by Henry Morton Robinson

Joyce 譯

Effie’s Compound Interest

生生不息的愛

by Henry Morton Robinson

Joyce 譯

Any apples today?” a cheery voice asked at my studio window. “2)Winesap,3)Wealthy,4)Northern Spy?Can’t you use a5)bushel?”

I stepped out into the haze of an October noon to take a look. At frst glance, the woman seemed older than the world’s aunt. Her face, wrinkled with twice my years (I was then an arrogant 26), was an herbish bouquet that made you think of6)tansyand7)thyme. But the most remarkable thing about her was the light that burned in her wonderful brown eyes.

I followed her to a small truck. She plied me with samples, and I ended up buying a bushel of redcheeked Winesaps. On credit, of course. Cash was the one thing in the world I lacked just then. I had a wife, a baby, ambition—everything but money. “Pay me whenever you like,” said Effe, climbing into her truck.

今天要來點蘋果嗎？”一個歡快的聲音在我工作室的窗邊問道?！巴硎旃?、紅秋果、君袖果？你不能用個蒲式耳容器來裝嗎？”

我走出去瞧了一瞧，十月的正午，外面一片陰霾。乍一看，這個女人看起來似乎比世界上所有的大嬸都要蒼老。她臉上的皺紋是我年歲的兩倍（我當時26歲，傲慢無知），整張臉就像是一束香草捧花，讓你想到艾菊和百里香。但是她身上最引人注目的地方是她那雙美麗的棕色眼睛里閃爍著的光芒。

我跟著她走到了一輛小卡車旁。她把各種蘋果塞給我嘗，我最后買了一蒲式耳紅艷欲滴的晚熟果。當然了，賒賬買來的。那時，我在這個世界上最缺的一樣東西就是現(xiàn)錢。我有一個妻子、一個孩子、還有雄心壯志—所有的一切，除了錢?！澳闶裁磿r候付給我都行”，埃菲說道，爬進了她的卡車。

1) compound interest 復利（以本金加上未付的利息為基數(shù)計算的利息）

2) Winesap [?wa?ns?p]（美國產(chǎn)）晚熟紅蘋果

3) Wealthy [?welθ?] 一種原產(chǎn)地為美國的紅色的、中等大小的秋蘋果

4) Northern Spy 君袖蘋果，原產(chǎn)地為美國紐約州

5) bushel [?b??l] n. 蒲式耳（容量等于八加侖）

6) tansy [?t?nz?] n. 艾菊

7) thyme [ta?m] n. 百里香

All8)pretenseof payment was dropped during that desperate autumn while our funds, food, and fuel9)ebbedto alarming lows. Euphemia came often, always bearing some gift: a gallon of maple syrup or a jar of peaches.

She guessed that my work was not marching and could see that I was too young, too inexperienced, to make it march. Well, there was nothing she could do about that. But she could do something about my woodpile—and she did. One day before Christmas, she rode up in her truck. It was covered with pine boughs, and under the holiday10)camouflagewas a half cord of11)seasonedrock oak sawed into just the right lengths for my drum stove. There were other generosities, always12)unobtrusive. For instance, when our baby was not doing well, Effie financed my wife’s trip to New York to consult with a specialist.

And we were not the only recipients of her kindness. Effie’s soul was a house of many mansions, jammed with people whom she had befriended. One day she read in the paper that a pregnant mother traveling from San Francisco had arrived penniless in New York, only to learn that her husband had been killed in an accident. Effe cashed a $500 bond and sent her the entire amount. A lifelong correspondence with an intelligent and grateful human being was Effie’s13)recompense.

Effie was not a rich woman. Her income, derived from investments she had made while running an interiordecorating shop in New York, had never exceeded $200 a month. The 1929 crash reduced this to a14)pittance, which she15)eked outby peddling her apples. But even when her funds were at their lowest, she always managed to help someone poorer.

