几个星期。
A few weeks.
那么,我想你该被原谅了
Then, I suppose you can be excused
因为你不知道纽约市
for not knowing that the
City of New York
并不负责提供援助
is not in the business of
giving assistance
给那些……
to people of...
……拉丁裔的人。
...the Latin persuasion.
当然,祝你一切顺利——
Of course, I wish you the
best in all your-
这是不是 Is this
市长的决定 the Mayor’s decision
还是你的决定?
or is it yours?
不好意思?
Pardon me?
如果可以的话,
我想和市长讨论一下这件事。
I’d prefer to discuss this
with the Mayor,
如果你不介意的话。
if you don’t mind.
总教区根本不能允许你
The Archdiocese
simply cannot allow you
向市政厅募捐。
to solicit funds from City Hall.
因为我是个意大利人?
Because I’m Italian?
总教区确实已经努力了很多年,
The Archdiocese has worked
many years indeed,
以赢得这座城市最高层的支持。
to earn the support of the
highest echelons of this City.
我不会拿这个冒险。
I will not put that at risk.
我需要你的帮助。
I need your help.
我需要一个有更多空间的孤儿院,
I need an orphanage
with more room,
让我的孩子们能做孩子,
where my children can be children,
而我不用担心
and I don’t have to worry
会有皮条客打他们脸。
that a pimp will smack
them in the face.
好的。
All right.
这是我能做的全部。
This is all I can do.
一年一次的捐助。
Once-a-year contribution.
这应该有点帮助。
That should help a little.
但让我把话说清楚,
But allow me to make myself clear,
你 You
不得向任何美国机构——
are not to solicit money from
any American institution--
或任何美国个人募捐。
or any American individual
for that matter.
我不会让你在上西区乞讨。
I will not have you
begging your way
你只能向意大利人募捐。
through the Upper West Side.
你让我
You are to solicit from
Italians only.
资助贫困意大利人的需求……
You ask me to
完全由贫困的意大利人来资助。
fund the needs of
impoverished Italians...
我在给你下命令,妈妈。
entirely from
impoverished Italians.
I am giving you an order, Mother.
问题是,我得写人们会读的文章。
The problem is, I have to write
articles that people read.
人们知道吗?
Do people know
在美国,这个地球上最伟大的国家,
that in America, the
greatest nation on earth,
老鼠的生活比五点街区的孩子们还要好?
rats have it better than the
children of Five Points?
我真心怀疑这一点。
I sincerely doubt that.
那么你显然……
Then you clearly...
还没去过五点街区呢。
haven’t been to Five Points.
维多利亚,如果你能……
Vittoria, if you would be so kind
把卡洛威先生的帽子拿过来。
as to get Mr. Calloway’s hat.
“连老鼠都过得更好。” 西奥多·卡洛威著。
“Even Rats Have It Better.” By
Theodore Calloway.
在过去的几个月里,
Over the last several months,
一群黑眼睛的修女,
a group of dark-eyed nuns,
由一位名叫卡布里尼的瘦弱女子带领,
led by a frail woman
named Cabrini,
一直在冒险进入
have been taking the
risk of entering
一些禁止进入的地方
certain forbidding places
甚至连警♥察♥都不敢进去。
where not even police
dare to enter.
对每个孩子,
To each child,
卡布里尼都会许下承诺,
Cabrini makes a promise,
“很快我们就会给你一张床。”
“Soon we shall have a
bed for you.”
这些孩子今晚就要和我们回家了。
These kids are coming home
with us tonight.
他们用英语学习,
They learn in English,
这样他们才能成为美国公民,
so they can be
American citizens,
伟大的人,
great ones,
为自己现在生活的土地感到自豪。
proud of the land where
they now live.
……将永远受到政♥府♥的保护。
...will always be protected
by the government.
他们还用意大利语唱歌♥,
And they sing in Italian,
这样他们就能为自己来自的土地感到骄傲。
so they can be proud of the
land they came from.
她赋予这些被遗弃的孩子们
She imbues these castaways
一种他们的父母从未有过的尊严。
with a dignity their
parents never knew.
因为她相信这些孩子所受的伤痛
For she believes the wounds
these children bear
只有通过爱才能治愈,
can only be healed through love,
并通过心灵的教育。
and through an
education of the heart.
以一个案例为例
Take the case
那个小弃儿的案例
of the little waif
她的尸体被发现在街上
whose body was found
upon the street
被卡布里尼的一个孤儿发现。
by one of Cabrini’s orphans.
没人站出来认领这个女孩的家人,
No one stepped forward as
the girl’s family,
于是卡布里尼和她的孩子们把她当成了
自己的孩子。
so Cabrini and her children
claimed her as their own.
亲爱的读者,
Dear Reader,
纽约是建立在死者之上的。
New York is built upon the dead.
她那宏伟的铁轨,
Her mighty rails,
她的隧♥道♥……
her tunnels...
她那闪亮的街道,
her shining streets,
全都建在移♥民♥骨骸的基岩上。
all are set upon a bedrock
of immigrant bone.
这些骨骸难道不也是我们的吗?
Is this bone not ours as well?
我们不都是以移♥民♥的身份来到这里的吗?
Did we not all arrive
as immigrants?
我们难道不该把这些孩子——我们的孩子
Do we not owe these
children-- our children
过上比老鼠更好的生活吗?
a life better than a rat’s?
亲爱的读者,
Dear Reader,
我们想要什么样的纽约?
what kind of New
York do we want?
市政厅所设想的那个,
The one imagined by City Hall,
在那里,意大利人毫无发言权,
where the Italian is voiceless,
被隔离在贫民窟里?
quarantined in slums?
还是我们想要卡布里尼所设想的纽约——
Or do we want the New York that
Cabrini imagines--
在那里,
意大利人与我们享有同等的尊严,
where the Italian is our
equal in dignity,
他们的孩子也有机会生活?
and their children have a
chance to live?
这里。
Here.
哦,但大主教不是说过——
Oh, but didn’t the
Archbishop say--
大主教命令我们不要在这里乞讨。
The Archbishop ordered us
not to beg here.
所以我们不会。
So we won’t.
我们会住在这里。
We will live here instead.
所以她不需要你的许可。
So she didn’t need
your permission.
这并不是她做事的方式。
That’s not exactly how
she operates.
所以你让一个女人来摆布你,
So you let a woman
push you around,
一个意大利女人。
an Italian woman.
这就是你管理教会的方式吗?
Is that how you run your Church?
我整个上西区
I’ve got the whole
Upper West Side
都爬进了我的喉咙。
climbing down my throat.