John Henry: The Steel Driving Man
A West Virginia Legend
Retold by S.E. Schlosser
Now John Henry was a mighty man, yes sir. He was born a slave in the 1840’s but was freed after the war. He went to work as a steel-driver for the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, don’t ya know. And John Henry was the strongest, the most powerful man working the rails.
John Henry, he would spend his day’s drilling holes by hitting thick steel spikes into rocks with his faithful shaker crouching close to the hole, turning the drill after each mighty blow. There was no one who could match him, though many tried.
Well, the new railroad was moving along right quick, thanks in no little part to the mighty John Henry. But looming right smack in its path was a mighty enemy—the Big Bend Mountain. Now the big bosses at the C&O Railroad decided that they couldn’t go around the mile and a quarter thick mountain. No sir, the men of the C&O were going to go through it—drilling right into the heart of the mountain.
A thousand men would lose their lives before the great enemy was conquered. It took three long years, and before it was down the ground outside the mountain was filled with makeshift, sandy graves. The new tunnels were filled with smoke and dust. Y’a couldn’t see no-how and could hardly breathe. But John Henry, he worked tirelessly, drilling with a 14-pound hammer, and going 10 to 12 feet in one workday. No one else could match him.
Then one day a salesman came along to the camp. He had a steam-powered drill and claimed it could put-drill any man. Well, they set up a contest then and there between John Henry and that their drill. The foreman ran the newfangled steam-drill. John Henry, he just pulled out two 20-pound hammers, one in each hand. They drilled and drilled, dust raising everywhere. The men were howling and cheering. At the end of 35 minutes, John Henry had drilled two seven foot holes—a total of fourteen feet, while the steam drill had only drilled one nine-foot hole.
John Henry held up his hammers in triumph! The men shouted and cheered. The noise was so loud, it took a moment for the men to realize that John Henry was tottering. Exhausted, the mighty man crashed to the ground, the hammers rolling from his grasp. The ground went silent as the foreman rushed to his side. But it was too late. A blood vessel had burst in his brain. The greatest driller in the C&O Railroad was dead.
Some folks say that John Henry’s likeness is carved right into the rock inside the Big Bend Tunnel. And if you walk to the edge of the blackness of the tunnel, sometimes you can hear the sound of two 20-pound hammers drilling their way to victory over the machine.
解析：
这是一个经典的美国传说故事。这个故事发生在美国的西佛吉尼亚州，因此文中可以看到很多美国南方的方言/口音。这个故事主要发生在美国正式进入工业时代的时候，新造的各种工具也被用在铁路建造上。在当时，美国民众起身觉得各种工业产品都不是什么好东西并且害怕使用它们。这个故事射影了在工业化的背景下，人与机器的差别，可以说各有千秋。人虽然赢得了比赛，但最终却因为疲劳而死，机器虽不比人快，但是耐劳。
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