英語散文名篇欣賞:林中漫步(下)
英語散文名篇欣賞:林中漫步(下)
The letters on one side were indistinct, but on the other an 'R' was clearly visible with what looked like an 'I' after it. "Some budding romance?" I asked, "did you know who they were?"
"Oh yes, I knew them", said Mary Smith, "it says RH loves MS."
心一邊的字母已無法辨認(rèn)了,但在另一邊,字母“R”清晰可見,后面還有個(gè)像是“I”的字母。“初戀羅曼史?”我問道,“你知道他們是誰嗎?”
“唔,我知道。”瑪麗·史密斯說,“寫的是‘RH愛MS’。
I realised that I could be getting out of my depth, and longed to be in my office, away from here and this old lady, snug, and with a mug of tea in my hand.
She went on, "He had a penknife with a spike for getting stones from a horse's hoof, and I helped him to carve my initials. We were very much in love, but he was going away, and could not tell me what he was involved in the army. I had guessed of course. It was the last evening we ever spent together,because he went away the next day, back to his Unit."
我意識到我可能涉入太深了,真希望自己身在辦公室,遠(yuǎn)離這個(gè)地方和這個(gè)老年女士,手里還端著杯茶,舒舒服服地。
她繼續(xù)講下去:“他拿著一把袖珍折刀,折刀上嵌有長釘,那種長釘可以用來挖出夾在馬蹄上的石塊,我們一起刻了我名字的第一個(gè)字母。我們深深相愛,但他卻要離開了,而且不知道他將在軍隊(duì)里干什么。當(dāng)然我也曾猜想過。那是我們在一起的最后一個(gè)夜晚,因?yàn)樗诙炀突夭筷?duì)去了。
Mary Smith was quiet for a while, then she sobbed. "His mother showed me the telegram. 'Sergeant R Holmes ... Killed in action in the invasion of France.'
"'I had hoped that you and Robin would one day get married,' she said, He was my only child, and I would have loved to be a Granny, they would have been such lovely babies' - she was like that!
瑪麗·史密斯停了一會兒,接著抽泣起來。“他母親給我看了那封電報(bào)。‘R?荷爾姆斯軍士……在解放法國的戰(zhàn)役中犧牲。’“
我本來希望你和羅賓會結(jié)婚的。’她母親說,‘我只有他一個(gè)孩子,我本希望能做祖母,有非常可愛的小寶寶。’——她真是那么說的!
"Two years later she too was dead. 'Pneumonia, following a chill on the chest' was what the doctor said, but I think it was an old fashioned broken heart. A child would have helped both of us."
There was a further pause. Mary Smith gently caressed the wounded tree, just as she would have caressed him. "And now they want to take our tree away from me."
“兩年后她也去世了。醫(yī)生說是‘肺炎,胸部著涼造成的’,但我認(rèn)為這是典型的傷心過度。如果有個(gè)孩子那我們倆就都不會這樣了。”
瑪麗·史密斯又停了會兒沒說話。她輕柔地?fù)崦强每踢^的樹,就像她曾經(jīng)撫摸他一樣。“現(xiàn)在他們想把我們的樹奪走。”
Another quiet sob, then she turned to me. "I was young and pretty then, I could have had anybody, I wasn't always the old woman you see here now. I had everything I wanted in life, a lovely man, health and a future to look forwards to."
She paused again and looked around. The breeze gently moved through the leaves with a sighing sound. "There were others, of course, but not a patch on my Robin!" she said strongly. "
她又輕輕地抽噎了一下,然后她轉(zhuǎn)過身來對著我。“當(dāng)時(shí)我年輕漂亮,我愛嫁給誰都可以,我當(dāng)時(shí)可不是現(xiàn)在這么老的。我擁有生命里所要的一切,一個(gè)值得愛的男人、健康的身體和充滿夢想的未來。”
她頓了頓,朝四周看了一眼。微風(fēng)輕輕吹拂著樹葉,發(fā)出嘆息般的沙沙聲。“當(dāng)然, 那時(shí)還有其他人,但他們連羅賓的一絲一毫都比不上!”她肯定地說。
And now I have nothing - except the memories this tree holds.
If only I could get my hands on that awful man who writes in the paper about the value of the road they are going to build where we are standing now, I would kill him.
“現(xiàn)在我一無所有——只剩下殘留在這棵樹上的記憶。
那個(gè)可惡的家伙竟建議把路修在我們所站的這個(gè)地方,我真希望掐死他。
Has he never loved, has he never lived, does he not know anything about memories? We were not the only ones, you know, I still meet some who came here as Robin and I did. Yes, I would tell him!"
I turned away, sick at heart.
我會對他說:你從沒愛過嗎,你活過嗎,你從不知道什么叫記憶嗎?你知道,不僅僅是我們,現(xiàn)在我仍能看見些男男女女像當(dāng)年的我和羅賓那樣到這兒來。是的,我一定要對他說!”
我轉(zhuǎn)過身去,心里感到很難過。