中國網(wǎng)站品牌欄目（頻道）
一場不期而至的冬雪把原本平淡無趣的一天變成了其樂融融的“家庭日”，孩子們盡情嬉鬧釋放著純真的天性，大人們享受著雪天帶來的安然靜謐……
By Rosemary Salzman
卓言 選譯
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It snowed. It was a quiet morning when I heard my husband call to the boys, “Rise and Shine[1]!” “So early”, I thought, “Was it really time to get up already?” Philip hit the floor running. He always did: forever looking for what was around the next corner. John,... low gear John...dumped himself out of bed, and with eyes still half closed, slowly maneuvered his way down the hall.[2] Andy, rummaging around in his room, whined, “Oh man... I gotta do my spelling words yet!”[3] As Dad herded this “happy huddle” into the sunny dining room, he slowly turned to the window, “Wow! Look outside! It really snowed last night!”[4] He clicked on the radio and chuckled, “Hum?...I wonder if there will be school today.” It got very quiet as all three scruffy heads swung around toward Dad and the newsworthy clock radio.[5] No School? Could it be? They sat still... Not even breathing... Oh please, please, they silently prayed in unison as the announcer read the long list of school closings. Even the dog had a wistful look of hope on his face as his ears tilted forward in anticipation. Andy sat with eyes closed and fingers double-crossed on each hand. Then, the happiest words on earth! He said it! Schofield... all schools closed! The cheers went up! They yelled with the sheer joy of only the young! Watching from a safe distance, the cat sat with a haughty look on his face, as if to say, “Oh good grief, my peaceful day is shot!” A snow day! A snow day! They came bounding down the hall and onto my bed. Laughing, cheering, and barking as they scrambled around me, just in case I had not heard the fantastic news![6] I thought, “What a transformation! Are these the same slugs that I heard only moments earlier, dragging their half dead carcass’s down the hall and into another grueling day of homework and spelling tests?”[7] I dug my head down deeper into my warm pillow and drew the cozy down comforter closely under my chin. “Ahhhh... A snow day!” You see, I worked for the school district, and had the same schedule as my children! Andy quietly tucked his spelling sheet back into his school bag, John was doing his very own style of the Happy Dance and it would take a very large spatula to scrape Philip off the ceiling! As the kids finally settled down in front of “Captain Kangaroo”[8], I relaxed and slowly began to enjoy this special day. The sun shown like a million diamonds on the gigantic white waves of drifted snow, mimicking[9] the blue-green oceans so far, far away from Central Wisconsin.[10] This was a whole new world to discover. Their large and playful dog led the party of brave scouts, dressed in snow pants, scarves and warm mittens as they began their quest into the sea of white.