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下面是小编整理的经典英语散文阅读翻译:铺满钻石的土地,本文共9篇,欢迎您能喜欢,也请多多分享。
篇1:经典英语散文阅读翻译:铺满钻石的土地
经典英语散文阅读翻译:铺满钻石的土地
There was a farmer in Africa who was happy and content. He was happy because he was content. He was content because he was happy.
从前在非洲有一位快乐而满足的农夫。他因满足而快乐,同时也因快乐而感到满足。
One day a wise man came to him and told him about the glory of diamonds and the power that goes along them.
有一天,一位智者向他走来并告知他关于钻石的荣耀,以及随之而来权力。
The wise man says, “If you had a diamond the size of your thumb, you could have your own city. If you had a diamond the size of your fist you could probably own your own country.” And then he went away.
智者说,“如果你拥有一块拇指般大的钻石,你就能换到一座属于自己的城市;如果你拥有一块拳头般大的钻石,你就可能会拥有一个属于自己的国家。”说完他便离开了。
That night the farmer couldn't sleep. He was unhappy and he was discontent. He was unhappy because he was discontent, and he was discontent because he was unhappy.
那一晚,农夫难以入睡,他开始变得不快乐而且不满足起来。他因不满足而不快乐,同样也因为不快乐而变得不满足。
The next morning he made arrangements to sell off his farm, took care of his family and went in search of diamonds. He looked all over Africa and couldn't find any. He looked all through Europe and couldn’t find any. When he got to Spain, he was emotionally, physically and financially broke. He got so disheartened that he threw himself into the Barcelona River and committed suicide.
第二天早上,他卖掉了自己的农场,安顿好了他的家人便踏上了寻找钻石之路。他寻遍了整个非洲但却一无所获。他找遍整个欧洲还是一无所获。当他到达西班牙的时候,他已精神崩溃、周身疲惫、钱财耗尽。绝望之下,他跳进了巴塞罗那河,自杀了。
Back home, the person who had bought his farm was watering the camels at a stream that ran through the farm. Across the stream, the rays of the morning sun hit a stone and made it sparkle like a rainbow.
而在他的家乡,买下他农场的那个人此时正在小溪边给骆驼饮水。潺潺的溪水流经了整个农场。清晨的阳光穿过溪水照射在一块石头上,折射的光芒好像是一道彩虹。
He thought it would look good on the mantelpiece. He picked up the stone and put it in the living room. That afternoon the wise man came and saw the stone sparkling. He asked, “Is Hafiz back?”
这人心想:若是将这块石头摆在壁炉架上一定会十分漂亮。于是,他捡起石头并把它放到客厅里。当天下午,那个智者又出现了。他看到闪闪发光的石头,便问道:“哈夫兹(旧主人)回来了吗?”
The new owner said, “No, why do you ask?” The wise man said, “Because that is a diamond. I recognize one when I see one.” The man said, “No, that's just a stone I picked up from the stream. Come, I'll show you. There are many more.' They went and picked some samples and sent them for analysis. Sure enough, the stones were diamonds. They found that the farm was indeed covered with acres and acres of diamonds.
新主人回答说:“没有啊!你为什么会这么问?”智者回答道:“因为这石头是一块钻石,我一眼就能识别。”新主人说:“不是!这只是我从溪水中捡起的一块石头。不信,你就跟我来,那里还有好多呢!” 于是两人走到小溪边,捡了一些石头送去验证。毫无疑问,这些石头确实是钻石!他们还发现这整个农场蕴藏着大量的钻石。
池边的鹿
Because of heat, a deer came to a spring to drink. Seeing his own shadow reflecting in the water, he greatly admired the size and variety of his horns, but felt angry with himself for having such slender and weak feet.
天气炎热,一只鹿来到泉边饮水。看着自己倒映在水中的影子,鹿很欣赏他头上那巨大的鹿角和它们的参差有致,也为自己细长而柔弱的脚饿懊恼。
While he was in deep thought, a lion appeared at the pool duanwenw.com and sprang upon him. The deer immediately began to run away as fast as possible. As long as the road was smooth and open, he kept himself at ease at a safe distance from the lion. But entering a wood he became entangled by his horns, and the lion quickly came up to him and caught him. When too late he thus regretted, “My god! How have I cheated myself! These feet saved me, but I had despised them, and I duanwenwcom was proud of these antlers which have brought me destruction.”
正当他沉思的时候,一头狮子出现在池边,向他猛扑过来。鹿立刻以最快的速度逃走了。跑在平坦宽阔的路上,他很容易保持离狮子安全的距离,但一进树林,他就被自己的角缠住了。狮子迅速赶上来抓住了他。鹿此时悔之晚矣:””天啊!我怎么会自己欺骗自己!这些脚本来可以救我的命,我却轻视,而这些置我于死地的角我却感到荣耀
We often look down upon what is most truly valuable in our life.
在生活中,我们常常轻视一些真正有价值的东西。
安全习惯Safe habits
This is an age of rapid development of science and technology.
当今社会,科学技术迅猛发展。
You travel by air, land, and sea. You ride in automobiles, trains, buses, taxis and elevators. You have electric vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, TV sets, tape recorders, video recorders and other things. All these conveniences and tools help us live better and also cause accidents.
你在蓝天中自由翱翔,在碧波上乘风破浪,在大地上风驰电擎.你驾驶汽车,乘坐火车、公共汽车、出租车和自动升降机。你骑自行车、摩托车和使用自动扶梯等。你使用真空吸尘器、电冰箱、录音机、录像机,还有其他许多设备。所有这些设备和工具都使我们生活更轻松,更舒适,但是,它们也引发了许多事故。
Hundreds and thousands of people are killed by a variety of accidents every year. Accidents don’t just happen, they are caused by many factors. Lack of knowledge, thoughtlessness, carelessness.
每年都有成百上千的人因各种事故而丧失生命。事故并不只简单的发展而已,它们是由许多原因造成的。愚昧无知,心不在焉、毛手毛脚等都是造成事故的原因之一。
You must develop safe habits and safe practices if you are to live with reasonable safety in the modem world.
如果你打算在现代化的世界上生活得更安全。养成重视安全和安全操作的习惯是完全必修的。
经典英语散文阅读:祈祷A Prayer
The supreme desire of my heart is not to be learned, rich, famous, powerful or “good”, but simply to be radiant1. I want to radiate health, cheer, calm, courage and good will.
我内心的愿望并不是变得博学、富有、声名远扬、强大或“好”,我仅仅是想要光芒四射地“活起来”。我渴望散发出健康、愉悦、冷静、勇气和良好意愿的气息。
I wish to live without hate, jealousy, envy and fear. I wish to be simple, honest, frank, natural, clean in mind and clean in body, unaffected — ready to say “I don’t know” if in fact I don’t, to meet all men in terms of absolute equality and to feel unafraid of any obstacle.
我希望远离仇恨、妒羡、忌妒和恐惧。我想要活得简单、正直、坦率、淳朴、身心洁净、不加矫饰 —— 当我不知道某些事时,我会说“我不知道”,而不是假装知道;我想要对所有人都一视同仁,而当我面对任何困难时,我都会变得无所畏惧。
I wish others to live their lives, too, to their highest, fullest and best. To that end I pray that I may never interfere, dictate, duanwenw.com give unwanted advice, or assist when my services are not needed. If I can help, I’ll do it by giving a person the chance to help himself; and if I can uplift or inspire, let it be by example, inference and suggestion, rather than by order or assertion. That is to say, I desire to be radiant — to radiate life.
我希望其他人也能“活起来”,过上他们最极致、最充实、最完满的生活。为此,我企盼自己不要去干涉、支配、提出不必要的建议或提供并不需要的协助。如果我能帮助他人,我所做的就是给他们一个自助的机会;如果可以,我会通过事例、推理和建议,而不是通过命令或断言来振奋或启发他们。也就是说,我渴望能够“活起来”,渴望一个“活的”人生。
篇2:经典英语散文阅读
英语散文阅读翻译-耐心的定义
Not everybody has patience. For some of us it is a process, meaning that it takes time to develop.
并非每个人都有耐心。对我们中的有些人来说,耐心是一个过程,也就是说它需要时间去培养。
But for all of us patience is a virtue1, meaning that it accompanies excellence and goodness. Being patient also means waiting and being willing to wait, which will bring forth patience and faith. When you can wait for anything, no matter how long it takes, then you have developed patience. The duanwenw.com more patience you have, the more you believe; and the more you believe, the more faith you have.
但对所有人而言,耐心都是一种美德,它与卓越和善良相伴。有耐心也指等待或情愿等待,这孕育出耐力和信念。当你能够为某事而等待,无论它花费多长时间,那么你便拥有了耐心。你越有耐心,就愈发相信;你越相信,就拥有越多的信念。
When one is going through something, no matter what, patience is always the key. Being patient helps one endure2 hardships, pain and other difficulties. Developing patience in any situation helps one stay calm, while directing one’s attention to possible solutions to the problem. Patience is hard for most people, but most of us need to learn it.
当一个人正有所经历,无论是什么事,耐心总是关键。有耐心能够帮你忍受艰难、痛苦和其他的困难。在任何情况下都拥有耐心能帮你保持镇静,引导你把注意力放到那些可能的解决之道上。对大多数人而言拥有耐心很难,但我们仍需学会它。
Whenever you’re going through difficulties, do your best to stay patient. Patience, faith, endurance, love and perseverance all go together. Don’t let anyone make you lose your patience. Stand up for it. It’s yours.
无论何时当你正遭受困境,竭尽全力去保持耐心。耐心、信念、忍耐、爱和坚持不懈总是相辅相成。不要让任何人令你失去耐心。维护它。它是你的!
英语散文阅读朗诵:夜宿
Night is deadly boring under a roof; but in the open it passes lightly, with its stars, dews1 and perfumes, and the hours are marked by changes on the face of Nature.
在屋里,夜晚是死寂的单调时光;但是在露天的野外,因为有星星、露珠、还有野外芬芳的陪伴,黑夜得以轻快地流逝,大自然的变化赋予夜晚的每一刻不同的意义。
What seems a kind of temporary death to people choked between walls and curtains is a light and living slumber to someone sleeping in the open. All night long he can hear Nature breathing deeply and freely; even as she takes her rest, she turns and smiles. And then there is the stirring hour unknown to those who dwell in houses, when a wakeful influence goes abroad over the sleeping hemisphere, and all the outdoors gets to its feet.
禁锢在墙壁和窗帘之后的人觉得夜晚像一种短暂的死亡,而露宿野外的人会觉得夜晚就是一场充满生机的小睡。整个夜晚,他都可以听见大自然深沉而自由的呼吸,大自然即便是在休息时间,仍不停运转,并面带微笑。当沉睡的半球苏醒,室外万物复苏,而这种激动人心的时刻是在屋内熟睡的人所不知道的。
Then the cock first crows, not to announce the dawn, but like a cheerful watchman speeding the course of night. Cattle awake on the meadows; sheep break their fast3 on dewy hillsides, and find new lairs4 among the plants; and the houseless men who have made their beds outdoors open their eyes and appreciate the beauty of the night.
雄鸡最先啼鸣,然而这并非报晓,而更像是一名欢快的守夜者催赶着黑夜的脚步。草地上的牛群醒来;挂满露珠的山坡上羊群开始进食,并开始寻找它们的“新家”;而那些无家可归、露宿在外的人也睁开双眼,欣赏即将逝去的美丽夜色。
散文佳作汉译英翻译赏析:Is the Ear Less Reliable than the Eye
散文佳作汉译英翻译赏析:Is the Ear Less Reliable than the Eye?耳闻不如一见-顾均正(双语)
Is the Ear Less Reliable than the Eye?耳闻不如一见
——从焦尾琴谈起
——About the Story of Jiao Wei Qin
顾均正
Gu Jun zheng
在郭老(1)新编的话剧“蔡文姬”里,提到了蔡文姬的父亲蔡邕(yōng)(2)所造的那张焦尾琴。最近我看了“蔡文姬”的演出,自然而然想起了焦尾琴,想起了关于焦尾琴的故事: In the play Cai Wenji, newly written by venerable Guo Moruo, reference is made to jiao wen qin, a zithern partly made of scorched wood by Cai Yong, father of Cai Wenji.
Recently, after I saw the play on the stage, my mind naturally went to jiao wen qin and its story.
蔡邕因为不愿趋附权贵(3),怕被人陷害,曾经亡命江南,往来于吴会之间(今江、浙一带),计十二年。据说他在吴(今苏州)的时候,有一天听见邻家烧饭的柴火中发出一种爆裂的声音,他熟悉这种声音,知道这声音来自一种极好的桐木,这种桐木是造琴(4)的材料。他就跟邻家主人商量,把这段烧焦了的桐木要了来,造成一张琴。这张琴弹起来果然非常好听。因为它的一端(5)是烧焦的,所以大家都叫它焦尾琴。
Cai Yong disliked playing up to bigwigs and, to avoid frame-ups, he went into exile in the South, wandering about for twelve years in Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces. It is said that one day during his stay in Suzhou when he heard the crackling of firewood from his next-door neighbour at cooking time, he knew the familiar sound came from paulownia, a kind of choice wood best for making zitherns. Now, talking it over with his neighbour, he was given the piece of scorched wood, which he subsequently made into a zithern. This musical instrument, when played, turned out to be extremely pleasant to the ear. People called it jiao wei qin because the tail of its sound-board was made of scorched wood.
