Paragraph 4

I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are more easily acquired than got rid of. Better if they had been born in the open pasture and suckled by a wolf¹, that they might have seen with clearer eyes what field they were called to labor in. Who made them serfs of the soil? Why should they eat their sixty acres, when man is condemned to eat only his peck of dirt²? Why should they begin digging their graves as soon as they are born? They have got to live a man’s life, pushing all these things before them, and get on as well as they can. How many a poor immortal soul have I met well nigh crushed and smothered under its load, creeping down the road of life, pushing before it a barn seventy-five feet by four, its Augean stables³ never cleansed, and one hundred acres of land, tillage, mowing, pasture and wood-lot! The portionless, who struggle with no such unnecessary inherited encumbrances, find it labor enough to subdue and cultivate a few cubic feet of flesh.

第四段
我看到我的乡亲中一些年轻人，他们的不幸正是在于继承了农场、房屋、谷仓、牲畜以及农具；因为这些东西，获得它们比摆脱它们更加容易。如果他们生来便是在无遮无蔽的牧场上成长，由狼哺育¹，也许反而更好；这样，他们才能以更加清醒的目光，看见自己究竟被召唤在哪一片土地上劳作。是谁让他们成为土地的农奴？当一个人终究会吃下一斗泥土²时，为什么他们要吞食自己六十英亩的土地？为什么他们一出生，就开始挖掘自己的坟墓？他们不得不继续过那样一种生活——把所有这些东西推在自己前面，尽可能地挣扎向前。我曾遇见无数可怜的不朽灵魂，几乎被肩上的重负压垮、窒息，他们沿着人生道路缓慢爬行，推着一座七十五英尺长、四英尺宽的谷仓，而里面的奥革阿斯牛棚³从未被清理；还有整整一百英亩土地——耕地、割草地、牧场以及林地。那些没有继承财产的人，无需与这些不必要的，继承来的负担抗争，只需驯服并耕耘自己这几立方英尺的肉身，已经足够辛苦。

注释：

1. suckled by a wolf 由狼哺育：指罗马建城神话中狼乳育罗慕路斯（Romulus）和雷穆斯（Remus）的故事。传说他们是阿尔巴隆加（Alba Longa）王室后裔，却因政治斗争被遗弃，最终由母狼哺育长大。他们没有继承祖先的王位和既有的权力体系，而是在荒野中成长，并最终凭借自身力量建立新的城邦——罗马。
2. peck of dirt 一斗泥土：来自英国俗语 Every man must eat a peck of dirt before he dies（每个人死前都必须吃下一斗泥土），意指人生不可避免要经历尘世的磨难。peck 是旧英制容量单位。
3. Augean stables 奥革阿斯牛棚: 出自古希腊神话。奥革阿斯国王拥有大量牲畜，牛棚多年未清理，成为赫拉克勒斯十二项劳役之一。

背景：

19世纪的新英格兰仍然保留大量农业社会结构。年轻人通常继承父辈留下的农场、房屋和土地，并承担维护家庭产业的责任。在当时社会观念中，拥有土地意味着稳定、成功和体面。

思考：

为什么说“他们一出生，就开始挖掘自己的坟墓”？