擁有億萬美元秘密的男孩

張超

One day in 1965， when I was a librarian at View Ridge School in Seattle， a fourth-grade teacher came up to me. She had a student who finished his work before all the others and needed a challenge. “Could he help in the library？” she asked. I said， “Send him along.”

1965年，我在西雅圖維尤里奇學(xué)校當(dāng)圖書館員時(shí)，一天，一個(gè)四年級老師來找到我說，她有個(gè)學(xué)生總是最先完成功課，他需要做點(diǎn)對他有挑戰(zhàn)性的工作。“他可以來圖書館幫幫忙嗎？”她問。“帶他來吧！”我說。

Soon a sandy-haired little boy in jeans and a T-shirt stood in front of me. “Do you have a job for me？” he asked. I told him about the Dewey Decimal System for shelving1 books. He picked up the idea at once. Then I showed him a pile of cards for long overdue2 books that I was beginning to think they had actually been returned but were shelved with the wrong cards in them. He said， “Is it kind of detective job？” I answered， “Yes.” And he became a tireless detective.

不一會(huì)兒，一個(gè)穿著牛仔褲和T恤衫、長著淺棕色頭發(fā)的小男孩出現(xiàn)在我的面前?！澳阌谢顑鹤屛腋蓡幔俊彼麊?。我給他講了杜威十進(jìn)制（Dewey Decimal System）分類藏書法。他很快就領(lǐng)悟了。然后，我拿出一大堆過期未還的書的卡片。我想這些書實(shí)際上已經(jīng)歸還，只是由于卡片弄錯(cuò)而放錯(cuò)了書架。他問，“這有點(diǎn)像是偵探工作吧？”在我肯定地回答他后，他便成了一名不屈不撓的“偵探”。

He had found three books with wrong cards by the time his teacher opened the door and said “Time for rest！” He argued for finishing the finding job， but the teacher made the case for fresh air. She won.

在他老師推開門宣布到了休息時(shí)間時(shí)，他已經(jīng)找到3本夾錯(cuò)卡片的書。他說他還想繼續(xù)，直到把活兒干完為止。但老師說他得出去呼吸一下新鮮空氣。她最后說服了他。

The next morning， he arrived early. “I wanted to finish finding those books，” he said. At the end of the day， when he asked to be a librarian on a regular basis3， it was easy to say yes. He worked very hard.

第二天早晨，他早早地來了?！拔蚁虢裉彀褗A錯(cuò)卡片的書全找出來?！彼f。到那天下班時(shí)，他提出要做一名正常工作的圖書館員，我馬上就答應(yīng)了。他工作很賣力。

After a few weeks I found a note on my desk， inviting me to dinner at the boy’s home. At the end of a pleasant evening， his mother announced that the family would be moving to the school district nearby. Her son’s first concern， she said， was leaving the View Ridge library. “Who will find the lost books？” he asked.

幾星期后的一天，我在辦公桌上發(fā)現(xiàn)了一張請柬，是請我去這個(gè)男孩家吃晚飯。在那愉快的晚宴結(jié)束前，他媽媽告訴我，他們?nèi)覍岬礁浇粋€(gè)校區(qū)。她說，她兒子最擔(dān)心的就是要離開維尤里奇圖書館?！敖窈笳l來找那些丟失的書呢？”他問。

When the time came， I said an unwilling goodbye. Although at first he had seemed an ordinary boy， his conscientious4 attitude had made him different.

分別時(shí)，我極不情愿地同他道了別。這男孩乍一看似乎很普通，但他做事那種認(rèn)真專注讓他與眾不同。

I missed him， but not for long. A few days later he popped5 in the door and joyfully announced， “The librarian over there doesn’t let boys work in the library. My mother got me transferred6 back to View Ridge. My dad will drop me off on his way to work. And if he can’t， I’ll walk.”

我很想念他，但不久就不用想念了，因?yàn)閹滋煲院螅榈匾宦暣蜷_門，喜笑顏開地宣布：“那兒的圖書管理員不讓男孩在圖書館工作，我媽媽又讓我轉(zhuǎn)學(xué)回維尤里奇中學(xué)。我爸爸會(huì)在他上班時(shí)候順便捎帶我上學(xué)。如果他辦不到的話，我就走路！”

I should have had a thought that such focused determination would take that young man wherever he wanted to go. What I could not have guessed， however， was that he would become a talent of the Information Age： Bill Gates， tycoon7 of Microsoft and America’s richest man.

我當(dāng)時(shí)就該想到，做事這樣專心致志的孩子，是可以達(dá)成任何目標(biāo)的。但我萬萬沒料到的是，他會(huì)成為今天信息時(shí)代的奇才：比爾·蓋茨，微軟公司的巨頭，也是美國最富有的人。