2011年高考英语全国卷1 - 阅读理解A

When milk arrived on the doorstep（牛奶送到家门口）

When I was a boy growing up in New Jersey in the 1960s we had a milkman delivering milk to our doorstep. His name was Mr. Basil. He wore a white cap and drove a white truck. As a 5-year-old boy I couldn't take my eyes off the coin changer fixed to his belt. He noticed this one day during a delivery and gave me a quarter out of his coin changer.
我生长于上世纪60年代的美国新泽西，当时我们有一个送奶工巴塞尔先生，他戴着一顶白帽子，驾驶着一辆白卡车。作为一个5岁的男孩，我目不转睛地盯着固定在他腰带上零钱袋。有一天他送货的时候注意到了，于是取下一只零钱袋送给我。

Of course he delivered more than milk. There was cheese eggs and so on. If we needed to change our order my mother would pen a note-"Please add a bottle of buttermilk next delivery"-and place it in the box along with the empty bottles. And then the buttermilk would magically appear.
当然他不仅仅送牛奶，还送奶酪、鸡蛋等。如果我们需要修改订单，我的母亲会写下一张纸条“下次送货时增加一瓶脱脂奶”，然后把纸条放在装有空牛奶瓶的盒子里。下次脱脂奶就会魔术般地出现了。

All of this was about more than convenience. There existed a close relationship between families and their milkmen. Mr. Basil even had a key to our house for those times when it was so cold outside that we put the box indoors so that the milk wouldn't freeze. And I remember Mr. Basil from time to time taking a break at our kitchen table having a cup of tea and telling stories about his delivery.
一切都很方便，每一家与他们的送奶工都保持着良好的关系。巴塞尔先生甚至有我们家的钥匙，因为室外太冷我们把牛奶箱放在了室内，这样牛奶就不会冻住。我记得很多次看见巴塞尔先生在我家的厨房桌子旁休息，喝着茶聊着他的送奶经历。

There is sadly no home milk delivery today. Big companies allowed the production of cheaper milk thus making it difficult for milkmen to compete. Besides milk is for sale everywhere and it may just not have been practical to have a delivery service.
现在家庭送奶业很不景气，大公司生产的牛奶更便宜，这使得送奶工很难与之竞争。而且牛奶到处都可以买到，渐渐地就不需要送奶服务了。

Recently an old milk box in the countryside I saw brought back my childhood memories. I took it home and planted it on the back porch. Every so often my son's friends will ask what it is. So I start telling stories of my boyhood and of the milkman who brought us friendship along with his milk.
最近，我在乡下看见了一个旧牛奶箱，勾起了我童年的回忆，我把它带回家把它放在后门廊上。每次我儿子的朋友问起这是什么，我就开始讲述我的童年生活，关于送奶工因为牛奶和我们结下的友谊。