佚名/Anonymous
Many years ago, when I was a young man in my twenties, I worked as a salesman for a St. Louis piano company.
We sold our pianos all over the state by advertising in small town newspapers and then, when we had received sufficient replies, we would load our little trucks, drive into the area and sell the pianos to those who had replied.
Every time we advertised in the cotton country of Southeast Missouri, we would receive a reply on a postcard which said, in effect,“Please bring me a new piano for my little granddaughter. It must be red mahogany. I can pay $10 a month with my egg money.”The old lady scrawled on and on and on that postcard until she filled it up, then turned it over and even wrote on the front—— around and around the edges until there was barely room for the address.
Of course, we could not sell a new piano for $10 a month. No finance company would carry a contract with payments that small, so we ignored her postcards.
One day, however, I happened to be in that area calling on other replies, and out of curiosity I decided to look the old lady up. I found pretty much what I expected:the old lady lived in a one room share-croppers cabin in the middle of a cotton field.
The cabin had a dirt floor and there were chickens in the house. Obviously, the old lady could not have qualified to purchase anything on credit—no car, no phone, no real job, nothing but a roof over her head and not a very good one at that. I could see daylight through it in several places. Her little granddaughter was about 10, barefoot and wearing a feed-sack dress.
I explained to the old lady that we could not sell a new piano for $10 a month and that she should stop writing to us every time she saw our ad. I drove away heartsick, but my advice had no effect—she still sent us the same postcard every six weeks. Always wanting a new piano, red mahogany, please, and swearing she would never miss a $10 payment. It was sad.
A couple of years later, I owned my own piano company, and when I advertised in that area, the postcards started coming to me. For months, I ignored them—what else could I do?
But then, one day when I was in the area something came over me. I had a red mahogany piano on my little truck. Despite knowing that I was about to make a terrible business decision, I delivered the piano to her and told her I would carry the contract myself at $10 a month with no interest, and that would mean 52 payments. I took the new piano in the house and placed it where I thought the roof would be least likely to rain on it. I admonished her and the little girl to try to keep the chickens off it, and I left— sure I had just thrown away a new piano.
But the payments came in, all 52 of them as agreed—sometimes with coins taped to a 3x5 inch card in the envelope. It was incredible!
So, I put the incident out of my mind for 20 years.
Then one day I was in Memphis on other business, and after dinner at the Holiday Inn on the Levee, I went into the lounge. As I was sitting at the bar having an after-dinner drink, I heard the most beautiful piano music behind me. I looked around, and there was a lovely young woman playing a very nice grand piano.
Being a pianist of some ability myself, I was stunned by her virtuosity, and I picked up my drink and moved to a table beside her where I could listen and watch. She smiled at me, asking for requests, and when she took a break she sat down at my table.
“Aren't you the man who sold my grandma a piano a long time ago?”
It didn't ring a bell, so I asked her to explain.
She started to tell me, and I suddenly remembered. My Lord, it was her! It was the little barefoot girl in the feed sack dress!
She told me her name was Elise and since her grandmother couldn't afford to pay for lessons, she had learned to play by listening to the radio. She said she had started to play in church where she and her grandmother had to walk over two miles, and that she had then played in school, had won many awards and a music scholarship. She had married an attorney in Memphis and he had bought her a grand piano.
Something else entered my mind.“Look, Elise,”I asked,“May I ask you what kind of wood is your first piano made of, the one your grandmother bought you?”
“It's red mahogany,”she said,“Why?”
I couldn't speak.
Did she understand the significance of the red mahogany? The unbelievable audacity of her grand mother insisting on a red mahogany piano when no one in his right mind would have sold her a piano of any kind? I think not.
And then did the old lady understand the marvelous accomplishment of that beautiful, terribly underprivileged child in the feed sack dress? No, I'm sure she didn't understand that either.
But I did, and my throat tightened.
Finally, I found my voice.“I just wondered,”I said.“I'm proud of you, but I have to go to my room.”
And I did have to go to my room, because men don't like to be seen crying in public.
