全新版大学英语综合教程3课文原文及翻译概要
unit 5 Writing Three Thank-You Letters
Alex Haley served in the Coast Guard during World War ll. On an especially lonely day to be at sea -- Thanksgiving Day -- he began to give serious thought to a holiday that has become, for many Americans, a day of overeating and watching endless games of football. Haley decided to celebrate the true meaning of Thanksgiving by writing three very special letters.
亚历克斯·黑利二战时在海岸警卫队服役。出海在外，时逢一个倍感孤寂的日子――感恩节，他开始认真思考起这一节日的意义。对许多美国人而言，这个节日已成为大吃大喝、没完没了地看橄榄球比赛的日子。黑利决定写三封不同寻常的信，以此来纪念感恩节的真正意义。
Writing Three Thank-You Letters
Alex Haley 1 It was 1943, during World War II, and I was a young U. S. coastguardsman. My ship, the USS Murzim, had been under way for several days. Most of her holds contained thousands of cartons of canned or dried foods. The other holds were loaded with five-hundred-pound bombs packed delicately in padded racks. Our destination was a big base on the island of Tulagi in the South Pacific.
写三封感谢信
亚利克斯·黑利
那是在二战期间的1943年，我是个年轻的美国海岸警卫队队员。我们的船，美国军舰军市一号已出海多日。多数船舱装着成千上万箱罐装或风干的食品。其余的船舱装着不少五百磅重的炸弹，都小心翼翼地放在垫过的架子上。我们的目的地是南太平洋图拉吉岛上一个规模很大的基地。
2 I was one of the Murzim's several cooks and, quite the same as for folk ashore, this Thanksgiving morning had seen us busily preparing a traditional dinner featuring roast turkey.
我是军市一号上的一个厨师，跟岸上的人一样，那个感恩节的上午，我们忙着在准备一道以烤火鸡为主的传统菜肴。
3 Well, as any cook knows, it's a lot of hard work to cook and serve a big meal, and clean up and put everything away. But finally, around sundown, we finished at last.
当厨师的都知道，要烹制一顿大餐，摆上桌，再刷洗、收拾干净，是件辛苦的事。不过，等到太阳快下山时，我们总算全都收拾停当了。
4 I decided first to go out on the Murzim's afterdeck for a breath of open air. I made my way out there, breathing in great, deep draughts while walking slowly about, still wearing my white cook's hat.
我想先去后甲板透透气。我信步走去，一边深深呼吸着空气，一边慢慢地踱着步，头上仍戴着那顶白色的厨师帽。
5 I got to thinking about Thanksgiving, of the Pilgrims, Indians, wild turkeys, pumpkins, corn on the cob, and the rest. 我开始思索起感恩节这个节日来，想着清教徒前辈移民、印第安人、野火鸡、南瓜、玉米棒等等。
6 Yet my mind seemed to be in quest of something else -- some way that I could personally apply to the close of Thanksgiving. It must have taken me a half hour to sense that maybe some key to an answer could result from reversing the word "Thanksgiving" -- at least that suggested a verbal direction, "Giving thanks."
可我脑子里似乎还在搜索着别的事什么――某种我能够赋予这一节日以个人意义的方式。大概过了半个小时左右我才意识到，问题的关键也许在于把Thanksgiving这个字前后颠倒一下――那样一来至少文字好懂了：Giving thanks。
7 Giving thanks -- as in praying, thanking God, I thought. Yes, of course. Certainly.
表达谢意――就如在祈祷时感谢上帝那样，我暗想。对啊，是这样，当然是这样。
8 Yet my mind continued turning the idea over.
可我脑子里仍一直盘桓着这事。
9 After a while, like a dawn's brightening, a further answer did come -- that there were people to thank, people who had done so much for me that I could never possibly repay them. The embarrassing truth was I'd always just accepted what they'd done, taken all of it for granted. Not one time had I ever bothered to express to any of them so much as a simple, sincere "Thank you."
过了片刻，如同晨曦初现，一个更清晰的念头终于涌现脑际――要感谢他人，那些赐我以诸多恩惠，我根本无以回报的人们。令我深感不安的实际情形是，我向来对他们所做的一切受之泰然，认为是理所应当。我一次也没想过要对他们中的任何一位真心诚意地说一句简单的谢谢。
10 At least seven people had been particularly and lastingly helpful to me. I realized, swallowing hard, that about half of them had since died -- so they were forever beyond any possible expression of gratitude from me. The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I became. Then I pictured the three who were still alive and, within minutes, I was down in my cabin.
至少有七个人对我有过不同寻常、影响深远的帮助。令人难过的是，我意识到，他们中有一半已经过世了――因此他们永远也无法接受我的谢意了。我越想越感到羞愧。最后我想到了仍健在的三位，几分钟后，我就回到了自己的舱房。
11 Sitting at a table with writing paper and memories of things each had done, I tried composing genuine statements of heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to my dad, Simon A. Haley, a professor at the old Agricultural Mechanical Normal College in Pine Bluff, Arkansas; to my grandma, Cynthia Palmer, back in our little hometown of Henning, Tennessee; and to the Rev. Lonual Nelson, my grammar school principal, retired and living in Ripley, six miles north of Henning.
我坐在摊着信纸的桌旁，回想着他们各自对我所做的一切，试图用真挚的文字表达我对他们的由衷的感激之情：父亲西蒙·A·黑利，阿肯色州派因布拉夫那所古老的农业机械师范学院的教授；住在田纳西州小镇亨宁老家的外祖母辛西娅·帕尔默；以及我的文法学校校长，退休后住在亨宁以北6英里处的里普利的洛纽尔·纳尔逊牧师。
12 The texts of my letters began something like, "Here, this Thanksgiving at sea, I find my thoughts upon how much you have done for me, but I have never stopped and said to you how much I feel the need to thank you -- " And briefly I recalled for each of them specific acts performed on my behalf.
我的信是这样开头的：“出海在外度过的这个感恩节，令我回想起您为我做了那么多事，但我从来没有对您说过自己是多么想感谢您――”我简短回忆了各位为我所做的具体事例。
13 For instance, something uppermost about my father was how he had impressed upon me from boyhood to love books and reading. In fact, this graduated into a family habit of after-dinner quizzes at the table about books read most recently and new words learned. My love of books never diminished and later led me toward writing books myself. So many times I have felt a sadness when exposed to modern children so immersed in the electronic media that they have little or no awareness of the marvelous world to be discovered in books.
