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The Man Who Wrote His Own Obituary
自撰訃告的人
Mark Waters
馬克·沃特斯
Cigarettes were the death of me. I became acquainted with my killer when I was 14 and began stealing several a day from my father's pack.
我的命是香煙給斷送的。我14歲時便與我的這位殺手相識，開始每天從我父親的煙盒中偷幾支煙抽。
Smoking caused some nausea at first, but persistence conquered.
剛開始抽時覺得有些惡心，可堅持下去就沒事了。
I was born in Davenport, Iowa, on June 2, 1909.
1909年6月2日我生于衣阿華州的達文波特。
At 16, I moved with my family, including two sisters, to Baltimore, a city that I loved and adopted as my hometown.
16歲那年，我和兩個姐妹一起，隨全家搬到巴爾的摩。我喜歡這個城市，把它當作我的故鄉。
It was still no problem getting cigarettes.
弄幾支煙抽仍然不成問題。
I got odd jobs after school to buy them, and tried all sorts of brands, such as Melachrinos, Omars and English Ovals. I felt quite sophisticated, but I can't recall now that I enjoyed smoking them.
我放學后干些零活來掙錢買煙，試過各種各樣的牌子，如麥拉克日諾斯牌，奧馬爾斯牌，還有英國的橢圓牌。我覺得自己挺在行的，但現在我記不起來當初是不是喜歡抽這些煙。
In 1928, the coming depression cast its shadow. With money scarce, my father began counting his Camels, so a friend and I took to picking butts off the street. We toasted the tobacco in an oven and rolled it into rice-paper cigarettes. They were horrible.
1928年，大蕭條的陰影逼近。錢少了，我父親開始每天數著抽他的駱駝牌煙，于是我和一個朋友就開始在街上撿煙蒂。我們把煙絲放在烤箱里烤，再用卷煙紙卷好。那煙真夠嗆。
Jobs for youth were hard to find, so I decided to join the Navy - a mouth removed form the table, and I could send money home.
年輕人很難找到活干，于是我決定加入海軍——飯桌上少一張嘴，而我又能往家里寄錢。
Now cigarettes were on problem. If you were at sea, they were 4 cents a pack. I smoked two packs a day, drawing in most of the smoke.
這樣煙就不成問題了。要是你出海的話，一包才4分錢。我一天抽兩包，把煙差不多都吸進肺去。
When my 20-year Navy career ended, I went to the University of North Carolina.After I graduated I got a job in San Diego.
20年的海軍生涯結束后，我進了北卡羅來納大學，畢業后在圣地亞哥找了個工作。
