1889年，路易斯（Louis）和瑞吉娜·鲍各尼特（ReginaBorgenicht）在汉堡港登上了远赴美国的客轮。

　　Louis was from Galacia, in what was then Poland. Regina was from a small town in Hungary.

　　路易斯来自格拉西亚（Galacia），当时属于波兰管辖。瑞吉娜则来自匈牙利的一个小镇。

　　They had been married only a few years and had one small child and a second on they way.

　　他们刚结婚几年，有了一个小孩，他们的第二个宝宝还在妈妈的肚子里。

　　For the thirteen day journey, they slept on straw mattresses on a deck above the engine room, hanging tight to their bunk beds as the ship pitched and rolled.

　　在这13天的旅途中，他们睡在轮机舱甲板上用稻草铺成的床上，当船颠簸的时候，他们不得不把床铺紧紧绑起来。

　　They knew one person in New York: Borgenicht's sister, Sallie, who had immigrated ten years before.

　　他们认识纽约的一个人：10年前移民到美国的鲍各尼特的姐姐莎莉。

　　They had enough money to last a few weeks, at best.

　　还好，他们的钱足够他们坚持几星期。

　　Like so many immigrants to America in those years, theirs was a leap of faith.

　　就像在这些年里移民到美国的其他移民一样，他们的一切都处于难以预料的境遇。

　　Louis and Regina found a tiny apartment on Eldridge Street, in Manhattan's Lower East Side, for $8 a month.

　　路易斯和瑞吉娜在纽约东部贫民区的埃尔德里奇街（EldridgeStreet）租了一个小公寓，他们一个月需要8美元支付房租。

　　Louis then took to the streets, looking for work.

　　路易斯四处寻找工作，

　　He saw peddlers and fruit sellers and sidewalks crammed with pushcarts.

　　他看到了街道上到处都是小商贩和卖水果的人，He saw noise and activity energy that dwarfed what he had come from in the Old World.

　　还有那些拥挤在街边的推手推车吆喝的小贩。这些嘈杂的人流让那些过去的世界在他眼中变得模糊。

　　He was first overwhelmed, then invigorated.

　　他变得欢欣鼓舞。

　　He went to his sister's fish store on Ludlow Street and convinced her to give him a consignment of herring on credit.

　　他去了他姐姐在洛得洛街（LudlowStreet）的鱼店，并说服姐姐借给他托运鲱鱼的本钱。

　　He set up shop on the sidewalk with two barrels of fish, hopping back and forth between them, chanting in German:For frying. For baking. For cooking. Good also for eating. Herring will do for ever meal. And for every class!

　　他装了满满的2桶鱼，在人行道旁反反复复用德语叫卖着：煎的，烤的，炒的，炖的，吃着爽口，顿顿回味，人人都喜欢！

　　By the end of the week, he had cleared $8. By the second week, $13. Those were considerable sums.

　　那个周末，他赚了8美元。第二周，他赚了13美元。这个收入还不错。

　　But Louis and Regina could not see how selling herring on the street would lead to a constructive business.

　　但夫妻俩觉得，做这个生意，看不到能有什么长远发展。

　　Louis then decided to try being a pushcart peddler. He sold towels and tablecloths, without much luck.

　　路易斯决定推着手推车去做生意。他卖毛巾和桌布，但运气不大好，He switched to notebooks, then bananas, then socks and stockings. Was there really a future in pushcarts?

　　于是又转做笔记本生意，之后是卖香蕉、短袜和长袜。干手推车小贩真能有前途吗？

　　Regina gave birth to a second child, a daughter, and Louis's urgency grew.

　　这时瑞吉娜又生了第二个孩子，是一个女儿，路易斯的生活压力越来越大。

　　He now had four mouths to feed.

　　现在他得养活4口人了。