It all began with a stop at a red light.
Kevin Salwen, a writer and entrepreneur in Atlanta, was driving his 14-year-old daughter, Hannah, back from a sleepover in 2006. While waiting at a traffic light, they saw a black Mercedes coupe on one side and a homeless man begging for food on the other.
故事开始于一个十字路口，路口亮着红灯。
凯文·萨文是美国亚特兰大市的一个作家兼企业家。2006年的一天，他载着自己14岁的女儿汉娜从别的地方回家。在等待信号灯变绿的时候，他们看到马路上停着一辆黑色奔驰车，而在奔驰车不远处的马路另一侧，一个无家可归的流浪汉在乞讨食物。
“Dad, if that man had a less nice car, that man there could have a meal,” Hannah protested. The light changed and they drove on, but Hannah was too young to be reasonable. She pestered her parents about inequity, insisting that she wanted to do something.
“老爸，如果那个车主买一辆不那么昂贵的车，那个流浪汉就可以吃一顿饱餐了！”汉娜不满的说道。红灯变绿了，他们继续上路，但小汉娜还是不懂事的缠着父母，她觉得这件事很不公平，并坚持要为那个可怜的人做些什么。
“What do you want to do?” her mom responded. “Sell our house?”
“那你想做什么呢？”她妈妈打趣地问她。“你想要把我们的房子卖了吗？”
Warning! Never suggest a grand gesture to an idealistic teenager. Hannah seized upon the idea of selling the luxurious family home and donating half the proceeds to charity, while using the other half to buy a more modest replacement home.
（提醒：不要给一个理想主义的孩子这么大方的提议！汉娜就咬定了这个主意，她执意要把家里豪华的别墅卖掉，把卖房所得一半的钱捐给慈善基金会，然后还有一半的钱则用来买一栋相对一般的房子作新家。）
Eventually, that’s what the family did. The project — crazy, impetuous and utterly inspiring — is chronicled in a book by father and daughter scheduled to be published next month: “The Power of Half.” It’s a book that, frankly, I’d be nervous about leaving around where my own teenage kids might find it. An impressionable child reads this, and the next thing you know your whole family is out on the street.
最后，家里拗不过她的软磨硬泡，真的就把房子给卖了。在下个月即将出版的新书《一半的力量》中，父亲和女儿作为作者，将这个疯狂、冲动但却相当发人深省的计划公之于众。老实说，这本书我可不敢随便放在我自家孩子触手可及的地方。孩子都很容易受影响和启发，如果他们读了，说不定哪天你们全家就不得不搬到大街上去住了。
At a time of enormous needs in Haiti and elsewhere, when so many Americans are trying to help Haitians by sending everything from text messages to shoes, the Salwens offer an example of a family that came together to make a difference — for themselves as much as the people they were trying to help. In a column a week ago, I described neurological evidence from brain scans that altruism lights up parts of the brain normally associated with more primal gratifications such as food and sex. The Salwens’ experience confirms the selfish pleasures of selflessness.
在这个海地等世界其他地方亟需帮助的时候，许许多多的美国人都在以不同的方式帮助他们，有的发去慰问短信，有的则捐衣捐物。但萨文一家却给我们树立了一个别样的榜样，他们齐心协力，为他们自己，也为那些需要帮助的人们真正做了富有意义的事。在一周前我的另一篇专栏文章中，我说过，大脑扫描的结果显示：无私的行为会使大脑部分感受到如食物和性生活般最为原始的快感。萨文家的经历正是无私带来自私快感的一大例证。
Mr. Salwen and his wife, Joan, had always assumed that their kids would be better off in a bigger house. But after they downsized, there was much less space to retreat to, so the family members spent more time around each other. A smaller house unexpectedly turned out to be a more family-friendly house.
萨文先生和他的妻子乔安先前总是认为在大房子里，孩子们会过的更加惬意。但是在搬进小房子后，将大家隔离开来的空间少得多了，这样一来，家庭成员就可以有更多的时间呆在一起。小房子出乎意料地变成了一个更加适宜家庭生活的家。
“We essentially traded stuff for togetherness and connectedness,” Mr. Salwen told me, adding, “I can’t figure out why everybody wouldn’t want that deal.”
“其实我们是把物质和金钱转换成更加紧密无间的联系了，”萨文先生在与我谈话中这样说道，“我觉得如果有这种选择，每个人都会像我一样这么做的。”
One reason for that togetherness was the complex process of deciding how to spend the money. The Salwens researched causes and charities, finally settling on the Hunger Project, a New York City-based international development organization that has a good record of tackling global poverty.
要决定如何合理利用另一半的钱也是一个复杂的过程，萨文一家花时间研究了一些机构和慈善团体，最终决定将钱捐给“战胜饥饿项目”。这是一个设在纽约的国际发展组织，因其努力解决贫困问题而享誉全球。
