2006年NPR美国国家公共电台一月-Hoping and Pining, and Driving: A First C

（单词翻译）

Steve Inskeep: Here is another installment¹ of StoryCorps, the project that is traveling the country recording² interviews between loved ones and friends. These interviews are archived at the Library of Congress and some of them are heard here on Morning Edition. People don't talk to a journalist, they talk to each other; you get questioned by someone who really knows your story and wants to know more. One of those people is George Botti who is 81 years old. Recently he spoke³ with his daughter Liz Manocha about growing up on Long Island in the 1940s, and here Botti tells the story of his first car.

George Botti: It was a 1930 Model A Ford⁴ Roadster and it was sitting outside. It had a 'For Sale' sign on it. And each day that I came by, I had to stop and looked at this car. It was beautiful. It had a rumble⁵ seat. It was green with black fenders and red spoke wheels. It looked like it was brand-new. One day as I was stopping and I looking at it, a man came out and he said hello. I said hello. He said, 'I notice you are looking at this car every day. Do you like it?' I said, 'Yeah, I like it very much.' He says, 'Well, would you buy it?' I said, 'Well, how much is it?' He said, 'A hundred dollars.' 'Oh, I don't have a hundred dollars. In fact, I probably could only get about 50.' He said, "I tell you what, you get me 75 and you can have the car. But you gotta bring it back today?" I ran home to my mother. There she was ironing at the board, and I told her what the story was. I said, 'I only want to borrow 25 from you, Ma.' She says, 'Georgie, I will give you the 25, because you are a good boy.' I says yes... So I brought it back and I gave it to the man. That next morning, I drove the car to school. I'll never forget that day as long as I live. And here, I drove the car up and there was a little group under a tree. Those students turned around, you know, they would hardly say hello to me just the day before. They were, 'Holy mackerel! George, where did you get this car?' 'Oh, I...I got it all right.' 'It's beautiful.' Finally I saw my friend and I called him over. 'Spider, get in the rumble seat, I will give you a ride.' And I took him for a ride.

Steve Inskeep: George Botti remembering his first car, which was a 1930 Ford Model A Roadster. He spoke to his daughter in a StoryCorps booth in New York. There are two mobile StoryCorps booths, and to find where they will be stopping in 2006, just visit npr.org.

StoryCorp is made possible by a grant from Saturn⁶.