It’s good to call on Uncle Lewis, grandmother and Uncle Harry like this. It improves yourperspective to commune with people who are not alarmed about the condition of NATO orwhining about the flabbiness of the dollar.

The elders take the long view. Of course, you don’t want to indulge too extensively in thatlong a view, but it’s useful to absorb it in short doses. It corrects the blood pressure and putsthings in a more sensible light.

After a healthy dose of it, you realize that having your shins kicked in the subway is not thegravest insult to dignity ever suffered by common humanity.

像这样探访刘易斯大叔、祖母和哈里大伯，感觉真好。他们既不会因为北约现状而忧心忡忡，又不会因为美元疲软而牢骚满腹，同这样的人倾心交谈能使你更加明察事理。

先辈们大都看得开，想得远。当然，你并不想沉迷于用太长远的目光去看问题，但偶尔合理地用上一次却大有裨益。这样可以使你心平气和，更加理智地看待各种事物。

学会适当地把目光放开一点之后，你就会明白，在地铁里被人踹了一脚并不算是普通人所受的什么奇耻大辱。

Somewhere in the vicinity is my great-grandfather who used to live back there against themountain and make guns, but I could never find him. He was born out that way in 1817—JamesMonroe was President then—and I’d like to find him to commune a bit with somebody of bloodkin who was around when Andrew Jackson was in his heyday.

After Jackson and Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War, he would probably not be very impressedabout much that goes on nowadays, and I would like to get a few resonances off histombstone, a cool frisson of contempt maybe for a great-grandchild who had missed all thereally perilous times.

就在这附近哪个地方埋着我的一个曾祖父。生前他依山而居，还造过枪，但我一直没能找到他的墓。1817年他就出生在那里——当时的总统是詹姆斯·门罗——我极想找到他，好跟这位亲眼目睹了安德鲁·杰克逊鼎盛时期的亲人好好聊上几句。

这位曾祖父生活在杰克逊、亚伯拉罕·林肯当政时期，又经历了内战，对时下发生的事儿可能不会有太大的感触。但我仍想从墓碑中听他讲上几句，哪怕他会对我这个没经历过真正危难时世的曾孙表示出冷漠和不屑，会令我不寒而栗。

Unfortunately, I am never able to find him, but there is Uncle Irvey, grandmother’s oldest boy.An unabashed Hoover Republican. “Eat all those string beans, boy,” I hear as I nod at histombstone.

And here is a surprise: Uncle Edgar. He has been here for years, but I have never bumped intohim before. I don’t dare disturb him, for he is an important man, the manager of the baseballteam, and his two pitchers, my Uncle Harold and my Cousin-in-law Howard, have both beenshelled on the mound and Uncle Edgar has to decide whether to ask the shortstop if he knowsanything about pitching.

My great-grandfather who made guns is again not to be found, but on the way out I pass thetombstone of another great-grandfather whose distinction was that he left an estate of$3.87. It is the first time I have passed this way since I learned of this, and I smile his way, butsomething says, “In the long run, boy, we all end up as rich as Rockefeller,” and I get into thecar and drive out onto the main road, gliding through fields white with daisies, past fencesperfumed with roses, and am rather more content with the world.

遗憾的是，我始终没能找到他的墓，却碰到了祖母大儿子欧维大伯的墓。他是个铁杆胡佛派共和党人。“孩子，把那些菜豆全吃了。”我朝他的墓碑点头时，听见他这么说。

这可是个意外的发现：埃德加大叔的墓，他埋在这里已有好些年了。可今天还是我第一次看见他的墓。我没敢惊动他，因为他是个大人物，棒球队经纪人。记得有一次，他的两个投手——我的哈罗德大叔和霍华德表姐夫，在投球区被对方连连安打得分，他只得决定去找游击手，问他有没有信心上场充当投手去投球。

造枪的曾祖父的墓还是没找到，但离开墓地的时候我却发现了另一个曾祖父的墓。他的与众不同之处就是只留下了3.87美元的遗产，这是我听说这桩事后第一次从这儿经过，我笑他的寒酸，却听见有个声音在说：“从长远看，孩子，到最后我们都会跟洛克菲勒一样有钱的。”于是我钻进汽车，穿过被雏菊染白的田野，经过蔷薇飘香的石栅篱，把车开到大路上。此刻，这对这个世界又多了几许满足。

责任编辑：admin