当我想起这个故事的时候,使我对“耳闻不如目见”这句成语不能不有所怀疑。的确,我们认识这个物质世界,有时候不是用眼睛来看而是用耳朵来听的。蔡邕能够从木材燃烧时发出的爆裂声来辨别木材的好坏,充分说明了“耳闻”不一定“不如目见”。当然,“耳闻不如目见”这句话的原意是指间接经验不如直接经验那样可靠,这是完全正确的。但是,如果对这句话只是从字面上来理解,认为耳朵听到的总不如眼睛看见的那样可靠,那对耳朵来说,却是极大的冤枉(6)。
When I think of the story, I cannot help having doubts about the validity of the proverb, “Seeing is better than hearing.” Fact is, to know the material world, we sometimes use not the eye, but the ear. That Cai Yong could tell the quality of wood by listening to its crackling sound while it was burning in the kitchen stove makes it crystal clear that “hearing” is not necessarily less reliable that “seeing”. The above-mentioned proverb literally means that secondhand experience is less reliable than firsthand experience, which is perfectly true. But, if we should take this saying at its face value and regard the ear as invariably less reliable than the eye, we shall do the former a gross injustice.
我们应该承认,眼睛是直接经验的主要来源,可是我们也承认,眼睛是最会骗人的。举一个极普通的例子来说,我们大家觉得早晨的太阳比中午的太阳大得多,可是如果你用照相机给太阳在早晨和中午各照一个相,你就会发现摄得的相片是一样大小的。谁会想到,在这个每天接触到的日常现象上,从古到今,无论是什么人,无论在什么地方,都一直在受着眼睛的骗?并且骗得我们好苦,不但古代的大学问家如孔子,没有能回答(7)为什么早晨的太阳看起来会大于中午的太阳,连现代的科学家,对这个问题也不曾有一个令人十分满意的解释。这个现象对迷信眼睛的人来说,是一个有力的讽刺。
While we agree that the eye is the main source of direct experience, we must admit that it is also most misleading. Take a most common example. We all agree that the sun is much bigger in the early morning than at noon. But if we take a photo of it in the early morning and at noon respectively, we shall find it of the same size in both cases. Who would have thought that, when it comes to this common phenomenon in our daily life, people the world over should have been fooled by their own eyes ever since time
immemorial? The optical illusion has indeed landed us in indescribable trouble. Not only were great ancient sages like Confucius stumped by the question why the sun was seemingly bigger in the early morning than at noon, even scientists of today have failed to give a wholly satisfactory explanation. This is a keen satire on those having blind faith in the eye.
当然,我们这样说,并不是要否定眼睛的作用。我们只是说明,眼睛虽然有非常广阔的活动范围,可是它是有缺点的。我们不能迷信眼睛,小看了耳朵的作用。耳朵的活动范围虽然小,可是它的作用也不只是听听讲话,听听音乐。它还有其他的特殊功用。在某种场合,它不但无愧于(8) “以耳代目”这句话,而且比眼睛做得更好。
Of course I do not mean to deny the role played by the eye. All I want to show is that although the eye has an extremely wide scope of activities, it is, nevertheless, far from being faultless. We should, therefore, never over-trust the eye and underestimate the usefulness of the ear.Although the ear has a smaller scope of activities, its functions are not confined to listening to conversation or music only. It has other specific functions of its own. Under certain circumstances, it is not only worthy of the saying, “Let the ear do duty for the eye,” it can even excel the eye.
英语散文大全:An October Sunrise
I was up the next morning be fore1 the October sunrise, and away through the wild and the woodland. The rising of the sun was noble in the cold and warmth of it peeping down the spread of light, he raised his shoulder heavily over the edge of grey mountain and wavering length of upland. Beneath his gaze the dew-fogs dipped, and crept to crept to the hollow places; then stole away in line and column, holding skirts, and clinging subtly at the sheltering corners where rock hung over grassland2, while the brave lines of the hills came forth3, one beyond other gliding4.
The woods arose in folds, like drapery(布料) of awakened5(觉醒的) mountains, stately with a depth of awe6, and memory of the tempests. Autumn's mellow7(圆润的) hand was upon them, as they owned already, touched with gold and red and olive, and their joy towards the sun was less to a bridegroom than a father.
Yet before the floating impress of the woods could clear it self, suddenly the gladsome(高兴的) light leaped over hill and valley, casting amber8, blue, and purple, and a tint9 of rich red rose; according to the scene they lit on, and the curtain flung around; yet all alike dispelling10 fear and the cloven hoof11 of darkness, all on the wings of hope advancing, and proclaiming, ”God is here!“ then life and joy sprang reassured12 from every crouching13 hollow; every flower, and bud and bird had a fluttering sense of them; and all the flashing of God's gaze merged14 into soft beneficence.
So, perhaps, shall break upon us that eternal morning, when crag(峭壁) and chasm15(峡谷) shall be no more, neither hill and valley, nor great unvintaged ocean; but all things shall arise, and shine in the light of the Father's countenance16(支持,赞同), because itself is risen.
篇3:经典英语散文阅读
英语散文:The colour of sky 天空的颜色
The colour of sky
天空的颜色
If we look at the sky on a perfectly fine summer‘s day we shall find that the blue colour is the most pure and intense overhead,and when looking high up in a direction opposite to the sun.
晴空万里的夏日,如果我们观察一下天空,且背向太阳,极目仰望,就会发现头顶上空的蓝色最纯净,最浓郁。
Near the horizon it is always less bright,while in the region immediately around the sun it is more or less yellow. The reason of this is that near the horizon we look through a very great thickness of the lower atmosphere,which is full of the larger dust particles reflecting white light,and this diluter(稀释剂) the pure blue of the higher atmosphere seen beyond,and in the vicinity(邻近,附近) of the sun a good deal of the blue light is reflected back into space by the finer dust,thus giving a yellowish tinge to that which reaches us reflected chiefly from the coarse dust of the lower atmosphere.
靠近天边,色彩往往较暗淡,太阳周围的地方则略呈.这是因为我们向天边望去时,目光要穿过极厚的低空大气层,其中布满颗粒较大的尘埃,反射出白光,这就冲淡了天际高空大气层的纯蓝色。在太阳附近,大量蓝光则由细微的尘埃反射回太空。这样,主要由低空大气层的粗粒尘埃反射到地面的光线,便带有浅.
At sunset and sunrise,however,this last effect is greatly intensified,owing to the great thickness of the strata(岩层) of air through which the light reaches us. The enormous amount of this dust is well shown by the fact that then only we can look full at the sun,even when the whole sky is free from clouds and there is no apparent mist.
不过,在日出日落时,由于光线到达地面南非要穿过厚厚的大气层,这种反射效果大大增强了。只有在这种时候,我们才可以直视太阳,即使万里长空没有一点云彩,不见一丝雾霭。这就充分显示了低空尘埃的数量之大。
But the sun's rays then reach us after having passed,first,through an enormous thickness of the higher strata of the air,the minute dust of which reflects most of the higher strata of the air,the minute dust of which reflects most of the blue rays away from us,leaving the complementary yellow light to pass on,Then,the somewhat coarser dust reflects the green rays,leaving a more orange-coloured light to pass on;and finally some of the yellow is reflected,leaving almost pure red.
但是太阳的光线终于到达了地面。它们先是穿过厚度极大的高空大气层,其中的细微尘埃把大部分蓝色的光反射掉了,让补色的黄光继续通行。然后,粗粒尘埃又反射掉绿色的光,让偏橙色的光继续通行。最后,部分.光也反射掉,剩下几乎是纯红色的了。
But owing to the constant presence of air currents,arranging both the dust and vapor(水蒸气) in strata of varying extent and density,and of high or low clouds which both absorb and reflect the light in varying degrees,we see produced all those wondrous combinations of tints and those gorgeous ever-changing colours which are a constant source of admiration and delight to all who have the advantage of an uninterrupted view to the west and who are accustomed to watch for those not infrequent exhibitions of nature‘s kaleidoscopic colour painting.
不过,由于不断出现气流,把法埃与水汽分层排列,广度不均,密度各异,加上高低空常有云层,不同程度地吸收并反射阳光,我们这才看到各种奇异的色调斑剥陆离,诸多绚丽的色彩变化万千;任何人只要有幸将西方的景致一览 无余,只要有心观看大自然不时展现的那一幅幅瞬息万变的彩画,都会为之赞不绝口,喜不自胜。
With every change in the altitude of the sun the display changes its character;and most of all when it has sunk below the horizon,and owing to the more favourable angles a larger quantity of the coloured light is reflected toward us. Especially when there is a certain amount of cloud is this the case.
随着夕阳缓缓西坠,这种景观也不断变幻;尤其是在太阳沉入地平线之后,由于角度更加适宜,五颜六色的光就都发射到地面上来。遇有些许云雾,更是如此。
These,so long as the sun was above the horizon,intercepted much of the light and colour,but when the great luminary(发光体) has passed away from our direct vision,his light shines more directly on the under sides of all the clouds and air strata of different densities;a new and more brilliant light flushes the western sky,and a display of gorgeous ever-changing tints occurs which are at once the delight of the beholder(观看者,旁观者) and the despair of the artist. And all this unsurpassable glory(壮观,壮丽) we owe to--dust!
本来,只要太阳还位于地平线之上,云雾便截住了不少夕阳和色彩;而今太阳从我们的视野消失,阳关便更为直接地照射到密度各异的重重云霭与层层大气的底部;一片崭新的、更加灿烂的阳光染红了西天,一幅景观色彩绚丽,变化万千,观赏者固然赏心悦目,然而自叹莫及。而我们之所以能领略如此无与伦比的美景,全应归功于-尘埃!
英语散文:母爱的真谛-永远不后悔
Time is running out for my friend. While we are sitting at lunch she casually mentions she and her husband are thinking of starting a family. ”We're taking a survey,“she says, half-joking. ”Do you think I should have a baby?“
”It will change your life,“ I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral. ”I know,“she says, ”no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous holidays...“
But that's not what I mean at all. I look at my friend, trying to decide what to tell her. I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes. I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will be vulnerable forever.
I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper without thinking: ”What if that had been MY child?“ That every plane crash, every house fire will haunt her. That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die. I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to the primitive level of a bear protecting her cub.
I feel I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by motherhood. She might arrange for child care, but one day she will be going into an important business meeting, and she will think her baby's sweet smell. She will have to use every ounce of discipline to keep from running home, just to make sure her child is all right.
I want my friend to know that every decision will no longer be routine. That a five-year-old boy's desire to go to the men's room rather than the women's at a restaurant will become a major dilemma. The issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that a child molester may be lurking in the lavatory. However decisive she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother.
Looking at my attractive friend, I want to assure her that eventually she will shed the added weight of pregnancy, but she will never feel the same about herself. That her own life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child. She would give it up in a moment to save her offspring, but will also begin to hope for more years—not to accomplish her own dreams—but to watch her children accomplish theirs.
I want to describe to my friend the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to hit a ball. I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog for the first time. I want her to taste the joy that is so real it hurts.
My friend's look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes. ”You'll never regret it,“ I say finally. Then, squeezing my friend's hand, I offer a prayer for her and me and all of the mere mortal women who stumble their way into this holiest of callings.
时光任苒,朋友已经老大不小了。我们坐在一起吃饭的时候,她漫不经心地提到她和她的丈夫正考虑要小孩。“我们正在做一项调查,”她半开玩笑地说。“你觉得我应该要个小孩吗?”
“他将改变你的生活。”我小心翼翼地说道,尽量使语气保持客观。“这我知道。”她答道,“周末睡不成懒觉,再也不能随心所欲休假了……”
但我说的绝非这些。我注视着朋友,试图整理一下自己的思绪。我想让她知道她永远不可能在分娩课上学到的东西。我想让她知道:分娩的有形伤疤可以愈合,但是做母亲的情感伤痕却永远如新,她会因此变得十分脆弱。
我想告诫她:做了母亲后,每当她看报纸时就会情不自禁地联想:“如果那件事情发生在我的孩子身上将会怎样啊!”每一次飞机失事、每一场住宅火灾都会让她提心吊胆。看到那些忍饥挨饿的孩子们的照片时,她会思索:世界上还有什么比眼睁睁地看着自己的孩子饿死更惨的事情呢?我打量着她精修细剪的指甲和时尚前卫的衣服,心里想到:不管她打扮多么考究,做了母亲后,她会变得像护崽的母熊那样原始而不修边幅。
我觉得自己应该提醒她,不管她在工作上投入了多少年,一旦做了母亲,工作就会脱离常规。她自然可以安排他人照顾孩子,但说不定哪天她要去参加一个非常重要的商务会议,却忍不住想起宝宝身上散发的甜甜乳香。她不得不拼命克制自己,才不致于为了看看孩子是否安然无羔而中途回家。
我想告诉朋友,有了孩子后,她将再也不能按照惯例做出决定。在餐馆,5岁的儿子想进男厕而不愿进女厕将成为摆在她眼前的一大难题:她将在两个选择之间权衡一番:尊重孩子的独立和性别意识,还是让他进男厕所冒险被潜在的儿童性.者侵害?任凭她在办公室多么果断,作为母亲,她仍经常事后后悔自己当时的决定。
注视着我的这位漂亮的朋友,我想让她明确地知道,她最终会恢复到怀孕前的体重,但是她对自己的感觉已然不同。她现在视为如此重要的生命将随着孩子的诞生而变得不那么宝贵。为了救自己的孩子,她时刻愿意献出自己的生命。但她也开始希望多活一些年头,不是为了实现自己的梦想,而是为了看着孩子们美梦成真。
我想向朋友形容自己看到孩子学会击球时的喜悦之情。我想让她留意宝宝第一次触摸狗的绒毛时的捧腹大笑。我想让她品尝快乐,尽管这快乐真实得令人心痛。
朋友的表情让我意识到自己已经是热泪盈眶。“你永远不会后悔,”我最后说。然后紧紧地握住朋友的手,为她、为自己、也为每一位艰难跋涉、准备响应母亲职业神圣的召唤的平凡女性献上自己的祈祷
短篇英语优美散文,值得一看!
