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1、Okay, I'll admit it. Sitting behind the wheel （ 1）of my first car before it was towed off to the junkyard （2） , I cried. You can tell me a car is only so much glass and steel （ 3）, but I'll never apologize for losing my cool that day （4）. A young man's first car is less a means of transportation

2、than a monument to his discovery of youthful freedom （5） . At least mine was. It had all started two years earlier: Soon after my 16th birthday, my par ents retired the old red family car （ 6） and passed it on to me. Before long, that car and I had become the best of friends （7） . We gave rides t

3、o just about anyone who asked, anytime, anywhere, and had all sorts of adventures. Some of those adventures were pretty hair-raising. One famous afternoon after school, I piled ten friends into the car （8） , including Eric, who opted to ride in the trunk rather than be left behind. We were just dri

4、ving around, feeling good, talking about everything and nothing （ 9）. And although I had been going only about 20 miles an hour, the collision with a school bus full of seven-year-olds crumpled the front of my car. My first thought was of Eric in the trunk. I rushed over and opened it to find him ly

5、ing there motionless. I gasped. He opened his eyes and laughed: "You're the worst driver on the planet." Bystanders stared as, one by one, ten dazed high-school sophomores crawled out of my car. No one on the bus was hurt, though one little girl was crying because she had to go to the bathroom. As

6、far as the little boys were concerned, I was a hero （10）. They crowded around me in admiration. Even the police officers managed to smile （11 ）. My parents — furious, of course — settled on my punishment （ 12）: I would use my upcoming summer wages to pay for the repairs. To lessen the financial bl

7、ow, I insisted that the mechanic fix the car with used parts. So when the work was completed, the old red car had a green hood, a yellow fender and a blue door. I didn't care. The car was far from a beauty, but she was mine （13 ）. That summer, once school was out, I found my freedom expanded hugely

8、 （14）. On days when my friends and I would once have ridden bikes to the public pool, we drove my car along the river road to explore an old abandoned train station. Instead of riding to baseball games in the coach's van like little kids, we now rode in my car as sophisticated adults. We wore sung

9、lasses, and spit sunflower seeds out the window, and felt as good as if we'd already won the game. One night while I was washing dishes at the restaurant where I worked, my friends removed the wheels from my car and left it standing disabled and awkward on concrete blocks in the parking lot. Decidi

10、ng the best reaction to their trick was to ignore it, I walked home. The next morning I found the car in front of my house, covered with a two-inch layer of shaving cream. One by one, my friends got driver's licenses and brought different automotive options to our fold （15 ） . But after a few days

11、trying out whoever was the newest, we always wound up back in my old car. Even then, I wondered why. It wasn't flashy — except for those multi-colored parts, it looked just like the sensible family car （16 ） it had once been. It wasn't fast — 55 miles an hour was a stretch （17 ）. And it certainly

12、 wasn't comfortable — there was no air conditioning, and on hot days our bare legs stuck to the seats. Not until its engine died did I realize what had made the car so special. While most of my friends invested in car stereos that could rattle windows a block away （18）, I stuck with the old origi

13、nal radio （19） that barely picked up two stations on a good night. Mostly, we just left it turned off. There were no bored silences or demands that I buy a better radio, though （ 20 ）. We filled the musical void by arguing about girls （21）, making up silly songs about one another, or telling stories

14、. But the moments that truly stand out were more sober （22）. I'll never forget the silence as we drove home from the playoff game in which our team was eliminated. Nor the nigh ts when Charlie talked about his parents' financial troubles, Tom spoke sadly of his father's absence, and Eric told us

15、of his dream of playing professional hockey. Since we graduated from high school, my friends and I have spread out across the country and grown into adults. Yet I've never forgotten my youthful emotions that day when the mechanic delivered his sad verdict （23） . In that old car of mine, we had sto

16、ckpiled memories like firewood, knowing that someday, somewhere, we would gather as gray-haired men （24） to re-light the blaze of our friendship. Translation 長(zhǎng)大成人 塞姆.沃克 好吧，我承認(rèn)。 在我的第一輛汽車被拖到廢品舊貨棧之前， 我坐在駕駛座上哭了。 你可以對(duì) 我說(shuō)一輛車只是一堆玻璃和鋼鐵而已， 但我永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)為那天的失態(tài)而抱歉。 一個(gè)年輕人的第 一輛車與其說(shuō)是一種交通工具， 還不如說(shuō)是他發(fā)現(xiàn)年輕人之自由的一種紀(jì)念物。 至少我

17、的車 是這樣。 一切都是從那時(shí)的兩年前開始的： 我的16歲生日過(guò)后不久，我的父母報(bào)廢了家里那輛紅顏 色的舊車，把它傳給了我。很快，我和那輛車便成了最好的朋友。我們幾乎在任何時(shí)候、任 何地方讓任何提出要求的人搭車，經(jīng)歷了各種各樣的奇遇。 其中有些奇遇真有點(diǎn)讓人毛骨悚然。眾所周知的一次是在一天下午放學(xué)后，我把 10 個(gè)朋 友塞進(jìn)汽車?yán)铮?包括寧愿坐在行李箱里也不愿被丟下的埃里克。 我們只是駕著車得意洋洋地 兜風(fēng)，海闊天空，東拉西扯。雖然我僅僅以2 0英里的時(shí)速開著車， 但跟一輛載滿7歲孩子 的校車相撞仍把我的車頭給撞癟了。 我首先想到的就是行李箱里的埃里克。 我沖過(guò)去，打開 箱蓋，發(fā)

