修鞋的老人 The cobbler

Wǒmen xiǎoqū ménkǒu yǒu yí gè xiū xié tān, tān zhǔ shì yí wèi liù shí duō suì de lǎorén. Wúlùn guā fēng xiàyǔ, tā měi tiān zǎoshang qī diǎn zhǔnshí chū tān, bàngwǎn liù diǎn shōu tān, èr shí nián lái jīhū cóngwèi jiànduàn.

我们小区门口有一个修鞋摊，摊主是一位六十多岁的老人。无论刮风下雨，他每天早上七点准时出摊，傍晚六点收摊，二十年来几乎从未间断。

At the entrance to our housing estate there’s a shoe repair stall run by a man in his sixties. Whatever the weather, he sets up at seven every morning and packs up at six in the evening, and in twenty years he has hardly missed a day.

Shuō shíhuà, wǒ yǐqián cónglái méiyǒu liúyì guò tā. Zài wǒ kànlái, xié zi huài le jiù rēng diào, zài mǎi yì shuāng xīn de, jì shěng shì yòu shěng shíjiān. Zhídào yǒu yí cì, wǒ zuì xǐhuan de yì shuāng píxié xié gēn diào le, ér dì èr tiān qiàhǎo yǒu yí gè zhòngyào de miànshì.

说实话，我以前从来没有留意过他。在我看来，鞋子坏了就扔掉，再买一双新的，既省事又省时间。直到有一次，我最喜欢的一双皮鞋鞋跟掉了，而第二天恰好有一个重要的面试。

To be honest, I’d never paid him any attention. As I saw it, when shoes break you throw them away and buy a new pair; it saves trouble and time. That changed when the heel came off my favourite pair of leather shoes, and I happened to have an important interview the next day.

Wǒ bào zhe shì shì kàn de xīntài zǒu dào tān qián. Lǎorén jiē guò xié, zǐxì kàn le kàn, shuō:"néng xiū, búguò de děng yíhuìr."Wǒ yǒuxiē zháojí, bù tíng de kàn shǒubiǎo. Tā què bù huāng bù máng, xiān bǎ jiù jiāo qīnglǐ gānjìng, zài yì diǎn yì diǎn de tú shàng xīn jiāo, zuìhòu yòng xiǎo chuí zi qīng qīng qiāo le jǐ shí xià.

我抱着试试看的心态走到摊前。老人接过鞋，仔细看了看，说：“能修，不过得等一会儿。”我有些着急，不停地看手表。他却不慌不忙，先把旧胶清理干净，再一点一点地涂上新胶，最后用小锤子轻轻敲了几十下。

I went to the stall thinking it was worth a try. The old man took the shoe, looked it over carefully and said, “I can fix it, but you’ll have to wait a while.” I was impatient and kept checking my watch. He, though, took his time: first he cleaned off all the old glue, then applied new glue bit by bit, and finally tapped it lightly dozens of times with a small hammer.

Xiū hǎo yǐhòu, xié gēn bǐ yuánlái hái yào jiēshi, tā zhī shōu le shí wǔ kuài qián. Wǒ rěn bú zhù wèn tā:"xiànzài yuànyì xiū xié de rén yuè lái yuè shǎo, nín wèishénme hái jiānchí zuò zhè yì xíng?"Tā xiào le xiào:"dōngxi yòng jiǔ le jiù yǒu gǎnqíng. Néng ràng tā duō péi zhǔrén jǐ nián, wǒ juéde tǐng zhídé de."

修好以后，鞋跟比原来还要结实，他只收了十五块钱。我忍不住问他：“现在愿意修鞋的人越来越少，您为什么还坚持做这一行？”他笑了笑：“东西用久了就有感情。能让它多陪主人几年，我觉得挺值得的。”

Once it was done, the heel was even sturdier than before, and he charged only fifteen yuan. I couldn’t help asking, “Fewer and fewer people bother getting shoes repaired. Why do you keep doing this work?” He smiled. “When you use something for a long time, you get attached to it. If I can let it stay with its owner a few more years, I think that’s worth it.”

Nà shuāng píxié wǒ yòu chuān le sān nián. Měi cì lùguò xiǎoqū ménkǒu, kàn dào lǎorén dītóu gàn huó de yàngzi, wǒ dōu huì xiǎng qǐ tā nà jù huà. Zài zhège yíqiè dōu zhuīqiú kuài de shídài, huòxǔ wǒmen quēshǎo de, zhèng shì zhè zhǒng bù huāng bù máng de nàixīn hé duì píngfán shìwù de zhēnxī.

那双皮鞋我又穿了三年。每次路过小区门口，看到老人低头干活的样子，我都会想起他那句话。在这个一切都追求快的时代，或许我们缺少的，正是这种不慌不忙的耐心和对平凡事物的珍惜。

I wore those shoes for another three years. Every time I pass the entrance and see him bent over his work, I remember what he said. In an age when everything has to be fast, perhaps what we lack is exactly this kind of unhurried patience and care for ordinary things.