If life is a river, it is the most exciting is that a section of |。
Flowing a trickle of childhood, life began to restlessness, personality spray, a piece after piece of Pentium the melody of youth。 It is surging, it's always a time of the wild and intractable, slap embankment, heaving ship of life。
As an individual, water is gentle and weak, often easily conquered by other objects。 As group。 The water is tough, it can constantly wear stone, without fear of breaking off the mountains。 So, water is the most talked about team spirit。 Its initial exploration may be blind, but once it determines the future direction of its own, it will not hesitate to rush up, in the earth sketched out a trail of pioneers。
A hedge between keeps friendship green。 It is not big, it has a strong vitality, with flexible ways of showing the wisdom of waves, Jianxi, lakes, rivers, oceans, and even people's sweat and the eyes are the soul of the container。 It corrects the coordinates of human relationships with detachment。 So water is a gentleman in all things。
We often say that only refers to the negative Fire and water have no mercy。, it。 As the source of all things, water is the most selfless, no matter where the creator sends it, it has no regrets。 It enables life to continue, so that the mountains and rivers full of spirituality, with all things side by side to withstand the sun still can consume, together with the air to maintain the human emotions。
The water of youth has never been so many scruples and rules and regulations, once the old river bed can not break the outbreak of youth, will break through the shackles, and create a new channel。 Its thorough reflection of the world's bright, its simplicity is often easy to cause sediment mixed, its courage to frighten the road ahead of the trip stone, its unruly and often hurt innocent。 Simple and complex intertwined, creation and destruction of the same life, this is the youth, a fast and colorful journey of life。
Because the vibrant air peiran, so it often makes people worried about the fragile and even collapse。 However, the youth of the river is never stop, despite the rapids reefs stop, stop it without determination。 Conform to the laws of nature, mercilessly destroy waves after the waves did not figure, and so will most willing to to assist waves together into the distance。
Some people love in fact he did not see the placid in smooth water, the role and value of youth, not experienced fighting waves of pleasure。 The charm of youth lies in the strong and fierce, without the dynamic world will be stagnant water, life will be insipid。
Due to constraints, is not a drop of water can be agitated in the flood, not every river can HAOGE thousands of miles into the sea, have not yet landed was ruthlessly evaporated, some were artificially waste。 Even so, it can't change its youthful personality。
Jianxi can stay, after all the sea waves are。 Because the drops of water to the sea of ambition, only the eternal flow of historical torrential rivers。 It will not be small because of its own small drops of inferiority, nor because of the rise of dams and convergence of publicity personality。 When the energy is slowing down, looking at the waves rolling behind it, it will proudly say: ”my youth once was like this。“。
如果说人生是一条河流,青春则是最富激|情的那一段。
淌过涓一涓细流的童年,人生便开始躁动个性的浪花,一朵朵一片片奔腾着青春的旋律。它的汹涌澎湃,它的桀骜不驯,时时拍击着岁月的堤岸,起伏着人生的航船。
作为个体,水是柔一弱的,时常轻而易举地被其他物体所征服。作为群体。水是坚韧的,它可以不懈地滴穿顽石,毫无畏惧地冲破万重山关。所以说,水是最讲一团一队精神的。它的最初探索可能是盲目的,而一旦确定了自己未来的流向,就会毫不迟疑地冲上去,在大地勾画出一条条开拓者的足迹。
君子之交淡如水。它随遇而安,大有大无,有着极强的生命力,以灵活多样的存在方式显示着睿智的波光,涧溪,湖泊,河流,海洋,甚至人的汗腺和眼睛都是它灵魂的容器。它以超然的心态矫正着人际关系的坐标。所以说,水是万物里的君子。
我们常说水火无情,那只是指它的消极面。作为万物之源,水是最无私的,不管造物主把它降生到哪里,它都无怨无悔。它使生命得到延续,使江山充满灵性,同万物并肩抵御着太陽仍能的消耗,同空气一起维系着人间情感。
青春之水从来就没有那么多的顾忌和条条框框,一旦旧的河床盛不下爆发的青春,便会冲破束缚,开创出新的渠道。它的透彻映照着世界的明媚,它的单纯往往容易造成泥沙混杂,它的勇敢震慑了前路的绊石,它的不羁又常常误伤无辜。单纯与复杂一交织,创造与破坏同生,这就是青春,一段湍急多彩的人生之旅。
因为活力四溢神气沛然,所以常使人担心它的脆弱甚至崩溃。然而,青春之河是从来不会断流的,尽管有险滩暗礁阻拦,都挡不住它义无反顾的决心。顺应自然规律,后浪无情地摧没前浪的身影,而前浪会心甘情愿地扶助后浪一道流向远方。
有人喜欢风平浪静波澜不惊,其实他没有看到青春活力的作用和价值,没有体验过搏击风浪的快意。青春的魅力就在于壮怀激烈,没有动感世界就会死水一潭,人生也就平淡无味。
由于条件限制,不是任何一滴水都能在洪流中激荡,不是每一条河流都能浩歌千里汇入大海,有的还没有落地就被无情地蒸发,有的被人为地浪费。尽管如此,都不能改变它青春的个性。
涧溪岂能留得住,终归大海作波涛。正因为滴滴水珠向大海的壮志,才有了江河滔滔万古流的历史。它不会因为自己是一滴水珠而渺小自卑,也不会因为堤坝的增高而收敛起张扬的个性。当精力不济渐趋平缓时,望着身后滚滚波涛,它会自豪地说:我的青春也曾经是这样。
篇4:经典英语散文阅读
英语散文:Good and Evil(善恶之辨)
John Milton/约翰·弥尔顿(1608~1674),17世纪英国杰出的文学家,出生清教徒家庭,自幼爱好文学,博览经典著作与欧陆各国文学,代表作《失乐园》、《复乐园》。
Good and evil we know in the field of this World grow up together almost inseparable; and the knowledge of good is so involved and interwoven with the knowledge of evil and in so many cunning resemblances hardly to be discerned, that those confused seeds which were imposed on Psyche as an incessant labour to cull out and sort asunder were not more intermixed. It was from out the rind of one apple tasted that the knowledge of good and evil as two twins cleaving together leapt forth into the World. And perhaps this is that doom which Adam fell into of knowing good and evil, that is to say of knowing good by evil. As therefore the state of man now is, what wisdom can there be to choose, what continence to forbeare, without the knowledge of evil? He that can apprehend and consider vice with all her baits and seeming pleasures, and yet abstain, and yet distinguish, and yet prefer that which is truly better, he is the true warfaring Christian. I cannot praise a fugitive and cloistered virtue, unexercised and unbreathed, that never sallies out and sees her adversary, but sinks out of the race, where that immotal garland is tobe run for not without dust and heat. Assuredly we bring not innocence into the world, we bring impurity much rather: that which purifies us is trial, and trial is by what is contrary…
我们所认识的善与恶在这个尘世的范围内总是相伴生长,密不可分的;而善与恶的知识又是这样的错综纠缠,且惯以形容酷肖的面目出现,这中间的纷纭程度,较之作为长期苦役而罚使塞娥不停分拣的混杂败种,可能更有过之。谁能料到,善与恶的知识这对紧紧相依的孪生兄弟便是从一只吃过的苹果之中,破皮跃入这个世界的。这或许也即是昔年亚当曾经坠入其间的那个劫数——明善恶之辨,或曰,藉恶以知善。因此,既然人类已成为今天这种情形,试问离开对恶的知识,智慧将何得而选择,坚忍又何从而施行?那种能将罪恶及其一切诱饵与声色之乐一并擒拿在手,细加审视,而仍能知所趋避,而仍能明辨是非,而仍能择善而从的人,这种人方不愧为真正善战的基 督徒。至于那种于德无所施,于行无所表的逋逃隐遁性的道德,那种从未有冲杀应敌之劳,而只是临阵一逃了事的道德,我委实不敢赞一词;须知不朽之花环是很少可以不备极艰苦而后得到的。显然,我们所携入这个世界的并非纯真一片,我们所带来的倒无虑是种.种之不洁;致我们于纯洁者是考验,而考验则必借相反的事物……
For as in a body, when the blood is fresh, the spirits pure and vigorous not only to vital but to rational faculties and those in the acutest and the pertest operations of wit and subtlety, it argues in what good plight and constitution the body is, so when the cheerfulness of the people is so sprightly up, as that it has not only wherewith to guard well its own freedom and safety but to spare, and to bestow upon the solidest and sublimest points of controversy and new invention, it betokens us not degenerated, nor drooping to a fatal decay, but casting of fthe old and wrinkled skin of corruption to outlive these pangs and wax young again, entering the glorious ways of Truth and prosperous virtue destined to become great and honourable in these latter ages. Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant Nation rousing herself like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks. Methinks I see her as an Eagle mewing her mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes at the full midday beam, purging and unscaling her long abused sight at the fountain itself of heavenly radiance, while the whole noise of timorous and flocking birds, with those also that love the twilight, flutter about, amazed at what she means, and in their envious gabble would prognosticate a year of sects and schisms.
正像在躯体方面,当一个人的血液鲜活,各个基本器官与心智官能中的元气精 液纯洁健旺,而这些官能又复于其机敏活泼的运用中恣骋其心智的巧慧的时候,往往可以说明这个躯体的状况与组织异常良好那样,同理,当一个民族心情欢快,意气欣欣,非但能绰有余裕地去保障其自身的自由与安全,且能以余力兼及种.种坚实而崇高的争议与发明,这也会向我们表明了它没有倒退,没有陷入一蹶不振的地步,而是脱掉了衰朽腐 败的陈皱表皮,经历了阵痛而重获青春,从此步入足以垂懿范于今兹的真理与盛德的光辉坦途。我觉得,我在自己的心中仿佛瞥见了一个崇高而勇武的国家,好像一个强有力者那样,正从其沉酣之中振身而起,风鬓凛然。我觉得,我仿佛瞥见它是一头苍鹰,正在挣脱着它幼时的健翮,它那目不稍瞬的双睛因睁对中午的炎阳而被燃得火红,继而将它的久被欺诓的目光疾扫而下,俯瞰荡漾着天上光辉的清泉本身,而这时无数怯懦群居的小鸟,还有那些性喜昏暗时分的鸟类,却正在一片鼓噪,上下翻飞,对苍鹰的行径诧怪不已;而众鸟的这种恶毒的唧唧喳喳将预示着未来一年的派派系系。
英语散文:何必以心跳定生死?
why Measure Life in Heartbeats?
Hemingway once wrote that courage is grace under pressure. But I wouldrather think with the 18th-century Italian dramatist, Vittorio Alfieri, that”often the test of courage is not to die but t0 1ive.“ For living with cancerengenders more than pressure; it begets terror. To live with it, to face up toit-that's courage.
Hope is our most effective ”drug“ in treating cancer. There is almost nocancer (at any stage) that cannot be treated. By instilling hope in a patient,we can help develop a positive; combative attitude to his disease. Illogical,unproven? Perhaps. But many doaors believe that this must become a partof cancer therapy if the therapy is to be effective.
I have had the joy of two beautiful and wonderful wives, the happiness ofparenthood and the love of eight children. My work was constantly chal-lenging and fulfilling. I have always loved music and books, ballet and thetheater. I was addicted to fitness, tennis, golf, curling, hunting and fishing.
Good food and wine graced my table. My home was a warm and happyplace.
But when I became aware of my imminent mortality, my attitudes changed.
There was real meaning to the words, ”This is the first day of the rest ofyour life.“ There was a heightened awareness of each sunny day, the beautyof flowers, the song of a bird. How often do we reflect on the joy of breath.
ing easily, of swallowing without effort and discomfort, of walking withoutpain, of a complete and peaceful night's sleep?
After I became ill, I embarked upon many things I had been putting offbefore. I read the books Ihad set aside for retirement and wrote one myself,entitled TheArt of Surgery. My wife Madeleine and I took more holidays.
We played tennis regularly and curled avidly; we took the boys fishing. WhenI review these past few years, it seems in many ways that I have lived alifetime since I acquired cancer. On my last holiday in the Bahamas, as Iwalked along the beach feeling the gentle waves wash over my feet, I felt apart of tlie universe, even if only a minuscule one,like a grain of sand on thebeach.
Although I had to restrict the size of my practice, I felt closer empathy withmy patients. When I walked into the Intensive Care Unit there was an awe-some feeling knowing I, too, had been a patient there. It was a special satis-faction to comfort my patients with cancer, knowing that it is possible toenjoy life after the anguish of that diagnosis. It gave me a warm feeling tosee the sparkle in one patient's eyes-a man with a totallaryngectomy-when I asked if he would enjoy a cold beer and went to get him one.
If one realizes that our time on this earth is but a tiny fraction of that withinthe cosmos, then life calculated in years may not be as important as wethink. Why measure life in heartbeats? When life is so dependent on such anunreliable function as the beating of the heart, then it is fragile indeed. Theonly thing that one can depend upon with absolute certainty is death.
I believe that death may be the most important part of life. I believe that lifeis infinitesinially brief in relation to the immensity of eternity. I believe,because of my religious faith, that I shall ”return to the Father“in an afterlifethat is beyond description. I believe that though my life was short in years, itwas fullin experience, joy, love and accomplishment; that my owriimmor-tality will reside in the memories of my loved ones left behind, mother,brother, wife, children, dear friends. I believe that I will die with loved onesclose by and, one hopes, achieve that great gift of God-ileath in peace, andwith dignity.
何必以心跳定生死?
