The Old Fisherman

老渔夫的故事

Our house was directly across the street from the clinic entrance of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. We lived downstairs and rented the upstairs rooms to out-patients at the clinic.

我家住在巴尔的摩市，与约翰斯•霍普金森医院门诊部的正门只隔了条马路。我们住楼下，楼上的屋子租给了来诊所求诊的病人。

One summer evening as I was fixing supper, there was a knock at the door. I opened it to see a truly awful-looking man. "Why, he's hardly taller than my eight-year-old," I thought as I stared at the stooped, shriveled body. But the appalling thing was his face... lopsided from swelling, red and raw. Yet his voice was pleasant as he said, "Good evening. I've come to see if you've a room for just one night. I came for a treatment this morning from the eastern shore, and there's no bus until morning."

一个夏日的傍晚，我正在准备晚餐时，忽然听见有人敲门。打开门后，我见到一个相貌可怕的男士。看着他那蜷曲、枯瘦的身体我心想：“天啊，他简直还没有我八岁时高呢。”更骇人的是他的脸——因浮肿而显得不平衡，红红的而且很粗趁。不过他说话时的声音倒很和善：“晚上好，我想问一下，你这儿有没有屋子借住一晚。我早上从东海岸赶来治病，明天早上才有回家的大巴。”

He told me he'd been hunting for a room since noon but with no success. No one seemed to have a room. "I guess it's my face... I know it looks terrible, but my doctor says with a few more treatments.."

他告诉我他从中午起就在找房子，但没找到。好像没人有空房。“我猜想是我的脸…我晓得我的脸看上去很可怕，但医生说再多治几次…”

For a moment I hesitated, but his next words convinced me. "I could sleep in this rocking chair on the porch. My bus leaves early in the morning."

我迟疑了片刻，但他接下来的话语说服了我。“我可以睡在走廊的摇椅上，明天一大早就去赶大巴。”

I told him we would find him a bed, but to rest on the porch. I went inside and finished getting supper. When we were ready, I asked the old man if he would join us. "No, thank you. I have plenty." And he held up a brown paper bag.

我告诉他我们会给他找一张床，但只能搁在走廊里。回屋布置好晚餐准备开饭时，我问老人要不要过来一起来吃。他举起一只灰色纸包说：不了，谢谢你，我带了足够的吃的。”

When I had finished the dishes, I went out on the porch to talk with him for a few minutes. It didn't take long time to see that this old man had an oversized heart crowded into that tiny body. He told me he fished for a living to support his daughter, her five children, and her husband, who was hopelessly crippled from a back injury.

饭后，我到走廊上同他聊了几分钟。不多久，便发现这位老人瘦小的身躯却有着伟岸的心灵。他告诉我，以钓鱼为生是为了扶持他女儿，女儿的五个孩子，还有女婿——因脊椎受伤彻底致残的人。

He didn't tell it by way of complaint. In fact, every other sentence was preface with a thanks to God for a blessing. He was grateful that no pain accompanied his disease, which was apparently a form of skin cancer. He thanked God for giving him the strength to keep going.

他不是以抱怨的口吻讲述这些事的，实际上，每句话的开始都对上帝的保佑充满谢意。他感激他所患的病——显然是某种皮肤癌——没有疼痛，他感谢上帝賜予他继续活下去的力量。

At bedtime, we put a camp cot in the children's room for him. When I got up in the morning, the bed linens were neatly folded and the little man was out on the porch. He refused breakfast. But just before he left for his bus, haltingly, as if asking a great favor, he said, "Could I please come back and stay the next time I have a treatment? I won't put you out a bit. I can sleep fine in a chair."

就寝时，我在孩子们的房间给他放了张野营用的小床。第二天早晨我起来时，小床上的被褥已齐整地叠好，老人站在外面的走廊上。他谢绝了早餐。就在即将离开去乘巴士时，他犹豫再三，像是要请求一个天大的恩惠，问道：“下次来看病时，我还能回到这儿住吗？我不会给你们添乱的，我只要在椅子上就能睡好。”

He paused a moment and then added, "Your children made me feel at home. Grownups are bothered by my face, but children don't seem to mind."

