Judging Books by Their Covers - 以貌取人
更新：2015-06-17 10:48:37 | 分享：Candy ( V364 ) | 来源：转载 | 阅读：31
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一对夫妻在波士顿下了火车，女的穿着一条褪了色的条纹棉布连衣裙，而她的丈夫则穿着一套破旧的土布西装。他们战战兢兢地走进了哈佛大学的校长接待室，事先并没有预约。校长秘书一眼就断定这两个穷乡僻壤来的乡巴佬根本不可能同哈佛有任何瓜葛，甚至连来剑桥市的资格都没有。她皱起了眉头。
“We want to see the president,” the man said softly.
“He’ll be busy all day,” the secretary snapped.
“We’ll wait,” the lady replied.
那位先生轻声说：“我们想见见校长。”
秘书不耐烦地说：“他今天一天都很忙。”
“我们可以等。”那位女士说道。
For hours , the secretary ignored them, hoping that the couple would finally become discouraged and go away. They didn’t. And the secretary grew frustrated and finally decided to disturb the president, even though it was a chore she always regretted to do. “Maybe if they just see you for a few minutes, they’ll leave ,” she told him. And he sighed in exasperation and nodded. Someone of his importance obviously didn’t have the time to spend with them, but he detested gingham dresses and homespun suits cluttering up his outer office.
几个小时过去了，秘书并不理会他们，她希望这对夫妇最终能知难而退。但是他们并没有。秘书最终觉得无可奈何，决定打扰一下校长，尽管她并不愿意这样做。“他们见到您之后，也许几分钟后就会离开了。”她对校长说。校长不悦地叹了口气，同意了。像他这样的大人物显然没有时间和乡巴佬搅和在一起，但是他讨厌条纹棉布连衣裙和土布西装破坏了接待室原本的格调。
The president, stem-faced with dignity, strutted toward the couple. The lady told him, “We had a son that attended Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was happy here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. And my husband and I would like to erect a memorial to him, somewhere on campus.”
校长阴沉着脸，趾高气昂地走向那对夫妇。女士告诉他：“我们有个儿子曾经在哈佛读过一年书，他热爱哈佛，在这里过得很快乐。可是大概一年前，他突然去世了。我丈夫和我想在校园里的某个地方为他建个纪念物。”
The president wasn’t touched — he was shocked. “Madam,” he said gruffly, “We can’t put up a statue for every person who attended Harvard and died. If we did, this place would look like a cemetery.”
“Oh,no,” the lady explained quickly , “We don’t want to erect a statue. We thought we would like to give a building to Harvard.”
校长非但没有感动，反而感到震惊。他粗暴地说：“夫人，我们不可能为每一个在哈佛读过书的人死后在这里建造雕像的。如果那样的话，这儿就成公墓了。”
“噢，不是的。”女士连忙解释道，“我们不是要立雕像。我们想要给哈佛捐赠一栋大楼。”
The president rolled his eyes. He glanced at the gingham dress and homespun suit, and then exclaimed, “A building ！ Do you have any earthly idea how much a building costs? We have over seven and a half million dollars in the physical plant at Harvard.”
校长转动着眼珠，瞥了一眼这对夫妇身上的条纹棉布连衣裙和土布西装，然后喊道：“一栋大楼！你们到底想没想过建一栋大楼要花了多少钱？哈佛大学的校产价值高达750多万美元。”
For a moment the lady was silent. The president was pleased. He could get rid of them now.
And the lady turned to her husband and said quietly , “Is that all it costs to start a university? Why don’t we just start our own?” Her husband nodded. The president’s face waited in confusion and bewilderment. And Mr. And Mrs. Leland Stanford walked away, traveling to Palo Alto, California where they established the university that bears their name, a memorial to a chat Harvard no longer cared about.
女士沉默了一下。校长很高兴，现在总算可以把他们打发走了。
这位女士转向她丈夫，平静地说道：“办一所大学只需要这么些钱吗？那我们为什么不自己办一所呢？”她丈夫点了点头。校长一脸迷惑，而且非常沮丧。利兰·斯坦福先生和夫人离开了哈佛，来到了加利福尼亚州的帕洛阿尔托，在那里创办了他们姓氏命名的大学，以此来纪念哈佛大学不再关心的，他们的儿子。
——摘自《精彩英文晨读之触动心底的幸福》王亚非 刘晓媛◎编译
