1. “I had to leave school when I was thirteen,” his father had said; “that’s a year younger than you are now. If I’d had half the chances that you have, I’d…” Greg had sat in the small kitchen listening, knowing the lecture would end with his father saying he couldn’t play ball. The principal had sent that letter saying Greg would probably fail math if he didn’t spend more time studying.
“我十三岁的时候就不得不辍学了，”他父亲说，“比你现在还小一岁。如果我有你现在一半的机会，我会……”格雷格坐在小厨房里听着父亲的教导，知道父亲会以说出那句“他可能不会去打球”结束他的教导。校长寄来了那封信上说：如果格雷格不花更多的时间学习，就可能学不好数学。
2. Now he was sitting outside. His father’s words still rumbled softly in his ears. It was beginning to cool. Large drops of rain splashed onto his jeans. Down the block there was an old house that had been abandoned for some months. Without much thought, pulling his collar up as high as he could, he made a dash across the street. He let himself in. He entered the room, frowning at the musty smell.
此时此刻，格雷格正坐在屋外，父亲的话仍在他耳边轻柔且低沉地萦绕着。天开始变凉了。硕大的雨滴溅到他的牛仔裤上。街区的另一边有一栋已被废弃数月的老房子。他尽可能地拉高了衣领，没想太多，便冲向了街道的另一侧。他走进了那栋房子，进入了一个房间，在闻到霉烂味时皱起了眉头。
3. Silence followed, but ended unexpectedly after only a few moments. He thought he had heard something that sounded like a scraping against the wall. He listened carefully, but it was gone. Could he have been imagining the sounds? “Don’t try nothin’, cause I got a razor here sharp enough to cut a week into nine days!” Greg stood stock-still. The person who had been speaking moved a step closer. Greg turned, holding his breath, his eyes straining to see in the dark room. “Who are you?” Greg hardly recognized his own voice. “I’m Lemon Brown,” came the answer. “Who’re you?” “Greg Ridley.”
一阵寂静随之而来，但仅仅片刻后，这阵寂静便被意外地打断了。他以为自己听到了类似刮墙壁的声音。但当他仔细听时，却什么动静都没有了。这声音是他的幻觉吗？“别做没用的尝试，因为我这里有一把非常锋利的剃刀，锋利到足以把一个星期切割成九天！” 格雷格一动不动地站在那里。刚刚跟他说话的那个人走近了一步。格雷格屏住呼吸，使劲地看向房间黑暗的深处。“你是谁？”格雷格几乎没分辨出这是自己的声音。那个人回答道：“我是莱蒙·布朗。”“你是谁？”“格雷格·里德利。”
4. He was an old man. His pants were bagged to the knee, where they were met with rags that went down to the old shoes. Greg relaxed. He had seen the man before, picking through trash on the corner and pulling clothes out of a collection bin. There was no sign of the razor that could “cut a week into nine days.”
他是位老人。他的裤子已经松弛下垂到了膝盖的位置，膝盖处缠着几块一直垂到他的那双旧鞋子上的破布。格雷格放松了下来。他以前见过这个男人在角落里捡破烂，并从收集箱中拉出别人放进去的衣服。没有任何迹象表明他有那把“能将一个星期切割成九天的”剃刀。
5. “What are you doing here?” Greg asked. “This is where I’m staying,” Lemon Brown said. “What you here for?” “It is raining out,” Greg said. “Ain’t you got no home?” “I got a home,” Greg answered. “You ain’t one of them bad boys looking for my treasure, is you? Because I told you I got me a razor.” “I’m not looking for your treasure,” Greg answered, smiling. “What do you have, gold coins?”
