The Woman on the Bus
For four years I took the same bus to work at 7:20 every morning.
四年里，我每天早上七点二十坐同一班公交车上班。
A woman of about seventy got on two stops after me.
一位大约七十岁的女士在我上车后两站上车。
She always sat in the third seat on the left.
她总是坐在左边第三个位子。
She always had a cloth bag with vegetables in it.
她总是拿着一个装着蔬菜的布袋。
We never spoke, not once in four years.
我们从来没说过话，四年里一次也没有。
But we nodded at each other every morning.
但是每天早上我们会互相点点头。
One morning in March she was not there.
三月的一个早上，她没有来。
I thought she was ill, or visiting family.
我以为她生病了，或者去看家人了。
She was not there the next day either, or the day after that.
第二天她也没有来，第三天也没有。
After two weeks I understood that she was not coming back.
两个星期以后，我明白她不会回来了。
I do not know her name. I do not know what happened.
我不知道她的名字。我不知道发生了什么。
I only know that a seat on the left is empty every morning.
我只知道每天早上左边有一个空位子。
It surprised me how much this affected me.
让我意外的是，这件事对我影响这么大。
You can share four years with somebody and never say a word.
你可以和一个人共度四年，却一句话也没说过。