中山职业技术学校-元宵习俗

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
verbal direction,
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
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< br>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,
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, 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
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 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 old-fashioned principalhad
ended with schools undergoing such swift changes that he had retired in self-doubt.
of what I had done wrong than what I did right,
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

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 youletters 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,
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:
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
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.
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 asks my old friend, our kids become the people who come home only at
holidays? “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< br>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
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
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 -- is the place
where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in
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
home
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
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
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.
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
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 “她――她想有
一天能去画那不勒斯湾，”苏说。

6 -- 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
“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
begins to count the carriages in her funeral procession I subtract 50 per cent from the curative
power of medicines.
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
and
“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
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
“5片什么，亲爱的？”

14

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
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 needn't get any more wine,said Johnsy, keeping her eyes fixed out the window.

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
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2 5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
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
“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
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
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
“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
“现在是势均力敌，”大夫说着，握了握苏纤细颤抖的手。

36 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:
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
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,
3 She still held him tightly. But she bent down enough to permit him to stoop and pick up her
purse. Then she said,
4 Firmly gripped by his shirtfront, the boy said,
5 The woman said,
6 The boy said,
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
9
10
11
12
nobody home to tell you to wash your face?'
13
14 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,

can do right now is to wash your face. Are you hungry?'
17
18
19
20
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,
23
24
-- at last. Roger looked at the door -- looked at the woman -- looked at the door -- and went to the
sink.
25
26
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
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
29
snatch my pocketbook!
30
31
Bares Washington Jones.
32
“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,
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,
was going to say, but I didn't snatch people's pocketbooks. Well, I wasn't going to say that.
Silence.
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
“再吃点，孩子，”她说。

40 When they finished eating, she got up and said,
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. night! Behave
yourself, boy!
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 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

器械，损坏了他大脑的一部分，导致了大脑性麻痹，一种影响他说话，手部活动以及行走的
神经系统 的紊乱。

12 Porter came to Portland when he was 13 after his father, a salesman, was transferred here.
He attended a school for the disabled and then Lincoln High School, where he was placed in a
class for slow kids.
13 But he wasn't slow.
波特13岁那年随着当推销员的父亲工作调动来到波特兰 。他上了一个残疾人学校，后来就
读林肯高级中学，在那儿他被编入慢班。
但他并不笨。

14 His mind was trapped in a body that didn't work. Speaking was difficult and took time.
People were impatient and didn't listen. He felt different -- was different -- from the kids who
rushed about in the halls and planned dances he would never attend.
他 由于身体不能正常运行而使脑子不能充分发挥其功能。他说话困难，而且慢。别人
不耐烦，不听他说。他 觉得自己不同于――事实上也确实不同于――那些在过道里东奔西跑
的孩子，那些孩子安排的舞会他永远 也不可能参加。

15 What could his future be? Porter wanted to do something and his mother was certain that
he could rise above his limitations. With her encouragement, he applied for a job with the Fuller
Brush Co. only to be turned down. He couldn't carry a product briefcase or walk a route, they said.
他将来会是个什么样子呢 ？波特想做些事，母亲也相信他能冲破身体的局限。在她的
鼓励之下，他向福勒牙刷公司申请一份工作， 结果却遭到拒绝。他不能提样品包，也不能跑
一条推销线路，他们说。

16 Porter knew he wanted to be a salesman. He began reading help wanted ads in the
newspaper. When he saw one for Watkins, a company that sold household products door-to-door,
his mother set up a meeting with a representative. The man said no, but Porter wouldn't listen. He
just wanted a chance. The man gave in and offered Porter a section of the city that no salesman
wanted.
波特知道自 己想当推销员。他开始阅读报纸上的招聘广告。他看到沃特金斯，一家上
门推销家用物品的公司要人，他 母亲就跟其代理人安排会面。那人说不行，可波特不予理会。
他就是需要一个机会。那人让步了，把城里 一个其他推销员都不要的区域派给了他。

17 It took Porter four false starts before he found the courage to ring the first doorbell. The
man who answered told him to go away, a pattern repeated throughout the day.
波特一开始四次都没敢 敲门，第五次才鼓起勇气按了第一户人家的门铃。开门的那人
让他走开，这种情形持续了一整天。

18 That night Porter read through company literature and discovered the products were
guaranteed. He would sell that pledge. He just needed people to listen.
19 If a customer turned him down, Porter kept coming back until they heard him. And he sold.
当晚，波 特仔细阅读了公司的宣传资料，发现产品都是保用的。他要把保用作为卖点。
只要别人肯听他说话就成。

要是客户回绝波特，拒绝倾听他的介绍，他就一再上门。就这样他将产品卖了出去。

20 For several years he was Watkins' top retail salesman. Now he is the only one of the
company's 44,000 salespeople who sells door- to-door.
21 The bus stops in the Transit Mall, and Porter gets off.
他连着几年都是沃特金斯公 司的最佳零售推销员。如今他是该公司44000名推销员中
惟一一个上门推销的人。
公共汽车在公交中转购物中心站停下，波特下了车。

22 His body is not made for walking. Each step strains his joints. Headaches are constant
visitors. His right arm is nearly useless. He can't fully control the limb. His body tilts at the waist;
he seems to be heading into a strong, steady wind that keeps him off balance. At times, he looks
like a toddler taking his first steps.
23 He walks 10 miles a day.
他的身体 不适合行走。每走一步关节都疼。头疼也是习以为常的事。他的右臂几乎没
用。他不能完全控制这只手臂 。他的身体从腰部开始前倾，看上去就像是顶着一股强劲的吹
个不停的风迈步向前，风似乎要把他刮倒。 有时他看上去就像是个刚刚学步的孩童。
他每天要走10英里的路程。

24 His first stop today, like every day, is a shoeshine stand where employees tie his laces.
Twice a week he pays for a shine. At a nearby hotel one of the doormen buttons Porter's top shirt
button and slips on his clip-on tie. He then walks to another bus that drops him off a mile from his
territory.
25 He left home nearly three hours ago.
像平日一样，他今天的 第一站是个擦鞋摊，这里的雇员替他系好鞋带。他每周请他们
擦两次鞋。附近一家旅馆的门卫替他扣上衬 衣最上面一粒纽扣，戴上用别针别上的领带。随
后他步行去搭乘另一部巴士，在距离他的推销区域一英里 处下车。
他是差不多3个小时前从家里动身的。

* * *

26 The wind is cold and raindrops fall. Porter stops at the first house. This is the moment he's
been preparing for since 5:45 a.m. He rings the bell.
27 A woman comes to the door.
风冷雨淋。波特在第一户人家门前停了下来。这是他从5：45分开始就为之准备的时
刻。他按了门铃。
一位妇人开了门。

28
29
30 Porter nods.
31
32
33 She shuts the door.

