新视野大学英语读写教程第四册第一单元B篇原文及翻译

unit1B

A Good Name Armstrong_Williams


1 One summer day my father sent me to buy wire and fencing for our farm. At 16, I liked nothing better than getting behind the wheel of our family pickup, but this time there was something on my mind. My father had told me I'd have to ask for credit at the store.
2 Sixteen is a proud age, when a young man wants respect, not charity. It was 1976, and the ugly shadow of racism was still a fact of life in some parts of the country. I'd seen my friends ask for credit and then be rudely asked whether they were "good for it."
3 My family was honest. We paid our debts. But before harvest, cash was short. Would the store owner trust us?
4 At Davis Brothers General Store, Buck Davis stood behind the register, talking to a farmer. Buck was a tall, weathered man in a red hunting shirt, and I nodded as I passed him on my way to the hardware counter. When I brought my purchases to the register, I said carefully, 'd need to put this on credit."
5 The farmer gave me a cynical look. But Buck's face didn't change. "Sure," he said easily. "Your daddy is always good for it." He turned to the other man. "This boy is one of James Williams" sons."
6 The farmer nodded in a neighborly way. I was filled with pride. James Williams" son. Those three words had opened a door to an adult's respect and trust.
7 That day I discovered that a good name was of immense value. The good name my father and mother had earned brought our whole family the respect of our neighbors. Everyone knew what to expect from a Williams: a decent person who kept his word and respected himself too much to do wrong.
8 We children—eight brothers and two sisters—could enjoy that good name, unearned, unless and until we did something to lose it. Compromising it would hurt not only those we loved but also those who loved us. We had a stake in one another -- and in ourselves.
9 A good name, and the responsibility that came with it, forced us children to be better than we otherwise might be. We wanted to be thought of as good people, and by acting like good people for long enough, we became good out of habit.
10 The desire to keep the respect of a good name propelled me to become the first in our family to go to college. Eventually, it gave me the motivation to start my own successful public-relations firm in Washington, D.C..
11 I thought about the power of a good name when I heard someone say that we need to restore a sense of shame in our neighborhoods. He's right. If pride in a good name keeps families and neighborhoods straight, a sense of shame is the reverse side of that coin.
12 Doing drugs, abusing alcohol, stealing, getting a young woman pregnant out of wedlock -- today, none of these wrong things are the deep embarrassment they should be. Nearly one out of three births in America is attributed to an unwed mother. Many of these children will grow up without a caring father and mother committed to each other.
13 Cultural

influences such as television and movies portray mostly a world in which respect that sustains civilization is vanishing from schools, families and streets. Phrases like "yes, ma'am," "no, sir," "thank you" and "please" show self-respect and respect for others. Yet, encouraged by the profanity on television and in music, kids don't think twice about bad language.
14 Many of today's kids have failed because their sense of shame has failed. They were born into families with poor reputations, not caring about keeping a good name.
15 Today, when I'm back home, I receive respect because of the good name passed on as my father's legacy and upheld to this day by me and my siblings. People like Buck Davis came to know of my success in the world. But it was my family's good name that paved the way.




夏日的一天，父亲让我去买些铁丝网和栅栏，用来围畜棚，把牛圈起来。那时我16岁，最喜欢开上货车，沿着老磨坊路到城里去。研磨机轮子上的水花在阳光下喷洒，在河道上空形成一道彩虹。我常在半路上把车停下来，在河里洗个澡，凉快一会，享受一下天然空调。
太阳火辣辣的，不用毛巾擦，等我爬上岸边的土坡，穿过路边的壕沟，到达货车时，身上已经都干了。快进城时，有一段沿着海滩的路，我会在那儿拣贝壳，拣海藻，头顶就是正从轮船上卸货的巨大的起重机。但是，这次却有所不同。父亲告诉我，我得向店里要求赊账。
那是1976年，种族主义的丑陋阴影仍然是生活的现实。我曾目睹我的朋友要求赊账，然后就低着头站在那里，等着店主查询他“配不配赊账”。许多店员只要一看见年轻的黑人走进商店，就盯着他们，疑心他们是小偷。我们家人诚实正派，有债必还。但在庄稼收割之前，所有的钱都已经花光了。银行里也没有新的存款，现金不够。
在戴维斯兄弟杂货店，巴克·戴维斯站在收银机后面，正和一个中年农夫说着话。
巴克个子高高的，穿着一件红色的狩猎衬衫，显得饱经风霜。我冲他点了点头，经过他的身边，向五金柜台走去，拿了一盒钉子，一卷用于捆扎的铁丝网和栅栏。
我把要买的东西拖到柜台前，把钉子放进秤盘，小心翼翼地说道：“我要赊账。”
一边抬起胳膊去擦额头上紧张的汗珠。那个农夫像寻开心般怀疑地看着我，但是巴克的脸色却没有变。他随和地说道：“当然可以，你老爹总能有借有还，”一边伸手去拿记账的账本。
我舒了一口气。他转过头，对那个农夫说：“这是詹姆士·威廉的儿子。
像詹姆士·威廉这样讲信用的人是很少的。”那个农夫友善地点了点头。
我的心里顿时充满了自豪。“詹姆士·威廉的儿子” ，这句话打开了通往成年人的尊敬和信任的大门。当我把沉重的货物

拉进货车车厢时，觉得轻而易举，感到比早上离开农庄时更有劲了。我发现，一个好名声所带来的友好是一笔无价之宝。
人人都知道，威廉家的人是什么样的：是诚实守信的体面人，自尊自重，不干坏事。
我的曾祖父也许曾被作为奴隶拍卖，但这不能成为伤害他人的理由。
相反，我父亲相信，赢得尊敬的唯一方法就是努力工作、尊敬他人。
我们这些孩子──八个男孩和两个女孩──可以坐享这个好名声，除非或直到我们做错什么事情而失去它。我们要对自己的行为负责，我们也要为相互的行为负责，否则就会毁掉父亲建立起来的好名声。我们的好名声曾经是，现在仍是把我们家紧紧联系在一起的纽带。
我不愿意辜负父亲的好名声，这激励我成为了家里第一个上大学的人。我靠在一家四星级酒店当行李工挣钱读完了大学。最终，好名声促使我在华盛顿特区开办了我个人的公共关系公司。美国需要在社区里重新树立羞耻感。吸毒、在酒馆把钱挥霍一空、偷盗、让年轻女子怀孕却又不想和她结婚，这些事本应让人感到无地自容，但事实并非如此。
在美国，近三分之一的婴儿是单身母亲所生的。这些孩子在成长过程中大多会缺乏安全感和指导，而这正是成为社会的好公民所需要的。一旦社会纽带和家人相互间的责任瓦解了，社区也就分崩离析。自从1960年以来，美国的人口虽然只增长了40%，但暴力犯罪却陡增了55%，而我们对此却已司空见惯。青少年吸毒人数也在上升。在北卡罗来纳的一个县，警察从12所中学逮捕了73名交易毒品的学生，而有些交易就发生在教室里。
与此同时，支撑着文明、体现于细微之处的礼貌和敬意，却正从学校、商店和街头消失。
由于受到电视和音乐中的脏话的影响，像“是的，女士”、“不，先生”、“谢谢”和“请”这样的话，只会让今天的孩子哈欠连天。他们对好名声的作用满不在乎。
从父亲那传下来的，由我的兄弟姐妹和我保持的好名声，在现在仍和过去一样地珍贵。
甚至直到今天，当我走进巴克·戴维斯的商店，或去老家的理发店理发时，人们仍然称呼我是詹姆士·威廉的儿子。我们家的好名声确实为我铺平了道路。