18、現(xiàn)他躺在那兒一動(dòng)不動(dòng)。我倒吸了一口冷氣。他卻睜開眼睛，大笑著說(shuō)： “你是這 個(gè)星球上最差勁的駕駛員。 ” 當(dāng)10個(gè)神情恍惚的高二學(xué)生一個(gè)一個(gè)從我的車?yán)锱莱鰜?lái)時(shí)，站在一旁觀看的人都看呆了。 校車上沒有人受傷，只有一個(gè)小女孩因?yàn)榧敝蠋诳蕖?在那些小男孩的眼里， 我是 個(gè)英雄。他們欽佩不已地圍在我身邊。連警察們也勉強(qiáng)露出了笑容。 我的父母當(dāng)然非常生氣， 他們決定了對(duì)我的懲罰： 我得用我那年夏天打工賺來(lái)的工資支付修 理費(fèi)。為了減輕這一經(jīng)濟(jì)上的打擊， 我堅(jiān)持要汽車機(jī)修工用舊零件修車。 所以在車子修好時(shí)， 那輛舊的紅車便有了一個(gè)綠色的發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)罩， 一塊黃色的擋泥板和一扇藍(lán)色的車門。 這我倒不

19、 介意。這輛車絕非美輪美奐，但她卻是我的。 那年夏天，學(xué)校一放假，我便發(fā)現(xiàn)我的自由空間大大擴(kuò)展了。 以前，我和我的朋友們得騎著 自行車去公共游泳池， 現(xiàn)在我們卻可以駕著我的車， 沿著河邊的路，去踏勘一座廢棄的老火 車站。我們現(xiàn)在可以象諳于世故的成人一般駕著我的車去參加棒球比賽， 而不再象小孩子一 樣坐教練的面包車去了。 我們戴著太陽(yáng)眼鏡， 把葵花子殼吐到車窗外， 感覺好得就象已經(jīng)打 贏了比賽一樣。 一天晚上，我正在打工的餐館里洗碟子， 我的幾個(gè)朋友趁機(jī)將我的汽車輪胎卸了下來(lái)， 讓車 子無(wú)能為力地難堪地躺在停車場(chǎng)的水泥地上。 我認(rèn)為對(duì)于他們的惡作劇最好的反應(yīng)就是置之 不理。于是我走回了家。第

20、二天早上我在家門口發(fā)現(xiàn)了我的車， 上面涂滿了兩英寸厚的剃須 膏。 我的朋友一個(gè)接一個(gè)地拿到了駕駛執(zhí)照， 我們這幫人便有了不同的車輛選擇。 但是不論誰(shuí)的 車最新，試過(guò)幾天之后，最終我們總是又回到我的舊車?yán)铩?即使在那個(gè)時(shí)候，我也不懂這是 為什么。它毫不花哨 --- 除了那些多種顏色的部件， 它看上去就象過(guò)去一樣， 是一輛實(shí)用的家 庭汽車。它跑得不快---5 5英里的時(shí)速是極限。 它當(dāng)然也不舒適---沒有空調(diào)，大熱天我們光 著的腿就粘在座位上。 直到它的發(fā)動(dòng)機(jī)壽終正寢時(shí)我才意識(shí)到是什么使這輛車如此特別。 當(dāng)我大多數(shù)的朋友買了能 將幾條街區(qū)以外的玻璃窗震得格格作響的汽車立體聲音響時(shí)， 我一直在

21、繼續(xù)用原來(lái)那臺(tái)即使 在晴好的夜晚也只能勉強(qiáng)收到兩個(gè)電臺(tái)的舊收音機(jī)。 通常，我們只是讓它關(guān)著。 不過(guò)，車?yán)? 從來(lái)沒有百無(wú)聊賴、默不作聲的時(shí)候，也沒有人要求我去買一臺(tái)更好的收音機(jī)。 我們談?wù)撆?孩子，相互亂編一些無(wú)聊的歌曲，或者講故事，以此來(lái)填補(bǔ)沒有音樂的空白。 但是真正令人難忘的還是更為嚴(yán)肅的時(shí)刻。 我永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)忘記我們的球隊(duì)在季后賽中被淘汰后 我們開車回家一路上的沉默無(wú)語(yǔ)。 也永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)忘記在那些夜晚， 查理談?wù)撍改傅慕?jīng)濟(jì)困難， 湯姆憂傷地談起他父親的離家出走，以及埃里克告訴我們他要打職業(yè)曲棍球賽的夢(mèng)想。 自從我們高中畢業(yè)后， 我和我的朋友們已經(jīng)分散到全國(guó)各地， 并已長(zhǎng)大成人。然而，我一直 不曾忘記那一天，當(dāng)汽車機(jī)修工作出令人悲哀的裁決時(shí)， 我那種年輕人的激動(dòng)情緒。 在我的 那輛舊車?yán)?，我們已?jīng)堆積了如同火種般的記憶， 并且知道在某一天， 某一個(gè)地方，白發(fā)蒼 蒼的我們會(huì)聚在一起重新點(diǎn)燃我們的友誼之火。