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Suddenly, Mike’s dad burst through the rickety screen door and onto the porch. Mike and I jumped to our feet, not out of respect, but because we were startled.
突然，邁克的爸爸推開那扇搖搖晃晃的紗門走進了門廊，邁克和我跳了起來，不是出于尊敬而是因為被嚇了一跳。
“Ready, boys?” Mike's Dad asked as he pulled up a chair to sit down with us.
“準備好了嗎，孩子們？”邁克的爸爸一邊問一邊拉過椅子坐到我們旁邊。
We nodded our heads as we pulled our chairs away from the wall to sit in front of him.
我們點了點頭，把椅子扶正在他面前坐下。
He was a big man, about six feet tall and 200 pounds.
他也是個大塊頭，身高大約有1米80，體重90千克。
“Mike says you want to learn to make money? Is that correct, Robert?”
“邁克說你們想學賺錢，對嗎，羅伯特？”
I nodded my head quickly, but with a little trepidation. He had a lot of power behind his words and smile.
我趕緊點了點頭，但心里有點兒忐忑。在他的微笑和話語的背后似乎隱藏著很強的力量。
“Okay, here’s my offer. I’ll teach you, but I won’t do it classroom-style. You work for me, I’ll teach you. You don’t work for me, I don’t teach you. I can teach you faster if you work, and I’m wasting my time if you just want to sit and listen like you do in school. That’s my offer. Take it or leave it.”
“好吧，我說說我的建議：我會教你們，但不像在學校那樣。你們為我工作，否則我就不教。因為通過工作我可以更快地教會你們。如果你們只想坐著聽講，就像在學校里一樣，那我就是在浪費時間。這就是我的建議，你們可以接受也可以拒絕。”
“Ah, may I ask a question first?” I asked.
“嗯……我可以先問個問題嗎？”我問。
“No. Take it or leave it. I’ve got too much work to do to waste my time. If you can’t make up your mind decisively, then you’ll never learn to make money anyway.
“不能，你只能告訴我是接受還是拒絕。因為我有太多的事要做，不能浪費時間。如果你不能下定決心，就永遠也學不會如何賺錢。
“Take it,” I said.
“接受。”我說。
“Take it,” said Mike.
“接受?！边~克也說。
“Good,” said Mike’s dad. “Mrs. Martin will be by in 10 minutes. After I’m through with her, you’ll ride with her to my superette and you can begin working. I’ll pay you 10 cents an hour, and you’ll work three hours every Saturday.”
“好！”邁克的爸爸說道，“馬丁夫人會在10分鐘內到這兒。等我和她辦完事后，你們就和她坐車去我的小超市，然后就可以開始工作了。我每小時付給你們10美分，你們每周六工作3個小時?！?/div>
“But I have a softball game today,” I said.
“但我今天有一場棒球比賽！”我說。
Mike’s dad lowered his voice to a stern tone. “Take it, or leave it,” he said. “I’ll take it,” I replied, choosing to work and learn instead of playing.
邁克的爸爸壓低聲調，用嚴厲的語氣說：“接受或者拒絕。”“我接受?！蔽一卮鸬溃覜Q定去工作和學習，不去打棒球了。
By 9:00 a.m. that day, Mike and I were working for Mrs. Martin. She was a kind and patient woman. She always said that Mike and I reminded her of her two sons who were grown and gone. Although kind, she believed in hard work and she kept us moving. She was a test master. We spent three hours taking canned goods off the shelves,and with a feather duster brushing each can to get the dust off, and then re-stacking them neatly. It was excruciatingly-boring work.
從一個美好的星期六早上9點起，邁克和我正式開始給馬丁夫人干活了。馬丁夫人是一個慈祥而有耐心的人，她總是說邁克和我使她想起她的兩個兒子，她的兩個兒子長大后就離開了她。馬丁夫人雖然很慈祥，卻強調工作應該努力，她讓我們不停地干活。她是一個很好的監工，3個小時里，我們把罐裝食品從架子上拿下來，用羽毛撣撣去每個罐頭上的灰塵，然后重新把它們碼好。這工作真的很乏味。
For three weeks, Mike and I reported to Mrs. Martin and worked our three hours. By noon, our work was over, and she dropped three little dimes in each of our hands. Now, even at the age of nine in the mid- 1950s, 30 cents was not too exciting. Comic books cost 10 cents back then, so I usually spent my money on comic books and went home.
此后的3個星期中，每星期六邁克和我向馬丁夫人報到并在她那兒工作3小時。中午以前，我們的工作就結束了，她就在我們每人的手中放下3枚硬幣。即使是在50年代中期，對于9歲的男孩來說，30美分也并不十分令人激動，因為就算買一本連環畫也得花上10美分呢。
By Wednesday of the fourth week, I was ready to quit. I had agreed to work only because I wanted to learn to make money from Mike’s dad, and now I was a slave for 10 cents an hour. On top of that, I had not seen Mike’s dad since that first Saturday.
第四個星期的星期三，我決定要退出。我答應工作是因為想跟邁克的爸爸學習賺錢，而現在我成了每小時10美分的奴隸。更糟糕的是，自從第一個星期六后我就一直沒見到過我們的賺錢老師——邁克的爸爸。
“I’m quitting,” I told Mike at lunchtime. The school lunch was terrible. School was boring, and now I did not even have my Saturdays to look forward to. But it was the 30 cents that really got to me.
“我要退出。”吃午飯的時候我對邁克說。學校的午飯糟透了，上課也沒勁兒，而且我現在幾乎一點也不盼著過星期六了。因為對我而言，現在每個星期六換來的僅僅是30美分。
Mike smiled.
邁克得意地笑了。
