It was a great day for the pair of Fosters. They were speechless for joy. Also speechless for another reason： after much watching of the market， Aleck had lately， with fear and trembling， made her first flyer on a “margin”， using the remaining twenty thousand of the bequestbequest n.遗产， 遗赠 in this risk. In her minds eye she had seen it climb， point by point—always with a chance that the market would break—until at last her anxieties were too great for further endurance—she being new to the marginmargin n.页边的空白， （湖、池等的）边缘， 极限， 利润，差数， （时间、金额等的）富余 vt.加边于， 加旁注于 business and unhardened， as yet—and she gave her imaginary broker an imaginary order by imaginary telegraph to sell. She said forty thousand dollars profit was enough. The sale was made on the very day that the coal venture had returned with its rich freight. As I have said， the couple were speechless. they sat dazed and blissful that night， trying to realize that they were actually worth a hundred thousand dollars in clean， imaginary cash. Yet so it was.
这是福斯特夫妇大喜的日子。他们都高兴得说不出话来了。说不出话来的另一个原因是：在细细观察市场之后，艾莱柯战战兢兢地用遗产中剩余的两万块钱冒险炒了一把。在想像中，她眼看着手里的股票一个点又一个点地往上涨——伴随着股市每时每刻都可能暴跌的风险——最后，她的精神压力太大，再这样下去实在承受不住了——她做这种冒险生意还是新手，心太软——于是，她用想像中的电报给想像中的经纪人发出一个想像中的指令，让他抛出。她说四万块钱的赚头已经够多了。抛出这笔股票，恰逢煤矿的投资给他们返回丰厚利润的那一天。正如我方才讲到的，这夫妻俩说不出话来了。那天夜里他们大喜过望、如醉如痴，极力想意识到一件了不起的大事，那就是这笔财富——想像中的现款——实际上净值十万。实打实的十万。
It was the last time that ever Aleck was afraid of a margin； at least afraid enough to let it break her sleep and pale her cheek to the extentextent n.广度， 宽度， 长度， 范围， 程度， 区域， [律］<英>扣押， <美>临时所有权令 that this first experience in that line had done.
从此，艾莱柯再也不怕投机做股票；起码不再害怕从梦中惊醒，面颊惨白——那都是初出茅庐时的事情了。
Indeed it was a memorablememorable adj.值得纪念的， 难忘的 night. Gradually the realization that they were rich sank securely home into the souls of the pair， then they began to place the money. If we could have looked out through the eyes of these dreamers， we should have seen their tidy little wooden house disappear， and twostory brick with a castiron fence in front of it take its place， we should have seen a threeglobed gaschandelier grow down from the parlor parlor n.客厅， 会客室， 店营业室， 业务室 adj.客厅的ceiling， we should have seen the homely rag carpet turn to noble Brussels， a dollar and a half a yard， we should have seen the plebeian fireplace vanish away and a recherche， big baseburner with isinglass windows take position and spread awe around. And we should have seen other things， too， among them the buggybuggy adj.多虫的， 臭虫成灾的， <俚>神经病的 n.<美>童车， <俚>尤指旧汽车， 双轮单座的轻马车， the laprobe， the stovepipe hat， and so on.
这的确是个永志不忘的夜晚。慢慢地，已经发了财的意识在这对夫妻的灵魂深处站稳了脚跟，于是他们开始给这些钱派用场了。假如我们能透过这两位梦乡客的眼睛展望，就能看到他们那幢整洁的小木屋消失了，代之以一栋两层的砖瓦房，房前有铸铁的栅栏；我们还能看到从客厅的天花板上垂下一盏三个头的煤气灯；原先家用的碎布地毯变成了一码一块五的华贵布鲁塞尔货，大路货的壁炉也不见了，一座装着云母窗的考究大壁炉堂而皇之地取代了它。咱们还能看到其他一些东西，其中有马车、雪橇幛子、高筒礼帽，等等。
From that time forth， although the daughters and the neighbors saw only the same old wooden house there， it was a twostory brick to Aleck and Sally and not a night went by that Aleck did not worry about the imaginary gasbills， and get for all comfort Sallys recklessreckless adj.不计后果的 retortretort v.反驳， 反击， 回报 n.曲颈甑， 曲颈瓶， 蒸器： “What of it？ We can afford it.”
