贫穷是什么

What Is Poverty？贫穷是什么？ By Jo Goodwin Parker 梁碧滢 译

You ask me what is poverty? 何谓贫穷？

Listen to me. 听听我的故事吧

Here I am, 让你面前的我，

dirty, smelly, and with no “proper” underwear on and with the 1)stench of my 2)rotting teeth near you. I will tell you. 这个脏兮兮、臭熏熏，没有真正的内衣可穿，满嘴蛀牙，口气熏天的人来告诉你吧。

Listen to me. Listen without pity. I cannot use your pity. Listen with understanding. (1)Put yourself in my dirty, worn out, ill-fitting shoes, and hear me. 听听我的故事，但不用可怜我，我用不着你的怜悯。我要的是理解，试站在我的处境，踏进我那双脏旧蹭脚的破鞋，听听我的故事。

Poverty is being tired. 贫穷意味着承受煎熬。

I have always been tired. 我是受够身心折磨了。

They told me at the hospital when the last baby came that I had 3)chronic

4)anemia caused from poor diet, a bad case of worms, and that I needed a

corrective operation. 上次在医院生孩子的时候，医生们说我因为营养不良而患有慢性贫血，肠虫病也挺严重，需要做手术补救。

I listened politely—the poor are always polite. 我乖乖地听着——穷人总是毕恭毕敬的，

The poor always listen. 穷人总是在听别人说，苦况却有口难言，

They don’t say that there is no money for iron pills, 他们也不说自己没钱买补铁药，

or better food, or worm medicine. 没钱改善饮食、没钱买肠虫药。

The idea of an operation is frightening and costs so much that, if I had dared, I would have laughed. Who takes care of my children?

手术这个提议够吓人的，而且费用如此高昂，就算当时敢答应做，我自己也会笑自己——做手术？那谁来照顾孩子？

Poverty is dirt. 贫穷意味着肮脏。

You can say in your clean clothes coming from your clean house, “Anybody can be clean.” 衣衫整洁的你安坐于洁净的家居，自然可以高喊“每个人都能做到干干净净”。

Let me explain about housekeeping with no money. 还是让我来讲讲穷人的持家之苦吧。

For breakfast I give my children grits with no butter or cornbread without

eggs and butter. 早餐我给孩子们做玉米糊，没加黄油，或者让他们干吃玉米面包，没鸡蛋也没黄油。

This does not use up many dishes. What dishes there are, I wash in cold water and with no soap. 这用不上很多碗碟，多少碗碟也好，我都是用冷水洗，不用任何皂剂。

Even the cheapest soap has to be saved for the baby’s 5)diapers. 就算是最便宜的肥皂也要留在给孩子洗尿布的时候才舍得用。

Look at my hands, so 6)cracked and red. 看看我的双手，尽是龟裂红肿。

Once I saved for two months to buy a jar of 7)Vaseline for my hands and the baby’s diaper 8)rash. 有一回，我想买一瓶凡士林给自己涂涂手，也给患尿布疹的孩子涂涂小屁股

When I had saved enough, I went to buy it and the price had gone up two cents. 省吃俭用两个月，攒足了钱一心要去买，但却发现凡士林升价两美分了。

The baby and I suffered on. 于是，孩子和我只能继续熬苦，痒的痒，裂的裂。

I have to decide every day if I can bear to put my cracked sore hands into the cold water and strong soap. 我每天都得挣扎一番，考虑要不要洗东西，受不受得了让自己那红肿龟裂的双手伸进带强碱的冷水。

But you ask, why not hot water? 你可能会问我为什么不用热水洗。 Fuel costs

money. 燃料要钱的呀。

If you have a wood fire it costs money. If you burn electricity, it costs money. Hot water is a 9)luxury. 烧柴火也好用电也好，都是得花钱。热水无疑是奢侈的。

I do not have luxuries. 我没有任何奢侈品。

I know you will be surprised when I tell you how young I am. 我知道要是告诉你我实际有多年轻，你肯定会很惊讶。

