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Friends came to her aid. One friend wired her $200 while she was driving away from her old apartment, enabling her to find refuge in a motel along the way. But Sue worried there wouldn't be any more charity for the money and gas she desperately needed.
朋友们及时施以援手。就在她驾车离开公寓的路上，一位朋友给她电汇来 200美元，使得她能够在沿途的一家汽车旅馆觅得栖身之所。但是她担心不会再有人来援助自己急需的钱和汽油了。
Helped by gas cards donated by a church, Sue decided to return to her hometown. She figured the health-care safety net there was better, as well as the job market. She contacted a local shelter but learned there was a waiting list. Welfare was not an option, because she didn't have young children. And, Sue knew that none of her three adult sons were in a position to help her.
有了教堂赠送的加油卡，苏打算返回家乡。她想那儿的医疗保障体系会好一些，找工作也容易些。她联系了当地的收容所，但是得到的回答是先得排队等着。领取福利救济没有她的份，因为她没有未成年的孩子。苏知道她的三个已成年的儿子也帮不了她。
"I knew the only help I was going to get was from me myself," Sue said. "I thought to myself: I have to take care of myself. I really, really need to get work. I need a job. I don't want to be seen as a parasite,
“我知道，只有自己才能帮自己，”苏说。“我告诉自己：我得养活自己。我确实得干活，我要找份工作，我可不想被人看成寄生虫。”
Sue's motel room was depressing. Lining the shelves underneath the television were her food supplies: rice and noodles that she mixed with water in the motel's ice bucket and heated up in a microwave; peanut butter and jelly; a loaf of white bread -the subsistence of a desperate person. Sue's days were spent surfing Internet job indexes, applying for jobs where the silent "No." "No." "No." gave way to a feeling of helplessness.
苏在汽车旅馆的房间极其窘迫。电视下面的壁橱里存放着几样食物：大米和面条，这两样她可在旅馆的冰镇桶里与水和在一起，然后在微波炉里加热；另外还有花生酱、果冻和一条白面包——这些食物也就供一个走投无路的人勉强度日而已。苏连日来都在上网查找各种工作指南，四处求职；但一次次无声的拒绝让她陷于无助。
Sue had all new struggles and obstacles to deal with too, like what to do for an address for job applications. She worried about what would happen when her cell phone was cut off for non-payment, and calls to her number would disappear into an invisible world she could not reach.
苏还有新的烦心事要应付：比如求职信的通信地址该如何填写。她还担心要是手机因为欠费停机了怎么办？别人拨打她的号码，就如石沉大海，她无法接听。
Finally, an old friend sent Sue a ray of hope, a small miracle: $300cash - just enough for another brutal week of struggle.
终于，一位老朋友送来一缕希望，一个小小的惊喜：300美元的现金——勉强够她再苦撑一周。
