You went to the butcher’s for meat, the pharmacy for aspirin, and the grocery store for food. But when I spent the summer with my Grandmother in Warwick, N.Y., she sent me down to the general store with a list. How could I hope to find anything on the packed, jumbled shelves around me?
到肉鋪買肉、到藥房買藥、去食品雜貨店買食品，這都很平常?？赡悄晗奶煳掖粼诩~約州沃里克鎮(zhèn)奶奶家時(shí)，情況則不一樣。她寫了一張購物清單叫我到一家鄉(xiāng)村雜貨店買東西。雜貨店里的貨架橫七豎八地塞滿各式商品，想找到要買的商品可讓我傷腦筋。

I walked up to the counter. Behind it was a lady like no one I’d ever seen. Fake-jewel-encrusted glasses teetered on the tip of her nose,gray hair was piled on her head.
我走近柜臺(tái)，柜臺(tái)后面有一位我從未見過如此長相的女人。一副鑲有假寶石邊框的眼鏡搖搖欲墜地架在她的鼻尖上，滿頭灰發(fā)。

“Excuse me，” I said. She looked up.
“打擾一下?！蔽艺f。女人抬起了頭。

“You’re that Clements kid,” she said. “I’m Miss Bee. Come closer and let me get a look at you.” She pushed her glasses up her nose. “I want to be able to describe you to the sheriff if something goes missing from the store.”
“你就是克萊門特家的小孩吧，”她說，“我是蜜蜂小姐。過來讓我好好看看?！泵鄯湫〗惆蜒坨R向鼻子上扶了扶說道，“如果商店失竊，我好向治安官描述你的外貌特征?！?/div>

“I’m not a thief!” I was shocked. I was seven years，too young to be a thief!
“我又不是小偷！”我有些吃驚。我才7歲??！怎么可能當(dāng)小偷呢！

“From what I can see you’re not much of anything. But I can tell you’ve got potential.” She went back to reading her newspaper.
“在我看來，你只是個(gè)黃毛丫頭，可我覺得你有這方面的潛質(zhì)?！泵鄯湫〗阏f著就回過頭看報(bào)紙去了。

“I need to get these.” I said，holding up my list.
“我要買這些東西，”我說著，舉起手里的購物單給她看。

“So? Go get them.” Miss Bee pointed to a sign on the screen door. “There’s no one here except you and me and I’m not your servant，so I suggest you get yourself a basket from that pile over there and start filling. If you’re lucky you’ll be home by sundown.”
“那又怎樣？去取啊。” 蜜蜂小姐用手指了一下紗門上的一塊牌子。“這里就我們倆，我不是你的傭人，所以我建議你最好到那一摞籃子那兒拿一個(gè)，找到要買的東西就往里面放。如果幸運(yùn)的話，你在天黑之前可以趕到家?！?/div>

Sundown was five hours away. I wasn’t sure I would make it.
離天黑還有五個(gè)小時(shí)，我不知道來不來得及。

I scanned the nearest shelf for the first item on my list: pork and beans. It took me three wall-to-wall searches before I found a can nestled between boxes of cereal and bread. Next up was toilet paper，found under the daily newspaper. Band-Aids—where had I seen them? Oh，yes，next to the face cream. The store was a puzzle，but it held some surprises too. I found a new Superman comic tucked behind the peanut butter.
我從離我最近的貨架開始逐層尋找購物單上第一件商品:豬肉和菜豆。我來來回回找了三次，才在一堆面包和麥片里發(fā)現(xiàn)一聽豬肉。第二件是一卷手紙，在一份新聞報(bào)紙下找到的；創(chuàng)可貼——我在哪兒看到的？哦，對(duì)了，在面霜旁。這家商店就像一座迷宮，然而里面卻充滿驚喜。我在花生醬后面還發(fā)現(xiàn)一本新的超人漫畫！

I visited Miss Bee a couple of times a week that summer. Sometimes she short-changed me. Other times she overcharged. Or sold me an old newspaper instead of one that was current. Going to the store was more like going into battle. I left my Grandma’s house armed with my list—memorized to the letter—and marched into Miss Bee’s like General Patton marching into North Africa.
那年夏天，我每個(gè)星期都要到蜜蜂小姐的店鋪幾趟。有時(shí)，蜜蜂小姐少收我錢；有時(shí)，她多收我錢。更甚的是，她還把前一天的報(bào)紙當(dāng)作即日的報(bào)紙賣給我。我到她店里買東西，感覺就像上戰(zhàn)場(chǎng)一樣。手里攥著購物單，腦中牢記商品名，我離開奶奶家向蜜蜂小姐的雜貨店挺進(jìn)，這陣勢(shì)就像當(dāng)年巴頓將軍征戰(zhàn)北非一樣。

