I had stopped to get gas at a place where I almost never go. I had hesitated about cleaning my windshield. But then when the gas was almost finished pumping, I decided for some reasonto go ahead and clean it. That‘s what I was doing when a woman approached me and asked for directions. Had I not initially hesitated about the windshield, and then gone ahead with it, I would have been long gone.

我在一个我几乎从未去过的地方停下来加油。我还在犹豫要不要清洗我的挡风玻璃。但当汽油快加完的时候，出于某种原因，我决定开始清理它。我正清理挡风玻璃的时候，一位女士向我走来问路。如果我一开始没有在挡风玻璃的事情上犹豫，而是继续往前走的话，我早就走了。

There were two women, one middle aged, the other twenty-something, with a young child in the back seat. On a day when the temperature was headed well past 100, they were traveling in an old car with no air conditioning, driving from a town about an hour away.

车上有两名女性，一位中年，另一位二十多岁，后座上坐着一个年幼的小孩。在气温超过37度的一天，他们开着一辆没有空调的老式汽车，从大约一小时车程外的一个小镇过来。

"Can you tell us how to get to Mopac, sir?" She had a folded-up printout of directions from Google maps.

"Sure. Where on Mopac are you headed?" I asked.

"先生，您能告诉我去Mopac怎么走吗？"她有一张折叠的从谷歌地图上打印出来的路线图。

"当然，你要去Mopac的哪里？"我问道。

She unfolded the printout and showed me the address. I knew it well, and started to get the feeling that this moment was meant to be.

"I know exactly where that is," I told her. "I used tohave an office in that building to work in."

她打开折叠地图给我看了地址。我很熟悉那里，并且开始感觉到这一刻是命中注定的。

"我知道它的确切位置，"我对她说。"我以前在那栋楼里的一间办公室工作。"

I ended upgiving directions to the older lady, and then again to her companion, who was the driver, while the older lady wrote them down. It took a while, because I repeated each instruction to make sure they understood.

In a sincere moment of gratitude, the older lady thanked me.

最后，我给那位年长的女士指路，然后又给她的同伴，也就是开车的人指路，并由那位年长的女士把路线记下来。这花了一些时间，因为我重复了每一个指令以确保他们能明白。

The whole incident helped me much more than it helped her. I had been having a very difficult day. In fact, the only reason I had gone to that particular gas station was because I wanted to take a little drive and clear my head.

As I replaced the gas cap, having sent them on their way, I suddenly realized that I felt better. My head was clear. And I am grateful forthe real goodness it brought into my life.

整件事情对我的帮助比对她的帮助还要大得多。我那天原本过得很不顺。事实上，我去那个加油站的唯一原因是我想开一会儿车，清醒一下头脑。

当我把汽油盖盖好，送他们上路后，我突然意识到我感觉好多了。头脑变得很清醒。我很感激它给我的生活带来了真正的美好。

知识积累：

1. for some reason

If you say that something happened or is true for some reason, you mean that you know it happened or is true, but you do not know why. 出于某种原因

2. Had I notinitially hesitated about the windshield, and then gone ahead with it, I would have been long gone.

在含有were, should, had的虚拟条件句中，可以省略if，而把这三个词提前。

3. twenty-something informal used to show that a description or an amount, etc. is not exact 大致，左右

4. On a day when the temperature was headed well past 100, they were traveling in an old car with no air conditioning, driving from a town about an hour away.

driving from a town about an hour away在这里表示补充说明，相当于一个并列结构。

5. showed sb sth

1) to let someone see something eg:

The children proudly showed me their presents.

2) to explain to someone how to do something, by doing it yourself or using actions to help them learn eg:

Can you show Lucy the way to slice onions?

3) to go with someone and guide them to a place eg:

Come on, I‘ll show you the way.

6. used to do sth

(一般过去时)表达"过去常常做的事情"，言下之意是现在不常做了。

7. end up（doing sth）

To find yourself in a place or situation that you did not intend or expect to do 最终成为，最终处于

8. take a while

need a short period of time 需要较短的一段时间

9. in (actual) fact

1)used when you are adding something, especially something surprising, to emphasize what you have just said eg.

I know the mayor really well. In fact, I had dinner with her last week.

2)used to emphasize that the truth about a situation is the opposite of what has been mentioned eg.

They told me it would be cheap but in fact it cost me nearly $500.

10. be grateful for feeling that you want to thank someone because of something kind that they have done, or showing this feeling感激的；表示感谢的