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imaginings.
苏在楼下光线暗淡的画室里找到了贝尔曼，他满身酒味刺鼻。屋子一角的画架上支着一张从未落过笔的画布，在那儿搁了25年，等着一幅杰作的起笔。苏把约翰西的怪念头跟他说了，并说约翰西本身就像一片叶子又瘦又弱，她害怕要是她那本已脆弱的生存意志再软下去的话，真的会凋零飘落。老贝尔曼双眼通红，显然是泪涟涟的，他大声叫嚷着说他蔑视这种傻念头。
20 \off from a vine? I have never heard of such a thing. Why do you allow such silly ideas to come into that head of hers? God! This is not a place in which one so good as Miss Johnsy should lie sick. Some day I will paint a masterpiece, and we shall all go away. Yes.\ “什么！”他嚷道。“世界上竟然有这么愚蠢的人，因为树叶从藤上掉落就要去死？我听都没听说过这等事。你怎么让这种傻念头钻到她那个怪脑袋里？天哪！这不是一个像约翰西小姐这样的好姑娘躺倒生病的地方。有朝一日我要画一幅巨作，那时候我们就离开这里。真的。”
21 Johnsy was sleeping when they went upstairs. Sue pulled the shade down, and motioned Behrman into the other room. In there they peered out the window fearfully at the ivy vine. Then they looked at each other for a moment without speaking. A persistent, cold rain was falling, mingled with snow. Behrman, in his old blue shirt, took his seat as the miner on an upturned kettle for a rock.
两人上了楼，约翰西已经睡着了。苏放下窗帘，示意贝尔曼去另一个房间。在那儿两人惶惶不安地凝视着窗外的常青藤。接着两人面面相觑，哑然无语。外面冷雨夹雪，淅淅沥沥。贝尔曼穿着破旧的蓝色衬衣, 坐在充当矿石的倒置的水壶上，摆出矿工的架势。
22 When Sue awoke from an hour's sleep the next morning she found Johnsy with dull, wide-open eyes staring at the drawn green shade. 第二天早上，只睡了一个小时的苏醒来看到约翰西睁大着无神的双眼，凝望着拉下的绿色窗帘。
23 \ “把窗帘拉起来；我要看，”她低声命令道。 24 Wearily Sue obeyed.
苏带着疲倦，遵命拉起窗帘。
25 But, Lo! after the beating rain and fierce wind that had endured through the night, there yet stood out against the brick wall one ivy leaf. It was the last on the vine. Still dark green near its stem, but with its edges colored yellow, it hung bravely from a branch some twenty feet above the ground.
可是，瞧！经过一整夜的急风骤雨，竟然还存留一片常青藤叶，背靠砖墙，格外显目。这是常青藤上的最后一片叶子。近梗部位仍呈暗绿色，但边缘已经泛黄了，它无所畏惧地挂在离地20多英尺高的枝干上。
26 \wind. It will fall today, and I shall die at the same time.\ “这是最后一片叶子，”约翰西说。“我以为夜里它肯定会掉落的。我晚上听到大风呼啸。今天它会掉落的，叶子掉的时候，也是我死的时候。”
27 The day wore away, and even through the twilight they could see the lone ivy leaf clinging to its stem against the wall. And then, with the coming of the night the north wind was again
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loosed.
白天慢慢过去了，即便在暮色黄昏之中，他们仍能看到那片孤零零的常青藤叶子，背靠砖墙，紧紧抱住梗茎。尔后，随着夜幕的降临，又是北风大作。
28 When it was light enough Johnsy, the merciless, commanded that the shade be raised. 等天色亮起，冷酷无情的约翰西命令将窗帘拉起。 29 The ivy leaf was still there. 常青藤叶依然挺在。
30 Johnsy lay for a long time looking at it. And then she called to Sue, who was stirring her chicken soup over the gas stove.
