Once when I was six years old I saw a magnificent picture in a book, called True Stories from Nature, about the primeval forest. It was a picture of a boa constrictor in the act of swallowing an animal.
六岁那年，我在一本名叫《真实的自然故事》的书中，看到了一幅描绘原始森林的绝妙插画。画中是一条巨蟒正在吞咽猎物的场景。
“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”
In the book it said: “Boa constrictors swallow their prey whole, without chewing it. After that they are not able to move, and they sleep through the six months that they need for digestion.” I pondered deeply, then, over the adventures of the jungle.
书中写道：“大蟒吞食猎物时从不咀嚼，而是整吞下去。之后它们便无法动弹，沉睡整整六个月来进行消化。” 于是，我对丛林中的探险陷入了深深的遐想。
And after some work with a colored pencil I succeeded in making my first drawing. My Drawing Number One. It looked something like this. I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups, and asked them whether the drawing frightened them. But they answered: “Frighten? Why should any one be frightened by a hat?”
几番尝试用彩色铅笔涂抹后，我终于画出了人生的第一幅作品。第一号画作。大概就是这个模样。我满怀得意地拿给大人们看，问他们这幅画是否令人害怕。但他们却说：“害怕？一顶帽子有什么好怕的？”
My drawing was not a picture of a hat. It was a picture of a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. But since the grown-ups were not able to understand it, I made another drawing: I drew the inside of a boa constrictor, so that the grown-ups could see clearly. They always need to have things explained.
我画的根本就不是帽子，而是一条正在消化大象的巨蟒。但由于大人们理解不了，我只好又画了第二张：我画出了巨蟒的腹部透视图，好让他们一目了然。他们总是需要旁人把一切解释得清清楚楚。