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老人和他的山核桃店

(2014-07-04 15:36:00) 下一個

大約10年前，我先生Ted上網尋找出售Pecan（一種山核桃）的果仁店，發現了這家山核桃公司。從此他喜歡上了那兒的果仁和幹果，也對店鋪的主人庫柏先生產生了興趣。有一天，他拜訪了那家店鋪回來，告訴我店主人是大屠殺幸存者。然後又看了一遍斯皮爾伯格的辛德勒名單，還買了那本書仔細閱讀起來。

後來Ted帶我去店裏時，我注意到牆上貼著一個關於庫柏先生的剪報，講述他如何幫助了那本書的作家和電影的製作人。辛德勒是庫柏先生的恩人。

Ted告訴庫珀先生，二戰的時候他的父親參加了諾曼底登陸等戰役，而一個德國遠房親戚在北非被俘，後來被關在科羅拉多州的一個戰俘營。兩個有著同樣姓氏的年輕人，在不同的大陸出生，為不同的陣營而戰。Ted後來在研究“家族樹“（家譜）時拜訪了這個遠親，他說戰後英國人強迫他勞動多年，非常感激美國人對他的公平待遇。就在Ted不停地講述著與他有關的二戰和德國的聯係，我忽然覺得不安，想著如何叉開話題。庫珀先生平靜地聽著，然後輕輕地、一字一字地講到：“美國是非常慷慨的”。我深深地感動了，為了庫珀先生的寬容以及他對這個國家的感恩。在那個沒有希望的年代，我也是遠度重洋來到這裏，這個國家對我展開溫暖的懷抱，給予我重生的機遇和第二個故鄉。

山核桃店，祝你50歲生日快樂！並感謝你給予我們城裏最好的堅果！

（去年時逢這家山核桃店成立50周年，記下一點感想，獻上我的祝福。今天時逢美國國慶節，獻上我的感恩。）

The Old Man and his Pecan Shop

About 10 years ago my husband Ted searched for a shop where he could purchase pecans and found this pecan shop. He fell in love with the nuts and dry fruits there. One day he came home from the shop with news that the owner is a Holocaust survivor. Then Ted viewed Spielberg’s Schindler’s List a second time and read the book after buying it. When Ted took me to the shop after that, I noticed a newspaper clipping about how Mr. Cooper aided the author and the filmmaker.

Ted was telling Mr. Cooper that his father participated in D-Day and other battles while a distant cousin was confined at a POW camp in Colorado, having been captured in North Africa. These two young men had the same surname but didn’t know one another at all. Ted discovered the cousin in a family tree project, and he told Ted that he felt grateful for the fair treatment of the Americans but was taken by the British after the war for several years of forced labor. Mr. Cooper listened calmly and I was wondering how to change the subject, and then Mr. Cooper spoke softly and deliberately: "America is very generous". I felt deeply touched by the comment. As an immigrant from the Far East, I have also appreciated the enormous warmth and kindness this country has extended to me in addition to the vast opportunities.

Happy 50^th birthday, the Pecan Shop! And thank you for the best nuts in town!

（Last year was the 50^th anniversary of the Pecan Shop. I presented Mr. Cooper a happy birthday card with this note.)

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