我们沿着它前面的台阶向上走,在一处小小的咨询台前停了下来。老流浪汉向一位笑容可掬的老太太说了几句话,并问她是否愿意在他和我进图书馆时帮忙照看一下我的行李。我把行李放在那位老奶奶般的人那里,走进了那座宏伟的学习殿堂。

The bum first led me to a table and asked me to sit down and wait for a moment while he looked for something special amongst the shelves. A few moments later, he returned with a couple of old books under his arms and set them on the table.

老流浪汉先把我带到一张桌子前,让我坐下来稍等片刻,而他则到那些林立的书架中去寻找那个特别重要的东西去了。不一会儿,他腋下夹着几本旧书回来了。

He then sat down beside me and spoke. He started with a few statements that were very special and that changed my life. He said, "There are two things that I want to teach you, young man, and they are these: "Number one is to never judge a book by its cover, for a cover can fool you. "He followed with, "I ll bet you think I m a bum, don t you, young man?"

他把书放到桌子上,然后他在我的身边坐了下来,打开了话匣子,出口便不凡,其话语非常特别,改变了我一生的命运。他说:“年轻人,我想教你两件事,就是:第一是切记不要从封面来判断一本书的好坏,因为封面有时也会蒙骗你。”他接着说道:“我敢打赌,你一定认为我是个老流浪汉,是不是?年轻人。”

I said, "Well, uh, yes, I guess so, sir. "

我说:“嗯,是的,先生,我想是的。”

"Well, young man, I've got a little surprise for you. I am one of the wealthiest men in the world. I have probably everything any man could ever want. I originally come from the Northeast and have all the things that money can buy. But a year ago, my wife passed away, bless her soul, and since then I have been deeply reflecting upon life.

“嗯,年轻人,我要给你一个小惊喜:其实我是这个世界上最富有的人之一,人们梦寐以求的任何东西我几乎都有。我最初从美国东北部来,凡是金钱能买到的东西,我全都有。但是一年前,我妻子死了,愿上帝保佑她的在天之灵,从那以后,我开始深深地反思人生的意义。

I realized there were certain things I had not yet experienced in life, one of which was what it would be like to live like a bum on the streets. I made a commitment to myself to do exactly that for one year. For the past year I have been going from city to city doing just that. So, you see, don't ever judge a book by its cover, for a cover can fool you.

我意识到,生活中有些东西我还没有体验过,其中之一就是做一个沿街乞讨的流浪汉滋味如何。于是我对自己发誓要像流浪汉一样活一年。在过去的一年里,我从一个城市流浪到另一个城市,就像流浪汉一样生活。所以,你看,切记不要从封面来判断一本书的好坏,因为封面有时也会蒙骗你。”

"Number two is to learn how to read, my boy. For there is only one thing that people can't take away from you, and that is your wisdom. " At that moment, he reached forward, grabbed my right hand in his and put them upon the books he'd pulled from the shelves. They were the writi ngs of Plato and Aristotle-immortal classics from ancient times.

“第二,我的孩子,是要学会如何读书。因为这个世界上只有一种东西是别人无法从你的身上拿走的,那,就是你的智慧!”说到这,他俯身向着我,抓住我的右手放在他从书架中找到的书上。那是柏拉图和亚里士多德的着作--尚古以降已经流传了几千年的不朽的经典。