34 Porter's eyes reveal nothing.
35 He moves to the next house.
36 The door opens.
37 Then closes.
“你好。”
“不，多谢了。我这就要出门。”
波特点点头。
“那我过会儿来，可以吗？”他问。
“不用了，”那妇人回答道。
她关上了门。
波特眼里没有流露丝毫神情。
他转向下一个人家。
门开了。
随即又关上。

38 He doesn't get a chance to speak. Porter's expression never changes. He stops at every
home in his territory. People might not buy now. Next time. Maybe. No doesn't mean never. Some
of his best customers are people who repeatedly turned him down before buying.
他连开口说话的机会都没有。波特的表情从不改变。他敲开自己推销区内的每一个家
门。人们现在可能不 买什么。也许下一次会买。现在不买不等于永远不买。他的一些老客户
都是那些多次把他拒之门外而后来 才买的人。

39 He makes his way down the street.
40
41
42
43
他沿着街道往前走。
“我不想试用这个产品。”
“也许下次试一试。”
“对不起。我在打电话。”
“不要。”

44 Ninety minutes later, Porter still has not made a sale. But there is always another home.
45 He walks on.
46 He knocks on a door. A woman appears from the backyard where she's gardening. She
often buys, but not today, she says, as she walks away.
47
48 She pauses.
49
90分钟之后，波特仍没能卖出一件物品。不过，下面有的是人家。
他继续向前走。
他敲响一扇门。一位正在拾掇花园的妇女从后院走了出来。她常常买他的东西，不过
今天不买，她说着走开了。

“你真的不买什么？”波特问。
她迟疑了一下。
“那么„„”

50 That's all Porter needs. He walks as fast as he can, tailing her as she heads to the backyard.
He sets his briefcase down and opens it. He puts on his glasses, removes his brochures and begins
his sales talk, showing the woman pictures and describing each product.
波 特要的就是这一迟疑。他尽可能快步上前，跟着她朝后院走去。他放下公文包，打
了开来。他戴上眼镜， 拿出产品介绍小册子，开始推销，给那位妇人看图片，详细介绍每一
个产品。

51 Spices?
52
53 Jams?
54
55 Porter's hearing is the one perfect thing his body does. Except when he gets a live one.
Then the word
调料？
“不要。”
果酱？
“不要。恐怕今天不要什么，比尔。”
波特的听觉是他身上惟一没有一点毛病的功能。只有当他察觉对方有可能买他东西的
时候才会发生例外。这个时候，他是听不见“不”字的。

56 Pepper?
57
58 Laundry soap?
59
60 Porter stops. He smells blood. He quickly remembers her last order.
61
right about now.
62
胡椒粉？
“不要。”
洗衣皂？
“嗯。”
波特停了下来。他嗅到了猎物。他很快记起了她上次的订单。
“对了，你肥皂差不多用完了吧？你上次买的就是这个。现在该差不多用完了。”
“没错，比尔。我买一块。”
* * *

63 He arrives home, in a rainstorm, after 7 p.m. Today was not profitable. He tells himself not
to worry. Four days left in the week.
64 At least he's off his feet and home.

65 Inside, an era is preserved. The telephone is a heavy, rotary model. There is no VCR, no
cable.
66 His is the only house in the neighborhood with a television antenna on the roof.
晚上7点过后，他在暴风雨中回到了家。今天没赚钱。他跟自己说别着急。这个星期
还有4天呢。
至少他回到了家，不用再站立了。
屋内，俨然是保存完好的一个旧时代。电话是笨重的拨盘式的那种。没有录像放映机，
没有有线电视。
他家是附近惟一一家屋顶上支着电视接收天线的人家。

67 He leads a solitary life. Most of his human contact comes on the job. Now, he heats the
oven and slips in a frozen dinner because it's easy to fix.
68 The job usually takes him 10 hours.
69 He's a weary man who knows his days -- no matter what his intentions -- are numbered.
70 He works on straight commission. He gets no paid holidays, vacations or raises. Yes, some
months are lean.
他过着离群索居的生活。他跟别人的来往大都限于工作上。他打开了烤炉，放了一盒
冷藏食品进去，因为 这样做饭方便。
他的工作通常要花去他10个小时。
他身心疲惫，知道来日无多了――不管他愿不愿意。
他的收入完全依靠佣金。他没有带薪假期，没有度假，也没有加薪。的确，有些月份
收入相当微薄。

71 In 1993, he needed back surgery to relieve pain caused from decades of walking. He was
laid up for five months and couldn't work. He was forced to sell his house. The new owners,
familiar with his situation, froze his rent and agreed to let him live there until he dies.
1993年，他需要作背部手术，以减轻数十年行走引起的疼痛。他卧床五个月，无法工作。他被迫出售房子。房子的新主人了解他的处境，冻结了他的房租，并答应让他在有生
之年继续 住在那里。

72 He doesn't feel sorry for himself.
73 The house is only a building. A place to live, nothing more.
74 His dinner is ready. He eats at the kitchen table and listens to the radio. The afternoon mail
brought bills that he will deal with later this week. The checkbook is upstairs in the bedroom.
75 His checkbook.
他并不因此自悲自怜。
房子只不过是个建筑物。一个住的地方。仅此而已。
晚饭好了。他在厨房的桌子旁吃饭，边吃边听着收音机。下午的邮差送来了他的账单，这些账单他将在这个星期后几天支付。支票簿在楼上卧室里。
他的私人支票簿。

