Unit 8 Reading

The gifts 礼物 / 麦琪的礼物

By O. Henry

——欧·亨利

One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents.

1 美元 87 美分，只有这么多。Della 数了三次了，1 美元 87 美分。

And the next day would be Christmas. She could not afford a present, so she sat down and cried.

第二天就是圣诞节了，她买不起礼物，于是她坐在地上哭了起来。

Jim and Della had two possessions which they were both proud of.

Jim 和 Della，有两件令他们引以为傲的家当。

One was Jim's gold watch that was from his father and his grandfather.

一个是 Jim 的金表，那是从他父亲、他祖父那里传下来的；

The other was Della's beautiful hair. It fell about her, and reached below her knee.

另一件是 Della 的一头秀发，披肩而垂，长及膝下。

Della put on her old brown jacket and her old brown hat. Then she went out of the door and down the stairs to the street.

Della 穿上她的旧棕夹克，戴上她的旧棕帽，接着开门出去，下楼来到街上。

She stopped at a store. The sign in front of the store read "Hair Goods".

她在一家商店前停下来，店门口的牌子上面写着——“发品”。

"Will you buy my hair?" asked Della. "Twenty dollars," the woman said.

“你买我的头发吗？”德拉问。“二十美元。”女人说。

Then Della searched through the stores looking for a present for Jim.

接下来，Della 一家挨一家商店搜寻，给吉姆挑选一个礼物。

She found it at last. It was a watch chain. The bill was twenty-one dollars.

最后她终于找到了，是一个表链，花了她 21 美元。

At seven o'clock, the coffee was made and dinner was ready. Jim was never late. Della heard his steps on the stairs.

七点钟，咖啡煮好了，晚饭也一切就绪。Jim 一贯准时回家，她听见下面楼梯上响起了他的脚步声。

The door opened and Jim walked in. He stopped inside the door.

门开了，Jim 走了进来，他停了门内。

His eyes were fixed on Della, and there was an expression in them that she could not read.

他的眼睛直直地盯着 Della，她看不出他到底是什么神情。

"Jim," she cried, "don't look at me that way. I sold my hair to buy you a Christmas present."

“Jim，”她哭着说，“别这样看着我了，我把我的头发剪掉卖了，来给你买圣诞礼物了。”

Jim drew a box from his pocket and put it on the table.

Jim 从口袋里掏出一个盒子，把它放在桌子上。

Della opened it. There lay the set of combs that she had always wanted.

Della 打开它，里面躺着的，正是她一直想拥有的一套梳子。

Now they were hers, but her hair was gone.

可现在，她拥有了，但她的头发已经不见了。

She smiled and held out Jim's present. "I hunted all over town to find it. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it."

她微笑起来，拿出了给 Jim 的礼物。“我找遍了全城才找到它。把表给我，我要看看它配上去怎么样。”

Instead of obeying, Jim sat down, put his hands behind his head and smiled.

Jim 并没有听从她的吩咐，而是倒在睡椅上，双手放脑后，笑了。

"Della," he said, "I sold the watch to get the money to buy your combs."

“Della，”他说，“我卖掉了金表，换钱给你买了梳子。”