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That Lottie had a doorstep was only because her boss, having bought a second house, offered Lottie his first house at a price so low and terms so reasonable that it would have been like losing money to refuse.
She shut off the rooms she didn't use, letting them go to ruin. Since she ate her meals out, she had no food at home, and did not encourage callers, who always expected a cup of tea.

Her way of life was mean and miserly, but she did not know it. She thought she lived frugally in her middle years so that she could live in comfort when she most needed peace of mind.
The years, after forty, began to race. Suddenly Lottie was sixty, and made to retire by her boss's son, who had no sentimental feeling about keeping her on until she was ready to quit.
She made several attempts to find other employment, but nobody would hire her. For the first time in her life Lottie would gladly have worked for nothing, to have some place to go, something to do with her day.
Harry died abroad, in a third-rate hotel, with Bess weeping as hard as if he had left her a fortune. He had left nothing but his horn. There wasn't even money for her passage home.

Lottie, trapped by the blood tie, knew she would have to send Bess money to bring her home.
It took Lottie a week to get a bedroom ready, a week of hard work and hard cash. There was everything to do, everything to replace or paint. When she was through the room looked so fresh and new that Lottie felt she deserved it more than Bess.
She would let Bess have her room, but the mattress was so lumpy, the carpet so worn, the curtains so threadbare that Lottie's conscience bothered her. She knew she would have to redo that room, too, and went about doing it eagerly.
When she was through upstairs, she was shocked to see how dismal downstairs looked by comparison. She tried to ignore it, but with nowhere to go to escape it, the contrast grew more intolerable.

She worked her way from kitchen to parlor, persuading herself she was only improving the rooms to give herself something to do. At night she slept like a child after a long and happy day of playing house. She was having more fun than she had ever had in her life. She was living each hour for itself.
There was only a day now before Bess would arrive. Passing her gleaming mirrors, at first with vague awareness, then with painful clarity, Lottie saw herself as others saw her, and could not stand the sight.

She went on a spending spree from the specialty shops to beauty salon, emerging transformed into a woman who believed in miracles.
She was in the kitchen cooking a turkey when Bess rang the bell. Her heart raced, and she wondered if the heat from the oven was responsible.
She went to the door, and Bess stood before her. Stiffly she suffered Bess's embrace, her heart racing harder, her eyes suddenly smarting from the onrush of cold air.

"Oh, Lottie, it's good to see you," Bess said, but saying nothing about Lottie's splendid appearance. Upstairs Bess, putting down her shabby suitcase, said, "I'll sleep like a rock tonight," without a word of praise for her lovely room. At the lavish table, top-heavy with turkey, Bess said, "I'll take light and dark both," with no marveling at the size of the bird, or that there was turkey for two elderly women, one of them too poor to buy her own bread.

With the glow of good food in her stomach, Bess began to tell stories. They were rich with places and people, most of them lowly, all of them magnificent.

Her face reflected the joys and sorrows of her remembering, and above all, the love she lived by that enhanced the poorest place, the humblest person.
Then it was that Lottie knew why Bess had made no mention of her finery, or the shining room, or the twelve-pound turkey. She had not even seen them.

Tomorrow she would see the room as it really looked, and Lottie as she really looked, and the warmed-over turkey in its second-day glory. Tonight she saw only what she had come seeking, a place in her sister's home and heart.

She said, "That's enough about me. How have the years used you?"
"It was me who didn't use them," said Lottie with regret. "I saved for them. I forgot the best of them would go without my ever spending a day or a dollar enjoying them. That's my life story, a life never lived. Now it's too near the end to try."
Bess said, "To know how much there is to know is the beginning of learning to live. Don't count the years that are left us. At our time of life it's the days that count. You've too much catching up to do to waste a minute of a waking hour feeling sorry for yourself." Lottie grinned, a real wide open grin, "Well, to tell the truth I felt sorry for you. Maybe if I had any sense I'd feel sorry for myself, after all. I know I'm too old to kick up my heels, but I'm going to let you show me how. If I land on my head, I guess it won't matter. I feel giddy already, and I like it."

参考译文

洛蒂有了房子，只是因为她的老板有了新房子后，以很低的价格和极为优惠的付款条件卖给了她。洛蒂认为失去这个机会就等于丢钱。
洛蒂关上她不用的房间，任其变得破旧。她在外面吃饭，因此家里没有什么吃的东西。她也不喜欢有人去她家，因为她们总是想喝一杯茶。

她过得小气、抠门，但她自己没有意识到这一点。她认为中年时节省点，等她上了岁数最需要清静的时候她就能过得舒服点了。
过了40岁，时间就过得很快，不知不觉中洛蒂已经60岁了。老板的儿子逼她退休，他可没什么人情味让洛蒂一直干到准备退休的时候。
她尝试了几次去找其他的工作，但是没有人愿意雇佣她。洛蒂有生以来第一次想无偿地工作。她只想有个地方去，有点事情可做来打发日子。
哈里死在国外的一个三等旅馆里。贝丝哭得昏天黑地，好像他给她留下了一大笔财产一样。他除了号什么也没留下，她甚至没有回家的路费。

