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The American Dream means different things to different people. But for many, particularly immigrants, it means the opportunity to make a
better life for themselves. For them the dream is that talent and hard
work can take you from log cabin to White House. Tony Trivisonno did not
rise quite so high, yet he managed to make his own dream come true.
美国梦对不同的人有不同的意义。但对许多人,尤其是对移民而言,它意味着改善自己生活的机会。对于他们,美国梦的含义就是才能与勤劳能让你从小木屋走向白宫。托尼·特里韦索诺并没有爬到那么高,但他成功地使自己的梦想成真。
1 He came from a rocky farm in Italy, somewhere south of Rome. How or when he got to America, I don't know. But one evening I found him standing in the driveway, behind my garage. He was about five-foot-seven or eight, and thin.
他来自意大利罗马以南某地一个满地石子的农庄。他什么时候怎么到美国的,我不清楚。不过,有天晚上,我看到他站在我家车库后面的车道上。他身高五英尺七、八左右,人很瘦。
2 "I mow your lawn," he said. It was hard to comprehend his broken
English.
“我割你的草坪,”他说。他那结结巴巴的英语很难听懂。
3 I asked him his name. "Tony Trivisonno," he replied. "I mow your
lawn." I told Tony that I couldn't afford a gardener.
我问他叫什么名字。“托尼·特里韦索诺,”他回答说,“我割你的草坪。”我对托尼讲,本人雇不起园丁。
4 "I mow your lawn," he said again, then walked away. I went into my
house unhappy. Yes, these Depression days were difficult, but how could I
turn away a person who had come to me for help?
“我割你的草坪,”他又说道,随后便走开了。我走进屋子,心里有点不快。没错,眼下这大萧条的日子是不好过,可我怎么能把一个上门求助的人就这么打发走呢?
5 When I got home from work the next evening, the lawn had been mowed, the garden weeded, and the walks swept. I asked my wife what had happened. 等我第二天晚上下班回到家,草坪已修整过了,花园除了草,人行道也清扫过了。我便问太太是怎么回事。
6 "A man got the lawn mower out of the garage and worked on the yard,"
she answered. "I assumed you had hired him."
“有个人把割草机从汽车库里推出来就在院子里忙活起来,”她回答说,“我还以为是你雇他来的。”
7 I told her of my experience the night before. We thought it strange
that he had not asked for pay.
我就把前晚的事跟她说了。我俩都觉得奇怪,他怎么没提出要工钱。
8 The next two days were busy, and I forgot about Tony. We were trying
to rebuild our business and bring some of our workers back to the plants.
But on Friday, returning home a little early, I saw Tony again, behind the
garage. I complimented him on the work he had done.
接下来的两天挺忙,我把托尼的事给忘了。我们在尽力重整业务,要让一部分工人回厂里来。但在星期五,回家略微早了些,我又在汽车库后面看到了托尼。我对他干的活夸奖了几句。
9 "I mow your lawn," he said.
“我割你的草坪,”他说。
10 I managed to work out some kind of small weekly pay, and each day
Tony cleaned up the yard and took care of any little tasks. My wife said
he was very helpful whenever there were any heavy objects to lift or
things to fix.
我设法凑了一小笔微薄的周薪,就这样托尼每天清扫院子,有什么零活,他都干了。我太太说,但凡有重物要搬或有什么要修理的,他挺派得上用场。
11 Summer passed into fall, and winds blew cold. "Mr. Craw, snow pretty
soon," Tony told me one evening. "When winter come, you give me job
clearing snow at the factory."
夏去秋来,凉风阵阵。“克罗先生,快下雪了,”有天晚上托尼跟我说,“等冬天到了,你让我在厂里干扫雪的活。”
12 Well, what do you do with such determination and hope? Of course,
Tony got his job at the factory.
啊,对这种执着与期盼,你又能怎样呢?自然,托尼得到了厂里的那份活儿。
13 The months passed. I asked the personnel department for a report.
They said Tony was a very good worker.
几个月过去了。我让人事部门送上一份报告。他们说托尼干得挺棒。
14 One day I found Tony at our meeting place behind the garage. "I want
to be 'prentice," he said.
一天我在汽车库后面我们以前见面的地方看到了托尼。“我想学徒,”他说。
15 We had a pretty good apprentice school that trained laborers. But I
doubted whether Tony had the capacity to read blueprints and micrometers
or do precision work. Still, how could I turn him down?
我们有个挺不错的培训工人的徒工学校。可我怀疑托尼是否有能力学会看图纸、用千分尺,是否胜任做精密加工工作。尽管如此,可我怎么能拒绝他呢?
16 Tony took a cut in pay to become an apprentice. Months later, I got
a report that he had graduated as a skilled grinder. He had learned to
read the millionths of an inch on the micrometer and to shape the grinding
wheel with an instrument set with a diamond. My wife and I were delighted
with what we felt was a satisfying end of the story.
托尼减了薪水当了徒工。几个月之后,我收到报告,他已从徒工学校毕业,成了熟练磨工。他学会了在千分尺上辨识一百万分之一英寸,会用镶嵌着金刚石的工具制作砂轮。我和太太都挺高兴,觉得他的事总算有了个令人满意的结局。
17 A year or two passed, and again I found Tony in his usual waiting
place. We talked about his work, and I asked him what he wanted.
一两年过去了,我在托尼惯常等我的地方又看到了他。我们聊起了他的工作,接着我问他有什么要求。
18 "Mr. Craw," he said, "I like a buy a house." On the edge of town, he
had found a house for sale, a complete wreck.
