诚实是快乐生活的秘方(2)

的士司机得凶狠粗暴才能在纽约干这一行。这年头你得有副好身板儿才顶得住纽约一天八小时的交通战。由于态度粗暴，人们误认为出租司机不是好人，其实，他们和其他人就没啥区别。他们大多诚实，与人和睦相处。你几乎每个星期都可以从报纸上知道某的士司机归还了乘客掉在车里的钱或珠宝或票据之类的东西。要不是他们诚实，你没法在报纸上读到那些新闻。One time in Brooklyn, I found an emerald ring in my cab. I remembered helping a lady with a lot of bundles that day, so I went back to where I had dropped her off. It took me almost two days to trace her down in order to return her ring to her. I didn"t get as much as “thank you.” Still, I felt good because I had done what was right. I think I felt better than she did.一次在布鲁克林，我发现车里有一枚祖母绿钻戒，我记得那天帮一位女士拉了很多捆行李，所以我开回到她下车的地方，几乎花了两天时间才找到她，把戒指还给了她。

我连个谢字也没得到，还是感到很高兴，因为我做了件好事。我想我比她更高兴。I was born and raised in Ireland and lived there until I was nineteen years old. I came to this country in 1913 where I held several jobs to earn a few dollars before enlisting in World War Number I. After being discharged, I bought my own cab and have owned one ever since. It hasn"t been too easy at times, but my wife takes care of our money and we have a good bit put away for a rainy day.我生长在爱尔兰，在那儿呆到十九岁。
1913年来到这个国家，为了挣几个钱干了不少工作，一战时当了兵，退伍之后自己买了辆出租，从此有了自己的车。有时日子不太容易，可我老婆精打细算，我们还存了些钱，以防有个什么难处。When I first started driving a cab, Park Avenue was mostly a bunch of coal yards. Hoofer"s Brewery was right next to where the Waldorf-Astoria is now. I did pretty well, even in those days.刚开始开出租的时候，有钱人待的派克大街几乎全是一片煤场，胡弗啤酒厂正靠近现在的沃尔多夫·阿斯托里亚。就是在那些年头我干得也挺不错。In all my years of driving a taxicab, I have never had any trouble with the public, not even with drunks. Even if they get a little headstrong once in a while, I just agree with them and then they behave themselves.开出租的这些年，我从没和乘客有过纠纷，连给醉鬼开车也没出过麻烦。