“您在这儿干什么呢？”格雷格问。“这是我住的地方。”莱蒙·布朗说。“你来这儿干什么？”“外面正在下雨。”格雷格说。“你没有家吗？”“我有家。”格雷格回答说。“你不是正在找我的财宝的那群坏小子中的，是吧？因为我告诉过你我有一把剃刀。”“我不是在找您的财宝。”格雷格微笑着回答说，“您的财宝是什么？金币吗？”
6. “Don’t worry none about what I got,” Lemon Brown said. “You know who I am?” “You told me your name was orange or lemon or something like that.” Said Greg, slightly bored. “Lemon Brown,” the old man said, pulling back his shoulders as he did so, “they used to call me Sweet Lemon Brown.” “Sweet Lemon?” Greg asked. “Yessir. Sweet Lemon Brown. They used to say I sung the blues so sweet that if I sang at a funeral, the dead would commence to rocking with the beat. You mean you ain’t never heard of Sweet Lemon Brown?”
“别为我的东西瞎操心。”莱蒙·布朗说。“你知道我是谁吗？”“您刚刚告诉过我您的名字叫橙子或柠檬什么的。”格雷格说，稍稍有些厌烦。“莱蒙·布朗，”老人一边说着，一边挺直了肩膀，“他们曾叫我甜莱蒙·布朗。”“甜莱蒙？”格雷格问。“是的先生。甜莱蒙·布朗。他们曾经说，我唱的蓝调歌曲是如此甜美，以至于如果我在葬礼上唱时，死者都会随着节拍开始摇摆。你的意思是你从未听说过甜莱蒙·布朗唱的歌？”

7. “Afraid not,” Greg said. “What… what happened to you?” “Hard times, boy. Hard times always after a poor man.” ” Sorry about that. How come you gave up singing the blues?” Greg asked. “You don’t give up the blues; they give you up.” “ Eeeh.. I guess so”, replied Greg. “You really have a treasure?” “What I tell you? Didn’t I tell you every man got a treasure?” Lemon Brown said. “You want to see mine?” “If you want to show me,” Greg shrugged. “Here, you hold this.” Lemon Brown gave Greg a flashlight. He sat on the floor near Greg and carefully untied the strings that held the rags on his right leg. When he took the rags away, Greg saw a piece of plastic. The old man carefully took off the plastic and unfolded it. He revealed some yellowed newspaper clippings and a battered harmonica.
“恐怕没有，”格雷格说，“您后来遭遇了什么？”“孩子啊，世事艰难。世事艰难总是追随着可怜的人。”“真的为您遗憾。您为什么放弃了演唱蓝调歌曲？”格雷格问。“你是无法放弃蓝调的，只有它放弃你。”“ 呃……我想是这样的。”格雷格回答说。“您真的有财宝吗？”“我告诉你什么了？我没告诉你每个人都有财宝吗？”莱蒙·布朗说，“你想看看我的吗？”“如果您想给我看的话。”格雷格耸了耸肩。“拿着这个。”莱蒙·布朗递给格雷格一把手电筒。然后，他坐在格雷格跟前的地板上，小心翼翼地解开了缠在他右腿上的那几块破布上的绳子。当破布被取下时，格雷格看到了一块塑料。老人接着小心翼翼地摘下了那块塑料，并将其展开，里面露出一些泛黄的剪报和一把非常破旧的口琴。
8. “There it be,” he said, nodding his head, “There it be.” Greg looked at the old man, saw the distant look in his eye, then turned to the clippings. They told of Sweet Lemon Brown, a blues singer and harmonica player who was appearing at different theaters in the South. One of the clippings said he had been the hit of the show. All of the clippings were reviews of shows Lemon Brown had been in more than fifty years ago. Greg looked at the harmonica. It was dented badly on one side, with the reed holes on one end nearly closed.
“就是它，”老人点着头说，“就是它。”格雷格看着老人，注意到了他那深邃的目光，随后他的注意力转向了那些剪报。它们都是关于一个名叫甜莱蒙·布朗的蓝调歌手及口琴演奏者现身于南方的不同剧院演出的事。其中一张剪报说他的表演是整场演出中最精彩的一幕。所有剪报都是关于莱蒙·布朗五十多年前的演出的评论。格雷格看着那把口琴。它的一侧已严重凹陷，一端的孔已几乎全部合拢。
9. “I used to travel around and make money for to feed my wife and Jesse – that’s my boy’s name. Used to feed them good, too. Then his mama died, and he stayed with his mama’s sister. He growed up to be a man, and when the war come, he saw fit to go off and fight in it. I didn’t have nothing to give him except these things that told him who I was, and what he come from. Anyway, he went off to war, and I went off still playing and singing. ’Course by then I wasn’t as much as I used to be, not without somebody to make it worth the while. You know what I mean?”