海明威曾经写过,勇气就是临危不惧。不过,我更赞同18世纪意大利戏剧家维多利奥·阿尔菲利的观点:“对勇气的考验往往不是去死,而是要活。”身患癌症,不仅带来痛苦,而且引起恐惧。抱病生活,并敢于正视这一现实,这就是勇气。
希望是我们治疗癌症最有效的“药物”。几乎没有任何癌症(无论发展到哪一期)是不能医治的。把希望灌输到病人心里,我们就可以帮助他树立起积极与疾病作斗争的观念。也许此话不合逻辑,言之无据,是吗?然而,许多医生认为,要想使疗法有效,这必须成为癌症治疗的一部分。
我有幸先后拥有两位美丽贤惠的妻子所带来的欢欣,体验过为人之父的乐趣,并得到八个子女的爱。过去,我的工作一直富有挑战性,令人有成就感。我一向喜欢听音乐和读书,酷爱芭蕾舞和戏剧。我曾经醉心于健身运动、网球、高尔夫球、冰上溜石、打猎和垂钓。我的餐桌摆满美酒佳肴。我的家温馨而又幸福。
可是,当我知道自己大限将至时,生活态度就变了。“这是您余生的开始。”这句话对我有了实实在在的含义。对每一个晴天丽日,对鸟语花香,我的感触倍加强烈。平日呼吸轻松,吞食自如,走路毫不费劲,一夜安寝到天明,我们几曾回味过其中的乐趣?
患病后,我着手做以前搁置下来的许多事情。我阅读了本来留到退休后才读的书,而且还写了一本题为《外科术》的书。我与夫人马德琳度假更加频繁。我们经常去打网球,劲头十足地在冰上溜石,还带儿子们去钓鱼。回顾过去几年,从许多方面来看,自从得了癌症以后,我似乎已经活了一辈子。上次到巴哈马度假期间,我沿着海滩漫步,海浪轻轻抚揉着我的双脚,此时此刻我蓦然觉得自己与整个宇宙融为一体,尽管我微不足道,就像海滩上的一粒沙子。
虽然我不得不限制自己的医务工作量,我感到与病人更加心灵相通。当我走进特别护理室时,一种敬畏之感油然而生,因为我知道自己也曾是这里的病人。我明白,在经历了被确诊为癌症的极度痛苦之后,仍有可能享受生活,因此,安慰癌症患者成了一种特别的乐事。一位病人做了喉部切除手术,我问他是否想喝冻啤酒,而且为他拿来了一杯,这时我看到他眼里闪现出了火花,一股暖流顿时涌上我的心头。
倘若人们意识到人生在世只不过是宇宙的时间长河中转瞬即逝的一刹那,那么以岁月计算的生命就不会像我们所想的那样重要了。何必以心跳来定生死呢?当生命依赖于心跳这样一种不可靠的功能时,它的确脆弱不堪。而只有死亡才是人们可以绝对依赖的。
我认为死亡可能是人生中最重要的一环。我认为与那漫长的永生相比,生命是极其短暂的。基于我的宗教信仰,我相信在我身后那难以描绘的时光里,我将回归圣父。我相信,我的生命以年月计算,虽然是短暂的,但经历丰富,充满了欢乐、爱情和成就;我将永远活在我所爱的人,即我的母亲、兄弟、儿女和密友的记忆中。我相信,在弥留之际,我的亲朋好友将陪伴在我身旁:我希望得到上帝的恩赐——带着尊严,安详地告别人间。
英语散文:The Song of the River(河之歌)
The Song of the River
河之歌
W.S Maugham
毛姆
You hear it all along the river. You hear it, loud and strong, from the rowers as they urge the junk with its high stern, the mast lashed alongside, down the swift running stream. You hear it from the trackers, a more breathless chant, as they pull desperately against the current, half a dozen of them perhaps if they are taking up wupan, a couple of hundred if they are hauling a splendid junk, its square sail set, over a rapid.
沿河上下都可以听见那歌声。它响亮而有力,那是船夫,他们划着木船顺流向下,船尾翘得很高,桅杆系在船边。它也可能是比较急促的号子,那是纤夫,他们拉纤逆流而上。如果拉的是小木船,也许就只五六个人;如果拉的是扬着横帆的大船过急滩,那就要200来人。
On the junk, a man stands amidships beating a drum incessantly to guide their efforts, and they pull with all their strength, like men possessed, bent double; and sometimes in the extremity of their travail they craw on the ground, on all fours, like the beasts of the field. They strain, strain fiercely, against the pitiless might of the stream.
船中央站着一个汉子不停地击鼓助威,引导他们加劲。于是他们使出全部力量,像着了魔似的,腰弯成两折,有时力量用到极限就全身趴在地上匍匐前进,像田里的牲口。
The leader goes up and down the line and when he sees one who is not putting all his will into the task he brings down his split bamboo on the naked back. Each one must do his utmost or the labour of all is vain. And still they sing a vehement, eager chant, the chant of the turbulent waters.
领头的在纤绳前后跑来跑去,见到有人没有全力以赴,竹板就打在他光着的背上。每个人都必须竭尽全力,否则就要前功尽弃。就这样他们还是唱着激昂而热切的号子,那汹涌澎湃的河水号子。
I do not know words can describe what there is in it of effort. It serves to express the straining heart, the breaking muscles, and at the same time the indomitable spirit of man which overcomes the pitiless force of nature. Though the rope may part and the great junk swing back, in the end the rapid will be passed; and at the close of the weary day there is the hearty meal...
我不知道词语怎样能描写出其中所包括的拼搏,它表现的是绷紧的心弦,几乎要断裂的筋肉,同时也表现了人类克服无情的自然力的顽强精神。他们使劲,拼命使劲,对抗着水流无情的威力。虽然绳子可能扯断,大船可能倒退,但最终险滩必将通过,在筋疲力尽的一天结束时可以痛快地吃上一顿饱饭…..
But the most agonizing song is the song of the coolies who bring the great bales from the junk up the steep steps to the town wall. Up and down they go, endlessly, and endless as their toil rises their rhythmic cry. He, aw --ah, oh. They are barefoot and naked to the waist. The sweat pours down their faces and their song is a groan of pain.
然而最令人难受的却是苦力的歌,他们背负着船上卸下的大包,沿着陡坡爬上城墙。他们不停地上上下下,随着无尽的劳动响起有节奏的喊声:嗨,呦——嗬,嗨。他们赤着脚,光着背,汗水不断地从脸上流下。
It is a sigh of despair. It is heart-rending. It is hardly human. It is the cry of souls in infinite distress, only just musical, and that last note is the ultimate sob of humanity. Life is too hard, too cruel, and this is the final despairing protest. That is the song of the river.
他们的歌是痛苦的.失望的叹息,听来令人心碎,简直不像是人的声音。它是灵魂在无尽悲戚中的呼喊,只不过有着音乐的节奏而已。那终了的一声简直就是人性泯灭的低泣。生活太艰难、太残酷,这喊声正是最后绝望的.这就是河之歌。
篇5:经典英语散文阅读
经典英语散文带翻译-勿以善小而不为
If you want your life to stand for peace and kindness, it’s helpful to do kind, peaceful things. One of my favorite ways to do this is by developing my own helping rituals.
如果你想让自己的生活安宁祥和,做一些友善平和的事情。我最喜欢的一种方式是培养 自己乐于助人的习惯。
These little acts of kindness are opportunities to be of service and reminders of how good it feels to be kind and helpful.
这些小小的善行让你有机会去帮助别人,让你意识到待人友善、乐于助人的感觉有多好。
We live in a rural area of the San Francisco Bay Area. Most of what we see is beauty and nature. One of the exceptions to the beauty is the litter that some people throw out of their windows as they are driving on the rural roads.
我们住在旧金山圣弗朗西斯科湾地区的郊外。我们目所能及的几乎都是美丽的自然风光。与这美景不太和谐的是有人驱车行驶在乡间小路上时随手从车窗往外扔垃圾。
One of the few drawbacks to living out the boondocks is that public services, such as littercollection, are less available than they are closer to the city.
而居住在这种偏远的地方的一个缺点就是缺少必要的公共服务,例如,垃圾的收集就不如靠近市区那样方便。
A helping ritual that I practice regularly with my two children is picking up litter in our surrounding areas. We’ve become so accustomed to doing this that my daughters will often say to me inanimated voices, ”There’s some litter, Daddy, stop the car!“
我跟我的两个孩子经常做的一件事就是捡拾我们周围地区的垃圾。对此我们已经习以为常,我的女儿们经常会兴奋地对我说,“爸爸,这儿有垃圾,请停一下车!”
And if we have time, we will often pull over and pick it up. It may seem strange, but we actually enjoy it. We pick up litter in parks, on sidewalks, practically anywhere. Once I even saw a complete stranger picking up litter close to where we live. He smiled at me and said, ”I saw you doing it, and it seemed like a good idea.“
只要时间来得及,我们总是将车开到路边并将垃圾捡起来。这似乎有点不可思议,但我们真的喜欢这样做。我们在公园里,人行道上,几乎任何地方捡拾垃圾。曾经有一次,我在我们家附近看到一位陌生人在捡垃圾。他笑着对我说,“我看到你这么做了,看来是个好主意。”
Picking up litter is only one of an endless supply of possible helping rituals. You might like holding a door open for people, visiting lonely elderly people in nursing homes, or shoveling snow off someone else’s driveway. Think of something that seems effortless yet helpful. It’s funny, personally rewarding, and can be a good example. And everyone benefits.
捡垃圾只不过是无数善意行为中的一种形式而已。你可以为别人开门,或者去敬老院看望那些孤独的老人,或者清除别人行车道上的积雪。总会想出一些似乎毫不费力但又非常有益的事情。这真的很有趣,自己会感觉很好,也为别人树立了榜样。每个人都会从中受益。
英语散文阅读:生命的度量
Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctor worry about them. That’s why you pay him/her.
一些无关紧要的数字不要挂怀,包括你的年龄、体重和身高。让医生来操心吧。因为他们收了你的报酬。
Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.
结交快乐的朋友。整日愁眉不展只能让你雪上加霜。
Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. ”An idle mind is the devil’s workshop. And the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s.“
学无止境。多学学电脑、手艺、园艺等等。不要让你的大脑闲置下来。无所事事是魔鬼的加工厂。魔鬼的名字叫”痴呆症“.
Enjoy the simple things.
享受简单事物的乐趣。
Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.
多笑,开怀大笑。上气不接下气地笑。
The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.
有泪就流。在忍耐和伤心过后,要继续前行。陪伴我们度过此生的只有一人--那就是我们自己。让生命鲜活起来。
Surround yourself with what you love, whether it’s family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.
让你的所爱包围着你,无论是家人、宠物、纪念品、音乐、植物、爱好,什么都好。你的家就是避风港。
Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.
珍惜健康:如果它还好端端的,就好好地保护它。如果它反复无常,就调养好它。如果你已无力改善它了,就请别人帮忙吧。
Don’t take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, to the next country, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.
别踏上犯罪的道路。你可以去逛街,可以到邻县去,可以出国旅行,但就是别踏上犯罪的道路。
Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.
把你的爱告诉你所爱着的人们,把握住每一个表达机会。
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
千万记住:度量生命的不是呼吸的次数,而是那些最最难忘的时刻。
张培基英译散文赏析之《海上日出》
海上日出
Sunrise at Sea
巴金
Ba Jin
为了看日出,我常常早起。那时天还没有大亮,周围非常清静,船上只有机器的响声。
I would often get up early to watch the sunrise when it was not yet quite light and all was quiet except for the droning of the ship engine.
要点:
本段重点在于合译,译者增用 了when, and, except for几个连接词 ,把汉语表达的意思串联了起来,表达的逻辑之美由此而生 。
天空还是一片浅蓝,颜色很浅。转眼间天边出现了一道红霞,慢慢地在扩大它的范围,加强它的亮光。我知道太阳要从天边升起来了,便不转眼地望着那里。
The sky was pale with a bluish hue. Soon a streak of pink dawn broke over the horizon,expanding gradually and becoming brighter and brighter. Knowing that the sun was about to rise, I had my eyes fixed on the distant edge of the sea.
要点:
1,“还没有大亮”=be not quite light,在《看月》中,有个“没有‘断黑’”= is not yet quite dark,“大亮”“断黑”都是程度副词+形容词的结构,通常用quiet+adj结构
2,“机器的响声”译为the droning of the ship engine.。“机器”这里指轮船上的steam engine,即蒸汽发动机,不宜译为macine.另外“响声”译为droning,表示机器的单调低沉的嗡嗡响声,较单纯的sound更有形象感
3,“浅蓝”=bluish,意为“带点蓝的,浅蓝色的”, -ish这个后缀表示”带…性质的,稍…的“,在《离别》和《杜鹃》中,我们也见到过此类构词法,这类表示颜色的词大家要注意,因为文学作品中出于细节刻画的需要,会将颜色描写得十分具体,翻译时也要注重选词的准确和美感哦~
4,“天边”是指海天交接之处,即“地平线”,译为the horizon,之后的“那里”文中处理为the distant edge of the sea,避免了重复
5,“一道红霞”也可译为a streak of rosy dawn或a rosy streak of dawn
综述:
果然过了一会儿,在那个地方出现了太阳的小半边脸,红是真红,却没有亮光。这个太阳好像负着重荷似的一步一步、慢慢地努力上升,到了最后,终于冲破了云霞,完全跳出了海面,颜色红得非常可爱。一刹那间,这个深红的圆东西,忽然发出了夺目的亮光,射得人眼睛发痛,它旁边的云片也突然有了光彩。
As expected, the sun soon appeared revealing half of its face, which was very red but not bright. It kept rising laboriously bit by bit as if weighted down with a heavy burden on its back until,after breaking through the rosy clouds ;it completely emerged from the sea aglow with a lovely red. Then,before I knew it, the dark red orb began to shine blazingly, dazzling my eyes until they stung and all of a sudden lighting up the surrounding cloud.