例如，我父亲的最不同寻常之处在于，从我童年时代起，他就让我深深意识到要热爱书籍、热爱阅读。事实上，这一爱好渐渐变成一种家庭习惯，晚饭后大家围在餐桌旁互相考查近日所读的书以及新学的单词。我对书籍的热爱从未减弱，日后还引导我自己撰文著书。多少次，当我看到如今的孩子们如此沉迷于电子媒体时，我不由深感悲哀，他们很少，或者根本不了解书中所能发现的神奇世界。
14 I reminded the Reverend Nelson how each morning he would open our little country town's grammar school with a prayer over his assembled students. I told him that whatever positive things I had done since had been influenced at least in part by his morning school prayers.
我跟纳尔逊牧师提及他如何每天清晨和集合在一起的学生做祷告，以此开始乡村小学的一天。我告诉他，我后来所做的任何有意义的事，都至少部分地是受了他那些学校晨祷的影响。
15 In the letter to my grandmother, I reminded her of a dozen ways she used to teach me how to tell the truth, to share, and to be forgiving and considerate of others. I thanked her for the years of eating her good cooking, the equal of which I had not found since. Finally, I thanked her simply for having sprinkled my life with stardust.
在给外祖母的信中，我谈到了她用了种种方式教我讲真话，教我与人分享，教我宽恕、体谅他人。我感谢她多年来让我吃到她烧的美味菜肴，离开她后我从来没吃过那么可口的菜肴。最后，我感谢她，因为她在我的生命中撒下美妙的遐想。
16 Before I slept, my three letters went into our ship's office mail sack. They got mailed when we reached Tulagi Island.
睡觉前，我的这三封信都送进了船上的邮袋。我们抵达图拉吉岛后都寄了出去。
17 We unloaded cargo, reloaded with something else, then again we put to sea in the routine familiar to us, and as the days became weeks, my little personal experience receded. Sometimes, when we were at sea, a mail ship would rendezvous and bring us mail from home, which, of course, we accorded topmost priority.
我们卸了货，又装了其它物品，随后我们按熟悉的常规，再次出海。一天又一天，一星期又一星期，我个人的经历渐渐淡忘。我们在海上航行时，有时会与邮船会合，邮船会带给我们家信，当然这是我们视为最紧要的事情。
18 Every time the ship's loudspeaker rasped, "Attention! Mail call!" two hundred-odd shipmates came pounding up on deck and clustered about the two seamen, standing by those precious bulging gray sacks. They were alternately pulling out fistfuls of letters and barking successive names of sailors who were, in turn, shouting back "Here! Here!" amid the pushing.
每当船上的喇叭响起：“大伙听好！邮件点名！”200名左右的水兵就会冲上甲板，围聚在那两个站在宝贵的鼓鼓囊囊的灰色邮袋旁的水手周围。两人轮流取出一把信，大声念收信水手的名字，叫到的人从人群当中挤出，一边应道：“来了，来了！”
19 One "mail call" brought me responses from Grandma, Dad, and the Reverend Nelson -- and my reading of their letters left me not only astonished but more humbled than before.
一次“邮件点名”带给我外祖母，爸爸，以及纳尔逊牧师的回信――我读了信，既震惊又深感卑微。
20 Rather than saying they would forgive that I hadn't previously thanked them, instead, for Pete's sake, they were thanking me -- for having remembered, for having considered they had done anything so exceptional.
他们没有说他们原谅我以前不曾感谢他们，相反，他们向我致谢，天哪，就因为我记得，就因为我认为他们做了不同寻常的事。
21 Always the college professor, my dad had carefully avoided anything he considered too sentimental, so I knew how moved he was to write me that, after having helped educate many young people, he now felt that his best results included his own son.
身为大学教授的爸爸向来特别留意不使用任何过于感情化的文字，因此，当他对我写道，在教了许许多多的年轻人之后，他认为自己最优秀的学生当中也包括自己的儿子时，我知道他是多么地感动。
22 The Reverend Nelson wrote that his decades as a "simple, old-fashioned principal" had ended with schools undergoing such swift changes that he had retired in self-doubt. "I heard more of what I had done wrong than what I did right," he said, adding that my letter had brought him welcome reassurance that his career had been appreciated.
纳尔逊牧师写道，他那平凡的传统校长的岁月随着学校里发生的如此迅猛的变化而结束，他怀着自我怀疑的心态退了休。“说我做得不对的远远多于说我做得对的，”他写道，接着说我的信给他带来了振奋人心的信心：自己的校长生涯还是有其价值的。
23 A glance at Grandma's familiar handwriting brought back in a flash memories of standing alongside her white rocking chair, watching her "settin' down" some letter to relatives. Character
by character, Grandma would slowly accomplish one word, then the next, so that a finished page would consume hours. I wept over the page representing my Grandma's recent hours invested in expressing her loving gratefulness to me -- whom she used to diaper!
一看到外祖母那熟悉的笔迹，我顿时回想起往日站在她的白色摇椅旁看她给亲戚写信的情景。外祖母一个字母一个字母地慢慢拼出一个词，接着是下一个词，因此写满一页要花上几个小时。捧着外祖母最近花费不少工夫对我表达了充满慈爱的谢意，我禁不住流泪――从前是她给我换尿布的呀。
24 Much later, retired from the Coast Guard and trying to make a living as a writer, I never forgot how those three "thank you" letters gave me an insight into how most human beings go about longing in secret for more of their fellows to express appreciation for their efforts.
许多年后，我从海岸警卫队退役，试着靠写作为生，我一直不曾忘记那三封“感谢”信是如何使我认识到，大凡人都暗自期望着有更多的人对自己的努力表达谢意。
25 Now, approaching another Thanksgiving, I have asked myself what will I wish for all who are reading this, for our nation, indeed for our whole world -- since, quoting a good and wise friend of mine, "In the end we are mightily and merely people, each with similar needs." First, I wish for us, of course, the simple common sense to achieve world peace, that being paramount for the very survival of our kind.
现在，感恩节又将来临，我自问，对此文的读者，对我们的祖国，事实上对全世界，我有什么祝愿，因为，用一位善良而且又有智慧的朋友的话来说，“我们究其实都是十分相像的凡人，有着相似的需求。”当然，我首先祝愿大家记住这一简单的常识：实现世界和平，这对我们自身的存亡至关重要。
26 And there is something else I wish -- so strongly that I have had this line printed across the bottom of all my stationery: "Find the good -- and praise it."
此外我还有别的祝愿――这一祝愿是如此强烈，我将这句话印在我所有的信笺底部：“发现并褒扬各种美好的事物。”
Thanksgiving, like Spring Festival, brings families back together from across the country. Waiting for her children to arrive, Ellen Goodman reflects on the changing relationship between parents and children as they grow up and leave home, often to settle far away.
