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A $3,000 dictionary 价值三千美元的字典 1 I remember a day some years back on one of the first days of a new semester in college. People were tossing balls, passing out catalogs, and handing out free stuff. I was completely charmed by all the activity. After all, a major feature of college life is limited finances. Free stuff is like gold and I felt entitled to my share! 我记得那是几年前的一天，是大学的新学期刚开学的日子。人们正在忙着扔球，分发目录，发放免费的东西。我完全被这些活动吸引了。毕竟大学生活的主要特点就是只能利用有限的资金，所以免费的东西就像金子一样，我觉得我理所当然也有份！ 2 I moved closer to scout out the situation. In my mind, I heard my mother issue her famous line: "There is no such thing as free stuff!", as the student behind the table urged me to receive a brand-new dictionary. My mom's voice was quickly filtered out as I reached out to claim my gift. I was handed a form instead. Once I completed the credit card application, I was told, I would receive a free dictionary. With the confidence that a probe of my finances would reveal the sheer weakness of my profile, I completed the form and submitted it. 我走近前去察看详情。当桌子背后的那位学生怂恿我去领一本免费的全新的字典时，我的脑海里仿佛听到了母亲的那句名言：“世上绝没有免费的东西。”母亲的声音随着我伸手去索要礼物很快就被过滤掉了。然而递给我的不是字典却是一张表格。我被告知，一旦填写信用卡申请表，就会收到一本免费的字典。我确信对我财产状况的调查会暴露我在财务上的不足，所以我填了表格，并把它交了。 3 To my sheer amazement, plastic freedom made its way into my mailbox a few weeks later. At first, I was shocked that these huge credit card corporations trusted me, a struggling student holding two minimum wage part-time jobs and paying monthly installments on a purchased computer. But the credit card company seemed to know more than I did, so I accepted the card and decided it was perfect to develop my own credit like so many had done before me. 令我十分惊奇的是，信用卡竟在几个星期后寄到了我的邮箱。起初，我感到震惊，这些庞大的信用卡公司竟然信任我这个在经济上苦苦挣扎的学生，我只持有两份拿最低工资的兼职工作，每月还在分期支付之前所买的电脑。但这家信用卡公司似乎比我更了解自己，所以我接受了信用卡，并认为它是让我建立自己的信用的绝佳机会，就如许多人已在我之前就这么做的那样。 4 My first purchases were tame: a T-shirt, vitamins, or a CD as if I hadn't had the card. Soon, however, I began to buy things that I wanted. With my artificial sense of security, I bought a guitar, a fishing rod and a hunting rifle, long-stem roses for my girlfriend, a brand-new wardrobe, a sophisticated new calculator, and countless other trifles I felt I "absolutely needed". I began to accumulate debt. 我最初买的东西平淡无奇：一件T恤衫，一点维生素，或一盘光碟，没有信用卡时我也买这些。然而，很快我就开始买我想要的东西了。有了信用卡给我的那份虚假的安全感，我买了一把吉他，一根钓竿，一支猎枪，给我女朋友的长茎玫瑰，一个全新的衣柜，一个精密的新计算器，和无数其他我觉得“非要不可”但却是毫无价值的东西。我开始累积债务了。 5 Making matters worse, I lost one part-time job and with it my output of funds grew ever smaller, like those now long-dead roses. I began taking cash advances just to eat. There was barely enough money from my paychecks to cover basic ongoing living expenses, and satisfying the minimum monthly payment on the card was impossible. Now, the principal balance doubled due to late payment penalties and other sanctions that the credit card issuer imposed in accordance with the contract. 更糟的是，我失去了一份兼职工作，这样我能使用的资金就如那些凋零的玫瑰一样，越来越少。我开始为了吃饭而预支现金。我的薪水勉强够维持基本生活费，我无法还信用卡的每月最低支付额。现在，由于信用卡发行公司按照合同规定对逾期还款进行了罚款，再加上其他惩处，我所欠余额增加了一倍。 