At the beginning of “The Catcher in the Rye”, Holden has just been kicked out of yet another boarding school. Having a few days to kill before returning home for the Christmas break, he hops on a train to New York. There he spends his time wandering aimlessly from one brief encounter to another, getting progressively more disgusted with what he calls the phoniness of the adult world.

在《麦田捕手》故事开始时，霍尔顿又一次被一所寄宿学校开除。还得熬上几天才能回家过圣诞假期，于是他跳上了一辆开往纽约的火车。在纽约，他终日漫无目的地闲逛，在经历了一次又一次短暂的邂逅和遭遇之后，他对被他称为“虚假”的成人世界越来越反感。

(短文节选,本篇始于：《麦田守望者》)