Unit1 TextA
优等生的奥秘
现在是剑桥大学理科一年级学生的阿历克斯，曾在曼彻斯特的中学校队里踢足球，还导演过学校的戏剧演出——但他中学毕业时得了五个A。在布里斯托尔大学攻读英语的阿曼达在中学里参加过戏剧演出，还经常打网球，但她仍然得到了四个。Alex, now a first-year student in natural sciences at Cambridge, played football for his school in Manchester and directed the school production of a play — but he left school with five A's. Amanda, studying English at Bristol University, acted in plays at her school and played tennis regularly. Yet she still managed to get four A's.
像他们这样的优等生是如何做到这一点的呢？脑子好使并不是唯一的答案。How do A students like these do it? Brains aren't the only answer.最有天赋的学生未必在考试中取得最好的成绩。The most gifted students do not necessarily perform best in exams.懂得如何充分利用自己的才能要重要得多。Knowing how to make the most of one's abilities counts for much more.
学习刻苦也不能说明全部问题。在这些成绩优秀的学生中，有些人投入的时间其实比那些分数低的同学还少。班级中拔尖学生的成功之道在于他们掌握了一些基本的技巧，这些技巧其他人也能很容易地学到。根据教育专家和学生们自己的叙述，优等生成功的奥秘有以下几点。Hard work isn't the whole story either. Some of these high-achieving students actually put in fewer hours than their lower-scoring classmates. The students at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can easily learn. Here, according to education experts and students themselves, are the secrets of A students.
1.全神贯注！拔尖生不允许他们的学习时间受到干扰。一旦书本打开，便电话不接，电视不看，报纸不读。“这并不意味着对生活中的重要事情置之不理，”阿曼达解释说，“这意味着要安排好学习时间，以便能全神贯注。要是我牵挂一位患病的朋友，我会在做功课之前先给她打个电话。这样我坐下来学习时，就能真正集中心思了。”Concentrate! Top students allow no interruptions of their study time. Once the books are open, phone calls go unanswered, TV unwatched and newspapers unread. "This doesn't mean ignoring important things in your life," Amanda explains. "It means planning your study time so that you can concentrate. If I'm worried about a sick friend, I call her before I start my homework. Then when I sit down to study, I can really focus."
2.在任何地方——或所有的地方学习。亚利桑那州一位教授曾奉命辅导一些成绩欠佳的大学运动员。他记得有一名赛跑运动员每天都要训练。他曾说服他利用这段时间记忆生物学术语。另一名学生则把词汇表贴在盥洗室墙上，每天刷牙时都记住一个生词。Study anywhere — or everywhere. A university professor in Arizona assigned to tutor underachieving college athletes, recalls a runner who exercised daily. He persuaded him to use the time to memorise biology terms. Another student stuck a vocabulary list on his bathroom wall and learned a new word every day while brushing his teeth.
3.安排好资料。汤姆在中学时打过篮球。“我非常忙，不可能为了找一支铅笔或一本不见的笔记本而浪费时间。我把每样东西都放在随后可取的地方，”他说。新墨西哥州学生保罗为每门功课备有两个文件夹，一个放当天布置的作业，另一个放已完成要交的家庭作业。Organize your materials. At school, Tom played basketball. "I was too busy to waste time looking for a pencil or a missing notebook. I kept everything just where I could get my hands on it," he says. Paul, a student in New Mexico, keeps two folders for each subject — one for the day's assignments, the other for homework completed and ready to hand in.一个抽屉把必需的用品放在一起，这样就可减少因找东西而浪费的时间。A drawer keeps essentials together and cuts down on time-wasting searches.
4.安排好时间。当教师布置写一篇长论文时，阿历克斯会花两三天时间去阅读与题目有关的资料并做笔记，然后写出草稿，再写成论文。他会计划好在作业该交的前两三天完成，以便如果花费的时间超过预期，他还能在规定的最后期限前完成。阿曼达严格遵守一张学习时间表，其中包括每两小时休息一次。“在你过度疲劳时还试图学习并不明智，”她指出，Organize your time. When a teacher set a long essay, Alex would spend a couple of days reading round the subject and making notes, then he'd do a rough draft and write up the essay. He would aim to finish a couple of days before the assignment was due so that if it took longer than expected, he'd still meet the deadline. Amanda stuck to a study schedule that included breaks every two hours. "Trying to study when you're overtired isn't smart," she advises. “短暂的休息，哪怕只是伸展一下身体，呼吸呼吸新鲜空气，也能带来意想不到的效果。”"Even a short break to stretch or get some fresh air can work wonders."
