　　I was a pretty normal kid growing up-I loved to camp. My only problem was I watched too many Rambo movies(兰博影片), so a small gaggle of Rambonites and myself went out on the weekend to “rough it”. (Twinkies and Vienna sausages are bare essentials, I swear.) Actually we didn't usually set out to rough it; it's just that we always forgot most of our equipment, and no one wanted to go all the way back home just to retrieve(重新获得) the salad forks. We learned the hard way how to compensate(补偿) for essential items that were left in the closet. Most of the time our ideas wouldn't work, but every once in a while the stars would align just right and something actually succeeded. Here are some of those ideas that kept us young survivalists happy campers. We thought of everything; steaks, potatoes, spices, etc., enough for a couple of well-rounded meals. We forgot the pans.

　　 Clean water was the hardest part to accomplish. First we tried to filter the water using a sock filled with charcoal. Since we only brought one pair of socks each, the pair on our feet, the idea didn't go over too well. Our second ingenious idea was to carve a bowl in which we could put water to boil and somehow not catch on fire. After we broke two or three of our “survival” knives and our bowls still resembled a tree, we decided that our oak dining set wasn't going to happen. Finally someone recalled it's possible to boil water in a paper cup, and I realize now the guts it took to say that because I know I wouldn't want to be at the receiving end of the looks we gave him. We went though many pieces of paper and a myriad of designs (my buddy Bryon can make one fancy paper swan!) before we finally hit on one that worked. It turned out to look like a small casserole dish. We built it by taking the paper and folding it like we were gift-wrapping half a package. A small lip around the top of the “dish” kept the triangle flaps in place. The heat from the fire put condensation on the outside of the paper to keep it from burning.

　　 After that small victory we thought cooking the steaks would be a simple task. Our idea was to cook them like marshmallows. After sacrificing(牺牲) a couple of perfectly good steaks to the fire-gods (because the end of our sticks burned off), we realized the error of our ways. Luckily some parts of Missouri have clay for soil and we happened to be in one of those areas. So we took forked branches and made a twig latticework over the Y. All we did was pack the fork with clay, hold it over the fire for a hit, and we had ourselves custom Earthenware.

　　The potatoes were even easier after we discovered the power of clay. We packed clay around those 'taters and tossed them to the side of the fire ring. After about 30 to 45 minutes (depends on the size of the potato and the size of the fire), we cracked those puppies open and had ourselves a pretty good meat-and-potatoes meal…that we had to eat with our hands, of course.

　　Another camping mishap(灾祸) happened about two years later, and if you think we learned our lesson on being prepared, then you are sadly mistaken. On this incident we forgot an…umm, very important hygiene tissue(卫生纸). And, as much as we would have liked to be “roughing it,” we just happened to schedule our trip the same time as a big poison ivy convention. Once again notebook paper saved our behinds (no pun intended). We found that if we took a couple of pieces, folded them flat and put them between our flattened(平的) hands, we could rub(磨擦) our hands together and it broke down the stiffness of the notebook paper to an almost tissue-like substance. You just had to remember to plan ahead about 5 minutes.

　　On one small hunting excursion(远足) as a much older and wiser person, I went with my cousin to northern Missouri. We were so excited to go that we forget all fire-making equipment. (Unfortunately, unprepared ness is genetic.) So we were out in the middle of nowhere, in a cabin, in the middle of November. Our only savior is that we drove. The cigarette lighter was out of the question. My cousin had just bought a new GPS unit so we tossed that easy fire-builder. Our first thought, of course, was to use the gas from the truck. We both decided however, that we looked better with eyebrows, so we canned that idea. (plus, I think we were almost out of fuel). After a couple of minutes we came across an idea. We put jumper cables on the battery, then we quickly and lightly tapped the other ends together to produce sparks over a small pile of twigs and fuzz-sticks. It's important not to hold the two terminals together long because they will weld themselves together. And, if you don't get them apart, your battery will explode. I know this isn't the best way to treat your battery, but if you're in serious need of a fire, then you do what you must to stay warm. The damage to the battery from arcing is minimal and the battery will still work fine.

