2024年3月16日发(作者：)

The Lady on Pemberton Street 潘伯敦街上的女士

by Albert DiBartolomeo 艾伯特?迪巴特罗门

Shortly after the author and his wife move to a house on a little street called

Pemberton, they get acquainted with a special neighbor － Mable Howard, who

has battled all her life against litter, decay and disorder to make life more

enchanting in the neighborhood. Here is the moving story of Mable Howard, the

beloved block captain.

作者与妻子搬到一条叫作潘伯顿的小街上居住后不久,就结识了一位特殊的邻居——

梅布尔?霍华德。为了使社区的生活变得更美好，她一女装生都在与乱扔垃圾、腐朽、混乱

的现象作斗争。下面是梅布尔?霍华德这位广受爱戴的街区监视员的动人故事。

For many years my wife, Sue, and I wanted to live near Philadelphia's Center

City. The only place within our means was a row house on a little street called

Pemberton. The house needed work, but I am fairly handy so we had little concern

about fixing it up.

多年来,我和妻子苏一直想住到费城的中心城区四周。按收进状况，我们只能住在一条

叫做潘伯顿的小街上的联体房屋。屋子需要修理，但我手工活做得不赖，所以不担心修缮

的事。

What did concern us was the neighborhood. Some buildings were dilapidated.

There was more crime than we had been exposed to in the past. But our block

seemed okay, and we decided to buy. After the settlement, we went to our new

home. The street was vacant, but I sensed that we were being watched. Sue was

upstairs measuring for blinds when I heard a rap at the door.

让我们担心的是这个街区。一些房屋已经失修。这儿的犯罪比我们过往见过的要多得

多。但我们的街区似乎还可以，所以我们决定把屋子买下来。一切收拾停当后，我们搬到

新家。街上空无一人，但我感到有人在注视我们。苏在楼上丈量尺寸，好装窗帘，我听到

叩门声。

"Hello?" a reedy voice called. I opened the door upon a woman with bright

eyes somewhere between fierce and merry. She was at least 65, thin, but not at all

frail. Quite the opposite. All tough sinew, she looked like a hawk eyeing prey.

"Sorry to bother you, my dear," she said. "I'm Mable Howard, the block captain."

“您好？”一个又高又尖的声音喊道。我打开门，看到一位妇人，明亮的双眼既犀利

又透着愉快。她至少65岁，清瘦，但一点也不虚弱。恰恰相反。她肌肉强健，看上往像

只老鹰盯着它的猎物。“对不起，打搅您了,亲爱的”，她说，“我是梅布尔?霍华德，这

个街区的监视员。”

I had only a dim awareness of what that meant. But I soon learned that a block

captain's function was to request city services, report trouble to police and

coordinate efforts to keep the block clean and safe. I introduced Mable to Sue,

who had come downstairs. "I'm BLOCK CAPTAIN," Mable told her, after I failed to

mention her title. "Trash day is on Tuesdays," Mable continued. "Don't put any

trash out before seven o'clock the night before. Sometimes animals get into it and

make a mess. It just looks terrible. I try to keep a clean block here." "We noticed," I

said. "What do you do for a living?" We told her. I also mentioned that I did

handiwork on the side. "Oh, that's good." She drew out the last word as if

responding to the sight of a luscious cake.

我对街区监视员的含义所知甚少。但我很快意识到街区监视员的作用就是提出城市的

公益服务要求，向警方汇报纠纷以及组织气力保持街区的清洁与安全。我把梅布尔先容给

下楼来的苏。“我是街区的监视员，”见我忘了提及她的头衔，梅布尔对苏说。“星期二

倒垃圾，”梅布尔继续说道，“星期一晚上七点以前不准把垃圾放到外面。动物有时会钻

进垃圾堆，弄得一团糟，实在有碍观瞻。我得想法保持街区清洁。”“我们留意到了，” 我

说。“你们从事什么职业？”我们告诉了她，我还顺便提到，我兼职做些手工活。“喔，

很好。”她拉长了声音说出最后一个词，语气就象是看到了美味的蛋糕似的。

We continued to exchange pleasantries until Sue and I had to return to work. I

escorted Mable to the door. "Did you see the sign?" she asked, pointing to a utility

pole. Below a parking sign was one inscribed with Mable Howard, BLOCK CAPTAIN.

"Nice," I said. When we left the house ten minutes later, Mable was sweeping the

sidewalk.

我们继续客套着，直到我和苏不得不继续工作。我把梅布尔送到门口。“看到那个牌

子了吗？”梅布尔指着一根告示杆问道。只见在一张停车标牌下面刻着“梅布尔?霍华德 -

街区监视员”几个字。“很不错，”我说。十分钟后我们离家时，梅布尔正在打扫人行道。

The Clean Sweep. 清扫街区

On our first morning on Pemberton Street, the sound of sweeping woke us

early. I looked out the window. Mable was swishing her broom down the street.