“我曾经到处周游，赚钱养活我的妻子和杰西——这是我儿子的名字，曾经也让他们过上了不错的日子。后来，他的妈妈去世了，于是他就和他妈妈的姐姐住在一起。他长大成人后，战争爆发了，他觉得是时候奔赴战场了。我什么东西都没给他，除了这些能够告诉他我是谁以及他来自何方的东西。总之，他奔赴了战场，而我仍然继续着我的演奏和演唱生涯。因为那个时候我已经不像以前那样努力了，已经没有人让我觉得那样的努力是值得的了。你明白我的意思吧？”
10. “Yeah,” Greg nodded, not quite really knowing. “I traveled around, and one time I come home, and there was this letter saying Jesse got killed in the war. Broke my heart, it truly did. They sent back what he had with him over there, and what it was is this old mouth fiddle and these clippings. Him carrying it around with him like that told me it meant something to him. That was my treasure, and when I give it to him, he treated it just like that, a treasure. Ain’t that something?” “Yeah, I guess so,” Greg said. “You guess so?” Lemon Brown’s voice rose and octave as he started to put his treasure back into the plastic. “Well, you got to guess, cause you sure don’t know nothing. Don’t know enough to get home when it’s raining.”
“是的，”格雷格点了点头，并不太了解他什么意思。“我依旧到处周游，一次我回到家，这封信上说杰西在战斗中牺牲了。我的心伤透了，真的是伤透了。他们把他的随身物品寄了回来，就是这把旧口琴和这些剪报。他一直随身携带着这些东西，像是在告诉我这些东西对他很有意义。这就是我的财宝，当我把它们交给他时，他就像对待财宝一样对待它们。这是不是很有意义？”“是的，我想是这样的，”格雷格说。“你想是这样的？”莱蒙·布朗的声音上升了八度，同时开始将财宝放回那张塑料中。“好吧，你是得好好想想，因为你肯定一无所知，甚至都不知道下雨时要回家。”
11. “I guess... I mean, you’re right. “You get on out of here and get yourself home. I’ll be watching from the window, so you’ll be all right.” “You sure you’ll be OK?” Greg asked. “Now, didn’t I tell you I was going to East St. Louis in the morning?” Lemon Brown asked. “Don’t that sound OK to you?” “Sure it does,” Greg said, the wrinkles about his eyes suggesting a smile. “That I’ll do.”
“我想......我的意思是，您是对的。”“你赶快离开这里，回自己家去。我会从窗户看着，所以你会没事的。”“您确定您会没事吗？” 格雷格问道。“好啦，我没告诉你我早上要去东圣路易斯吗？”莱蒙·布朗问，“这安排听起来还不错吧？”“的确不错。”格雷格说，同时眯起了充满笑意的眼睛。“一定会的。”
12. The night had warmed and the rain had stopped, leaving puddles at the curbs. Greg didn’t even want to think how late it was. He thought ahead of what his father would say and wondered if he should tell him about Lemon Brown. He thought about it until he reached his stoop, and decided against it. Lemon Brown would be OK, Greg thought, with his memories and his treasure. Greg thought of the lecture he knew his father would give him next, and smiled.
夜晚的天气变暖了，雨也停了下来，并在路边留下了一些水洼。格雷格甚至不愿去想此时有多晚了。他提前设想着父亲会对他说的话，不知道自己是否应该把关于莱蒙·布朗的事情告诉他。他反复思考着这件事，但最后还是放弃了，决定不把这件事情说出去。格雷格心想，莱蒙·布朗会一切都好的，因为他拥有那段珍贵的记忆以及他的财宝。格雷格想到了他父亲下次会给他的那耳熟能详的教导，露出了会心的微笑。