1. This motel was at the edge of Garden City, Kansas. In the front of the lobby, across the parking lot, was a small swimming pool.It was a place the last of my money could take me, for a night. A late October Friday, Indian summer, warm. I didn’t have a swimsuit. I did not own short pants since I was a boy. My duffel held only necessary work clothes and some personal things. I stripped off my shirt and boots and socks and went to the pool in my filthy jeans. I had my eyes closed and didn’t realize I was asleep until the sliding door of a van slammed shut and woke me up.
这家汽车旅馆位于堪萨斯州加登市边上。旅馆大厅的前部，停车场对过是一个小泳池。我仅剩的那点儿盘缠，也就是能让我在这个地方住上一宿。这天是十月下旬的一个星期五，晚秋晴暖的天气还相当暖和。我没有泳衣。我从小就没有短裤。我的行李袋里只装着必要的工作服和一些私人物品。我脱掉衬衫、靴子和短袜，穿着我那条脏兮兮的牛仔裤走入池中。我闭上眼睛，直到一辆厢车砰地一声关上拉门并把我吵醒时，我才意识到自己刚刚睡着了。
2. A woman about my age and a half-dozen preteen girls stepped out of the van, and walked to the lobby in a way that suggested a long and tiring ride. The woman looked at me a little warily. I knew those girls were going to want to swim, and not with someone as shaky-looking as me around. I went back to my room.
一名与我年龄相仿的女子和六个十几岁的女孩从厢车上走了下来，然后拖着长时间乘车后疲惫的步伐走进了旅馆大厅。那名女子用略带警惕的眼神看了看我。我知道那些女孩想要游泳，却又不希望与我这么一个看上去不靠谱的家伙共享这个泳池。于是，我回到了自己的房间。
3. Television seemed like an indulgence. A man read the news and told me things I hadn’t an inkling of. I was hungry but had eaten my dinner already, and could not afford another meal. I could hear the little girls out in the water now, squealing and plunging. I pulled a room chair outside to sit there in front of my room, to feel the cooling air of the night.
电视机似乎是在放纵地播放着它的节目——一名男子播报了新闻，告诉了我一些我完全不了解的事情。我觉得有些饿，但已经吃过晚餐了，而且我现在已经没钱再去买吃的了。此时，我能听到外面小女孩们在水里的尖叫声以及噼里啪啦的跳水声。我把房间里的一把椅子拉到了门外，在我的房间前坐了下来，感受着夜晚凉爽的空气。
4. In the parking lot that was my view, a big Cadillac, new-looking, had appeared. The car was blue with white leather seats. The trunk was still open, as was the door to a room close to mine, and after a while a man came out to get the rest of his things from the car.
在我面前的停车场内出现了一辆新款加长版凯迪拉克轿车。车身是蓝色的，车内配有白色的真皮座椅。后备箱的门敞开着，对着距离我的房间不远的一个房间。没过一会儿，一个男子从房间里出来，打算从车上取走剩下的东西。
5. He was tiny. He was maybe a little more than three feet tall. I guessed him to be in his sixties. He turned and saw me standing there. In a reedy voice, he said, “Give an old fellow a hand?” I got up and went around to the trunk and took out his bag, which was leather and expensive-looking. He had thick glasses and his face was all lines. I brought the suitcase in and laid it at the foot of his bed, and then he said, “Say, let me offer you a drink. I’ll join you outside.”
他个头很小，可能也就三英尺多，年龄我猜有六十多。他转过身来，站住脚步，看到了我，于是尖声对我说：“帮我这个老头一个忙好吗？”我起身走到那个后备箱旁，从里面拿出了他的包，这是一个看上去很昂贵的真皮包。他戴着镜片很厚的眼镜，脸上布满了皱纹。我把那个手提箱拎进了他的房间，放在了床边的地板上，然后他对我说：“嘿，小伙子，我去给你拿杯喝的。然后，咱们一起出去走走。”

6. Out of his suitcase, he took a bottle of Chivas, a metal jigger, and four glasses. He made our drinks, Scotch over ice, and off we went outside, him carrying the drinks with his palms underneath, me carrying his chair out to put next to mine.
他从手提箱中拿出了一瓶芝华士、一个金属量酒器和四个玻璃杯。酒是他亲自配制的——加冰苏格兰威士忌。然后，我们走出了房间，他用手掌托着我们的酒，我把他房间的椅子搬到了外面我的那把椅子旁边。
7. “Where are you headed?” I asked. “I have to be down in the place called Liberal in the morning,” he said. “You?” “Looking for work,” I said. “Indulging myself for one night.” He, with his car and his leather luggage and his Scotch, nodded and said nothing. After a while, he said, “Call me Frank.”
