The Surprise Job一份驚喜的工作

Tiegan always liked to sing. Her earliestmemories all have songs in them. Tieganliked to sing in the bathroom before sleeping，and she liked to sing in the morning on theway to school.

Sometimes， Tiegan’s family liked thehouse to be quiet. Mom and Dad liked towatch the news on TV each night.“It’squiet time， Tiegan，”they would say. ThenTiegan had to find something else to do. Shehad lots of toys， but she didn’t like them asmuch as singing.

One summer day， Tiegan was singingher favorite songs in the living room. Dadcame downstairs1 and said， “Tiegan， I havea headache2. Can you go outside and play？ Ireally need it to be quiet so I can take anap3.”Tiegan sighed4 and went outside. Itwas a sunny way， and many people wereoutside riding bikes and walking their dogs.She sat at the curb5 and looked around.

Then she started to sing. She was carefulto be quiet at first， but soon the voice becamelouder6.“Dad probably7 can’t hear meanyway，”she thought，“so it’s probably okayto sing outside.”Then Tiegan felt hot， andtook off her hat.

Just as Tiegan finished one of herfavorite songs， a man with a small dogstopped in front of her.“That was a beautifulsong，”he said. And he dropped8 a dollar inher hat. Before Tiegan could say anything， theman walked away with his dogs.

Tiegan wasn’t sure what to do with thedollar， but she wanted to keep singing. As shestarted her next song， Mrs. Maudslay came outof her house and looked over the fence9.“Areyou starting a new job， Tiegan？”she asked.

“What do you mean？”asked Tiegan.“I’mjust playing and singing.”

“Oh，”said Mrs. Maudslay. “I thoughtmaybe you were busking10， sinceyou have your hat out.”

“What’s busking？”asked Tiegan.

Mrs. Maudslay said，“Busking is when astreet performer11 puts out a hat to collect12money. People like to drop in a dollar or twoto show that they liked the show.”

Tiegan hadn’t meant to start a new job，but since her hat was already out， shedecided to keep singing. Soon enough，people walked past and stopped to listen.When they were ready to move on， theydropped some money into her hat. By theend of the afternoon， Tiegan’s hat was full13.Singing didn’t feel like work， but she hadmade enough money to take Dad out for icecreamjust as soon as he was feeling better.

蒂根一直很喜歡唱歌。她最早的記憶里都有歌曲相伴。蒂根喜歡睡覺前在浴室唱歌，她喜歡在早上上學的路上唱歌。

有時候，蒂根的家人喜歡家里保持安靜。媽媽和爸爸喜歡每天晚上看電視新聞。他們會說：“現在是安靜的時候，蒂根。”然后蒂根不得不找別的事情做。她有許多玩具，但她不像喜歡唱歌那樣喜歡它們。

一個夏日，蒂根正在客廳里唱她最喜歡的歌。爸爸下樓說：“蒂根，我頭疼。你能出去玩嗎？我真的需要安靜的環境，這樣我就可以小睡一會兒。”蒂根嘆了口氣就出門了。這是一條陽光明媚的路，許多人在外面騎自行車和遛狗。她坐在路邊，環顧四周。

然后她開始唱歌。起初她小心翼翼地輕聲唱，但很快聲音就變大了。“反正爸爸大概聽不到我唱歌。”她想，“所以在外面唱應該沒問題。”接著蒂根覺得很熱，就脫下了她的帽子。

就在蒂根唱完她最喜歡的一首歌時，一個牽著小狗的男人停在了她面前。他說：“真是一首動聽的歌。”然后往她帽子里放了一塊錢。蒂根還沒來得及說什么，那人就牽著他的狗走了。

蒂根不知道該拿這錢怎么辦，但她想繼續唱下去。當她開始唱她的下一首歌時，莫茲利夫人走出房子，透過柵欄看過來，她問道：“你開始新工作了嗎，蒂根？”

“什么意思？”蒂根問，“我只是邊玩邊唱。”

“哦。”莫茲利夫人說，“看到你把帽子放在前面，我還以為也許你是在街頭賣藝呢。”

“什么是賣藝？”蒂根問。

莫茲利夫人說：“賣藝就是街頭表演者拿出一頂帽子來收錢。人們喜歡花一兩美元來表示他們喜歡這個表演。”

蒂根并沒有打算從事新的工作，但由于她的帽子已經拿出來了，她決定繼續唱歌。很快，人們路過時會停下來聽一聽。當他們準備繼續走時會往她的帽子里放一些錢。下午快結束時，蒂根的帽子已經滿了。唱歌感覺不像工作，但她已經賺了足夠的錢，等爸爸感覺好一點，她就和他出去吃冰激凌。

▏Notes

1. downstairs 順樓梯而下；往樓下

2. headache 頭痛

3. nap 尤指在白天，小睡、打盹

4. sigh 嘆氣，嘆息

5. curb 路緣，馬路牙子

6. louder 大聲一點

7. probably 大概，或許

8. drop 投，丟

9. fence 籬笆，柵欄，圍欄

10. busk 沿街賣藝

11. performer 表演者，演出者，演員

12. collect 聚集，聚積

13. full 滿的，滿是……的