The twenty second of June, 1911, was Billys thirteenth birthday. He was woken by his father. Das technique for waking people was more effective than it was kind. He patted Billys cheek, in a regular rhythm, firmly and insistently. Billy was in a deep sleep, and for a second he tried to ignore it, but the patting went on relentlessly. Momentarily he felt angry; but then he remembered that he had to get up, he even wanted to get up, and he opened his eyes and sat upright with a jerk.
"Four oclock," Da said, then he left the room, his boots banging on the wooden staircase as he went down.
Today Billy would begin his working life by becoming an apprentice collier, as most of the men in town had done at his age. He wished he felt more like a miner. But he was determined not to make a fool of himself. David Crampton had cried on his first day down the pit, and they still called him Dai Crybaby, even though he was twenty five and the star of the towns rugby team.
It was the day after midsummer, and a bright early light came through the small window. Billy looked at his grandfather, lying beside him. Grampers eyes were open. He was always awake, whenever Billy got up; he said old people did not sleep much.
Billy got out of bed. He was wearing only his underdrawers. In cold weather he wore his shirt to bed, but Britain was enjoying a hot summer, and the nights were mild. He pulled the pot from under the bed and took off the lid.
There was no change in the size of his penis, which he called his peter. It was still the childish stub it had always been. He had hoped it might have started to grow on the night before his birthday, or perhaps that he might see just one black hair sprouting somewhere near it, but he was disappointed. His best friend, Tommy Griffiths, who had been born on the same day, was different: he had a cracked voice and a dark fuzz on his upper lip, and his peter was like a mans. It was humiliating.
02
中文概要
在同一天，英王乔治五世加冕，而威尔士的苦孩子Billy则要去矿井里开始他人生第一次 的井下工作。在那个年代，由于有些矿道相当狭窄，所以雇主就大量地使用童工，成为被后人诟病的恶行。但是，作为生在世代都是矿工家庭里的男孩子来说，成为矿工其实是自己的人生目标，并且是值得骄傲的。同时，小Billy似乎还没有意识到井下的工作是多么危险，而是一直担心这自己的小弟弟是否正常，因为对任何小男孩来说，成为男子汉是最大的理想。
图片来自网络
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英国当年的童工
在英国工业革命期间，曾经有大量的童工被工场或者矿区征用，有些公司甚至世代使用这些劳力，比如矿区中的矿工生活区，等他们的孩子到了十几岁，就会被要求加入工作队伍中。由于孩子身材小，所以狭窄的矿道就是他们工作 的地方。另外，使用壁炉的富人也会找小男孩去清理烟囱管道，从而造成大量孩童肺部受伤，甚至直接摔死。在大量描述维多利亚时期的名著中，都有对此的描述。
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