在這個(gè)街上來來回回走了好些天,正當(dāng)他覺得無望的時(shí)候,未來的答案卻明朗起來,
He was sitting on a overturn box, eating a late lunch of the sandwiched Regina had made for him.
那就是。當(dāng)時(shí)他正坐在一個(gè)翻過來的箱子上,吃著已經(jīng)晚了的瑞吉娜給他弄的三明治中飯。
It was close. Everywhere around him stores were opening,
圍繞著他的,處處是在營業(yè)的小店,
suits, dresses, overalls, shirts, skirts, blouses, trousers, all ready to be bought and worn.
里面賣著套裝、女裝、工作服、襯衫、休閑服、褲子,
Coming from a world where clothing was made by hand or made to order by tailors, this was a revelation.
這些服裝都是來自家庭手工制作,或是裁縫定做的,這是他的一個(gè)新發(fā)現(xiàn)。
"To me the greatest wonder in this was not the mere quantity of garments, although that was a miracle in itself."
“對(duì)我來說,這里最大的奇跡不在于龐大的服裝數(shù)量,盡管這本身就是個(gè)奇跡,”
Borgenicht would write years later, after he became a prosperous manufacturer of women and children's clothing.
多年以后,鮑各尼特在成為婦女兒童服裝制造商之后寫到,
"But the fact that in America even poor people could save all the dreary, time-consuming labor of making their own clothes simply by going into a store and walking out with what they needed.
“但事實(shí)就是,在美國,即使窮人也不愿意花時(shí)間在無聊的衣服縫制上,他們會(huì)選擇去小店購買自己所需的服裝。”
There was a field to go into, a field to thrill to."
這是個(gè)可以進(jìn)入的領(lǐng)域,一個(gè)令人激動(dòng)不已的領(lǐng)域。
Borgenicht took out a small notebook. Everywhere he went,
鮑各尼特拿著一個(gè)小筆記本,無論走到哪里,
he wrote down what people were wearing and what was for sale—men's wear, women's wear, children's wear.
他都記下人們的穿著和正在銷售的衣服——男裝、女裝、童裝。
He wanted to find a "novel" item, something that people would wear that was not being sold in the stores.
他想找到“新穎的”題材,尋找那種在市場(chǎng)上找不到的、人們穿的款式。
For four more days he walked the streets. On the evening of the final day as he walked towards home, he saw half dozen girls playing hopscotch.
他又走了4天,這一天晚上,當(dāng)他往家趕的時(shí)候,他看到6個(gè)女孩在玩跳房子游戲。
One of the girls caught his eye, she was wearing a tiny embroidered apron over her dress,
其中一個(gè)女孩在衣服外面穿著鑲邊的圍裙,
cut low in the front with a tie in the back, and it struck him, suddenly, that in his previous days of relentlessly inventorying the clothing shops of the Lower East Side, he had never seen one of those aprons for sale. He came home and told Regina.
前面是低領(lǐng),后面有個(gè)系帶,他猛然發(fā)現(xiàn),之前的那些天,在東區(qū)那些服裝琳瑯滿目的衣飾店里,看到過這樣的圍裙,他的精神為之一振。他回家告訴了瑞吉娜。
She had an ancient sewing machine that they had bought upon their arrival in America.
瑞吉娜剛到美國時(shí),買了一臺(tái)老式的縫紉機(jī)。
The next morning, he went ot a dry-goods store on Hester Street and bought a hundred yards of gingham and fifty yards of white crossbar.
第二天早上,鮑各尼特到郝斯特街的一個(gè)干貨店買了100碼的條紋棉布和50碼的橫木。