76 He types in the recipient's name and signs his name.
77 The signature is small and scrawled.
78 Unreadable.

79 But he knows.
80 Bill Porter.
81 Bill Porter, salesman.
他用打字机打上收款人的名字，随后签上名。
签名小小的，字迹潦草。
难以辨认。
可他认得出来。
比尔·波特。
推销员比尔·波特。

82 From his easy chair he hears the wind lash his house and the rain pound the street outside
his home. He must dress warmly tomorrow. He's sleepy. With great care he climbs the stairs to his
bedroom.
83 In time, the lights go off.
84 Morning will be here soon.
他坐在安乐椅上，只听得呼啸的大风猛烈地冲 击着他的屋子，大雨击打着屋外的街面。
明天他得穿得暖和些。他觉得睏了，他小心翼翼地爬上楼就寝。
没过一会儿，灯就灭了。
早晨很快就会来临。

When children take up ways of making a living that differ greatly from their parents,
differences in outlook can easily arise. This is what Alfred Lubrano found. Brought up in the
family of a building worker, education led him to develop different interests and ambitions from
his father. Here he writes about how this affected their relationship.
当子女的谋生方式与父母大相径庭时，很容易产生观念上的差异。 这正是艾尔弗雷
德·卢布拉诺的发现 。他在一个建筑工人的家庭里长大，他所受的教育使他产生了不同于父
亲的兴趣与抱负。他在本文中叙述 了这一差异如何影响着他们的父子关系。


Bricklayer's Boy
Alfred Lubrano

1 My father and I were both at the same college back in the mid 1970s. While I was in class at
Columbia, he was laying bricks not far up the street, working on a campus building.
砖瓦匠的儿子
艾尔弗雷德·卢布拉诺
二十世纪七十年代中期，我和父亲同在一所大学里。我在 哥伦比亚大学上学，他在同
一条街不远的地方砌砖，在校园的一处建筑工地上干活。

2 Sometimes we'd hook up on the subway going home, he with his tools, I with my books. We
didn't chat much about what went on during the day. My father wasn't interested in Dante, I wasn't
up on arches. We'd share a New York Post and talk about the Mets.
有时我俩一起坐地铁 回家，他提着工具，我拿着书本。我俩不怎么聊白天的事。我父
亲对但丁没有兴趣，我也不懂拱门什么的 。我俩看一份《纽约邮报》，谈论大都会棒球队的

比赛情况。

3 My dad has built lots of places in New York City he can't get into: colleges, apartments,
office towers. He makes his living on the outside. Once the walls are up, a place takes on a
different feel for him, as if he's not welcome anymore. It doesn't bother him, though. For my father,
earning the cash that paid for my entry into a fancy, bricked-in institution was satisfaction enough.
(1) We didn't know it then, but those days were the start of a branching off, a redefining of what it
means to be a workingman in our family. Related by blood, we're separated by class, my father
and I. Being the white-collar son of a blue-collar man means being the hinge on the door between
two ways of life.
我爸爸建造了纽约市的许多他进不去的建筑：大学，公寓，办公大楼。他在 建筑物的
外面谋生。一旦高墙耸起，这建筑给他的感受就变了，他好像不再受到欢迎。不过他对此并不在意。对我父亲来说，挣点钱好让我进入一所高档的、用砖墙围起来的大学就读就挺满足
了，就像 他自己进去一样。当时我俩并未意识到这一点，但那就是我们之间开始拉开距离的
日子，是开始在家庭内 部重新界定劳动者的意义的日子。我们父子俩血脉相连，却分属不同
的阶级。作为一个蓝领工人的白领儿 子，就等于是两种不同生活方式之间的大门上的铰链。


4 It's not so smooth jumping from Italian old-world style to U.S. yuppie in a single generation.
Despite the myth of mobility in America, the true rule, experts say, is rags to rags, riches to riches.
Maybe 10 percent climb from the working to the professional class. My father has had a tough
time accepting my decision to become a mere newspaper reporter, a field that pays just a little
more than construction does. He wonders why I haven't cashed in on that multi-brick education
and taken on some lawyer-lucrative job. After bricklaying for thirty years, my father promised
himself I'd never lay bricks for a living. He figured an education would somehow rocket me into
the upwardly mobile, and load some serious money into my pockets. (2) What he didn't count on
was his eldest son breaking blue-collar rule No. 1: Make as much money as you can, to pay for as
good a life as you can get.
仅在一代人的时间里，从旧的意大利生活 方式一跃而成为美国的雅皮士不是件容易
事。虽说美国有社会阶层上下流动的神话，专家们却指出，真实 的情况是，穷者穷，富者富。
或许有百分之十的人从工人阶级爬到专业技术阶层。我父亲好不容易才接受 了我当一名普通
报纸记者的决定，因为这个行当的收入只略高于建筑业。他不明白，我为什么不利用他砌 砖
赚钱付学费让我获得的大学教育，找一份诸如律师那种收入丰厚的工作。我父亲砌了30年
的 墙，他发誓不让我靠砌墙谋生。他以为我受过教育就能一步登天加入向上流社会流动的行
列，并赚上大把 大把的钞票把衣袋装得鼓鼓的。他没有想到的是，他的大儿子打破了蓝领规
则的第一条：赚尽可能多的钱 ，过尽可能好的生活。


5 He'd tell me about it when I was nineteen, my collar already fading to white. I was the
college boy who handed him the wrong wrench on help-around-the- house Saturdays.
make a lot of money,
hammer a nail into a wall for you. 我19岁时他就跟我这么说了，那时我的衣领已经开
始变白。我是在大学念书的儿子，星期六在家里帮忙 时递给他的扳手总是不对。“你最好赚
好多好多钱，”我的手巧的蓝领父亲告诫道。“你将来连墙上钉个 钉子也要雇人帮忙。”