要点:
1,“这个太阳好像负着重荷似的一步一步、慢慢地努力上升…”译为It kept rising laboriously bit by bit as if weighted down with a heavy burden on its back…其中laboriously 包含“慢慢地”和“努力”两重意义,它还是 一个多音节词 ,有意 地延 长 阅读 的时间 , 让 读者在 阅读 中真切 地感 受 日出的缓 慢过程,本句用了拟人手法,而译文的laboriously,weighted down with等词,也很好地表现了原文的修辞意
2,“一刹那间,这个深红的圆东西…”译为before I knew it, the dark red orb…,其中before I know it (或before I know where I was,before I was aware of it)在此意为“一刹那间”,此处译者并没有译为in the twinkling of an eye,或者soon
3,“圆东西”译为orb,较round thing更加形象~
4,“颜色红得非常可爱”即“发出可爱的红光”译为be aglow with a lovely red,aglow意为“发亮的,发红的”
5,”射得人眼睛发痛“译为dazzling my eyes until they stung,其中until在此意为”以至于…”
6,” 它旁边的云片也突然有了光彩”为了避免再起一句,译者转换了主语与前句进行了合译,原文中几个小分句都围绕着“ 深红的圆东西” 这个 中心点,因此在翻译时,把 它作为主语 , 再运用 两个并 列 的现在 分词短语 把 语 意融 合 在一 起 ,结 构紧凑 、 意思连贯 , 同时也符合 英语 “ 头轻 尾重 ” 的表达习惯
综述:
本文最突出的特点就是拟人手法的运用,一般翻译时会通过动词,副词,从句的使用,尽量将其“拟人”的意思译出来~另外,注意本段人性化动词的灵活使用,例如“跳出”译为emerged from
有时太阳走进了云堆中,它的光线却从云里射下来,直射到水面上。这时候要分辨出哪里是水,哪里是天,倒也不容易,因为我就只看见一片灿烂的亮光。
Sometimes,hidden by the clouds, the sun nonetheless shed its rays straight onto the sea water, making it difficult for me to distinguish between the sky and the sea because what I saw in front of me was nothing but a wide expanse of brilliant light.
要点:
1,“有时太阳走进了云堆中”此处译者为了与下文照应,采用了主动转被动的手法~此句也可以理解为以“太阳”为主语的多动词句,“射出光线”为主要动词,“走进云堆”是次要动词,译为过去分词形式,至于句首~
2,”射到水面上“译为shed rays onto the sea,其中shed 此处意为”洒“
3,此句 译 文 中有 3处 使 用 了 头 韵 : sun/ shed / straight /seawater 、 difficult和distinguish、 s k y 和 s e a 。体现了散文的美感,读起来也是朗朗上口滴~
4,the sun nonetheless shed its rays straight onto the sea water中 , 将 原 文 “ 光线从云里射 下来 ”“ 直射到水面上 ” 两个动作合译,读起来一气呵成,流畅自然~后面直接用making连接两个句子,也体现了原文的简洁
有时天边有黑云,而且云片很厚,太阳出来,人眼还看不见。然而太阳在黑云里放射的光芒,透过黑云的重围,替黑云镶了一道发光的金边。后来太阳才慢慢地冲出重围,出现在天空,甚至把黑云也染成了紫色或者红色。这时候发亮的不仅是太阳、云和海水,连我自己也成了明亮的了。这不是很伟大的奇观么?
Sometimes, with thick layers of dark clouds hanging in the sky, the sun was hardly visible to the naked eye. But its radiance managed to show through the dark clouds to edge them with golden lace. Then, after gradually breaking through the tight encirclement, it came into full view and even dyed the dark clouds purple or scarlet. At the moment, apart from the sun,the clouds and the seawater, I too was luminous.Wasn't that a marvelous spectacle?
要点:
1,“太阳出来人眼还看不见” 非 人称 主语 使 折射 一 定 生 命 内涵 的动 词 被 “ 挪 用 ”于不具 生命 的主语 , 这样 的句 式 就 自然 而然 地 抹 上了拟人色彩。译为“ t h e s u n w a s h a r d l y v i s i b l e t o t h e n a k e d e y e ” , 符合英语行文。而且 , 把太阳赋与人性 ,以非人称主语替代人称主语 , 表达顿趋简洁 , 而且显 得生动活泼
2,“透过黑云”此处译为managed to show through the dark clouds,用penetrate也可以,从上文的emerge到这里的manage to do,译者运用大量人性化的动词,将原文的“拟人化”的手法表现得淋漓尽致~
3,scarlet(绯红,猩红),本段乃至全文对于颜色的描写都非常细致,值得借鉴和总结~
4,“这时候发亮的不仅是太阳、云和海水,连我自己也成了明亮的了。”译为At the moment, apart from the sun,the clouds and the seawater, I too was luminous. 是作者借景抒情,不知不觉地融入到自然环境当中 ,情和景 在此刻完全交融在一起了。” 译者刻意调整句子重心,将这种 递进关系传神地传达给了读者 ,主次分明,突出此时此“ 我 ” 的融情于景 。
篇6:经典英语散文阅读精选
英语散文:The Song of the River(河之歌)
The Song of the River
河之歌
W.S Maugham
毛姆
You hear it all along the river. You hear it, loud and strong, from the rowers as they urge the junk with its high stern, the mast lashed alongside, down the swift running stream. You hear it from the trackers, a more breathless chant, as they pull desperately against the current, half a dozen of them perhaps if they are taking up wupan, a couple of hundred if they are hauling a splendid junk, its square sail set, over a rapid.
沿河上下都可以听见那歌声。它响亮而有力,那是船夫,他们划着木船顺流向下,船尾翘得很高,桅杆系在船边。它也可能是比较急促的号子,那是纤夫,他们拉纤逆流而上。如果拉的是小木船,也许就只五六个人;如果拉的是扬着横帆的大船过急滩,那就要200来人。
On the junk, a man stands amidships beating a drum incessantly to guide their efforts, and they pull with all their strength, like men possessed, bent double; and sometimes in the extremity of their travail they craw on the ground, on all fours, like the beasts of the field. They strain, strain fiercely, against the pitiless might of the stream.
船中央站着一个汉子不停地击鼓助威,引导他们加劲。于是他们使出全部力量,像着了魔似的,腰弯成两折,有时力量用到极限就全身趴在地上匍匐前进,像田里的牲口。
The leader goes up and down the line and when he sees one who is not putting all his will into the task he brings down his split bamboo on the naked back. Each one must do his utmost or the labour of all is vain. And still they sing a vehement, eager chant, the chant of the turbulent waters.
领头的在纤绳前后跑来跑去,见到有人没有全力以赴,竹板就打在他光着的背上。每个人都必须竭尽全力,否则就要前功尽弃。就这样他们还是唱着激昂而热切的号子,那汹涌澎湃的河水号子。
I do not know words can describe what there is in it of effort. It serves to express the straining heart, the breaking muscles, and at the same time the indomitable spirit of man which overcomes the pitiless force of nature. Though the rope may part and the great junk swing back, in the end the rapid will be passed; and at the close of the weary day there is the hearty meal...
我不知道词语怎样能描写出其中所包括的拼搏,它表现的是绷紧的心弦,几乎要断裂的筋肉,同时也表现了人类克服无情的自然力的顽强精神。他们使劲,拼命使劲,对抗着水流无情的威力。虽然绳子可能扯断,大船可能倒退,但最终险滩必将通过,在筋疲力尽的一天结束时可以痛快地吃上一顿饱饭…..
But the most agonizing song is the song of the coolies who bring the great bales from the junk up the steep steps to the town wall. Up and down they go, endlessly, and endless as their toil rises their rhythmic cry. He, aw --ah, oh. They are barefoot and naked to the waist. The sweat pours down their faces and their song is a groan of pain.
然而最令人难受的却是苦力的歌,他们背负着船上卸下的大包,沿着陡坡爬上城墙。他们不停地上上下下,随着无尽的劳动响起有节奏的喊声:嗨,呦——嗬,嗨。他们赤着脚,光着背,汗水不断地从脸上流下。
It is a sigh of despair. It is heart-rending. It is hardly human. It is the cry of souls in infinite distress, only just musical, and that last note is the ultimate sob of humanity. Life is too hard, too cruel, and this is the final despairing protest. That is the song of the river.
他们的歌是痛苦的.失望的叹息,听来令人心碎,简直不像是人的声音。它是灵魂在无尽悲戚中的呼喊,只不过有着音乐的节奏而已。那终了的一声简直就是人性泯灭的低泣。生活太艰难、太残酷,这喊声正是最后绝望的.这就是河之歌。
英语散文:The Living Seas(富有生命的海洋)
The Living Seas
The ocean covers three quarters of the earth's surface, produces 90 percentof allits life-supporting oxygen, and is the driving force behind the entireweather system. There are over 450 million cubic miles of sea water on theearth; and each cubic mile contains over 150 million tons of minerals.
So vast and so pervasive is the sea that if the earth's crust were made level,ocean water would form a blanket over 8,000 feet deep.
The oceans contribute immeasurably to the earth's life support system aswell as provide an untapped storehouse of food, minerals, energy, and ar-chaeological treasureAdvanced atmospheric diving suits permit researchers to descend to depthsof l,500 feet. Yet the ocean's average depth is greater than 12,000 feet. It is atthese depths that remarkable discoveries are being made, discoveries whichonly a short time ago would have been impossible.
In that depth, where darkness is absolute and pressure exceeds eight tons persquare inch, robotic submersibles have discovered enormous gorges, fourtimes deeper than the Grand Canyon Here, too, are volcanoes that vastlyoutnumber those on land. Landslides the size of Rhode Island have beenrecorded, as well as raging undersea storms that go completely unnoticed oitthe surface while dramatically rearranging the underwater landscapes.
And under these seas the largest single geological feature on earth hasbeen found-a mountain range that dwarfs the Himalayas. It's a range thatcovers nearly one quarter of the earth's surface.
All these discoveries have come from the exploration ofless than one-tenthof this undersea mountain range.
The earth is the only planet we know that has an ocean. The ocean is tlielargest feature on earth. Yet it's the one feature we know the least about. Weknow more about the moon 240,000 miles away than we know about thethree-fourths of the earth covered with water. Man has set foot on the moon,but not on the most remote part of the earth, 35,000 feet under the sea.
Technology is changing all that. It's literally parting the waves for today'sundersea explorers. And it's bringing about the opportunity to transformvision, curiosity and wonder into practical knowledge.
Properly managed as a tool to serve society, technology is the best hopefor overcoming economic and social problems facing people everywhere. Italways has been. The earliest relics of human life are tools. And our ancientancestors used these tools to understand and change the world around themand make it better. The same is true today.
The deep sea is the last frontier left to explore.
富有生命的海洋
海洋占地球表面四分之三。地球上维持生命的氧气,90%产生于海洋,整个天气体系变化的动力也是海洋。地球上的海水超过4亿5千万立方英里,每立方英里含有的矿物超过1亿5千万吨。
海洋如此广大浩翰,如此分布辽阔,地球表层如果使之平整起来,那么海水可以形成深8,000多英尺的覆盖层。
海洋对地球上的维持生命系统做出了不可估量的贡献,同时又是一座尚未打开的宝库,储有食物、矿物、能源和具有很大考古价值的东西。
先进的常压潜水衣可以使研究人员下沉到1,500英尺的深度。但海洋的平均深度超过12,000英尺。现在正是在这个深度才发现了惊人的情况,这些发现在不久以前是不可能办到的。
这个深度的海中完全是漆黑一片,每平方英寸的压力超过8吨,潜水机器人在这里发现了巨大的峡谷,比美国科罗拉多大峡谷深3倍。这里火山之多,大大超过陆地上的火山,也曾有过规模大到和罗得岛一样的山崩,还有猛烈的海底风暴,这种风暴在海面上一点也觉察不到,却剧烈地改变着水下的景观。 ,就在这些海洋中发现了地球上惟一的地质构成——一条使喜马拉雅相形见绌的大山脉,这条山脉覆盖了地球表面几乎四分之一。
上述那些发现都是来自探索这条水下山脉不到十分之一的地区所见到的。
地球是我们所知有海洋存在的行星。海洋是地球构成的部分,而正是这部分我们知道得最少,这一覆盖地球四分之三的水域我们所知的情况还不如我们对远离地球24万英里的月球所知道的多。
人类已涉足月球,但对海面以下3万5千英尺地球最深邃的地方却从未涉足过。
技术正在改变这一切,它正在劈波斩浪为今日的水下探索者开路。它正在创造机会使幻想、求知欲和高深莫测的事情转化成实实在在的知识。
把技术当作服务于社会的工具适当地加以掌握,它就是克服各地人民所面临的经济与社会问题的希望所在。技术历来都是如此。
人类生活的最早遗物就是工具。我们远古的祖先使用那些工具来认识世界改造、世界使之日趋完善。今天的情况也还是如此。
深海是尚待探索的最后一个领域。
英语散文:The Date Father Didnt Keep(父亲失约)
It happened in one of those picturesque Danish taverns that cater to tourists and where English is spoken. I was with my father on a business-and-pleasure trip, and in our leisure hours we were having a wonderful time.
“It’s a pity your mother couldn’t come,” said Father. “It would be wonderful to show her around.”
He had visited Denmark when he was a young man. I asked him, “How long is it since you were here?”
“Oh, about 30 years. I remember being in this very inn, by the way.” He looked around, remembering. “Those were gracious days—” He stopped suddenly, and I saw that his face was pale. I followed his eyes and looked across the room to a woman who was setting a tray of drinks before some customers. She might have been pretty once, but now she was stout and her hair was untidy. “Do you know her?” I asked..
