經典親情英語散文

　　英語散文以優美的語言、流暢的句子、生動的描述,給人以美的享受,滿足人類心靈的要求,具有很高的審美屬性。下面小編為大家帶來，歡迎大家閱讀!

　　：我與媽媽有個約會

　　After 21 years of marriage, I discovered a new way of keeping alive the spark of love. I started to go out with another woman. It was really my wife’s idea.

　　“I know that you love her,” she said one day, taking me by surprise. “But I love YOU,” I protested. “I know, but you also love her.”

　　The other woman that my wife wanted me to visit was my mother, who has been a widow for 19 years, but the demands of my work and my three children had made it possible to visit her only occasionally. That night I called to invite her to go out for dinner and a movie. “What’s wrong, are you well?” she asked. My mother is the type of woman who suspects that a late night call or a surprise invitation is a sign of bad news. “I thought that it would be pleasant to pass some time with you,” I responded. “Just the two of us.” She thought about it for a moment, then said, “I would like that very much.”

　　That Friday after work, as I drove over to pick her up I was a bit nervous. When I arrived at her house, I noticed that she, too, seemed to be nervous about our date. She waited in the door with her coat on. She had curled her hair and was wearing the dress that she had worn to celebrate her last wedding anniversary. She smiled from a face that was as radiant as an angel’s. “I told my friends that I was going to go out with my son, and they were impressed,” she said, as she got into the car. “They can’t wait to hear about our meeting.”

　　We went to a restaurant that, although not elegant, was very nice and cozy. My mother took my arm as if she were the First Lady. After we sat down, I had to read the menu. Her eyes could only read large print. Half way through the entries, I lifted my eyes and saw Mom sitting there staring at me. A nostalgic smile was on her lips. “It was I who used to have to read the menu when you were small,” she said. “Then it’s time that you relax and let me return the favor,” I responded.

　　During the dinner we had an agreeable conversation — nothing extraordinary — but catching up on recent events of each other’s life. We talked so much that we missed the movie. As we arrived at her house later, she said, “I’ll go out with you again, but only if you let me invite you.” I agreed.“How was your dinner date?” asked my wife when I got home. “Very nice. Much more so than I could have imagined,” I answered.

　　A few days later my mother died of a massive heart attack. It happened so suddenly that I didn’t have a chance to do anything for her. At that moment I understood the importance of saying in time: “I LOVE YOU” and to give our loved ones the time that they deserve. Nothing in life is more important than your family. Give them the time they deserve, because these things cannot be put off till “some other time”.

　　結婚21年後，我發現了保持愛之火花的一種新方法。我開始與另一個女人出去約會。其實這還是我妻子的主意呢。

　　“我知道你愛她，”有一天她對我說，這令我感到驚奇。“但我也愛你，”我宣告。“我知道，不過，你也愛她。”

　　我妻子想讓我去拜訪的另一個女人就是我的媽媽，她守寡19年了，但由於我的工作需要以及有三個孩子要撫養，我很少有機會去看望她。那天晚上，我打電話約她吃飯看電影。“出什麼事了?你還好吧?”她問。我媽媽是那種認為深夜電話或出其不意的邀請代表壞訊息徵兆的女人。“我覺得與您共度一段時間將是一件愉快的事，”我這樣回答。“就我們兩個人。”她想了一想，便說：“其實我很想這樣。”

　　於是週五下班後，我開車去接她。我有點兒不安。到了她的住所，我注意到，她對我們的約會好像也有些緊張。她穿著外套在門口等我。她將頭髮盤了起來，並且穿著最後一次結婚紀念日那天穿的套裝，天使般容光煥發的臉上帶著笑容。“我告訴朋友們我要跟兒子出去約會，他們都很感動，”上車時她對我說。“他們急迫地想了解我們約會的情況。”

　　我們去了一家雖不是一流卻很優雅舒適的飯店。媽媽挽著我的手臂，宛如第一夫人。我們坐下後，我開始看選單。她的眼睛現在只能看清一些大字。透過條目的縫隙，我抬眼看到媽媽正坐在那兒盯著我，嘴上帶著懷舊的笑容。“你小的時候，都是我看選單，”她說。“現在輪到您休息了，該我回報您了，”我答道。

　　吃飯的時候，我們談得很愉快——也沒什麼特別的事——只是簡單描述一下彼此生活中最近發生的事。我們談得太盡興以至錯過了看電影。當我送她回到家時，她說：“我會再跟你出去約會，但必須是我邀請你。”我同意了。

