Price Tags

by Lucy

Price Tags

by Lucy

Track 9

世界上具有经济价值的事物大概比不具有经济价值的事物要多。然而，最贵重的都是不能用金钱衡量、有钱也买不来的东西，比如生命和健康，比如爱和幸福。

Everything has a price.

That apple. The cute little1)puppy at the pet store. Even that paper bag your mom packs your peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches in. Yes, that brown paper has value.

When I was five, I didn’t understand this. I would run into the supermarket with my mom and fill my stomach with2)muffins from the bakery. Until someone caught me and had Mamma pay for what I ate. How was I supposed to know?

Once, when we got home, my mother3)spanked me. I could see the4)rage in her eyes like fire, but I just kept smiling like a five-year-old. When I felt her hand5)smack me—the one I thought held only love—I learned that nothing was free.

I asked my teacher if we had to pay to get a gold star. I asked the bus driver if we needed to pay to sit in the back of his bus. I even asked Mamma if I had to pay to be alive.

“To be alive?” Mamma sighed as if she was pouring all of the wealth from her lungs.

“I bet my hands are worth a dollar each. One whole dollar! Mamma, that’s one hundred6)pennies! My fingernails have been7)glossed with money from Mother Nature!” I8)squealed.

A9)chuckle10)boomed through the room, and a smile appeared on Mamma’s face.

“Only a dollar? Baby, I think your tiny hands are worth more than that. Each finger is worth a hundred dollars.”

1) puppy ['pʌpɪ] n. 幼犬，幼小的动物

2） muffin ['mʌfɪn] n. 小松饼，小松糕

3) spank [spæŋk] v.（用巴掌）打

4) rage [reɪdʒ] n. 愤怒

5) smack [smæk] v.（用手掌）打，拍，掴

6) penny ['penɪ] n. 美分

7) gloss [glɒs] v. 使有光泽

8) squeal [skwiːl] v. 长声尖叫

9) chuckle [tʃʌkəl] v. 轻声地笑，咯咯地笑

10) boom [buːm] v. 发出低沉而有回响的声音

A serious look11)took over my face.

One hundred dollars? Each finger? On each hand? Could Mamma get Papa out of12)jail with that much money? Could Mamma send me to a better school, like where Shirley goes? Could Mamma buy us a better house? Could Mamma stop working so long and hard? She only made $4 an hour and worked eight hours a day, six days a week with barely any holidays off.

Could my hands buy us a better life? I held them up to have a good look. They didn’t seem so special. The fingernails were short from biting, the skin was13)flaky from washing dishes, and the color was so dark I couldn’t see my14)veins.

“If my hands are worth that much, then how much are my arms, legs and neck worth? I hope they’re a hundred dollars, too. Then I can buy a hundred15)candy bars for my little sister for $61.79, I can get 129 pounds of black beans for $78.25, and I can even buy 70 boxes of pencils for $96.30. We’ll be rich forever!”

My mother chuckled again, but this time I felt the sadness behind the laughter.

“Well, that’s a lot you can get. How much do you figure your head and heart are worth?”

That one16)stumped me. Isn’t the heart the most valuable part of the body? Isn’t the brain important too? Can I give that away?

Before I could answer, my mother whispered, “Baby, you can’t put a price tag on your heart. The love17)pumping through those veins couldn’t even buy you the moon, but it will buy you what everyone seeks in life, though many never find. Happiness. And you, my girl, are priceless.”

I remember Papa using $4 to buy something the police didn’t like. Didn’t that buy him a18)pocketful of regret? I remember Mamma using $6 to buy me a pretty yellow dress for the first day of school. Didn’t that buy me a pretty smile, too? I remember when that cute boy in my class gave me a one-cent candy for my birthday. Didn’t that buy me a heart full of warmth?

But that was ten years ago.

Now I don’t buy anything without a price tag.