5.学会阅读。“我过去常花许多时间阅读一些无关的资料，”阿曼达回忆说，“但后来我习惯了快读；如果一段文章的第一句话无关紧要，我便接着读下一段。”“我修过的最好的一门课便是快速阅读，”一名俄克拉荷马州的学生说，“我不仅提高了每分钟阅读的词数，而且学会了首先看书的目录和插图。这样，当我开始阅读时，我就对阅读材料先有了一些了解，而且能记住更多的内容。”Learn how to read. "I used to spend hours going through irrelevant material," Amanda remembers. "But then I got used to reading quickly; if the first sentence of a paragraph wasn't relevant, I'd move on to the next paragraph." "The best course I ever took," says an Oklahoma student, "was speed-reading. I not only increased my words per minute but also learned to look at a book's table of contents and pictures first. Then, when I began to read, I had a sense of the material and I retained a lot more."在这些学生看来，有效阅读的奥秘就在于做一个主动的阅读者，即能不断提出一些能使自己充分理解所读材料的问题。To such students, the secret of good reading is to be an active reader — one who keeps asking questions that lead to a full understanding of the material being read.
6.做好笔记。“在写任何东西之前，我先把一页纸分成两部分，”阿曼达说，“左边部分约占纸宽的三分之一；右边部分占三分之二。我把笔记写在宽的一边，而把中心思想写在左边。Take good notes. "Before writing anything, I divide my page into two parts," says Amanda, "the left part is about a third of the page wide; the right, two-thirds. I write my notes in the wider part, and put down the main ideas on the left.这在复习时非常有用，因为你马上就能看到为什么这些材料是有关的，而不用为信息量太大而发愁。”During revision, this is very useful because you can see immediately why the material is relevant, rather than being worried by a great mass of information."在下课铃响起之前，多数学生便已经合上书本，收好作业，和朋友们说说话儿，准备离开了。而聪明的学生却利用这几分钟，用两三句话写出这堂课的要点，下一次上课之前，他便可以把这些要点浏览一遍。Just before the end of lesson bell rings, most students close their books, put away papers, talk to friends and get ready to leave. But a smart student uses those few minutes to write two or three sentences about the lesson's main points, which he scans before the next class.
7.问问题。“如果你问问题，你立刻就会知道，你是否已经掌握了要点，”阿历克斯说。课堂参与是一种求知欲的显示。例如，在经济学课上，好奇的学生会问，中国经济怎么可能既是社会主义的，又是市场驱动的，从而使他们不仅对于“什么”，而且对于“为什么”和“怎么样”产生兴趣。Ask questions. "If you ask questions, you know at once whether you have got the point or not," says Alex. Class participation is a matter of showing intellectual curiosity. In a lecture on economics, for example, curious students would ask how the Chinese economy could be both socialist and market-driven, thus interesting themselves not only in whats, but also in whys and hows.
8.一起学习。一起学习的价值从加州大学伯克利分校的一项试验中显示了出来。该校的一位研究生在观察大一的微积分课程时，发现美国亚裔学生在一起讨论家庭作业，尝试不同的方法，并相互解释他们各自的解题方法，而其他学生则独自学习，把大部分时间用在反复阅读课文上，一次又一次地试用同一种方法，即便这种方法并不成功。Study together. The value of working together was shown in an experiment at the University of California at Berkeley. A graduate student there who observed a first-year calculus course found that Asian-American students discussed homework, tried different approaches and explained their solutions to one another while the others studied alone, spent most of their time reading and rereading the text, and tried the same approach time after time even if it was unsuccessful.