　　“飯吃得怎麼樣啊?”回到家時我妻子問。“非常好。比我想象中要好得多。”我回答。

　　幾天後，媽媽由於嚴重的心臟病發作去世了。發生的如此突然以至我沒有機會為她做任何事。那一刻，我明白了及時說出“我愛你”以及給予我們所愛的人他們應該得到的時間的重要性。生命中沒有什麼比你的家庭更重要。多花些時間陪陪你的家人，因為這些事情不能被推遲到“改天”。

　　：與父共舞

　　I am dancing with my father at my parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary. The band is playing an old-fashioned waltz as we move gracefully across the floor. His hand on my waist is as guiding as it always was, and he hums the tune to himself in a steady, youthful way. Around and around we go, laughing and nodding to the other dancers. We are the best dancers on the floor, they tell us. My father squeezes my hand and smiles at me.

　　As we continue to dip and sway, I remember a time when I was almost three, and my father came home from work, swooped me into his arms and began to dance me around the table. My mother laughed at us, told us dinner would get cold. But my father said, “She’s just caught the rhythm of the dance! Dinner can wait!” And then he sang out “Roll out the barrel, let’s have a barrel of fun,” and I sang back, “Let’s get those blues on the run.” That night he taught me to polka, waltz and do the fox trot while dinner waited.

　　We danced through the years. When I was five, my father taught me to “shuffle off to Buffalo”. Later we won a dance contest at a Campfire Girls Round-Up. Then we learned to jitterbug at the USO place downtown. Once my father caught on to the steps, he danced with everyone in the hall — the women passing out doughnuts, even the GI’s. We all laughed and clapped our hands for my father, the dancer.

　　One night when I was fifteen, lost in some painful, adolescent mood, my father put on a stack of records and teased me to dance with him. “C’mon,” he said, “let’s get those blues on the run.” I turned away from him and hugged my pain closer than before. My father put his hand on my shoulder, and I jumped out of the chair screaming, “Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me! I am sick and tired of dancing with you!” The hurt on his face did not escape me, but the words were out, and I could not call them back. I ran to my room sobbing hysterically.

　　We did not dance together after that night. I found other partners, and my father waited up for me after dances, sitting in his favorite chair, clad in his flannel pajamas. Sometimes he would be asleep when I came in, and I would wake him saying, “If you were so tired, you should have gone to bed.”

　　“No, no,” he’d say. “I was just waiting for you.”

　　Then we’d lock up the house and go to bed.

　　My father waited up for me all through my high school and college years while I danced my way out of his life.

　　One night, shortly after my first child was born, my mother called to tell me my father was ill. “A heart problem,” she said. “Now, don’t come. Three hundred miles. It would upset your father. We will just have to wait. I’ll let you know.”

　　My father’s tests showed some stress, but a proper diet restored him to good health. Little things, then, for a while. A disc problem in the back, more heart trouble, a lens implant for cataracts. But the dancing did not stop. My mother wrote that they had joined a dance club. “You remember how your father loves to dance.”

　　Yes, I remember. My eyes filled up with remembering.

　　When my father retired, we mended our way back together again; hugs and kisses were common when we visited each other. But my father did not ask me to dance. He danced with the grandchildren; my daughters knew how to waltz before they could read.

　　“One, two, three and one, two, three,” my father would count out, “won’t you come and waltz with me?” Sometimes my heart would ache to have him say those words to me. But I knew my father was waiting for an apology from me, and I could never find the right words.

　　As the time for my parents’ fiftieth anniversary approached, my brothers and I met to plan the party. My older brother said, “Do you remember that night you wouldn’t dance with him? Boy, was he mad! I couldn’t believe he’d get so mad about a thing like that. I’ll bet you haven’t danced with him since.”

　　I did not tell him he was right.

　　My younger brother promised to get the band.

　　“Make sure they can play waltzes and polkas,” I told him.

　　“Dad can dance to anything,” he said. “Don’t you want to get down, get funky?” I did not tell him that all I wanted to do was dance once more with my father.

　　When the band began to play after dinner, my parents took the floor. They glided around the room, inviting the others to join them. The guests rose to their feet, applauding the golden couple. My father danced with his granddaughters and then the band began to play the “Beer Barrel Polka.”

　　“Roll out the barrel,” I heard my father sing. Then I knew it was time. I knew the words I must say to my father before he would dance with me once more. I wound my way through a few couples and tapped my daughter on the shoulder.

