New Shoes
一雙新鞋子
Anne is six years older than me. Growing up, we were very poor, and my mother worked evenings at a factory in a small mid-western town. Not seeing my mother much, Anne took over much of the maternal support, and she was awarded the authority to give me and my younger sister permission to do things. Actually, going to Anne was much better than going to a parent as she could award permission, but never had an urge to punish us when we broke the rules. Therefore, we were a bit more willing to confess our activities to Anne and sometimes benefited from her sisterly advice. During those turbulent teenage years, Anne was always there for me, not only as a big sister, but as a mother and my best friend.
安妮比我大六歲。從小，我們家很窮，媽媽每晚都要在一座中西部小鎮上的一家工廠裡上班。由於很少見到媽媽，安妮承擔了媽媽的大部分責任。她也獲得了許可，有權決定是否允許我和妹妹去做一些事情。實際上，去找安妮可比去找爸爸媽媽強多了，因為她能答應我們的請求，但在我們違反規定時卻從不想責罰我們。因此，我們更願意向安妮坦承我們的所作所為，並且有時還會得益於她從姐姐的角度所給出的建議。在那段躁動的少年歲月中，安妮總是陪伴著我，不僅當我的大姐，還扮演著我的媽媽和摯友的角色。
When I was seventeen and had no money, I thought my only chance of going to college was if I could win a scholarship. I had an important interview for such an award. Anne at that time was struggling, surviving on a part-time job as she put herself through the local community college after serving in the army. I told her of my interview, that General Motors was sending me a bus ticket, and I would get to visit the city for my scholarship interview. It would be the first time I ever saw a city. I was excited about the adventure and asked her advice on what to wear. I showed her my best outfit and how I planned to be careful about how I sat so that the hole in the bottom of my shoe would not be seen, but I wasn't sure what I would do if it rained. I showed her how I would stand with my arm slightly in front of me to hide the blemish from my factory—second pants from the farmers' market . My best blouse was a find at a yard sale , slightly faded but still pretty.
我17歲時家裡依然貧窮，我覺得我上大學的唯一機會就看自己能否拿到一筆獎學金。為了這筆獎學金，我要去參加一場很重要的面試。那時候，安妮的日子過得很艱難，服完兵役後，她靠一份兼職來供自己讀本地的社區大學。我把面試的事告訴了她：通用汽車公司會給我寄一張車票，這樣我就能進城去參加獎學金的面試了。這將是我第一次去大城市見世面。我對這次“探險”興奮不已，並請安妮對我的著裝提提建議。我給她看了我最好的衣服，還訴她我打算如何注意我的坐姿，以免別人看到我鞋底上的洞。但是我拿不準如果下雨了我該怎麼辦。我向她演示站立時如何將手臂微微放在身前，以遮擋我那條從農貿市場上買來的次品褲子上的汙漬。我最好的上衣是從舊貨市場上淘來的，稍微有點褪色但還算漂亮。
Anne suggested that we go shopping, and we took the bus to the JCPenney store. She took me to the shoe department, and we found a beautiful pair of leather shoes on sale. She told me to try them on, but I thought it was just for fun as neither of us had ever owned anything that expensive before. Sometimes we did go shopping together and tried on things just to see what they looked and felt like, but we never could afford to buy them. It was like playing dress-up . But this time was different. Anne handed me the boxed shoes and said, "Here, I'll buy these for you."
安妮建議我們去購物，於是我們坐公交去了傑西潘尼百貨公司。她帶我去了售鞋區，我們發現一雙漂亮的皮鞋在打折。她讓我穿上試試，不過我想那只是出於好玩，因為在那之前我們誰都不曾擁有過如此昂貴的東西。我們有時確實會一起去購物，也會試穿一些衣服，但只是想知道穿起來是什麼樣子，感覺會怎樣，卻從來都買不起，那有點像在玩換裝秀遊戲。可這次不同，安妮把包裝好的鞋遞給我說：“拿著，我給你買這雙鞋。”
But ... was all I could say.
“可是……”是我唯一能說的話。
You deserve them, she replied. "This interview is important. I want to see you get that scholarship."
“你值得擁有它們，”她說，“這次面試很重要。我希望你能拿到那筆獎學金。”
I was speechless as I knew this was a lot of money for her, and she would probably have to eat nothing but ramen noodles for at least a month.
我說不出話來，因為我知道，這對她來說可是一大筆錢。為此， 她可能至少一個月都只能吃拉麵。
I went to the interview and crossed my legs so that my beautiful new shoes shone with pride. I won the scholarship and became an engineer. Although they were nice leather everyday shoes, I didn't wear them much because they were so special. I hope Anne didn't think I did not like them or something. Now, after twenty years have passed, I still have that pair of shoes with me, and I just wear them on those little occasions when I need to feel special. It's kind of like having magic ruby slippers when you're homesick.
我去面試時蹺起了二郎腿，以使我那雙漂亮的新皮鞋驕傲地閃著光。我贏得了那筆獎學金，成了一名工程師。那是雙很好的皮鞋，適合日常穿著，但我卻很少穿，因為它們太特別了。我希望安妮不會認為我不喜歡它們或是怎麼樣。如今，20年過去了，那雙鞋依然陪伴著我，而我只在一些特殊場合才會穿上它們。這有點像你想家時，就會穿上那雙具有魔力的紅寶石鞋。
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