Many years ago, when I was fresh out of school and working in Denver, I was driving to my parents' home in Missouri for Christmas. I stopped at a gas station about 50 miles from Oklahoma City, where I was planning to stop and visit a friend. While I was standing in line at the cash register, I said hello to an older couple who were also paying for gas.
许多年前，我刚从学校毕业，在丹佛工作，我开车去密苏里州的父母家过圣诞节。我在一处距离俄克拉荷马城大约50英里的加油站前停了下来，我正计划在那里逗留，去拜访一位朋友。当我在收银机前排队时，我向一对也在付加油费的老夫妇问好。

I took off, but had gone only a few miles when black smoke poured from the back of my car. I stopped and wondered what I should do. A car pulled up behind me. It was the couple I had spoken to at the gas station. They said they would take me to my friend's. We chatted on the way to the city, and when I got out of the car, the husband gave me his business card.
我出发了，但只走了几英里，就有黑烟从我的汽车后面冒出来。我停下车，不知道怎么办。一辆车停在我的身后，正是我在加油站和他们打招呼的那对夫妇。他们说他们带我去我的朋友家。我们一路上聊着天，当我下车时，丈夫给了我他的商务卡。

I wrote him and his wife a thank-you note for helping me. Soon afterward, I received a Christmas present from them. Their note that came with it said that helping me had made their holidays meaningful.
我给他和他的妻子写了一封信，感谢他们对我的帮助。不久之后，我收到了他们寄来的圣诞礼物。他们的便签上说，帮助我让他们的假期变得有意义。

Years later, I drove to a meeting in a nearby town in the morning. In the late afternoon I returned to my car and found that I'd left the lights on all day, and the battery was dead. Then I noticed that the Friendly Ford dealership-a shop selling cars-was right next door. I walked over and found two salesmen in the showroom.
几年以后，我早上开车去附近城镇参加会议。下午晚些时候，我回到车上，发现我灯开了一整天，电池没电了。我注意到Friendly Ford——一家福特汽车经销商——就在隔壁。我走过去，发现展厅里有两个推销员。

"Just how friendly is Friendly Ford?" I asked and explained my trouble. They quickly drove a pickup truck to my car and started it. They would accept no payment, so when I got home, I wrote them a note to say thanks. I received a letter back from one of the salesmen. No one had ever taken the time to write him and say thank you, and it meant a lot, he said.
“Friendly Ford到底有多友好？”我问了问并描述了我的问题。他们很快开了一辆皮卡到我的车前，启动了我的车。他们没有接受任何付款，所以当我到家时，我给他们写了一封感谢信。我收到了其中一位推销员的回信。他说，从来没有人花时间给他写信说谢谢，这意味着很多。

"Thank you"-two powerful words. They're easy to say and mean so much.
“谢谢”——两个很有力量的词。说起来很容易，但意义重大。