英文经典美文:一份爱的礼物

　　窗口

　　Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room.One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the ftuid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room's only window. The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back.

　　两个病重的男人住在同一间病房。其中一个每天下午需要在床上坐起来一个小时，以便排出肺部的流质食物。他的床靠着这间房子的唯一一扇窗户。另一个人则只能平躺在床上度日。

　　The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military anda whole lot of things. Every afternoon, when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window.

　　他们能连续说上好几个小时的话。他们谈论各自的妻子和家人、他们的家、他们的工作、他们参军的经历，还有好多其他的事情。每天下午，当靠着窗户的那个人能坐起来的时候，他总是向他的室友描绘他看到的窗外发生的所有事情。

　　The man in the other bed began to live for those one hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color ofthe world outside.

　　睡在另一张床上的人开始盼望着那些—小时的生活。每当那时，他的生活就会因窗外的一切活动和多姿多彩而感到开阔和愉快。

　　The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

　　从窗口望去是一个公园，里面有一个可爱的池塘。鸭子和天鹅在水中嬉戏，孩子们则在划模型船，年轻的恋人手挽手在绚丽多彩的花丛中散步，远处是城市地平线上美丽的风景。

　　As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

　　靠窗的这个人用优美的语言详细描绘这些的时候，房子另一端的那个人就会闭上眼睛想象那些栩栩如生的情景。

　　One warm aftemoon, the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window pojrtrayed it with descriptive words.

　　一个温和的下午，窗口的`那个人描绘了经过此处的阅兵。尽管另一个人听不到乐队演奏，但他却能看到。当窗口那个人用生动的语言描绘的时候，他则用心在看。

　　Days and weeks passed. one morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for theirbaths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away.

　　一天天过去了’一周周过去了。一天早晨，当值白班的护士为他们提来洗澡水，看到的却是窗口那个男人的尸体，他已经在睡梦中安然去世了.她很悲伤，便叫医院的值班人员把尸体抬走了。

　　As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

　　一到合适的时机，另一个人便问他能否搬到窗口那儿去。护士很乐意为他作了调换，在确信他觉得舒适后，就离开了。

　　Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the real world outside. He strained to slowly tum to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.

　　缓慢地痛苦地，他用一个胳膊肘支撑着自己起来，想第一次亲眼看看外面的真实世界。他竭尽全力慢慢地朝床边的窗口望去看到的却只是一面墙。

　　The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate to have described such wonderful things outside this window.The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see thewall. She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

　　这个人问护士是什么促使他过世的室友描绘出窗外那么丰富的世界的。护士回答说，那个人是个盲人，甚至连墙都看不见。她说：“也许他只是想鼓励你。”

　　生命中小小的一部分

　　When he told me he was leaving I felt like a vase which has just smashed. There were pieces of me all over the tidy, tan tiles. He kept talking, telling me why he was leaving, explaining it was for the best, I could do better, it was his fault and not mine. I had heard it before many times and yet somehow was still not immune; perhaps one did not become immune to such blow.

　　当他告诉我他要离开的时候，我感觉自己就像花瓶裂成了碎片，跌落在干净的茶色瓷砖地板上。他一直在说话，解释着为什么要离开，说什么这是最好的选择，我可以做得更好，都是他的错，与我无关。虽然这些话我已经听上好几千遍了，可每次听完都让我很受伤，或许在这样巨大的打击面前没有人能做到无动于衷。

　　He left and I tried to get on with my life, I filled the kettle and put it on to boil, I took out my old red mug and filled it with coffee watching as each coffee granule slipped in to the mug. That was what my life had been like, endless omissions of coffee granules, somehow never managing to make that cup of coffee.

　　他走了，我尝试着继续过自己的生活。我把水壶装满水烧上，取出我那只红色的旧马克杯，倒入咖啡，看着咖啡粉末一点点地落A杯子里。这正是我现在生活的鲜活写照，不断地往下掉咖啡粉末，却从来没有真正地泡成一杯咖啡。

　　Somehow when the kettle piped its finishing waming I pretended not to hear it. That's what Mike's leaving had been like, sudden and with an awful finality. I would rather just wallow in uncertainty than have things finished.I laughed at myself. Imagine geffing all philosophical and sentimental about a mug of coffee. I must be getting old.

　　水开了，水壶发出警报声，我假装没有听见。迈克的离去也是一样，突如其来，并且无可挽回。要知道，我宁愿忍受分与不分的煎熬，也不愿意以这样的方式被宣判“死刑”。想着想着我就哑然失笑，自己竟然为一杯咖啡有如此多的人生感怀，我自己一定是老了。

　　And yet it was a young woman who stared back at me from the mirror. A young woman full of promise and hope, a young woman with bright eyes and full lips just waiting to take on the world. I never loved Mike anyway. Besides there are more important things. More important than love, I insist to myselffirmly. The lid goes back on the coffee just like closure on the whole Mike experience.

　　可镜子里回瞪着我的那个女孩还是那么年轻啊!她明目皓齿，充满了前途与希望，光明的未来在向她招手。没关系的，反正我也从来没有爱过迈克。何况，生命中还有比爱更重要的东西在等待着我，我对自己坚持说。我将咖啡罐的盖子盖好，也将所有关于迈克的记忆尘封起来。

　　He doesn't haunt my dreams as I feared that night. Instead I am flying far across fields and woods, looking down on those below me.Suddenly I fall to the ground and it is only when I wake up that I realize I was shot by a hunter, brought down by the burden of not the bullet but the soul of the man who shot it. I realize later, with some degree of understanding, that Mike was the hunter holding me down and I am the bird that longs to fly. The next rught my dream is similar to the previous

　　nights, but without the hunter.I fly free until I meet another bird who flies with me in perfect harmony. I realize with some relief that there is a bird out there for me, there is another person, not necessarily a lover perhaps just a friend, but there is someone out there who is my soul mate. I think about being a broken vase again and realize that I have glued myself back together, what Mike has is merely a little part of my time in earth, a little understanding of my physicalbeing. He has only, a little piece ofme.

　　那天晚上，出乎意料的是，他并没有进入到我的梦中。在梦里，我飞过田野和森林，俯瞰着大地。突然间，我掉了下来……醒来后才发现原来自己被猎人打中了，但是令我坠落的不是他的子弹，而是他的灵魂。我后来才渐渐明白，原来迈克就是那个使我坠落的猎人，而我是那只渴望飞翔的小鸟。到了第二天晚上，我仍然做了类似的梦，但是猎人不见了，我—直在自由地飞翔，直到遇上另外一只小鸟和我比翼双飞。我开始意识到，总有那么一只鸟，那么一个人在前面等我，这个人可能是我的爱人，可能只是朋友，但一定是知我懂我的人，这令我感觉如释重负。我想起自己曾经觉得像花瓶一样裂开了，这才意识到原来自己已经把自己修理好了.迈克只是我生命过程中的小小过客，他仅仅了解我的表面而已，他仅仅是我生命中小小的一部分