6 In 1980, after college and graduate school, I was offered my first job, on a daily paper in
Columbus, Ohio. I broke the news in the kitchen, where all the family business is discussed. My
mother wept as if it were Vietnam. My father had a few questions: Where the hell is
Ohio?
1 980年，我读了大学又读了研究生毕业后，俄亥俄州哥伦比亚市的一份日报给了我
第一个工作。我在厨 房里说了这事，因为家里的事都是在厨房里谈论的。我母亲哭了，好像
是去越南打仗似的。我父亲问了几 个问题：“俄亥俄？俄亥俄到底在哪儿？”

7 I said it's somewhere west of New York City, that it was like Pennsylvania, only more so. I
told him I wanted to write, and these were the only people who'd take me.
我说是在纽约城西面一个地方，就像宾夕法尼亚州一样 ，只是更往西。我跟他说我想
写作，只有他们肯给我这份工作。

8
on the side?
“为什么你就不能找个收入高一点的好工作呢，比如在纽约做广告，边工作边写作？”

9
“广告是撒谎，”我说。“我要报道事实。”

10 truth?the old man exploded, his face reddening as it does when he's up twenty
stories in high wind.
happy with your family,my father said, spilling blue-collar rule No. 2. what
makes you happy. After that, it all comes down to dollars and cents. What gives you comfort
besides your family? Money, only money.
“事实？”老头气炸了，脸涨得通红，就像他顶着狂风站在20层楼高的地方。“什么
是事实？”我说就 是真实的生活，报道真实的生活会使我幸福。“你跟家人一起就是幸福，”
我父亲说，无意中道出了蓝领 规则的第二条。“那才是让你幸福的东西。除了这，一切都归
结为美元、金钱。除了你的家还有什么给你 安慰？钱，只有钱。”

11 During the two weeks before I moved, he reminded me that newspaper journalism is a
dying field, and I could do better. No longer was I the good son who studied hard. I was hacking
people off.
临行前 的两个星期里，他提醒我说，报纸新闻是个行将消亡的行当，我完全可以有个
更好的前程。我不再是那个 用功听话的孩子。我让人大失所望.

12 One night, though, my father brought home some heavy tape and that clear, plastic bubble
stuff you pack your mother's second-string dishes in. my
father said to me before he sealed the boxes and helped me take them to UPS.
wants,
said my good- byes, my father took me aside and pressed five $$100 bills into my hands.
he said over my weak protests.
可是，一天晚上，我父亲带回家一些粗胶纸和透明的塑料泡沫材料 ，就是人家用来装

母亲的备用餐具的那种。“看来你做不了这个事，”父亲对我说。接着 他封好箱子并帮我把箱
子拿到联邦快运公司。“这是他要做的事，”我动身去哥伦比亚那天，父亲对母亲 说。“你有
什么办法呢？”我道别后，父亲把我拉到一边，往我手里塞了5张100元的票子。我稍微推
辞了一下。他就说，“拿着吧， 别告诉你妈就是了。”

13 When I broke the news about what the paper was paying me, my father suggested I get a
part- time job to supplement my income.
out by the city editor for something trivial, I made the mistake of telling my father during a visit
home.
the rage building.
当我跟他们说 了报社给我多少薪水时，父亲建议我找个兼职以弥补工资的不足。“也
许你可以开出租车。”有一次，为 了件小事我被本地新闻编辑责骂，我犯了个错，回家时把
这事跟父亲讲了。“他们简直就不付你什么工钱 ，把你差来差去，欺人太甚了，”他跟我说着，
火气就上来了。“下一次，你要卡着那家伙的脖子，告诉 他，他是个大混蛋。”

14 My father isn't crazy about his life. He wanted to be a singer and actor when he was young,
but his Italian family expected money to be coming in. (3) My dad learned a trade, as he was
supposed to, and settled into a life of pre-scripted routine.
我父 亲对自己的生活并不心满意足。他年轻时想当歌唱家和演员，可他的意大利家庭
等着钱用。爸爸就像家人 期望的那样，学了一门手艺，过上了一种预先设计好的生活。

15 Although I see my dad infrequently, my brother, who lives at home, is with the old man
every day. Chris has a lot more blue-collar in him than I do, despite his management-level career.
Once in a while he'll bag a lunch and, in a nice wool suit, meet my father at a construction site and
share sandwiches.
我虽然不经常见到 爸爸，但我弟弟住在家里，天天和老爸在一起。克里斯虽然身为管
理人员，却比我更像蓝领。他不时地会 装上一袋午餐，穿着考究的毛料西装，在建筑工地上
与父亲相会，跟他一起吃三明治。

16 It was Chris who helped my dad most when my father tried to change his life several
months ago. My dad wanted a civil-service bricklayer foreman's job that wouldn't be so physically
demanding. There was a written test that included essay questions about construction work. My
father hadn't done anything like it in forty years. Every morning before sunrise, Chris would be
ironing a shirt and my father would sit at the kitchen table and read aloud his practice essays on
how to wash down a wall, or how to build a tricky corner. Chris would suggest words and
approaches.
几个月前，当父亲想改变一下 自己的生活时，是克里斯给了父亲最大的帮助。父亲想
当行政部门砌砖工人的领班，这活儿对体力的要求 不是太高。想做这份工作，要参加笔试，
回答有关建筑工作的一些问题。父亲有40年没做过这样的事情 了。每天太阳还没有出来，
克里斯在一边熨烫衬衣，父亲坐在厨房餐桌旁，大声朗读他练习写的怎么洗刷 墙壁，怎么砌
一个难砌的墙角的回答。克里斯则提出建议，用什么词儿，如何回答。

17 It was so hard for my dad. He had to take a prep course in a junior high school three nights
a week after work for six weeks. At class time, the outside men would come in, twenty- five

construction workers squeezing themselves into little desks. Tough blue-collar guys armed with
No. 2 pencils leaning over and scratching out their practice essays, cement in their hair, tar on
their pants, their work boots too big and clumsy to fit under the desks.
这真是难为了老父。一连6个星期,他下班后每星期3个晚上得去一所初中上培训班。上课的时候，这些常年在外面干活的人走进教室，25个建筑工人，一个个挤坐在小小的桌
椅里。干 重活的蓝领工人握着2号铅笔，趴在桌子上费力地书写他们练习回答的文字，头发
里沾着水泥，裤子上蹭 着沥青，工作靴又笨又重，小桌子下面都放不大下。