如同春节那样，散居各处的美国人到感恩节就回家团聚。埃伦·古德曼在等待着子女回家的同时，思索着当子女长大离家，常常在远方定居之后，父母与子女关系的不断变化。
Where Is Home?
Ellen Goodman 1 "The kids are coming home for the holiday."
何处是家?
埃伦·古德曼
“孩子们要回家过节了。”
2 My friend announces this as we swap recipes and plans for Thanksgiving.
我们在相互交流着感恩节的菜单和节日安排时，我的朋友郑重其事地这么说。
3 I stop; amused for a moment at the language we now share. "When," I ask, "did we become the people who call their adult children, 'the kids'?"
我愣了一下，不由对我俩用词相同感到有趣。“从什么时候起，”我问道，“咱们成了把长大成人的子女叫做‘孩子’的人？”
4 We laugh briefly at the passage of time, at thoughts of our own mothers who still refer to us as 'the girls,' and then she pauses.
想到时光流逝，想到我们自己的母亲仍把我们叫做“丫头”，我俩不由得笑出声来，随后她止住了笑。
5 "When," asks my old friend, "did our kids become the people who come home only at holidays?" There is a moment as bittersweet as cranberry sauce. “从什么时候起，”我的老朋友问道，“我们的孩子成了到节假日才回家的人？”两人心头一时又酸又甜。
6 (1)This is the week when our friends bring in the younger generation, eagerly harvesting them from bulging airports. We noisily arrange children, nieces, nephews, cousins around tables, placing them like good china that we take out for special occasions.
这个星期是我们的朋友们将小辈带回家的时候，是急切地把子女从人满为患的机场接回去的时候。我们忙乱地安排子女，侄子侄女，堂兄弟表姐妹什么的在餐桌旁一一就坐，就跟摆放在特殊场合才偶尔一用的精美餐具似的。
7 These energetic offspring do not come over the river and through the woods anymore. They struggle past check-in counters and wrestle their gear into stuffed overhead bins. They migrate back on airlines whose owners pray with their overbooked hearts that the weather will hold.
这些精力旺盛的后辈不再穿林过河而来。他们挤过检票处，使劲地把行李塞进座位上方满满的行李箱。他们搭乘着民航客机飞回家，那些公司心里想着客满的航班，祈祷着好天气持续下去。
8 (2)It is a testimony to the joyful pull of family that Americans saturated the air and highways this week to return to the place they no longer live but nevertheless call home. To get home for the holidays.
这个星期美国人挤满飞机和公路，都想回到他们已不再居住，却仍称之为家的地方。这证明了家庭具有能给人带来喜悦的吸引力的一个明证。回家去过节。
9 Yet my old friend has touched, however delicately, on that other truth about a country scattered over generations and geography. We have gone from family life as everyday, from knowing every sock in our children's drawers and every frown on their faces, to welcoming them home to designated guest rooms.
但我的老朋友很微妙地触及了另外一个事实，即这个国家一代又一代的人散布在天南地北。我们的家庭生活原本平平淡淡，没有变化，连孩子抽屉里的袜子，他们脸上任何一道不悦神情都一清二楚，现在却要迎接他们回家，把他们安置在指定的客房里。
10 We have visitation rights in each other's lives now, say my friend, a mother in 617 who looks forward to greeting the children from 415 and 011. We keep in touch, we catch up, we say hellos and goodbyes. But we are still trying to learn how to compress "quality time" into small quantities.
我们相互拥有探视权，我的朋友说。她是位母亲，住在电话区号为617的地方，盼望着迎接分别住在区号为415和011地区的子女回家。我们保持联系，我们互通信息，我们相互问好，再依依道别。但我们仍试图学会如何把团圆的“美好时光”压缩的短些，但相聚的次数要多些。
11 My friend is not complaining. Neither of us longs to return to those wonderful yesterdays. The nests that once felt empty now feel roomy.
我的朋友并没有抱怨。我们谁都无意退回到那美好的往昔。一度显得空落落的老巢如今显得宽宽敞敞。
12 More to the point we raised our children to look over the horizons. We told them, the world is yours, go for it. One by one, they went for it, to 305 and 215 and 406. It is, after all, the American way.
更重要的是，我们把子女养育成人，是要他们眺望远方。我们跟他们说，世界是你们的，去拥有这个世界。他们一个个去拥有世界了，有的去了305，有的去了215，有的去了506。毕竟，这就是美国的生活方式。
13 So we email and travel and are grateful at how much easier it is to keep in touch -- at least virtual touch -- today than when our parents were young. We take joy in the "kids" creating their own lives.
于是我们收发电子邮件，我们旅行，想到如今保持联系――至少是虚拟的联系――要比我们自己父母年轻时便捷得多，不由心存感激。我们为孩子们创建自己的生活而深感欢欣。
14 Yet at times an unpatriotic thought crosses our minds. Is this American way, this long-distance family, an odd tradition as unique to our people as Thanksgiving?
然而，偶尔我们脑子里会掠过一个不那么爱国的念头。难道这就是美国方式，家庭成员相距如此遥远，这种与感恩节同样独特的不同寻常的国民传统？
15 We are a nation of movers, founded by people on pilgrimages, populated by those who were willfully or forcibly uprooted. Our national mythology is based on the lure of kicking out and starting fresh. (3)We moved west and west again on a promise of the last best place, which turned out to be just a way station.
我们是一个迁徙者的国度，由清教徒前辈移民创立，有意或被迫离乡背井者曾在这里居住。我们的民族神话建立在离开家园，重新开始这一诱惑之上。我们西进再西进，期待得到最后那片最好的土地，而那却只是路上一个小站而已。
16 Even Robert Frost's most familiar and most American definition -- "home is the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in" -- has another subtext, Home is not where you stay.
就连罗伯特·弗罗斯特那最为人所知,最美国化的定义――“家就是那个当你不得不
前往时，他们必须接纳你的所在”――也带有其潜台词，家不是羁留之所。
17 From the middle of the age spectrum, my friend and I have seen elders move from house to condo, north to south, aging sunbirds still migrating. On the other side of the generational sandwich we watch our children's words. They are "coming home" on Tuesday and "going back home" on Sunday.
作为中年人，我和朋友见过年长者从独立的住宅搬入公寓套间，从北方迁往南方，老了的太阳鸟仍迁徙不已。在一代又一代人的夹层的另一端，我们留意着自己子女的用词。他们星期二“回家来”，星期天“回家去”。
18 Today many Americans find it hard to answer the question "Where are you from?" Do we all hold dual citizenship? Does the national concern about weaker family ties say less about our feelings than about our geography?
