经典美文英汉互译：梦寐以求的礼物

Christmas Eve, 1994. I was a sailor in the U.S. Navy, on a one-day leave in San Francisco. I had won ' 300 at poker that ordinarily would have burned a hole in my pocket, but I couldn't shake an overwhelming sadness.

1944年圣诞夜。当时我是美国海军士兵，到旧金山休假一天。在那以前，我玩扑克游戏，赢了300元。通常，钱烧口袋滑，一有就不留。可我当时极为忧愁烦闷，怎么也无法摆脱那种恶劣的心境。

Scuttlebutt had it we'd be pulling out before the New Year for the South Pacific. I'd just received word that another friend had been killed in Europe. And here I was, an 18-year-old alone in a strange city. Nothing seemed to make any kind of sense.What was I going to be fighting for, anyway

传闻部队在新年前要开赴南太平洋，而且刚刚听说又有一位朋友在欧洲阵亡。我年仅18，如今在一个陌生的城市里，单身无靠。干什么都没有意思。我究竟为什么打仗来着

I spent most of the day in a mental fog, wandering aimlessly through crowds of laughing, happy people. Then, late in the afternoon, my vision suddenly focused, and for the first time a scene registered.

我精神迷惘，在欢笑的人群中毫无目的地逛荡，消磨了差不多一整天。后来，在黄昏的时候，视线突然集中，第一次有一个情景引起了我的注意。

There in a department-store window were two electric trains chugging through a miniature, snow-covered town. In front of the window was a skinny boy around nine years old,

his nose pressed against the glass. He just stood there,

fixed on those trains.

在一家百货商店的橱窗里，有两列电动火车正在一座白雪覆盖的

微型城市里嘎嚓嘎嚓地行驶。在橱窗前，一个约莫9岁光景的瘦小男孩，鼻子紧贴玻璃，一动不动地站在那里，目不转睛地注视着那两列

火车。

Suddenly the boy was me nine short years before, and the store was Macy's in New York City, my home town. I could see, could feel the same longing, the same desperate hoping. I

could hear the sigh of resignation -- the frail attempt to

hide the disappointment that Dad could not afford those

trains. And I saw the reluctant turning away and then the one last look.

那男孩忽地成了短短的9年前的我，那商店成了我的家乡纽约市

的梅西商店。我看得见，也感觉得到那同样的渴望和急切的期待。我

听得见那无可奈何的叹息——爸爸买不起那种火车只好这么强憋住失

望的心情。那恋恋不舍地转身走开，最后又看上一眼，恍如就在眼前。

Not this time l I don't know what came over me, but I grabbed the boy by the arm, scaring him half to death.

不能再这样了!我至今弄不明白是中的什么邪，反正我一把抓住男

孩的胳臂，把他吓得半死。

My name is George, I told him.

“我叫乔治，”我告诉他。

Jeffrey Hollis Jr., he managed to reply.

“我叫小杰弗里·霍利斯，”他好不容易答了一声。

Well, Jeff Hollis Jr., I said in my best grown-up voice, we are going to get us those trains. '

“这样吧，小杰弗，霍利斯，”我尽量说得像大人，“咱们去把

那火车买下来。”

His eyes grew wide, and he let me lead him into the store.

I knew it was crazy, but I didn't care. Suddenly I wanted to

be nine again and have a kid's dream come true. The

salesclerk looked at us suspiciously, a scruffy black boy and a black sailor in ill-fitting dress blues.

他睁大了眼睛，随我进了商店。我知道这真荒唐，可我不管我忽

然想再回到9岁，实现孩时的梦想。售货员心怀疑虑望着我们：一个

是衣衫槛楼的黑孩子，一个是黑人水兵，穿着一套不合身的海军制服。

Those trains in the window, I blurted before he could speak. The whole setup. How much is it

“橱窗里那套火车，”不等售货员说话我就脱口而出。“要整套。多少钱？”

His snorting response was interrupted by the arrival of a much older man wearing a warm Christmas smile. One hundred

and sixty-five dollars and sixty-three cents, the elder man replied, delivery included.

他刚露出一副不屑搭理的模样，过来一位年纪大得多的人，满脸

喜气洋洋的过节神情。“165元6角3分，”他回答，“包送到家。”

We'll take it, I said. Right now if we can.

“我们要了，”我说，“能够现买现送吧。”

Jeff Hollis Sr.'s reaction reminded me of what my own father's would have been if I had shown up with a stranger