This was the section he worked in. The birds were usually angry, but once he'd hung them up he would give them a pat and croon a word or two. That went on for turkey after turkey, hundreds in a day. It was a tough, risky grapple, but he was skilled at it, and other brothers had it much worse: yanking out the guts or cutting out the heart and liver, which covered them in blood. At least he didn't have to contort his fingers so constantly that his hands became hooks, as others' did.
這就是他工作的地方。火雞們通常都很憤怒，但是一旦被掛起來后，威利會輕拍它們一下，低聲哼一兩句。一個接一個火雞，他都會這么做，一天得有上百只。處理火雞很難，它會是一次危險的扭打，但是威利非常擅長這個，其他的兄弟們的表現則很糟：總是猛地把內臟弄出來或者挖出心臟和肝臟，上面沾滿了血。至少他不像別人那樣，不用經常扭曲自己的手指，把自己的手變成鉤子。
It would have been tricky to play the spoons then. The accommodation, too, seemed fine at the beginning. It was in an old schoolhouse on a rise outside the tiny town of Atalissa. The building was painted turquoise on the outside and red, blue and yellow inside. There was even a swing in the front yard. They had a gym and a pool table. The people in town, after a little while of wariness, became warm and kind to the "boys", and returned his broad smile as he walked down the street. In the summer parade he rode on a float with other brothers, dressed as a clown in a pointy yellow hat. At socials he loved to dance with anyone.
而用勺子演奏就有點艱難了。住宿在一開始似乎也挺好。那是在阿塔里薩小鎮外的一所舊校舍里。那個建筑外面染得是藍綠色，里面是紅色、藍色和黃色。前院里甚至還有一個秋千。他們有一個體育館和臺球臺。鎮子里的人對這些“小伙子們”保持了一段時間的警惕之后，也變得友好熱情起來。他在走過街頭時，也會回以大大的微笑。在夏日游行中，他和兄弟們登上花車，戴著尖尖的黃色帽子扮作小丑。在社交場合，他喜歡和任何人跳舞。
Money, though, was a problem. He hardly had any. Granted, there was not a lot to spend it on in Atalissa, besides Mountain Dews and Honey Buns at the Mini Mart. But it was impossible to put aside any savings. His pay was meant to be $750 a month; he received $65. The rest was taken by Henry's for bed, board, clothes, medical care (though they hardly had any) and rare outings. And it stayed the same for more than 30 years. The Fair Labour Standards Act of 1938 allowed workers with disabilities to be paid less if they were less productive, even if, like him, they were doing as good a job as they could.
但是錢是個問題，他并沒有多少。當然，在阿塔里薩，除了買迷你超市里的山露汽水和蜂蜜面包外，并沒有什么花錢的地方。但是存錢也是不可能的。他的工資應該是750美元一個月，而他只收到65美元。剩下的錢都歸亨利所有，包括床鋪、伙食、衣服、醫療服務(盡管他們幾乎沒有任何醫療服務)和極少的外出活動的錢。而且這一直持續了30多年。1938年的《公平勞動基準法》規定，如果殘疾工人的工作效率不高，就可以付給他們更少的工資，即使他們像他一樣，盡其所能地做好工作。
譯文由可可原創，僅供學習交流使用，未經許可請勿轉載。
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