智慧背囊 浮华背后-08-您富有吗

Are You Rich? 您富有吗?
It was Thanksgiving morning and in the crowded kitchen of my small home I was busy preparing the traditional Thanksgiving turkey when the doorbell rang. I opened the front door and saw two small children in rags huddling¹ together inside the storm door on the top step.
"Any old papers, lady?"
I was busy. I wanted to say no — until I looked down at their feet. Thin little sandals, sopped² with sleet³.
"Come in and I'll make you a cup of hot cocoa."
There was no conversation. Their soggy sandals left marks upon the hearthstone. I served them cocoa and toast with jam to fortify⁵ against the chill outside. Then I went back to the kitchen and started again on my household budget.
The silence in the front room struck through to me. I looked in. The girl held the empty cup in her hands, looking at it. The boy asked in a flat voice, "Lady ... are you rich?"
"Am I rich? Mercy, no!" I looked at my shabby slipcovers. The girl put her cup back in its saucer — carefully.
"Your cups match your saucers."
Her voice was old, with a hunger that was not of the stomach. They left then, holding their bundles of papers against the wind. They hadn't said thank you. They didn't need to. They had done more than that. Plain blue pottery⁶ cups and saucers. But they matched.
I tasted the potatoes and stirred the gravy⁷. Potatoes and brown gravy, a roof over our heads, my man with a good steady job — these things matched, too.
I moved the chairs back from the fire and tidied the living room. The muddy prints of small sandals were still wet upon my hearth⁴. I let them be. I want them there in case I ever forget again how very rich I am.
感恩节的早晨，狭小的家里。我正在拥挤的厨房里忙着烹调传统特色的感恩节火鸡。突然，门铃响了。我打开前门，只见两个衣衫褴褛的小孩 蜷缩着相互偎依在我家挡风门栋里的最高台阶上。
"太太，请问您有旧报纸吗?"
当时，我正忙得不可开交。我本来想对他们说没有，但当我看到他们脚上只穿着一双被冰雪浸湿得再单薄不过的便鞋时，我改变了主意。
"进屋来吧，我来给你们煮一杯热可可茶。"
他们一声不响地跟我进了屋，他们浸湿的便鞋在炉边留下了一连串的脚印。我给他们端上可可茶和果酱面包，以便帮助他们抵御外面的风寒。然后我回到了厨房，又开始了我的家庭理财工作。
前屋里一片沉默，这让我感到很奇怪。我向屋里望去，只见小女孩手里端着空茶杯，认真地凝视着它。小男孩则平静地问道：“太太，您富有吗 ?"
"我富有吗? 天哪，我可算不上。"我盯着那破旧的沙发套说道。这时，那个小女孩非常小心地把杯子放回茶碟里。
"您的杯子和茶碟非常相配。"
她说话的声音听起来很成熟，并带着一种饥渴，而这种饥渴却非出于对食物的饥渴。然后，他们抱着旧报纸，顶着风雪离开了。他们甚至连一声"谢谢"都没有说。其实，他们根本没有必要说。他们的表现已经胜过了道谢。非常朴素的一对蓝色陶瓷杯碟，但它们确实很相配。
我品尝了一下锅里煮着的土豆，然后又搅拌了几下肉汁。棕色肉汤加土豆，遮风挡雨的房子，拥有一份稳定工作的丈夫——这一切的一切同样也很匹配。
我把椅子从炉边向后拉开些，然后将起居室整理干净。炉边留下的泥脚印还没有干。其实，我想让它们留在那里。想让它们留在那里，以便提醒我不要忘记我是多么的富有。
huddle
ragged
outgrown
sandal
sopped
sleet
cocoa
soggy
hearthstone
fortify
household
budget
shabby
slipcover
saucer
stir
gravy

1 huddling   

n. 杂乱一团, 混乱, 拥挤 v. 推挤, 乱堆, 草率了事

参考例句：

• Twenty or thirty monkeys are huddling along the thick branch. 三十只猴子挤在粗大的树枝上。
• The defenders are huddling down for cover. 捍卫者为了掩护缩成一团。

2 sopped   

adj.湿透的，浸透的v.将（面包等）在液体中蘸或浸泡( sop的过去式和过去分词 )；用海绵、布等吸起（液体等）

参考例句：

• The servant sopped up the water with a towel. 佣人用毛巾揩去水。 来自辞典例句
• She sopped up the spilt milk with a cloth. 她用一块布抹去溢出的牛奶。 来自辞典例句

3 sleet   

n.雨雪；v.下雨雪，下冰雹

参考例句：

• There was a great deal of sleet last night.昨夜雨夹雪下得真大。
• When winter comes,we get sleet and frost.冬天来到时我们这儿会有雨夹雪和霜冻。

4 hearth   

n.壁炉炉床，壁炉地面

参考例句：

• She came and sat in a chair before the hearth.她走过来，在炉子前面的椅子上坐下。
• She comes to the hearth,and switches on the electric light there.她走到壁炉那里，打开电灯。

5 fortify   

v.强化防御，为…设防；加强，强化

参考例句：

• This country will fortify the coastal areas.该国将加强沿海地区的防御。
• This treaty forbade the United States to fortify the canal.此条约禁止美国对运河设防。

6 pottery   

n.陶器，陶器场

参考例句：

• My sister likes to learn art pottery in her spare time.我妹妹喜欢在空余时间学习陶艺。
• The pottery was left to bake in the hot sun.陶器放在外面让炎热的太阳烘晒焙干。

7 gravy   

n.肉汁；轻易得来的钱，外快

参考例句：

• You have spilled gravy on the tablecloth.你把肉汁泼到台布上了。
• The meat was swimming in gravy.肉泡在浓汁之中。