the lady on Pemberton street

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'mMable 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。