A Simple Gesture 只是举手之劳

　　Everybody can be great . . . because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love. 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　Martin Luther King, Jr.

Mark was walking home from school one day when he noticed that the boy ahead of him had tripped and dropped all of the books he was carrying, along with two sweaters, a baseball bat, a glove and a small tape recorder. Mark knelt down and helped the boy pick up the scattered articles. Since they were going the same way, he helped to carry part of the burden. As they walked Mark discovered that the boy's name was Bill, that he loved video games, baseball and history, that he was having a lot of trouble with his other subjects and that he had just broken up with his girlfriend.

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* trip：我们都知道trip的意思是“旅行”，是名词。而在这里，trip用作动词，表示“绊倒”的意思。
* article：article有很多意思，我们常见的是“文章”、“论文”、“报道”等。本文里，article表示“物件”的意思。另外，article还表示“货色”的意思，当它用来指人时，就含有贬义了。
* break up：break是“打碎”的意思。break up在这里表示“终止”、“破裂”的意思。指男孩子与女朋友断绝了关系。另外，break up还有一个很有趣的含义，表示“大笑”，是那种忍俊不禁、突然爆发出来的笑声。

They arrived at Bill's home first and Mark was invited in for a Coke and to watch some television. The afternoon passed pleasantly with a few laughs and some shared small talk, then Mark went home. They continued to see each other around school, had lunch together once or twice, then both gradated from junior high school. They ended up in the same high school where they had brief contacts over the years. Finally the long awaited senior year came, and three weeks before graduation, Bill asked Mark if they could talk.

* await：表示“等待”，此时与wait for同义。另外它还表示“降临到……身上”的意思，如：death awaits all men的意思是“死亡将临到一切人”。 　　

Bill reminded him of the day years ago when they had first met. "Do you ever wonder why I was carrying so many things home that day?" asked Bill. "You see, I cleaned out my locker because I didn't want to leave a mess for anyone else. I had stored away some of my mother's sleeping pills and I was going home to commit suicide. But after we spent some time together talking and laughing, I realized that if I had killed myself, I would have missed that time and so many others that might follow. So you see, Mark, when you picked up my books that day, you did a lot more. You saved my life."

* locker ：“锁柜”、“可锁的衣物柜”的意思。
* mess：“凌乱状态”、“凌乱的一堆”等意思。在西方国家，如果有客到访，而房间正好比较凌乱时，要说一句excuse the mess，否则就是不礼貌的表现。
* store away：或store up，意思是“把……储存起来”、“储备”。Bill准备自杀，所以偷偷攒了一些他妈妈的安眠药。看来，Bill早已下定了自杀的决心。但Mark 不经意的友善行为改变了Bill 的决定，他决定不自杀了。可见，生活中的一些事情对一些人来说无足轻重，另一方面却可以改变其他人的命运。让我们多做一些象这样我们称为 “举手之劳”的事吧！