6 Usually, I'm not a person who takes things too seriously. I always see the positive side of negative situations, but the gravity of my credit card debt crisis had left me in despair. My parents provided the tuition for school, so I believed it was my responsibility to take care of everything else in my life. I owed them more than I could possibly imagine, specifically their vision of a boy becoming a truly autonomous man. Now, I was letting them, and myself, down. Every time my mom called to chat, she always asked if I needed money. I knew her heart would break if I had said "Yes", so I shrugged it off and hid everything from her. 通常情况下，我不是一个把什么都太当回事的人。我总会在消极的情况下看到积极的一面，但我严重的信用卡债务危机使我感到绝望。我的父母为我提供了学费，所以我认为照料好我生活中的其他一切是我的责任。我欠他们的比我能想象的更多，说得明确些，我辜负了他们盼望一个男孩能成为一个真正有自主能力的男人的期望。现在，我让他们和我本人失望了。每次我妈妈打电话来跟我闲聊，总会问我是否需要钱。我知道如果我说“是”， 她的心会碎掉的，所以我装作满不在乎，对她隐瞒了一切。 7 I began to lose interest in many activities in which I'd become involved. Friends would call and invite me for dinner, but my finances would prohibit any expenses, so I'd decline every time. I would manufacture excuses for why I always said "No" to their offers. My dirty little secret began to tear at my emotional stability. Soon, calls from friends became more infrequent, meeting new people was out of the question, and my mom began exclaiming she didn't know why she even bothered to call me. A simple matter of credit card debt caused me to drive everything I cared about from my life. I felt emotionally crippled and financially bankrupt! 我开始对我以往热衷的很多活动失去兴趣。朋友们打电话来邀请我去吃饭，但我的财务状况使我不能花任何钱，所以我每次都拒绝。我会编造借口来解释为什么我对他们的提议总是说“不”。我那见不得人的小秘密开始扰乱自己的情绪。不久，朋友的电话变少了，也不可能结识新朋友，我妈妈也开始感叹她不知为什么还要费心给我打电话。信用卡债务这一简单的事件让我不得不将我所在乎的一切都从我的生活中驱逐出去。我已精神崩溃，且财务破产！ 8 After graduation, I finally explained my financial distress to my mother. It had been several years since my awful money issues began, so I believed the wound to be fairly well healed, but the blend of disgust and emotion I felt when I explained my credit card debt was torture. I choked on every word, and I hesitated on the number. I felt physical pain when I looked her in the eye. There was nothing more terrifying to me than exemplifying a parent's nightmare. The time had come to move toward a solution. At that moment, I felt the negativity I had brought into my life began to dissolve. 毕业后，我终于向母亲解释了我的财务困境。我那可怕的金钱问题从开始至今已好几年了，所以我以为伤口愈合得相当不错了，但是当我向母亲解释我的信用卡债务时，对自己的厌恶感和所感到的尴尬合并成一种折磨。我哽咽着说出每一个字，并迟疑地扳出具体数字。当我看着她的眼睛时，我感到了身体上的痛苦。对我而言，没有什么比成为父母噩梦的实例更可怕。是解决问题的时候了。在那一刻，我觉得我给生活带来的消极面开始消散。 9 Recently I learned that I'm not an isolated case, not the only college student to suffer from credit card chaos. In a time of sky-high tuition costs, many students fall to the temptation of easily accessible credit cards. They are left with tremendous amounts of debt before their lives have even truly begun. 最近我才知道，我不是一个孤立的事件，不是唯一遭受信用卡之苦的大学生。在学费高昂的时代，很多学生都会受到轻而易举就可获得的信用卡的诱惑。在他们的生活甚至还没真正开始之前，他们已债台高筑。 10 Credit card is not the criminal. However, there is a suspicion that credit card companies have provided students with access to debt, knowing it has the potential to ruin their future. To remedy this situation, the screening procedures must become more severe, and college campuses should be free of credit card marketers. If this does not change, many students, like myself, will suffer the consequences of the illusion of a seemingly free but staggeringly expensive $3,000 dictionary. 信用卡无罪。然而，令人怀疑的是信用卡公司明知债务有可能断送学生的未来，却为他们提供了债务缠身的通道。为了改变这种情况，信用审查程序必须变得更加严格，大学校园不准有信用卡营销。如果这个不改变，很多学生就会像我一样，遭受看似免费但却高达3,000美元的字典的假象所带来的后果。 |
