The Painting in Grandpa's Attic

Last spring, I finally cleared out my grandpa's attic.

去年春天，我終於把爺爺的閣樓整理乾淨了。

He'd passed away that winter,

他那年冬天過世了，

and nobody had been up there in years.

而且好幾年都沒人上去過。

Then, behind a stack of boxes, I found something wrapped in a sheet.

接著，在一堆箱子後面，我發現了一個用床單包著的東西。

I pulled the sheet away and gasped. Wow!

我掀開床單，倒抽一口氣。哇！

It was a beautiful oil painting of a young woman in a yellow dress.

那是一幅很美的油畫，畫的是一位穿黃色洋裝的年輕女子。

It looked old, and honestly... it looked expensive.

它看起來很舊，老實說……看起來很值錢。

That night, I couldn't stop searching online!

那天晚上，我在網路上一直查個不停！

Paintings like this had sold for thousands, even millions!

像這樣的畫賣過幾千，甚至幾百萬！

I was already imagining paying off my student loans.

我已經在幻想還清學貸了。

Maybe Grandpa had a secret treasure all along?

說不定爺爺一直藏著一件祕密寶物？

A week later, I took it to an art appraiser in town.

一週後，我把它拿去給鎮上的一位藝術品鑑定師。

He studied it for ages, without saying a word.

他仔細看了好久，一句話都沒說。

Finally, he took off his glasses... and sighed.

最後，他摘下眼鏡……嘆了一口氣。

I'm afraid it's worth about fifty dollars, he said.

恐怕它只值五十美元左右，他說。

Fifty dollars. Oh... I felt so silly.

五十美元。唉……我覺得自己好蠢。

Ugh, all that excitement for nothing!

唉，白高興一場！

But then, he showed me something I'd missed.

但接著，他指給我看一個我沒注意到的地方。

In the bottom corner, there was a tiny signature.

在畫的下方角落，有一個小小的簽名。

Wait... those were my grandpa's initials!

等等……那是我爺爺名字的縮寫！

My grandpa had painted it himself, sixty years ago!

是我爺爺六十年前親手畫的！

And the woman in the yellow dress... was my grandma.

而那個穿黃色洋裝的女子……就是我奶奶。

Nobody in our family even knew he could paint!

我們家根本沒人知道他會畫畫！

Now it hangs above my sofa, right where I can see it.

現在它掛在我的沙發上方，我隨時都看得到。

Okay, it's not worth a fortune.

好啦，它不值一大筆錢。

But to me, it's the most valuable thing I own.

但對我來說，它是我擁有最珍貴的東西。

Sometimes, the real treasure isn't about money at all.

有時候，真正的寶藏跟錢一點關係都沒有。