When milk arrived on the doorstep（牛奶送到家門口）

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.
我生長于上世紀60年代的美國新澤西，當時我們有一個送奶工巴塞爾先生，他戴著一頂白帽子，駕駛著一輛白卡車。作為一個5歲的男孩，我目不轉睛地盯著固定在他腰帶上零錢袋。有一天他送貨的時候注意到了，于是取下一只零錢袋送給我。

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.
當然他不僅僅送牛奶，還送奶酪、雞蛋等。如果我們需要修改訂單，我的母親會寫下一張紙條“下次送貨時增加一瓶脫脂奶”，然后把紙條放在裝有空牛奶瓶的盒子里。下次脫脂奶就會魔術般地出現了。

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，每一家與他們的送奶工都保持著良好的關系。巴塞爾先生甚至有我們家的鑰匙，因為室外太冷我們把牛奶箱放在了室內，這樣牛奶就不會凍住。我記得很多次看見巴塞爾先生在我家的廚房桌子旁休息，喝著茶聊著他的送奶經歷。

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.
現在家庭送奶業很不景氣，大公司生產的牛奶更便宜，這使得送奶工很難與之競爭。而且牛奶到處都可以買到，漸漸地就不需要送奶服務了。

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，我在鄉下看見了一個舊牛奶箱，勾起了我童年的回憶，我把它帶回家把它放在后門廊上。每次我兒子的朋友問起這是什么，我就開始講述我的童年生活，關于送奶工因為牛奶和我們結下的友誼。