I tried to encourage him by remarking that he was lucky at least to have found a job. So many others hadn't been able to get anything. But before I finished speaking I realized that I had said the wrong thing. And I anticipated his next question.
我试图鼓励他,说至少他很幸运地找到了一份工作。有那么多学生什么都没能找到。但是在我结束自己的话之前,我就意识到自己说错了话。而且,我预料到了他的下一个问题。
"What are your plans?" he wanted to know. "Is it true you've gotten an offer from Yale?"
“你是怎么打算的?”他想知道。“你得到了耶鲁大学的邀约,这是真的吗?”
I said that it was. "Only, I still haven't made up my mind."
我说是的。“只是,我还没有做决定。”
He stared at me as I put on my jacket. And smiling, then unsmiling, he asked if I knew that he too had written to Yale. In his case, however, no one had bothered to acknowledge his letter with even a postcard. What did I think of that?
当我穿上自己的夹克的时候,他盯着我看。先是笑着,然后不笑了。他问我是否知道他也给耶鲁大学写了求职信。可是,没有人费心去告知他的信已经被收到,他甚至连告知的明信片都没收到。我怎么想那件事?
He gave me no time to answer.
他没有给我时间回答。
"Damn!" he said sharply and his chair rasped the floor as he pushed himself back. Suddenly, It was to me that he was complaining. "It's just not right, Richard. None of this is fair. You've done some good work, but so have I. I'll bet our records are just about equal. But when we look for jobs this year, it's a different story. You get all of the breaks.''
“可恶!”他尖声说道,他往后移动时,椅子和地面发出刺耳的刮擦声。突然,他开始向我抱怨。“这事不对头,理查德。这毫无公平可言。你表现很优秀,但我也是。我敢打赌我们的履历基本差不多。但是今年我们找工作时,情况完全不同。你得到了所有的机会。”