003 我的普尔曼列车员生涯

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My name is Frank Davis, the year is 1926, and I'm a Pullman porter

我叫弗兰克·戴维斯，今年是1926年，我是一名普尔曼列车服务员。

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In 1865 a white man named George Pullman created a company

that makes luxury sleeping cars for trains.

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Like a first-class hotel on wheels, each Pullman car has marble

sinks, fine carpeting, and crystal lights.

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Many railroad companies include these luxury cars in their

trains because people love to be pampered.

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In fact, Pullman porters are called ambassadors of hospitality because we

always try to please the passengers in any way we can.

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Being a porter is one of the few good jobs a black man can get

当一名服务员是黑人能得到的为数不多的好工作之一。

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Usually the Pullman Company hires black men aged 25 to 40 years old who have

a high-school education, but some of the porters are college graduates.

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In fact, a few porters I work with have graduated

from law and medical school.

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My uncle, who got me my job, said that 30 percent of

all black doctors were once porters.

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You see, it's against the law in a lot of places for whites

and blacks to work or socialize together.

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Because of this segregation, hospitals won't hire black doctors

由于这种种族隔离，医院不会聘用黑人医生，

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so they work as porters to save enough money to open their

own medical offices in black neighborhoods.

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If a young man wants to be a Pullman porter

如果一个年轻人想做普尔曼列车服务员，

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he has to be recommended by a respected member of the black community

such as a preacher or a businessman.

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The Pullman Company really likes to hire people who

have relatives that have been porters,

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because then the company knows the new porter already understands that

the company is very strict, almost like the military.

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That's why Pullman porter jobs tend to run in families

from generation to generation.

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My uncle has been a porter for forty years, and my father was

one too before he died a few years ago.

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New porters are given a rule book that must be followed faithfully; this

book contains instructions for everything a porter does.

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In fact, every new porter has to pass a written test

that proves he knows the rules.

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For instance, there is only one way to make a bed — the Pullman way

比如说，铺床只有一种方法——普尔曼式铺法。

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The sleeping cars have upper and lower beds, called berths

which look a lot like built-in bunk beds.

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The lower berth is a seat during the day, and the upper

berth pulls out from the ceiling at night.

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Getting the berths ready for people to sleep in is very difficult;

把铺位准备好让人睡觉非常困难；

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I have to fold down the seats, hang curtains for privacy, put up a

headboard, and make up the bed—all in three to five minutes.

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Some older porters can do it in ninety seconds!

有些年长的服务员能在九十秒内完成！

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It's very important to do everything exactly right

把每件事都做得完全到位非常重要，

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and I still carry the fifty-page rule book in my hip pocket to make

sure I can always refer to it when I need to.

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When I was first hired, an older porter taught

me everything I needed to know.

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He accompanied me at all times on my first train trips to make sure

I knew how to properly fold the blankets and towels,

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dispose of dirty laundry, and wear my uniform

处理脏衣物，并穿上我的制服。

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He even taught me how to gently wake the passengers by shaking the privacy

curtains instead of knocking on the edge of the berth.

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I learned quickly, and my paycheck was $16 for

working 73 hours my first week.

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The average pay for white men is about $19 a week for a lot fewer hours

but a black man is still lucky to have a job like this.

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Being a porter can be a demanding job:

做一名列车服务员可能是一份要求很高的工作：

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porters are so famous for keeping everything spotless that a magazine once

said that Pullman cars are cleaner than most homes in the United States.

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The job is more than just cleaning up, making

beds, and folding laundry though.

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If there aren't enough waiters in the dining room

I put on a white jacket and serve food.

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I help with luggage, clean the bathrooms, and teach

the passengers about train safety.

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Porters cut hair, deliver drinks, iron clothes, and

do almost everything they're asked.

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One day a passenger ripped the seat of his pants

and he didn't have another pair,

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so I cut some material from a black umbrella and sewed it over the tear

于是我从一把黑伞上剪下一些布料，缝在了裂口上。

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The man said it was the best sewing job he'd ever seen!

那人说这是他见过的最好的针线活！

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Most of the passengers are nice and friendly, but sometimes a few of them

can be a real problem, which makes a porter's job much harder.

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Some men will get into their berths with a cigarette

and make a big mess with the ashes.

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Other men — we call them whitewashers — spread shaving cream

all over the sink when they shave.

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Then there are the fussy ladies who never stop ringing

the bell to complain about something.

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What makes it really difficult is that porters are never allowed

to go off duty when they are on the train.

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We try to catch a few hours' sleep at night, but if we're needed

for anything, we have to get up right away.

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Believe me, it's very tiring to work around the clock

相信我，没日没夜地工作非常累人。

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Every night all the porters get together to shine shoes in the smoking room

after we've collected the shoes from boxes outside the passengers' berths.

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When the people are asleep and no one is listening, we talk about the

union, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.

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It's the first black union in the United States, and some porters think

that if we join the union, the company will treat us better.

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The union wants every porter to be paid more money and insists that

we get at least three hours of sleep each night,

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but I worry that the company will find out I'm a union member and fire me

但我担心公司会发现我是工会成员而解雇我。

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Being a Pullman porter has made the lives of my wife and son

easier, and I am very thankful for that.

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But I hope my little boy will have a chance to study

and become whatever he wants in life.

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I didn't have that opportunity, but maybe he will

我没有那样的机会，但也许他会有。