　　“Excuse me,” I said, almost choking on my words, “but I believe this is my dance.”

　　My father stood rooted to the spot. Our eyes met and traveled back to that night when I was fifteen. In a trembling voice, I sang, “Let’s get those blues on the run.”

　　My father bowed and said, “Oh, yes. I’ve been waiting for you.”

　　Then he started to laugh, and we moved into each other’s arms, pausing for a moment so we could catch once more the rhythm of the dance.

　　在父母五十週年結婚紀念日那天我與父親跳舞了。樂隊演奏著舊式的華爾茲，我們在地板上優美地滑動著。他的手環著我的腰，像以往一樣指引著我，平和而又充滿活力地哼著調子。我們跳了一圈又一圈，不時地向其他舞者笑著點頭致意。他們說我們是舞場中最優秀的舞者。父親握著我的手，露出了微笑。

　　我們繼續著舞步，這時我想起在我三歲那年，父親下班回家，一把將我摟在懷裡，圍著桌子開始跳舞。母親笑著說，飯都要涼了。但父親卻說：“她剛好跟上舞蹈的節奏，飯可以等會再吃。”然後，他開始哼唱：“Roll out the barrel, let's have a barrel of fun。”我就唱道：“Let's get those blues on the run。”那天晚上，他教我跳波爾卡、華爾茲，還教我跳狐步舞。那晚我們連飯都沒吃。

　　我們每天都要跳舞。在我五歲時，父親教我跳shuffle off to Buffalo。後來，我們在露營少女團夏令營中，贏得了舞蹈比賽的冠軍。我們還去美國勞軍聯合組織所在的地方表演吉特巴舞。每次父親進入舞池之後，都會與所有的人跳舞，與在場的女士們旋轉，甚至還有士兵。我們都為父親歡呼、鼓掌，因為他是一個真正的舞者。

　　我十五歲那年的一個晚上，或許由於青春期的多愁善感，我非常悲傷。父親拿出一堆唱片，非要我跟他跳舞。“來吧，”他說，“Let's get those blues on the run。”我沒理他，獨自承受著自己的痛苦。他走過來把手放在我的肩上。我跳下椅子，對他吼道：“別碰我!別碰我!我討厭和你跳舞!”我看到了他臉上受傷的表情，但話已出口，我無法收回。我痛哭著跑回了房間。

　　從那之後，我再也沒和父親跳過舞。我有了其他舞伴，而父親總是會穿著法蘭絨睡衣，坐在自己最喜歡的椅子上，等我回家。有時當我回來，他已經睡著了。我便把他叫醒，告訴他：“既然你這麼累，就該早點去睡覺。”

　　他總是會說：“不，沒有。我在等你呢。”

　　然後，我們就鎖上房門，各自去睡了。

　　在我上高中和大學的幾年裡，每次我出去跳舞，父親都會一直等我回家。

　　在我的第一個孩子出生不久的一個晚上，母親打電話告訴我說父親病了：“是心臟的問題。現在不要過來，三百英里太遠了，你父親會生氣的。等等吧，有了結果我會告訴你。”

　　父親的檢查顯示他壓力有些過重，不過合理的飲食使他恢復了健康。只是暫時的小毛病。背部椎間盤問題，心臟問題，白內障晶體移植。但是他從未停止跳舞。母親寫信說他們參加了一個舞蹈俱樂部。“你還記得你父親多麼喜歡跳舞嗎?”

　　是的，我記得。我的眼中充滿了對過去的回憶。

　　父親退休之後，我們又聚在了一起。每次見面，我們都要相互擁抱，親吻。但是父親從未讓我陪他跳舞。他和外孫女們跳舞。我的女兒們還不識字就知道怎麼跳華爾茲。

　　“一、二、三，一、二、三，”父親總是數著舞步。“能來和我跳支華爾茲嗎?”每次我希望父親對我說出這句話的時候，心裡都會感到陣痛。但是我知道父親在等我的道歉，而我總是很難找到恰當的語言。

　　而隨著父母結婚五十週年紀念日的到來，我的兄弟和我計劃為他們舉辦一次舞會。我哥哥說：“還記得你拒絕陪他跳舞的那個晚上嗎?天哪，他簡直瘋了。真不敢相信他為了此事竟如此傷心。從那以後，你肯定沒和他跳過舞吧。”

　　我沒有回答，但他說得沒錯。

　　弟弟說他能夠搞定一支樂隊。