最好的老师并不只在学校里 天使也并非总是天使的模样
admin 04-03 次遇见41 Angel in Disguise
天使也化装
Back home in Brooklyn we did things differently. You went to the butcher's for meat, the pharmacy for aspirin and the grocery store for food. But when I spent the summer with my grandmother in Warwick, N.Y., she sent me down to the general store with a list. How could I hope to find anything on the packed shelves around me, everything all jumbled together?
在布鲁克林的家,我们的做事方式完全不同。你去肉店买肉,去药房买阿司匹林,去食品杂货店买食品。但是当我在纽约的沃里克和奶奶一起度过夏天时,她让我拿着一张单子去杂货店买东西。我怎么可能指望在周围这些塞得满满当当、所有东西都胡乱堆放在一起的货架上找到任何东西呢?
I walked up to the counter. Behind it was a lady like no one I'd ever seen. Fake-jewel-encrusted glasses teetered on the tip of her nose as she read the paper spread out before her. Her gray hair was piled on her head with a crochet needle stuck in it.
我走到柜台前。柜台后有一位女士,她跟我以前见过的任何一个人都不一样。当她看面前摊开的报纸时,挂在她鼻尖上的镶着假珠宝的眼镜摇摇欲坠。她灰白的头发盘在头上,上面插了一根钩针。
Excuse me, I said.
“打扰一下。”我说。
She looked up. "You're that Clements kid," she said. "Your daddy sent you to stay the summer. I'm Miss Bee."
她抬起头来。“你就是克莱门茨家的那个孩子,”她说,“你爸爸送你来这里过夏天的吧。我是蜜蜂小姐。”
Bee was a good name for this woman. She spoke so sharply that I felt like I was stung. "I had pneumonia ," I explained. "Daddy thought the country air might be good for me."
对这个女人来说,蜜蜂真是个好名字。她说话那么刻薄,让我觉得自己好像被蜇了一样。“我得了肺炎,”我解释道,“爸爸觉得乡下的空气可能会对我有好处。”
Come closer and let me get a look at you. She pushed her glasses up her nose and said, "I want to be able to describe you to the sheriff if something goes missing from the store.
“走近点儿,让我仔细瞧瞧你,”她往上推了推鼻子上的眼镜说,“要是店里少了什么东西,但愿我能向治安官描述你的样子。”
I'm not a thief! I was shocked. I was seven years—too young to be a thief!
“我不是小偷!”我很震惊。我才七岁,这么小怎么可能做小偷呢!
From what I can see you're not much of anything. But I can tell you've got potential. Then she went back to reading her newspaper.
“光看外表,你一点儿也不像小偷。但是我可以告诉你,你也是有这个潜在可能的。”然后,她就继续看她的报纸了。
Never had anyone spoken to me like this! I couldn't wait to get out of this strange store and back to my grandma.
从来没人像这样对我说话!我真想立刻离开这家奇怪的店铺,回到奶奶身边去。
I need to get these, I said, holding up my list.
“我要买这些东西。”我举起购物清单说。
So? Miss Bee did not look up from her paper. "Go get them."
“那么?”蜜蜂小姐看着报纸,头也没抬地说,“就去找吧!”
But ... but, I said. Didn't this woman understand my problem? "There's so much stuff in here."
“可是……可是。”我说。这个女人难道不知道我的难处?“这儿东西这么多。”
Miss Bee pointed to a sign on the door, "That's why they call it a general store, kid. It's the only one in five miles as the crow flies , so you'd best get used to things. There's no one here except you and me and I'm not your servant, so I suggest you get yourself a basket from that pile over there and start filling. If you're lucky you'll be home by sundown."
蜜蜂小姐指了指门上的一个牌子。“小屁孩,那正是他们管这儿叫杂货店的原因。我这儿是方圆五英里内唯一的杂货店,好的话,太阳下山之前你能到家。”
Sundown was five hours away. I wasn't sure I would make it.
还有五个小时太阳才下山,但我不确定自己能搞定。
I started at the nearest shelf and scanned it for the first item on my fist:pork and beans . It took me three wall-to-wall searches before I found a can nestled between boxes of cereal and bread, on top of some soup cans. Next up was toilet paper. That was a real hunt. I found it under the daily newspaper. Band-Aids—where had I seen them? Oh, yes, next to the face cream. The store was a puzzle, but it held some surprises too. I found a new Superman comic tucked behind the peanut butter.
