American Tragedy 美国悲剧 chapter 4

The effect of this particular conclusion was to cause Clyde to think harder than ever about himself. And theprincipal result of his thinking was that he must do something for himself and soon. Up to this time the best hehad been able to do was to work at such odd jobs as befall all boys between their twelfth and fifteenth years:, ,assisting a man who had a paper route during the summer months of one year, working in the basement of a fiveand-ten-cent store all one summer long, and on Saturdays, for a period during the winter, opening boxes andunpacking goods, for which he received the munificent ¹ sum of five dollars a week, a sum which at the timeseemed almost a fortune. He felt himself rich and, in the face of the opposition ² of his parents, who were opposedto the theater and motion pictures also, as being not only worldly, but sinful, he could occasionally go to one oranother of those -- in the gallery -- a form of diversion which he had to conceal ³ from his parents. Yet that did notdeter him. He felt that he had a right to go with his own money; also to take his younger brother Frank, who wasglad enough to go with him and say nothing., ,Later in the same year, wishing to get out of school because he already felt himself very much belated in therace, he secured a place as an assistant to a soda ⁴ water clerk in one of the cheaper drug stores of the city, whichadjoined a theater and enjoyed not a little patronage ⁵ of this sort. A sign -- "Boy Wanted" -- since it was directly onhis way to school, first interested him. Later, in conversation with the young man whose assistant he was to be,and from whom he was to learn the trade, assuming that he was sufficiently ⁶ willing and facile, he gathered that ifhe mastered this art, he might make as much as fifteen and even eighteen dollars a week. It was rumored ⁷ thatStroud's at the corner of 14th and Baltimore streets paid that much to two of their clerks. The particular store towhich he was applying paid only twelve, the standard salary of most places., , ,At such idle moments as his immediate ¹¹ superior -- a Mr. Sieberling -- twenty, dashing, self-confident, talkative,was too busy to fill all the orders, he might be called upon to mix such minor ¹² drinks -- lemonades, Coca-Colas and the like --  as the trade demanded., ,Yet this interesting position, after due consultation ¹³ with his mother, he decided ¹⁴ to take. For one thing, it wouldprovide him, as he suspected, with all the ice-cream sodas ¹⁵ he desired, free -- an advantage not to be disregarded., ,The old man's munificent donation to the hospital was highly appreciated.老人对医院慷慨的捐赠赢得了高度赞扬
。,The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党�扔龅搅朔炊浴