毕竟，优等生的“奥秘”并不那么神秘。你也能学会和掌握这些奥秘，成为一名优等生。After all, the secrets of A students are not so secret. You can learn and master them and become an A student, too.
Unit2 TextA
会话方式与“球类游戏”
我结婚并在日本住了一段时间之后，我的日语水平逐渐有了相当程度的提高，甚至能参与同丈夫、他朋友及家人间的简单谈话了。After I was married and had lived in Japan for awhile, my Japanese gradually improved to the point where I could take part in simple conversations with my husband, his friends, and family.我开始注意到，往往我一加入进去，别人似乎就猛吃一惊，谈话也随之停顿下来。And I began to notice that often, when I joined in, the others would look startled, and the conversation would come to a halt.这种情况反复出现了好几次，随后我明白过来，是我在做错事。可是有好长一段时间，我不知道自己错在哪里。After this happened several times, it became clear to me that I was doing something wrong. But for a long time, I didn't know what it was.
在仔细聆听好多次日本人的相互交谈之后，我终于发现了自己的问题所在Finally, after listening carefully to many Japanese conversations, I discovered what my problem was.：我尽管是在讲日语，但对谈话的处理仍是按西方的那套方式。Even though I was speaking Japanese, I was handling the conversation in a Western way.
日本式谈话的进展，与西方式谈话迥然不同。其不同之处不仅仅在于语言。我意识到，正如我在讲日语时还试图保持西方人的谈话方式一样，我教的那些学英语的学生讲英语时，也在力求保持日本人的谈话方式。我们在不知不觉中玩着截然不同的“会话游戏”。Japanese-style conversations develop quite differently from western-style conversations. And the difference isn't only in the languages. I realized that just as I kept trying to hold western-style conversations even when I was speaking Japanese, so were my English students trying to hold Japanese-style conversations even when they were speaking English. We were unconsciously playing entirely different conversational ballgames.
两个西方人之间的谈话就好比是在打一场网球赛。如果我提出一个话题，发出一个“会话球”，我期待你能把它回击过来。如果你同意我的观点，我不希望你仅仅止于聊表同意。我希望你能加一点东西进去——说说同意的理由，举个另外的例子，或是发表一个看法，使这个观点有所深化。但我也不希望你一味地表示同意。如果你对我的观点提出质疑，向我挑战，或完全不同意我的看法，我也会同样感到高兴。不管你是否同意我的观点，你的反应总是把球回击给我。A western-style conversation between two people is like a game of tennis. If I introduce a topic, a conversational ball, I expect you to hit it back. If you agree with me, I don't expect you simply to agree and do nothing more. I expect you to add something — a reason for agreeing, another example, or a remark to carry the idea further. But I don't expect you always to agree. I am just as happy if you question me, or challenge me, or completely disagree with me. Whether you agree or disagree, your response will return the ball to me.
接下去又该轮到我了。我不会在原来的发球线上重新发球，而是从来球弹起的地方再把它击回去。我把你的观点深化，或是回答你的疑问或反对意见，或是向你提出挑战或质疑。这样球就一来一往打下去了。And then it is my turn again. I don't serve a new ball from my original starting line. I hit your ball back again from where it has bounced. I carry your idea further, or answer your questions or objections, or challenge or question you. And so the ball goes back and forth.
如果参与谈话的人不止两个，那么谈话就像网球中的双打，或是像打排球。没有排队等候这回事。谁离球最近，动作最迅速，谁就上去击球；如果你往后退，别人就会上来击球，没有人会停下比赛，专等你去击球。你得自己负责把握击球机会，而没有人能长时间地占住球不放。If there are more than two people in the conversation, then it is like doubles in tennis, or like volleyball. There's no waiting in line. Whoever is nearest and quickest hits the ball, and if you step back, someone else will hit it. No one stops the game to give you a turn. You're responsible for taking your own turn and no one person has the ball for very long.
然而日本式的谈话一点也不像打网球或者排球，倒像是在玩保龄球。你等着轮到自己，而且往往对自己的上场先后次序也很清楚。这取决于这样一些因素：你年龄的长幼，与前一位发言者的亲疏程度，以及地位的尊卑，等等。A Japanese-style conversation, however, is not at all like tennis or volleyball, it's like bowling. You wait for your turn, and you always know your place in line. It depends on such things as whether you are older or younger, a close friend or a relative stranger to the previous speaker, in a senior or junior position, and so on.