我从最近的货架开始找起,搜寻我单子上的第一样东西:黄豆猪肉罐头。我地毯式搜寻了三遍,才在一堆汤罐头上面的一些盒装谷类食品和面包之间找到一罐。下一个要找的是卫生纸。那可真让我一顿好找,我是在一份日报下面找到的。创可贴——我在哪儿见过来着?噢,是的,在面霜旁边。这家杂货店就像个迷宫,但也藏着一些惊喜:我发现了塞在花生酱后面的一本新的《超人》连环漫画。
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An hour later I had found everything on the list, except for one thing—bicarbonate of soda . I understood soda, but what was the B word? I would have to ask Miss Bee. I screwed up my courage and approached the counter.
一小时后,我把购物清单上的所有东西都找全了,唯独缺一样——小苏打。我知道苏打,但那个B打头的单词是什么呢?我只能去问蜜蜂小姐了。我鼓起勇气,走到了柜台前。
I can't read this, I said, pointing to the strange word I had been struggling with.
“我看不懂这个。”我指着那个自己猜了好久的陌生单词说。
Miss Bee wouldn't even look at it. "Well, Miss Potential," she said, "it seems you don't listen real good. If you did, you'd remember the items. I'm sure your grandma told you as she wrote them down. Just like you'd remember me telling you I'm not your servant. Next time you should listen better to both of us."
蜜蜂小姐甚至瞧都没瞧那个词。“噢,‘潜在可能’小姐,”她说,“看来你没有认真听。你要是认真听了,就会记得这些东西。我确信你奶奶在写单子的时候肯定告诉过你,正如你该记得我告诉过你我不是你的仆人一样。下一次你应该更认真地听我们俩说话。”
Miss Bee had stung me again! I stared in amazement and indignation as she tallied everything else up and put my purchases into a brown paper bag.
蜜蜂小姐又一次拿话蜇了我!我又惊又气地瞪着她清点我买的其他每一样东西,并将它们放进一个棕色纸袋里。
That Miss Bee is without a doubt the meanest woman I've ever met. Probably the meanest I'll meet in my whole life! I announced when I got home.
“那个蜜蜂小姐毫无疑问是我见过的最可恶的女人,或许她将是我这一生遇到的最可恶的人!”当我回到家里的时候,我这样宣称。
Grandma just laughed and shook her head. "She's a character," she agreed. "But she's not so bad."
奶奶只是笑着摇了摇头。“她是个怪人,”她赞同道,“不过,她没那么坏。”
Not so bad? Grandma didn't know the half of it —I never wanted to return to the general store again. Unfortunately, Grandma had other ideas.
没那么坏?奶奶根本就不了解实情,我再也不愿去杂货店。不幸的是,奶奶另有想法。
I visited Miss Bee a couple of times a week that summer. Sometimes she shortchanged me. Other times she overcharged. Or sold me an old newspaper instead of one that was current.
那个夏天,我每周都要去蜜蜂小姐那里跑上几趟。有时候,她少找钱给我。有时候,她多收我钱。或者她卖给我旧报纸,冒充新报纸。
Going to the store was more like going into battle. I left my grandma's house armed with my list—memorized to the letter —and the prices in my head and marched into Miss Bee's like General Patton marching into North Africa. "That can of beans is only twenty-nine cents!" I corrected her one afternoon. I had watched the numbers change on the cash register closely, and Miss Bee had added 35 cents. She didn't seem embarrassed that I had caught her overcharging. She just looked at me over her glasses and fixed the price.
去杂货店买东西更像是去打仗。我离开奶奶家时用购物清单武装自己——一字不落地记住每样东西和它的价格,然后就像巴顿将军挺进北非一样昂首阔步地走进蜜蜂小姐的杂货店。“那罐豆子只要29美分!”一天下午,我纠正她道。我刚才紧盯着收银机上的数字变化,发现蜜蜂小姐输入的是35美分。她多收我钱被我抓了个正着,却似乎毫无愧色。她只是从眼镜上方瞟了我一眼,然后改正了价格。
Not that she ever let me declare victory. All summer long she found ways to trip me up . No sooner had I learned how to pronounce bicarbonate of soda and memorized its location on the shelf, than Miss Bee rearranged the shelves and made me hunt for it all over again.
她从不让我占上风。整个夏天,她都找各种办法来刁难我。我刚一学会如何拼读小苏打,并且记住它在货架上的位置,蜜蜂小姐就重新摆了货架,让我又一顿好找。
By summer's end the shopping trip that had once taken me an hour was done in 15 minutes. The morning I was to return to Brooklyn I stopped in to get a packet of chewing gum. Miss Bee rang up the gum, then poked me with one of her chubby fingers. "All right, Miss Potential," she said, "what did you learn this summer?"
