【正文】 anksgiving, the first day Stevie is supposed to be back to work. His placement worker said he’s been counting the days until the doctor said he could work, and it didn’t matter at all that it was a holiday. He called 10 times in the past week, making sure we knew he was ing, fearful that we had forgotten him or that his job was in jeopardy. I arranged to have his mother bring him to work. We met them in the parking lot and invited them both to celebrate his day back. Stevie was thinner and paler, but couldn’t stop grinning as he pushed through the doors and headed for the back room where his apron and busing cart were waiting. “Hold up there, Stevie, not so fast,” I said. I took him and his mother by their arms. “Work can wait for a minute. To celebrate you ing back, breakfast for you two is on me.” I led them toward a large corner booth at the rear of the room. I could feel and hear the rest of the staff following behind as we marched through the dining room. Glancing over my shoulder, I saw booth after booth of grinning truckers empty and join the procession.We stopped in front of the big table, its surface covered with a mess of coffee cups, saucers and dinner plates, all sitting crooked on dozens of folded paper napkins. “First thing you have to do, Stevie, is to clean up this mess,” I said, trying to sound stern. Stevie looked at me, and then at his mother, then pulled out one of the napkins. It had “Something for Stevie” written on the outside. As he picked it up, two $10 bills fell onto the table. Stevie stared at the money, then at dozens of napkins peeking from beneath the tableware, each with his name printed or scrawled on it. I turned to his mother. “There’s over $10,000 in cash and checks on that table, all from truckers and trucking panies that heard about your problems. Happy Thanksgiving!” Well, it got real noisy about that time, with everybody shouting, and there were a few tears, too. But you know what’s funny? While everybody else was busy shaking hands and hugging each other, Stevie, with a big, big smile on his face, was busy clearing all the cups and dishes from the table — the best worker I ever hired.送給史蒂維的一點(diǎn)心意1 我力求不存偏見(jiàn)，不過(guò)在雇用史蒂維時(shí)我有理由心存疑慮。Unit 1Something for stevieI try not to be biased, but I had my doubts about hiring Stevie. His placement counselor assured me that he would be a good, reliable busboy. But I had never had a mentally handicapped employee and wasn’t sure I wanted one. I wasn’t sure how my customers would react. Stevie was short, a little dumpy, with the smooth facial features and thicktongued speech of Down’s syndrome. I wasn’t worried about most of my trucker customers. Truckers don’t generally care who buses tables as long as the food is good and the pies are homemade. The ones who concerned me were the mouthy college kids traveling to school。 the yuppie snobs who secretly polish their silverware with their napkins for fear of catching some dreaded “truckstop germ。他的就業(yè)顧問(wèn)向我保證，說(shuō)他會(huì)成為出色、可靠的餐館雜工。我的顧客會(huì)有什么反應(yīng)，我沒(méi)有把握。2 對(duì)大多數(shù)來(lái)就餐的卡車司機(jī)們，我還是很放心的。真正讓我擔(dān)心的是那些高談闊論的大學(xué)走讀生，那些因懼怕”路邊餐館的細(xì)菌”而用餐巾悄悄擦拭銀餐具的雅皮士勢(shì)利眼兒們，還有那些穿白色襯衫、使用公款消費(fèi)、認(rèn)為餐館里每個(gè)女服務(wù)員都渴望調(diào)情的商務(wù)人員。3 我的擔(dān)心是多余的。不足一個(gè)月，我的老顧客 190。 就正式認(rèn)定史蒂維為卡車司機(jī)休息站的吉祥人物。