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Big Toys for Big Boys 大男孩的大玩具

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Watching young boys play in a sandbox, you might be tempted to see them all as future bulldozer or steam shovel drivers. They seem so happy digging holes and piling up mounds of dirt. It’s likely, however, that when the boys grow up they will cast toy trucks aside and work in offices. But what about the boyhood dreams of operating big earth-moving equipment? Are they also thrown aside like a pile of dirt? An amusement park in Germany, called the Monster Park, suggests they aren’t.

看着小男孩在沙盒里玩耍，或许会引起你想象他们未来开推土机或蒸气铲的模样。他们在挖洞和堆土时看起来是如此开心，然而，小男孩长大后很可能会把玩具卡车丢弃而坐在办公室里工作。但他们童年时操作堆土机等机具的梦想该怎么办呢?这些梦想也像土推一样被抛在一旁了吗?德国的怪兽公园游乐场暗示事情不是这样的。

The Monster Park is a theme park with a difference. You might describe it as a sandbox on a grand scale. Here, under supervision, men and boys of all agesget to use real earth-moving equipment such as bulldozers, cranes, and backhoes.

怪兽公园是一间与众不同的主题公园，你或许可以把它形容为一个超大型的沙盒。在这儿，老老少少的男人和男孩在监督之下，都可以操作像是堆土机、起重机和锄耕机等真正能堆土的机具。

The park was started by a contractor in Germany. During an economic slowdown in the construction industry, he had an idea for making money from his idle machinery. The idea was simple: fill a park with sand and let people have fun operating heavy machines. Up to 50 men and boys (often fathers and sons) now come to the park each Saturday for their chance to man a monster machine. For many, it is the time of their lives.

这间游乐场是由一位德国的承包商所创办。在一次建筑业经济景气低迷时期，他有个靠他那些闲置机器赚钱的想法。这个想法很简单:将一个公园装满沙，让人们在里面享受操作重机械的乐趣。现在，每周六最多有五十位男人和男孩(通常是父子檔)为了操作一台庞大的机器而到游乐园来。队许多人来说，这是他们一生中最快乐的时光。

Why are men so drawn to Monster Park? Perhaps it is because, in many cultures, there is a connection between machinery and masculinity. Tools and machinery literally make you more powerful. And nothing makes you more powerful than operating a massive earth-moving machine.

为什么男人被怪兽公园深深吸引呢?或许是因为在许多文化中，机械和男人气概有关。器具和机械确实让你更具有权威，而没有一样东西比得上操作大型的堆土机具更能让你拥有权威了。

－By Ben Andrews

Vocabulary

equipment [ɪˋkwɪpmənt] n. 装备; 设备

suggest [səˋdʒɛst] v. 暗示

supervision [͵supɚˋvɪʒən] v. 监督

massive [ˋmæsɪv] adj. 大而重的

More Information

sandbox [ˋsænd͵bɑks] n.〔供儿童玩的〕沙池

tempt [tɛmpt] v. 吸引

bulldozer [ˋbʊl͵dozɚ] n. 推土机

steam shovel 蒸汽挖土机

pile up 堆放起来

cast aside 抛弃 to throw something away

throw aside: to get rid of someone or something

get to  达到(某一阶段或某一部份)

crane  起重机，吊车

backhoe [ˋbæk͵ho] n.〔筑路用的〕挖掘机

contractor [ˋkɑntræktɚ] n. 承包商

idle [ˋaɪd!] adj. 闲置的

machinery [məˋʃinərɪ] n. 机器﹐机械〔尤指大型机械〕

man [mæn] v. 操纵

the time of one’s life: 一生中最快乐的时光  a highly pleasurable experience

draw [drɔ] v. 吸引；招来

masculinity [͵mæskjəˋlɪnətɪ] n. 男子气；刚毅