那天，他找了两条麻袋，拿到杂乱的木材厂，卖给为钉子装袋的人。

　　The boy's hand tightly clutched the five-cent pieces as he ran the two kilometers home.

　　两公里的路程他是一路跑着回的家，手里紧紧攥着两个5分硬币。

　　Near his house stood the ancient barn that housed the family's goats and chickens. Reuben found a rusty soda tin and dropped his coins inside. Then he climbed into the loft of the barn and hid the tin beneath a pile of sweet smelling hay.

　　他家旁边有个颇有年头的谷仓，里面圈着家里的山羊和鸡。鲁本在那里找到一个生锈的装苏打的铁罐，把两枚硬币放了进去。然后，他爬上谷仓的阁楼，把铁罐藏在一堆散发着甜香味的干草下面。

　　It was dinnertime when Reuben got home. His father sat at the big kitchen table, working on a fishing net. Dora was at the kitchen stove, ready to serve dinner as Reuben took his place at the table.

　　晚饭时分，鲁本跨进家门。父亲正坐在厨房大餐桌旁摆弄渔网，多拉在灶台边忙碌着，准备开饭。鲁本就在桌边坐下了。

　　He looked at his mother and smiled. Sunlight from the window gilded her shoulder-length blonde hair. Slim and beautiful, she was the center of the home, the glue that held it together.

　　他看着妈妈，笑了。窗户透进的夕阳余晖将她棕褐的披肩发染成了金色。苗条、美丽的母亲是这个家的中心，她像胶水一样使这个家紧紧粘结在一起。

　　Her chores were never-ending. Sewing clothes for her family on the old Singer treadle machine, cooking meals and baking bread, planting and tending a vegetable garden, milking the goats and scrubbing soiled clothes on a washboard. But she was happy. Her family and their well-being were her highest priority.

　　母亲的家务活永远也没个完。用老式的“胜家”缝纫机为一家人缝缝补补；要做饭、烤面包；要照料菜园；要挤羊奶；还要在洗衣板上搓洗脏衣服。可母亲是快乐的，全家人的幸福、健康在她心中是最重要的。

　　Every day after chores and school, Reuben scoured the town, collecting the hessian nail bags. On the day the two-room school closed for the summer, no student was more delighted than Reuben. Now he would have more time for his mission. (To be continued)

　　每天放学，做完家务事后，鲁本就在镇上搜寻装钉子的麻袋。只有两间教室的学校开始放暑假的那天，没人能比鲁本更高兴了。现在他有更多时间去完成他的使命。（待续）