“I did once,” he said.
The woman came to our table. “Drinks?” she inquired.
“We’ll have beer,” I said. She nodded and went away.
“How she has changed! Thank heaven she didn’t recognize me,” muttered Father mopping his face with a handkerchief. “I knew her before I ever met your mother, “he went on. “I was a student, on a tour. She was a lovely young thing, very graceful. I fell madly in live with her, and she with me.”
“Does Mother know about her?” I blurted out, resentfully.
“Of course,” Father said gently. He looked at me a little anxiously. I felt embarrassed for him.
I said, “Dad, you don’t have to-“
“Oh, yes, I want to tell you. I don’t want you wondering about this. Her father objected to our romance. I was a foreigner. I had no prospects, and was dependent on my father. When I wrote Father that I wanted to get married he cut off my allowance. And I had to go home. But I met the girl once more, and told her I would return to America, borrow enough money to get married on, and come back for her in a few months.”
“We know,” he continued, “that her father might intercept a letter, so we agreed that I would simply mail her a slip of paper with a date on it, the time she was to meet me at a certain place; then we’d married. Well, I went home, got the loan and sent her the date. She received the note. She wrote me:” I’ll be there.” But she wasn’t. Then I found that she had been married about two weeks before, to a local innkeeper. She hadn’t waited.”
Then my father said,” Thank God she didn’t. I went home, met your mother, and we’ve been completely happy. We often joke about that youthful love romance.”
The woman appeared with our beer.
“You are from America?” she asked me.
“Yes,” I said.
She beamed. “A wonderful country, America.”
“Yes, a lot of your countrymen have gone there. Did you ever think of it?”
“Not me. Not now,” she said. “I think so one time, a ling time ago. But I stay here. It much better here.”
We drank our beer and left. Outside I said,” Father, just how did you write that date on which she was to meet you?”
He stopped, took out an envelope and wrote on it. “Like this,” he said. “12/11/73, which was, of course, December 11, 1973.”
“No!” I exclaimed. “It isn’t in Denmark or any European country. Over here they write the day first, then the month. So that date wouldn’t be December 11 but the 12th of November!”
Father passed his hand over his face. “So she was there!” he exclaimed. “And it was because I didn’t show up that she got married.” He was silent a while. “Well,” he said., “I hope she’s happy. She seems be.”
As we resumed walking I blurted out, “It is a lucky thing it happened that way. You wouldn’t have met Mother.”
He put his arm around my shoulders, looked at me with a heart-warming smile, and said, “I was doubly lucky, young fellow, for otherwise I wouldn’t have met you, either!”
【参考译文】
事情发生在丹麦的一个富有画意的客栈里。这种客栈专逢迎游客,通用英语。我和父亲这次旅行也是办事,也游乐,空闲的时候,玩得很痛快。
父亲说:“可惜你 妈不能来。如果能带她来逛逛,多好。”
父亲年轻时到过丹麦。我问他,“从你上次来,有多久了?”
“哦,差不多三十年了。我记得那时就住在这家小客栈里。”
父亲四下望望,回忆道:“那些日子真美……”他忽然住口不言,脸色转白。我顺着他的眼光看去,只见房间那边有个女人正端着托盘在客人面前上酒。她从前可能很美,但是现在已经发胖,头发也很乱。我问父亲:“你认识她吗?”
他说:“从前认识。”
女人走到我们的桌前。问道“要酒吗?”
我说:“我们要啤酒。”她点点头,去了。
父亲掏出手巾擦额,低声说道:“她真变了!谢天谢地,幸而她没认出我来。我认识她在你的妈妈之前,那时候我是学生,假期旅行到这里。她年轻漂亮,非常可爱。我爱她到了极点,她也爱我。”
我很不高兴地冲口问道:“妈晓得她的事吗?”
“当然知道。”父亲略感不安地望着我。我都替他难为情。
我说:“爸爸,你用不着……”
“哦,我要告诉你,我不要你乱猜。她的父亲反对我们相爱。我是外国人,又没有好前途,还要依靠父亲。我写信给父亲说要结婚,父亲就不寄钱来。我只好回家。但是我又和她见了一次面,告诉她我要回美国去借结婚的钱,过几个月就来找她。”
“我们知道,”他接着说,“她父亲可能会拆看我们的信件,所以商量好我只寄给她一张纸,上面写个日期,那是要她在某处和我见面的时间,然后我们就结婚。后来我回家去,借到钱把日期寄给她。”
“她收到了信,回信道,‘我准来。’但是她没来。后来我才知道她已在两个星期前嫁给一位当地客栈的老板了。她没有等我。”
父亲又说:“感谢上帝,她没有等我,我回家去,遇见了你 妈妈,我们始终极为快乐。常把这一段年轻时的恋爱作为笑谈。”
那个女人把啤酒送到我们面前。
她问我:“你们从美国来的吗?”
我说:“是的。”
她笑道:“美国是好地方。”
“是的。那边有许多你们的同胞。你有没有想过要去?”
她说:“我不想,现在不想。我想过一次,那是很久以前的事了,但是我留在了此地。此地好得多。”
我们喝完啤酒就出来。一出客栈,我就问父亲:“爸,你叫她等你的日期到底是怎样写的?”
他停下来,拿出一个信封,在上面写了几个字。他说:“这样写的,12/11/13,这当然是1912月11日。”
我叫道:“不对!在丹麦和欧洲任何国家都不是这样写的!他们先写日子,后写月份。所以那个日期不是12月11日,而是11月12日!”
父亲抬起手摸了摸脸,叫道“那么她是去过了!因为我没有到,所以她嫁了别人!”他沉默了一会儿,说道:“也好。我希望她快乐,她似乎很快乐。”
我们再往前走时,我又冲口说:“幸而如此,不然你不会遇见妈妈。”
父亲伸手搂着我的肩膀,很温暖地向我笑道:“小伙子,我是锦上添花,要不然我也不会有你了。”
篇7:经典英语散文阅读精选
英语散文:The Blanket(一条毛毯)
The Blanket
By Floyd Dell
Petey hadn’t really believed that Dad would be doing It — sending Granddad away. “Away” was what they were calling it.Not until now could he believe it of his father.
But here was the blanket that Dad had bought for Granddad, and in the morning he’d be going away. This was the last evening they’d be having together. Dad was off seeing that girl he was to marry. He would not be back till late, so Petey and Granddad could sit up and talk.
It was a fine September night, with a silver moon riding high. They washed up the supper dishes and then took their chairs out onto the porch. “I’ll get my fiddle,” said the old man, “and play you some of the old tunes.”
But instead of the fiddle he brought out the blanket. It was a big double blanket, red with black stripes.
“Now, isn’t that a fine blanket!” said the old man, smoothing it over his knees. “And isn’t your father a kind man to be giving the old fellow a blanket like that to go away with? It cost something, it did—look at the wool of it! There’ll be few blankets there the equal of this one!”
It was like Granddad to be saying that. He was trying to make it easier. He had pretended all along that he wanted to go away to the great brick building—the government place. There he’d be with so many other old fellows, having the best of everything. . . . But Petey hadn’t believed Dad would really do it, not until this night when he brought home the blanket.
“Oh, yes, it’s a fine blanket,” said Petey. He got up and went into the house. He wasn’t the kind to cry and, besides, he was too old for that. He’d just gone in to fetch Granddad’s fiddle.
The blanket slid to the floor as the old man took the fiddle and stood up. He tuned up for a minute, and then said, “This is one you’ll like to remember.”
Petey sat and looked out over the gully. Dad would marry that girl. Yes, that girl who had kissed Petey and fussed over him, saying she’d try to be a good mother to him, and all. . . .
The tune stopped suddenly. Granddad said, “It’s a fine girl your father’s going to marry. He’ll be feeling young again with a pretty wife like that. And what would an old fellow like me be doing around their house, getting in the way? An old nuisance, what with my talks of aches and pains. It’s best that I go away, like I’m doing. One more tune or two, and then we’ll be going to sleep. I’ll pack up my blanket in the morning.”
They didn’t hear the two people coming down the path. Dad had one arm around the girl, whose bright face was like a doll’s. But they heard her when she laughed, right close by the porch. Dad didn’t say anything, but the girl came forward and spoke to Granddad prettily: “I won’t be here when you leave in the morning, so I came over to say good-bye.”
“It’s kind of you,” said Granddad, with his eyes cast down. Then, seeing the blanket at his feet, he stooped to pick it up. “And will you look at this,” he said. “The fine blanket my son has given me to go away with.”
“Yes,” she said. “It’s a fine blanket.” She felt the wool and repeated in surprise, “A fine blanket—I’ll say it is!” She turned to Dad and said to him coldly, “That blanket really cost something.”
Dad cleared his throat and said, “I wanted him to have the best. . . .”
“It’s double, too,” she said, as if accusing Dad.
“Yes,” said Granddad, “it’s double—a fine blanket for an old fellow to be going away with.”
17 The boy went suddenly into the house. He was looking for something. He could hear that girl scolding Dad. She realized how much of Dad’s money—her money, really—had gone for the blanket. Dad became angry in his slow way. And now she was suddenly going away in a huff. . . .
As Petey came out, she turned and called back, “All the same, he doesn’t need a double blanket!” And she ran off up the path.
Dad was looking after her as if he wasn’t sure what he ought to do.
“Oh, she’s right,” Petey said. “Here, Dad”—and he held out a pair of scissors. “Cut the blanket in two.”
Both of them stared at the boy, startled. “Cut it in two, I tell you, Dad!” he cried out. “And keep the other half.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” said Granddad gently. “I don’t need so much of a blanket.”
“Yes,” the boy said harshly, “a single blanket’s enough for an old man when he’s sent away. We’ll save the other half, Dad. It’ll come in handy later.”
“Now what do you mean by that?” asked Dad.
“I mean,” said the boy slowly, “that I’ll give it to you, Dad— when you’re old and I’m sending you—away.”
There was a silence. Then Dad went over to Granddad and stood before him, not speaking. But Granddad understood. He put out a hand and laid it on Dad’s shoulder. And he heard Granddad whisper, “It’s all right, son. I knew you didn’t mean it. . . .” And then Petey cried.
But it didn’t matter—because they were all crying together.
【中文译文】:
一床双人毛毯
(美) 弗罗伊德?戴尔
晴朗的九月的夜晚,银色的月光洒落在溪谷上。此时,十一岁的彼得没有观赏月亮,也没感觉到微微的凉风吹进厨房。他的思绪全在厨房桌上那条红黑相间的毛毯上。那是爸爸送给爷爷的离别礼物。他们说爷爷要走。他们是这么说的。
彼得不相信爸爸真会把爷爷送走。可是现在离别礼物都买好了。爸爸今天晚上买的。今晚是他和爷爷在一起的最后一个晚上了。
吃完晚饭,爷孙俩一块洗碗碟,爸爸走了,和那个就要与他成亲的女人一起走的,不会马上回来。洗完碗碟,爷孙走出屋子,坐在月光下。
“我去拿口琴来给你吹几支老曲子。”爷爷说。一会儿,爷爷从屋里出来了,拿来的不是口琴,而是那床毛毯。
那是条大大的双人毛毯。“这毛毯多好!”老人轻抚着膝头的毛毯说,“你爸真孝,给我这老家伙带这么床高级毛毯走。你看这毛,一定很贵的。以后冬天晚上不会冷了。那里不会有这么好的毛毯的。”
爷爷总这么说,为了避免难堪,他一直装着很想去政府办的养老院的样子,想象着,离开温暖的家和朋友,去哪个地方与许多其他老人一起共度晚年。可彼得从没想到爸爸真会把爷爷送走,直到今晚看到爸爸带回这床毛毯。
“是床好毛毯,”彼得搭讪着走进小屋。他不是个好哭的孩子,况且,他已早过了好哭鼻子的年龄了。他是进屋给爷爷拿口琴的。
爷爷接琴时毛毯滑落到地上。最后一个晚上了,爷孙俩谁也没说话。爷爷吹了一会儿,然后说,“你会记住这支曲子。”
月儿高高挂在天边,微风轻轻地吹过溪谷。最后一次了,彼得想,以后再也听不到爷爷吹口琴了,爸爸也要从这搬走,住进新居了。若把爷爷一个人撇下,美好的夜晚自己独坐廊下,还有什么意思!
音乐停了,有那么一会儿工夫,爷孙俩谁也没说话。过了一会儿,爷爷说,“这只曲子欢快点。彼得坐在那怔怔地望着远方。爸爸要娶那个姑娘了。是的,那个姑娘亲过他了,还发誓要对他好,做个好妈妈。
爷爷突然停下来,“这曲子不好,跳舞还凑合。“怔了一会儿,又说,”你爸要娶的姑娘不错。有个这么漂亮的妻子他会变年轻的。我又何必在这碍事,我一会儿这 病一会儿那疼,招人嫌呢。况且他们还会有孩子。我可不想整夜听孩子哭闹。不,不!还是走为上策呀!好,再吹两支曲子我们就.觉,睡到明天早晨,带上毛 毯走人。你看这支怎么样?调子有些悲,倒很合适这样的夜晚呢。“
他们没有听到爸爸和那个瓷美人正沿溪谷的小道走来,直到走近门廊,爷孙俩才听到她的笑声,琴声嘎然而止。爸爸一声没吭,姑娘走到爷爷跟前恭敬地说:“明天早晨不能来送您,我现在来跟您告别的。“
“谢谢了,“爷爷说。低头看着脚边的毛毯,爷爷弯腰拾起来,“你看,”爷爷局促地说,“这是儿子送我的离别礼物。多好的毛毯!”