约翰西躺在那儿，望着它许久许久。接着她大声呼唤正在煤气灶上搅鸡汤的苏。 31 \show me how wicked I was. It is a sin to want to die. You may bring me a little soup now, and some milk with a little port in it and -- no; bring me a hand-mirror first, and then pack some pillows about me, and I will sit up and watch you cook.\ “我一直像个不乖的孩子，苏迪，”约翰西说。“有一种力量让那最后一片叶子不掉，好让我看到自己有多坏。想死是一种罪过。你给我喝点汤吧，再来点牛奶，稍放一点波尔图葡萄酒――不，先给我拿面小镜子来，弄几个枕头垫在我身边，我要坐起来看你做菜。” 32 An hour later she said: 一个小时之后，她说：
33 \ “苏迪，我真想有一天去画那不勒斯海湾。”
34 The doctor came in the afternoon, and Sue had an excuse to go into the hallway as he left. 下午大夫来了，他走时苏找了个借口跟进了过道。
35 \ “现在是势均力敌，”大夫说着，握了握苏纤细颤抖的手。
36 \good nursing you'll win. And now I must see another case I have downstairs. Behrman, his name is -- some kind of an artist, I believe. Pneumonia, too. He is an old, weak man, and the attack is acute. There is no hope for him; but he goes to the hospital today to be made more comfortable.\
“只要精心照料，你就赢了。现在我得去楼下看另外一个病人了。贝尔曼，是他的名字――记得是个什么画家。也是肺炎。他年老体弱，病来势又猛。他是没救了。不过今天他去了医院，照料得会好一点。”
37 The next day the doctor said to Sue: \care now -- that's all.\
第二天，大夫对苏说：“她脱离危险了。你赢了。注意饮食，好好照顾，就行了。” 38 And that afternoon Sue came to the bed where Johnsy lay and put one arm around her. 当日下午，苏来到约翰西的床头，用一只手臂搂住她。
39 \today in the hospital. He was ill only two days. He was found on the morning of the first day in his room downstairs helpless with pain. His shoes and clothing were wet through and icy cold. They couldn't imagine where he had been on such a terrible night. And then they found a lantern, still lighted, and a ladder that had been dragged from its place, and some scattered brushes, and a palette with green and yellow colors mixed on it, and -- look out the window, dear, at the last ivy leaf on the wall. Didn't you wonder why it never fluttered or moved when the wind blew? Ah,
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darling, it's Behrman's masterpiece -- he painted it there the night that the last leaf fell.\ “我跟你说件事，小白鼠，”她说。“贝尔曼先生今天在医院里得肺炎去世了。他得病才两天。发病那天上午人家在楼下他的房间里发现他疼得利害。他的鞋子衣服都湿透了，冰冷冰冷的。他们想不出那么糟糕的天气他夜里会去哪儿。后来他们发现了一个灯笼，还亮着，还有一个梯子被拖了出来，另外还有些散落的画笔，一个调色板，和着黄绿两种颜色，――看看窗外，宝贝儿，看看墙上那最后一片常青藤叶子。它在刮风的时候一动也不动，你没有觉得奇怪吗？啊，亲爱的，那是贝尔曼的杰作――最后一片叶子掉落的那天夜里他画上了这片叶子。”
He did not trust the woman to trust him. And he did not trust the woman not to trust him. And he did not
want to be mistrusted now.
他不敢相信这个女人居然会信任自己。他也不认为这个女人就不信任自己。不过",现在他不想失去
别人对自己的信任。
Unit7 Text A Life of a Salesman一个推销员的生活
小汤姆 ? 霍尔曼
Making a living as a door-to-door salesman demands a thick skin, both to protect against the weather and
against constantly having the door shut in your face. Bill Porter puts up with all this and much, much more.
干挨家挨户上门推销这一营生得脸皮厚这是因为干这一行不仅要经受风吹日晒还要承受一次又
一次的闭门羹。比尔 ? 波特忍受着这一切以及别的种种折磨。
Life of a Salesman Tom Hallman Jr.
1 The alarm rings. It's 5:45. He could linger under the covers, listening to the radio and a weatherman who
predicts rain. People would understand. He knows that.
闹钟响了。是清晨5",45。他可以在被子里再躺一会儿听听无线电广播。天气预报员预报有雨。
人们会理解的。这点他清楚。
2 A surgeon's scar cuts across his lower back. The fingers on his right hand are so twisted that he can't tie his
shoes. Some days, he feels like surrendering. But his dead mother's challenge echoes in his soul. So, too, do the
voices of those who believed him stupid, incapable of living independently. All his life he's struggled to prove
them wrong. He will not quit. 3 And so Bill Porter rises. 他的下背有一道手术疤痕。他右手的手指严重扭曲连鞋带都没法系。有时",他真想放弃不干了。
可在他内心深处",一直回响着已故老母的激励, 还有那些说他蠢说他不能独立生活的人
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的声音。他一生
都在拚命去证明他们错了。他决不能放弃不干。 于是比尔?波特起身了。
4 He takes the first unsteady steps on a journey to Portland's streets, the battlefield where he fights alone for
his independence and dignity. He's a door-to-door salesman. Sixty-three years old. And his enemies -- a crippled
body that betrays him and a changing world that no longer needs him -- are gaining on him.
