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The American Dream means different things to different people. But
for many, particularly immigrants, it means the opportunity to make a
better life for themselves. For them the dream is that talent and hard
work can take you from log cabin to White House. Tony Trivisonno did not
rise quite so high, yet he managed to make his own dream come true.
美国梦对不同的人有不同的意义。但对许多人，尤其是对移民而言，它意味着改善自己生活的机会。对于他们，美国梦的含义就是才能与勤劳能让你从小木屋走向白宫。托尼·特里韦索诺并没有爬到那么高，但他成功地使自己的梦想成真。
1 He came from a rocky farm in Italy, somewhere south of Rome. How or when he
got to America, I don't know. But one evening I found him standing in the driveway, behind my garage. He was about five-foot-seven or eight, and thin.
他来自意大利罗马以南某地一个满地石子的农庄。他什么时候怎么到美国的，我不清楚。不过，有天晚上，我看到他站在我家车库后面的车道上。他身高五英尺七、八左右，人很瘦。
2 "I mow your lawn," he said. It was hard to comprehend his broken
English.
“我割你的草坪，”他说。他那结结巴巴的英语很难听懂。
3 I asked him his name. "Tony Trivisonno," he replied. "I mow your
lawn." I told Tony that I couldn't afford a gardener.
我问他叫什么名字。“托尼·特里韦索诺，”他回答说，“我割你的草坪。”我对托尼讲，本人雇不起园丁。
4 "I mow your lawn," he said again, then walked away. I went into my
house unhappy. Yes, these Depression days were difficult, but how could I
turn away a person who had come to me for help?
“我割你的草坪，”他又说道，随后便走开了。我走进屋子，心里有点不快。没错，眼下这大萧条的日子是不好过，可我怎么能把一个上门求助的人就这么打发走呢？
5 When I got home from work the next evening, the lawn had been mowed, the garden weeded, and the walks swept. I asked my wife what had happened. 等我第二天晚上下班回到家，草坪已修整过了，花园除了草，人行道也清扫过了。我便问太太是怎么回
事。
6 "A man got the lawn mower out of the garage and worked on the yard,"
she answered. "I assumed you had hired him."
7 I told her of my experience the night before. We thought it strange
that he had not asked for pay.
我就把前晚的事跟她说了。我俩都觉得奇怪，他怎么没提出要工钱。
8 The next two days were busy, and I forgot about Tony. We were trying
to rebuild our business and bring some of our workers back to the plants.
But on Friday, returning home a little early, I saw Tony again, behind the
garage. I complimented him on the work he had done.
接下来的两天挺忙，我把托尼的事给忘了。我们在尽力重整业务，要让一部分工人回厂里来。但在星期五，回家略微早了些，我又在汽车库后面看到了托尼。我对他干的活夸奖了几句。
9 "I mow your lawn," he said.
“我割你的草坪，”他说。
10 I managed to work out some kind of small weekly pay, and each day
Tony cleaned up the yard and took care of any little tasks. My wife said
he was very helpful whenever there were any heavy objects to lift or
things to fix.
我设法凑了一小笔微薄的周薪，就这样托尼每天清扫院子，有什么零活，他都干了。我太太说，但凡有重物要搬或有什么要修理的，他挺派得上用场。
11 Summer passed into fall, and winds blew cold. "Mr. Craw, snow pretty
soon," Tony told me one evening. "When winter come, you give me job
clearing snow at the factory."
夏去秋来，凉风阵阵。“克罗先生，快下雪了，”有天晚上托尼跟我说，“等冬天到了，你让我在厂里干扫雪的活。”
12 Well, what do you do with such determination and hope? Of course,
Tony got his job at the factory.
啊，对这种执着与期盼，你又能怎样呢？自然，托尼得到了厂里的那份活儿。
13 The months passed. I asked the personnel department for a report.
They said Tony was a very good worker.
几个月过去了。我让人事部门送上一份报告。他们说托尼干得挺棒。
14 One day I found Tony at our meeting place behind the garage. "I want
to be 'prentice," he said.
一天我在汽车库后面我们以前见面的地方看到了托尼。“我想学徒，”他说。
汽车之家首付
15 We had a pretty good apprentice school that trained laborers. But I
doubted whether Tony had the capacity to read blueprints and micrometers
or do precision work. Still, how could I turn him down?
我们有个挺不错的培训工人的徒工学校。可我怀疑托尼是否有能力学会看图纸、用千分尺，是否胜任做精密加工工作。尽管如此，可我怎么能拒绝他呢？
16 Tony took a cut in pay to become an apprentice. Months later, I got
a report that he had graduated as a skilled grinder. He had learned to
read the millionths of an inch on the micrometer and to shape the grinding
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