1、1.Going Home 回家I first heard this story a few years ago from a girl I had met in New Yorks Greenwich Village. Probably the story is one of those mysterious bits of folklore that reappear every few years, to be told a new in one form or another. However, I still like to think that it really did happe
2、n, somewhere, sometime. 几年前我在纽约的格林尼治村从一位遇到的姑娘那儿第一次听到这个故事。它也许是那种隔几年就会改头换面地被重新传播一次的神奇的民间传说。然而我仍然愿意想象它是个某地某时真正发生过的事。They were going to Fort Lauderdale, three boys and three girls and when they boarded the bus, they were carrying sandwiches and wine in paper bags, dreaming of golden beaches as the gray
3、cold of New York vanished behind them.三个男孩和三个女孩带着纸袋装的三明治与葡萄酒,登车前往佛罗里达的劳德达拉要塞。他们向往着金色的海滩,将灰蒙蒙的寒冷的纽约甩在了身后。 As the bus passed through New Jersey, they began to notice Vingo. He sat in front of them, dressed in a plain, ill-fitting suit, never moving, his dusty face masking his age. He kept chewing the
4、inside of his lip a lot, frozen into some personal cocoon of silence. 当他们穿过新泽西州时,坐在前排的一个叫温格的男人引起他们的注意。他穿着一套不起眼亦很不合身的衣服,一动不动,满脸灰尘掩盖了他的年龄,他不停地咬着下嘴唇,陷入沉思中。Deep into the night, outside Washington, the bus pulled into Howard Johnsons, and everybody got off except Vingo. He sat rooted in his seat, and the
5、 young people began to wonder about him, trying to imagine his life: perhaps he was a sea captain, a runaway from his wife, an old soldier going home. When they went back to the bus, one of the girls sat beside him and introduced herself.夜深了,汽车停在华盛顿郊外的霍华德约翰逊连锁餐馆,除了温格,其他人都下了车,他仍一丝不动地坐在那里。他引起这班年轻人的猜想:
6、也许他是个船长,也许是从家出走的,或者是一个归家的老兵。当他们又回到车上时,他们中的一个女孩坐到温格的身边,并向他作了自我介绍。”Were going to Florida,” she said brightly.” I hear its really beautiful.”我们都是去佛罗里达的,”那个女孩轻快地说。”我听说那里很美。”It is, “ he said quietly, as if remembering something he had tried to forget.”是的,”他静静地回答道,他似乎记起了过去曾试图忘却的往事。”Want some wine?” she sa
7、id. He smiled and took a swig. He thanked her and retreated again into his silence. After a while, she went back to the others, and Vingo nodded in sleep.”来点葡萄酒吧?”那个女孩说。他微笑着喝了一大口,说声谢谢后又回到他的沉默中。后来她回到那班人中,温格则低着头睡着了。In the morning, they awoke outside another Howard Johnsons, and this time Vingo went in
8、. The girl insisted that he join them. He seemed very shy, and ordered black coffee and smoked nervously as the young people chattered about sleeping on beaches. When they returned to the bus, the girl sat with Vingo again, and after a while, slowly and painfully, he told his story. He had been in j
9、ail in New York for the past four years, and now he was going home.早上,他们醒来时汽车停在另一个约翰逊连锁餐馆前,这回温格也进去了。那个女孩极力邀请他参加他们的团体。但他看起来很腼腆,当那班年轻人谈论着在海滨该怎么过夜时,他则独自一人呆在一边喝黑咖啡,还不停地抽烟,显得有些局促不安。当他们回到车上时,那个女孩又坐到他身边,过了一会儿,温格才缓慢而且痛楚地诉说起他的经历。他在纽约的监狱里呆了四年,现在他假释回家了。”Are you married?”你结婚了吗?”I dont know.”我不知道。”You dont know?
