大学英语精读第3册 第4课 课文翻译及课后答案
A sportswriter thinks he's met another crank. Instead, he finds a true winner.
一位体育专栏作家以为他碰上了一个怪人。 结果他却发现了一个真正的赢家。
A Fan's NotesBill Plaschke
The e-mail was in some respects similar to other nasty letters I receive. It took me to task for my comments on the Los Angeles Dodgers and argued that I had got everything wrong. However, the note was different from the others in at least two ways.
一位球迷的评论
比尔·普拉施基
这封电子邮件在某些方面与我收到的其他刻薄的信件相似。它痛斥我对洛杉矶道奇队的评论,并争辩说我把一切全都搞错了。然而,这个评论与其他的评论至少有两个方面不同。
This note contained more details than the usual "You're an idiot." It included vital statistics o
n the team's performance. It was written by someone who knew the Los Angeles Dodgers as well as I thought I did.
与通常那些“你是个白痴”的评论不同的是,这一评论含有更多的细节。它包含了该队比赛表现的关键数据。写这篇评论的人对洛杉矶道奇队的了解绝不亚于我自认为对它的了解。
And this note was signed. The writer's name was Sarah Morris.
而且这一评论是署名的。作者的名字叫萨拉·莫里斯。
I was impresd. I wrote her back. Little did I know that this would be the start of a most unusual relationship.
我被深深打动,于是给她回信。一点也没有想到这一封信引出了一段非同寻常的来往。
May I ask you a question? For two years I have been running my own website about the Dodgers. How did you become a baball editorialist? That is my deam.
我可以问您一个问题吗?两年来,我一直经营着我的道奇队网站。你是怎么成为一个棒球
评论专栏作家的?这可是我的梦。
This was Sarah's cond e-mail, and it came just as expected. Every time I smile at someone, they ask me for a job. But something el caught my eye. The misspelling in that last line. The part about "my deam."
这是萨拉的第二封电子邮件,它的到来一点也不意外。我每次对人微笑一下,人家就向我要一份工作。但是另一个事儿引起了我的注意。这就是信的最后一行字里的拼写错误,是关于“我的梦”那一部分。
Maybe Sarah Morris was just a lousy typist. But maybe she was truly arching for something, yet was only one letter from finding it.
也许萨拉就是一个打字很糟糕的人。但也许她真的是在寻找某个目标,但就是一字之差,还没有找着。
It was worth one more respon, I asked her to explain.
这就值得再回她一封信,于是我让她解释。
I am 30 years old. ... Becau I have a physical handicap, it took me five years to complete my associate's degree. ... During the ason I average 55 hours a week writing game reports, editorials, rearching and listening and / or watching games.
我今年30岁。……因为我身有残疾,花了5年的时间才读完大专拿到文凭。……在棒球赛季,我每个星期平均花55小时写球赛报道,写评论,做研究,听比赛或者看比赛。
Sarah called her website Dodger Place. I arched, and found nothing. Then I reread her e-mail and discovered an address buried at the bottom: /spunky/dodgers.
萨拉称她的网站为“道奇地”。我搜索了一下,什么也没有找着。后来我重读她的电子邮件, 发现在她的电子邮件最底下挂了一个地址:/spunky/dodgers。
I clicked there. It wasn't fancy. But she covered the team with the riousness of a writer. Still, I wondered, is anybody reading?
我点击该地址。网站并不花哨。但是她以一个作家的严肃态度对该队进行了详细报道。不过,我还是不禁要问,有人读吗?
Nobody ever signs my guestbook. I get one letter a month.
从来没有人在我的来宾登记簿上签名。我一个月收到一封信。
So here was a physically handicapped woman, covering the Dodgers as extensively as any reporter in the country, yet writing for an obscure website with an impossible address, with a readership of about two.
所以,这里是一个身体残疾的妇女,她对道奇队的报道之广泛不亚于美国任何一个记者, 可她却在为一个几乎不为人知的网站写作,网站的名字很怪很难记,读者大概有两个人。
That "deam" was missing a lot more than an r, I thought.
我想她那个梦所缺的远远不只是拼写里头少了一个字母r。
I started my own website in hopes of finding a job. No luck. So what if my maximum typin
g speed is eight words per minute becau I u a head pointer to type? My brain works fine. I have dedication to my work. That is what makes people successful.
我建起了自己的网站希望能找到一份工作。不过运气不佳。因为我使用一根绑在头上的小棒打字,最高的打字速度是每分钟8个字,可这又有什么要紧的呢?我的脑子挺好使,我对工作非常专注。这才是人们成功的关键。
A head pointer?
使用一根绑在头上的小棒打字?
I asked her how long it took her to compo one of her usual 400-word filings.
我问她要用多少时间写她那通常为400字的文章。
.Three to four hours.
三到四小时。
I did something I've never before done with an Internet stranger.
我做了一件我以前从来没有和互联网上的陌生人做过的事情。
I asked Sarah Morris to call me.
我让萨拉·莫里斯给我打电话。
I have a speech disability making it impossible to u the phone.
我说话有障碍,无法使用电话。
That proved it. This was obviously an elaborate hoax. This writer was probably a 45-year-old male plumber.
这就证明了我的怀疑。这显然是一个精心策划的骗局。这一位所谓女性作家很可能是一个45岁的男性管子工。
I decided to end the correspondence. But then I received another e-mail.
我决定结束与此人的通信。可就在那时我又收到一封电子邮件。
My disability is cerebral palsy. ... It affects motor control. ... When my brain tells my hands to hit a key, I would move my legs, hit the table, and six other keys in the process.