在那個令人絕望的秋天，我們的資金、食物、燃油都降到了令人驚恐的低水平，我不再假意付款。尤菲米婭經(jīng)常過來，總是帶上一些禮物：一加侖的楓糖或是一瓶桃子。

她猜想我的工作沒有進展，還猜到了其中的原因是我太過年輕、經(jīng)驗不足。嗯，對此，她幫不上什么忙。但是她能為我的柴垛出幾分力—她也這樣做了。在圣誕節(jié)到來前的某一天，她開著她的卡車來到這里。車上裝著一些松樹枝，在這一節(jié)日裝飾掩蓋下的是半捆干巖櫟，被鋸成了剛好適合我那鼓形爐子的長短。她還有過其他慷慨之舉，總是低調(diào)不顯唐突。比如說，當我們孩子的狀況不太好時，埃菲資助了我妻子去紐約咨詢專門醫(yī)師的費用。

我們并不是唯一接受過她熱心幫助的人。埃菲的靈魂裝著許多棟大廈，里面住滿了她幫助過的人。有一天，她在報紙上讀到有一名孕婦從舊金山到達紐約后，身無分文，卻得知丈夫在一場意外中喪生。埃菲就兌現(xiàn)了價值500美元的債券并把錢都寄給了那名孕婦。而埃菲得到的回報則是與一個聰明感恩的人保持了一生的通信。

埃菲并不是一個富裕的女人。她每月的收入從未超過200美元，來自于她在紐約經(jīng)營一家室內(nèi)裝飾店時的投資。由于1929年的經(jīng)濟危機，她的收入大大減少，所以靠賣蘋果來維持生計。但是，就算她的積蓄跌到了最低水平，她也總能幫到一些更加窮困的人。

One of Effie’s16)cardinal principleswas never to “l(fā)end” money. She preferred to give it outright. Surprisingly often, the money came back. Many times, I saw her come out of the post offce waving a check.“Bread cast on the waters,” she’d say triumphantly—adding, with a touch of17)rueat the wasting years—“ever so long ago.”

In dealing with touchy customers like myself, Effe tried to conceal her generosity under the guise of a business arrangement. For instance, her father, who had been a painter, had written his autobiography. In the18)troughof my worst financial crisis, Effie dug out the dusty manuscript and offered me a fee for editing it. Not until after her death did I learn that she had sold another bond to pay me for this job.

Effie’s chief delight was conversation or, rather, a kind of19)Scheherazadestorytelling. I would sit20)enthralledwhile she depicted the lives and loves of people she had known in Paris, Rome, or New York, furnishing her discourse with heroes, heroines, and21)villains.

One day she told me her own story. At the age of 30, she had dared break the taboos of her day by having a secret love affair. Five years later, her lover died. The remainder of her life was spent “in unmourning remembrance” of her short-lived happiness. This memory gave Effie her special sympathy for young husbands, wives, and lovers.

埃菲的一個基本原則是從不“借”錢。她更樂意痛快地把錢送出去。出人意料的是，這些錢經(jīng)常都會回來。我多次看到過她從郵局出來，揮動著一張支票?！按蛄怂拿姘彼龝g欣鼓舞地說道—再感懷傷時地加上一句—“很久以前的事兒了?！?/p>

對像我這么難搞的客戶，埃菲會著力以做生意為幌子掩飾她的善心。舉個例子，埃菲的父親是個畫家，曾寫過一本自傳。在我處于財政危機的低谷時，埃菲把那本布滿灰塵的手稿挖了出來，付錢讓我對其進行編輯。直到她逝世后，我才知道她賣了她的另一張債券來付給我這份工作的錢。

埃菲多以談話為樂，或者，更確切地說，是以一種謝赫拉莎德式的方式講述故事。當她在描述她所認識的那些身處巴黎、羅馬、或者紐約的人們的生活與愛情，并添上男女主角和反派角色以增色時，我會著迷地坐在一旁。