首先是要耐心而又礼貌地等着轮到自己。轮到你的时候，你手持保龄球，站到发球线上，然后谨慎地出手。其余的人都往后站，彬彬有礼地说些鼓励的话。人人都等着球滚到球道的终端，看它是击倒了所有的球柱，还是只击倒了其中几个，还是一个都没击倒。然后出现一阵短暂的间歇。人人都在给你打分。The first thing is to wait for your turn, patiently and politely. When your moment comes, you step up to the starting line with your bowling ball, and carefully bowl it. Everyone else stands back, making sounds of polite encouragement. Everyone waits until your ball has reached the end of the lane, and watches to see if it knocks down all the pins, or only some of them, or none of them. Then there is a pause, while everyone registers your score.
接着，在人人都确信你已经打完之后，下一个人站到同一条发球线上，手里拿着另一个球。他不回你的球。根本就没有一来一往的回合，并且每两次之间总有一段恰如其分的间歇。没有争抢，也无兴奋可言。Then, after everyone is sure that you are done, the next person in line steps up to the same starting line, with a different ball. He doesn't return your ball. There is no back and forth at all. And there is always a suitable pause between turns. There is no rush, no impatience.
难怪我每次加入日本人的谈话，他们都会面露惊诧之色。我从不注意该轮到谁发言了，总是在球道中途将球截住，再把它回掷给发球者。谈话当然继续不下去了，因为我在玩另一种球类游戏。No wonder everyone looked startled when I took part in Japanese conversations. I paid no attention to whose turn it was, and kept snatching the ball halfway down the alley and throwing it back at the bowler. Of course the conversation fell apart, I was playing the wrong game.
这也可以解释，为什么几乎无法让学英语的日本学生展开西方式的谈话或讨论。每次我发出个排球，人人都只是站在一段距离之外，看着它落下来，没有人把它打回去。人人都等在原处，直到我指名叫某人上场。而那人开口时，他并不把我发过去的球打回来。他重新发球。人人都再次看着它落地。于是我再叫另一个人，而这个人并不提及上一个发言者所讲的内容，而是又重新发球。人人都在同一发球线上重新开始，并且所有球都是平行向前的。从来没有一来一往的回合。This explains why it can be so difficult to get a western-style discussion going with Japanese students of English. Whenever I serve a volleyball, everyone just stands back and watches it fall. No one hits it back. Everyone waits until I call on someone to take a turn. And when that person speaks, he doesn't hit my ball back. He serves a new ball. Again, everyone just watches it fall. So I call on someone else. This person does not refer to what the previous speaker has said. He also serves a new ball. Everyone begins again from the same starting line, and all the balls run parallel. There is never any back and forth.
你既然了解了“会话游戏”中的不同之处，也许会觉得所有的问题都解决了。Now that you know about the difference in the conversational ballgames, you may think that all your troubles are over.然而，如果你一生都在被训练玩一种球类游戏，现在要你换一种玩玩，那也不是说换就换得成的，就算你懂得规则也不行。But if you have been trained all your life to play one game, it is no simple matter to switch to another, even if you know the rules. 打网球毕竟不同于投保龄球。Tennis, after all, is different from bowling.
Unit3 TextA
史蒂威·旺达（奇才）：阴影中的阳光
1950年5月13日史蒂威·莫里斯出生时，医生们都摇摇头，对母亲说，她儿子先天失明，而且有可能会终生如此。她不由得泪流满面。When Stevie Morris was born, on May 13, 1950, the doctors shook their heads and told the mother that her son was born blind and likely would always be that way. She broke into tears.双目失明，又是黑人，家里又穷——这个新生儿会过一种什么样的生活呢？Blind and black and poor — what kind of life could this new infant have?莫里斯太太再异想天开也决不会料到，她的这个小宝宝日后会成为一位被誉为“史蒂威·旺达”的著名音乐家。In her wildest dreams, Mrs. Morris could never have imagined that her new baby would become a famous musician called Stevie Wonder.而当时，她所能做的只有祈祷——外加担忧。At the time, all she could do was pray — and worry.
