标签:
杂谈 |
这是我自己翻译的英语课文,希望看到的你能帮我检查一下,谢谢。(如有问题,请留言)
the cab ride
二十年前,我已开出租车谋生。它是那种牛仔的生活,为那些不想有老板的人的一种生活。我没有意识到的是那也是一种类似牧师的职责。因为我换晚上的班开车,我的出租车变成了一个移动的忏悔室。乘客上车,全部匿名坐在我后面,告诉我他们的生活。我偶然会遇见一些人,他们的生活使我感到吃惊,使我产生敬意,使我快乐,使我哭泣。
But none touched me more than a woman I picked up late one August night.
然而没有人会比我在8月份晚上接的一位女士更触动我。
I was responding to a call from a small brick fourplex in a
quiet part of town. I assumed I was being sent to pick up some
partyers, or someone who had just had a fight with a lover, or a
worker heading to an early shift at some factory for the industrial
part of town.
我正在回应一个来自坐落于镇中清净地段的一套小砖块公寓楼的电话。我很惊讶会被派去接一些社交常客,或者是刚刚和情人吵完架的人,或者是在小镇工业区的某个工厂上早班的领导。
When I arrived at 2:30 a.m., the building was dark except for a
single light in a ground floor window. Under such circumstances,
many drivers just honk once or twice, wait a minute, then drive
away. But I had seen too many impoverished people who depended on
taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation
smelled of danger, I always went to the door. This passenger might
be someone who needs my assistance, I reasoned to myself. So I
walked to the door and knocked.
"Just a minute," answered a frail, elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman in her 80s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like somebody out of a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.