英语美文朗读 第573期 Its harder to be kind than clever

On one particular trip, I was about 10 years old. I was rolling around in the big bench seat in the back of the car. My grandfather was driving. And my grandmother had the passenger seat.

 

有一次我们去旅行，当时我10岁。我在车后的座椅上翻来覆去。我的祖父正在开车，我的祖母坐在副驾驶座上。

 

She smoked throughout these trips, and I hated the smell. At that age, I'd take any excuse to make estimates and do minor arithmetic. I'd calculate our gas mileage, figure out useless statistics on things like grocery spending.

在旅途中，她总是在抽烟，我讨厌烟味。那时的我，会找各种机会来做运算。我会算一加仑汽油能让我们走多远，还会算一些跟买菜开支有关的无聊运算。

 

I'd been hearing an ad campaign about smoking. I can't remember the details, but basically the ad said, every puff of a cigarette takes some number of minutes off of your life. I think it might have been two minutes per puff.

我一直有听说禁烟运动。我不记得具体细节，但是，广告上说的大概是，每吸一口烟，就会让人短命几分钟，可能大概是2分钟。

 

At any rate, I decided to do the math for my grandmother. I estimated the number of cigarettes per day, estimated the number of puffs per cigarette and so on.

反正，我决定要给我的祖母算笔账。我推算她每天抽烟的数量，每支烟要吸几口，等等。

 

When I was satisfied that I'd come up with a reasonable number, I poked my head into the front of the car, tapped my grandmother on the shoulder, and proudly proclaimed. At two minutes per puff, you've taken nine years off your life!

我算出了一个看似合理的数字，并洋洋自得。我把脑袋伸到车的前座，拍拍祖母的肩膀，骄傲地说，你每吸一口烟，就会短命两分钟，这样算下来，你总共已经短命了九年了！

 

I have a vivid memory of what happened next, and it was not what I expected. I expected to be applauded for my cleverness sand arithmetic skills.

接下来发生的事情，并不是我期待的那样，这令我记忆犹新。我期待的，是得到掌声，因为我很聪明，而且数学学得很好。

 

Jeff, you're so smart. You had to have made some tricky estimates, figure out the number of minutes in a year and do some division. That's not what happened.

我期待的，是她说，Jeff，你可真聪明！你要做一些复杂的运算，算出一年有多少分钟，然后还要做除法！但事实并非如此。

 

Instead, my grandmother burst into tears. I sat in the backseat and did not know what to do.

相反，我的祖母哭了。我坐在后座上，不知道怎么办才好。

 

While my grandmother sat crying, my grandfather, who had been driving in silence, pulled over onto the shoulder of the highway. He got out of the car and came around and opened my door and waited for me to follow.

祖母正在哭泣，这时，一直安静开车的祖父把车停在高速公路路肩上，下了车，走过来，给我开门，等我下车。

 

Was I in trouble? My grandfather was a highly intelligent, quiet man. He had never said a harsh word to me, and maybe this was to be the first time. Or maybe he would ask that I get back in the car and apologize to my grandmother.

我是不是闯祸了？我的祖父，是一个非常睿智，又很安静的人。他从来没有批评过我，也许这将会是第一次吧？或者，他会让我回到车上，向祖母道歉。

 

I had no experience in this realm with my grandparents and no way to gauge what the consequences might be.

我和祖父母还没经历过这样的情形，所以我也猜不到会面对怎么样的结果。

 

We stopped beside the trailer. My grandfather looked at me, and after a bit of silence, he gently and calmly said, Jeff, one day you'll understand that it's harder to be kind than clever.

我们站在车的旁边。祖父看着我，一阵沉默之后，他缓缓地、冷静地说，Jeff，总有一天，你会明白，善良比聪明更难做到。