今天，许多美国人觉得难以回答“你是哪儿人”这个问题。我们是否都拥有双重籍贯？国民对越发薄弱的家庭纽带的关注难道更着眼于地域，而非我们的情感？
19 These questions hang lightly in the November air as we turn the subject from comings and goings of children to the advantages and disadvantages of chestnuts in the stuffing. This is the time, after all, of celebrating reunion, not musings about separation.
这些问题在11月的气氛中并不显得重要，我们的话题从子女归来转到火鸡填料里加栗子的好处与缺陷。毕竟这是欢庆团圆之时，不是默想离别痛苦的时候。
20 "The kids" are coming home. It is not the scarcity of food that brings us back to this full table. It is each other. And somewhere between the turkey and pies we settle down to savor togetherness.
“孩子们”就要回家了。把我们带回摆满食物的餐桌旁的，不是食品匮乏，而是我们彼此。在享用火鸡与馅饼的间隙，我们定下心来品味团圆的温馨。
21 (4)Over this Thanksgiving holiday and in this restless country, we stop and feast on family.
在这个人们流动不停的国度里，整个感恩节期间我们始终留在家中享受天伦之乐。
unit 6 The Last Leaf
When Johnsy fell seriously ill, she seemed to lose the will to hang on to life. The doctor held out little hope for her. Her friends seemed helpless. Was there nothing to be done?
约翰西病情严重，她似乎失去了活下去的意志。医生对她不抱什么希望。朋友们看来也爱莫能助。难道真的就无可奈何了吗？
The Last Leaf
O. Henry 1 At the top of a three-story brick building, Sue and Johnsy had their studio. "Johnsy" was familiar for Joanna. One was from Maine; the other from California. They had met at a cafe on Eighth Street and found their tastes in art, chicory salad and bishop sleeves so much in tune that the joint studio resulted.
最后一片叶子
欧·亨利
在一幢三层砖楼的顶层，苏和约翰西辟了个画室。“约翰西”是乔安娜的昵称。她们一位来自缅因州，一位来自加利福尼亚。两人相遇在第八大街的一个咖啡馆，发现各自在艺术品味、菊苣色拉，以及灯笼袖等方面趣味相投，于是就有了这个两人画室。
2 That was in May. In November a cold, unseen stranger, whom the doctors called Pneumonia, stalked about the district, touching one here and there with his icy fingers. Johnsy was among his victims. She lay, scarcely moving on her bed, looking through the small window at the blank side of the next brick house.
那是5月里的事。到了11月，一个医生称之为肺炎的阴森的隐形客闯入了这一地区，用它冰冷的手指东碰西触。约翰西也为其所害。她病倒了，躺在床上几乎一动不动，只能隔着小窗望着隔壁砖房那单调沉闷的侧墙。
3 One morning the busy doctor invited Sue into the hallway with a bushy, gray eyebrow.
一天上午，忙碌的医生扬了扬灰白的浓眉，示意苏来到过道。
4 "She has one chance in ten," he said. "And that chance is for her to want to live. Your little lady has made up her mind that she's not going to get well. Has she anything on her mind?
“她只有一成希望，”他说。“那还得看她自己是不是想活下去。你这位女朋友已经下决心不想好了。她有什么心事吗？”
5 "She -- she wanted to paint the Bay of Naples some day," said Sue. “她――她想有一天能去画那不勒斯湾，”苏说。
6 "Paint? -- bosh! Has she anything on her mind worth thinking about twice -- a man, for instance?"
“画画？――得了。她有没有别的事值得她留恋的――比如说，一个男人？”
7 "A man?" said Sue. "Is a man worth -- but, no, doctor; there is nothing of the kind."
“男人？”苏说。“难道一个男人就值得――可是，她没有啊，大夫，没有这码子事。”
8 "Well," said the doctor. "I will do all that science can accomplish. But whenever my patient begins to count the carriages in her funeral procession I subtract 50 per cent from the curative power of medicines." After the doctor had gone Sue went into the workroom and cried. Then she marched into Johnsy's room with her drawing board, whistling a merry tune.
“好吧，”大夫说。“我会尽一切努力，只要是科学能做到的。可是，但凡病人开始计算她出殡的行列里有几辆马车的时候，我就要把医药的疗效减去一半。”大夫走后，苏去工作室哭了一场。随后她携着画板大步走进约翰西的房间，口里吹着轻快的口哨。
9 Johnsy lay, scarcely making a movement under the bedclothes, with her face toward the window. She was looking out and counting -- counting backward.
约翰西躺在被子下几乎一动不动，脸朝着窗。她望着窗外，数着数――倒数着数！
10 "Twelve," she said, and a little later "eleven"; and then "ten," and "nine"; and then "eight" and "seven," almost together.
“12，”她数道，过了一会儿“11”，接着数“10”和“9”；再数“8”和“7”，几乎一口同时数下来。
11 Sue looked out of the window. What was there to count? There was only a bare, dreary yard to be seen, and the blank side of the brick house twenty feet away. An old, old ivy vine climbed half way up the brick wall. The cold breath of autumn had blown away its leaves, leaving it almost bare.
苏朝窗外望去。外面有什么好数的呢？外面只看到一个空荡荡的沉闷的院子，还有20英尺开外那砖房的侧墙，上面什么也没有。一棵古老的常青藤爬到半墙高。萧瑟秋风吹落了枝叶，藤上几乎光秃秃的。
12 "Six," said Johnsy, in almost a whisper. "They're falling faster now. Three days ago there were almost a hundred. It made my head ache to count them. But now it's easy. There goes another one. There are only five left now."
“6”，约翰西数着，声音几乎听不出来。“现在叶子掉落得快多了。三天前差不多还有100片。数得我头都疼。可现在容易了。又掉了一片。这下子只剩5片了。”
13 "Five what, dear? "
“5片什么，亲爱的？”
14 "Leaves. On the ivy vine. When the last one falls I must go, too. I've known that for three
days. Didn't the doctor tell you?"
“叶子。常青藤上的叶子。等最后一片叶子掉了，我也就得走了。三天前我就知道会这样。大夫没跟你说吗？”
15 "Oh, I never heard of such nonsense. What have old ivy leaves to do with your getting well? Don't be so silly. Why, the doctor told me this morning that your chances for getting well real soon were ten to one! Try to take some soup now, and let Sudie go and buy port wine for her sick child."
