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I thought of my destination -- New Orleans, the setting for Tennessee Williams's play A Streetcar Named Desire. I recalled Blanche DuBois's famous line: "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."
我想到我此行的目的地——新奧爾良。那里是田納西·威廉姆斯的劇作《欲望號街車》的背景地。我回想起布蘭奇·杜波依斯的名句：“我總是依賴陌生人的善意。”
The kindness of strangers. It sounds so quaint. Could anyone rely on the kindness of strangers these days?
陌生人的善意。聽起來好怪。如今這年頭還有誰能指望陌生人的善意嗎？
One way to test this would be for a person to journey from coast to coast without any money, relying solely on the good will of his fellow Americans. What kind of America would he find? Who would feed him, shelter him, carry him down the road?
要驗證這一點，一個辦法是一個人從東海岸旅行到西海岸，不帶一分錢，完全依靠美國同胞的善意。他會發現一個什么樣的美國？誰會給他飯吃、讓他歇腳、捎他一程呢？
The idea intrigued me. But who'd be crazy enough to try such a trip? Well, I figured, why not me.
這個念頭激起了我的好奇心。但誰會這么不切實際，愿意去嘗試這樣一次旅行呢？好吧，我想，那不如我來試試？
The week I turned 37, I realized I'd never taken a gamble in my life. So I decided to make a leap of faith a continent wide -- to go from the Pacific to the Atlantic without a penny. If I was offered money, I'd refuse it. I'd accept only rides, food and a place to rest my head. It would be a cashless journey through the land of the almighty dollar. My final destination would be Cape Fear in North Carolina, a symbol of all the fears I'd have to conquer during the trip.
滿37歲那個星期，我意識到我這輩子還從沒冒過什么險呢。所以我決定來個觀念的跨越，美洲大陸那么寬——從太平洋到大西洋，不帶一分錢。要是有人給我錢，我會拒絕。我只接受搭順風車、提供食物和讓我歇腳的幫助。這將是穿越在這片金錢至上的土地上一次身無分文的旅行。我的最終目的地是北卡羅來納州的“恐懼角”（即開普菲爾），它象征著我沿途必須克服的所有恐懼。
I rose early on September 6, 1994, hoisted a 50-pound pack onto my back and headed for the Golden Gate Bridge. Then I took a sign from my backpack, displaying my destination to passing vehicles: "America."
1994年9月6日，我早早起床，背起一個50磅重的包，朝金門橋走去。我從背包里拿出一個牌子，向過路的車輛展示我的目的地：“美利堅”。
Drivers mouthed the word through windshields, then, smiled. Two women rode by on bicycles. "It's a bit vague," said one. A young man with a German accent wandered up and asked, "Where is this 'America'?"
司機們隔著擋風玻璃念出這個詞，然后笑了。兩個女人騎自行車經過。“有點含混，”其中一個說。一名帶有德國口音的年輕男士走上前來問，“你知道‘美利堅’在哪兒？”
