He examined his authorities， and found that it was now time for him to go to sea as a cabinboy. He called on a shipcaptain and made his application， and when the captain asked for his recommendationsrecommendation n.推荐， 介绍(信)， 劝告， 建议 he proudly drew out a tract and pointed to the word， “To Jacob Blivens， from his affectionate teacher.” But the captain was a coarse， vulgarvulgar adj.粗俗的， 庸俗的， 普通的， 通俗的， 本土的 n.<古>平民， 百姓 man， and he said， “Oh， that be blowed！ that wasnt any proof that he knew how to wash dishes or handle a slushbucket， and he guessed he didnt want him.”This was altogether the most extraordinaryextraordinary adj.非常的， 特别的， 非凡的， 特派的 thing that ever happened to Jacob in all his life. A compliment from a teacher， on a tract， had never failed to move the tenderest emotions of shipcaptains， and open the way to all offices of honor and profit in their gift it never had in any book that ever he had read. He could hardly believe his senses.
于是雅各布又去查阅权威性的典籍，发现现在正是他投身海洋、去船上当差的时候了。他拜访了一位船长，并向他提出申请。当船长跟他要推荐信时，他自豪地掏出一本宗教小册子，用手指了指上面的一行字：“给雅各布·布利文斯。爱他的老师赠”。然而，这位船长是个粗俗的人，不懂斯文，他说，“啊，去他妈的，这管什么用！这丝毫不能证明你会刷盘子、倒垃圾桶。我看他不是想雇你”。这是雅各布有生以来所碰到的最难理解的事情。他读过的那些书历来都是这样说的：老师写在宗教小册子上的赞语无不打动船长的心灵，启开名利双收之门。他当时还疑心，是否听错了船长的意思。
This boy always had a hard time of it. Nothing ever came out according to the authorities with him. At last， one day， when he was around hunting up bad little boys to admonishadmonish vt.劝告， 训诫， 警告， he found a lot of them in the old ironfoundry fixing up a little joke on fourteen or fifteen dogs， which they had tied together in long procession， and were going to ornamentornament n.装饰物， 教堂用品 vt.装饰， 修饰 with empty nitroglycerin cans made fast to their tails. Jacobs heart was touched. He sat down on one of those cans (for he never minded grease when duty was before him)， and he took hold of the foremost dog by the collar， and turned his reproving eye upon wicked Tom Jones. But just at that moment Alderman McWelter， full of wrath， stepped in. All the bad boys ran away， but Jacob Blivens rose in conscious innocenceinnocence n.清白 and began one of those stately little Sundayschoolbook speeches which always commence with “Oh， sir！ ” in dead opposition to the fact that no boy， good or bad， ever starts a remark with “Oh， sir.” But the aldermanalderman n.市府参事， 市议员 never waited to hear the rest. He took Jacob Blivens by the ear and turned him around， and hit him a whack in the rear with the flat of his hand， and in an instant that good little boy shot out through the roof and soared away toward the sun with the fragmentsfragment n.碎片， 断片， 片段 of those fifteen dogs stringing after him like the tail of a kite. And there wasnt a sign of that alderman or that old ironfoundry left on the face of the earth， and， as for young Jacob Blivens， he never got a chance to make his last dying speech after all his trouble fixing it up， unless he made it to the birds， because， although the bulk of him came down all right in a treetop in an adjoining county， the rest of him was apportioned around among four townshipstownship n.镇区， and so they had to hold five inquestsinquest n.审讯 on him to find out whether he was dead or not， and how it occurred. You never saw a boy scattered so.
雅各布苦头吃了不少，而权威性典籍所描绘的那种事情却一次也没碰上。后来，有一天他到处寻找坏孩子，以便进行劝诫。他发现一座老铸铁厂那里聚着一群孩子。他们正在拿狗开心，他们把十四五条狗拴成一串，还准备把硝化甘油的空桶拴到它们的尾巴上，给它们打扮一番。雅各布看了心里非常难过。他坐到一只硝化甘油的空桶上（义不容辞时，他是从不在乎油污的），用力抓住领头的那条狗的颈圈，然后转过脸去，以斥责的目光怒视着那个淘气的汤姆·琼斯。但是，恰在这时，市参议员麦威尔特满脸怒气走了过来。那几个坏孩子一哄而散，全都跑掉了。雅各布·布利文斯却神态坦然地站了起来，套用主日学校课本中演讲词的庄严词语开始讲话了。演讲词的开头总是“啊，先生！”之类的。事实上，任何一个孩子，不论是好的还是坏的，讲话从不用“啊，先生！”开头。可是，那位市议员哪有耐性听他的下文，揪住他的耳朵原地扭转过来，照着他的屁股狠狠揍了一巴掌。顷刻间，雅各布的身子就冲出房顶，飞向太阳。那拴成一串的15条狗像条风筝尾巴似的也跟在他的后面飞了出去。地上那个旧铸铁厂和市参议员的身影也顿时消失殆尽。小雅各布·布利文斯历尽艰辛，苦心准备的临终遗言再也没有发表的机会了，除非他把遗言讲给鸟儿听。他的躯干虽说落在邻县的一棵树顶上，但其余的部分却是均匀地散落到四个城镇，所以人们必得连走五处去验查尸体，看他是否真死了，还要查明事件的原委。您大概从未见过一个孩子如此分尸的惨相吧。
Thus perishedperish vi.毁灭， 死亡， 腐烂， 枯萎 vt.毁坏， 使麻木 the good little boy who did the best he could， but didnt come out according to the books. Every boy who ever did as he did prospered except him. His case is truly remarkableremarkable adj.不平常的， 非凡的， 值得注意的， 显著的. It will probably never be accounted for.
这个力求进取的好孩子就这样死了，但是，他的结局并不像课本中讲得那样好。除他之外，别的跟他一样努力的孩子都得到了成功。雅各布的下场确乎有些出人意料。这其中的原因恐怕永远也弄不清了。