The Boy with the Billion-Dollar Secret 怀有亿万美元秘密的男孩

获取更多精品英语课程，请关注微信公众号：Jerry的英语课堂

The Boy with the Billion-Dollar Secret 怀有亿万美元秘密的男孩
One day in 1965, when I was a librarian at View Ridge School in Seattle a fourth-grade teacher approached me.

1965年，我在西雅图景岭学校图书馆担任管理员。一天，有同事推荐一个四年级学生来图书馆帮忙。   

She had a student who finished his work before all the others and needed a challenge. “Could he help in the library?” she asked.

他有一个学生比其他人更早的完成了任务，需要挑战。他问道：“他能来图书馆帮忙吗？”

I said, “Send him along.”

我说：“让他来吧。”

Soon a slight, sandy-haired boy in jeans and a T-shirt appeared.

不久，一个沙色头发，穿着牛仔裤和T恤的瘦小男孩来了，

“Do you have a job for me?” he asked.

他问：“我在这能做点什么呢？”

I told him about the Dewey Decimal System for shelving books.

我先给他讲了图书的杜威十进分类法，

He picked up the idea immediately.

他很快就理解了。

Then I showed him a stack of cards for long-overdue books that I was beginning to think had actually been returned but were miss-shelved with the wrong cards in them.

然后我给他展示了一沓早就过期的书的卡片，而我开始还以为那些书早就还掉了。但实际上我把错误的卡片放到了那些书里，并放到了错误的架子上。

He said, “Is it kind of a detective job?”

小男孩问：“像是当侦探吗？”
I answered “yes”.

我回答：“那当然”

And he became an unrelenting sleuth.

于是他就成了一个不屈不挠的侦探。

He had found three books with wrong cards by the time his teacher opened the door and announced, “Time for recess!”

他的老师打开门说“休息时间到了”，但是老师赢了。

He argued for finishing the job;

他和老师争论，希望能够先完成工作，
she made the case for fresh air. She won.

但老师说他得出去呼吸一下新鲜空气。最后说服了他。

The next morning, he arrived early.

第二天，他来得很早，
“I wanted to finish finding those books,” he said.

他说：“我想完成这些找书的工作”

At the end of the day, when he asked to be a librarian on a regular basis,

干完一天的活后，他正式请求我让他担任图书管理员。

it was easy to say yes. He worked untiriny.

我应该同意的，因为他工作上的不懈努力。

After a few weeks I found a note on my desk,

几周后，我在桌上发现了一张便条，

inviting me to dinner at the boy’s home.

突然邀请我上他家做客。

At the end of a pleasant evening, his mother announced that the family would be moving to the adjoining school district.

晚餐介绍时，孩子母亲告诉我他们要搬家了，到临近的一个学区。

Her son’s first concern, she said, was leaving the View Ridge library.

她孩子的首先关心的是，她说：离开景岭图书馆之后，

“Who will find the lost books?” he asked.

孩子问：“谁来整理那些站错队的书呢？”

When the time came, I said a reluctant good-bye.

他离开的时候，我很勉强的说了声再见。

Though initially he had seemed an ordinary kid, his zeal had set him apart.
尽管他起初看上去就像个普通的小孩，但他的热情却让他变得与众不同。

I missed him, but not for long.

我很想他，但是没过多久。

A few days later he popped in the door and joyfully announced,

几天之后，他又在我的图书馆门口出现了，并欣喜地告诉我， 

“The librarian over there doesn’t let boys work in the library.

那边的图书馆不让学生干，
My mother got me transferred back to View Ridge.
妈妈把他转回景岭学校来上学，

My dad will drop me off on his way to work.

由他爸爸在上班时接送他。

And if he can’t I’ll walk.”“

如果爸爸不带我，我就走路来。”  
I should have had an inkling such focused determination would take that young man wherever he wanted to go.

我当时心里便应该有数！如此坚定的决心，会带这个年轻人去任何他想要去的地方。

What I could not have guessed, however,

然而，我没有想到的是，

was that he would become a wizard of the Information Age:

他会成为信息时代的行家，

Bill Gates, tycoon of Microsoft and America’s richest man.

微软电脑公司大亨、美国首富—— 比尔·盖茨。