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The Night the President Met the Burglar--Richard C. Garvey

A cat burglar invaded the bedroom of the President of the United States, who confronted him, struck a deal with him and helped him escape.
The President and First Lady—she slept through the encounter—never notified the Secret Service and he enjoined a journalist friend not to print the story.
The journalist kept his word, and this is the first time the incident has been reported.

The event occurred in the early morning hours in one of the first days of the presidency of Calvin Coolidge, late in August, 1923. He and his family were living in the same third-floor suite at the Willard Hotel in Washington that they had occupied during his vice presidency. President Warren G. Harding's widow still was living in the White House.

Coolidge awoke to see an intruder go through his clothes, remove a wallet and unhook a watch chain.
Coolidge spoke: "I wish you wouldn't take that."
The intruder, gaining his voice, said: "Why?"
"I don't mean the watch and chain, only the charm. Take it near the window and read what is engraved on the back of it," the President said.
The burglar read: "Presented to Calvin Coolidge, Speaker of the House, by the Massachusetts General Court."
"Are you President Coolidge?" he asked.
The President answered, "Yes, and the Legislature gave me that watch charm . . . I'm fond of it. It would do you no good. You want money. Let's talk this over."
Holding up the wallet, the intruder bargained: "I'll take this and leave everything else."

Coolidge, knowing there was $ 80 in the billfold, persuaded the intruder to sit down and talk. The young man said he and his college roommate had overspent during their vacation and did not have enough money to pay their hotel bill.
Coolidge added up the room rate and two rail tickets back to the campus. Then he counted out $ 32 and said it was a loan.

He then told the intruder that there probably would be a Secret Service agent patrolling the hotel corridor and asked if an escape could be made by going back along the hotel ledge. The man left through the same window he had entered.

The President told his wife, Grace, about the event. Later, he confided in two friends, Judge Walter L. Stevens, the family lawyer, and Frank MacCarthy, a freelance writer and photographer.

The President held MacCarthy to silence and never told him the intruder's name. As the 25th anniversary of the event approached, 15 years after Coolidge's death, MacCarthy, by then working for the Springfield Union, asked Mrs. Coolidge to let him use the story.

She declined, saying, "There is already too much publicity given to acts of vandalism and violence." MacCarthy honored her request, asking only that she review the story for accuracy and allow him to use it after her death.
Mrs. Coolidge died July 8, 1957, and MacCarthy died less than four months later without publishing his article.
MacCarthy had shared the story with me when we worked together. Because all reasons for secrecy have vanished, this report has been reconstructed from MacCarthy's own article.
I have called the young man a burglar because MacCarthy' s article so identifies him, but his notes show that Coolidge said the young man repaid the $ 32 loan in full.

参考译文

总统深夜遇强盗

飞贼闯入美国总统的卧室，总统勇敢面对，与他达成一项交易并放他走。总统和第一夫人--整个过程她都在睡觉--从未通知情报机关，总统吩咐新闻记者不要发表这个故事。记者信守诺言，这次是这个故事首次被报道。

故事发生在柯立芝总统任职期间的一个凌晨，1923年8月底，他和家人同住在华盛顿威拉德酒店第三层的一个套房，他任副总统期间也住过这套房间。总统Warren G. Harding的遗孀当时仍住在白宫。

柯立芝醒来，发现一个飞贼在搜查他的衣服，拿了一个钱包，取下一个表链。
柯立芝说，“我希望你住手。”
飞贼提高嗓门说，“为什么？”
“我不是指手表和表链，只是说表坠，拿到窗口看看后面刻的什么字，”总统说。
飞贼读道：“献给议院发言人柯立芝总统，马萨诸塞州议会”。
“你是柯立芝总统吗？”他问。
总统答道，“是的，立法机关给我的表坠...我很喜欢它，它对你没什么用，你需要的是钱，我们商量商量吧。”
飞贼拿着钱包，讨价还价地说，“我想把这个拿走，其余的留下。”

柯立芝知道钱包里有80美元，他劝飞贼坐下来谈谈。年轻人说，他和大学室友度假时透支了积蓄，没钱支付酒店的账单。

柯立芝把酒店账单和两张回学校的火车票价加一起，点出32美元，说是借贷给他。
然后，他告诉飞贼，酒店走廊上可能有特务机关在巡逻，问他是否可以沿着酒店的壁架逃走。飞贼就从他进房间的窗子逃走了。

总统把这件事告诉了妻子格雷斯，后来把这个秘密告诉了两个朋友：家庭律师Judge Walter L. Stevens和自由作家兼摄影师Frank MacCarthy。

总统要MacCarthy保守秘密，他从未透露飞贼的名字。这次事件过去25年后，即柯立芝死后15年，在春田联盟工作的MacCarthy请求柯立芝夫人允许他使用这个故事写作。

柯立芝夫人婉言拒绝道，“有关破坏和暴力活动的报道太多了。”MacCarthy 尊重她的要求，只是请她审查故事的精确性，并允许在她死后发表。

柯立芝夫人死于1957年7月8日，MacCarthy不到四个月后也去世了，死前没有公开这篇故事。
当我和MacCarthy共事时，他告诉了我这个故事。因为这已经无所谓秘密了，这个故事改编自MacCarthy的文章。

我称这个年轻人为“飞贼”，是因为MacCarthy的故事中也是如此，但是据他的笔记记载，这位年轻人全额还了这32美元。

词汇释义

1.burglar n. 窃贼

例句：
When the burglar heard their car he hopped it out of the window.
那窃贼听到他们汽车的声音就从窗口逃走了.

2.encounter n. 意外的相见,遭遇 v. 遇到,偶然碰到,遭遇

例句：
His encounter with the guard dog had completely unnerved him.
他遇上了警卫犬, 把他吓坏了.

3.intruder n. 侵入者,干扰者,妨碍者

例句：
We hid behind the bushes, ready to pounce on the intruder.
我们藏在灌木丛后，准备向来犯者发起突然袭击。

4.overspend v. 过度使用,花费过多

例句：
The board decide to limit the overspend by the production department.
该董事会决定限制生产部门的过度花费。

难句讲解

1.The journalist kept his word, and this is the first time the incident has been reported.

【参考译文】记者信守诺言，这次是这个故事首次被报道。

【结构解析】keep one's word意思是“信守承诺”,it/this is the first time 后面的动词用过去分词形式。

2.It would do you no good

【参考译文】它对你没什么用。

【结构解析】sth. do sb. good意思是“某物对某人有好处”。

3.Coolidge, knowing there was $ 80 in the billfold, persuaded the intruder to sit down and talk.

【参考译文】柯立芝知道钱包里有80美元，他劝飞贼坐下来谈谈。

【结构解析】“ knowing there...”是现在分词做状语。