“是不错。”她摸了一下毛毯,“好高级呀!”她转向爸爸,冷冷地说,“一定花了不少钱吧。”
爸爸支吾着说,“我想给他一床的毛毯。”“哼,还是双人的呢。”姑娘没完地纠缠毛毯的事。
“是的,”老人说,“是床双人毛毯。一床一个老家伙即将带走的毛毯。”彼得转身跑进屋。他听到那姑娘还在唠叨毛毯的昂贵,爸爸开始慢慢动怒。姑娘走了,彼得出屋时她正回头冲爸爸喊“甭解释,他根本用不着双人毛毯。”爸爸看着她,脸上有种奇怪的表情。
“她说得对,爸爸,”彼得说,“爷爷用不着双人毛毯。爸爸,给!”彼得递给爸爸一把剪刀,“把毛毯剪成两块。”
“好主意,”爷爷温和地说,“我用不着这么大的毛毯。”
“是的,”彼得说,“老人家送走时给床单人毛毯就不错了。我们还能留下一半,以后迟早总有用处。”
“你这是什么意思?”爸爸问。
“我是说,”彼得慢腾腾地说,“等你老了,我送你走时给你这一半。”
大家都沉默了。好半天,爸爸走到爷爷面前呆呆地,没有一句话。爷爷望着儿子喃喃地说:“没关系,孩子,我知道你不是这么想的……我知道……”这时,彼得哭了。
但没什么,因为爷爷,爸爸都哭了,哭成了一团……
英语散文:Promise of Bluebirds(蓝知更鸟的希望)
Promise of Bluebirds
The Pennsylvania-landscape was in severe wintry garb as our car sped westover the interstate Ul The season was wrong, butI couldn't get bluebirds outof my head.
Only three weeks before, at Christmas, Dad had given me a nesting box he'dmade: He had a special feeling for the brilliant creatures, and each spring heeagerly awaited their return. Now I wondered, will he ever see one again?
It was a heart attack. Dad's third.
When I got to the hospital at 2 a.m., he was losing the fight. As the familyhovered at his bedside, he drifted in and out of consciousness.
Once he looked up at.Mom sitting beside the bed holding his hand. ”Theywant me to let go,“ he said, ':but I can't. I don't want to.”Mom patted his arm. “Just hold on to me,” she murmured.
The next morning the cardiologist met us in the waiting room. “He's stillfighting,”the doaor said. “I've never seen such strengthMy youngest brother was only five when Ileft home 30 years ago. Relation-ships between my brothers- and sisters had become -frayed because of dis-tance and commitments to our own families. But Dad needed his childrennow, so we stayed at the hospital. During the long vigil, we reminisced aboutour years at home.
A miner, Dad had not had an easy life. He and Mom raised six kids at a timewhen coal miners eamed as little as 25 cents a ton, and he loaded nine tonsa day. Even now, I'm sure we don't know most of the sacrifices they madefor us.
I remembered Dad's hard hat, its carbide lamp showing a fine pall of coaldust. Dad's graygreen eyes seemed large and wise as an owl's in his black-ened face. They often sparkled with devilment when they met yours inconversation. .
Each evening he came home, eager to take up his crosscut saw or clawhammer. Dad could chock a piece of walnut on his lathe and deffly tum outa beautiful salad bowl for Mom. He could build a cherry fold-top desk withfine, dovetailed drawers as easily as he could fashion a fishing-line threaderout of an old ballpoint pen.
Dad bought our plain, two-story house from the coal company and immedi~ately began to remodel it. Our house was the first on the hill to have anindoor bathroom and hot water. He spent one summer digging out the clay-filled foundation to install a coal furnace. We children no longer shivered inour bed-rooms on cold winter mornings.
We loved to watch him work. When Dad needed something, we ran to getit. If we called it a ”thingamabob he would say, “That's a nail set” (thetool for sinking the head of a nail below the surface of the wood). “It has aname. Use it.”Dad carried a spirit of craftsmanship into every job and expeaed the samefrom all six children. Each job had its claim on your best efforts. And evertool had its name. Those were his principles, and we lived by them just aSDad did.
His playful spirit would set us to giggling-like the time he was buildingfireplace in the back yard. He sent us to look for the “stone-bender” he needeto make the comer stones fit more evenly. “Guess I'll have to bend theiamyself,” he said when we retumed empty-handed. We saw the sparkle in.bijeyes, and knew we'd been had.
Sitting in the hospitalwaitting room, I thought back to an afteon in Dad'sworkshop several years ago..He was retired by then, but he kept busy building beautiful furniture, now for his children's homes. A volunteer naturalist,I was eager to tell him about the help bluebirds needed.
When the early settlers had cleared forests for farmland, I explained, blueLbirds flourished, nesting in fence-posts and orchard trees. But their habitatwas disappearing, and now the birds needed nesting boxesDad listened as-I spoke, his hands gently moving a finegrained sand-paperover a piece of oak. I asked him if he would like to build a box. He said hewould think about it.
Several weeks later he invited me into his workshop. There, on his workbench,sat three well-crafted bluebird nesting boxes. “Think the birds willlike themT'
he asked.
”As much as I do,“I replied, hugging him. Dad put up the boxes, and thenext spring bluebirds nested in his yard. He was hooked.
Dad became quite an expert on the species. Bluebirds, he would say, areharbingers of hope and triumph, renowned for family loyalty. A pair willhave two or three broods a year, the earlier young sometimes helping to feedthe later nestlings.
The presence of his children must have boosted Dad's spirits after his attackbecause he grew stronger and left the hospital on Valentine's Day WhenI visited my parents at the end of March, Dad was confined to the downstairs.
But I noticed that he paused longer and longer at the windows facing theback yard. I knew what he was hoping to see. And one day a bright flash ofcolor circled the nesting box closest to our house.
”Well, it's about time the rascals showed, don't you think?“ Dad said.
Sporting a resplendent blue head, back, wings and tail, a male bluebird sanghis courtship song so passionately that we dubbed him ”Caruso,“ after theItalian tenor. A female appeared, but rejected the nesting box. Caruso foundanother in the field below the yard. He circled the new box, singing feverishly.
She remained aloof on a distant perch.
Dad was walking more and more each day as the love story unfolded. Icould see strength coming back into his wiry frame.
One day Caruso battled a rival for the female's attentions. Then she foughtan even more vehement battle with another female. Afterward she resumedher haughty. stance while he fervently continued with his rapturous repertoire.
Suddenly one exquisite morning, when the sky mirrored Caruso's courtingraiment, she flew back to the box nearest the house and inspected itthoroughly. Caruso hovered nearby and sang blissfully as she finally acceptedhim.
Shortly thereafter she proceeded to lay one egg a day until there were six.
Caruso fluttered outside, defending the nest while she incubated.
Dad was now well enough to go outside, but he still couldn't reach the back-yard. He asked us to check inside the nesting box once a day. When we'dreturn, the questions came. ”Is she on the nest?“ he asked. ”Have the eggshatched? Did you see that showboat what's-his-name?“”Caruso, Dad,“ I replied. ”He has a name, you know.“ Dad's sly grin re:
flected the devilment that had returned to his eyes.
When the eggs hatched, we marveled at the herculean efforts Caruso andhis mate expended to capture insects for their brood. Nestlings must be fedevery 20 minutes.
Near the end of May, the fledglings left the nest. By then Dad was able towalk to the fields beyond and see what other bluebird news there might be.
Mom and I would watch him from the kitchen window. ”He gave some-thing to those bluebirds,“ she said quietly one day. ”Now they've given itback.“
蓝知更鸟的希望
我们的汽车奔驰西行越过州界,宾夕法尼亚州一派严冬景象,时令不正常,可是我对蓝知更鸟一直不能忘怀。
就在三周前圣诞节那天,爸爸把他自己制作的一个鸟巢箱给了我。他对这些色彩鲜艳的小生灵怀有特殊的感情,每年春天他都热切地期待它们归来。现在,我不知道他是否还能再见到一只。
心脏病发作,这是爸爸第三次犯病了。
凌晨两点我到了医院,他浑身瘫软无力,家人守候在床边,他时而失去知觉,时而神志清醒。
有一次,他抬头望着坐在床边握着他手的妈妈说:“他们想要我松手,可是我不能松,我不想松。”
妈妈拍着他胳膊低声说:“攥住我吧。”
第二天早晨,心病学专家?候诊室遇见我们,这位大夫说:“他仍在搏斗,我从来没有见过意志这样坚强的。”
30年前我离开家的时候,最小的弟弟才五岁。后来因为我们居住相距甚远,而且都忙于自己的小家庭,所以兄弟姊妹之间的关系不够亲近。但是如今爸爸需要他的孩子们,因此我们来到医院,在长时间守夜期间,我们回忆起在家时的岁月。
爸爸,一名矿工,以前没有过安逸的生活。他和妈妈养育六个小孩,而当时煤矿工人收入非常低,生产一吨煤炭只挣25美分,他一天要挖九吨。就是现在,我肯定我们也不知道他们为我们做出了多少牺牲。
我记得爸爸质地很硬的帽子,帽子上燃烧碳化物的照明灯上覆盖着一层细细的煤炭粉末。在爸爸黝黑的面庞上,一双灰绿的眼睛像猫头鹰的眼睛一样,显得很大而充满智慧。在交谈时与你的目光相遇,他眼睛里经常闪耀着恶作剧的神情。
每天傍晚他回到家,就饶有兴致地拿起横切锯或爪形拔钉锤。他能在车床上卡上一块胡桃木,熟练地给妈妈制作一个漂亮的盛色拉的碗。他能利用旧圆珠笔制作钓鱼穿线用具,同样能毫不费力地制作带有精巧楔形榫抽屉的樱桃木的、桌面可折叠书桌。
爸爸从煤炭公司买了一所简易两层楼住宅,然后立即进行改造。
我们这所住宅是小山上第一家设有室内浴室和使用热水的,他用了一个夏季的时间挖掘全都是粘土的地基,装起了煤炉,冬天寒冷的早晨,我们孩子们在卧室里再也不冻得发抖了。
我们喜欢看着他干活,爸爸需要什么东西,我们跑着去取,如果我们把那件东西叫作“某东西”,他总说:“那是敲钉子的工具(把钉子楔进木头里的工具)”,“它有个名字,叫它的名字。”
爸爸干什么活儿都讲究技艺,而且希望所有六个孩子也同样做。
每一件活儿都要求你尽努力,并且每件工具都有名称。这些是他的原则,正如爸爸按照这些原则办事一样,我们也按照这些原则办事。
他爱开玩笑的态度常使我们咯咯发笑。像那一次,他在后院修建壁炉,派我们去寻找他所需要的所谓石头折弯机,以便把边角石块砌得更平稳。我们空手而回,他说:“看来我只得自己把石头弄弯喽。”我们看到他眼睛里闪耀的神色,于是知道我们受骗了。
我坐在医院候诊室里,回想起几年前在爸爸车间里的一个下午,那时他已经退休,但是还不断地忙着制造漂亮家具,是给他几个孩子家里制作的,作为一个自愿研究动物的人,我迫切地要把蓝知更鸟需要的帮助告诉他.
我解释道,早来的移民砍伐森林开垦农田的时候,1蓝知更鸟就成群结认地在篱笆桩和果园树上筑巢,但是它们酣栖息衄越来越少,如今,蓝知更鸟急切需我沈话时爸爸着,向手接住二张细粒沙纸在二块栎来上轻轻地摩擦,我问他是否愿意制作巢箱,他说他愿意考虑。
几个星期后,他邀请我到车间去,在工作台上放着三个制作精巧的蓝知更鸟巢箱。“你认为鸟儿喜欢它们吗?”他问道。 …“像我一样,非常喜欢。”我紧紧拥抱着他回答说。爸爸支架起巢箱,于是第二年春天蓝知更鸟便在他院里落了户,而他也迷上了蓝知更鸟。
爸爸成了这种鸟的行家里手,他常说蓝知更鸟是希望和成功的预言者,它们家族成员的忠诚出了名,一对蓝知更鸟一年下两三窝蛋,早孵出的幼鸟有时帮助喂后来出壳的雏鸟。
爸爸犯病后他的孩子们都来了,这一定提高了他的情绪,所以他精力刚刚恢复就在情人节那天出院了。我于三月底去看望父母,爸爸被安置在楼下,可是我注意到,他在窗前向后院伫立的时间越来越长了。我知道他盼望看到什么。一天,有个色彩鲜明闪亮的东西,在紧靠我们房屋的巢箱周围盘旋。
“喔,大概坏家伙们该露面了,你认为是不?”爸爸说。
一只雄蓝知更鸟炫耀着华丽蓝色的头、背、翅膀和尾巴,唱着求爱的歌,他唱得那样充满感情,我们仿照意大利男高音歌手的名字给他起了绰号叫“卡鲁索”。出来了一只雌鸟,但是她拒不进入巢箱。卡鲁索发现另一只雌鸟在院子下方田地里,于是他围绕着那个新巢箱狂热地唱歌,可是她远远地停在栖木上。
随着爱情故事的展开,爸爸一天天越来越能走路了,我看到他瘦长结实的身体逐渐强健起来。
有一天,卡鲁索为了吸引雌鸟的注意和一个对手交战。她却同另一只雌鸟进行更加激烈的战斗。后来,他使出浑身解数,继续热情地进行吸引对方的狂喜表演,她却恢复了傲慢的姿态。
突然,一个气候宜人的上午,天空中映出卡鲁索求爱的衣饰,她飞回离房屋最近的巢箱,并且进行了彻底检查。由于她终于接受了他的要求,卡鲁索在附近翩翩飞舞,极其快乐地唱着歌。
此后不久,她开始一天下一个蛋,直到下了六个,她孵蛋时卡鲁索在外边振翅保护巢箱。
这时爸爸已经恢复到能走出房门,但是还不能走到后院。他要求我们一天检查一次巢箱,我们回来时他提出许多问题,他问道:“她在窝里吗?”“蛋孵化了吗?…‘你们看见那个叫什?名字的家伙表演了吗?”