史蒂威自己倒一点也不担忧。生活太充实了。他是在一群虔诚的教徒中长大的，这些人的信仰帮助他们忍受贫穷。他热爱音乐，会用调羹或叉子在任何稍有点像鼓得物面上敲敲打打。Stevie himself didn't worry at all. Life was too full. He was brought up among church-going people whose faith helped them bear the poverty. He loved music and would pound spoons or forks on any surface that faintly resembled a drum.
他甚至还和视力正常的孩子们一起奔跑戏耍。他说：“我到4岁左右才意识到自己是个盲人。”这听起来也许有点奇怪。其实对于一个刚刚开始了解周围世界的小孩子来说，这一点也不奇怪。史蒂威听得见、嗅得到、摸得着。就他所知，一个人能做的也就只是这些了。这就是生活。He even ran and played with sighted children. "I didn't realize I was blind until I was about four," he says. That might sound strange. To a small child just learning about the world, it wasn't strange at all. Stevie heard and smelled and touched. As far as he knew, that was all anyone could do. That was life.
母亲的桌子老是被他用来当鼓敲打，母亲受不了了，便给他买了一套玩具。他拼命敲打，不到几个礼拜那套玩具就被敲坏了。随后又买了几套别的玩具；后来他的一位叔叔又给他买了个玩具口琴，史蒂威很快学会了吹奏，令大家惊叹不已。When Stevie's mother got tired of her tables being used for drums, she bought him a toy set. He played so hard that he had actually worn the toy out within a few weeks. Other toy sets followed; then an uncle added a toy harmonica, and Stevie learned to play it so quickly that everyone was amazed.
史蒂威自学弹钢琴，也像学口琴一样很快无师自通。Stevie taught himself to play the piano as quickly as he had once learned the harmonica.他开始和朋友们在一起演奏摇滚乐。With friends, he began playing rock and roll music.他们在史蒂威家公寓楼前面的门廊上表演，吸引了成群的邻居来观看、聆听，他们还随音乐节拍鼓掌。They performed on the front porch of Stevie's apartment building, drawing crowds of neighbors to watch and listen and clap time to the beat.
“我喜欢那种拍子，”史蒂威说。他不仅喜欢那种拍子，还很善于创作那种拍子。"I loved that beat," Stevie says. He not only loved the beat, he was very good at making it.
奇迹”演唱小组的罗尼·怀特听说了史蒂威其人其事，立即把他带到自己的唱片公司——莫顿唱片公司。Ronnie White, of the Miracles singing group, heard Stevie and promptly took him down to his recording company, Motown Records.
“让他试唱一次，”罗尼说。他们照办了。莫顿公司所有上层人物汇聚一堂，听一个还不满10岁的小盲童试演。起先，他们只是表示一下友好。可怜的孩子。他们不想伤害他的感情。"Give him an audition," Ronnie said. They did. All the top people at Motown got together to hear a little blind boy who wasn't even ten years old yet. At first, they were being nice. Poor kid. They didn't want to hurt his feelings.
随后，他们听了史蒂威的演唱和演奏。再也没有人说什么“可怜的孩子”了。他们忙于祝贺自己发现了小灵童，他说不定还是近十年中最出色的音乐天才呢！他们看着小史蒂威从一种乐器前冲到另一种乐器前，从从容容地演奏着。Then they heard Stevie sing and play, and nobody said "poor kid" anymore. They were too busy congratulating themselves on finding a youngster who could be the musical talent of the decade. "He's a wonder boy," somebody said as they watched little Stevie dart from one instrument to the next, playing each one with ease.
“他是个奇才，”有人说。"Wonder," somebody else said, "Little Stevie Wonder."
这个名字流传了下来，史蒂威·莫里斯成了“小史蒂威·旺达”。他12岁时推出了他的第一首走红歌曲。曲名叫“指尖”，是首轰动一时的劲歌。The new name stuck and Stevie Morris became Little Stevie Wonder. He had his first hit when he was twelve years old. It was called "Fingertips" and it was a smash.