“噢，我从没听说过这种胡说八道。常青藤叶子跟你病好不好有什么关系？别这么傻。对了，大夫上午跟我说，你的病十有八九就快好了。快喝些汤，让苏迪给她生病的孩子去买些波尔图葡萄酒来。”
16 "You needn't get any more wine," said Johnsy, keeping her eyes fixed out the window. "There goes another. No, I don't want any soup. That leaves just four. I want to see the last one fall before it gets dark. Then I'll go, too. I'm tired of waiting. I'm tired of thinking. I want to turn loose my hold on everything, and go sailing down, down, just like one of those poor, tired leaves."
“你不用再去买酒了，”约翰西说道，两眼一直盯着窗外。“又掉了一片。不，我不想喝汤。这一下只剩下4片了。我要在天黑前看到最后一片叶子掉落。那时我也就跟着走了。我都等腻了。也想腻了。我只想撇开一切, 飘然而去，就像那边一片可怜的疲倦的叶子。”
17 "Try to sleep," said Sue. "I must call Behrman up to be my model for the old miner. I'll not be gone a minute."
“快睡吧，”苏说。“我得叫贝尔曼上楼来给我当老矿工模特儿。我去去就来。”
18 Old Behrman was a painter who lived on the ground floor beneath them. He was past sixty and had a long white beard curling down over his chest. Despite looking the part, Behrman was a failure in art. For forty years he had been always about to paint a masterpiece, but had never yet begun it. He earned a little by serving as a model to those young artists who could not pay the price of a professional. He drank gin to excess, and still talked of his coming masterpiece. For the rest he was a fierce little old man, who mocked terribly at softness in any one, and who regarded himself as guard dog to the two young artists in the studio above.
老贝尔曼是住在两人楼下底层的一个画家。他已年过六旬，银白色蜷曲的长髯披挂胸前。贝尔曼看上去挺像艺术家，但在艺术上却没有什么成就。40年来他一直想创作一幅传世之作，却始终没能动手。他给那些请不起职业模特的青年画家当模特挣点小钱。他没节制地喝酒，谈论着他那即将问世的不朽之作。要说其他方面，他是个好斗的小老头，要是谁表现出一点软弱，他便大肆嘲笑，并把自己看成是楼上画室里两位年轻艺术家的看护人。
19 Sue found Behrman smelling strongly of gin in his dimly lighted studio below. In one corner was a blank canvas on an easel that had been waiting there for twenty-five years to receive the first line of the masterpiece. She told him of Johnsy's fancy, and how she feared she would, indeed, light and fragile as a leaf herself, float away, when her slight hold upon the world grew weaker. Old Behrman, with his red eyes plainly streaming, shouted his contempt for such foolish imaginings.
苏在楼下光线暗淡的画室里找到了贝尔曼，他满身酒味刺鼻。屋子一角的画架上支着一张从未落过笔的画布，在那儿搁了25年，等着一幅杰作的起笔。苏把约翰西的怪念头跟他说了，并说约翰西本身就像一片叶子又瘦又弱，她害怕要是她那本已脆弱的生存意志再软下去的话，真的会凋零飘落。老贝尔曼双眼通红，显然是泪涟涟的，他大声叫嚷着说他蔑视这种傻念头。
20 "What!" he cried. "Are there people in the world foolish enough to die because leafs drop off from a vine? I have never heard of such a thing. Why do you allow such silly ideas to come into that head of hers? God! This is not a place in which one so good as Miss Johnsy should lie sick. Some day I will paint a masterpiece, and we shall all go away. Yes."
“什么！”他嚷道。“世界上竟然有这么愚蠢的人，因为树叶从藤上掉落就要去死？我听都没听说过这等事。你怎么让这种傻念头钻到她那个怪脑袋里？天哪！这不是一个像约翰西小姐这样的好姑娘躺倒生病的地方。有朝一日我要画一幅巨作，那时候我们就离开这里。真的。”
21 Johnsy was sleeping when they went upstairs. Sue pulled the shade down, and motioned Behrman into the other room. In there they peered out the window fearfully at the ivy vine. Then they looked at each other for a moment without speaking. A persistent, cold rain was falling, mingled with snow. Behrman, in his old blue shirt, took his seat as the miner on an upturned kettle for a rock.
两人上了楼，约翰西已经睡着了。苏放下窗帘，示意贝尔曼去另一个房间。在那儿两人惶惶不安地凝视着窗外的常青藤。接着两人面面相觑，哑然无语。外面冷雨夹雪，淅淅沥沥。贝尔曼穿着破旧的蓝色衬衣, 坐在充当矿石的倒置的水壶上，摆出矿工的架势。
22 When Sue awoke from an hour's sleep the next morning she found Johnsy with dull, wide-open eyes staring at the drawn green shade.
第二天早上，只睡了一个小时的苏醒来看到约翰西睁大着无神的双眼，凝望着拉下的绿色窗帘。
23 "Pull it up; I want to see," she ordered, in a whisper.
“把窗帘拉起来；我要看，”她低声命令道。
24 Wearily Sue obeyed.
苏带着疲倦，遵命拉起窗帘。
25 But, Lo! after the beating rain and fierce wind that had endured through the night, there yet stood out against the brick wall one ivy leaf. It was the last on the vine. Still dark green near its stem, but with its edges colored yellow, it hung bravely from a branch some twenty feet above the ground.
可是，瞧！经过一整夜的急风骤雨，竟然还存留一片常青藤叶，背靠砖墙，格外显目。这是常青藤上的最后一片叶子。近梗部位仍呈暗绿色，但边缘已经泛黄了，它无所畏惧地挂在离地20多英尺高的枝干上。
26 "It is the last one," said Johnsy. "I thought it would surely fall during the night. I heard the wind. It will fall today, and I shall die at the same time."
“这是最后一片叶子，”约翰西说。“我以为夜里它肯定会掉落的。我晚上听到大风呼啸。今天它会掉落的，叶子掉的时候，也是我死的时候。”
27 The day wore away, and even through the twilight they could see the lone ivy leaf clinging to its stem against the wall. And then, with the coming of the night the north wind was again loosed.
白天慢慢过去了，即便在暮色黄昏之中，他们仍能看到那片孤零零的常青藤叶子，背靠砖墙，紧紧抱住梗茎。尔后，随着夜幕的降临，又是北风大作。
28 When it was light enough Johnsy, the merciless, commanded that the shade be raised.
等天色亮起，冷酷无情的约翰西命令将窗帘拉起。
29 The ivy leaf was still there.
常青藤叶依然挺在。
30 Johnsy lay for a long time looking at it. And then she called to Sue, who was stirring her chicken soup over the gas stove.
