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.