The Painting in Grandpa's Attic

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

去年春天，我终于把爷爷的阁楼清理了出来。

He'd passed away that winter,

他那年冬天去世了，

and nobody had been up there in years.

而且好几年都没人上去过了。

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

接着，在一堆箱子后面，我发现了一样用床单包着的东西。

I pulled the sheet away and gasped. Wow!

我掀开床单，倒吸了一口气。哇！

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

那是一幅很美的油画，画的是一位穿黄裙子的年轻女子。

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

它看起来很旧，说实话……看起来很值钱。

That night, I couldn't stop searching online!

那天晚上，我在网上搜个不停！

Paintings like this had sold for thousands, even millions!

像这样的画卖过几千，甚至几百万！

I was already imagining paying off my student loans.

我已经在幻想还清学生贷款了。

Maybe Grandpa had a secret treasure all along?

说不定爷爷一直藏着一件秘密宝贝？

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

一周后，我把它带到镇上一位艺术品鉴定师那里。

He studied it for ages, without saying a word.

他仔细看了好久，一句话也没说。

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

最后，他摘下眼镜……叹了口气。

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

恐怕它只值五十美元左右，他说。

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

五十美元。唉……我觉得自己好傻。

Ugh, all that excitement for nothing!

唉，白高兴了一场！

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

但接着，他指给我看一个我没注意到的东西。

In the bottom corner, there was a tiny signature.

在画的右下角，有一个小小的签名。

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

等等……那是我爷爷名字的缩写！

My grandpa had painted it himself, sixty years ago!

是我爷爷六十年前亲手画的！

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

而那个穿黄裙子的女子……就是我奶奶。

Nobody in our family even knew he could paint!

我们家里根本没人知道他会画画！

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

现在它挂在我的沙发上方，我随时都能看到。

Okay, it's not worth a fortune.

好吧，它不值一大笔钱。

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

但对我来说，它是我拥有的最珍贵的东西。

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

有时候，真正的宝藏和钱根本没有关系。