精美英文欣赏:千载难逢的机会(上)

The Outside Chance

千载难逢的机会

It's a funny thing about money. If you haven't got it, you think it's the most important thing in the world. That's how I used to think. I don't any more, and I learned¹ it in the hard way.

这是一个关于金钱的有趣的故事。如果你没有听过，你会觉得钱是世界上最重要的东西。这也是我曾经一直赞同的观点。不过现在不会了，我从艰辛中懂得了钱并非是最重要的。

My teacher at school used to say: "When the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers." It means if you want something really badly, you'll probably get it. But you'll get it in a way you don't expect. You might have to pay a price you didn't bargain for.

在学校时，老师常说：“当神灵想要惩罚我们，他们会答应我们的祈求”。这意味着如果你真的很想得到什么，往往你就能够得到，但是得到那样东西的方式是你意料之外的。你可能会为你没有奢望容易得到的东西付出代价。

It started one rainy day, when I was coming home from work. I'm a mechanic², and I liked working in a garage. But I was restless³. I'd always had this dream of owning my own business. That's why I'd left my parents in Selby, and come to London.

故事开始于一个雨天里，我下班回家。我是一个机械工，喜欢在车库里工作。但是我很疲惫，总是希望有一天能够自己做老板。这就是我为什么我离开在塞尔比的父母，来到伦敦的原因。

Dad and I had arguments about it. He didn't see why I should want to leave home when I had enough to live on. Enough for what? To live as he had, with nothing to look him, but it annoyed me to see him so content. He had nothing to show for all those years of work in that noisy factory.

父亲和我曾经谈论过这件事。我挣的钱够花，为什么还要离开家，他很不理解。足够做什么呢？像他一样活着，看望他的时候什么也没有，但是确实父亲那种满足让我觉得不舒服。在那个噪杂的工作里工作了那么久，他确实没有什么值得骄傲的。

All this was on my mind, as I walked home that night. I stopped and bought a newspaper outside the Tube. I didn't know when I first realized there was something wrong with the paper. As if there was a gap⁴ in the news. Then I looked at the front page, and instead of Tuesday 22nd Nov., it said Wednesday 23rd Nov. Somehow, I had bought tomorrow's paper today!

我走回家的那晚，这些一直盘旋在脑海中。我停了下来，在地铁外面买了一张报纸。我现在都不清楚，那天我什么时候开始觉得这份报有些问题。好像报纸上的新闻有些问题，然后我看了首页，不是11月22日的，而是11月23日周三的报纸。不管怎样，我在今天买到了明天的报纸！

1 learned   

adj.有学问的，博学的；learn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He went into a rage when he learned about it.他听到这事后勃然大怒。
• In this little village,he passed for a learned man.在这个小村子里，他被视为有学问的人。

2 mechanic   

n.技工，机(械)工，机修工

参考例句：

• The mechanic made the necessary adjustments to the engine.机械师对发动机作了必要的调整。
• He is a mechanic who buys and sells cars on the side.他是一个兼营买卖汽车的技工。

3 restless   

adj.焦躁不安的；静不下来的，运动不止的

参考例句：

• He looks like a restless man.他看上去坐立不安。
• He has been very restless all day and he awoke nearly all last night.他一整天都心神不定，昨夜几乎一整夜没有合眼。

4 gap   

n.缺口；间隔；差距；不足，缺陷

参考例句：

• We must see that there is no gap in our defence.我们必须确保我们的防御没有漏洞。
• There is a gap of five miles between towns.镇与镇之间相隔五英里。