约翰西躺在那儿，望着它许久许久。接着她大声呼唤正在煤气灶上搅鸡汤的苏。
31 "I've been a bad girl, Sudie," said Johnsy. "Something has made that last leaf stay there to show me how wicked I was. It is a sin to want to die. You may bring me a little soup now, and some milk with a little port in it and -- no; bring me a hand-mirror first, and then pack some pillows about me, and I will sit up and watch you cook."
“我一直像个不乖的孩子，苏迪，”约翰西说。“有一种力量让那最后一片叶子不掉，好让我看到自己有多坏。想死是一种罪过。你给我喝点汤吧，再来点牛奶，稍放一点波尔图葡萄酒――不，先给我拿面小镜子来，弄几个枕头垫在我身边，我要坐起来看你做菜。”
32 An hour later she said:
一个小时之后，她说：
33 "Sudie, some day I hope to paint the Bay of Naples."
“苏迪，我真想有一天去画那不勒斯海湾。”
34 The doctor came in the afternoon, and Sue had an excuse to go into the hallway as he left.
下午大夫来了，他走时苏找了个借口跟进了过道。
35 "Even chances," said the doctor, taking Sue's thin, shaking hand in his.
“现在是势均力敌，”大夫说着，握了握苏纤细颤抖的手。
36 "With good nursing you'll win. And now I must see another case I have downstairs. Behrman, his name is -- some kind of an artist, I believe. Pneumonia, too. He is an old, weak man, and the attack is acute. There is no hope for him; but he goes to the hospital today to be made
more comfortable."
“只要精心照料，你就赢了。现在我得去楼下看另外一个病人了。贝尔曼，是他的名字――记得是个什么画家。也是肺炎。他年老体弱，病来势又猛。他是没救了。不过今天他去了医院，照料得会好一点。”
37 The next day the doctor said to Sue: "She's out of danger. You've won. The right food and care now -- that's all."
第二天，大夫对苏说：“她脱离危险了。你赢了。注意饮食，好好照顾，就行了。”
38 And that afternoon Sue came to the bed where Johnsy lay and put one arm around her.
当日下午，苏来到约翰西的床头，用一只手臂搂住她。
39 "I have something to tell you, white mouse," she said. "Mr. Behrman died of pneumonia today in the hospital. He was ill only two days. He was found on the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain. His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cold. They couldn't imagine where he had been on such a terrible night. And then they found a lantern, still lighted, and a ladder that had been dragged from its place, and some scattered brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colors mixed on it, and -- look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn't you wonder why it never fluttered or moved when the wind blew? Ah, darling, it's Behrman's masterpiece -- he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell."
“我跟你说件事，小白鼠，”她说。“贝尔曼先生今天在医院里得肺炎去世了。他得病才两天。发病那天上午人家在楼下他的房间里发现他疼得利害。他的鞋子衣服都湿透了，冰冷冰冷的。他们想不出那么糟糕的天气他夜里会去哪儿。后来他们发现了一个灯笼，还亮着，还有一个梯子被拖了出来，另外还有些散落的画笔，一个调色板，和着黄绿两种颜色，――看看窗外，宝贝儿，看看墙上那最后一片常青藤叶子。它在刮风的时候一动也不动，你没有觉得奇怪吗？啊，亲爱的，那是贝尔曼的杰作――最后一片叶子掉落的那天夜里他画上了这片叶子。”
He did not trust the woman to trust him. And he did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not want to be mistrusted now.
他不敢相信这个女人居然会信任自己。他也不认为这个女人就不信任自己。不过，现在他不想失去别人对自己的信任。
Thank You, Ma'm
Langston Hughes 1 She was a large woman with a large purse that had everything in it but a hammer and nails. It was about eleven o'clock at night, dark, and she was walking alone, when a boy ran up behind her and tried to snatch the purse. The strap broke with the sudden single tug the boy gave it from behind. (1) But the boy's weight and the weight of the purse combined caused him to lose his balance. Instead of taking off full blast as he had hoped, the boy fell on his back on the sidewalk and his legs flew up. The large woman simply turned around and kicked him right square in his blue-jeaned sitter. Then she reached down, picked the boy up by his shirtfront, and shook him
violently.
谢谢您，太太
兰斯顿·休斯
她是个大块头女人，拎着个大包，里边除了榔头钉子什么都有。大约夜晚11点光景，夜深天黑，她孤身一人正走着，一个男孩从她身后猛地窜出，想一把夺去她的包。男孩从后面一记猛拉，包带断裂了。自身的体重加上皮包的重量使得男孩失去了平衡。他非但没有像原先希望的那样飞速逃离，反而两脚朝天仰面摔倒在人行道上。大块头女人一转身，一脚踢在他穿着蓝布牛仔裤的屁股上。接着她俯身拽住他的衣襟把他拖起来猛摇。
2 After that the woman said, "Pick up my pocketbook, boy, and give it here."
3 She still held him tightly. But she bent down enough to permit him to stoop and pick up her purse. Then she said, "Now ain't you ashamed of yourself?"
4 Firmly gripped by his shirtfront, the boy said, "Yes'm."
5 The woman said, "What did you want to do it for?"
6 The boy said, "I didn't aim to."
7 By that time two or three people passed, stopped, turned to look, and some stood watching.
之后那女人吩咐道：“捡起我的钱包, 孩子，把它拿过来。”
她仍紧紧地拽着他。不过她略微弯下腰，好让他俯身捡包。接着她质问道：“你害不害臊？”
男孩被拽住衣襟，回答说：“是的，太太。”
女人问：“你这么做是想要干什么？”
男孩说：“没想干什么。”
这时，有两三个过路人停下来，转过身来瞧，还有人站在一边看。
8 "If I turn you loose, will you run?" asked the woman.
9 "Yes'm," said the boy.
10 "Then I won't turn you loose," said the woman. She did not release him.
11 "Lady, I'm sorry," whispered the boy.
12 "Um-hum! Your face is dirty. I got a great mind to wash your face for you. Ain't you got nobody home to tell you to wash your face?'
13 "No'm," said the boy.
14 "Then it will get washed this evening," said the large woman, starting up the street, dragging the frightened boy behind her.
“要是我松开手，你会不会逃？”那女人问。
“会的，太太。”男孩说。
“那我就不松手，”那女人说。她没有放开他。
“我错了，夫人。”男孩低声说。
“唉! 你的脸这么脏。我很想给你洗洗脸。你家里就没人让你好好洗脸吗？”
“没，太太。”男孩说。
“既然这样，今晚你的脸得好好洗洗，”大块头女人一边说着，一边拖着惊惶失措的男孩沿着街道大步走去。
15 He looked as if he were fourteen or fifteen, frail and thin in tennis shoes and blue jeans.
16 The woman said, "You ought to be my son. I would teach you right from wrong. Least I
can do right now is to wash your face. Are you hungry?'