The next morning began the same way, and the one after that. I soon learned that

Mable began every day this way. She swept in light rain. She swept in winds that

scattered leaves. She swept snow. On such days we shook our heads at her. On that

first morning, however, this was all new to me. Since I couldn't sleep, I began

replacing the front-door locks. It wasn't long before Mable came up.

住在潘伯顿街的第一天，一大早我们就被扫地的声音吵醒了。我向窗外看往，只见梅

布尔正挥动扫帚沿街扫地。第二天早晨也是如此，此后天天如此。不久，我知道梅布尔的

每一天都是这样开始的。细雨中，她仍在扫地；落叶飘舞的风中，她在扫地；大雪天，她

在扫地。这样的天气里，我们只能对她摇头。然而在搬来的第一天早上，这一切对我来说

还都是陌生的。我睡不着，于是就起床开始换前门的锁。不久梅布尔过来了。

"Good morning, sweetie pie," she began. "What a nice toolbox." She seemed

to genuinely admire it. " I need a lock of my own changed. Maybe you could do

that?" "Uh, sure." Mable went back to sweeping. I heard her muttering as she

swept up some crack vials. "Riffraff," she said, and shook her head in disgust.

Later I changed Mable's lock. The next morning I found an envelope on my

vestibule floor. Inside were three dollar bills and a thank-you note. "Love, Mable"

was scrawled at the bottom.

“早上好，亲爱的，”她先开口说。“多好的一个工具箱啊，”她似乎真喜欢它。“我

有把锁需要换一下，也许你能帮卧犊”“当然。”梅布尔回往继续扫地。我听到她一边扫

着破碎的小瓶子，一边嘟囔着。她说，“渣滓”，厌恶地摇着头。后来，我帮梅布尔换了

锁。第二天早上，我发现门口走廊的地板上有个信封，里面有三美元和一张致谢的便条。

便条的最后潦草地写着“爱你的，梅布尔。”

I knew Mable wanted to pay me, but I wanted no money. While she was at

church, I put the envelope through her mail slot. That afternoon the envelope

found its way back to me. I promptly returned it again. Mable's husband, Jarvis,

soon showed up at my door. "You have to let her pay you," he said, handing me the

envelope. "Otherwise, she won't sleep at night." I did not want to be responsible

for Mable's insomnia, so I kept the three dollars.

我知道梅布尔想付给我钱，但是我不想收。所以当她在教堂做星期时，我把信封投进

了她的信箱里。当天下午，信封又回来了，我再次迅速地退回。很快，梅布尔的丈夫贾维

斯出现在我家门口。“你必须让她付给你钱，”说着，他把那个信封交给我。“要不，她

晚上会睡不着觉的。”我不想对梅布尔的失眠负责，于是就收下了那三美元。

The Alley Gate. 小巷的门

It was not quite 7: 30 on a summer Saturday morning when I left the house

with my toolbox and headed toward an alley near the corner. "Good morning,

Mable," I said, as I came abreast of her. "Good morning, sweetie pie." "I'm going to

fix the gate now." "Oh, wonderful," she said, and followed me. The wooden gate

was in disrepair, and "riffraff," according to Mable, were using the alley for "Lord

knows what." For weeks she had been asking me to replace the broken slats and

put a lock on the gate. I finally saw her point. Why should the alley be a private

place for crude behavior, just because it was public property?

一个夏天星期六的早晨，不到七点半我就带着工具箱离开荚冬朝街道拐角四周的巷口

走往。“早上好，梅布尔,”当我遇上她时说。“早上好，亲爱的。”“我正要往修巷

门。”“呀，太好了，”她说，随着我向巷门走往。这扇木门已失修多时，用她的话说，

“只有老天知道”那些“渣滓”是怎么用这条巷子的。好几个星期以来，她一直要我把破

木板换掉，在门上加把锁。我终于明白她的用意了。为什么仅仅由于这条小巷是公共财产，

就该成为野蛮攻击的目标？

Shortly, Jarvis came by carrying his daily 梦幻龙族news***. He had been a chef

all his life, and now, long retired, he worked a few hours in the cafeteria of a

Catholic grade school. He loved the kids, he told me. With Jarvis's help, I finished

repairing the gate in short time. Mable commenced sweeping up the sawdust

while I packed up my tools.

不一会儿，贾维斯手拿日报过来了。他做了一辈子的厨师，早已退休，现在天天在一

家天主教学校的自助餐厅工作几个小时。他告诉卧冬他喜欢那些孩子们。在贾维斯的帮助

下，门很快就修睦了。梅布尔开始打扫地上的锯末，我则收起工具。

She gazed down the length of the street. The bright sun had turned the upper

windows of the west side into fiery rectangles of yellow. The blue sky above

appeared enameled. "I like a nice clean block," Mable said. "It does look splendid,"

I said, handing her the key to the gate.

