（完整版）Unit5FourteenSteps课文翻译综合教程二.doc

Unit 5 Fourteen Steps Hal Manwaring

1 They say a cat has nine lives, 1 and I am inclined to think that possible since I am

now living my third life and I ’ m not even a cat. My first life began on a clear, cold day in November 1934, when I arrived as the sixth of eight children of a farming family.

My father died when I was 15, and we had a hard struggle to make a living. As the

children grew up, they married, leaving only one sister and myself to support and

care for Mother, who became paralyzed in her last years and died while still in her

60s. My sister married soon after, and I followed her example within the year.

2This was when I began to enjoy my first life. I was very happy, in excellent health, and quite a good athlete. My wife and I became the parents of two lovely girls.

I had a good job in San Jose and a beautiful home up the peninsula in San Carlos.

Life was a pleasant dream. Then the dream ended. I became afflicted with a slowly

progressive disease of the motor nerves, affecting first my right arm and leg, and then my other side. Thus began my second life ?

3 In spite of my disease I still drove to and from work each day, with the aid of

special equipment installed in my car. And I managed to keep

my health and optimism, to a degree, because of 14 steps.

4 Crazy? Not at all. Our home was a split-level affair with 14 steps leading up from

the garage to the kitchen door. Those steps were a gauge of life. They were my yardstick, my challenge to continue living. I felt that if the day arrived when I was unable to lift one foot up one step and then drag the other painfully after it —repeating the process 14 times until, utterly spent, I would be through — I could then admit defeat and lie down and die. 2 So I kept on working, kept on climbing those steps. And time passed. The girls went to college and were happily married, and my

wife and I were alone in our beautiful home with the 14 steps. 5 You might think that here walked a man of courage and strength. Not so. Here

hobbled a bitterly disillusioned cripple, a man who held on to his sanity and his wife

and his home and his job because of 14 miserable steps leading up to the back door

from his garage. 3 As I became older, I became more disillusioned and frustrated.

6 Then on a dark night in August, 1971, I began my third life. It was raining when I

started home that night; gusty winds and slashing rain beat down on the car as I drove slowly down one of the less-traveled roads. 4 Suddenly the steering wheel jerked in my hands and the car swerved violently to the right. In the same instant I

heard the dreaded bang of a blowout. I fought the car to stop on the rain-slick

shoulder of the road and sat there as the enormity of the situation swept over me. 5 It

was impossible for me to change that tire! Utterly impossible! A thought that a

passing motorist might stop was dismissed at once. Why should anyone? I knew I

wouldn ’ t! Then I remembered that a short distance up a little side road was a house.

I started the engine and thumped slowly along, keeping well over on the shoulder

until I came to the dirt road, where I turned in —thankfully. Lighted windows

welcomed me to the house and I pulled into the driveway and honked the horn.

7The door opened and a little girl stood there, peering at me. I rolled down the window and called out that I had a flat tire and needed someone to change it for me because I had a crutch

and couldn ’dot it myself. She went into the house and a moment later came out bundled in raincoat and hat, followed by a man who called a

cheerful greeting. I sat there comfortable and dry, and felt a bit sorry for the man

and the little girl working so hard in the storm. Well, I would pay them for it. The

rain seemed to be slackening a bit now, and I rolled down the window all the way to

watch. It seemed to me that they were awfully slow and I was beginning to become

impatient. I heard the clank of metal from the back of the car and the little girl ’ s

voice came clearly to me. “ Here’ s -thehandle,jack Grandpa. ” She was answered by

the murmur o f the man ’ s lower voice and the slow tilting of the car as it was jacked

up. 6 There followed a long interval of noises, jolts and low conversation from the

back of the car, but finally it was done. I felt the car bump as the jack was removed,

and I heard the slam of the truck lid, and then they were standing at my car window.

8 He was an old man, stooped and frail-looking under his slicker. The little girl

was about eight or ten, I judged, with a merry face and a wide smile as she looked up

at me. He said , “ This is a bad night for car trouble, but you ’ re all set now. ” “ Than

I said. “ How much do I owe you? ” He shook his head. “ Nothing. Cynthia told me you

were a cripple —on crutches. Glad to be of help. I know you ’ d do the same for me.

There ’ s no charge, friend. ” I held out-dollarfivebill. “ No! I like to pay my way. ” He made no effort to take it and the little girl stepped closer to the window and said

quietly, “ Grandpa can ’ t see it. ”

9 In the next few frozen seconds the shame and horror of that moment penetrated

and I was sick with an intensity I had never felt before. 7 A blind man and a child!

Fumbling, feeling with cold, wet fingers for bolts and tools in the dark —

a darkness

that for him would probably never end until death. I don ’

t owrememberlongIsath there after they said good night and left me, but it was long enough for me to search

deep within myself and find some disturbing traits. I realized that I was filled to

overflowing with self-pity, selfishness, indifference to the needs of others and

thoughtlessness. 8 I sat there and said a prayer.

10 “ Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even

so to them: for this is the law and the prophets. 9”To me now, months later, this

Scriptural admonition is more than just a passage in the Bible. It is a way of life, one

that I am trying to follow. It isn ’ t always easy. Sometimes it is frustrating, sometimes

expensive in both time and money, but the value is there. I am trying now not only to

climb 14 steps each day, but in my small way to help others. Someday, perhaps, I will

change a tire for a blind man in a car —someone as blind as I had been.

