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At dusk on the Friday of Labor Day weekend, 1973, ten miles short of Indianapolis, the old Chevy in which my girlfriend and I had driven from the East Coast to the West and nearly back again finally gave out. Weary and almost out of money, we limped into a gas station off the highway. The owner-mechanic's diagnosis came in five minutes: our drive shaft was shot; we needed a new one.
1973年劳工节前夕的那个周末的星期五，我和女朋友开着一辆旧雪佛兰从东海岸到西海岸，眼看就要返回东海岸到家了,谁知傍晚在离印第安纳波利斯还有10英里时那车最终出故障了。我们疲惫不堪，钱也差不多用光了,我们艰难缓慢地把车开到了高速公路下的一个加油站。五分钟之后，车行老板兼机修工的诊断就出来了:我们的驱动轴坏了：需要换一个新的。
My face fell. "How much will that cost?" I asked.
我的脸色一沉。“那得多少钱？”我问。
He studied us -- untidy twenty-four-year olds with a pair of anti-Nixon bumper stickers on our useless vehicle -- for a moment. "Wait here," he said. And then, to his assistant, "Eddie, I'll be back in a while."
他把我们仔细地打量了一番一一邋里邋遢的24岁的年轻人，抛锚的车子上贴着两条反尼克松的车尾贴——一会儿。他说：“在这儿等着，”然后对助手说，“埃迪，我过一阵就回来。”
Although according to Eddie the place was due to close for the weekend in an hour, the owner was gone for three hours, until after 10:00 P.M., and when he returned, he had in his hand a drive shaft for our Chevy. A used drive shaft, found, we eventually understood, after a search of every junkyard and auto graveyard in town.
虽然据埃迪说，这地方再过一个小时就因周末要打烊了，车行老板过了3个小时直到晚上10点才回来。回到加油站时，他手上拿着一根我们雪佛兰车用的驱动轴，我们后来才明白，这是一根用过的驱动轴，他搜遍了城里的每个废旧货栈和废旧汽车露天堆放场才找到。
How much do we owe you? I asked finally. Then, quickly, I added, "We only have thirty-five dollars; we'll send you the rest."
“我们得给你多少钱？”我最后问，然后很快加了一句，“我们只有35美元了；我们会把其余的钱寄给你的。”
He furrowed his brow. "Well, let's see," he said. "It'll cost you another fifteen bucks for gas to get to New York, and you'll need a motel room tonight, and you've got to eat ? Let's say seven dollars."
他皱了皱眉头。“呃，我看看啊，”他说，“你们还得再加15块钱的油才能回到纽约，今天晚上还得找一家汽车旅馆，还得吃东西——那就七块钱吧。”
Seven dollars? That's ridiculous.
“七块？是不是在搞笑啊？”
Nope, seven dollars it is.
“没有。就七块。”
After I'd stopped resisting and paid him his money, he clapped a hand on my shoulder and smile a smile I'll remember years after the bitterness of the run-in with the bus driver has left me.
我不再坚持己见，把钱付给他之后，他用手拍了一下我的肩膀，朝我微笑了一下。这个微笑，在与那个公交车司机吵架的怨恨离我而去多年以后，我还记得。
Have a good weekend, he said.
周末愉快，”他说。