她注视着整个街道。明媚的阳光照在西边窗户的上半部，窗户似乎变成了赤黄色的距

形。蓝色的天空则象是涂满了釉彩。“我喜欢美丽整洁的街区，” 梅布尔说。“这街区看

上往的确很棒，”说着，我把门钥匙交给她。

The Block Cleaning. 街区大扫除

I soon participated in my first block cleaning. Two weeks before, Mable affixed

placards to utility poles, admonishing us to move our cars on the Saturday

specified. A week before, she put fliers into our mail slots. On Friday she reminded

everyone again.

不久，我参加了我的第一次街区清洁工作。提前两个星期，梅布尔就在告示杆上张贴

了一张布告，敦促我们在指定的星期六把各自的汽车开走。大扫除的前一个星期，她又把

通知投进我们每一家的信箱。星期五，她再次提醒了每一个人。

Early Saturday I heard Mable knocking on doors, rousing us to move our cars

off the block. There was a certain combativeness in her voice, as if those who did

not help had sided with the dark forces responsible for litter, decay and

dilapidation.

星期六一大早，我听到梅布尔挨家挨户地敲门，喊醒我们往把汽车开走。她的声音里

透着某种好战的情绪，似乎那些不遵从她号令的都站到了黑暗势力的一边，要对乱扔垃圾、

颓败、破败负责。

When I returned from parking my car I met my neighbor Mike Garcia, wearing

slippers and looking sleepy. "Why do we have to do this so early?" I complained.

"Because the Boss said so," he laughed. When the cars vanished, the street was

open its entire length and width. That incongruous sight was soon eclipsed by a

gushing fire hydrant and phalanxes of neighbors pushing brooms to work the

water and dirt down the street. The water shimmered in the morning sun and left

the street glistening.

当我泊好车返回时，碰到了邻居迈克?加西亚，他穿着拖鞋，睡眼惺忪的样子。“我们

为什么非得起这么早干这些活？”我抱怨道。“由于是老板这么吩咐的，”他笑道。车子

都开走后，整个街道都露了出来。消防水龙头喷出大水，邻居们组成方阵，挥着扫把将水

和灰尘顺着街道扫过往，原来那种不***的景象很快消失了。水珠在晨曦中闪闪发光，整条

街道流光溢彩。

The cleaning was infectious. Several neighbors washed their windows. Others

tended to window boxes. Mable seemed to be everywhere at once, calling

directives. As the sun brightened, the atmosphere became festive. People who had

seen one another only in passing stood elbow to elbow and chatted. I had not

seen anything like this in all my years of city living. I found myimmolation wiping

down the sign that proclaimed Mable block captain. "I think I'm having fun," I said

to Mike. "Me too."

大扫除具有感染力。几个邻居在冲洗窗户。其他的则清扫着自家的窗格子。梅布尔似

乎总能忽然出现在任何地方进行指导。太阳越来越亮，气氛变得欢快起来。那些平时过往

时才见面的人，现在在一起交谈甚欢。我在城市生活多年，从未见过这样的事情。我在擦

洗公布梅布尔为街区监视员的布告牌。“我很开心，”我对迈克说。“我也是。”

The Debt. 债务

This year age had caught up to Mable. She sweeps only on days when the

weather is fine. The street is suffering a bit. Recently I stopped by to put together

her new vacuum cleaner. "Hello, sweetie pie," Mable said, and embraced me when

I entered. She was not merely thin but skeletal. I told her that she looked well, lying.

The following morning there was the envelope with its three dollars on my

vestibule floor. I had long ago stopped trying to return the money, even though I

am more in Mable's debt than she is in mine.

今年，梅布尔上了年纪，她只能在天气好的时候扫扫街。街道有些脏了。最近，我途

经她荚冬帮她修吸尘器。“你好，亲爱的，”进门时梅布尔拥抱我说。她如今不再是清瘦

而是瘦骨嶙峋。我言不由衷地告诉她：她看上往气色很好。第二天早晨，门口地板上的信

封里放着三美元。很久以前，我就不再试图把钱还回往——即使我欠她的比她欠我的多。

Going outside later, I saw that a sheaf of advertising circulars had been

scattered by the wind. I could not get the image out of my mind. After lunch I took

a trash bag and went outside. Hesitating记忆棒 a moment, I left my doorstep and

went up and down the street gathering the litter. I was a bit immolation-conscious,

but I knew Mable would be pleased. I was proud to call her my captain.

晚些时候我走到街上，看到一叠广告单随风飘落。我无法忘记这一幕。午饭后，我拿

了一只垃圾袋走出家门。犹豫了一会，我走下台阶来到街上捡拾散落的物品。我感到有一

点不自然，但是，我知道梅布尔波会为此兴奋。我自豪地称她为我的监视员。