The Surprise Job一份惊喜的工作

Tiegan always liked to sing. Her earliestmemories all have songs in them. Tieganliked to sing in the bathroom before sleeping，and she liked to sing in the morning on theway to school.

Sometimes， Tiegan’s family liked thehouse to be quiet. Mom and Dad liked towatch the news on TV each night.“It’squiet time， Tiegan，”they would say. ThenTiegan had to find something else to do. Shehad lots of toys， but she didn’t like them asmuch as singing.

One summer day， Tiegan was singingher favorite songs in the living room. Dadcame downstairs1 and said， “Tiegan， I havea headache2. Can you go outside and play？ Ireally need it to be quiet so I can take anap3.”Tiegan sighed4 and went outside. Itwas a sunny way， and many people wereoutside riding bikes and walking their dogs.She sat at the curb5 and looked around.

Then she started to sing. She was carefulto be quiet at first， but soon the voice becamelouder6.“Dad probably7 can’t hear meanyway，”she thought，“so it’s probably okayto sing outside.”Then Tiegan felt hot， andtook off her hat.

Just as Tiegan finished one of herfavorite songs， a man with a small dogstopped in front of her.“That was a beautifulsong，”he said. And he dropped8 a dollar inher hat. Before Tiegan could say anything， theman walked away with his dogs.

Tiegan wasn’t sure what to do with thedollar， but she wanted to keep singing. As shestarted her next song， Mrs. Maudslay came outof her house and looked over the fence9.“Areyou starting a new job， Tiegan？”she asked.

“What do you mean？”asked Tiegan.“I’mjust playing and singing.”

“Oh，”said Mrs. Maudslay. “I thoughtmaybe you were busking10， sinceyou have your hat out.”

“What’s busking？”asked Tiegan.

Mrs. Maudslay said，“Busking is when astreet performer11 puts out a hat to collect12money. People like to drop in a dollar or twoto show that they liked the show.”

Tiegan hadn’t meant to start a new job，but since her hat was already out， shedecided to keep singing. Soon enough，people walked past and stopped to listen.When they were ready to move on， theydropped some money into her hat. By theend of the afternoon， Tiegan’s hat was full13.Singing didn’t feel like work， but she hadmade enough money to take Dad out for icecreamjust as soon as he was feeling better.

蒂根一直很喜欢唱歌。她最早的记忆里都有歌曲相伴。蒂根喜欢睡觉前在浴室唱歌，她喜欢在早上上学的路上唱歌。

有时候，蒂根的家人喜欢家里保持安静。妈妈和爸爸喜欢每天晚上看电视新闻。他们会说：“现在是安静的时候，蒂根。”然后蒂根不得不找别的事情做。她有许多玩具，但她不像喜欢唱歌那样喜欢它们。

一个夏日，蒂根正在客厅里唱她最喜欢的歌。爸爸下楼说：“蒂根，我头疼。你能出去玩吗？我真的需要安静的环境，这样我就可以小睡一会儿。”蒂根叹了口气就出门了。这是一条阳光明媚的路，许多人在外面骑自行车和遛狗。她坐在路边，环顾四周。

然后她开始唱歌。起初她小心翼翼地轻声唱，但很快声音就变大了。“反正爸爸大概听不到我唱歌。”她想，“所以在外面唱应该没问题。”接着蒂根觉得很热，就脱下了她的帽子。

就在蒂根唱完她最喜欢的一首歌时，一个牵着小狗的男人停在了她面前。他说：“真是一首动听的歌。”然后往她帽子里放了一块钱。蒂根还没来得及说什么，那人就牵着他的狗走了。

蒂根不知道该拿这钱怎么办，但她想继续唱下去。当她开始唱她的下一首歌时，莫兹利夫人走出房子，透过栅栏看过来，她问道：“你开始新工作了吗，蒂根？”

“什么意思？”蒂根问，“我只是边玩边唱。”

“哦。”莫兹利夫人说，“看到你把帽子放在前面，我还以为也许你是在街头卖艺呢。”

“什么是卖艺？”蒂根问。

莫兹利夫人说：“卖艺就是街头表演者拿出一顶帽子来收钱。人们喜欢花一两美元来表示他们喜欢这个表演。”

蒂根并没有打算从事新的工作，但由于她的帽子已经拿出来了，她决定继续唱歌。很快，人们路过时会停下来听一听。当他们准备继续走时会往她的帽子里放一些钱。下午快结束时，蒂根的帽子已经满了。唱歌感觉不像工作，但她已经赚了足够的钱，等爸爸感觉好一点，她就和他出去吃冰激凌。

▏Notes

1. downstairs 顺楼梯而下；往楼下

2. headache 头痛

3. nap 尤指在白天，小睡、打盹

4. sigh 叹气，叹息

5. curb 路缘，马路牙子

6. louder 大声一点

7. probably 大概，或许

8. drop 投，丢

9. fence 篱笆，栅栏，围栏

10. busk 沿街卖艺

11. performer 表演者，演出者，演员

12. collect 聚集，聚积

13. full 满的，满是……的