18
nervous?
coaching, for putting him through school this time. My father thinks he did okay, but he's still
awaiting the test results. (4) In the meantime, he takes life the blue-collar way, one brick at a time.
“期终考试是不是都这样？” 父亲在电话里会问我。“你以前也一直这么紧张吗？”
我跟他说是的。我跟他说写文章向来不容易。他感 谢我和克里斯辅导他，帮助他这次完成了
学业。父亲觉得自己考得不错，不过他还在等考试成绩出来。与 此同时，他继续他的蓝领生
活，一步一个脚印。

19 When we see each other these days, my father still asks how the money is. Sometimes he
reads my stories; usually he likes them, although he recently criticized one piece as being a bit
sentimental.
如今，我俩见面时，父亲仍要问我挣多少钱。有时 他读我写的报道；他通常还喜欢，
不过最近他批评我的一篇报道有点感情用事。

20 During one of my visits to Brooklyn not long ago, he and I were in the car, on our way to
buy toiletries, one of my father's weekly routines. know, you're not as successful as you
could be,
restaurants, better clothes.
five or six similar big issues that are replayed like well-worn videotapes. I wanted to fast-forward
this thing when we stopped at a red light.
不久前我回布鲁克林，和他坐在车里，去买化妆用品。这是 父亲每星期要干的事情。
“我说，你是可以干得好一些的，”他又开始了，还是蓝领风格直来直去。“你 读书时挺卖力。
你理应上好一点的饭店，穿好一点的衣裳。”又来了，我心想，又是老一套。我敢肯定每 家
人家都有那么5、6个类似的经常争论的大问题，就像反复放了多遍老掉牙的录像带。我们
在 一个红灯前停下时，我想着要把这事快快带过去。

21 Just then my father turned to me, solemn and intense.
man to do something he likes and get paid for it -- that's fantastic.
light changed, and we drove on. To thank him for the understanding, I sprang for the deodorant
and shampoo. For once, my father let me pay.
就在那时，父亲转身看着 我，满脸严肃认真。“我羡慕你，”他轻声道。“一个人能做
自己喜欢做的事，还能挣钱――真是好极了 。”他对着我微笑，变绿灯了，我们继续往前开。
为了感谢他的理解，我冲上前去，买了除臭剂和香波， 这一次父亲总算让我付了钱。

unit 8 A Clone Is Born




Cloning offers the possibility of making exact copies of ourselves. Should this be allowed?
What benefits and dangers may cloning bring?
克隆技术使我们有可能分毫不差地复制自己。这一技术是否应该获准应用？克隆技术
会带来什么裨益与危险？

A Clone Is Born

Gina Kolata
1 On July 5, 1996, at 5:00 p.m., the most famous lamb in history entered the world. She was
born in a shed, just down the road from the Roslin Institute in Roslin, Scotland, where she was
created. And yet her creator, Ian Wilmut, a quiet, balding fifty-two- year-old embryologist, does
not remember where he was when he heard that the lamb, named Dolly, was born. He does not
even recall getting a telephone call from John Bracken, a scientist who had monitored the
pregnancy of the sheep that gave birth to Dolly, saying that Dolly was alive and healthy and
weighed 6.6 kilograms.
克隆生命诞生了
吉纳·科拉泰
1996年7月5日下午5点，有史以 来最出名的小羊羔问世了。它出生在苏格兰罗斯
林镇的罗斯林研究院所在的那条路上的一个小棚里，这只 羊羔是在该研究院创造出来的。而
它的创造者伊恩·威尔莫特，一位正在谢顶的文质彬彬的52岁的胚胎 学家，却不记得自己
是在什么地方听到这头名叫多利的羊问世的消息的。他甚至不记得曾接到约翰· 布 拉肯的
电话，这位对产下多利的那头羊的整个妊娠过程进行监察的科学家在电话上说多利健康存
活，体重6.6千克。

2 No one broke open champagne. No one took pictures. Only a few staff members from the
institute and a local veterinarian who attended the birth were present. Yet Dolly, who looked for all
the world like hundreds of other lambs that dot the rolling hills of Scotland, was soon to change

the world.
没有人打开香槟酒庆贺。没有人拍照留影。只有研究院的几位员工，以及 接生的一位
当地兽医在场。然而，多利，这头与苏格兰起伏的山丘上散布着的千百头其他的羊毫无异样< br>的小羊羔，很快就改变了世界。

3 When the time comes to write the history of our age, this quiet birth, the creation of this
little lamb, will stand out. The world is a different place now that she is born.
当后人编写我们这一时代的历史的时候，这一平静的降生， 这头小羊羔的问世，将会
引人注目。世界因它降生而从此改变。

4 Dolly is a clone. She was created not out of the union of a sperm and an egg but out of the
genetic material from an udder cell of a six- year-old sheep. Wilmut fused the udder cell with an
egg from another sheep, after first removing all genetic material from the egg. The udder cell's
genes took up residence in the egg and directed it to grow and develop. The result was Dolly, the
identical twin of the original sheep that provided the udder cells, but an identical twin born six
years later.
多利是头克隆羊。它不是精卵结合的产物，而是由取自一头六龄羊的乳腺细胞的基因
材料生成的。威尔莫 特先将取自另一头羊的卵子中的所有基因材料取出，再将该卵子与这一
乳腺细胞融合。乳腺细胞的基因在 该卵子中安营扎寨，令其生长发育。其结果就是多利羊，
即与提供乳腺细胞的那头羊一模一样的孪生羊， 只是这头孪生羊晚出生了6年。