在接下来的岁月里，小史蒂威·旺达成了莫顿公司最出色的灌片歌手之一，他的金曲不断推出。Over the following years, Little Stevie Wonder became one of the top recording artists at Motown, producing one hit after another.然而到他成年之后，小史蒂威·旺达这个名字便不再适用了。并且，史蒂威开始对莫顿公司对他的演艺事业一手包办的做法感到厌倦。But as he grew into adulthood, Stevie began to get tired of the way the Motown company controlled all aspects of his career.他想要谱写制作自己的歌曲，但莫顿公司却认为去改变一种成功的套路是不明智的。He wanted to write and produce his own songs, but the Motown company thought it was unwise to change a winning formula.
到他21岁时，史蒂威终于获得了自由。When he turned 21, Stevie finally got his freedom.他不顾莫顿公司的意愿，开始探索新路子；他制作了唱片，将福音音乐、摇滚乐、爵士乐及运用非洲与拉美音乐的曲子糅为一体。Against Motown's wishes he started exploring: he made records that combined gospel, rock and roll, and jazz and which used African and Latin American rhythms.令唱片公司惊奇的是，史蒂威的新唱片集，如“我心中的音乐”和“内心幻像”，比他原先的唱片集还要受欢迎。To the record company's surprise, Stevie's new albums such as "Music of My Mind" and "Innervisions" were even more popular than his early ones.史蒂威·旺达已经成熟，成了一名独立的音乐艺术家。Stevie Wonder had become a mature man and an independent musical artist然而，就在这次成功之后，厄运降临了。Just after this success, however, tragedy struck. 1973年8月，史蒂威遇上了一场严重的车祸。In August of 1973, Stevie was involved in a serious car accident.差不多有整整一星期他昏迷不醒，既不能开口说话，也无法行走。For nearly a week he lay in a coma, unable to speak or walk.
“我们不知道他何时才能脱险，”医生说。"We don't know when he'll be out of danger," the doctor said.人人都在等待，在为他祈祷。Everyone waited and prayed.突然之间，史蒂威是名音乐天才也好，他战胜了失明与贫困也好，这一切都不重要了。Suddenly, it didn't matter that Stevie was a musical genius or that he had conquered blindness and poverty.他所剩的就只有信念与坚强的意志了。All he had left was his faith and strong will.
而这就够了。史蒂威从死亡的阴影中奋力挣脱出来了，正如他以前从失明的阴影中挣扎出来一样。他继续作更多的表演，录制更多的金曲唱片。That turned out to be enough. Stevie fought back from the shadow of death as he had once fought out from the shadow of blindness. He went on to give more performances, make more hit records.
车祸改变了史蒂威，让他重新审视自己的生活目标。他依然热爱音乐制作，但他也开始对身外的世界给予更多的关注。他力争设立了一个全国性节日来纪念黑人民权运动领袖小马丁·路德·金博士。他录制歌曲，呼吁种族间和睦相处，并为救济全球饥民募集款项。最近，南非总统纳尔逊·曼德拉又为史蒂威授勋，以表彰他为反对该国的种族隔离制度作出的努力。The car accident changed Stevie by making him reevaluate his goals in life. He still loved to make music, but he also started to pay more attention to the world outside. He worked to create a national holiday to honor the civil rights leader Dr.Martin Luther King, Jr.. He recorded songs urging racial harmony and raised money to end world hunger. Recently, Stevie was honored by South African president Nelson Mandela for his work against that country's system of racial apartheid.
史蒂威·旺达拥有信念与盛名，享有财富与爱情。Stevie Wonder has faith and fame, wealth and love.他不仅征服了自身的黑暗，还通过自己的音乐与社会活动为其他许多人的生活阴影带来了阳光。He has not only conquered his own darkness, but through his music and his social activities he has been able to bring sunshine to the shadow of many other lives.