他摇摇晃晃迈出了去波特兰大街的头几步波特兰大街是他为独立与尊严而孤身搏杀的战场。他是
个挨家挨户上门推销的推销员",今年63 岁。他的敌人――辜负他的残疾的身体和一个不再需要他的变化
着的世界――正一步一步把他逼向绝境。
5 With trembling hands he assembles his weapons: dark slacks, blue shirt and matching jacket, brown tie, tan
raincoat and hat. Image, he believes, is everything.
他用颤抖的双手收拾行装深色宽松裤",蓝衬衣和与之相配的茄克衫褐色领带",土褐色雨衣和帽
子。在他看来形象就是一切。
6 He stops in the entryway, picks up his briefcase and steps outside. A fall wind has kicked up. The
weatherman was right. He pulls his raincoat tighter.
7 He tilts his hat just so. 他在门口停了一下提起公文包走了出去。秋风骤起冷飕飕的。天
气预报员说得没错。他将雨衣裹裹紧。 他把帽子往一侧微微一斜。
8 On the 7:45 bus that stops across the street, he leaves his briefcase next to the driver and finds a seat in the
middle of a pack of bored teenagers.
9 He leans forward, stares toward the driver, sits back, then repeats the process. His nervousness makes him
laugh uncontrollably. The teenagers stare at him. They don't realize Porter's afraid someone will steal his briefcase,
with the glasses, brochures, order forms and clip-on tie that he needs to survive.
在街对面停靠的7",45 那班公共汽车上他把公文包放在司机身旁在一群没精打采的十几岁的孩
子当中找了个位子坐下。
他身子往前一倾",盯着司机那儿望然后靠着椅背坐下接着他又反复这个过程。他心情紧张",控
制不住自己而笑出声来。那些孩子望着他。他们不明白波特是担心有人偷他的包包里有他生存不可缺
少的眼镜",宣传小册子定单",以及可用别针别上的领带。 10 Porter senses the stares. He looks at the floor.
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11 His face reveals nothing. In his heart, though, he knows he should have been like these kids, like everyone
on this bus. He's not angry. But he knows. His mother explained how the delivery had been difficult, how the
doctor had used an instrument that crushed a section of his brain and caused cerebral palsy, a disorder of the
nervous system that affects his speech, hands and walk. 波特意识到了小孩子在盯着他看。他把目光转向车厢地板。 他脸上没有流露出任何神情。但在他心里他知道自己本该和这些孩子一样",和车上其他所有人一
样。他并不生气。但他心里明白。他母亲解释说生他时难产",医生使用了某种器械损坏了他大脑的一部
分导致了大脑性麻痹一种影响他说话",手部活动以及行走的神经系统的紊乱。 12 Porter came to Portland when he was 13 after his father, a salesman, was transferred here. He attended a
school for the disabled and then Lincoln High School, where he was placed in a class for slow kids.
13 But he wasn't slow.
波特13 岁那年随着当推销员的父亲工作调动来到波特兰。他上了一个残疾人学校后来就读林肯高级中
学在那儿他被编入慢班。 但他并不笨。
14 His mind was trapped in a body that didn't work. Speaking was difficult and took time. People were
impatient and didn't listen. He felt different -- was different -- from the kids who rushed about in the halls and
planned dances he would never attend.
他由于身体不能正常运行而使脑子不能充分发挥其功能。他说话困难",而且慢。别人不耐烦",不听 他说。他觉得自己不同于――事实上也确实不同于――那些在过道里东奔西跑的孩子那些孩子安排的舞
会他永远也不可能参加。
15 What could his future be? Porter wanted to do something and his mother was certain that he could rise
above his limitations. With her encouragement, he applied for a job with the Fuller Brush Co. only to be turned
down. He couldn't carry a product briefcase or walk a route, they said.
他将来会是个什么样子呢波特想做些事母亲也相信他能冲破身体的局限。在她的鼓励之下他
向福勒牙刷公司申请一份工作结果却遭到拒绝。他不能提样品包也不能跑一条推销线路",他们说。
16 Porter knew he wanted to be a salesman. He began reading help wanted ads in the newspaper. When he
saw one for Watkins, a company that sold household products door-to-door, his