夏天结束的时候,原本要花一小时的购物我只用15分钟就完成了。在即将返回布鲁克林的那个清晨,我顺道去杂货店买了包口香糖。蜜蜂小姐收完口香糖的钱后,就用她胖胖的手指戳我。“好了,‘潜在可能’小姐,”她说,“这个夏天,你学到了什么?”
I pressed my lips together. That you're a meany ! The thought popped into my head, where it stayed. There was nothing I learned this summer that Miss Bee wanted to hear!
我双唇紧闭。学到了你是个刻薄鬼!这个想法跳入我的脑海,印在了那儿。这个夏天,我没有学到蜜蜂小姐想听到的任何东西!
To my amazement, Miss Bee laughed. "I know what you think of me," she said. "Well, I don't care. Each of us is put on this earth for a reason. Some people will find cures for diseases; others will climb mountains. I believe my job is to teach every child I meet ten life lessons to help him or her. Think what you will, Miss Potential, but when you get older you'll be glad our paths crossed!"
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令我惊讶的是,蜜蜂小姐笑了。“我知道你是怎么看我的,”她说,“噢,我不介意。我们每个人来到世上都是有原因的。一些人会找到治病的良方,一些人会爬山。我相信我的工作是教我遇到的每个孩子对他/她有用的十条人生法则。想想你会做什么,‘潜在可能’小 姐。不过等你长大些,你就会很高兴我们曾经相遇!”
Glad I met Miss Bee? Ha! The idea was absurd. And I continued to think so for many years, until one day my daughter came to me with homework troubles.
我为遇到蜜蜂小姐而高兴?哈!这个想法真荒谬。此后多年,我一直是这么认为的,直到有一天,我的女儿在做家庭作业遇到困难时来找我。
It's too hard, she said. "Could you finish my math problems for me?"
“作业太难了,”她说,“你能帮我做数学题吗?”
If I do it for you, how will you ever learn to do it yourself? I said.
“如果我帮你做,你怎么能学会自己做呢?”我说。
I saw myself back at that general store where I had learned the hard way to tally up my bill along with the cashier. Had I ever been overcharged since?
我仿佛又看见自己回到那个杂货店,站在收银机前辛苦地学会计算我的账单。在那以后,我有被别人多收过钱吗?
As my daughter went back to her homework, I wondered: "Had Miss Bee really taught me something all those years ago? Could anyone really learn from a mean old lady who made life so miserable?"
当女儿回去自己做作业的时候,我想:“多年以前,蜜蜂小姐真的教我东西了吗?真的有人能从一个让生活变得那么痛苦的可恶老太婆那儿学到东西吗?”
I teach each child I meet ten life lessons, Miss Bee had said. As my daughter went off grumbling , I took out a scrap of paper and wrote down 10 things I had indeed learned from my encounters with Miss Bee.
“我教我遇到的每个孩子十条人生法则。”蜜蜂小姐说过。当女儿嘟嘟囔囔地走开时,我拿出一张纸片,写下我从我和蜜蜂小姐的相遇中确实学到的十样东西。
Yes, I had to admit it. It looked like Miss Bee really had done a great job on me that summer. Sure enough, I had learned 10 life lessons from Miss Bee and they are:
是的,我必须承认。看起来,那年夏天蜜蜂小姐真的在我身上下了番工夫。我的的确确从蜜蜂小姐那儿学到了十条人生法则,它们是:
1.Listen well.
·1.认真听。
2.Never assume-things aren't always the same as they were yesterday.
·2.绝不要假设——事情并不总是和昨天的一样。
3.Life is full of surprises.
·3.生活充满了惊喜。
4.Speak up and ask questions.
·4.有话就说出来,有问题就问。
5.Don't expect to be bailed out of a predicament .
·5.不要期望别人将你拉出困境。
6.Everyone isn't as honest as I try to be.
·6.并不是每个人都像我努力要做到的那样诚实。
7.Don't be so quick to judge other people.
·7.别那么快对别人下判断。
8.Try my best, even when the task seems beyond me.
·8.尽量去做,即使任务似乎超出了自己的能力范围。
9.Double-check everything.
·9.做每一件事都要复查。
10.The best teachers aren't only in school.
Make that 11: I also learned that sometimes the angels God send will be decidedly unangelic!
再加上第11条:我还学到,有时上帝派来的天使就是不像天使。
(By Jackie Clements-Marenda)