丑陋的感恩人

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.

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 eightyear-old，\" I thought as I stared at the stooped1， shriveled2 body. But the appalling3 thing was his face， lopsided4 from swelling5， 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 till morning.\"

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.\" At bedtime， we put a camp cot6 in the children's room for him. When I got up in the morning， the bed linens7 were neatly folded and the little man was out on the porch.

He refused breakfast， but just before he left for his bus， haltingly8， 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.\" And 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 oysters9 I had ever seen. He said he had shucked10 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.

In 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 of fresh young spinach11 or kale12， 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.

I know our family always will be grateful to have known him; from him we learned what gratitude is.

我家的房子位于巴爾德摩約翰斯·霍普金斯醫院診所人口的馬路對面。我們住在樓下，把樓上租給診所的患者。

一年夏天的晚上，當我做晚飯時，有人敲門。開門后，看到一個非常丑陋的人。天哪，他不如我8歲的孩子高。我打量著他，他不僅駝背而且骨瘦如材。他的臉最難看，一邊腫脹使整個臉都變形了，臉發紅而且有傷。

他的聲音很好聽。他說：“晚上好，我來看看你是否有房間，只呆一晚上。我早上從東部海岸來這兒治療。晚上沒有回去的汽車。”

我猶豫了一下，但聽了他下面的話后才讓他進來。他說：“我可以在走廊里的搖椅上睡，汽車明天一大早就離開。”

睡覺時，我在孩子的房間放了一個露營用的帆布床。第二天早上我起來時，床上用品收拾得整整齊齊，小矮人已在走廊里。

他沒有吃早飯，在離開趕公共汽車前，猶豫了一下，好像請求幫天大的忙，問我是否在下一次治療時也能住在這兒。“我不會給你帶來麻煩，在椅子里睡就可以了。”下一次，早上7點剛過，他又來了。

他帶來了好多禮物。一條大魚、一夸脫我所見過的最大的牡蠣。他說為了保鮮，他在早上，臨走時才剝掉牡蠣的殼。我知道他乘坐的公共汽車早上4點發車，我納悶他幾點起床為我們干這些的。

在以后幾年，凡是到我們家過夜，他都要帶來新鮮的魚、牡蠣和他自己種植的蔬菜。

有時，我們也收到他寄來的包裹，總是特快專遞。有新鮮的魚和牡蠣，包在一箱新鮮的嫩菠菜或者甘藍里。蔬菜的每一片葉子都精心地洗過。得知他必須走3英里來郵寄這些東西，而且他也很拮據，這些禮物就更顯珍貴。

我意識到，我們家人對認識他心存感激。從他那兒，我們明白了感恩的含義。

注釋

1.stoop n. v．彎腰，曲背，屈服

2.shrivel n．(使)起皺紋，(使)枯萎，(使)束手無策

3.appalling adj．令人震驚的，駭人聽聞的

4.lopsided adj．傾向一方的，不平衡的

5.swelling n．河水猛漲，漲水，腫脹

6.cot n．輕便小床，帆布床

7.linen n．亞麻布；adj．亞麻布制的

8.haltingly adv．破地，猶豫地，蹣跚地

9.oyster n．[動]牡蠣，蠔，沉默者

10.shuck n．殼，剝殼

11.spinach n．菠菜，胡說八道

12.kale n．羽衣甘藍，甘藍