他顿了一会，补充道：“你们的小孩让我感觉像是在家里一样自在。大人们因我的脸而烦恼，可孩子们好像不那么介意。”

I told him he was welcome to come again.

我告诉他欢迎下次再来。

On his next trip he arrived a little after seven in the morning. As a gift, he brought a big fish and a quart of the largest oysters I had ever seen. He said he had shucked them that morning before he left so that they'd be nice and fresh. I knew his bus left at 4:00 a.m. and I wondered what time he had to get up in order to do this for us.

第二次，老人早上七点多就到了。他带了一条大鱼和一夸脱牡蛎作为礼物，那是我所见过的最大的牡蛎。他说早上出发前剥了壳，这样能保证新鲜又美味。我知道他乘的巴士凌晨4点发车，我在想，为给我们准备这些东西，他得多早就起来啊。

During the years he came to stay overnight with us, there was never a time that he did not bring us fish or oysters or vegetables from his garden. Other times we received packages in the mail, always by special delivery ... fish and oysters packed in a box with fresh young spinach or kale... every leaf carefully washed. Knowing that he must walk three miles to mail these, and knowing how little money he had made the gifts doubly precious.

那些年他在我们家借宿，每次都带鱼、牡蛎，或是他家园子里的蔬菜。还有几次我们收到他特意寄来的东西——新鲜嫩菠菜或甘蓝叶包裹的鱼和牡蛎…每片叶子都仔细清洗过。得知他得步行三英里邮寄，得知他自己的收入那么低，这些礼物在我们心里变得倍加珍贵。

When I received these little remembrances, I often thought of a comment our next-door neighbor made after he left that first morning. "Did you keep that awful-looking man last night? I turned him away! You can lose roomers by putting up such people! "

每当我收到这些小小的礼物时，常想起老人首次借宿的次日清晨，我们隔壁的邻居对我说：“昨晚你收留那丑八怪老头了吗？我把他支出去了！你要留他过夜非吓跑房客不可！”

Maybe we did lose roomers once or twice. But oh! If only they could have known him, perhaps their illness would have been easier to bear. I know our family will always be grateful to have known him. From him, we learned what it was to accept the bad without complaint and the good with gratitude to God.

可能我家的确失去了一两次房客，但是啊，如果他们能认识这位老人，或许他们的病痛将不再那么难以承受。我知道，我的家人总是为认识这位老人而心存感激。从他那里，我们学到了什么是坦然面对不幸而毫无怨言，并怀着感恩的心接受上帝赐予的美好。

Recently I was visiting a friend who has a greenhouse. As she showed me her flowers, we came to the most beautiful one of all... a golden chrysanthemum, bursting with blooms. But to my great surprise,it was growing in an old dented,rusty bucket.

最近，我拜访了一位朋友，她有一个花房。她带我观看她的花时，我们来到花房中最美丽的一处——一株绽放的金菊。但令我特别惊奇的是，它竟然生长在一个凹陷的、生了锈的铁桶里。

I thought to myself, "If this were my plant, I'd put it in the loveliest container I had!" My friend changed my mind.

我心里想，“如果这是我的花，我会把它放到我最可爱的花盆里去！”朋友改变了我的想法。

I ran short of pots, she explained, "and knowing how beautiful this one would be, I thought it wouldn't mind starting out in this old pail. It's just for a little while, until I can put it out in the garden."

“当时我缺花盆”，她解释道，“既然知道它会那么好看，我想它也不介意在这旧桶里开花。用不了多久，我就会把它移栽到花园里去。”

She must have wondered why I laughed so delightedly, but I was imagining such a scene in heaven. "Here's an especially beautiful one," God might have said when he came to the soul of the sweet old fisherman. "He won't mind starting in this small body."

她一定很奇怪我为何笑得如此开心，我那时正想象着天堂中这样一幅情景。当上帝来到老渔夫可爱的灵魂前时可能会说：“这样一个特别可爱的灵魂，并不介意栖息于瘦小的身躯。”

All this happened long ago... and now, in God's garden, how tall this lovely soul must stand.

这些都发生在很久以前…而现在，那美好的灵魂该是多么高大地伫立于上帝的花园啊！

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