I look so much older看外表我老多了。

. My back has been bent over the wash 10)tubs every day for so long. 每天长时间弯腰就着盆子洗东西，我都有驼背了。

I cannot remember when I ever did anything else. 除了这些，也想不起还干过别的什么事。

Every night I wash every stitch my school age child has on and just hope her clothes will be dry by morning. 孩子白天穿去上学的衣服晚上我得给她洗，还得求神拜佛第二天早上衣服能干。

Poverty is staying up all night on cold nights to watch the fire knowing one spark on the newspaper covering the walls means your sleeping child dies in flames. 贫穷还意味着在寒冷的夜晚不得入睡，而要看着取暖用的火，因为哪怕是一点

火星，只要弹到糊墙用的报纸上，你熟睡的孩子就要葬身火海。

In summer, 到了夏天，

poverty is watching 11)gnats and flies 12)devour your baby’s tears when he cries. 贫穷则意味着要守在孩子身旁驱赶蚊蝇，因为孩子一哭那些小昆虫就会凑来舔吃小孩的眼泪。

The screens are torn and you pay so little rent you know they will never be fixed. 房子的纱窗是破的，你也知道房租这么低廉的地方，房东绝对不会找人来修补。

Poverty means insects in your food, in your nose, in your eyes, and crawling over you when you sleep. 贫穷意味着小昆虫会跑到你的食物、鼻子、眼睛里，等睡着了，虫子还会爬到你身上。

Poverty is hoping it never rains because diapers won’t dry when it rains and soon you are using newspapers. 贫穷意味着得祈求不要下雨，因为碰上雨天，尿布就干不了，很快就只能用报纸当尿布。

Poverty is seeing your children forever with runny noses. 贫穷意味着孩子一天到晚挂着两条鼻涕也只能由他去。

Paper handkerchiefs cost money and all your 13)rags you need for other things. 纸巾要钱买，而手头仅有的碎布又有其它用途。

Even more costly are 14)antihistamines. 感冒药就更贵了。

Poverty is cooking without food and cleaning without soap.贫穷意味着没米但要煮饭，没肥皂还得洗东西。

4.Poverty is asking for help. 贫穷意味着处处求援。

Have you ever had to ask for help, knowing your children will suffer unless you get it? 心知没有别人的帮助自己的孩子就要继续熬苦，你试过因为这样求助他人吗？

Think about asking for a loan from a relative, if this is the only way you can imagine asking for help. I will tell you how it feels. 想象一下当你别无他选只能问亲戚借钱的时候会是怎样，我来告诉你那种感觉。

You find out where the office is that you are supposed to visit. 你找到该去的那个办事处，

You circle that block four or five times. 在楼下徘徊四五个圈，

Thinking of your children, 想到孩子，

you go in. 最后还是走进了大楼。

Everyone is very busy. 里面每个人都忙得很。

Finally, someone comes out and you tell her that you need help. 终于有人出来，你赶紧跟她说自己是来求助的。

That never is the person you need to see. 但她永远不会是你想找的那个人。

You go see another person, 你又再去问另一个人，

(2)and after spilling the whole shame of your poverty all over the desk between you, you find that this isn’t the right office after all—整个办公室的人都问遍，窘迫难堪一通之后才发现这原来不是你要找的那个地方——

you must repeat the whole process, and it never is any easier at the next place. 还得把刚才的程序再重复一遍，而且也不见得会更轻松些。

5.You have asked for help, and after all it has a cost. 你开口求助，毕竟还是有代价的。

You are again told to wait. 你还是要等，

You are told why, 你还是要等，别人告诉你为什么要等

but you don’t really hear because of the red cloud of shame and rising cloud of despair. 但你根本听不见，因为羞耻和绝望的感觉有如乌云盖顶般笼于心头。

Poverty is looking into a black future. 贫穷意味着放眼前方只见黯淡穷途。

Your children won’t play with my boys. 你家孩子不会跟我家儿子玩。They will turn to other boys who steal to get what they want. 我那几个儿子结果会跟那些偷东西的小家伙玩到一块儿。