有一天，她告訴了我她自己的故事。在她30歲那年，她打破她那個年代的禁忌，與一個人保持了一段秘密戀情。五年以后，她的情人去世了。而她的余生則都花在了以一種“不哀悼的懷念方式”來追憶她那段短暫的幸福。這段記憶讓埃菲對年輕的夫妻和情侶懷有一種特殊的同情之心。

8) pretense [pr??tens] n. 偽稱，借口

9) ebb [eb] v. 潮退，衰退

10) camoufage [?k?m?flɑ??] n. 偽裝

11) seasoned [?si?znd] adj. 曬干的，干燥的

12) unobtrusive [??n?b?tru?s?v] adj. 不唐突的，客氣的

13) recompense [?rek?mp?ns] n. 報償

14) pittance [?p?t?ns] n. 少量，微薄的薪俸

15) eke out 彌補…的不足，竭力維持

16) cardinal principle 基本原理

17) rue [ru?] n. 懊悔，悲嘆

18) trough [?tr??f] n. 水槽；低潮

19) Scheherazade 謝赫拉莎德（《天方夜譚》中的蘇丹新娘，她夜夜給國王講故事，講了一千零一夜，因而免遭殺身之禍）

20) enthrall [?n?θr??l] v. 迷惑，迷住

21) villain [?v?l?n] n. 壞人，惡根

Years passed before I was able to return the money that Effie had given me from time to time. She was ill now and had aged rapidly in the last year. “Here, darling,” I said, “is the negotiable part of what I owe you.”

Tears were in her eyes as she handed back my check. “Don’t give it to me all at once,” she pleaded.

“Why not, Effe?”

Her face was very old, tired, and beautiful as she said, “Give it back as I gave it to you—a little at a time.” I think she believed there was magic in the slow discharge of a love debt—some secret22)talismanthat would shield her against death till the account was closed.

The simple fact is that I never repaid the whole amount to Effe, for she died a few weeks later. At that time it seemed that my debt would forever go unsettled. But a curious thing began to happen.

Whenever I saw a fellow human in financial23)straits, I was moved to help him—as Effe had helped me—by small outright gifts of money. I can’t afford to do this always, but in the ten years since Effe’s death, I have indirectly repaid my debt to her a dozen times.

The oddest part of the whole affair is this: People whom I help often help others later on. By now, the few dollars that Euphemia gave me have been multiplied a hundred-fold. So the account can never be marked closed, for Effe’s love will go on compounding interest in hearts that have never known her.

幾年過去了，我還沒有能力還上埃菲時不時給我的錢。這時，她生病了，并在最后那年急速變老。“親愛的，”我說道，“這是我能還給你的那部分錢。”

她眼含淚光地把我的支票還了回來，“不要把錢一次性給我，”她懇求道。

“為什么不呢，埃菲？”

她的面容非常蒼老、疲憊，但也非常美麗，她說道：“像我給你那樣還我吧—一次一點點?！蔽蚁?，她相信慢慢償還愛的債務那過程中存在著魔力—一些秘密法寶會保護她，不讓她死去，直到這筆賬被還清為止。

但事實是我并沒有還清欠埃菲的錢，她在幾周后就去世了。那時，似乎我欠下的債永遠也無法償清了。然而，一件奇怪的事情發(fā)生了。

每當我看到有人在經(jīng)濟上有困難時，我都會過去幫他一把—就像埃菲幫我的那樣—通過直接贈予小額金錢的方式。我并不總是負擔得起這樣做，但是在埃菲死后的這十年來，我間接還給埃菲的錢已經(jīng)是我欠她的十幾倍。

這整件事最奇怪的地方就在于：我?guī)瓦^的人通常在之后也會去幫助別人。目前為止，尤菲米婭給我的那一點錢已經(jīng)翻了100倍。所以這筆賬永遠也清不了，因為埃菲的愛會繼續(xù)在那些并不認識她的人心中生生不息。

22) talisman [?t?l?zm?n] n. 護身符，辟邪物

23) strait [stre?t] n. 困境