5 Until Dolly entered the world, cloning was the stuff of science fiction. It had been raised as
a possibility decades ago, then dismissed, something that serious scientists thought was simply not
going to happen anytime soon. Now it is not fantasy to think that someday, perhaps decades from
now, but someday, you could clone yourself and make tens, dozens, hundreds of genetically
identical twins. Nor is it science fiction to think that your cells could be improved beforehand,
genetically engineered to add some genes and remove others. 在多利羊问世之前，克隆技
术不过 是科学幻想的故事。几十年前有人提出这种可能性，后来遭到摒弃，严肃的科学家那
时认为克隆在近期根 本不可能实现。现在这已不再是幻想，几十年之后，或许有朝一日你可
以克隆自己，造出数十个，数百个 ，上千个基因完全相同的孪生的兄弟。事先改进你的细胞，
运用基因工程注入某些基因，剔除某些基因， 这样的事也不再是科学幻想。

6 True, it was a sheep that was cloned, not a human being. But there was nothing exceptional
about sheep. Even Wilmut, who made it clear that he was opposed to the very idea of cloning
people, said that there was no longer any theoretical reason why humans could not clone
themselves, using the same methods he had used to clone Dolly.
why you couldn't do it.
没错，克隆的是头羊，而不是人。但羊并没有 任何独特之处。甚至明确表示反对克隆
人的威尔莫特也称，理论上，没有理由说人类不能使用与克隆多利 羊同样的手段来克隆人类
本身。“原则上没有不能这么做的理由。”但他补充说，“我们都会认为这样做 令人厌恶。”

7 We live in a time when we argue about pragmatism and compromises in our quest to be
morally right. But cloning forces us back to the most basic questions that have plagued humanity
since the dawn of recorded time: What is good and what is evil? And how much potential for evil

can we tolerate to obtain something that might be good? Cloning, with its possibilities for creating
our own identical twins, brings us back to the ancient sins of vanity and pride; the sins of
Narcissus, who so loved himself, and of Prometheus, who, in stealing fire, sought the powers of
God. So before we can ask why we are so fascinated by cloning, we have to examine our souls
and ask, What exactly so bothers many of us about trying to make an exact copy of our genetic
selves? Or, if we are not bothered, why aren't we?
我们生活在这样一个时代，人们为了追求道德的完善对 实用主义和妥协折衷的问题争
论不休。而克隆技术迫使我们回到有史以来一直困扰人类的那些最本质的问 题：何者为善，
何者为恶？为了获得可能有益的东西，我们对邪恶的隐患能容忍到何种程度？克隆技术以 其
创造与我们自身完全一样的孪生兄弟的可能性，将我们带回到种种古老的罪孽：虚荣傲慢；
那 喀索斯式的自恋罪，以及普罗米修斯的罪孽，他以盗火来谋求上帝的权力。因此，我们在
扪心自问为什么 对克隆技术如此着迷之前，不得不首先审视自己的心灵，问一问：究竟是什
么东西使得我们中的许多人对 于尝试复制与自身基因完全等同的孪生兄弟那么不安？或者，
如果我们并没有感到不安，其原因又是什么 ？

8 We want children who resemble us. Even couples who use donor eggs or donor sperm,
search catalogs of donors to find people who resemble themselves. Several years ago, a poem by
Linda Pastan, called a Daughter Leaving Home,was displayed on the walls of New York
subways. It read:
Is it my own image
I love so
in your face?
I lean over your sleep,
Narcissus over
his clear pool,
ready to fall in --
to drown for you
if necessary.
Yet if we so love ourselves, reflected in our children, why is it so terrifying to so many of us to
think of seeing our exact genetic replicas born again, identical twins years younger than we? Is it
one thing for nature to form us through a genetic lottery, and another for us to take complete
control, abandoning all thoughts of somehow, through the mixing of genes, having a child who is
like us, but better? Normally, when a man and a woman have a child together, the child is an
unpredictable mixture of the two. We recognize that, of course, in the old joke in which a beautiful
but dumb woman suggests to an ugly but brilliant man that the two have a child. Just think of how
wonderful the baby would be, the woman says, with my looks and your brains. Aha, says the man.
But what if the child inherited my looks and your brains?
我们希望子女像我们自己。即 使是采用捐赠卵子或捐赠精子的夫妇也要查找精子捐献
人名录，以发现与自己相像的人。若干年前，琳达 · 帕斯坦写的一首题为《致离家的女儿》
的诗曾出现在纽约地铁的墙上，诗中写道：
难道是我自己的形象
映在你的脸上
使我如此爱恋？
我俯视着安睡的你

就像那喀索斯俯视着
他那一潭清水，
随时准备跳下去――
如有必要
为你沉溺
然而，如果我们如此爱恋在子女身上映现 出来的自我，那为什么我们当中有这么多人，
一想到将目睹与我们完全一样的基因复制品、比自己年轻许 多的双胞胎降生的时候，就会感
到如此惊恐？难道大自然通过基因的任意组合将我们造就是一回事，而由 我们自己实施全面
控制，摈弃一切随意的念头，通过基因组合造就一个与我们相似但更为完美的孩子则又 是另
外一回事？当男女一起生育孩子时，孩子往往是两个人基因的不可预料的组合。显然，一个
老笑话表明我们已经认识到了这一点。这个笑话说的是一位漂亮但蠢笨的女人向一个丑陋但
才华横溢的男 人建议两人一起生一个孩子。想一想吧，那女人说，孩子拥有我的容貌、你的
大脑那将会多么出色。啊， 那男人说，可要是孩子继承了我的容貌你的大脑呢？

9 Cloning brings us face-to-face with what it means to be human and makes us confront both
the privileges and limitations of life itself. It also forces us to question the powers of science. Is
there, in fact, knowledge that we do not want? Are there paths we would rather not pursue?
克隆技术使我们直接面对做人的意义这个问题，使我们直接面对生命本身的特权与限
制。克隆技术也迫使 我们对科学的力量提出质疑。是不是有些知识我们真的不要去获取？有
一些路我们宁愿不去探寻？

10 The time is long past when we can speak of the purity of science, divorced from its
consequences. If any needed reminding that the innocence of scientists was lost long ago, they
need only recall the comments of J. Robert Oppenheimer, the genius who was a father of the
atomic bomb and who was transformed in the process from a supremely confident man, ready to
follow his scientific curiosity, to a humbled and troubled soul, wondering what science had let
loose.
我们奢谈科学的纯洁性，将科学与其后果分离的时代早已过去。 如果有谁还需要提醒，
科学家的纯真早已丧失，他们只要回想一下J·罗伯特·奥本海默的话。奥本海默 是一位天
才，他是原子弹的缔造者之一。他在追求科学的过程中，从一个极其自信、随时准备跟着科学好奇心走的人，逐渐变成了一个谦恭困惑的人，他不知道科学放出了什么妖魔。

