2020年经济学人 火鸡工人威利·利瓦伊(2)

This was the section he worked in. The birds were usually angry, but once he'd hung them up he would give them a pat and croon a word or two. That went on for turkey after turkey, hundreds in a day. It was a tough, risky¹ grapple, but he was skilled at it, and other brothers had it much worse: yanking out the guts² or cutting out the heart and liver, which covered them in blood. At least he didn't have to contort his fingers so constantly that his hands became hooks, as others' did.

这就是他工作的地方。火鸡们通常都很愤怒，但是一旦被挂起来后，威利会轻拍它们一下，低声哼一两句。一个接一个火鸡，他都会这么做，一天得有上百只。处理火鸡很难，它会是一次危险的扭打，但是威利非常擅长这个，其他的兄弟们的表现则很糟：总是猛地把内脏弄出来或者挖出心脏和肝脏，上面沾满了血。至少他不像别人那样，不用经常扭曲自己的手指，把自己的手变成钩子。

It would have been tricky³ to play the spoons then. The accommodation, too, seemed fine at the beginning. It was in an old schoolhouse on a rise outside the tiny town of Atalissa. The building was painted turquoise⁴ on the outside and red, blue and yellow inside. There was even a swing in the front yard. They had a gym and a pool table. The people in town, after a little while of wariness⁵, became warm and kind to the "boys", and returned his broad smile as he walked down the street. In the summer parade he rode on a float with other brothers, dressed as a clown in a pointy yellow hat. At socials he loved to dance with anyone.

而用勺子演奏就有点艰难了。住宿在一开始似乎也挺好。那是在阿塔里萨小镇外的一所旧校舍里。那个建筑外面染得是蓝绿色，里面是红色、蓝色和黄色。前院里甚至还有一个秋千。他们有一个体育馆和台球台。镇子里的人对这些“小伙子们”保持了一段时间的警惕之后，也变得友好热情起来。他在走过街头时，也会回以大大的微笑。在夏日游行中，他和兄弟们登上花车，戴着尖尖的黄色帽子扮作小丑。在社交场合，他喜欢和任何人跳舞。

Money, though, was a problem. He hardly had any. Granted, there was not a lot to spend it on in Atalissa, besides Mountain Dews and Honey Buns at the Mini Mart. But it was impossible to put aside any savings⁶. His pay was meant to be $750 a month; he received $65. The rest was taken by Henry's for bed, board, clothes, medical care (though they hardly had any) and rare outings. And it stayed the same for more than 30 years. The Fair Labour Standards Act of 1938 allowed workers with disabilities to be paid less if they were less productive, even if, like him, they were doing as good a job as they could.

但是钱是个问题，他并没有多少。当然，在阿塔里萨，除了买迷你超市里的山露汽水和蜂蜜面包外，并没有什么花钱的地方。但是存钱也是不可能的。他的工资应该是750美元一个月，而他只收到65美元。剩下的钱都归亨利所有，包括床铺、伙食、衣服、医疗服务(尽管他们几乎没有任何医疗服务)和极少的外出活动的钱。而且这一直持续了30多年。1938年的《公平劳动基准法》规定，如果残疾工人的工作效率不高，就可以付给他们更少的工资，即使他们像他一样，尽其所能地做好工作。

1 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

2 guts   

v.狼吞虎咽，贪婪地吃，飞碟游戏（比赛双方每组5人，相距15码，互相掷接飞碟）；毁坏（建筑物等）的内部( gut的第三人称单数 )；取出…的内脏n.勇气( gut的名词复数 )；内脏；消化道的下段；肠

参考例句：

• I'll only cook fish if the guts have been removed. 鱼若已收拾干净，我只需烧一下即可。
• Barbara hasn't got the guts to leave her mother. 巴巴拉没有勇气离开她妈妈。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

4 turquoise   

n.绿宝石；adj.蓝绿色的

参考例句：

• She wore a string of turquoise round her neck.她脖子上戴着一串绿宝石。
• The women have elaborate necklaces of turquoise.那些女人戴着由绿松石制成的精美项链。

5 wariness   

n. 注意,小心

参考例句：

• The British public's wariness of opera is an anomaly in Europe. 英国公众对歌剧不大轻易接受的态度在欧洲来说很反常。
• There certainly is a history of wariness about using the R-word. 历史表明绝对应当谨慎使用“衰退”一词。

6 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。