I can already see them behind the bars of their prison instead of behind the bars of my poverty. 我已经能想象到有这么一天，他们走出我这贫困的牢笼，走进监狱牢房。

Or they will turn to the freedom of alcohol or drugs, and find themselves enslaved. 要不就是放浪于酒精、毒品的世界以求解脱，最终却陷入更深的束缚，难以自拔。

And my daughter? At best, there is for her a life like mine. 我家的小女孩又会怎样？最多也就是过上我这样的生活。

Poverty is an 15)acid that drips on pride until all pride is worn away. 贫穷是一种酸液，一滴滴在销蚀人的自尊，直至自尊销蚀殆尽。

Poverty is a 16)chisel that chips on honor until honor is worn away贫穷是个凿子，一点点在削凿人的尊严，直至尊严分崩瓦解。

. Some of you say that you would do something in my situation, and maybe you would, 有些人会说要是处在这种境况，他们会做点什么事情改变现状。

for the first week or the first month, 头一个星期也许是会做努力的，或者头一个月吧，

but for year after year after year? 但能坚持日复一日，年复一年与命运对抗吗？

Even the poor can dream. 穷人也是有梦想的。

A dream of a time when there is money. 梦想手头有钱的日子，

Money for the right kinds of food, for worm medicine, for iron pills, for toothbrushes, for hand cream, for a hammer and nails and a bit of screening, for a shovel, for a bit of paint, for some sheeting, for needles and thread. 有钱买合适的食物、肠虫药、补铁药、牙刷、润手霜、锤子和钉子、一点窗纱、一个铲子，再买点油漆、被单、针线。

Money to pay in money for a trip to town. 有钱到城里看看。

And, oh, money for hot water and money for soap. 噢，还要有钱用上热水，有钱买肥皂。

A dream of when asking for help does not eat away the last bit of pride. 梦想开口求助也不会尊严尽丧，

When the office you visit is as nice as the offices of other governmental agencies那个你去求援的办事处会跟其它政府机构那样体面堂皇，

, when there are enough workers to help you quickly, 有足够的职员可以很快接待处理你的申请

when workers do not quit in defeat and despair. 他们不会无奈绝望地离你而去

When you have to tell your story to only one person你只需要跟一个人讲述你

的境况

, and that person can send you for other help and you don’t have to prove your poverty over and over and over again. ，那人可以让你寻求其它协助，而你无需一而再再而三地向不同的人证明自己有多穷苦。

I have come out of my despair to tell you this. 在绝望中走出来跟你说这一切，

Remember I did not come from another place or another time. 我并不是来自另一个时空的人，

Others like me are all around you. 你的身边有许多跟我一样的人。 Look at us with an angry heart你应带着一团怒火看我们

, anger that will help you help me. Anger that will let you tell of me. 这股愤怒有助你帮助我，让你替我说话。

The poor are always silent. Can you be silent too? 穷人总是沉默的。你可以同样沉默吗？

1) stench [[

] n. 恶臭，臭气2) rot []v. （使）腐烂，（使）腐败3) chronic

] adj. 慢性的

4) anemia [[

] adj. 破裂的

] n. 贫血，贫血症5) diaper []n. 尿布6) cracked

7) Vaseline [] n. 凡士林，[化]石油冻，矿脂

8) rash [] n. 皮疹9) luxury [] n. 奢侈品

10) tub [] n. 浴盆11) gnat [] n. 小昆虫

12) devour [] v. 吞吃13) rag [] n. 碎布，破旧衣服

14) antihistamines [] n. 抗组（织）胺药，常用于治疗感冒

15) acid [] n. [化]酸16) chisel [] n. 凿子

温馨提示

(1) Put yourself in my dirty, worn out, ill-fitting shoes, and hear me.

Put oneself into other’s shoes在英文是要一方设身处地地从另一方来考虑，但由于shoes前面加了dirty和ill-fitting两个形容词，而这两个词深刻地描绘了穷人的生活境地，所以在翻译时还是从字面来翻译。

(2) 注意这里的动词spill，它和shame的搭配使描述特别形象，只是中文很难表达同样的意思，编辑就只能跟大家一起意会了。