11 Before the bomb was made, Oppenheimer said, you see something that is
technically sweet you go ahead and do the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki, in a chilling speech delivered in 1947, he said:
is a knowledge which they cannot lose.
在原子弹造出之前，奥本海默说：“ 当你看到某个技术完美的东西时，你就毫不犹豫
地去实现它。”原子弹投在广岛、长崎之后，他在194 7年发表的一则令人毛骨悚然的演说中
指出：“物理学家们已经尝到过罪孽的滋味，这种滋味他们无法忘 记。”

12 As with the atom bomb, cloning is complex, multi-layered in its threats and its promises. It
offers the possibility of real scientific advances that can improve our lives and save them. In
medicine, scientists dream of using cloning to reprogram cells so we can make our own body parts
for transplantation. Suppose, for example, you needed a bone marrow transplant. Some deadly

forms of leukemia can be cured completely if doctors destroy your own marrow and replace it
with healthy marrow from someone else. But the marrow must be a close genetic match to your
own. If not, it will lash out at you and kill you. Bone marrow is the source of the white blood cells
of the immune system. If you have someone else's marrow, you'll make their white blood cells.
And if those cells think you are different from them, they will attack.
如同原子弹一样，克隆技术带来的威胁与希望是复杂的、 多层面的。它提供了改善
生活、拯救生命的真正科学进步的可能性。在医学上，科学家梦想着运用克隆技术改编细胞
的编码指令 程序，这样我们就可以制造出我们自己身体的某些部分进行移植。比如说，假定
你需要进行骨髓移植。如 果医生摧毁你自身的骨髓，用他人的健康骨髓来取代，某些致命的
白血病就能得到彻底的医治。但骨髓的 属型必须与你自己的相匹配。不然的话，移植的骨髓
就会向你发起进攻，置你于死地。骨髓是免疫系统的 白细胞的来源。如果你获得别人的骨髓，
你就会造出别人的白细胞。如果这些白细胞认定你与它们不同， 它们就会发起进攻。

13 But suppose, instead, that scientists could take one of your cells -- any cell -- and merge it
with a human egg. The egg would start to divide, to develop, but it would not be permitted to
divide more than a few times. Instead, technicians would bathe it in proteins that direct primitive
cells, embryo cells, to become marrow cells. What started out to be a clone of you could grow into
a batch of your marrow -- the perfect match.
不过，可以 有别的办法。假定科学家能够用你自身的某个细胞――任何一个细胞――
将它与人的卵细胞融合。卵细胞 开始分裂，生长，但你可以控制它，只让它分裂若干次。技
术人员将它置于蛋白质当中，指令原始细胞， 即胚胎细胞，长成骨髓细胞。开始时本可以克
隆你的东西却可以长成一批你的骨髓――与你完美相配的骨 髓。

14 More difficult, but not inconceivable, would be to grow solid organs, like kidneys or livers,
in the same way.
更为困难，但并非不可思议的，是以同样的方法长成完整的器官，如肾脏或肝脏。

15 Another possibility is to create animals whose organs are perfect genetic matches for
humans. If you need a liver, a kidney, or even a heart, you might be able to get one from a
specially designed pig clone.
另一种可能 性是生成器官与人类基因完全吻合的动物。如果你需要肝脏，肾脏，甚至
心脏，你或许能从一头特别设计 的克隆猪身上获得。

16 The possibilities are limitless, scientists say, and so, some argue, we should stop focusing
on our hypothetical fears and think about the benefits that cloning could bring.
科学家称克隆技术蕴藏着无穷的可能性，因此，有人争辩说，我们不应该 喋喋不休地
谈论种种假设的恐惧，而去想一想克隆技术能够带来的裨益。

Laurence Tribe used to be against human cloning. However, the arrival of Dolly the sheep
led him to have second thoughts on the matter.
劳伦斯·特赖布过去反对克隆人。然而，多利羊的问世促使他重新思考这一问题。

Second Thoughts on Cloning
Laurence H. Tribe

1 Some years ago, long before human cloning became a near-term prospect, I was among
those who urged that human cloning be assessed not simply in terms of concrete costs and benefits,
but in terms of what the technology might do to the very meaning of human reproduction, child
rearing and individuality. I leaned toward prohibition as the safest course.
关于克隆的再思考
劳伦斯·H·特赖布
几年前，在克隆人还远未成 为一种近期前景的时候，我和一些人一起，极力主张对人
类克隆的评判不仅仅要考虑到具体的代价与裨益 ，而且要考虑到这一技术将会对人类繁殖、
孩子的抚养以及对人的个性的真实意义会带来什么影响。我倾 向于禁止克隆人，认为此乃最
为安全可靠的方针。

2 (1) Today, with the prospect of a renewed push for sweeping prohibition rather than mere
regulation, I am inclined to say,
时 至今日，眼看着新一轮要求对克隆人全面禁止而非简单规范的呼声即将再起，我倒
想说：“慢一点来。”

3 When scientists announced in February that they had created a clone of an adult sheep -- a
genetically identical copy named Dolly, created in the laboratory from a single cell of the
-- fierce debate arose over the pros and cons of trying to clone a human being.
当科学家于2月宣布他们缔造了一头由成年羊克隆而成的克隆羊――这头羊名叫多
利，是从其“母体”的一个单细胞在实验室里缔造的基因完全一样的复制品――时，对克隆
人的利弊掀起 了一场激烈的争论。

4 People spoke of the plight of infertile couples; the grief of someone who has lost a child
whose biological
for tissues and organs; the possibility of creating genetically enhanced clones with a particular
talent or a resistance to some dread disease.
有人说到不育夫妇的苦境，说到人们失子之悲痛，而生物再生可能给他们带来安慰；说到利用克隆技术产生组织与器官捐赠人的可能性；说到缔造强化基因克隆人的可能性，这
些人可以 拥有某种特别的才能或能抵御某些凶疾的能力。