10、” she said.”你不知道?”那女孩很奇怪。”Well, when I was in jail I wrote to my wife,” he said. “I told her that I was going to be away a long time, and that if she couldnt stand it, if the kids kept asking questions, if it hurt too much, well, she could just forget me, Id understand. Get a new guy, I said shes a
11、wonderful woman. I told her she didnt have to write me for nothing. And she didnt, Not for three and a half years.”是这样,我在狱中时曾给我妻子写过一封信”他说,”告诉她我要离开很长一段时间,如果她忍受不了,如果孩子不断追问,如果这使她非常痛苦,那么她可以忘了我,我会理解的。我叫她重新嫁人,我知道她是个很不错的女人,真的不一般。我让她忘了我,我让她别给我写回信,因为这没有用,她也真没回信,我已有三年半没有她的音信了。”And youre going home now, not kn
12、owing?”那么你就这样盲目地回家去?”Yeah,” he said shyly. “Well, last week, when I was sure the parole was coming through, I wrote her again. We used to live in Brunswick, and theres a big oak tree just as you come into town. I told her that if shed take me back, she should put a yellow handkerchief on the tree, a
13、nd Id get off and come home. If she didnt want me, forget it, no handkerchief, and Id go on through.”也不是,”他略带腼腆地说:”上周当我确知假释得到批准时,我又给她写过一封信。过去我们住在布伦斯威克,就在杰克逊维尔前面,在进城去的路上有一棵高大的橡树。我告诉她,如果她愿意我回来就在树上挂一方黄手帕,我就下车回家。如果她不要我就忘掉这件事,看不见手帕,我也就不下车了。”Wow,” the girl exclaimed. “Wow.”噢,是吗?”那个女孩惊讶极了。She told the othe
14、rs, and soon all of them were in it, caught up in the approach of Brunswick, looking at the pictures Vingo showed them of his wife and three children. The woman was handsome in a plain way, the children still unformed in the much-handled snapshot.她把这事告诉了同伴们,于是他们都盼着快点到伦斯威克。温格又给他们看了一张他妻子与三个孩子的照片。这是一张被
15、摸旧了的照片:一个面容端庄的妇女与三个年岁还小的孩子。Now they were 20 miles from Brunswick, and the young people took over window seats on the right side, waiting for the approach of the great oak tree. The bus acquired a dark, hushed mood, full of the silence of absence and lost years. Vingo stopped looking, tightening his
16、face into the ex-cons mask, as if fortifying himself against still another disappointment.现在他们离布伦斯威克只有20英里了,那班年轻人占据了车右边靠窗的座位,等待着那棵橡树的出现。汽车里一片阴暗和肃静。充满着所失去的岁月的沉重的气氛。温格则低下头,一副囚犯们所特有的绷紧的面容,不敢往外看,好象是防备着又一次失望的打击。Then Brunswick was ten miles, and then five. Then, suddenly, all of the young people were up o
17、ut of their seats, screaming and shouting and crying, doing small dances of joy. All except Vingo.离布伦斯威克只有十英里了,五英里了,突然,那班年轻人全都叫着从座位上跳了起来,高兴得手舞足蹈,只有温格例外。Vingo sat there stunned, looking at the oak tree. It was covered with yellow handkerchiefs, 20 of them, and 30 of them, maybe hundreds, and a tree t
18、hat stood like a banner of welcome billowing in the wind. As the young people shouted, the old con rose and made his way to the front of the bus and going home.温格目瞪口呆地坐在那儿,望着窗外的橡树,那上面挂满了黄手帕。20块,30块,也许有好几百块,这棵树站在那儿,就象一面欢迎的大旗,在风中飘扬。在年轻人的叫喊声中,那个往日的囚徒站起来,走到车门前,然后向家走去。2 .人生如河流Whether sixty or sixteen, th
19、ere is in every human beings heart the lure of wonders, the unfailing childlike appetite of whats next and the joy of the game of living. In the center of your heart and my heart there is a wireless station: so long as it receives messages of beauty, hope, cheer, courage and power from men and from
20、the infinite, so long are you young.无论是60岁还是16岁,你需要保持永不衰竭的好奇心、永不熄灭的孩提般求知的渴望和追求事业成功的欢乐与热情。在你我的心底,有一座无线电台,它能在多长时间里接收到人间万物传递来的美好、希望、欢乐、鼓舞和力量的信息,你就会年轻多长时间。An individual human existence should be like a riversmall at first, narrowly contained within its banks, and rushing passionately past boulders and o