14级台阶

人猫有 9 条命 , 我向于是可能的, 因我在活的是第三次生命, 而我不是猫。 1904 年 11月的一个晴朗、寒冷的日子, 我开始了我的第一次生命。我成了一个

家庭 8 个孩子中的第 6 个。我 15 父去世 , 我全家都得生辛奔忙。孩子

大后 , 一个个婚出嫁 , 只剩下我和一个姐姐养和照。她晚年, 60 多就去

世了。我姐姐不久就嫁了人, 我也在当年了婚。

我开始享受我的第一次生命。我非常幸福, 非常健康 , 而且是一名相当出色的运。我有两个可的女儿。我在圣何塞有份意的工作, 在半北部的圣卡洛斯有幢漂亮

的房子。生活是称心如意的梦想。好景不 , 美梦中断了。我得了慢展的运神病, 先

是我的右臂和右腿活受阻, 而后是左。我的第二次生命就此开始?? 尽管我有病 , 但是借着安装在里的特殊, 我仍然每天开上下班。我法保持健康和 , 从某种程度来 , 是于 14 台。

在吧？完全不是。我的房子是个式建筑, 从到厨房有14 台。 些台是生活的尺 , 是衡量我的准 , 也是我生存的挑。我哪一天要是我不

能提起一只脚登上一台, 再地拖上另一只脚-- 如此重复 14 次直到精疲力竭 , 那我就

完了 -- 那我只能承我失了, 可以躺下来等死了。因此, 我持工作 , 持爬那14 台

。光荏苒 , 两个女儿上了大学, 相幸福地婚成家, 只剩下我夫妻相濡以沫, 守

居在有 14 台的漂亮家中。

你或会想 , 在里行走的是个有勇气和力量的人, 事并非如此。里行走的是一个痛苦地失去理想的一瘸一拐的残疾人, 一个因那从通向后折磨人的14 台才

保持精神正常、没有失去他的妻子、房子和工作的人。随着年增,我得更失望和沮。

后来 , 1971 年 8 月的一个黑夜, 我开始了我的第三次生命。那天晚上我起程回家在下

雨；我慢地沿着一条不常走的路开着 , 天刮起 , 急的雨点直落在上。突然 , 手中的方向跳起

来 , 子猛烈地朝右去。同 , 我听到可怕的胎爆裂的砰

声。我费劲地把车停在因雨水而滑溜的路肩上, 在这突如其来的严峻情况下, 我呆坐在车里。我不可能更换轮胎！根本不可能！可能有个

过路的车会停下来, 这个念头一闪即逝。人家为

什么就该停车呢？我知道我也不会。我想起离开支路不太远有幢房子。我起动了发动机, 车子慢慢摇晃着顺着路肩朝前蠕动到土路上, 谢天谢地 , 在那儿我拐了上去。透着灯光的窗户

把我迎向房子 , 我开上车道 , 按了喇叭。

门开了 , 一个小女孩站在那儿 , 费力地看着我。我摇下车窗, 大声说我的轮胎爆了, 需要有人帮我换掉它 , 因为我是个用拐杖的残疾人, 没法自己动手。女孩进了屋, 一会儿又出来, 裹着雨衣 , 戴着帽子 , 后面跟着一个男人 , 他高兴地向我问候。我舒舒服服地坐在车里, 一点没淋湿 , 而那男人和小女孩在风雨交加的夜晚这么辛苦地干, 我感到有点儿歉意。反正 , 我会给他们钱的。雨像是小点儿了 , 我把车窗一直摇下看着车外。我觉得他们干得特别慢, 我开始不耐烦起来。车后传来金属碰撞声和小女孩清晰的说话声。“爷爷 , 这是千斤顶把手。”那男人低沉的喃喃声回答了她。千斤顶顶起车子时, 车身慢慢倾斜。随后是好一会儿声响、

晃动和从车后传来的低声话语 , 但是轮胎终于换完了。移开千斤顶时, 我感觉到车子落地时

的颠动；我听到关行李箱盖的声音；而后他们俩站在车窗旁。 那男人年迈 , 弯腰曲背 , 身穿油布雨衣 , 显得身体虚弱。我猜那小女孩大约8 岁或 10 岁, 有一张喜气的脸 , 看我时笑容满面。他说, 这“种糟糕的晚上车子有麻烦真够呛, 不过现在你没事了。”“谢谢 , 我”说。“我该付你多少钱？”他摇摇头。“不要钱。辛西娅告诉我说你是个残疾人 -- 用拐杖的。能帮上忙我很高兴。我知道你也会为我这么做。不要钱, 朋友。”我伸手递出一张 5 美元的钞票。“不要！我不喜欢欠人家的。”他没有收下钱的意思, 小女孩走近车窗 , 轻声说道：“我爷爷看不见。”

在随后的几秒钟里 , 我呆若木鸡 , 那一片刻的羞耻和恐惧深深刺痛着我, 我有生以来第

一次对自己感到那么强烈的厌恶。一个盲人和一个孩子！他们在黑夜里用湿冷的手指在黑暗

中摸找和触摸螺栓和工具 --- 对那老人来说 , 这种黑暗可能将延续

到他的生命结束。我不记得他们说了晚安离去后我在车里呆了多久, 但是足够我深刻反省, 挖找一些令我不安的品性。

我意识到我极端自怜、自私、漠视他人的需要和不为别人着想。我呆在车上, 做了个祷告。

“所以无论何事 , 你们要别人怎样待你们 , 你们就得怎样待别人：这是摩西法律和先知教

训的真义。”数个月过后 , 如今对我来说 , 这来自《圣经》的告诫不仅仅是《圣经》中的一段

话, 而且是一种生活方式 , 一种我现在要努力遵循的生活方式。这不总是容易的。有时令人

沮丧 , 有时在时间和金钱上要付出昂贵的代价, 但是有它的价值。我现在不仅每天爬 14 级台

阶,还尽量给人一些小小的帮助。或许有一天 , 我会给一个坐在车里像我一样在心灵上有盲点的

人换轮胎。