Worst of all, a faddist. Fads, I submit, are the very negation of reason. To be swept up in every new craze that comes along, to surrender yourself to idiocy just because everybody else is doing it—this, to me, is the acme of mindlessness. Not, however, to Petey.
最糟糕的是，他赶时髦。我敢说，赶时髦就是缺心眼。在我看来，跟随时尚看，肓从他人就是缺心眼。可皮蒂却不以为然。
One afternoon I found Petcy lying on his bed with an expression of such distress on his face that I immediately diagnosed appendicitis. "Don't move," I said. "Don't take a laxative. I'll get a doctor."
一天下午，看见皮蒂躺在床上，表情痛苦，我马上断定他得了阑尾炎。“别动我说，”别吃泻药, 我去找医生。”
"Raccoon," he mumbled thickly.
“浣熊。”他沙哑地嘟哝着。
"Raccoon?" I said, pausing in my flight.
“浣熊？”我停下脚步。
"I want a raccoon coat," he wailed.
“我要一件浣熊皮大衣！”他大哭大叫。
I perceived that his trouble was not physical, but mental. "Why do you want a raccoon coat?"
明白了。麻烦不在身体，而在精神。“为什么要浣熊皮大衣？”
"I should have known it," he cried, pounding his temples. "I should have known they'd come back when the Charleston came back. Like a fool I spent all my money for textbooks, and now I can't get a raccoon coat."
“我早该知道，”他捶打着太阳穴，哭叫着，“我早该知道浣熊皮大衣也会随养查尔斯顿舞而再度流行。我真傻，钱都用来买课本，现在买不成浣熊皮大衣了。”
"Can you mean." I said incredulously, "that people are actually wearing raccoon coats again?"
“你是说，”我质疑，“浣熊皮大衣真的又流行了？”
"All the Big Men on Campus are wearing them. Where've you been?"
“校园里所有大人物都穿。你去哪儿了？”
"In the library," I said, naming a place not frequented by Big Men on Campus.
“图书馆。”我说出了一个大人物不常去的地儿。
He leaped from the bed and paced the room, "I've got to have a raccoon coat," he said passionately. "I've got to!"
他跳下床。在房间里踱来踱去。“我一定要弄件浣熊皮大衣，”他激动地说，“一定！”
"Petey, why? Look at it rationally. Raccoon coats are uasanitary. They shed. They smell bad. They weight too much. They're unsightly. They-"
“皮蒂，为什么？好好想一想。浣熊皮大衣不卫生，掉毛、难闻、太重、难看，还有……”
"You don't understand," he interrupted impatiently. "It's the thing to do. Don't you want to be in the swim?"
“你不懂，”他不耐烦地打断我，“这就叫时髦。你就不想赶时髦？”
"No," I said truthfully.
“不想。”我坦率地说。
"Well, I do," he declared. "I'd give anything for a raccoon coat. Anything!"
“好啦。我想！”他态度明确，“为了浣熊皮大衣，舍弃什么都行。”