每周五，邮报都会多投一个塑料包。里面装着厚厚一沓各大商家投放的印刷广告：Macy’s, Best Buy, Verizon, Safeway…数不胜数。广告纸上印着好多coupon(优惠印花券)，剪下来去买该产品的话可以省个五毛一块什么的。所以，周末在家剪coupon是美国大多数主妇都干的事。我不干这个，再说自己也没那么多东西要买。但印刷广告后附赠的那一本薄薄的WP Magazine（华盛顿邮报杂志）我却是每期必看。里面的文章或洋洒或凝练，其中更不乏给出近期城中的各大活动资讯，生活妙方，即姿态高雅又不失平易近人。每期开篇第一章，必是城中一小人物的短访。他们或是某家具店的小老板，或是某裁缝店的老师傅，或者是某医院的接生护士。神学系的大学生转行做木匠，露宿街头的法国学徒奋斗一生终于有了自己的裁缝店，母亲死于难产的菲律宾小镇姑娘决心投身医学，一个个小小人物看似平凡其实特别，勾勒出华府芸芸众生相。谁说在DC只能正襟危坐谈政治？躺下来，慢慢读，一样能发现这座城市的平凡乐趣。

这是这周五（2010-10-08）的封面短访

INTERVIEW BY
AMANDA ABRAMS
阿曼达•埃布兰斯采访

I wanted to get out of Ethiopia to flee the military regime there. It was chaos. I took a scholarship from Russia; the intention was not to stay in Russia but to get out somehow to any Western country. I was a student in Russia for eight years, studying economic planning. From there, I got an invitation from my friend in New York.

我要离开埃塞俄比亚，逃离那一团糟的军事政府。我申请了俄国一笔俄国的奖学金，但目的并不是想要留在俄罗斯而是尽可能的到任何一个西方国家。我在俄国读了八年的经济计划。在那里，我从一个朋友那搞到一封来自纽约的邀请函。

It was a hard time for me in the beginning. I applied for political asylum, but my request was denied after 10 years. I tried to tell the judge that I really don’t want to be part of the Ethiopian government; this is my belief. But he said that I’m an economically highly privileged person in Ethiopia. I got my green card through my wife, who is an American citizen. I knew her back home, and we met again here.

初来乍到实在辛苦。我政治避难申请了十年还是被拒。我曾试着告诉法官自己真的不想为埃塞俄比亚政府做事，这是我的坚持。但他说我在埃塞俄比亚是高知高薪分子。我通过结婚拿到了绿卡，因为我老婆是公民。我在老家的时候就认识她，在这里我们又重遇到。

I tried to look for work in economics, but what happened was every time I applied for jobs, they said I’m overqualified, they say, I have to have an American education credential. I have to live my day-to-day life, so I started driving a taxicab in Washington, and after that I got into this business. We’ve had the store for three years now.
我尝试过找与经贸相关的工作，但每次求职时他们都说我条件太好。他们说我需要有美国的学历背景。我每天都要过生活，所以我开始在DC开计程车，之后，我做起了现在这个生意。我们这家店开了三年了。

When you get into the business, there are so many, many things that you have to work on: the paperwork, going and buying the merchandise, dealing with customers, dealing with the maintenance. All that is me and my wife. this is a never-ending job; we’re working 13, 14 hours a day. I didn’t have a vacation for the last three years, not a single one. Not a single day off.
生意一旦做起来，就有好多，好多事情等着你去弄：文件报表，进货出货，客服交流，店面维护。所有这些都靠我和我老婆，这是一个没完没了的工作。我们每天干13,14个小时。我过去三年没休过假，一个假都没。一天都没休息过。

My son is 11 years old. We try to teach him the value of work. He always asks me to buy something, and I tell him, “I don’t have that kind of money.” he says, “Why? You work at the store.” So one day I took him and told, “Johannes,”—his name is Johannes—“you know, I’m buying this computer stuff for you because I’m working hard; If I didn’t work hard, I cannot make any money, and you could not get this. From now on, you come to the store and help me, and you make money.” Otherwise, he’s thinking that things are easy for me.
我儿子今年11岁。我们试着教他工作的价值。他总是闹着要买这买那，我告诉他：“老爸没那闲钱。”他说：“为什么？你不是在商店上班么。”于是某天我跟他说：“约翰内斯，”—他叫约翰内斯—“你晓得么，你老爸拼了命干活才买的这些电脑啊什么的给你。如果我不拼命干，我一点钱都挣不了，而你也就什么也没得用。从现在开始，你来店里帮忙，你，自己挣钱。”我只能这么做，不然他只会觉得什么都来得很容易。

This is my country now. I learned the value of work here: You don’t need to be an economist to live; you can be an unskilled laborer and make a living. But I’m also regretting something, because I could’ve done much better when I came to the United States. But I’m happy. I make a living.
现在这里成了我的祖国。我领悟到这里的工作价值：你不必非要做个经济学家而过生活；即便你是一个非技术工人也能过生活。但我还是为一些事感到遗憾，因为我原本可以在美国做得更好。但我现在开心。我过上了自己的生活。

其实我们都是小人物，丢在人堆里，我们的人生就和家对面三栋二单元四楼一室王会计的一样普通。但普通并不是无意义。仔细想想，即便这样的普通，这么多年来，我们经历了多少的辗转反侧，苦痛挣扎？对于别人来说，那的确是没意义，但对自己，这是我自己的一生，我开心，我过自己的生活，挺有意义。