The Gifts （禮物）
作者：潘彩英
Mon.：Tomorrow will be Christmas. But Della feels very sad. Because she has no money to buy a present for her husband , Jim . She has only one dollar and eighty-seven cents . They have only 20 dollars a week, it doesn’t leave much for saving.
In fact, Della and Jim have two possessions in which they both take very great pride. One is Jim’s gold watch, which has been his father’s and his grandfather’s. The other is Della’s long beautiful hair.
D: Life is so hard for me. Though I saved the money for many months , I still have only one dollar and eighty seven cents.
D: I---- I---- I have to have my hair cut and sold it . In that way I can get some money and I can buy a beautiful present for Jim.
(At the shop—“Madame Sofronie. We Buy Hair Goods of All Kinds”)
D: Will you buy my hair?
M: Yes, I buy all kinds of hair. Sit down, please. Take your hat off and let me have a look. Oh, very beautiful. Very good! Twenty dollars , OK?
D: All right. But please give it to me quickly.
M: Here you are. Twenty dollars.
D: Thank you. Bye.
M: Bye.
Mon.：Della spent two hours in the streets. Then she stopped at a Gold Shop and bought a gold watch chain. Now ,Della is at home.
D: Oh, what a beautiful gold watch chain. I think it must match Jim's watch. When he sees it he must be very happy .
(Suddenly the door opened and in came Jim . )
J: You-----?
D: Jim. Don’t look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. Jim, it will grow quickly. You don’t mind, do you ? I just had to do it. My hair grows very fast, you know. Say “Merry Christmas!” Jim, and let’s be happy.
J: You’ve cut off your hair?
D: I’ve cut it off and sold it. It’s sold. I tell you -sold and gone, too. It’s Christmas Eve , Jim. Be good to me, for it went for you.
J: Well , Della. Don’t make any mistake about me. I don’t think there’s anything about a hair cut that could make me love you any less. I know, it went for me. Look at this package .
D: What ?
J: Look at it yourself. You 'll see.
D:Ah! The combs. They were in the shop windows for many months!
J:Yes, the beautiful combs, pure tortoiseshell, with jewelry rims--just the color to wear in your beautiful, hair.
D: But , Jim. They are expensive combs. I know, my heart had longed for them without the least hope of possession. Now they are mine. Thank you Jim.
J; Now, you will see why I was upset at first.
D: Jim, you don’t know what a nice –what a beautiful , nice gift I’ve got for you. Can you guess?
J: I'm sorry. I won't guess.
D: Look. A gold watch chain. Isn’t it lovely ,Jim? I hunted all over the town to find it. You’ll have to look at the time a hundred times a day now. Give me your watch. I want to see how it looks on it .
J: Della, Let’s put our Christmas gifts away and keep them a while. They’re too nice to use just at present. I sold the watch to get the money. And I bought the combs. Now, Let’s have our supper.
禮 物
旁白：明天是圣誕節(jié),但是德拉覺得很難過,因為她無錢為她丈夫吉姆買一圣誕禮物,她只有1.87美元,他們一個月只有20美元的收入,那很難再從中省錢了.
事實上,德拉和吉姆有兩件讓他們引以為豪的寶貝,一件是吉姆的金表,那是從他祖父和父親那里留傳下來的,還有一件是德拉那一頭棕發(fā),又長又美麗.
德拉：生活對我來說很困難,雖然我很多個月以前就開始存錢了,我仍然只有1.87美元.
德拉：我……我……我不得不剪了頭發(fā)去賣掉,那樣我就能得到一些錢去買禮物給吉姆了.
（在店門口,寫著“夫人：我們買各種各樣的頭發(fā)”）
德拉：你買我的頭發(fā)嗎?
夫人：是的,我們買各式的頭發(fā),把你的帽子脫下來,讓我看一下你的頭發(fā).哦,很美的頭發(fā),很好的發(fā)質,20美元,行不行?
德拉：好的,但是請你快點把錢給我.
夫人：給你,20美元.
德拉：謝謝你,再見.
夫人：再見.
旁白：德拉在街上逛了2個小時,然后她在一家金店止步,進去買了一條金表鏈.現(xiàn)在德拉正在家里.
德拉：哦,多么漂亮的金鏈子,我想那一定跟吉姆的手表很配,當他看到它的時候,一定會很高興的.
（突然門打開了,吉姆走了進來）
吉姆：你……?
德拉：吉姆,不要那樣看著我,我剪了我的頭發(fā)并賣了,因為我無法度過一個我不送你圣誕節(jié)禮物的圣誕節(jié),吉姆,它會長得很快的,你不會介意的,是不是?我必須這么做,我的頭發(fā)長得很快的,這你是知道的,說：“圣誕快樂!”,吉姆,讓我們高興起來.
吉姆：你剪了你的頭發(fā)?
德拉：我剪了頭發(fā)并賣了,它被賣掉了,我跟你說它被賣掉了,沒有了!現(xiàn)在是圣誕節(jié)前夜,對我好一點,吉姆,那都是為了你.
吉姆：哦,德拉,別誤會我,我想我不會因為你剪了頭發(fā)而對你的愛就減少了,我知道,那是為了我,看看這個包裹.
德拉：什么?
吉姆：你自己看吧!你會明白的.
德拉：啊,是梳子!它們就是幾個月前陳列在櫥窗里的那套.
吉姆：是的,那套漂亮的梳子,鑲珠寶的,那顏色正好配你的發(fā)色.
德拉：但是,吉姆,那些都是很貴的,我知道,我一直渴望但卻沒有絲毫的奢望擁有它.現(xiàn)在,它們是我的了,謝謝你,吉姆.
吉姆：現(xiàn)在,你知道我為什么一開始就那么悲傷了吧.
德拉：吉姆,我給你買了一件又美麗又好的禮物,你能猜出來嗎?
吉姆：對不起,我不想猜.
德拉：看,一條金表鏈,吉姆,它是不是很可愛?我找遍了整個城才找
的,你從現(xiàn)在起可得一天要看一百次時間了.把你的表給我,我
想看一下表鏈裝在表上的樣子.
吉姆：德拉,讓我們把圣誕禮物收起來珍藏一段時間,它們太好了,但我
們現(xiàn)在用不著,我把表賣了.得到了錢才買了這梳子.現(xiàn)在讓我們
吃晚飯吧!