Questions:　　

1．According to the author what they should do to get clean water?　　

2．How do they cook potatoes during the camp?

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Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He stopped by the fence in front of the house where he lived with his aunt Polly. He looked at it, and all joy left him. The fence was long and high. He put the brush into the whitewash and moved it along the top of the fence. He repeated the operation. He felt he could not continue and sat down.
He knew that his friends would arrive soon with all kinds of interesting plans for the day. They would walk past him and laugh. They would make jokes about his having to work on a beautiful summer Saturday. The thought burned him like fire.
He put his hand into his pockets and took out all that he owned. Perhaps he could find some way to pay someone to do the whitewashing for him. But there was nothing of value in his pockets —nothing that could buy even half an hour of freedom. So he put the bits of toys back into his pockets and gave up the idea
At this dark and hopeless moment, a wonderful idea came to him. It filled his mind with a great, bright light. Calmly he picked up the brush and started again to whitewash.
While Tom was working, Ben Rogers appeared. Ben was eating an apple as he walked along the street. As he walked along, he was making noises like the sound of a riverboat. First he shouted loudly, like a boat captain. Then he said “Ding-Dong-Dong”, “Ding-Dong-Dong” again and again, like the bell of a riverboat. And he made other strange noises. When he came close to Tom, he stopped.
Tom went on whitewashing. He did not look at Ben. Ben stared a moment and then said: “Hello! I’m going swimming, but you can’t go, can you?”
No answer. Tom moved his brush carefully along the fence and looked at the result with the eye of an artist. Ben came nearer. Tom’s mouth watered for the apple, but he kept on working.
Ben said, “Hello, old fellow, you’ve got to work, hey?”
Tom turned suddenly and said, “Why, it’s you, Ben! I wasn’t noticing.”
“Say —I’m going swimming. Don’t you wish you could? But of course you’d rather work — wouldn’t you? Of course you would.”
Tom looked at the boy a bit, and said “What do you call work?”
“Why, isn’t that work?”
Tom went back to his whitewashing, and answered carelessly.
“Well, maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. All I know is, it suits Tom Sawyer.”
“Oh come, now, you don’t mean to say that you like it?”
The brush continued to move.
“Like it? Well, I don’t see why I shouldn’t like it. Does a boy get a chance to whitewash a fence every day?”
Ben stopped eating his apple. Tom moved his brush back and forth, stepped back to look at the result, added a touch here and there, and stepped back again. Ben watched every move and got more and more interested. Soon he said,
“Say, Tom, let me whitewash a little.”
Tom thought for a moment, was about to agree; but he changed his mind.
“No —no —it won’t do, Ben. You see, Aunt Polly wants this fence to be perfect. It has got to be done very carefully. I don’t think there is one boy in a thousand, maybe two thousand, that can do it well enough.”
“No —is that so? Oh come, now —let me just try. Only just a little.” “Ben, I’d like to, but if it isn’t done right, I’m afraid Aunt Polly … ”
“Oh, I’ll be careful. Now let me try. Say —I’ll give you the core of my apple.”
“Well, here —No, Ben, now don’t. I’m afraid …”
“I’ll give you all of it.”
Tom gave up the brush with unwillingness on his face, but joy in his heart. And while Ben worked at the fence in the hot sun, Tom sat under a tree, eating the apple, and planning how to get more help. There were enough boys. Each one came to laugh, but remained to whitewash. By the time Ben was tired, Tom sold the next chance to Billy for a kite; and when Billy was tired, Johnny bought in for a dead rat —and so on, hour after hour. And when the middle of the afternoon came, Tom had won many treasures.
And he had not worked. He had had a nice idle time all the time, with plenty of company －and the fence had been whitewashed three times. If he hadn’t run out of whitewash, Tom would have owned everything belonging to his friends.
He had discovered a great law of human action, namely, that in order to make a man or a boy want a thing, it is only necessary to make the thing difficult to get.
【小题1】How many characters are mentioned in this story?