“That can of beans is only twenty-nine cents!” I corrected her one afternoon. I had watched the numbers change on the cash register closely，and Miss Bee had added 35 cents. She didn’t seem embarrassed that I had caught her overcharging. She just looked at me over her glasses and fixed the price.
“那聽菜豆只要29美分。”一天下午，我糾正蜜蜂小姐道。我緊盯著收款機(jī)上的數(shù)字變化，蜜蜂小姐入賬時(shí)記的是35美分。被我察覺多收了錢后，蜜蜂小姐毫無難堪之色，她越過鏡框瞥了我一眼，然后把價(jià)格改了過來。

Not that she ever let me declare victory. All summer long she found ways to trip me up. No sooner had I learned how to pronounce bicarbonate of soda and memorized its location on the shelf，than Miss Bee rearranged the shelves and made me hunt for it all over again. By summer’s end the shopping trip that had once taken me an hour was done in 15 minutes. The morning I was to return to Brooklyn，I stopped in to get a packet of gum.
她從不讓我宣告勝利。整個(gè)夏天，她想盡辦法來捉弄我。我剛記住小蘇打的發(fā)音以及它在貨架上的位置，她就調(diào)整了商品的排列，害得我又一頓好找。暑假快結(jié)束了，以前耗時(shí)要一小時(shí)的購物之行，現(xiàn)在十五分鐘就完事了。在我要返回布魯克林的那天早上，我到蜜蜂小姐雜貨店買一包口香糖。

“All right，Miss Potential，” she said. “What did you learn this summer?” That you’re a meany! I pressed my lips together. To my amazement，Miss Bee laughed. “I know what you think of me，” she said. “Well，here’s a news flash: I don’t care! Each of us is put on this earth for a reason. I believe my job is to teach every child I meet ten life lessons to help them. Think what you will，Miss Potential，but when you get older you’ll be glad our paths crossed!” Glad I met Miss Bee? Ha! The idea was absurd…
“好了，潛能小姐，”她說，“這個(gè)夏天你都學(xué)到了什么？”你是個(gè)十分刻薄的人！我雙唇緊閉。令人驚奇的是，蜜蜂小姐大笑起來?！拔抑滥闶窃趺纯次业?，”她說，“但你不會(huì)想到:我并不在意！人生于世，各得其所。我相信我的任務(wù)是教會(huì)我遇到的每一位小朋友人生的十個(gè)教益。隨便你怎么想，潛能小姐。當(dāng)你長大后，就會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)我倆的相遇其實(shí)是一件值得慶幸的事?！睉c幸遇見蜜蜂小姐？哈！這想法有夠荒唐的……

Until one day my daughter came to me with homework troubles.
直到有一天，女兒拿著作業(yè)來到我的身邊。

“It’s too hard，” she said. “Could you finish my math problems for me?”
“這些數(shù)學(xué)題太難了。你能替我做嗎？”她說。

“If I do it for you how will you ever learn to do it yourself?” I said. Suddenly，I was back at that general store where I had learned the hard way to tally up my bill along with the cashier. Had I ever been overcharged since?
“如果媽媽替你做了，那你自己如何能學(xué)會(huì)呢？”我說。這時(shí)候，我突然想起那時(shí)在蜜蜂小姐雜貨店的情景：我吃力地核對(duì)著收款機(jī)里的數(shù)目。自那時(shí)起，我有被多收過錢嗎？

As my daughter went back to her homework，I wondered: Had Miss Bee really taught me something all those years ago? I took out some scrap paper and started writing.
當(dāng)我的女兒回過頭繼續(xù)做作業(yè)時(shí)，我在想：蜜蜂小姐真的在多年前就向我傳授了若干人生之道嗎？我隨手拿起了紙，開始動(dòng)筆記錄。

Sure enough，I had learned ten life lessons: One. Listen well. Two. Never assume—things aren’t always the same as they were yesterday. Three. Life is full of surprises. Four. Speak up and ask questions. Five. Don’t expect to be bailed out of a predicament. Six. Everyone isn’t as honest as I try to be. Seven. Don’t be so quick to judge other people. Eight. Try my best, even when the task seems beyond me. Nine. Double-check everything. Ten. The best teachers aren’t only in school.
確實(shí)，我學(xué)到了整整十條人生教益：1. 學(xué)會(huì)仔細(xì)傾聽。2. 不要想當(dāng)然——事物每天都在變化。3. 生活充滿驚喜。4. 大聲說出你的問題。5. 不要以為身臨困境總會(huì)有援手。6. 并不是每一個(gè)人都像你一樣誠實(shí)。7. 不要急于評(píng)判他人。8. 凡事要竭盡全力，即使任務(wù)似乎超出自己的能力范圍。9. 仔細(xì)復(fù)核每個(gè)環(huán)節(jié)。10. 最好的老師并不只在學(xué)校。