“克罗先生,”他说,“我想买房。”在小镇边上,他看到有房出售,完全是幢破房。
19 I called on a banker friend. "Do you ever loan money on character?"
I asked. "No," he said. "We can't afford to. No sale."
我去见一位当银行家的朋友。“人品贷款你干不干?”我问。“不干,”他说,“我们承担不起。没门。”
20 "Now, wait a minute," I replied. "Here is a hard-working man, a man
of character, I can promise you that. He's got a good job. You're not
getting a damn thing from your lot. It will stay there for years. At least
he will pay your interest."
“哎,等等,”我应道,“有个人干活勤勉,人品端正,这一点我担保。他有个好工作。眼下,你从你那块地上一分钱也得不到。那块地空在那儿要好多年呢。至少他会付你利息嘛。”
21 Reluctantly, the banker wrote a mortgage for $2,000 and gave Tony
the house with no down payment. Tony was delighted. From then on, it was
interesting to see that any discarded odds and ends around our place ─a
broken screen, a bit of hardware, boards from packing ─Tony would gather
and take home.
那位银行家勉强开了两千美金抵押贷款,没要托尼首付就把房子给了他。托尼乐不可支。从那以后,只要我家附近有什么被人扔弃的零星杂物,坏了的屏风啦,五金器具啦,包装纸板啦,托尼都要收起来拿回家,看他这个样子真是有意思。
22 After about two years, I found Tony in our familiar meeting spot. He
seemed to stand a little straighter. He was heavier. He had a look of
confidence.
约摸过了两年,我在我们见面的老地方又看到了托尼。他身子似乎挺直了些,人也见胖了,样子挺自信。
23 "Mr. Craw, I sell my house!" he said with pride. "I got $8,000."
“克罗先生,我卖房子!”他得意地说。“我得了八千美金。”
24 I was amazed. "But, Tony, where are you going to live without a
house?"
我非常吃惊。“可是,托尼,没了房子你住哪儿呢?”
25 "Mr. Craw, I buy a farm."
“克罗先生,我买农庄。”
26 We sat down and talked. Tony told me that to own a farm was his
dream. He loved the tomatoes and peppers and all the other vegetables
important to his Italian diet. He had sent for his wife and son and
daughter back in Italy. He had hunted around the edge of town until he
found a small, abandoned piece of property with a house and shed. Now he
was moving his family to his farm.
我们坐下聊了起来。托尼告诉我说,拥有一个农庄是他的梦想。他喜欢番茄、辣椒以及意大利菜肴中相当重要的其它各种蔬菜。他把在意大利的妻子和儿子女儿都接来了。他在小镇周边到处找,终于找到一处没人要的一小块地产,有一幢房,还有间小棚。他正在把家搬到农庄去。
27 Sometime later, Tony arrived on a Sunday afternoon, neatly dressed.
He had another Italian man with him. He told me that he had persuaded his
childhood friend to move to America. Tony was sponsoring him. With an
amused look in his eye, he told me that when they approached the little
farm he now operated, his friend stood in amazement and said, "Tony, you
are a millionaire!"
又过了一些时候,在一个星期日的下午托尼来了,他穿戴得整整齐齐。和他一起来的还有另一位意大利人。他告诉我,他说服了儿时的伙伴前来美国。托尼为他作经济担保。他眼里露出顽皮的神情,对我说,他俩来到他经营的小农庄时,他的朋友惊奇地站住说,“托尼,你是个百万富翁啦!”
28 Then, during the war, a message came from my company. Tony had
passed away.
后来,在战争期间,公司里传出了一个消息。托尼去世了。
29 I asked our people to check on his family and see that everything
was properly handled. They found the farm green with vegetables, the
little house livable and homey. There was a tractor and a good car in the
yard. The children were educated and working, and Tony didn't owe a cent.
我让公司的人去他家看看,确保各项事宜都得到妥善安置。他们看到农场上长着绿油油的蔬菜,小屋布置得舒适温馨,院子里有一辆拖拉机,还有一辆不错的汽车。孩子受过教育,都工作了,托尼身前没有分文欠债。
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30 After he passed away, I thought more and more about Tony's career.
He grew in stature in my mind. In the end, I think he stood as tall, and
as proud, as the greatest American industrialists.
托尼去世后,我一直想着他的经历。他的形象在我心目中越来越高大。最后,我觉得他就和美国那些最大的实业家一样高大、自豪。
31 They had all reached their success by the same route and by the same
values and principles: vision, determination, self-control, optimism,
self-respect and, above all, integrity.
他们都通过同样的途径,本着同样的价值观和原则获得了成功:远见、执着、自制、乐观、自尊,以及最重要的,正直。
32 Tony did not begin on the bottom rung of the ladder. He began in the basement. Tony's affairs were tiny; the greatest industrialists' affairs were giant. But, after all, the balance sheets were exactly the same. The only difference was where you put the decimal point.
托尼不是从最低一级阶梯往上爬的,他是从地下室往上爬的。托尼的事业很小,那些最大的实业家的事业很大。但究其实,两者的资产负债
表
关于同志近三年现实表现材料材料类招标技术评分表图表与交易pdf视力表打印pdf用图表说话 pdf
完全一样。惟一的不同是你把小数点点在什么地方。
33 Tony Trivisonno came to America seeking the American Dream. But he didn't find it ─he created it for himself. All he had were 24 precious hours a day, and he wasted none of them.
托尼·特里韦索诺来到美国寻求美国梦。但他没有找到什么美国梦——他为自己创造了一个美国梦。他的全部拥有是一天宝贵的二十四小时,而他一刻也没有浪费。
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