Unit4 TextA
洗衣妇
她是个小个子妇人，上了年纪，满脸皱纹。She was a small woman, old and wrinkled.在她开始为我们洗衣服的时候就已年过七旬。When she started washing for us, she was already past seventy.大多数犹太妇女到了她这把年纪都体弱多病。Most Jewish women of her age were sickly and weak.我们这条街上所有的老妇人，都是驼着背，拄着拐杖走路的。All the old women in our street had bent backs and leaned on sticks when they walked.然而这个洗衣妇，虽然又瘦又小，却具有世代当庄稼汉的祖辈所遗传下来的那一股精力。But this washwoman, small and thin as she was, possessed a strength that came from generations of peasant forebears.母亲会把积了几个星期的一捆脏衣服，一件一件数着交给她。Mother would count out to her a bundle of laundry that had accumulated over several weeks.而她则随手提起大捆衣服，放到自己窄窄的肩头上，扛着走好长的一段路程回家去。She would then lift the bundle, put it on her narrow shoulders, and carry it the long way home.
大约过了两个星期，她会把洗好的衣服送回来。he would bring the laundry back about two weeks later.母亲从来没有对那个洗衣妇如此满意过。My mother had never been so pleased with any washwoman.然而她要的工钱却不比别的洗衣妇要得多。Yet she charged no more than the others.她真是个千寻难觅的好帮工。She was a real find.母亲总是先把工钱准备好，因为让这位老妇人再跑一趟实在太不近人情了。Mother always had her money ready, because it was too far for the old woman to come a second time.
那时候，洗衣服真够麻烦的。Laundering was not easy in those days.老妇人住的地方没有自来水，得用水泵把水抽上来。The old woman had no running water where she lived but had to bring in the water from a pump.又还有晾衣服的活儿！And the drying!不能晾在外面，因为小偷会把洗好的衣服顺手牵走。因此得把衣服拿上阁楼，挂在晾衣绳上。只有上帝知道这个老妇人每洗一次衣服得吃多少苦头！It could not be done outside because thieves would steal the laundry. So it had to be carried up to the attic and hung on clotheslines .Only God knows what the old woman had to endure each time she did a wash!
她本可以在教堂门口行乞，或是进贫民、老人收容所。She could have begged at the church door or entered a home for the penniless and aged.然而在她身上，具有着一份劳动阶层多数人所特有的对劳动的自豪与热爱。老妇人不想成为别人的累赘，因此她负起了自己的生活重担。But there was in her a certain pride and love of labor with which many members of the labor force have been blessed. The old woman did not want to become a burden, and so she bore her burden.
老妇人有个儿子，很有钱。但他以自己的母亲为耻，从来不来看她，也从不给她一分钱。老妇人告诉我们这事时不带一点怨恨。儿子结婚时，在教堂举行婚礼。儿子没有邀请老母亲参加婚礼，可她还是去了教堂，守在台阶上，看着儿子把新娘领上圣坛。The woman had a son who was rich. He was ashamed of his mother, and never came to see her. Nor did he ever give her money. The old woman told this without bitterness. When the son got married, the wedding took place in a church. The son had not invited the old mother to his wedding, but she went to the church anyway and waited at the steps to see her son lead the bride to the altar.
有一天老妇人来到我家，当时她已年近八旬。过去一连几个星期已积下了一大堆脏衣服。母亲给了他一壶茶暖暖身子，还给了她一点面包。老妇人坐在厨房的椅子上，浑身哆嗦，把手捂在茶壶上取暖。她的手指甲异常苍白。这双手诉说着人类的顽强，诉说着劳动的意志——不仅在体力允许的情况下，甚至在超出体力极限的情况下顽强坚持的那份劳动意志。目送老妇人扛着一大包衣服蹒跚而去，实在令人心酸。One day the washwoman, now nearly eighty years old, came to our house. A good deal of laundry had accumulated during the past weeks. Mother gave her a pot of tea to warm herself, as well as some bread. The old woman sat on a kitchen chair trembling and shaking, and warmed her hands against the teapot. Her fingernails were strangely white. These hands spoke of the stubbornness of mankind, of the will to work not only as one's strength permits but beyond the limits of one's power. It was sad to watch the old woman stagger out with the big bundle and disappear.