17 "No'm," said the boy, "I just want you to turn me loose."
18 "Was I bothering you when I turned that corner?" asked the woman.
19 "No'm."
20 "But you put yourself in contact with me," said the woman. "(2) If you think that contact is not going to last awhile, you got another thought coming. When I get through with you, sir, you are going to remember Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones."
他看上去十四五岁，穿着网球鞋和蓝布牛仔裤，显得又瘦又弱。
女人说：“你该做我的儿子。我会教你分清是非。我现在能做的起码是把你的脸给洗洗。你饿不饿？”
“不饿，太太，”男孩说, “我只想要你放了我。”
“我拐弯的时候碍着你没有？”女人问。
“没有，太太。”
“可你是自己惹上我的，”女人说。“要是你以为咱俩的事儿马上就完了，那你可就想错了。小伙子,等我跟你完了这事以后, 你就会记住我露埃拉·贝茨·华盛顿·琼斯太太的。”
21 Sweat popped out on the boy's face and he began to struggle. Mrs. Jones stopped, jerked him around in front of her, put a half-nelson about his neck and continued to drag him up the street. When she got to her door, she dragged the boy inside, down a hall, and into a large furnished room at the rear of the house. She switched on the light and left the door open. The boy could hear other roomers laughing and talking in the large house. Some of their doors were open, too, so he knew he and the woman were not alone. The woman still had him by the neck in the middle of her room. 汗珠从男孩的脸上冒了出来。他开始挣扎。琼斯太太停下来，一把将他拽到身前，扣住他的颈脖，拉着他继续往前走。她到了家门口，把男孩拽进屋，走过过道，来到屋子后部一间有家具的大房间。她打开灯，让门敞开着。男孩听见大房子里其他房客在说笑。有的房门也开着。因此他知道除了他和这个妇人还有别人在。他们到了房间中央，那女人仍拽着他的脖子。
22 She said, "What is your name?"
23 "Roger," answered the boy.
24 "Then, Roger, you go to that sink and wash your face," said the woman, turning him loose -- at last. Roger looked at the door -- looked at the woman -- looked at the door -- and went to the sink.
25 "Let the water run until it gets warm," she said. "Here's a clean towel."
26 "You gonna take me to jail?" asked the boy, bending over the sink.
她开口道：“你叫什么名字？”
“罗杰，”男孩回答说。
“这样吧，罗杰，你去那边水池洗一洗脸，”那女人说着，终于松开了他――罗杰望望门，――望望那女人――又望望门，最后朝水池走去。
“让水流一流，等到水热起来，”她说。“这是条干净毛巾，拿着。”
“你要送我去坐大牢？”男孩在水池前弯下身，问道。
27 "Not with that face, I would not take you nowhere," said the woman. "Here I am trying to get home to cook me a bite to eat, and you snatch my pocketbook! Maybe you ain't been to your supper either, late as it be. Have you?"
28 "There's nobody home at my house," said the boy.
29 "Then we'll eat," said the woman. " I believe you're hungry -- or been hungry -- to try to snatch my pocketbook!"
30 "I want a pair of blue suede shoes," said the boy.
31 "Well, you didn't have to snatch my pocketbook to get some suede shoes," said Mrs. Luella Bares Washington Jones. "You could of asked me."
32 "Ma'm?"
“就你这样脏的脸，我哪儿也不送你去，”那女人说。“我一心想着赶紧回家弄点吃的,你却来抢我的钱包! 虽说已经这么晚了，恐怕你也还没吃晚饭，是吧?”
“我家里没人，”男孩说。
“那咱们吃饭吧，”女人说。“我想你是饿了，饿了好一会儿了，所以想要抢我的钱包!”
“我想要双蓝色绒面革皮鞋，”男孩说。
“是这样，你用不着为绒面革皮鞋就抢我的钱包，”露埃拉·贝茨·华盛顿·琼斯太太说。“你本可以问我要的。”
“什么，太太?”
33 The water dripping from his face, the boy looked at her. There was a long pause. A very long pause. (3) After he had dried his face and not knowing what else to do, dried it again, the boy turned around, wondering what next. The door was open. He would make a dash for it down the hall. He would run, run, run!
男孩望着她，水从脸上滴落下来。一阵长时间的沉默。很长很长的沉默。男孩擦干脸，不知如何是好，就又擦了一把，随后他转过身，不知道接下来会怎么样。门开着，他真想一下子冲到过道。他真想奔啊，奔出去!
34 The woman was sitting on the daybed. After a while, she said, "I were young once and I wanted things I could not get."
女人坐在长沙发上。过了片刻，她说：“我也年轻过，也想得到自己得不到的东西。”
35 There was another long pause. The boy's mouth opened. Then he frowned, not knowing he frowned.
又是一阵长时间的沉默。男孩的嘴张了张。接着又皱起了眉头，他没意识到自己在皱眉头。
36 The woman said, "Um-hum! You thought I was going to say but, didn't you? You thought I was going to say, but I didn't snatch people's pocketbooks. Well, I wasn't going to say that." Pause. Silence. "I have done things, too, which I would not tell you, son -- neither tell God, if He didn't already know. Everybody's got something in common. Sit you down while I fix us something to eat. You might run that comb through your hair so you will look presentable."
女人说：“呃！你以为我是要说‘但是’，对吗? 你以为我是要说，‘但是我没抢人家钱包’。嗯，我根本没想说那些。”停顿。沉默。“我也做过一些事情，这些事我不想跟你说，孩子,也不想跟上帝说，如果上帝还不知道的话。凡人都有一些共同的地方。你坐下来，我来给咱倆弄点吃的。你可以用那把梳子梳梳头，看上去也好像个样儿。”
37 In another corner of the room behind a screen was a gas plate and an icebox. Mrs. Jones
got up and went behind the screen. The woman did not watch the boy to see if he was going to run now, nor did she watch her purse, which she left behind her on the bed. But the boy took care to sit on the far side of the room, away from the purse, where he thought she could easily see him out of the corner of her eye if she wanted to. (4) He did not trust the woman to trust him. And he did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not want to be mistrusted now.
房间的另一角，在屏风后面，有个煤气灶和一个冰箱。琼斯太太起身走到屏风后面。女人没留意男孩有没有想逃，也没去留意她留在沙发上的钱包。可男孩特地坐到离钱包远远的房间的另一头，坐在一个他觉得如果她想瞧，用眼角的目光就能看到的地方。他不敢相信这个女人居然会信任自己。他也不认为这个女人就不信任自己。不过，他现在不想失去别人对自己的信任。
38 She heated some beans and ham and set the table. The woman did not ask the boy anything about where he lived, or his folks, or anything else that would embarrass him. Instead, as they ate, she told him about her job in a hotel beauty shop that stayed open late, what the work was like, and how all kinds of women came in and out, blondes, redheads and Spanish. Then she cut him half of her ten-cent cake.
