对于像斯特劳斯这样依靠信用卡生活的人来说他们急需工作却根本找不到，美国梦是过去式而不是将来式。

For Strauss, living on credit, desperate to work, but with no job in sight, that dream looks a thing of the past, not the future.

youdao

虽然他的语气是过去式，我怀疑他当时想到的是将来，我的将来。在那个晚上，长长的阴影凝固在我整个人生里。

Though he spoke of the past, I suspected his mind was on the future, my future, and the long shadow this night would cast over it.

youdao