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The Boy and the Bank Officer
男孩和银行职员
Philip Ross
菲利普·罗斯
I have a friend who hates banks with a special passion. "A bank is just a store—like a candy store or a grocery store," he says. "The only difference is that a bank's goods happen to be money, which is yours in the first place. If banks were required to sell wallets and money belts, they might act less like churches."
我有一位朋友特别讨厌银行。他说：“银行就是个商店，和糖果店或杂货店一样。唯一的区别就是银行的商品恰巧是钱。而这些钱本来就是你的。如果让银行卖钱包和钱夹。它们可能就不会像教堂那样神圣了。”
I began thinking about my friend the other day as I walked into a small, overlit branch office on the West Side. I had come to open a checking account.
几天前，我走进位于纽约曼哈顿西区的一家支行时，想到了我的那位朋友。这家支行面积不大，灯火辉煌。我来是要开一个活期账户的。
It was lunchtime and the only officer on duty was a fortyish black man with short, pressed hair, a pencil mustache, and a neatly pressed brown suit. Everything about him suggested a carefully dressed authority.
当时正是午餐时间，银行只有一个职员值班。他是个40来岁的黑人，梳着短短的平头，留着一字胡，穿着一身整洁的熨烫过的棕色西装。他浑身上下都显示出他是个衣着讲究、有身份地位的人。
This officer was standing across a small counter from a young white boy who was wearing a V-neck sweater, khakis, and loafers. He had sandy hair, and I think I was especially aware of him because he looked more like a kid from a prep school than a customer in a West Side bank.
这位职员站在一个小柜台的前面，对面是一个白人小男孩，小男孩穿着一件V字领的毛衣，一条卡其布裤子和一双平底便鞋。他有一头浅棕色头发。我想我之所以特别注意他，是因为他看起来更像是一个来自预科学校的孩子，而不像是一家西区银行的客户。
The boy continued to hold my attention because of what happened next.
接下来发生的事让我继续关注那个男孩。
