1.87美元. 这是全部。并且其中的60分都是钱的最小面值-1分的钱。1分的钱都是每次在菜市场同买菜的，或卖肉的人讨价还价节省下来的， 每次的讨价还价都是到他们面红脖赤，无言以待。Della 数了3遍的钱。1.87美元。明天就是圣诞节了。
很显然，除了坐下哭泣，还能做什么。Della哭了。哭引起思考生活是由一些哭和笑组成，哭比笑要少。
Della停止哭泣并擦干眼泪。她站在窗前，沮丧的看着窗外一只灰色的猫沿着灰色的栏杆走在灰色的院子里。明天就是圣诞节，她仅有1.87美元去买礼物送给她丈夫Jim。已经好几个月了，她已尽全力去节省每一分钱了，结果是这样。
Jim每周挣20美元，很快就用完。日常花费总是大于期望。他们总是这样。她最高兴的时光就是去计划买好的东西给他。一些好的，稀有的--就是荣誉价值物品给Jim.
有一个高镜子在房间的窗子之间。Della突然转过身来，站在镜子前并且看着自己。她的眼睛开始放亮，但她的脸瞬间失色。很快她放下她的头发，并让它自然的落下。
现在，Mister and Missus James Dillingham Young 有2件有价值的财产。一件是金时间片-金表传自他父亲和祖父。另一个是Della 的头发。
如果Shela的皇后住在这栋楼里，Della会把她的头发挂在窗外使她的珠宝跌价。
Della的头发坠落下来，闪亮像棕色的瀑布。头发触及她的漆盖，就像要盖住了她。很快她又把头发挽起来。她仍然站着这时一些眼泪坠落在地板上。
她穿上外套，戴上旧棕色帽子
原文
The Gift of the Magi' by O. Henry
One dollar and eighty-seven cents. That was all. And sixty cents of it in the smallest pieces of money - pennies. Pennies saved one and two at a time by negotiating with the men at the market who sold vegetables and meat. Negotiating until one's face burned with the silent knowledge of being poor. Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas.
There was clearly nothing to do but sit down and cry. So Della cried. Which led to the thought that life is made up of little cries and smiles, with more little cries than smiles.
Della finished her crying and dried her face. She stood by the window and looked out unhappily at a gray cat walking along a gray fence in a gray back yard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only one dollar and eighty-seven cents to buy her husband Jim a gift. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result.
Jim earned twenty dollars a week, which does not go far. Expenses had been greater than she had expected. They always are. Many a happy hour she had spent planning to buy something nice for him. Something fine and rare -- something close to being worthy of the honor of belonging to Jim.
There was a tall glass mirror between the windows of the room. Suddenly Della turned from the window and stood before the glass mirror and looked at herself. Her eyes were shining, but her face had lost its color within twenty seconds. Quickly she pulled down her hair and let it fall to its full length.
Now, Mister and Missus James Dillingham Young had two possessions which they valued. One was Jim's gold time piece, the watch that had been his father's and his grandfather's. The other was Della's hair.
Had the Queen of Sheba lived in their building, Della would have let her hair hang out the window to dry just to reduce the value of the queen's jewels.
So now Della's beautiful hair fell about her, shining like a brown waterfall. It reached below her knees and made itself almost like a covering for her. And then quickly she put it up again. She stood still while a few tears fell on the floor.
She put on her coat and her old brown hat. With a quick motion and brightness still in her eyes, she danced out the door and down the street.
Where she stopped the sign read: "Madame Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds." Della ran up the steps to the shop, out of breath.
"Will you buy my hair?" asked Della.
"I buy hair," said Madame. "Take your hat off and let us have a look at it."
Down came the beautiful brown waterfall of hair.
"Twenty dollars," said Madame, lifting the hair with an experienced hand.
"Give it to me quick," said Della.
