-
The Standard of Living
Dorothy
Parker
Annabel
and
Midge
had
been
best
friends
almost
from
the
day
that
Midge
had
found
a
job
as
stenographer
（速记员）
with
the
firm
that
employed
Annabel.
By
now,
Annabel,
two years longer in
the stenographic department, had worked up to the
wages of
eighteen dollars and fifty
cents a week; Midge was still at sixteen dollars.
Each
girl lived at home with her family
and paid half her salary to its
support.
The girls sat side
by side at their desks, they lunched together
every noon,
together
they
set
out
for
home
at
the
end
of
the
day's
work.
Many
of
their
evenings
and
most
of
their
Sundays
were
passed
in
each
other's
company.
Often
they
were
joined
by two young men, but there was no
steadiness to any such quartet; the two young
men
would
give
place,
unlamented,
to
two
other
young
men,
and
lament
（悲恸）
would
have been inappropriate, really since
the newcomers were scarcely distinguishable
form their
predecessors
（前辈）
.
Invariably
（总是）
the girls spent the fine idle
hours
of
their
hot-
weather
Saturday
afternoons
together.
Constant
use
had
not
worn
ragged
（衣衫褴褛的）
the
fabric of their friendship.
They
looked
alike,
though
the
resemblance
（相似）
did
not
lie
in
their
features.
It was in their movements, their style,
and their
adornments
（装饰）
.
Always the girls
went to walk on Fifth Avenue on their free
afternoons, for it
was the ideal ground
for their favorite game. The game could be played
anywhere,
and
indeed,
was,
but
the
great
shop
windows
stimulated
the
two
players
to
their
best
form.
Annabel had
invented the game; or rather she had evolved it
from an old one.
Basically,
it
was
no
more
than
the
ancient
sport
of
what-would-you-do-if-you-had-a-million-
dollars But Annabel
had drawn a new set
of
rules
for
it,
had
narrowed
it,
pointed
it,
made
it
stricter.
Like
all
games,
it
was
the more
absorbing for being more difficult.
Annabel's
version
went
like
this:
You
must
suppose
that
somebody
dies
and
leaves
you a million dollars, cool. But there
is a condition to the bequest. It is stated
in the will that you must spend
every
nickel
（镍）
of the money on yourself.
There lay the
hazard
（危害）
of the
game. If, when playing it, you forgot and
listed
among
your
expenditures
（花费）
the
rental
of
a
new
apartment
for
your
family,
for
example,
you
lost
your
turn
to
the
other
player.
It
was
astonishing
how
many--and
some
of
them
among
the
experts,
too--would
forfeit
（被没收）
all
their
winnings
by
such slips.
It
was essential, of course, that it be played in
passionate seriousness. Each
purchase
must be carefully considered and, if necessary,
supported by argument.
There
was
no
zest
（热情）
to
playing
it
wildly.
Midge
played
the
game
like
a
master
from
the
moment
she
learned
it.
It
was
she
who
added
the
touches
that
made
the
whole
thing
cozier
（舒适）
.
According
to
Midge's
innovations,
the
eccentric
（古怪的）
who
died and left you the money was not
anybody you loved, or, for the matter of that,
anybody you even knew. It was somebody
who had seen you somewhere and had thought,
girl
ought
to
have
lots
of
nice
things.
I'm
going
to
leave
her
a
million
dollars
when i die.
benefactor
（捐助者，恩人）
,
full
of
years
and
comfortably
ready
to
depart,
was
to
slip
softly
away
during
sleep
and
go
right
to
heaven.
These
embroideries
（刺绣，润饰）
permitted
Annabel and Midge to play
their game in the luxury of peaceful consciences.
Midge played with a
seriousness that
wasp
（易动怒的人）
not
only proper but
extreme. The single
strain on the girls' friendship had followed an
announcement
once made by Annabel that
the first thing she would buy with her million
dollars
would
be
a
silver-fox
coat.
It
was
as
if
she
had
struck
Midge
across
the
mouth.
When
Midge recovered her
breath, she cried that she couldn't imagine how
Annabel could
do such a thing--silver-
fox coats were so common! Annabel defended her
taste with
the
retort
（反驳）
that
they
were
not
common,
either.
Midge
then
said
that
they
were
so.
She
added
that
everybody
had
a
silver-fox
coat.
She
went
on,
with
perhaps
a
slight
toss
（辗转）
of
head,
to
declare
that
she
herself
wouldn't
be
caught
dead
in
silver
fox.
For the next few days, though the girls
saw each other as constantly, their
conversation
was
careful
and
infrequent,
and
they
did
not
once
play
their
game.
Then
one
morning, as soon as Annabel entered the office,
she came to Midge and said she
had
changed
her
mind.
She
would
not
buy
a
silver-fox
coat
with
any
part
of
her
million
dollars. Immediately
on receiving the
legacy
（遗产）
, she would select
a coat of
mink
（水貂）
.
Midge
smiled
and
her
eyes
shone.
think,
she
said,
doing
absolutely
the right
thing.
Now, as they walked
along Fifth Avenue, they played the game anew. It
was one
of those days with which
September is repeatedly cursed; hot and glaring,
with
slivers
of
dust
in
the
wind.
People
drooped
（低垂，发蔫）
and
shambled
（蹒跚而行）
,
but
the
girls
carried
themselves
tall
and
walked
a
straight
line,
as
befitted
young
heiresses
（继承人）
on
their
afternoon
promenade
（散步）
.
There
was
no
longer
need
for
them
to
start
the
game
at
its
formal
opening.
Annabel
went
directly
to
the
heart
of
it.
the first
thing you'd do
the
first
thing
I'd
do,
Midge
said,
get
a
mink
coat.
But
she
said
it
mechanically,
as
if
she
were
giving
the
memorized
answer
to
an
expected
question.
But she, too, spoke as if
by
rote
（死记硬背）
. It
was too hot; fur, no matter how
dark
and
sleek
（光亮的）
and
supple
（柔软的）
,
was horrid to the thoughts.
They
stepped
along
in
silence
for
a
while.
Then
Midge's
eye
was
caught
by
a
shop
window.
Cool, lovely
gleamings
（闪亮）
were
there set
off by
chaste
（纯洁的）
and
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
上一篇：Dry September(傻瓜版)
下一篇：培根：论司法(中英文)