她热了些豆子和火腿肉，摆好了餐具。女人没有问男孩住哪儿，家里有什么人，或别的会让他尴尬的事。相反，他们一面吃着饭，她一面告诉他自己在一家酒店的美容院上班，美容院关门很晚，告诉他美容院工作的情况，告诉他有各种各样的女人进进出出，有金发碧眼的，有红头发的，还有讲西班牙语的。接着她把自己用十美分买的蛋糕切了一半给他。
39 "Eat some more, son," she said.
“再吃点，孩子，”她说。
40 When they finished eating, she got up and said, "Now here, take this ten dollars and buy yourself some blue suede shoes. And, next time, do not make the mistake of grabbing hold of my pocketbook nor nobody else's -- because shoes got by devilish ways will burn your feet. I got to get my rest now. But from here on in, son, I hope you will behave yourself."
两人吃完后，她站起身来说：“好了，这10美元你拿着，去给自己买双蓝色绒面革皮鞋。下一次，可别再干傻事，抢我的钱包或别的什么人的钱包――因为用穷凶极恶的办法搞来的鞋是要烫你脚的。现在我得休息了。不过，从今往后，孩子，我希望你规矩一点。”
41 She led the way down the hall to the front door and opened it. "Good night! Behave yourself, boy!" she said, looking into the street as he went down the steps.
她领着他走过过道，来到前门，把门打开。“再见! 要走正道啊，孩子!”男孩走下台阶，她一面说一面望着街道。
42 The boy wanted to say something other than "Thank you, ma'm," to Mrs. Luella Bates Washington Jones, but although his lips moved, he couldn't even say that, as he turned at the foot of the steps and looked up at the large woman in the door. Then she shut the door.
男孩想对露埃拉·贝茨·华盛顿·琼斯太太说些别的什么，而不是“谢谢您，太太”，可当他下了台阶转过身来仰面望着门口这个大块头女人的时候，他的嘴唇动了动，却连这句话也没说出口。随后，女人把门关上。
unit 7 Life of a Salesman
Making a living as a door-to-door salesman demands a thick skin, both to protect against the weather and against constantly having the door shut in your face. Bill Porter puts up with all this and much, much more.
干挨家挨户上门推销这一营生得脸皮厚，这是因为干这一行不仅要经受风吹日晒，还要承受一次又一次的闭门羹。比尔·波特忍受着这一切，以及别的种种折磨。
Life of a Salesman
Tom Hallman Jr.
1 The alarm rings. It's 5:45. He could linger under the covers, listening to the radio and a weatherman who predicts rain. People would understand. He knows that.
一个推销员的生活
小汤姆·霍尔曼
闹钟响了。是清晨5：45。他可以在被子里再躺一会儿，听听无线电广播。天气预报员预报有雨。人们会理解的。这点他清楚。
2 A surgeon's scar cuts across his lower back. The fingers on his right hand are so twisted that he can't tie his shoes. Some days, he feels like surrendering. But his dead mother's challenge echoes in his soul. So, too, do the voices of those who believed him stupid, incapable of living independently. All his life he's struggled to prove them wrong. He will not quit.
3 And so Bill Porter rises.
他的下背有一道手术疤痕。他右手的手指严重扭曲，连鞋带都没法系。有时，他真想放弃不干了。可在他内心深处，一直回响着已故老母的激励, 还有那些说他蠢，说他不能独立生活的人的声音。他一生都在拚命去证明他们错了。他决不能放弃不干。
于是比尔·波特起身了。
4 He takes the first unsteady steps on a journey to Portland's streets, the battlefield where he fights alone for his independence and dignity. He's a door-to-door salesman. Sixty-three years old. And his enemies -- a crippled body that betrays him and a changing world that no longer needs him -- are gaining on him.
他摇摇晃晃迈出了去波特兰大街的头几步，波特兰大街是他为独立与尊严而孤身搏杀的战场。他是个挨家挨户上门推销的推销员，今年63岁。他的敌人――辜负他的残疾的身体和一个不再需要他的变化着的世界――正一步一步把他逼向绝境。
5 With trembling hands he assembles his weapons: dark slacks, blue shirt and matching jacket, brown tie, tan raincoat and hat. Image, he believes, is everything.
他用颤抖的双手收拾行装：深色宽松裤，蓝衬衣和与之相配的茄克衫，褐色领带，土褐色雨衣和帽子。在他看来，形象就是一切。
6 He stops in the entryway, picks up his briefcase and steps outside. A fall wind has kicked up. The weatherman was right. He pulls his raincoat tighter.
7 He tilts his hat just so. 他在门口停了一下，提起公文包，走了出去。秋风骤起，冷飕飕的。天气预报员说得没错。他将雨衣裹裹紧。
他把帽子往一侧微微一斜。
* * *
8 On the 7:45 bus that stops across the street, he leaves his briefcase next to the driver and finds a seat in the middle of a pack of bored teenagers.
9 He leans forward, stares toward the driver, sits back, then repeats the process. His nervousness makes him laugh uncontrollably. The teenagers stare at him. They don't realize Porter's afraid someone will steal his briefcase, with the glasses, brochures, order forms and clip-on tie that he needs to survive.
在街对面停靠的7：45那班公共汽车上，他把公文包放在司机身旁，在一群没精打采的十几岁的孩子当中找了个位子坐下。
他身子往前一倾，盯着司机那儿望，然后靠着椅背坐下，接着他又反复这个过程。他心情紧张，控制不住自己而笑出声来。那些孩子望着他。他们不明白，波特是担心有人偷他的包，包里有他生存不可缺少的眼镜，宣传小册子，定单，以及可用别针别上的领带。
10 Porter senses the stares. He looks at the floor.
11 His face reveals nothing. In his heart, though, he knows he should have been like these kids, like everyone on this bus. He's not angry. But he knows. His mother explained how the delivery had been difficult, how the doctor had used an instrument that crushed a section of his brain and caused cerebral palsy, a disorder of the nervous system that affects his speech, hands and walk.
波特意识到了小孩子在盯着他看。他把目光转向车厢地板。
他脸上没有流露出任何神情。但在他心里，他知道自己本该和这些孩子一样，和车上其他所有人一样。他并不生气。但他心里明白。他母亲解释说生他时难产，医生使用了某种