[11] They were on the way to the discovery of hidden caves and new adventures. I watched from the warm house as they dug and scraped, hauled and carried their way into the side of the largest drift in our Yard of Transformations. Finally they stood back, with the satisfied look of architects and builders on their faces and declared it completed! Suddenly John turned to the window and waved a soggy mitten at me. His face and warm smile an invitation for me to “Come have a look! See what we built!!” This was an offer I just couldn’t pass up[12]. I donned my warmest jacket, hat and mittens, and headed for the back door. The proud proprietors of this icy establishment invited me to “crawl on in!” “Come on Mom, it’s so cool! You’ll love it”, they all chimed[13]! I crawled into this world of boys, dogs and long forgotten memories. We all snuggled together. Their faces, sweaty from hard work, noses running from the cold, the smell of wet wool, combined with a panting 80-pound dog humbled[14] me. This was the world of children. And I was invited in. There was no other place on earth that I would rather have been. It’s a free day! A day disconnected from any other. What a wonderful gift! It lay before us, an invitation to enjoy it fully, happily and without reserve. |
下雪了。那是一個寧靜的清晨，我聽到丈夫?qū)鹤觽兒暗溃骸霸撈鸫不顒永玻 ?/p> “這么早，”我想，“真的已經(jīng)到該起床的時間了嗎？” 菲利普咚咚地在地板上跑著。他一向如此：永遠在找尋下一個角落里藏著什么。約翰……慢半拍的約翰……從床上爬下來，眼睛仍然半閉著，慢吞吞地往客廳挪去。安迪在他的房間里東翻西找，抱怨著：“天哪……我還得做單詞拼寫作業(yè)呢！” 老爸領(lǐng)著這“快樂的一群”孩子走進陽光明媚的餐廳，接著他慢慢地轉(zhuǎn)向窗戶，驚呼著：“哇！快看外面！昨晚真的下雪啦！” 他點開收音機，抿嘴笑著說：“嗯？……不知道今天學(xué)校還上不上課。”三個亂蓬蓬的小腦袋立刻轉(zhuǎn)向老爸和那臺此刻有新聞價值的時鐘收音機，餐廳一時間變得非常安靜。 不上課？這可能嗎？他們安靜地坐著……甚至都不敢喘氣……噢，老天啊，求你了——他們一邊聽著播音員念著停課學(xué)校的一長串名單，一邊共同靜靜地祈禱著。就連狗狗都向前探著耳朵，臉上現(xiàn)出期盼渴望的神情。 安迪閉著雙眼坐著，兩只手的手指交叉在一起。接著，（收音機）里傳來了世界上最令人雀躍的詞！他念到了！斯科菲爾德……所有的學(xué)校都停課了！歡呼聲四起！他們盡情地叫喊著，充滿只有孩子們才有的單純快樂！ 貓咪從安全距離處坐著觀望，臉上帶著一種傲慢的神情，仿佛在說：“噢，真麻煩，我寧靜的一天就這么被毀了！” 一個雪天！雪天！孩子們蹦到廳里，又蹦到我的床上。笑著，歡呼著，爭相恐后地擁向我，向我喊著（這個好消息），好像我剛剛沒聽到這則大新聞一樣！ 我心里想：“這是多大的轉(zhuǎn)變??！不大會兒功夫之前，他們還是慢吞吞的懶蟲，拖著半僵的身體走進客廳，預(yù)備開始又一天繁重的作業(yè)和拼寫測試生活，現(xiàn)在的他們還是剛剛我見到的（那群孩子）嗎？” 我把頭往溫暖的枕頭里又深埋了一些，將舒服的羽絨被緊緊地掖到下巴底下。 “??！雪天！”你瞧，我在學(xué)區(qū)工作，和孩子們的日程安排是一樣的。 安迪悄悄地把自己的拼寫本塞進了書包；約翰正在跳自創(chuàng)的“快樂舞”；菲利普已經(jīng)樂得爬上了房頂，要把他弄下來恐怕需要一把很大的鏟子！ 當孩子們最后終于在電視機里的袋鼠船長面前安定下來之后，我逐漸放松下來，開始慢慢享受這特別的一天。 陽光照在一堆堆巨浪般潔白的積雪上，像一百萬顆鉆石在閃耀，呈現(xiàn)出一番離威斯康星州很遠很遠的藍綠色大海的景象。這是一個等待發(fā)掘的嶄新世界。 那只活潑的大狗帶領(lǐng)著這支勇敢的童子軍走向雪地，孩子們穿著滑雪褲，戴著圍巾和暖和的手套，開始了對這片白色海洋的探索之旅。他們要去發(fā)掘隱藏的洞穴和新的刺激冒險。我在溫暖的房間里看著他們挖著，刨著，運著，在我們煥然一新的院子一側(cè)最大的一個雪堆里鉆進鉆出。最后他們轉(zhuǎn)過身，臉上帶著建筑師的滿足神情，大聲宣布他們完成了作品！ 忽然，約翰轉(zhuǎn)向房間窗戶的方向，向我揮舞著一只浸濕了的手套。他臉上溫暖的笑容似乎是在邀請我“過去看一看，看看我們的作品！”這是我無法拒絕的邀請。 我披上最暖和的大衣，戴上帽子和手套，向后門走去。這座冰制建筑的主人們邀請我“爬進去感受一下”，“媽媽快來，它很酷！你一定會喜歡的，”他們異口同聲地說道。 于是，我爬進了這個男孩們、狗狗和遺逝了回憶的世界。我們依偎在一起。他們因辛勤勞動而滿是汗水的臉，被凍得流著鼻涕的鼻子，浸濕了的毛衫氣味，還有那只氣喘吁吁的80磅重的大狗，這些都讓我充滿幸福的無力感。這是孩子們的世界，我受邀加入。世界上沒有哪個地方能比這兒更讓我想去的了。 自由的一天!不用和別人聯(lián)絡(luò)的一天。這是一份多么不可思議的禮物??！它展現(xiàn)在我們眼前，仿佛是一份邀請，邀請我們盡情地、快樂地、毫無保留地享用這一切。 （來源：英語學(xué)習(xí)雜志） |
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Vocabulary: 1. shine:〈俚〉騷動，吵鬧。 2. dump: 猛地扔下，沉重地放下；maneuver: 設(shè)法使變動位置。 3. rummage: 翻找，仔細查找；whine: 嘀咕著說，發(fā)牢騷。 4. herd: 使集在一起，帶領(lǐng)并照看；huddle: 雜亂的一團（一群）。 5. scruffy: 不整潔的，邋遢的；swing around: 突然轉(zhuǎn)身，轉(zhuǎn)向。 6. bark：（不斷）大聲叫喊；scramble: 爬，（亂糟糟）地爭搶。 7. slug: 行動緩慢的人，懶漢；carcass:〈口〉〈謔〉（人的）身軀，軀殼；grueling: 累垮人的。 8. Captain Kangaroo: 美國一檔有名的兒童節(jié)目里的主持人“袋鼠船長”，該節(jié)目已停播。 9. mimic: （在形狀、顏色等方面）酷似。 10. drifted: 堆積的，積聚的；Wisconsin: 威斯康星州，美國北部中偏西的一州，是本文作者的居住地，遠離海岸。 11. mittens: 連指手套，獨指手套；quest: 探求，探險。 12. pass up: 拒絕，放棄（機會等）。 13. chime: 抑揚頓挫地說，單調(diào)重復(fù)地說。 14. humble: v. 消滅……的力量（或銳氣），感到自慚。 |
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