老人拾荒20年圓妻子鋼琴夢
It may have taken him two decades, and the income saved from tons of recycled trash, but Wu Zheng finally fulfilled his wish to buy his wife a piano.
儘管老人吳政花了近20年時間，傾盡靠回收垃圾攢下的積蓄，但他終於圓了妻子的鋼琴夢。
"It was not just an instrument, but a witness of the love from my husband," said his wife, Xie Guizhi, who has made the piano the centerpiece of her narrow and crowded guestroom.
“這不僅僅是一件樂器，也見證了老伴對我的愛。”他的妻子謝桂枝說。鋼琴已成爲了擁擠狹小的客廳中最重要的物件。
"I clean the piano every day and don`t allow other people to touch it," said Xie, 58, a retired worker in Luoyang, Henan province.
“我每天都會把鋼琴擦得乾乾淨淨的，不許別人碰它。”58歲的謝桂枝說，她是河南洛陽的一名退休工人。
Wu, 68, said he made up of his mind to buy his wife a piano long ago, even though their life was poor.
68歲的吳政說，儘管家境並不富裕，但他很久以前就下定決心要爲老伴買架鋼琴。
"My wife enjoys music and loves piano very much," Wu said. "I dreamed of buying her a piano as early as 38 years ago when we fell in love with each other."
“我老伴特別熱愛音樂，喜歡鋼琴。”吳政說。“早在38年前我們談戀愛的時候，我就夢想着給她買一架鋼琴。”
Yet the cost of the piano - at 22,550 yuan ($3,500) - was a big sum for the family. His wife suffered from backbone problems for years and Wu`s salary at the rural credit cooperative could only cover the basic expenses of food and medicine for the whole family.
然而一架22550元的鋼琴對這個家庭來講是筆不小的支出。吳政的妻子常年飽受脊椎病的折磨，而吳政在城關信用社的收入僅僅能夠支撐整個家庭食品和藥品的基本支出。
To make more money to support the family, Wu decided to pick up recyclable waste after work in the early 1990s."It was a hard decision because there were lots of prejudices toward waste recyclers at that time," he said. "Most people thought that collecting recyclable stuff from the dustbins was shameful."
爲了多掙些錢養家，吳政從上世紀90年代初就決定利用業餘時間撿破爛。“這是個艱難的決定，因爲當時人們對拾荒者持有偏見。”他說，“大多數人覺得從垃圾桶裏撿破爛是件丟臉的事。”
To avoid being identified by his acquaintances, Wu wore a mask and a pair of dark glasses at first. "It felt like I was committing some wrongdoings when I started to search for recyclable waste in the street," he said. "The most worrying thing for me was being identified by my colleagues."
爲了避免被熟人認出來，起初吳政會帶上口罩和墨鏡。“剛開始在街上收廢品時，我覺得自己就像做壞事一樣。”他說，“最怕被同事認出來。”
By collecting all kinds of wastes including rubber shoes, plastic bottles, glasses and newspapers, Wu could earn about 4,000 yuan per year and save about 1,000 of that.
通過回收膠鞋、塑料瓶、玻璃和報紙等各種廢品，吳政每年能有4000元的收入，從中能存下1000元。
The realization of his dream was accompanied by lots of sad memories - he described as feeling "like a beggar" when he would wait for customers at a roadside barbecue to drop their empty beer bottles.
在實現夢想的過程中，也有許多傷心的經歷——他說自己在路邊燒烤攤邊等待人們丟下空啤酒瓶時，感覺自己像個乞丐。
"Sometimes I had to wait for more than half an hour until they finished their drinking and left the bottles for me," he said.
“有時爲了等他們喝完酒留給我空瓶子，我要等半個多小時。”他說。
"Some young men would rather break the glass bottles in front of me on purpose, and it felt like breaking my heart," he said.
“有的年輕人甚至故意當着我的面把玻璃瓶摔破，當時我特別痛心。”他說。
He was also moved sometimes when the others gave him some plastic bottles "in a respectful manner".
而有時人們會“禮貌地”把塑料瓶遞給他，他也備受感動。
He had to travel around the city twice every day for more than 10 kilometers to find as much stuff as possible.
爲了儘可能多地回收廢品，他每天要在城裏走上兩圈，能走10多公里的路。
Since Wu has fulfilled the dream of buying his wife a piano, he does not go out to pick up waste any more, though he still keeps the habit of saving his family`s recyclable waste.
如今吳政已經實現了給老伴買鋼琴的夢想，不用再出門拾荒了。但他仍舊保留着收集家中廢品的習慣。
"There are no differences between so-called noble or humble jobs," said Wu Yuanhong, the couple`s 36-year-old daughter, adding that she felt proud of her parents.
“工作沒有所謂的高貴、低賤之分。”兩位老人36歲的女兒吳豔紅（音譯）說，她爲自己的父母感到自豪。
"People deserve to be respected if they are dedicated to their dreams and don`t rely on others." For Xie, the piano was a surprising gift - she had never played the piano before and she is trying hard to study how to play.
“不依賴別人，爲自己的夢想而奮鬥的人，理應得到尊重。”對謝桂枝來說，這架鋼琴是一份令人驚喜的禮物。之前從未彈過鋼琴的她目前正在努力學習。
"People could hardly connect the piano - a symbol of elegance and nobility - with waste recyclers, who are always thought of as dirty and messy," she said.
“人們很難將象徵高貴優雅的鋼琴與拾荒者聯繫起來。人們總是認爲拾荒者髒兮兮的。”她說。
"I really appreciate that my husband has done so much for me." The biggest joy for Wu is to sing songs to the accompaniment of the piano, and his favorite song is The Most Romantic Thing.
“我真的很感謝老伴爲我做了這麼多事。”吳政生活中最大的樂趣就是在鋼琴的伴奏下唱歌，而他最喜歡的歌就是《最浪漫的事》。
"The most romantic thing I can imagine is to get older slowly with you," Wu sang to the melody of the piano.
吳政老人隨着鋼琴的美妙旋律唱道：“我能想到最浪漫的事，就是和你一起慢慢變老。”
