英语故事:如果是你,你愿意放弃什么?

 

It all began with a stop at a red light.
Kevin Salwen, a writer and entrepreneur in Atlanta, was driving his 14-year-old daughter, Hannah, back from a sleepover in 2006. While waiting at a traffic light, they saw a black Mercedes coupe on one side and a homeless man begging for food on the other.

故事开始于一个十字路口，路口亮着红灯。
凯文·萨文是美国亚特兰大市的一个作家兼企业家。2006年的一天，他载着自己14岁的女儿汉娜从别的地方回家。在等待信号灯变绿的时候，他们看到马路上停着一辆黑色奔驰车，而在奔驰车不远处的马路另一侧，一个无家可归的流浪汉在乞讨食物。

“Dad, if that man had a less nice car, that man there could have a meal,” Hannah protested. The light changed and they drove on, but Hannah was too young to be reasonable. She pestered her parents about inequity, insisting that she wanted to do something.

“老爸，如果那个车主买一辆不那么昂贵的车，那个流浪汉就可以吃一顿饱餐了！”汉娜不满的说道。红灯变绿了，他们继续上路，但小汉娜还是不懂事的缠着父母，她觉得这件事很不公平，并坚持要为那个可怜的人做些什么。

“What do you want to do?” her mom responded. “Sell our house?”
“那你想做什么呢？”她妈妈打趣地问她。“你想要把我们的房子卖了吗？”

Warning! Never suggest a grand gesture to an idealistic teenager. Hannah seized upon the idea of selling the luxurious family home and donating half the proceeds to charity, while using the other half to buy a more modest replacement home.

（提醒：不要给一个理想主义的孩子这么大方的提议！汉娜就咬定了这个主意，她执意要把家里豪华的别墅卖掉，把卖房所得一半的钱捐给慈善基金会，然后还有一半的钱则用来买一栋相对一般的房子作新家。）

Eventually, that’s what the family did. The project — crazy, impetuous and utterly inspiring — is chronicled in a book by father and daughter scheduled to be published next month: “The Power of Half.” It’s a book that, frankly, I’d be nervous about leaving around where my own teenage kids might find it. An impressionable child reads this, and the next thing you know your whole family is out on the street.

最后，家里拗不过她的软磨硬泡，真的就把房子给卖了。在下个月即将出版的新书《一半的力量》中，父亲和女儿作为作者，将这个疯狂、冲动但却相当发人深省的计划公之于众。老实说，这本书我可不敢随便放在我自家孩子触手可及的地方。孩子都很容易受影响和启发，如果他们读了，说不定哪天你们全家就不得不搬到大街上去住了。