評論
打印
A New Toy
一樣新玩具
I was eight years old when our neighbors across the hall got a television. It was very small and very expensive, but that didn't matter. IT WAS WONDERFUL. Everyone in the building came up to the fifth floor to see this latest wonder of the modem world. Some people, the lucky ones, stayed for a while and got to watch a whole program. That was in 1948.
我八歲那年，我們家對門的鄰居買了臺電視機。電視機既小又昂貴，可那算不了什么。這玩意兒太奇妙了。大樓里人人都上五樓來，爭睹這一當(dāng)今世界的最新奇跡。有些人——運氣好的人——還能多待一會，看完整檔節(jié)目。那是在1948年。
Soon a lot of people got new televisions, but not us. My parents didn't like television. They didn't think it was good for children. Being a good, docile son, I didn't argue with them. But I did secretly watch television — at my friends' homes.
不多久，好多人家都買了新電視機，可我們沒有。我父母不喜歡電視，認為它對孩子沒好處。我是個聽話的乖孩子，沒跟他們爭吵。不過我的確偷看過電視——在朋友家里看。
By 1955 televisions weren't so expensive and they were much larger. My parents still thought television wasn't good for us, but my sisters insisted. They said we were the only people in the neighborhood who didn't have one. All their friends talked about certain programs and actors, but my sisters couldn't. Their friends laughed at them, and my sisters felt wretched, very unhappy.
到了1955年，電視機不再那么昂貴了，而且也大了許多。可我父母還是認為電視對我們沒好處。我的幾個妹妹不服氣。她們說附近一帶就我們家沒電視機。她們的朋友個個都在談?wù)撃承╇娨暪?jié)目和演員，可她們插不上嘴。朋友們都笑話她們，為此她們感到非常委屈，十分苦惱。
One day, my youngest sister came from school and started to cry. She said she was never going back to school and that life without a television wasn't worth living. She cried and sobbed. My parents' usual arguments only made her more inconsolable. Nothing they said made her feel any better. Well, what could they do?
有一天，小妹放學(xué)一回到家就哭了。她說她決不再去上學(xué)了，還說生活中沒有電視機活著不值得。她不停地哭著，抽泣著。爸媽搬出的那老一套理由，反倒更令她傷心。他們說的話，一點也寬慰不了她。唉，他們有什么法子呢？
The next morning, without telling us, my parents went out and got a new TV. That afternoon an antenna was put on the roof. Suzanne came home from school and ran into the house.
第二天上午，爸媽什么也沒說，便出去買了臺嶄新的電視機。到了下午，屋頂上豎起了電視天線。蘇珊放學(xué)回家，連奔帶跑進了屋子。
Where is it? Where is it? she cried. "I know it's here." She was breathless, and her eyes were shiny with excitement.
“在哪兒？哪兒？”她嚷道?！拔抑谰驮诩依?。”她氣喘吁吁，兩眼興奮得閃閃發(fā)光。
"It's in the living room," my mother said as my sister ran off to look at, to admire, this beautiful thing called a television.
“在客廳里，”母親話音剛落，小妹就跑過去，打量、贊賞這個名為電視機的尤物。
