愛情的英文版文章
愛情是文藝作品的永恆母題。下面是小編帶來的,歡迎閱讀!
1
諒
I traveled through time last week.
上週我穿越時空。
Okay, all I really did was clean out a closet. But what I found took me back nearly three decades, to a day I never could quite explain.
這當然是開玩笑,我所做的只是清理壁櫥。但是我的發現把我帶到30年前我難以啟齒的一天.
The envelope was worn and the letter dog-eared and cnimpled. It was written in pencil by a passionate young soldier who looked like Richard Gere. It was written to me.
信封已磨破,信紙也是皺巴巴的那是一位熱情似火的年輕士兵用鉛筆寫的,他長得像理查德·基爾,信是寫給我的.
Mark was on an airplane when he wrote it, leaving Oregon for his Army post on the eastern seaboard. In simple, transparent words, he put his heart on paper, and mailed it off to me.
馬克是在飛機上寫的,他正離開俄勒岡州到東海岸擔仟軍職簡單坦誠的文字,他把自己的心付諸紙上,然後寄給我。
He planned to talk with my dad and come to an "understanding". Mark was an optimist. It would've taken a diplomat to resolve their difference. Mark and my father were
both soldiers. Neither was a diplomat.
他計劃著和我爸爸聊聊,想要達成“諒解”。馬克是個樂觀主義者要解決他們之間的分歧恐怕需要一個外交官。但馬克和我爸爸都是軍人,都不是外交官.
As I read the letter, I closed my eyes and began to journey back.
當我重讀那封信時,我閉上雙眼,開始回J頑往事
And then, quietly, it was that day once more:
然後,靜靜地,又回到那一天:
Several weeks had passed since I'd received the letter from Mark. I was at work at a small accounting firm. At midday, I climbed into my car to drive home for lunch. I backed out of the long lane, which ran past the parking lot for a local cocktail lounge. Suddenly, my breath caught in my throat. There Mark sat, on his beloved motorcycle.
距我收到馬克的來信已過了好幾周我在一家小會計公司工作。中午,我鑽進車,開車回家吃午飯。我把車從長巷裡倒出來,巷子經過停車場一直通到一家雞尾灑吧突然,我的呼吸屏住了。我看見馬克坐在那兒,在他心愛的摩托車上。
But it couldn't be Mark, he'd left on a plane. So I didn't stop, because I knew I had to be seeing things, but still, I couldn't keep myself from looking back.
但那不可能是馬克,他乘飛機離開了,所以我沒停車,因為我必須得看路,但我仍忍不住的回頭看。
All logic shouted no. it was an incredible imitation-right down to the resolute jaw, the smoldering look in his eyes, the exact color of his hair, and, of course, the motorcycle.
所有的理智都在大聲地否定。那是不可思議的相似—絕對果敢的下顆,熱切的眼神,他的髮色,當然,還有那輛摩托車。
It couldn't be him. But my stare was locked, and I saw Mark looking so intently at me, so strangely sad.
那不可能是他。但我的視線被鎖住,我看到馬克熱烈地注視著我,異常悲傷。
I looked out the window all through lunch, expecting a motorcycle to boil into the drive with a furious Mark abroad. I expected a tongue-lashing for not even stopping to talk. Even as I expected all that, my practical mind dutifully reminded me that it could not have been my young wild-hearted love.
午飯時,我一直望向窗外,期待馬克騎著摩托車呼嘯而來。我期待他斥罵我,罵我不停下來和他說話。儘管我如此期盼,我務實的頭腦卻盡職地提醒我,那個人不可能是我那狂野的年輕愛人。
When I drove back to work, the young man and his motorcycle were gone. After work, I hurried home, thinking there might be a message from him. It didn't make sense, but I still expected it.
當我開車回去上班,那個年輕人和摩托車已不復存在。下班後,我匆忙回家,想象著會有他的訊息。這純屬胡思亂想,但我仍舊盼著。
My father met me at the door with three words. "Mark is dead." I felt my legs go weak and my head began to spin.
爸爸在門口碰到我,他只說了二個字:他死J’我感到自己的雙腿發軟,天旋地轉。
"He was killed in a traffic accident." It happened that day, he said, in south Carolina.
“他死於一場車禍。”他說,就在那天,在南卡羅萊納州。
My heart broke, and my tears fell like rain on the hard concrete of the driveway.
我的心碎了,我淚如雨下,顆顆淚滴在堅硬的水泥車道上。
Because I had lost him.
因為我已失去他。
Because I had seen him.
因為我曾看到他。
Because I had passed him by.
