Every Saturday, Asha sets up her folding table under the big plane tree and waits for someone who thinks he is better than he is. Her sign reads, "Speed chess, five minutes, two dollars a game." Her real skill is not chess. It is knowing exactly how much to let a stranger believe.
每个星期六，阿莎都会在那棵大梧桐树下摆开她的折叠桌，等着某个自以为很厉害的人。她的牌子上写着：“快棋，五分钟，两美元一局。”她真正的本事并不是下棋，而是恰到好处地让陌生人相信他能赢多少。
Today's customer is a man in a very clean jacket who has been explaining his favorite opening to her for ten minutes. She loses the first game on purpose, then wins the next three. He pays, grumbling, and she pockets the money.
今天的客人是个穿着一尘不染的夹克的男人，他已经向她讲了十分钟他最爱的开局。她故意输了第一局，然后赢下了接下来的三局。他嘟嘟囔囔地付了钱，她把钱收进了口袋。
Then a small girl appears at the edge of the table. She is perhaps nine, with a backpack bigger than her body and a stare that never blinks. She puts down two dollars and sits. She says nothing.
这时，桌边出现了一个小女孩。她大约九岁，背着一个比身体还大的书包，眼睛一眨不眨地盯着人。她放下两美元，坐了下来。她一句话也没说。
Asha, amused, plays quickly and carelessly, as she always does with children. Twelve moves later, her queen is trapped. She stares at the board. "Lucky," she says. The girl shrugs and sets up the pieces again.
阿莎觉得有趣，像她对孩子们一贯的做法那样，下得又快又随意。十二步之后，她的后被困住了。她盯着棋盘。“运气好，”她说。女孩耸了耸肩，把棋子重新摆好。
The second game is slower. Asha concentrates, which she has not done for a paying customer in years. It does not help. The girl takes her rook with a neat little tap and folds her hands in her lap.
第二局慢多了。阿莎集中了精神，这是她多年来第一次对付费的客人这样做。可没有用。女孩轻轻一点，吃掉了她的车，然后把双手叠放在膝头。
A tall man hurries across the grass, out of breath. "Jacinta! You can't just run off like that," he says. Then he sees the board and the two dollars in Asha's tray. "Oh no. Has she been playing for money?"
一个高个子男人匆匆穿过草地跑来，上气不接下气。“哈辛塔！你不能就这样跑掉，”他说。接着他看到了棋盘，还有阿莎托盘里的两美元。“哦，不。她是在赌钱下棋吗？”
Asha opens her mouth to say yes, and to say something dignified about business. What comes out instead is, "She's beaten me twice."
阿莎张嘴想说是的，还想用庄重的口气谈一谈生意。可脱口而出的却是：“她赢了我两次。”
The man explains, a little apologetically, that his daughter has been reading the same chess book since spring. She will not speak to the coach at school, and she will hardly speak to anyone. They had hoped chess might be a way in.
男人有些抱歉地解释说，他女儿从春天起就一直在读同一本国际象棋书。她不肯和学校的教练说话，几乎不跟任何人说话。他们原本希望，下棋也许能成为一扇门。
Asha knows what she should do. A sensible hustler would keep the two dollars and move her table to the far side of the park before the girl returned with friends. If she had any sense, she would do exactly that.
阿莎知道自己该怎么做。一个精明的骗子会留下那两美元，趁女孩带着朋友回来之前，把桌子搬到公园的另一头。要是她有点头脑，就该这么做。
Instead, she turns the board around. "Your opening was fine," she tells the girl. "But on move six, you took my pawn when you should have developed your knight. You got away with it because I wasn't paying attention."
可她却把棋盘转了过来。“你的开局很好，”她对女孩说，“不过到第六步，你本该先出马，却吃了我的兵。你能得逞，是因为我当时没留神。”
The girl listens, eyes fixed on the pieces. Then, very slightly, she nods.
女孩听着，眼睛盯着棋子。然后，非常轻微地，她点了点头。
"Come back next Saturday," Asha says to the father. "I'll show her a few things the book doesn't say."
“下星期六再来吧，”阿莎对她父亲说，“我教她几招书上没写的。”
"How much would that cost?" he asks.
“那要多少钱？”他问。
Asha looks at the two dollars in her tray. She slides them back across the table. "Nothing. Call it professional curiosity."
阿莎看着托盘里的两美元。她把它们推回了桌子对面。“不要钱。就算是职业好奇心吧。”
The following Saturday, Jacinta arrives before the table has even been unfolded. By noon, she has beaten three of Asha's regular victims, and Asha has quietly repainted her sign. It now says, "Beat the kid and win four dollars." Nobody has won yet.
下一个星期六，哈辛塔到的时候，桌子都还没摆开。到中午，她已经赢了阿莎三位常客，而阿莎悄悄改了她的牌子。上面现在写着：“赢了这个孩子，奖励四美元。”还没有人赢过。
At the end of the afternoon, the girl pushes a small pile of coins across the table and holds up five fingers.
下午快结束时，女孩把一小堆硬币推过桌子，伸出了五根手指。
"Fifty percent?" Asha laughs. "Where did you learn to negotiate?"
“百分之五十？”阿莎笑了，“你是在哪儿学的谈判？”
Jacinta points at the table and, very quietly, speaks her first word to Asha. "Here."
哈辛塔指了指桌子，用很轻很轻的声音，对阿莎说出了她的第一个词。“这儿。”