5 But others saw a nightmarish and decidedly unnatural interference with human reproduction.
California enacted a ban on human cloning, and the President's National Bioethics Advisory
Commission recommended making the ban nationwide. 而有人则看到了对人类繁殖的
可怕的完全违背自然的干与。加利 福尼亚州通过了克隆人禁止令，而总统的全国生物伦理顾
问委员会则建议将这一禁令推向全国。

6 That initial debate has cooled, however, and many in the scientific field now seem to be
wondering what all the fuss was about.
然而，最初的论争渐渐平息，科学界不少人现在似乎诧异，当初那么大惊小怪是为哪
般。

7 They are asking whether human cloning isn't just a small step beyond what we are already

doing with artificial insemination, in vitro fertilization, fertility enhancing drugs and genetic
manipulation. That casual attitude is sure to give way before long to yet another wave of
prohibitionist outrage -- a wave that I no longer feel comfortable riding.
他们问道，克隆 人技术不就是比我们已经在做的人工授精、试管婴儿、增强授精药物、
基因控制等往前再走了一小步吗？ 这种不以为然的态度不用多久肯定会让位于另一波禁止
主义的狂潮，――本人对这波狂潮深感不安，无意 做个弄潮儿。

8 I certainly don't subscribe to the view that whatever technology permits us to do we ought to
do. Nor do I subscribe to the view that the Constitution necessarily guarantees every individual the
right to reproduce through whatever means become technically possible.
我当然不赞同那种认为 只要技术能办到的，我们什么都该做的观点。我也不赞同那种
认为宪法一定要保障每一个人有通过任何可 能的科技手段进行繁殖的权利。

9 Rather, my concern is that the very decision to use the law to condemn, and then outlaw,
patterns of human reproduction -- especially by appealing to vague notions of what is
is at least as dangerous as the technologies such a decision might be used to control.
相反，我的担心是，用法律的手段谴责并进而禁止人类某些繁殖模式 的决定本身――
尤其是藉助于什么是“自然”这一模糊观念――是危险的，其危险性不亚于这种决定可能 用
去控制的那些技术。

10 Human cloning has been condemned by some of its most articulate opponents as the
ultimate embodiment of the sexual revolution, separating sex from the creation of babies and
treating gender and sexuality as socially constructed.
克隆人被 某些最雄辩的反对者谴责为性革命的最极端的表现――即把性与生育孩子
相分离，把性别与性行为视为一 种社会概念。

11 But to ban cloning as furthering what some see as culturally distressing trends may, in the
end, lend support to strikingly similar objections to surrogate motherhood.
然而，认为克隆技术会促进某些人所认为的文化上令人忧虑的 倾向而加以禁止最终可
能会导致反对代孕的呼声得以增强，而这种反对与对克隆人的反对又是何等惊人的 相似。

12 Equally scary, when appeals to the natural, or to religious laws, lead to the criminalization
of some method for creating human babies, we must come to terms with the inevitable: the
prohibition will not be airtight.
同样可怕的是，当诉诸自然的，或宗教的法则导致追究某些生育方 式的刑事责任时，
我们就必须面对一种必然的局面：这种禁止不可能做到滴水不漏。

13 (2) Just as was true of bans on abortion and on sex outside marriage, bans on human
cloning are bound to be hard to enforce. And that, in turn, requires us to think in terms of a class of
potential outcasts -- people whose very existence society will have chosen to label as a misfortune
and, in essence, to condemn.
就像禁止人工流产和婚外性行为一样，禁止克隆人肯定难以实施。而这一情况反过来
要求我们考虑一个可能产生的社会弃儿阶层――那些社会将其存在视为不幸并实质上加以
谴责的人们。

14 One need only think of the long struggle to overcome the stigma of
children of unmarried parents. (3) How much worse might be the plight of being judged morally
incomplete by virtue of one's man-made origin?
人们只要想一想为了消除非婚生孩子的“不法”污名所进行的长期努力就会明白。由
于一个人的人工出生而被判为道德欠缺的苦境将是何等难熬？
15 There are some black markets (in drugs, for instance) that may be worth risking when the
evils of legalization would be even worse. But when what we prohibit takes the form of human
beings, the stakes become enormous.

当合法化的弊端更为严 重得多的情况下，我们可以冒点风险，允许有些黑市（例如毒
品）存在。可是，当我们所要禁止的是人的 时候，这个风险就会变得非常巨大。

16 There are few evils as grave as that of creating a caste system, one in which an entire
category of persons, while perhaps not labeled untouchable, is treated as not fully human.
人为制造一种等级制度，其中整整一类人， 即使未必标上贱民二字，却被当成不完整
的人加以对待，还有什么弊端比这更为严重呢？

17 And even if one could enforce a ban on cloning, or at least insure that clones would not be
a mistreated caste, the social costs of prohibition could still be high. For the arguments supporting
a rigid prohibition of cloning are most likely to rest on, and reinforce, the notion that it is
unnatural and wrong to cut the conventional links between marriage and the creation and
upbringing of new life.
而即使能对克隆技术实施禁止，或至少确保克隆人不是遭受歧视的等级，禁止的社会
代价仍将是巨大的。 因为支持严令禁止克隆人的论点极有可能基于并强化一个观点，即：割
断通常的传统上神圣的异性结合与 新生命的缔造与养育之间的联系是违背自然的和错误的。

18 Moreover, a society that bans acts of human creation for no better reason than that their
particular form defies nature and tradition is a society that risks cutting itself off from vital
experimentation, thus losing a significant part of its capacity to grow. (4) If human cloning is to be
banned, then, the reasons had better be far more compelling than any thus far advanced.
而且，一个社会仅仅由于某一特定的创造人类生命的方式与自然及传统相杵就禁止这
种行为，那么这个社会就有可能中断必要的实验，从而丧失其相当一部分发展能力。因此，
如果要禁止 克隆人，其理由应比任何已经提出的更为充分迫切得多才成。