11) take over 接管，占领

12) jail [dʒeɪl] n. 监狱

13） flaky ['fleɪkɪ] adj. 薄而易剥落的

14) vein [veɪn] n. 血管，静脉血管

15) candy bar 单独包装的块状糖

16) stump [stʌmp] v. 难倒

17) pump [pʌmp] v.（像泵柄一样）上下运动

18) pocketful ['pɒkɪtfʊl] n. 一口袋（之量）

一切事物皆有标价。

那颗苹果有标价。宠物店里那只可爱的小狗有标价。甚至你妈妈用来给你装花生酱加果冻三明治的纸袋也有标价。没错，那张棕色的纸也值钱。

五岁的时候，我并不明白这一点。我会跟着妈妈跑进超市里，然后我会在面包房往自己的肚子里塞满小松糕。直到我偷吃被人逮到，妈妈才被迫为我吃的东西买单。那时我又怎么会明白？

有一次，我们（从超市）回到家，妈妈扇了我一巴掌。我能看到她眼里的怒火，但我只是像个五岁小孩那样一直微笑着。直到我感受到她用手—我原以为只充满爱的那只手—掴了我一巴掌时，我才明白没有什么东西是免费的。

我曾问过我的老师，我们要不要付钱去得到一颗小金星；我问过公交车司机，我们要不要付钱才能坐在他开的公交车里；我甚至问过妈妈，我要不要付钱才能活着。

“才能活着？”妈妈叹了一口气，好像要把她肺里的财富统统倾倒出来一样。

“我打赌我的两只手各值一美元。整整一美元！妈妈，那可是100美分啊！我的指甲都被大自然母亲的钱打磨光滑了！”我尖叫道。

咯咯的笑声在房间里回响，妈妈的脸上露出了一个微笑。

“只值一美元？宝贝，我想你的这双小手可不止这个价。每根手指都值100美元呢。”

我的表情变得严肃起来。

100美元？每根手指？两只手的手指都是？用这一大笔钱，妈妈能把爸爸从监狱里弄出来吗？妈妈能送我到更好的学校上学，就像雪莉上的学校那样吗？妈妈能给我们买一套更好的房子吗？妈妈能不再这么长时间辛苦地工作吗？她每小时只赚4美元，一天工作八个小时，一周工作六天，几乎没有其他任何假期。

我的双手能给我们买来更好的生活吗？我举起手仔细地看。我的双手似乎没那么特别。指甲被咬得短短的，皮肤因为洗碗而掉皮，肤色也深得看不见血管。

“如果我的双手值那么多钱，那么我的手臂、腿和脖子值多少钱呢？我希望它们也值100美元。那么我就可以花61.79美元买一百颗糖果给我妹妹了，我可以花78.25美元买到129磅（约117斤）黑豆了，我甚至可以花96.30美元买70盒铅笔了。我们会永远富有的！”

妈妈又咯咯地笑了，但这次我感觉到了笑声背后的伤感。

“嗯，你能买到很多东西。那你想一想你的脑袋和心脏值多少钱？”

那个问题可难倒我了。心脏不是身体最有价值的部位吗？脑袋不也很重要吗？我能舍弃这些部位吗？

还没等我回答出来，妈妈就轻声说道：“宝贝，你不能给你的心脏贴上价格标签。血管里流动的爱也不能让你买到月亮，但能让你买到每个人都在生命中寻找的东西，尽管很多人从未找到。那就是幸福。你，我的女儿，是无价之宝。”

我记得爸爸花4美元买了警察不喜欢的东西。他不是买了满满一口袋的悔恨吗？我记得妈妈花6美元买了一条漂亮的黄色连衣裙给我在上学的第一天穿。她不也同时给我买了一个美丽的笑容吗？我记得班上那个可爱的男孩在我生日时给了我一颗一美分的糖果。他不是因此给我买了满心的温暖吗？

但那是十年前的事了。

现在，我不买任何没有价格标签的东西。

物可沽，爱无价

翻译：Roza