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I thought of my destination -- New Orleans, the setting for Tennessee Williams's play A Streetcar Named Desire. I recalled Blanche DuBois's famous line: "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers."
我想到我此行的目的地——新奥尔良。那里是田纳西·威廉姆斯的剧作《欲望号街车》的背景地。我回想起布兰奇·杜波依斯的名句：“我总是依赖陌生人的善意。”
The kindness of strangers. It sounds so quaint. Could anyone rely on the kindness of strangers these days?
陌生人的善意。听起来好怪。如今这年头还有谁能指望陌生人的善意吗？
One way to test this would be for a person to journey from coast to coast without any money, relying solely on the good will of his fellow Americans. What kind of America would he find? Who would feed him, shelter him, carry him down the road?
要验证这一点，一个办法是一个人从东海岸旅行到西海岸，不带一分钱，完全依靠美国同胞的善意。他会发现一个什么样的美国？谁会给他饭吃、让他歇脚、捎他一程呢？
The idea intrigued me. But who'd be crazy enough to try such a trip? Well, I figured, why not me.
这个念头激起了我的好奇心。但谁会这么不切实际，愿意去尝试这样一次旅行呢？好吧，我想，那不如我来试试？
The week I turned 37, I realized I'd never taken a gamble in my life. So I decided to make a leap of faith a continent wide -- to go from the Pacific to the Atlantic without a penny. If I was offered money, I'd refuse it. I'd accept only rides, food and a place to rest my head. It would be a cashless journey through the land of the almighty dollar. My final destination would be Cape Fear in North Carolina, a symbol of all the fears I'd have to conquer during the trip.
满37岁那个星期，我意识到我这辈子还从没冒过什么险呢。所以我决定来个观念的跨越，美洲大陆那么宽——从太平洋到大西洋，不带一分钱。要是有人给我钱，我会拒绝。我只接受搭顺风车、提供食物和让我歇脚的帮助。这将是穿越在这片金钱至上的土地上一次身无分文的旅行。我的最终目的地是北卡罗来纳州的“恐惧角”（即开普菲尔），它象征着我沿途必须克服的所有恐惧。
I rose early on September 6, 1994, hoisted a 50-pound pack onto my back and headed for the Golden Gate Bridge. Then I took a sign from my backpack, displaying my destination to passing vehicles: "America."
1994年9月6日，我早早起床，背起一个50磅重的包，朝金门桥走去。我从背包里拿出一个牌子，向过路的车辆展示我的目的地：“美利坚”。
Drivers mouthed the word through windshields, then, smiled. Two women rode by on bicycles. "It's a bit vague," said one. A young man with a German accent wandered up and asked, "Where is this 'America'?"
司机们隔着挡风玻璃念出这个词，然后笑了。两个女人骑自行车经过。“有点含混，”其中一个说。一名带有德国口音的年轻男士走上前来问，“你知道‘美利坚’在哪儿？”
