Amara had lived in her apartment for two years, and she had always liked it. The only problem was the noise from upstairs. Every night around eleven, heavy footsteps crossed the ceiling above her bedroom.
阿玛拉在这间公寓里住了两年，一直都很喜欢。唯一的问题是楼上的噪音。每天夜里十一点左右，沉重的脚步声就会从她卧室的天花板上方走过。
At first, she told herself it was nothing. But the footsteps continued, night after night, and sometimes furniture scraped across the floor too. Amara stopped sleeping well, and she started dreading the sound of eleven o'clock.
起初，她告诉自己这没什么。可脚步声夜复一夜地持续，有时还有家具在地板上拖动的刮擦声。阿玛拉睡不好觉了，也开始害怕十一点钟的到来。
She thought about calling the building manager, but she worried it might make things awkward with her neighbor. She had never even met him properly, though she knew his name was Brendan from the mailboxes.
她想过给楼管打电话，又担心这会让她和邻居的关系变得尴尬。她甚至从没正式见过他，只是从信箱上知道他叫布伦丹。
One Saturday morning, Amara saw Brendan in the hallway, carrying groceries. She took a breath and decided this was her chance. "Hi, I'm Amara, from downstairs," she said. "Do you have a minute?"
一个星期六的早晨，阿玛拉在走廊里碰见了拎着杂货的布伦丹。她深吸一口气，决定这是个机会。“你好，我是阿玛拉，住你楼下，”她说，“你有时间吗？”
"Sure," Brendan said, setting his bags down. "Is something wrong?"
“当然，”布伦丹说着放下袋子，“出什么事了吗？”
"I don't want this to sound like a complaint," she said carefully. "But I've been hearing noise late at night, around eleven. It's been hard to sleep."
“我不想让这听起来像投诉，”她小心地说，“不过我最近总在深夜听到声音，大概十一点左右。我一直睡不好。”
Brendan looked surprised, then a little embarrassed. "Oh, that's probably me. I work night shifts, so eleven is when I get home and start moving around. I had no idea it carried that much."
布伦丹先是一脸惊讶，然后有点不好意思。“哦，那多半是我。我上夜班，十一点是我到家、开始走动的时间。我完全不知道声音能传得这么清楚。”
"I figured it was something like that," Amara said. "I wasn't sure if you knew."
“我猜就是这类原因，”阿玛拉说，“只是不确定你知不知道。”
"I really didn't," Brendan said. "Now that I know, I'll be much more careful. Let me get some rugs for the floor, and I'll try to keep things quieter after ten."
“我真的不知道，”布伦丹说，“现在知道了，我会小心得多。我去买几块地毯铺在地上，十点以后我会尽量安静些。”
"That would help a lot," Amara said, relieved. "Thank you for not being weird about this."
“那就帮大忙了，”阿玛拉松了一口气，说，“谢谢你没有把这件事弄得很别扭。”
"Honestly, thank you for telling me instead of just being annoyed," Brendan said. "I'd rather know."
“说实话，我才该谢谢你直接告诉我，而不是只在心里烦我，”布伦丹说，“我宁愿知道。”
A week later, Amara noticed the footsteps had softened, and the scraping sound was gone completely. She still heard him occasionally, but it no longer kept her awake.
一周后，阿玛拉发现脚步声轻了许多，刮擦声则完全消失了。她偶尔还能听到他的动静，但已经不再吵得她睡不着了。
The next time they crossed paths by the mailboxes, Brendan smiled. "Sleeping better?" he asked.
下一次两人在信箱旁遇见时，布伦丹笑着问：“睡得好些了吗？”
"Much better," Amara said. "Thanks for the rugs."
“好多了，”阿玛拉说，“谢谢你的地毯。”