21、ver waterfalls. Gradually the river grows wider, the banks recede, the waters flow more quietly, and in the end, without any visible break, they become merged in the sea, and painlessly lose their individual being.人的生命应当像河流,开始是涓涓细流,受两岸的限制而十分狭窄,尔后奔腾咆哮,翻过危岩,飞越瀑布,河面渐渐开阔,河岸也随之向两边隐去,最后水流平缓,森森无际,汇入大海之中,个人
22、就这样毫无痛苦地消失了。3 .Eyes can speak-眼睛会说话Much meaning can be conveyed, clearly, with our eyes, so it is often said that eyes can speak.我们的眼睛能准确地传达一些信息,所以人们常说,眼睛会说话。Do you have such kind of experience? In a bus you may look at stranger, but not too long. And if he is sensing that he is being stared at, he
23、may feel uncomfortable.你有过类似的体验吗?在公共汽车上,你可能会看着一个陌生人,但时间不会太长。而且,如果他能感觉到有人盯着他,会觉得浑身不自在。The same in daily life .If you are looked at for more than necessary, you will look at yourself up and down, to see if there is anything wrong with you. If nothing goes wrong, you will feel angry toward others stare
24、 with you that way. Eyes do speak, right?日常生活中亦如此。如果别人一直盯着你看,你就会不由自主地审视自己,看看是不是有什么地方弄错了。如果一切正常,你就会对别人的这种盯梢很气愤。眼睛确实能说话,不是吗?Looking too long at someone may seem to be rude and aggressive. But things are different when it comes to stare at the opposite sex. If a man glances at a woman for more than 10
25、seconds and refuses to avert his gaze, his intentions are obvious, that is, he wishes to attract her attention, to make her understand that he is admiring her.过久的盯着别人看会给人一种粗鲁和侵犯的感觉。但异性之间的凝视就不同了。如果一个男人盯着一个女人超过10秒钟,还不想挪开视线的话,他的意思就十分明显了,他想引起她的注意,想让她知道他爱慕她。However, the normal eye contact for two people
26、engaged in conversation is that the speaker will only look at the listener from time to time, in order to make sure that the listener does pay attention to what the former is speaking, to tell him that he is attentive.正常情况下,两人交谈时,目光接触能传达这样的意思:说者偶尔看看听者,以此确认听着是否在认真倾听。而对于听者来说,他会一直看着说话的人,以此告诉他,自己正专心致志的听
27、着。If a speaker looks at you continuously when speaking, as if he tries to dominate you, you will feel disconcerted. A poor liar usually exposes himself by looking too long at the victim, since he believes in the false idea that to look straight in the eye is a sign of honest communication. Quite the
28、 contrary.假如与你说话的那个人直直的盯着你,好像要镇住你似的,你便会感到惶恐不安。一般地,说谎者往往就是看别人的时间过长,而令人起疑。因为他们以为直视别人的眼睛是诚实沟通的表现,结果恰恰相反。In fact, continuous eye contact is confined to lovers only, who will enjoy looking at each other tenderly for a long time, to show affection that words cannot express.实际上,长时间的相互凝视仅适合情人之间,他们喜欢温柔的对视,用目
29、光来传达言语无法表达的爱意。Evidently, eye contact should be done according to the relationship between two people and the specific situation.显然,目光交流应该根据双方的关系和特定场合来进行。4 .The Joy of Living 生活的乐趣Joy in living comes from having fine emotions, trusting them, giving them the freedom of a bird in the open. Joy in livin
30、g can never be assumed as a pose, or put on from the outside as a mask. People who have this joy don not need to talk about it; they radiate it. They just live out their joy and let it splash its sunlight and glow into other lives as naturally as bird sings.生活之乐趣来源于良好的情绪,信赖这些情绪,并任由它们如同鸟儿高翔于天空般地自由自在。
31、生活的乐趣是无法靠姿态摆出来的,也无法用戴上一张面具来伪装。 拥有这种乐趣的人们无需挂在嘴边,他们自然会焕发出快乐的气息。他们自己生活在快乐当中,也将这样的快乐自然而然地感染着他人,犹如是鸟儿就必将歌唱。We can never get it by working for it directly. It comes, like happiness, to those who are aiming at something higher. It is a byproduct of great, simple living. The joy of living comes from what we put into living, not from what we seek to get from it.直接追求生活的乐趣却只会使乐趣远离我们,它与幸福一样青睐胸有大志的人们。生活过得高雅、简单便会产生出乐趣。它是我们对生活的投入,而非所求。