一个初到美国的危地马拉人

作为一个初到美国的危地马拉人，我无法眼睁睁地看着那些好端端的东西被当作“废品”白白丢弃。于是，我开始了我的周末“庭院旧货出售”淘宝生涯，而远在故乡的父亲，也由此开始了一项欣欣向荣的生意。

The first time I went for a walk around my father-in-law’s neighborhood it was garbage day[1], and I was shocked to see what people were throwing out.

Being from Guatemala[2], where families wish they could own a radio, a television, or any of those electrical appliances I saw being dumped, I was tempted to pick up every item.[3] But I knew my new American family would not approve.

Then spring arrived. This was back in 1981, and I recall going for a walk to a pond near where my wife and I were living. That’s when I saw all these people gathered in someone’s front yard.

As I approached to see what was happening I got my first introduction to yard sales[4]. For the few dollars I had in my wallet, I was able to buy my own seven-inch black-and-white portable TV[5]. I also bought a flashlight in a country that almost never goes dark, because my mind was still thinking of Guatemala where the electricity goes out every night during the raining season.[6]

The following weekend, at another yard sale, I saw a 14-inch color TV being sold for almost nothing[7]. I felt I could not miss this offer and bought it. Now I had two sets and couldn’t wait to see what else I could afford the next weekend.

Spring ended, and by then I had accumulated[8] almost every type of electronic equipment I had always wished to have back home.

In conversations with my family in Guatemala, they were amazed to hear the deals I got and the number of things I had acquired in such a short time living in North America.

Then this new idea came to mind. I had heard about a fellow Guatemalan who lived in the next town over and traveled back home every few months. He drove a truck from Massachusetts to Guatemala stacked[9] high with boxes that people were sending to relatives, each full of new and used stuff.

I called my father in San Marcos and made an agreement with him that I would send as many types of items as I could so that he could start his own resale[10] business.

Every few months I would gather several boxes of American “junk”—televisions, toasters, fans, deep fryers, hair dryers, electric shavers, videotapes of cartoons and action movies (even though my family didn’t understand English), car audio systems, trinkets from people’s travels, etc.—and ship them off.[11]

Of course, I was losing money on every front[12]. I paid for the objects and I paid for the transportation. But it was a way to help my family. My father sold what the family didn’t need and kept the profits, while my mother and brother filled the house with one of every possible type of electrical appliance.

If items were broken, my brother would fix them and that would automatically mean he got a share of the profit.

Three years later, when I visited my family for the first time since leaving Guatemala, I learned that many of the families in our neighborhood had in their living room a piece of “trash” someone in North America had discarded[13].

As word got out about my father’s up-market “trash,” people started to travel up to two hours to buy their first TV, radio, VCR, Walkman, MP3, and more.[14] Demand was huge!

At first people bought whatever was available. Then they started making special orders. That forced me to get up even earlier on the weekends and travel from town to town, looking for these particular housewares[15] in yard sales where the wealthiest lived and the best items were on offer[16].

At the same time, competition started to build in San Marcos, and my father decided to partner with a friend who was in charge of “advertising.” For each new client the friend brought to the house, he would get a commission[17].

Years later, my father found out that he could buy similar items along the border with Mexico, where many Guatemalans (returning from the United States and loaded with secondhand goods) were selling their belongings, because they didn’t want to pay import duties.[18] With that new source of supply, my father became independent from me.

After my father passed away[19] six years ago, his business closed. But I have continued to acquire goods for relatives and friends because I still have a hard time letting people throw out anything that’s in working order.[20]

Once in a while, I ship a box full of PCs, cellphones, printers, digital cameras, etc.,[21] because, as you can understand, I have to keep the people back home up to date with the latest technology you no longer need.

Vocabulary

1. garbage day: 收垃圾日，美国一些社区，垃圾车在每周固定的某一天来收垃圾，这一天称为garbage day。

2. Guatemala: 危地马拉，拉丁美洲国家。下文的Guatemalan指“危地马拉人”。

3. electrical appliance: 家用电器;dump: 倾倒，丢弃;tempt: 吸引，引诱。

4. yard sale: 庭院旧货出售，美国一些家庭把不需要的物品、家具和衣物等放在自家的车库前或院子里廉价出售。

5. portable: 手提式的，便携式的。

6. flashlight: 手电筒;go out: (火、灯等)熄灭，停电。

7. for nothing: 免费。

8. accumulat: 积攒。

9. stack: 堆放。

10. resale: 旧货出售。

11. 本句提到的废品(junk)依次为：电视机、烤面包片机、风扇、炸锅、干发器、电剃须刀、卡通片和动作片的录影带(即便我知道我的家人不懂英语)、汽车音响系统和旅行小纪念品(装饰品)。

12. front: (政治、经济等)阵线，此处用比喻义。

13. discard: 丢弃，不再使用。

14. up-market: 高档的;VCR: 录像机;Walkman: 随身听。

15. houseware: 家用品。

16. on offer: 削价出售的。

17. commission: 佣金，回扣。

18. belongings: 动产，财物;import duty: 进口税。

19. pass away: 去世。

20. 但我还继续为亲友敛聚物品，因为我无法忍受还能用的东西被白白丢弃。

21. PC: = personal computer，个人电脑;printer: 打印机。