評論
打印
The Last Word Was Love
最后的落款是“愛你們的”
William Saroyan
威廉·薩羅揚
A long time ago when I was eleven my mother and my father had a prolonged quarrel.
很久以前，在我11歲的時候，我爸媽之間發(fā)生了一場持續(xù)了很長時間的爭吵。
The quarrel picked up the minute my father got home from work at Graff's, where he was a forty-seven-year-old assistant—to everybody.
每當爸爸從格拉夫商店下班回到家，爭吵就開始了。在格拉夫商店工作時，他是個47歲的助理，給其他所有店員跑腿。
Graff's sold everything from food to ready-made clothing, animal traps, and farm implements.
格拉夫商店什么都賣，從食品到成衣，從動物捕捉器到農(nóng)具。
My father had taken the job only for the daily wage of three dollars, which he received in coin at the end of every twelve-hour day.
爸爸在那里工作只為了賺每天3美元的工資，每天工作12個小時后，他都可以領到硬帀。
He didn't mind the nature of the work, even though his profession was teaching,
他不介意這份工作的性質(zhì)，盡管他的專業(yè)是老師，
and, he didn't care that it might end at any moment, without notice.
他也不介意隨時可能在毫無預告的情況下被人解雇。
He'd already had the job six months, from late summer to early spring, when the quarrel began to get on my brother's nerve.
他做這份工作已經(jīng)6個月了，從去年夏末到今年初春，哥哥拉爾夫開始為他們的爭吵感到煩惱。
I didn't even begin to notice the quarrel until Ralph pointed it out to me.
但是，我卻一直沒有注意到父母吵架的事，直到拉爾夫告訴我。
I admired him so much that I joined him in finding fault with my mother and father.
我一直非常敬佩他，我跟著他一起開始挑爸媽的毛病。
First, though, I'd better describe the quarrel, if that's possible.
不過現(xiàn)在，如果可能的話，我想最好先來描述一下這場爭吵。
To begin with, there was my mother running the house, and there was my father working at Graff's.
首先，媽媽操持整個家庭，爸爸在格拉夫商店打工。
There was my brother, Ralph, at the top of his class at high school.
哥哥拉爾夫在高中班上名列前茅。
There I was near the bottom of my class at junior high.
而我在讀初中，成績在班上基本上是墊底的。
And there was our nine-year-old sister, Rose, just enjoying life without any fuss.
我們有個9歲大的妹妹羅絲，她無憂無慮地過著日子。