通常，老妇人隔两个星期，最多不会超过三个星期，就会把衣服送回来。然而三个星期，四个星期，五个星期过去了，没有听到任何有关老妇人的消息。Usually the woman brought back the wash after two or, at the most, three weeks. But three weeks passed, then four and five, and nothing was heard of the old woman.
对我们来说，少了个洗衣妇简直是一场大灾难。我们需要那些洗好的衣服。我们甚至连老妇人的住址都不知道。看来，她肯定是身体垮了，死了。母亲宣称她有种预感：我们再也见不着那些衣物了。我们都很伤心，既为那些换洗的衣服，也为那老妇人——多年来她始终忠心耿耿地为我们服务，和我们的关系已是很密切的了。For us the washwoman's absence was a catastrophe. We needed the laundry. We did not even know the woman's address. It seemed certain that she had collapsed, died. Mother declared she had had a premonition that we would never see our things again. We mourned, both for the laundry and for the old woman who had grown close to us through the years she had served us so faithfully.
一晃两个多月过去了。一天晚上，母亲正坐在灯旁补缀一件衬衫，这时门开了，飘入一小团水蒸气，随后进来的则是个硕大的包袱。包袱底下，正是那位步履踉跄的老妇人，她的脸白得像块亚麻布。母亲发出了一声近乎哽咽的叫喊，仿佛是具死尸进屋来了。More than two months passed. One evening, while Mother was sitting near the lamp mending a shirt, the door opened and a small puff of steam, followed by a huge bundle, entered. Under the bundle tottered the old woman, her face as white as a linen sheet. Mother uttered a half-choked cry, as though a corpse had entered the room. I ran toward the old woman and helped her unload her bundle. 我跑过去，帮老妇人卸下肩上的包袱。她这时愈发消瘦、佝偻。She was even thinner now, more bent.她一个清晰的字眼也吐不出来，只是蠕动凹陷的嘴巴和苍白的双唇在咕哝着什么。She could not utter a clear word, but mumbled something with her sunken mouth and pale lips.
当老妇人有所恢复之后，她对我们说，她病了，病得很厉害。事实上，她病得相当厉害，有人去叫了医生，而医生又请来了牧师。有人通知了她儿子，她儿子出钱买了口棺材。然而上帝还不想把这个可怜的灵魂找回自己身边。她开始感觉好一些了，身子恢复过来了，而她一旦能再次站起来，便又开始洗衣服了。不光是我们家的，还有另外好几户人家的衣服。 After the old woman had recovered somewhat, she told us that she had been ill, very ill. In fact, she had been so sick that someone had called a doctor, and the doctor had sent for a priest. Someone had informed the son, and he had contributed money for a coffin. But God had not yet wanted to take this poor soul to Himself. She began to feel better, she became well, and as soon as she was able to stand on her feet once more, she resumed her washing. Not just ours, but the wash of several other families too.
“因为有衣服要洗，我没法安心躺在床上休息，”老妇人解释说。“这份洗衣活儿还不肯让我这样死掉哩。”"I could not rest easy in my bed because of the wash," the old woman explained. "The wash would not let me die."
“有上帝的佑护，你会活到一百二十岁的，”母亲说。"With the help of God you will live to be a hundred and twenty," said my mother.
“但愿上帝别这样！活这么长有什么好处呢？活儿越来越难干了……我的体力一天不如一天……我可不想变成任何人的累赘！”老妇人含糊不清地说着，在胸前划了个十字，又抬眼望着苍天。领了工钱之后，她走了，临走时答应过几个星期再来取一包新的要洗的衣服。"God forbid! What good would such a long life be? The work becomes harder and harder ... my strength is leaving me ... I do not want to be a burden on any one!" The old woman muttered, crossed herself, and raised her eyes toward heaven. After getting paid, she left, promising to return in a few weeks for a new load of wash.
然而她再也没有回来。上次把那包洗好的衣服送回来，是她在这个世界上所作的最后一次努力。她为一种强烈的意愿所驱使：要把物品归还原主，要完成自己所承担的那份差事。
But she never came back. The wash she had returned was her last effort on this earth. She had been driven by a strong will to return the property to its owners, to fulfill the task she had undertaken.
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