1.87美元. 這是全部。並且其中的60分都是錢的最小麵值-1分的錢。1分的錢都是每次在菜市場同買菜的，或賣肉的人討價還價節省下來的， 每次的討價還價都是到他們麵紅脖赤，無言以待。Della 數了3遍的錢。1.87美元。明天就是聖誕節了。
很顯然，除了坐下哭泣，還能做什麽。Della哭了。哭引起思考生活是由一些哭和笑組成，哭比笑要少。
Della停止哭泣並擦幹眼淚。她站在窗前，沮喪的看著窗外一隻灰色的貓沿著灰色的欄杆走在灰色的院子裏。明天就是聖誕節，她僅有1.87美元去買禮物送給她丈夫Jim。已經好幾個月了，她已盡全力去節省每一分錢了，結果是這樣。
Jim每周掙20美元，很快就用完。日常花費總是大於期望。他們總是這樣。她最高興的時光就是去計劃買好的東西給他。一些好的，稀有的--就是榮譽價值物品給Jim.
有一個高鏡子在房間的窗子之間。Della突然轉過身來，站在鏡子前並且看著自己。她的眼睛開始放亮，但她的臉瞬間失色。很快她放下她的頭發，並讓它自然的落下。
現在，Mister and Missus James Dillingham Young 有2件有價值的財產。一件是金時間片-金表傳自他父親和祖父。另一個是Della 的頭發。
如果Shela的皇後住在這棟樓裏，Della會把她的頭發掛在窗外使她的珠寶跌價。
Della的頭發墜落下來，閃亮像棕色的瀑布。頭發觸及她的漆蓋，就像要蓋住了她。很快她又把頭發挽起來。她仍然站著這時一些眼淚墜落在地板上。
她穿上外套，戴上舊棕色帽子
原文
The Gift of the Magi' by O. Henry
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it in the smallest pieces of money - pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by negotiating with the men at the market who sold vegetables and meat. Negotiating until one's face burned with the silent knowledge of being poor. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
There was clearly nothing to do but sit down and cry. So Della cried. Which led to the thought that life is made up of little cries and smiles, with more little cries than smiles.
Della finished her crying and dried her face. She stood by the window and looked out unhappily at a gray cat walking along a gray fence in a gray back yard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy her husband Jim a gift. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result.
Jim earned twenty dollars a week, which does not go far. Expenses had been greater than she had expected. They always are. Many a happy hour she had spent planning to buy something nice for him. Something fine and rare -- something close to being worthy of the honor of belonging to Jim.
There was a tall glass mirror between the windows of the room. Suddenly Della turned from the window and stood before the glass mirror and looked at herself. Her eyes were shining, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Quickly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.
Now, Mister and Missus James Dillingham Young had two possessions which they valued. One was Jim's gold time piece, the watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair.
Had the Queen of Sheba lived in their building, Della would have let her hair hang out the window to dry just to reduce the value of the queen's jewels.
So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her, shining like a brown waterfall. It reached below her knees and made itself almost like a covering for her. And then quickly she put it up again. She stood still while a few tears fell on the floor.
She put on her coat and her old brown hat. With a quick motion and brightness still in her eyes, she danced out the door and down the street.
Where she stopped the sign read: "Madame Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." Della ran up the steps to the shop, out of breath.
"Will you buy my hair?" asked Della.
"I buy hair," said Madame. "Take your hat off and let us have a look at it."
Down came the beautiful brown waterfall of hair.
"Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the hair with an experienced hand.
"Give it to me quick," said Della.