“您要去什么地方？”我问。他说：“我明天早晨要去一个名叫利贝拉尔的地方。”“你呢？”“找工作，”我说，“再放纵我自己一晚上。”他点了点头，什么也没说，背景里是他的汽车、皮箱和苏格兰威士忌。过了一会儿，他说：“叫我弗兰克。”
8. A blue Air Force station wagon rolled into the parking lot. Four young men got out, in jumpsuits and colourful ascots. They were clean-cut and joking, relaxed with big smiles. Frank and I watched them take out their bags and go to the office. “Jet pilots, they must be,” Frank said. We sat and finished our drinks and he fixed us a couple more.
一辆蓝色的空军旅行车驶入停车场。四名身着连身裤，戴着色彩鲜艳的宽领带的年轻男子下了车。他们外表整洁，互相开着玩笑，面带放松的笑容。弗兰克和我看着他们从车上拿出行李包，然后朝办公楼走去。“喷气机飞行员，他们肯定是。”弗兰克说。我们坐在那里，喝完了我们的酒，然后他又给我们配制了几杯。
9. After a while the woman and the little girls came out to the van, their hair still wet from the pool. The woman, having forgotten something, fumbled with her keys and went back in the room. One by one, the girls saw the little man and one of them said something nasty and the others tried, not overly hard, to suppress their giggles. “A lifetime of that,” Frank said, clearly to put me at ease. “Living like you’re comfortable with what life deals you, that’s the big impossible sometimes.” For a few moments I thought about robbing Frank.
过了一会儿，刚刚的那名女子和那个几个小女孩走了出来，朝着她们的那辆厢车走去，因为刚刚从泳池中出来她们的头发还都是湿的。那名女子，应该是忘了什么东西，摸索着她的那串钥匙，回到了房间。女孩们一个接一个地把目光投向了我身边的这个小老头，她们其中一个人说了句脏话，其他人则在一旁咯咯地窃笑。“人这一辈子，”弗兰克说，显然是为了让我放心了，“活着就要坦然面对生活给予你的一切，虽然有时候我们真的做不到。” 一时间，我有了抢劫弗兰克的念头。
10. The little girls couldn’t stop staring. Another remark, and another louder round of squeals. The woman came out, got in the van, and they drove off. “What business are you in?” I said. “I’m pretty much retired,” Frank said. “You’re traveling for fun?” “No,” he said. “Every once in a while, my services are in demand. It’s a way of making a little money quickly and easily. Then I can go home.” He was lost in himself for a second, then he turned to me. “I notice you have no vehicle. What is it that you do?” “I work,” I said. “I have to get to places where the jobs are. I just finished on a farm out east of here. I’m walking into town tomorrow to get a bus.” “Good work, hard work,” he said. “Yes,” I said. “That’s good.”
小女孩们继续盯着我们这边看。又一句脏话从女孩们中传了出来，随之而来的是又一阵更大的尖叫声。那名女子从房间里走了出来，上了厢车，然后厢车开走了。“您是做哪行的？”我问。“我已经退休了。”弗兰克回答说。“您这是休闲旅行？”“不，”他说，“每隔一段时间，我的业务需求就会变得很大。这是一种快速、轻松的赚钱方法。完成任务，就可以回家了。”此时他已沉浸在自己的世界中，片刻后转向我说：“我注意到你没车。你来这里干什么？”“工作，”我说，“我必须去工作的地方。我刚刚完成东边一个农场的工作。我明天要走到镇上去搭乘巴士。”“好工作，就是辛苦点儿。”他说。“是的，”我说，“这工作还行。”
11. Again, for a few moments I thought about robbing Frank. In my situation at that time, the thought was almost inevitable whenever I met someone new: the car, gassed up with the keys nearby; his wallet inevitably fat. But I thought about him without his car, without his scotch, without his leather suitcase worth more than all of my possessions together. Frank was my friend.
我再一次有了抢劫弗兰克的念头。这样的时间，我又身处这样的状况，每次遇到个陌生人，这种念头几乎会不可避免地出现——汽车停靠在那里，已经加满了油，钥匙就在跟前，而且他的钱包肯定是鼓鼓囊囊的。但此时，我的脑海里只有我身边的这个小老头，没有他的汽车，没有他的苏格兰威士忌，也没有他那个比我全部身家加起来都值钱的真皮手提箱。毕竟，弗兰克是我的朋友。