4 史蒂維21歲，藍(lán)色牛仔褲，耐克運(yùn)動(dòng)鞋，滿面笑容，討人喜愛(ài)，極端地敬業(yè)。5 我們唯一的問(wèn)題是得說(shuō)服他等待客人用餐完畢再去收拾桌子。一看見(jiàn)哪張餐桌邊的客人都離去，他立即趕過(guò)去，仔細(xì)地把碗碟收拾到餐車上，拿起抹布細(xì)密地擦桌子，動(dòng)作嫻熟、夸張。工作一絲不茍，這是他自豪的源泉。6 后來(lái)，我們得知史蒂維和母親一起生活。母子倆靠社會(huì)保險(xiǎn)金生活，住在離餐館兩英里以外的廉租房里。他們手頭拮據(jù)，我所付的工資僅能保證母子倆相依為命，史蒂維才不至于淪落到被”集體之家”（為殘障人士提供護(hù)理的機(jī)構(gòu)）收容。他在羅切斯特的梅奧診所接受一個(gè)心臟手術(shù)，大概要置入新的心臟膜瓣。8 有一天接近中午時(shí)，有消息傳來(lái)，說(shuō)史蒂維手術(shù)結(jié)束，正在恢復(fù)，狀況良好。領(lǐng)班弗蘭妮聽(tīng)到消息，一聲歡呼，旋即在過(guò)道上跳了一陣舞。林格，此時(shí)詫異地看著年屆五十、已有四個(gè)孫兒的弗蘭妮在他桌邊晃動(dòng)身體，跳起祝賀勝利的希米舞。9 貝爾咧嘴一笑。10 “我們剛得到消息，史蒂維做完了手術(shù)，平安無(wú)事。11 “我還一直在納悶，怎么今天不見(jiàn)他呢?”貝爾問(wèn)。做的是什么手術(shù)呢?”12 弗蘭妮快言快語(yǔ)，把史蒂維的手術(shù)情況告訴貝爾和他旁邊坐著的兩個(gè)司機(jī)。我聽(tīng)說(shuō)，他們的日子一直過(guò)得緊巴巴的。林格點(diǎn)點(diǎn)頭，若有所思。13 上午的客流高峰一過(guò)，弗蘭妮走進(jìn)我的辦公室。”怎么了?”我問(wèn)。林格和他朋友坐過(guò)的那張餐桌上，”她說(shuō)，”這張折疊的餐巾紙就塞在一個(gè)咖啡杯下”。我抖開(kāi)它，三張20元的鈔票跌落在我的桌面上。14 “波尼”我把史蒂維和他母親的一切都告訴他了?！?她遞給我另一張紙餐巾，只見(jiàn)外面潦草地寫(xiě)著：”送給史蒂維的一點(diǎn)心意”。弗蘭妮看著我，眼睛閃著淚花，搖搖頭，只說(shuō)一句話，”這些卡車司機(jī)啊。今天是感恩節(jié)，是史蒂維重返工作崗位的第一天。就算這天是假日也沒(méi)有關(guān)系。我經(jīng)過(guò)籌劃，讓他母親陪他來(lái)上班。16 史蒂維面色蒼白，人也瘦了，但是總咧著嘴笑?！钡纫幌?，史蒂維，別著急，”我說(shuō)。我請(qǐng)二位吃早餐，慶祝史蒂維歸來(lái)。我們穿過(guò)餐廳的時(shí)候，我能感覺(jué)到、也能聽(tīng)到其他員工緊緊跟著。17 我們來(lái)到那張大餐桌前?！笔返倬S，你要做的第一件事是，把這堆東西清理干凈，”我佯裝嚴(yán)肅地說(shuō)。那餐巾外面寫(xiě)著：”送給史蒂維的一點(diǎn)心意”。史蒂維看看鈔票，又看看餐具下面露出的幾十張餐巾，每一張都或工整或潦草地寫(xiě)著他的名字。感恩節(jié)快樂(lè)!”天哪，此時(shí)一片歡騰，人們大聲地叫著，也有流淚的。UNIT 2：How Deep Is Your Love?|你的愛(ài)有多深|Mansi Bhatia Love to some is like a cloudTo some as strong as steelFor some a way of livingFor some a way to feelAnd some say love is holding onAnd some say let it goAnd some say love is everythingSome say they don39。s a feeling that can only be felt and not described. An overwhelming joy that es together with its share of sadness. Love.2 在我們生命中的某個(gè)階段，我們會(huì)經(jīng)歷難以名狀的情 感。莫大的喜悅伴隨著絲絲的傷感一同降臨，這就是愛(ài)。s to be appreciated that we even find the time to indulge in matters of the heart. But at the same time I wonder if we even understand its true depth. I remember having countless crushes while in school. My math teacher, our neighbour39。s brother and lots of others whom I fancied for the colour of their eyes, the shape of their moustaches or just the way they walked. Harmless puppy loves that are as brief as soap bubbles. I can laugh about all those silly and adventurous thoughts and acts now but at that time nothing could be more serious an affair for me. Then came the stage of real relationships.3 在緊張忙碌的生活中，我們竟能找到時(shí)間，沉湎于感情之中，這的確令人感佩。記得上學(xué)的時(shí)候，我迷戀的對(duì)象真是數(shù)不清：我的數(shù)學(xué)老師、鄰居的兒子、好朋友的弟弟，還有另外一些因?yàn)檠劬Φ念伾?、胡子的形狀或走路的姿?shì)而讓我傾慕的人。那些稚氣、大膽的想法和行為，現(xiàn)在想來(lái)大可一笑了之。接著就進(jìn)入了真正“談”情“說(shuō)”愛(ài)的階段。 school I hardly had the opportunity to interact with members of the opposite gender. Socials between our school and the boys39。交誼會(huì)上，一群精心打扮的年輕男子毫無(wú)顧忌地盯著我們。And even then there was no real need of having a boyfriend.5 即使是在那個(gè)時(shí)候，我也沒(méi)有真正交男朋友的需要。事實(shí)果真如此。我也比較成熟了，能夠步入不貪圖許多回報(bào)而需要大量付出的感情關(guān)系。愛(ài)情經(jīng)過(guò)曠日持久的培養(yǎng)才開(kāi)花。愛(ài)情意味著情投意合。但是，依我看，愛(ài)情需要培養(yǎng)。Our parents39。那是一個(gè)約束、壓抑、崇敬、仰慕和十足浪漫的年代。那個(gè)年代，男女之間的距離無(wú)論如何都有助于維持愛(ài)情以及戀愛(ài)關(guān)系的神圣性。我們從媒體中接觸到的人和 事，使我們的感情歷程大大加速，要想慢慢地體會(huì)自己的感受，確實(shí)需要付出努力。也許有些人會(huì)把他們目前的感情狀況歸結(jié)為同齡人之間所施加的壓力。跟從前相比，現(xiàn)在有更多的情感在欲望的壓力