or factories in the town. Tony did not want to work in a shop or a factory. But he needed a job because his family needed the money.
A few days after his thirteenth birthday, Tony left school too. He began to look for a job. But he was unlucky. The factory did not want him. The shops did not want him. Then his mother thought, "What about farming?"
One hot summer afternoon she decided to take her son to a farm outside the town.
"I worked on Mr Wood's farm when I was young," she told Tony. "Then I met your father and we moved to the town. But I enjoyed farm work, and I think you'll like it too… I wrote to Mr Wood last week and asked him to give you a job on the farm. That will be better than the factory."
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那时候，穷人家的孩子往往到了13岁就辍学了。托尼的朋友们大多在城里的商店或是工厂里找了活儿干。而托尼既不愿意去商店，也不愿意进工厂。可他需要一份活计，因为家里需要这点钱。
13岁生日过完没几天，托尼也离开了学校，他开始找工作。可是他的运气不好。工厂不要他，商店也不要他。然后他的母亲想到：“种田怎么样？”
一个炎热的夏日午后，她决定把儿子带到郊外的一个农场去。
“年轻时，我曾在伍德先生的农场里干过活儿，”她对托尼说，“然后我遇见了你父亲，我们搬到了城里。可是我喜欢干农活，我觉着你也会喜欢的…我上个星期给伍德先生写了封信，让他给你在农场里找份活儿干，总比在工厂里强。”
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