因為我和他擦肩而過。
Although Mark and my father never did reach their understanding, I now visit them in the same Cemetery in Portland-a very honorable place for two soldiers to be.
雖然馬克和爸爸從未達成他們的諒解,但現在我到同一地方看望他們。他們都安息在國立公墓—對兩位軍人來講都很榮耀。
Even rugged soldiers need flowers sometimes. So I bring them. And I remember.
即使是粗狂的軍人,有時也需要鮮花,因此我記得給他們帶來了。
2
如意郎君
When I was younger, I used to dream of finding Mr. Right
小時候,我常夢想,有一天能夠找到自己的如意郎君
After each heartbreak, I would wonder how long it would take me to find him. I didn't realize it then, but each relationship taught me a lesson and brought me one step closer to true love.It went something like this.
每次失戀的痛苦過後,我都會想,哪年哪月,他才能來到我身旁啊當時,我並不明自,不知道每一次的情感經歷都給了我一次教訓,使我朝著真愛邁進了一步〕若從頭說起,事情是這樣的。
Tony and I walked down Bloomingdale Avenue holding hands. His friend was with us and suggested we kiss goodbye. I said okay. Tony's eyes became the size of golf balls, "I can't believe you said that!" ***and not because he was not looking forward to the kiss***. So with one quick peck on his lips, I headed for home.When I dumped him a few weeks later, I thought he was going to hate me for life. He tattled on me to the teacher each chance he got, making me cry and look like a baby in gym class. Tony taught me that boys can't be jerks even bigger ones if you break their heart.
託尼和我手拉手走在布盧明黛爾大街上。當時還有他的一個朋友在場,他建議我們吻別。我說可以,託尼的兩眼立時瞪得像高爾夫球那麼大“我真不敢相信你會答應”這倒不是因為他不喜歡我吻他***我飛快地吻了一下他的雙脣後,就徑直朝家走去幾個星期後,我把他給甩廠當時我覺得,他會恨我一輩子的果然,此後,一有機會他就向老師告一我的狀,弄得我直哭,弄得我像個小願上體操的小孩子託尼的事給了我教訓,那就是,男孩子,即f更是大男孩子,如你傷了他的心,他也會打擊報復的。
In 7th grade, I had a crush on’Billy. His hair was longer than mine and he was missing a few front teeth, but each time he smiled at me, 1 melted. With a locker right next to mine, he would pick on me everyday but I never quite got the hint that there was no future for us. What did Billy teach me`? He taught me that no matter how much you drool over a guy, it won't make him drool back.
上7年級時,我迷上了比利,他的頭髮比我的還長,還缺了幾顆門牙叮每次他衝我微微一笑,我覺得自己都要融化,他的存物箱緊挨著我的,他每天都要作弄我可當時我就是沒有悟透,我們倆的事情根本沒戲比利給我的教訓是什麼呢?他的事告訴我,無論你多麼痴情於一個男孩子,也無法使他反過來對你痴心。
In 10th grade, I fell for a guy who had previously shown interest my sister. How stupid was that?He came over to my house a few times hardly talking to me at all as he sat there in my family room. We would write each other notes in school, the scent of his cologne lingering on cach letter. Not long after, my sister began to like him too. He was the one and only guy we fought over. What he taught me was invaluable一no guy is worth two sisters fighting.
上10年級時,我喜歡上一個起先鍾情於姐姐的男孩這夠蠢了吧,他來過我家幾次,坐在我家家庭活動室的時候連話都不同我說。在學校裡,我們給對方寫字條。他身上那股淡雅的古龍吞水味殘留在每貝信紙上。不久姐姐也開始喜歡上他了。他成了我們姐妹之間惟一為之反目的男孩。他給我的教訓及其寶貴,無論什麼樣的男人,都不值得兩姐妹為之爭風吃醋。
My first "real" kiss happened with an out-of-town boyfriend, whom I didn't see very often. When I realized I didn't like him quite as much as he liked me, I dumped him over the phone ***what a heartbreaker I was!*** and cried because I felt so bad. I learned from that relationship that if one likes the other more, it will never work.
我“動真情”的初吻給了一個外地的男朋友,我不常見他。當覺察到我對他不像他對我那麼一往情深的時候,我就打電話和他分手了***我是多麼殘忍啊!***,而我也難過地哭了。這次感情經歷中,我懂得了,假如一方愛另一方更多,這種戀情也是沒有結果的。
After all these lessons, I had doubts that I would ever find Mr. Right.
經歷了這些教訓後,我開始懷疑,我到底能不能找到自己的如意郎君。
But a year later, I was reacquainted with a man whose smile and kind words always flattered me back in high school. When we saw one another at a graduation party on a rainy, warm night in July, I felt my heart skip a beat. Somehow, I knew he was the one. We instantly found ourselves comfortable with each other and my doubts were put to rest.