卡鲁索,爸爸,”我回答说,“你知道,他有名字。”爸爸满脸滑稽地咧着嘴笑,他的眼睛里又表现出爱开玩笑的神情。
小鸟出壳后,卡鲁索和他的配偶付出极其巨大的努力为幼鸟捉虫,我们对此感到惊奇,幼鸟每20分钟必须喂一次。
将近五月底,刚会飞的小鸟离开巢箱,那时爸爸能够走到田野里更远的地方,去看看其他蓝知更鸟可能有什么新闻了。我和妈妈常从厨房窗口望着他。“他给了那些蓝知更鸟一些东西,”有一天她轻轻地说,“现在他们已经回报。”
英语美文:尽在不言中
When I read a book from my mother’s shelves, it’s not unusual to come across a gap in the text. A paragraph, or maybe just a sentence, has been sliced out, leaving a window in its place, with words from the next page peeping through. The chopped up page looks like a nearly complete jigsaw puzzle waiting for its missing piece. But the piece isn’t lost, and I always know where to find it. Dozens of quotations, clipped from newspapers, magazines—and books—plaster one wall of my mother’s kitchen. What means the most to my mother in her books she excises and displays.
当我翻看妈妈书架上的书时,常常会发现其中的文字缺了一部分。其中的一个段落,或可能只是一个句子,被剪了下来,在原来的位置上留下了一扇窗户,让后一页上的文字探头探脑地露了出来。被挖掉一块的那一页看上去就像是一幅几乎就要完成的拼图作品,等待着缺失的那一块拼图。但那一块拼图并没有丢,而且我总是知道在哪儿能找到它。在我妈妈的厨房里,从报纸上、杂志上——还有书上——剪下的纸片贴满了一面墙。在她的书里,那些她最喜欢的句子和段落都被她剪了下来,贴在墙上。
I’ve never told her, but those literary amputations appall me. I know Ann Patchett and Dorothy Sayers, and Somerset Maugham would fume alongside me, their careful prose severed from its rightful place. She picks extracts that startle me, too: “Put your worst foot forward, because then if people can still stand you, you can be yourself.” Sometimes I stand reading the wall of quotations, holding a scissors-victim novel in my hand, puzzling over what draws my mother to these particular words.
我从未当面和她说过,但她对文学作品的这种“截肢手术”的确让我感到震惊。我知道,安?帕契特、多萝西?塞耶斯和萨默塞特?毛姆也在我身旁气得冒烟呢,怎么能把这些他们呕心沥血写出来的文字就这样从它们原来的位置上“截肢”了呢!她挑出来的那些段落也着实吓了我一跳,比如:“以你最糟糕的一面示人,因为如果那样人们也能容忍你的话,你就能做真正的自己了。”有时候,我会站在那儿读墙上那些书摘,手里拿着一本备受剪刀“.的小说,心里充满困惑,不知道到底是什么驱使妈妈剪下了这样一些稀奇古怪的句子。
My own quotation collection is more hidden and delicate. I copy favorite lines into a spiral-bound journal-a Christmas present from my mother, actually—in soft, gray No. 2 pencil. This means my books remain whole. The labor required makes selection a cutthroat process: Do I really love these two pages of On Chesil Beach enough to transc ribe them, word by finger-cramping word? (The answer was yes, the pages were that exquisite.)
我也摘录和收藏文字,不过我的收藏更为隐秘和精致。我会用灰色的二号软芯铅笔把我最喜欢的句子摘抄到一个活页日记本里——事实上,这还是我妈妈送我的一份圣诞礼物呢。也就是说,我的书都是完整的。但因为摘抄需要工夫,因此选择哪些文字摘抄就成了一个痛苦的过程:我是不是真的喜欢《在切瑟尔海滩上》里的这两页文字?喜欢到我愿意一个字一个字地把它们抄下来,直抄到手指头都抽筋?(答案为“是”,因为这两页文字写得实在太美了。)
My mother doesn’t know any of this. She doesn’t know I prefer copying out to cutting out. I’ve never told her that I compile quotations at all.
我妈妈一点也不知道这件事。她不知道与剪贴相比,我更喜欢抄录。我压根就没告诉过她我也收集自己喜欢的文字。
There’s nothing very shocking about that; for all our chatting, we don’t have the words to begin certain conversations. My mother and I talk on the phone at least once a week, and in some ways, we are each other’s most dedicated listener. She tells me about teaching English to the leathery Russian ladies at the library where she volunteers; I tell her about job applications, cover letters, and a grant I’d like to win. We talk about my siblings, her siblings, the president, and Philip Seymour Hoffman movies. We make each other laugh so hard that I choke and she cries. But what we don’t say could fill up rooms. Fights with my father. Small failures in school. Anything, really, that pierces us.
其实这一点没什么值得大惊小怪的;尽管我们总是聊天,但对于某些特定的话题,我们总是不知道该怎么开口。妈妈和我一个星期至少会通一次电话,从某些方面来说,我们是对方最专心的听众。她会告诉我她在图书馆做志愿者教那些强悍的俄罗斯妇女英语时发生的事;而我会和她谈谈我找工作的事、我的求职信,还有我想要争取的补助什么的。我们会聊我的兄弟姐妹、她的兄弟姐妹、总统,还有菲利普?塞默?霍夫曼的电影。我们常常逗得对方大笑,笑得我喘不过气来,笑得她眼泪都流出来了。但我们不聊的东西也很多,多得几个房间都装不下。譬如她和我爸吵架了,又譬如我在学校遇到一些小挫折了。事实上,所有让我们伤心的事,我们都避而不谈。
I like to say that my mother has never told me “I love you.” There’s something reassuring in its self-pitying simplicity—as if the three-word absence explains who I am and wins me sympathy-so I carry it with me, like a label on my back. I synthesize our cumbersome relationship with an easy shorthand: my mother never said “I love you”. The last time my mother almost spoke the words was two years ago, when she called to tell me that a friend had been hospitalized.
我常常说,妈妈从来没和我说过“我爱你”。这句有点自怜的简单话语听起来颇有些自我安慰的味道——仿佛这三个字的缺失就为我为什么成为现在的我提供了借口,还为我赢得了同情——于是,我总是把这句话挂在嘴边,就像把它贴在背上当标签一样。对于我和妈妈之间的这种微妙关系,我总是简单地用一句“谁让她从来不说‘我爱你’”来总结。上一次妈妈差点说出这几个字是在两年前,当时她给我打电话,告诉我她有个朋友住院了。
I said, “I love you, Mom.” She said, “Thank you.” I haven’t said it since, but I’ve thought about it, and I’ve wondered why my mother doesn’t. A couple of years ago, I found a poem by Robert Hershon called “Sentimental Moment or Why Did the Baguette Cross the Road?” that supplied words for the blank spaces I try to understand in our conversations:
我对她说:“我爱你,妈妈。” 而她说:“谢谢。” 这件事后来我再没提过,但却始终在我的脑海里盘旋不去,我一直想知道为什么我妈妈从来不说这几个字。几年前,我读到罗伯特?赫尔希写的一首诗,诗名叫《感伤的时刻或面包为什么要过马路?》,这首诗填补了我和妈妈的对话中许多我不能理解的空白:
Don’t fill up on bread. I say absent-mindedly. The servings here are huge. My son, whose hair may be receding a bit, says: Did you really just say that to me? What he doesn’t knowis that when we’re walking together, when we get to the curb. I sometimes start to reachfor his hand.
别用面包把肚子塞满了。我心不在焉地说。这儿的菜量大得很,我的儿子,我那发线已开始后退少许的儿子,对我说:你怎么会跟我说这样的话? 他不知道的是当我们一起散步时,当我们走到马路边时,我有时会不自觉地伸出手想要去牵他的手。
It’s a humble poem, small in scope, not the stuff of epic heartbreak, yet poignant. After copying it down in my quotation journal, my wrist smudging the pencil into a gray haze as I wrote, I opened an e-mail I had begun to my mother, and added a posts cript: “This poem made me think of you,” with the 13 lines cut and pasted below. My mother doesn’t read poetry—or at least, she doesn’t tell me that she reads poetry-and I felt nervous clicking, “Send” .
这是一首朴实无华的小诗,篇幅不长,不是动人心魄的宏伟诗篇,但读了却让人感到有点心酸。我把它抄在了我的书摘日记本里,写的时候,手腕把灰色的铅笔字迹都蹭模糊了。然后,我打开一封写给妈妈的电子邮件,信已经开了头,我在后面加上了附言:“这首诗让我想起了你。”然后,我在电脑上把这首13行诗剪切下来,粘贴在了邮件下面。我妈妈从来不读诗——或至少她从没告诉过我她读诗——所以,点下“发送”键时,我感到心中隐隐的紧张和不安。
She never mentioned the poem. But the next time I went home for vacation, I noticed something new in the kitchen. Not on her quotation wall, but across the room, fixed to an antique magnetic board: Robert Hershon’s poem, printed on a sc rap of white paper in the old-fashioned font of a typewriter. The board hung above the radiator, where we drape wet rags and mittens dripping with snow, in the warmest spot in the kitchen. The poem still hangs there. Neither my mother nor I have ever spoken about it.
她从未和我提起过这首诗,但后来放假回家时,我注意到厨房里有了样新东西。这次不是在她常常粘纸片的墙上,而是在厨房的另一头,粘在一块老旧的磁力板上:罗伯特?赫尔希的诗。诗打印在一小片白纸上,字体有点过时,像是打字机打出来的字体。这块板子高高挂在暖气片的上方,那儿可是厨房里最温暖的地方,我们常在那儿挂湿抹布和粘着雪的手套。那首诗现在还挂在那儿,但无论妈妈还是我,都从未开口谈论过它。
篇8:英语散文阅读
Today I begin a new life.
Today I shed my old skin which hath, too long, suffered the bruises of failure and the wounds of mediority.
Today I am born anew and my birthplace is a vineyard where there is fruit for all.
Today I will pluck grapes of wisdom from the tallest and fullest vines in the vineyard,for these were planted by the wisest of my profession who have come before me,generation upon generation.
Today I will savor the taste of grapes from these vines and verily I will swallow the seed of success buried in each and new life will sprout within me.
The career I have chosen is laden with opportunity yet it is fraught with heartbreak and despair and the bodies of those who have failed, were they piled one atop another, would cast a shadow down upon all the pyramids of the earth.
Yet I will not fail, as the others, for in my hands I now hold the charts which will guide through perilous waters to shores which only yesterday seemed but a dream.
Failure no longer will be my payment for struggle. Just as nature made no provision for my body to tolerate pain neither has it made any provision for my life to suffer failure. Failure, like pain, is alien to my life. In the past I accepted it as I accepted pain. Now I reject it and I am prepared for wisdom and principles which will guide me out of the shadows into the sunlight of wealth, position, and happiness far beyond my most extravagant dreams until even the golden apples in the Garden of Hesperides will seem no more than my just reward.
Time teaches all things to him who lives forever but I have not the luxury of eternity. Yet within my allotted time I must practice the art of patience for nature acts never in haste. To create the olive, king of all trees, a hundred years is required. An onion plant is old in nine weeks. I have lived as an onion plant. It has not pleased me. Now I wouldst become the greatest of olive trees and, in truth, the greatest of salesman.
And how will this be accomplished? For I have neither the knowledge nor the experience to achieve the greatness and already I have stumbled in ignorance and fallen into pools of self-pity. The answer is simple. I will commence my journey unencumbered with either the weight of unnecessary knowledge or the handicap of meaningless experience. Nature already has supplied me with knowledge and instinct far greater than any beast in the forest and the value of experience is overrated, usually by old men who nod wisely and speak stupidly.
In truth, experience teaches thoroughly yet her course of instruction devours men's years so the value of her lessons diminishes with the time necessary to acquire her special wisdom. The end finds it wasted on dead men. Furthermore, experience is comparable to fashion; an action that proved successful today will be unworkable and impractical tomorrow.
Only principles endure and these I now possess, for the laws that will lead me to greatness are contained in the words of these scrolls. What they will teach me is more to prevent failure than to gain success, for what is success other than a state of mind? Which two, among a thouand wise men, will define success in the same words; yet failure is always described but one way. Failure is man's inability to reach his goals in life, whatever they may be.
篇9:英语散文阅读
Once upon a time, a man punished his 5-year-old daughter for using up the family's only roll of expensive gold wrapping paper. Money was tight, and he became even more upset when on Christmas Eve, he saw that the child had pasted the gold paper so as to decorate a shoebox to put under the Christmas tree.
Nevertheless, the next morning the little girl, filled with excitement, brought the gift box to her father and said, ”This is for you, Daddy!“
As he opened the box, the father was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction.
But when he opened it, he found it was empty and again his anger flared. ”Don't you know, young lady, “ he said harshly, ”when you give someone a present there's supposed to be something inside the package!“
The little girl looked up at him with tears rolling from her eyes and said: ”Daddy, it's not empty. I blew kisses into it until it was all full."
The father was crushed. He fell on his knees and put his arms around his precious little girl. He begged her to forgive him for his unnecessary anger.
An accident took the life of the child only a short time later. It is told that the father kept that little gold box by his bed for all the years of his life. Whenever he was discouraged or faced difficult problems he would open the box, take out an imaginary kiss, and remember the love of this beautiful child who had put it there.
In a very real sense, each of us as human beings have been given an invisible golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family, friends and God.
There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.