Effie’s Compound Interest

by Henry Morton Robinson

Joyce 譯

Effie’s Compound Interest

生生不息的愛

by Henry Morton Robinson

Joyce 譯

Any apples today?” a cheery voice asked at my studio window. “2)Winesap,3)Wealthy,4)Northern Spy?Can’t you use a5)bushel?”

I stepped out into the haze of an October noon to take a look. At frst glance, the woman seemed older than the world’s aunt. Her face, wrinkled with twice my years (I was then an arrogant 26), was an herbish bouquet that made you think of6)tansyand7)thyme. But the most remarkable thing about her was the light that burned in her wonderful brown eyes.

I followed her to a small truck. She plied me with samples, and I ended up buying a bushel of redcheeked Winesaps. On credit, of course. Cash was the one thing in the world I lacked just then. I had a wife, a baby, ambition—everything but money. “Pay me whenever you like,” said Effe, climbing into her truck.

今天要來點蘋果嗎？”一個歡快的聲音在我工作室的窗邊問道。“晚熟果、紅秋果、君袖果？你不能用個蒲式耳容器來裝嗎？”

我走出去瞧了一瞧，十月的正午，外面一片陰霾。乍一看，這個女人看起來似乎比世界上所有的大嬸都要蒼老。她臉上的皺紋是我年歲的兩倍（我當時26歲，傲慢無知），整張臉就像是一束香草捧花，讓你想到艾菊和百里香。但是她身上最引人注目的地方是她那雙美麗的棕色眼睛里閃爍著的光芒。

我跟著她走到了一輛小卡車旁。她把各種蘋果塞給我嘗，我最后買了一蒲式耳紅艷欲滴的晚熟果。當然了，賒賬買來的。那時，我在這個世界上最缺的一樣東西就是現錢。我有一個妻子、一個孩子、還有雄心壯志—所有的一切，除了錢。“你什么時候付給我都行”，埃菲說道，爬進了她的卡車。

1) compound interest 復利（以本金加上未付的利息為基數計算的利息）

2) Winesap [?wa?ns?p]（美國產）晚熟紅蘋果

3) Wealthy [?welθ?] 一種原產地為美國的紅色的、中等大小的秋蘋果

4) Northern Spy 君袖蘋果，原產地為美國紐約州

5) bushel [?b??l] n. 蒲式耳（容量等于八加侖）

6) tansy [?t?nz?] n. 艾菊

7) thyme [ta?m] n. 百里香

All8)pretenseof payment was dropped during that desperate autumn while our funds, food, and fuel9)ebbedto alarming lows. Euphemia came often, always bearing some gift: a gallon of maple syrup or a jar of peaches.

She guessed that my work was not marching and could see that I was too young, too inexperienced, to make it march. Well, there was nothing she could do about that. But she could do something about my woodpile—and she did. One day before Christmas, she rode up in her truck. It was covered with pine boughs, and under the holiday10)camouflagewas a half cord of11)seasonedrock oak sawed into just the right lengths for my drum stove. There were other generosities, always12)unobtrusive. For instance, when our baby was not doing well, Effie financed my wife’s trip to New York to consult with a specialist.

And we were not the only recipients of her kindness. Effie’s soul was a house of many mansions, jammed with people whom she had befriended. One day she read in the paper that a pregnant mother traveling from San Francisco had arrived penniless in New York, only to learn that her husband had been killed in an accident. Effe cashed a $500 bond and sent her the entire amount. A lifelong correspondence with an intelligent and grateful human being was Effie’s13)recompense.

Effie was not a rich woman. Her income, derived from investments she had made while running an interiordecorating shop in New York, had never exceeded $200 a month. The 1929 crash reduced this to a14)pittance, which she15)eked outby peddling her apples. But even when her funds were at their lowest, she always managed to help someone poorer.

在那個令人絕望的秋天，我們的資金、食物、燃油都降到了令人驚恐的低水平，我不再假意付款。尤菲米婭經常過來，總是帶上一些禮物：一加侖的楓糖或是一瓶桃子。

她猜想我的工作沒有進展，還猜到了其中的原因是我太過年輕、經驗不足。嗯，對此，她幫不上什么忙。但是她能為我的柴垛出幾分力—她也這樣做了。在圣誕節到來前的某一天，她開著她的卡車來到這里。……