从此以后，尽管他们的女儿和邻居们看到的还是旧木屋子，可在艾莱柯和萨利眼里，那是一栋两层楼的砖瓦房；艾莱何天天晚上都为想像中的煤气费单子操一会儿心，然后从萨利满不在乎的回答中得到很大的安慰：“那算什么？咱们付得起！”
Before the couple went to bed， that first night that they were rich， they had decided that they must celebrate. They must give a party—that was the idea. But how to explain it—to the daughters and the neighbors？ They could not exposeexpose vt.使暴露， 受到， 使曝光 v.揭露 the fact that they were rich. Sally was willing， even anxious， to do it， but Aleck kept her head and would not allow it. She said that although the money was as good as in， it would be as well to wait until it was actually in. On that policy she took her stand， and would not budge. The great secret must be kept， she said—kept from the daughters and everybody else.
他们富起来的第一天晚上，这夫妻俩上床之前决定庆祝一番。他们一定要开一个派对——主意已定。可是，怎么跟女儿、跟邻居们解释呢？他们不能暴露已经富起来的底牌。萨利想开派对，甚至有点儿迫不及待；可是艾莱柯头脑清醒，没有批准。她说，尽管这些钱就像到手的一样，可还是等到真正到手才好。她坚持这个立场，毫不动摇。必须保守这个大秘密——对女儿、对邻居们都要保密。
The pair were puzzled. They must celebrate， they were determined to celebrate， but since the secret must be kept， what could they celebrate？ No birthdays were due for three months. Tilbury wasnt availableavailable adj.可用到的， 可利用的， 有用的， 有空的， 接受探访的， evidently he was going to live forever， what the nation COULD they celebrate？ That was Sallys way of putting it， and he was getting impatient， too， and harassed. But at last he hit it—just by sheer inspirationinspiration n.灵感， as it seemed to himand all their troubles were gone in a moment， they would celebrate the Discovery of America. A splendid idea！
这对夫妻左右为难。他们必须要庆祝，他们打定主意要庆祝；可是，既然要保密，他们怎么庆祝呢？三个月之内没人过生日。提尔伯里还没解决，他显然是要长命百岁了；那，他们庆祝什么呢？萨利想着想着，越来越着急，越来越心烦意乱。不过，萨利终于找到了出路——在他看来，这是神来之笔——把所有的烦恼一下子统统勾销；他们可以用发现美洲纪念日的名目庆祝。绝妙的主意！
Aleck was almost too proud of Sally for wordsshe said SHE never would have thought of it. But Sally， although he was bursting with delight in the complimentcompliment n.称赞， 恭维， 致意， 问候， 道贺 vt.称赞，褒扬， 恭维 and with wonder at himself， tried not to let on， and said it wasnt really anything， anybody could have done it. Whereat Aleck， with a prideful toss of her happy head， said：“Oh， certainly！ Anybody could—oh， anybody！ Hosannah Dilkins， for instance！ Or maybe Adelbert Peanutoh， DEAR—yes！ Well， Id like to see them try it， thats all. Dearmesuz， if they could think of the discovery of a fortyacre island its more than I believe they could， and as for the whole continent， why， Sally Foster， you know perfectly well it would strain the livers and lights out of them and THEN they couldnt！”
艾莱柯也为萨利的才华感到自豪，几乎想不出合适的词来表示嘉许——她说，她自己怎么也想不出这个主意来，虽然萨利受宠若惊，对自己的才华也击节叹赏，不过他还是使劲忍着，说是这算不了什么，谁都想得到。艾莱柯听了，得意洋洋地晃着脑袋，高兴地说：“啊，没错！谁都能——啊，谁都能想到！比方说霍萨纳·迪尔金斯吧！阿得尔伯特·皮纳特也能——呃，亲爱的——没错！那好，我倒想看他们来比试比试，没别的意思。老天爷，连他们能想到发现一个四十英亩的小岛，我都不敢信；要说发现整个大陆，萨利·福斯特，你再清楚不过了，让他们搜肠刮肚，他们也想像不到！”
The dear woman， she knew he had talent， and if affection made her overestimate the size of it a little， surely it was a sweet and gentle crime， and forgivable for its sources sake.
这位可爱的女子知道丈夫有天赋；即使爱情使她稍稍地把丈夫的天赋高估了一点儿，不过是甜蜜而温柔的过错而已，为了爱的缘故，这是可以原谅的。