出于她们的血缘关系，洛蒂知道她应该寄给贝丝一些钱让她回家。

洛蒂用了一周的时间准备好一件卧室，这一周内她干了很多活，花了很多钱。所有的东西都需要更换或粉刷。一切收拾妥当后，房间焕然一新。她觉得她比贝丝更应该住这间房。

她想让贝丝住自己的房间，但当看到床垫疙瘩不平，地毯破旧不堪，窗帘织纹尽露时，她良心很不安。她知道她也必须重新装饰那间房子，接着她就很有干劲地收拾起那间房子来。

当她穿过楼梯向下看时，她震惊地发现，相比而言，楼下是多么地陈旧。她尽力地不去想，但她又无法逃避，强烈的对比使她越来越不能忍受下去了。

她从厨房忙到客厅，告诉自己说装饰房间只是为了给自己找点事做，晚上她像一个高兴地玩了一整天过家家的小孩一样睡了，她比一生中其他任何时候都感到快乐，她在享受每一个小时。

只剩一天贝丝就要来了，经过闪光的镜子前时，她开始模糊地意识到，然后清楚地看清别人眼中的自己，她感到非常痛苦，不能再忍受自己的这种形象了。

她开始疯狂购物，从一家专卖店到另一家专卖店，还去了一家又一家美容院。她对结果感到很惊喜，并开始相信奇迹发生。
她在厨房炖火鸡时，贝丝按响了门铃。她心跳加速，不知道是不是因为炉子冒出的热气造成的。
她走去开门，贝丝就站在她面前，然后她僵硬地接受了贝丝的拥抱，心跳得更厉害了，眼睛突然被迎面扑来的冷气吹得痛起来。

“奥，洛蒂，见到你太好了”。贝丝说，但对洛蒂华丽的外面却只字不提，贝丝上了楼，放下她破旧的手提箱说：“今天晚上，我要好好睡一觉。”对她那可爱的卧室却没说一句赞扬的话。餐桌上晚餐很丰盛，上面放着硕大的火鸡。贝丝说：“肥肉瘦肉我都吃”，也没对这么大的一只火鸡感到惊奇。而且这么大的一只火鸡，只有两个上了年纪的女人吃，而其中一个穷得连面包都买不起。

美美地吃完以后，贝丝开始讲述她自己的故事：她和哈里去过很多地方，见过很多人。虽然他们中大多数都处于社会底层，但都是好人。在她回忆的时候，欢乐与痛苦都表现在她的脸上。然而最重要的是她借以维持生命的爱情使得破落之处变成了人间天堂，潦倒号手变成了白马王子。

于是洛蒂明白了为什么贝丝没有提及洛蒂华丽的服饰，亮堂的房间或那只十三磅重的火鸡，她甚至就没注意到这些，也许明天她会注意到这房间是多么地豪华。洛蒂是多么漂亮，第二天热过的火鸡又是多么地美味。今晚她看到的只是她来这里所寻求的东西，一个落脚之处，一片手足之情。

她说：“我讲的已经足够多了，这些年你是怎么过的？”
“我没有生活过，”洛蒂懊悔地说，“这些年我一直在攒钱，从未花过一天时间或一美元去享受生活。我忘记了韶光易逝。这就是我的生活，一种从没生活过的生活，现在去尝试生活已经太晚了。”
贝丝说：“意识到有多少东西要去了解已经开始学会生活了。不要去算我们还有多少年。在我们这个年龄，时间是以天来计算的。你有很多事情等着你去做来弥补过去浪费的时间。不要再把时间浪费在自怨自艾上了。”洛蒂笑了，那是发自内心的笑：“说实话，我替你感到遗憾。我要是明智的话，我应该替自己感到后悔。我知道我已经太老，不能尽情享乐了，但是我想让你教我怎么做，我已经决定开始过一种新的生活了，不管它的代价有多大。我感觉很高兴，很激动，我喜欢这种感觉。”

词汇释义

1.reasonable a. 合理的, 明理的, 适当的

例句：

It sounds rather reasonable.
普:这听起来很合理。

2.frugally adv.节约地, 节省地

例句：

He is rich, and he lives frugally.
他虽然很富有，但却过着俭朴的生活。

3.sentimental adj.感情的; 情绪的; 情操的；感情用事的; 感伤的; 动情的; 多愁善感的

例句：

a sentimental love story
感伤的爱情故事

4.dismal adj.忧郁的; 凄凉的, 阴沉的, 惨淡的

例句：

Her speech continued in the same dismal strain.
她以悲伤的语调接著往下说。

5.grin [ɡrin] 露着牙齿笑

6.lavish vt.浪费, 挥霍; 滥用; 慷慨

例句：

My neighbor is given to lavish spending.
我的邻居喜欢乱花钱