多年以前，我是圣路易斯市一家钢琴公司的推销员。那时我二十几岁。
我们的广告刊登在各小镇的报纸上，在全州范围内出售我们的钢琴。当我们收到某个地方的足够多的订单时，会用小卡车把钢琴送到定购钢琴的人的家里。
每次，在密苏里州东南部的棉花之乡登广告时，我们都会收到一份写在明信片上的订单，大意是说：“请为我的小孙女送来一架钢琴，一定要红木质的，我会每月用卖鸡蛋的钱，付给你们10美元。”这位老妇人在明信片上写满了字，还翻过来在正面的四边上也写满了字，以至于几乎没有地方写地址了。
当然，我们不可能接受每月10美元的付款方式，因为没有哪一家信贷公司会接受这么小额的付款合同。所以，我们没有理睬她的订单。
可是，有一天恰巧我去老妇人所在的地区送货，出于好奇，我决定去她家看看。我看到的和我想象的差不多：她住在棉花地中一间只有一个房间的佃农小屋里。
小屋是泥土地，而且，里边还养着鸡。很显然老妇人没有资格以借贷方式买任何东西。因为她没有车，没有电话，没有正式的工作，只有一个不怎么好的屋顶。我发现屋顶的好几处地方都透光。她的孙女大约十岁，穿着用装饲料的麻袋做成的裙子。
我向老妇人解释说，我们不能接受每月10美元的付款方式，并且告诉她下次看到我们的广告不要再寄订单了。我心情非常悲痛地离开了她的家。然而，我的话对她没起任何作用。
我们每隔六个星期就会收到同样的明信片。都是要订购一架新的红木钢琴，并且发誓每月都会付10美元。这很让人悲伤。
几年后，我有了自己的钢琴公司。我在那个地区登广告，老妇人就把明信片寄到了我的公司。一连几个月我都没有理会她的订单，除此之外我还能做什么呢？
但是，有一天当我在那个地区时，我有了其他的想法。我的小卡车上有一架红木钢琴。尽管我知道我是在做赔本的买卖，我还是把那架钢琴送到了她家里，以个人名义和她约定她每月付给我10美元，分52次付清，没有利息。我把钢琴放在她屋里我认为最不可能漏雨的地方，并且告诉她和她的孙女不要让鸡飞到钢琴上。然后，我离开了，我就只当扔了一架新钢琴。
但是，按事先约定的，我准时收到了52次分期付款。有时，是用胶带粘在3x5英寸卡片上并装在信封里的硬币，这简直让人无法相信。
然而，这样特殊的事，我一忘就是二十年。
后来的一天，我在孟菲斯市办理其他业务，在黎威河畔的一家度假宾馆吃过饭后，我走进休闲厅。我坐下来喝餐后饮料时，听到身后传来优美的钢琴曲。我四处寻找，看到一位年轻的女子在弹一架很棒的大钢琴。
在某种程度上我也可以算是一位钢琴家，我被她的高超技艺折服了。我拿起我的饮料来到她旁边的桌子，边听边看。她朝我微笑，问我想听什么曲子。当她休息的时候来到我的桌子前。
“你就是那个多年前卖给我奶奶钢琴的那个人吧？”
我当时被她问愣了，所以我让她解释到底是怎么回事。
她开始解释，我突然想起了当年的事情。天哪，她就是那个光着脚丫，穿着用装饲料的麻袋做成的裙子的小女孩儿。
她告诉我她叫埃莉斯，因为她的祖母没有钱供她去上钢琴课，所以，她就通过收音机学习钢琴。她说，她一开始和奶奶一起走两英里多的路去教堂弹琴，也在学校弹琴，她获过很多奖，还赢得了音乐奖学金。她嫁给了孟菲斯的一位律师，他给她买了一架很棒的大钢琴。
我突然想起一件事情，我问：“埃莉斯，你能告诉我你祖母给你买的那架钢琴是什么质地的吗？”
“它是红木的，”她说，“你为什么问这个问题？”
我没有说话。
她是否懂得红木的意义？她是否知道她祖母的勇敢呢？她的祖母明明知道没有人会卖给她任何一种钢琴，却坚持要红木的。我想她不会懂得这些的。
另一方面，那个老妇人能够想到她贫穷的穿饲料袋做成的裙子的孙女取得如此大的成就吗？我想她也不会想到的。
而这一切我都看到了，我的喉咙哽咽了。
最后，我说：“我只是好奇。我为你感到骄傲，但是，我要回我的房间了。”
我必须回到我的房间去，因为，男人不想在公众面前哭。
心灵小语
善意的坚持有时会成就他人腾飞的梦想！
词汇笔记
sufficient [s?'fi??nt] adj.足够的；充分的
Allow sufficient time for your child to dress himself/herself.
给孩子足够的时间让他自己穿衣服。
decision [di'si??n] n.决定；决心；决议
They have their rights to make their own decision.
她们有权做出自己的决定。
incredible [in'kred?bl] adj.难以置信的；惊人的
An incredible love story has come out of China recently and managed to touch the world.
最后，中国发生了一个难以置信的爱情故事，它感动了全世界。
scholarship ['sk?l??ip] n.学识；学问；奖学金
Winning the scholarship was a great event in the boy's life.
赢得这个奖项是这个男孩一生中的一件大事。
小试身手
当我们收到某个地方的足够多的订单时，会用小卡车把钢琴送到定购钢琴的人的家里。
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她的祖母明明知道没有人会卖给她任何一种钢琴，却坚持要红木的。
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我必须回到我的房间去，因为，男人不想在公众面前哭。
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短语家族
She came in the middle of the day.
in the middle of：在……中间；在……当中
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The child looked around for a moment and said:“I think they're all crazy!”
look around：朝四周看
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