但一年後,我與一個男人重逢了。高中時代,他迷人的微笑,溫馨的話語一直令我心花怒放。在7月一個溫暖的雨夜,畢業晚會上,我們再次相遇了。驟然間,我覺得自己的心跳停了一拍。不知怎地,我覺得他正是我在等的人。很快我們就十分愜意地相處了,我內心的種種疑惑也煙消雲散。
I will never forget the day when we were sitting in my driveway in his truck, saying our goodbyes after spending the day together. Doug put his hand on my cheeks and in a serious tone, said, "Someday, I am going to marry you." I had no doubt that he was right. Today I share his last name and I couldn't be happier.
我永遠忘不了,那天,在一起呆了一天後,我們倆坐在他的卡車裡道別,卡車就停在我家的車道上,道格用手撫摸我的兩頰,認真地說:“總有一天我會娶你的”我對此確信不疑今天我姓著他的姓,生活十分美滿。
When I think back to Tony, Billy, and the rest of the boys, I smile. If I was able to go back and change a thing, I wouldn't. Each relationship was an essential part of my life, there to teach me a thing or two above. It also taught me that it's okay to be picky' about the people you date. Finding Mr. Right takes patience.
想起託尼,比利,還有相戀過的男孩子,我不禁微笑了假如能讓我重來一遍,改變點什麼,我不願意每一次情感經歷都是我生活中不可或缺的一部分,都曾在愛情問題上或多或少地給我教益它還教育我,與男孩子交往挑剔一點是可取的,找到自己的如意郎君是需要耐心的幾
And I am the proof that good things come to those who wait.
奸事多磨,我就是明證.
3
緣定今生
My father met my mother in a poker game. He said she was the best bluffer he'd ever seen.She sat with 5 men at a table under an elm tree that shaded them from the hot Kansas city sun. Hey talent for subterfuge lay hidden behind her sHect. serene smile. She beat them all. My father couldn't take his eyes off her.
父親是在一次牌局中認識母親的。他說她是他所見過的出牌高手。她和5位男士一桌,頭上遮天蔽日的榆樹,把堪薩斯城火辣辣的太陽擋在了上空。她溫柔而恬靜地微笑著,高超的牌技深藏不露,她贏了他們所有的人。父親的目光定格在她的身上,沒法移開.
It was her company's annual picnic, and he walked her home. The next week, from his home in Chicago. he sent her a post card: Kernembcr me Please do. because be calling you one of these days.-David.
在她公司一年一度的野餐聚會後,他陪她步行回家。緊接著下個星期,父親從芝加哥給她寄了一張明信片:“記得我嗎?千萬別忘r我,最近我會給你電話。大衛。”
She still has that post card am not sure what made her save Though he already had his heart set on her. She hadn't chosen him yet, at least not consciously.
至今她還珍藏著那張明信片,我不懂她為什麼會把它給留下來當時,雖然父親對她已是一則頃心,但她還沒有鍾情於他,至少還未意識到自己對他已經心儀.
As my father often told us while we were growing up, it was blind luck that he was at the picnic that day.A salesman for a big electronics company. he was in town to meet with clients and happened to stop by the branch office that Saturday morning to make some calls. The telephone rang: it was the manager of a local radio station with whom my father had done some busines,. "Dave! Glad you're town!' he said, and invited him to come right over to their annual picnic.
正如父親在我們小時候常說的那樣,那天他會出現在野餐聚會上純屬偶然。當時他是一家大型電子公司的推銷員,到城裡與客戶見面,在週六上午碰巧有兒個電話要打,就順便去了分公司剛一進門,電話鈴就響,是當地的一家電臺的經理打來的,父親同他有討一此業務往來“大衛,你來的正是時候!”他要求父親馬上過去參加他們的年度野餐.
My mother was a writer at that radio ,ration. If my tiithcr hadn't stopped by the office that morning, he told us, or if he'd gotten there two minutes later... we shivered with a delicious horror at the opportunity, the life-our lives- -that would have been missed.
母親是那家電臺的撰稿人,父親說,如果那大上午他沒去公司,或者遲去兩分鐘,那後果呢……我們帶著甜蜜的恐懼為這稍縱即逝的機緣而稀噓不已—果真如此的話,世上就沒我們這幾個孩子了。
My mother saw him when he was in town, but she dated other men, including a car salesman who entered our family lore. Soon after she inet my father, the car salesman gave her a watch for her birthday. In those days the gift of a watch meant the relationship as moving towards an engageement. But she returned the watch, and one night a few months later. she woke her mother and told her she was going to mmry Dave.
此後每逢父親進城,母親都和他見面,但她當時也跟另外幾個男人約會,其中包括我們後來時常提及的汽車經銷商就在母親和父親相遇之後不久,那位汽車經銷商還送給母親一塊手錶作為她的生日禮物那時,手錶常常作定情之物,意味著他們不久將一婚但母親把手錶退回去r.並在幾個月後的晚上,告訴我姥姥,她準備嫁給大衛。
A few months after the wedding. my father was transferred east. They settled in New York, in the house where I grow up.
婚禮後不久,父親調往東部工作井在紐約定居下來,我就是在那兒長大的.
I was eight years old him when l met my fulurr husband. He was in high school,a friend of my brother's. I remember him only peripherally. as I was much more interested in my brother's other friend-Francois, a Swiss exchange student, dark. mysterious and polished.
我8歲的時候就遇見了我未來的丈夫他當時在讀中學,是我哥哥的一位朋友。我對他的印象並不深,因為我對哥哥的另一個朋友更著迷,他是瑞士籍的交換學生,面板黝黑,個性神祕,舉止優雅.
15 years later the man I would eventually many came back to town for Christmas and stopped by my parents' house to pick up my brother for an evening out. When he saw me in the next room, he hissed, "Who is that''"
15年之後,我最終要與之共度一生的男人回城過聖誕節。他順便來我父母家,接我哥哥出去玩通宵,當他看到隔壁房間裡的我時,低聲問道“那是誰?”
My brother looked at him strangely and said. 'It was Lisa.'
我哥哥詫異地他一眼,答道:“那不是朋薩嗎!”
He walked into the roots, reintroduced himself and pretended he didn't know how to wrap his Christmas gifts. 1 pretended to believe and helped. He came around a lot over the next few days. "I don't know who he 's interested in,"my mother told me, "you or your sister." I knew. But later that week I flew across the country to spend New Year's Eve with another man. Though I'd been chosen, I wasn't ready to admit it yet.
他走進房間,重新作了一通自我介紹,並假裝不知道如何包裝他的聖誕禮物,我也不拆穿他,騰出手來幫忙。接著幾犬,他一個勁往我家跑。“我鬧不清他到底是看上了誰,”母親說,“你還是你妹妹。”可我心知肚明。不過在那個星期晚些時候,我飛往西海岸同另一個男孩共度除夕之夜。儘管我未來的丈夫已鍾情於我,但是我還沒有準備應允接受。
If the timing had been different,the distance less daunting and my heart not already--albeit unknowingly--engaged,I could have ended up with that man whom I went off to visit.Or if not him,them with someone else.
如果他不是在聖誕節來訪,我同原先那個朋友又非遠隔關山,而我又非早已心有所屬—雖然我還沒意識到這一點,我就可能嫁給遠方的男友了,即使不是嫁給他,那也一定是另外一個男人.
Sometimes I think about at. How time ,weeps us along and puts us in a certain place where we're faced with one option or another , by chance and by the choice we make,we leave behind whole other live, we could have lived .full of different passions and joys, different problems and disappointments.
有時我琢磨,時間是怎樣把我們攏到一塊,並置我們於某一特定的場合,讓我們面對這樣或那樣的一種選擇,我們放棄了其他很多條我們自己所作的抉擇,我們放棄了其他很多我們可能走的充滿不同激情和歡樂,不同困惑與失意的人生之路。
My father could have missed that picnic. Or my mother could have picked the car salesman She would have had other children and an entirely different future.
我父親本來有可能錯過那次野餐,我母親也有可能選擇那位汽車推銷商做終身伴侶,這樣她就會有另外的孩子和一個完全不同的未來.
Other times--particularly w0hen I came home late to a sleeping house, nay husband and daughter curled around each other after drifting off during the third reading of Jane Yolen's Owl Moon-I thank about the lives we would not have had if chances or choices had brought us to a different place. And I shiver, much the way I did as a child at the story of my father's near miss, at the thought that I might have missed this life, this man, this child, this love.
有些時候,特別是當我夜深晚歸之時,丈夫和女兒已經相擁人眠—他們一定是在第氣次讀簡·約倫的《月下貓頭鷹》時不知不覺人夢的,我就想,要是機緣或選擇讓我們置身別處,我們就不可能擁有眼前的生活r一想到我有可能錯過這一生,這個丈夫,這個孩子,這一份愛,我就心有餘悸,就像小時候聽父親故事那種感覺一樣—父親也是差點兒錯過同母親的姻緣.