A Touch of Heaven　天堂的觸摸

A Touch of Heaven　天堂的觸摸

◎ Tim Reynolds

It had been a very disheartening day. The doctors had given us the worst of news. Our daughter, who had just completed her first brain surgery to remove a tumor and was going through radiation treatments, was now officially given a two percent chance of survival as this type of cancer had no cure.

這是一個相當令人沮喪的一天。醫(yī)生剛剛帶給我們一個最壞的消息。我們的女兒，她剛剛結束她的首次大腦腫瘤切除手術，目前正處于放療期，而現在正式宣布只有百分之二十的存活率，因為這種類型的癌癥已經沒法治愈了。

My wife and I decided to take our daughter to lunch before continuing our afternoon conversations. We went to a local restaurant where we sat in silence waiting for the waitress. Our daughter Molly wouldn’t hear of such sadness or silence so she played happily with crayons and paper while we sat and stared at the floor.

在繼續(xù)我們下午的會談之前，我和妻子決定先帶女兒去吃午飯。我們去了當地一家餐館，安靜地坐在那兒等著服務員。我們的女兒莫莉不愿意氣氛這么悲傷或沉默，于是當我們坐在那兒盯著地板時，她很開心地用蠟筆在紙上涂鴉。

I noticed a very elderly couple sitting a few booths away, they too in silence never speaking a word. I couldn’t help but wonder what challenges they had faced in their life and if they ever faced such terrible news about a child of theirs.

我注意到有一對老夫婦坐在不遠處，他們也處于沉默之中，從頭到尾沒說一句話。我不禁想知道他們的生活面臨著怎樣的挑戰(zhàn)，是否也曾在他們孩子身上發(fā)生過這種可怕的事情。

We eventually ordered our lunch and still sitting in silence we ate what we could. At some point I became intrigued by the old couple and I watched them more intently with each passing minute. I thought to myself that they hadn’t yet spoken to each other and I wondered if it was the peace they were enjoying or the food or maybe both. However, at some point I lost interest and put my focus back on my lunch.

最后，我們點的午飯送來了，然后依舊默默無語地坐著，把能吃的通通都吃了。在某些方面，我開始變得感興趣——每過一分鐘，我就更專心地看著那對老夫婦。我暗自想，他們還沒有開口說話，這到底是他們喜歡的一種和平寧靜，還是在享受食物，或者是兩者兼而有之。然而，在另一方面，我卻失去了興趣，然后把我的注意力重新轉回到午餐上。

Molly was still talking away and enjoying her meal and her mom and I both listened and tried to be happy in her presence but it wasn’t going very well. All of a sudden I saw this hand come out of nowhere. It was huge and I could tell that it had been afflicted with arthritis. The knuckles were swollen and the fingers were crooked and off center. I couldn’t take my eyes of that hand. The hand drifted down and landed on my daughter’s tiny six year old hand and as it did I looked up; it was the old woman who had been sitting with the old man in silence eating their lunch.

莫莉仍舊在不停地說話，享受著她的午餐，而我和她媽媽在一旁聽著，想要在她面前表現出快樂，但我們做得不太好。突然，我看到一只手不斷地在我面前顯現。這只手極大，我可以看得出來，它已經患了關節(jié)炎。手指關節(jié)腫脹，指頭從中間部分已經開始扭曲變形。我不能將我的目光從那只手上移開。手從我眼前落下來，落在我6歲的小小女兒的手上，我抬頭一看，它正是剛剛一直在寂靜中吃飯的那個老女人的手。

I looked into her eyes and she spoke, but not to me. She looked at my daughter and simply whispered, “If I could do more for you I would.” And then she smiled and moved away to join her husband who had moved towards the door.

我望著她的眼睛，然后她開口說話了，不過并不是對我說的。她看著我的女兒，低聲說了一句：“如果我能為你做得更多，我會的。”然后她笑了笑，同她正朝門口走去的丈夫一起離開了。

I heard a “Hey look, a whole dollar.” Molly spoke with excitement as she discovered that the old lady had placed a crumpled one dollar bill on the back of her hand. I looked down and saw the dollar bill and quickly realized that it had been left behind by the old lady. I looked up to thank her, but she was gone. I sat stunned, not sure what had just happened and then I looked over at my wife. In almost unison, we broke out into a smile. The sadness of the day had been wiped out by the crippled hand and generous touch of an old lady.

我聽見了一聲“嘿，看哪，一張美元”。莫莉興奮地說，她發(fā)現老婦人在她的手背上留下了一張皺巴巴的美元鈔票。我低頭一看，看見這張鈔票，馬上就意識到是那位老婦人留下的。我抬起頭來想要感謝她，但她已經走遠了。我呆坐下來，不知道發(fā)生了什么，然后與妻子互相看了看。幾乎是同時，我們倆撲哧一聲笑了出來。這一天的悲傷，被那位慷慨的老婦人那枯皺的手通通消滅了。

The dollar, although exciting to Molly, was not what made us smile or begin to feel differently, it was the offer from an old lady who felt our hurt and our suffering. The crippled hand symbolized a healing touch and made us realize that we did not have to fight this battle alone; that others cared and wanted to help. We felt up-lifted and soon our day filled with more happy thoughts as we spent the rest of our lunch planning the next day at home with fun filled activities for everyone.

這美元，盡管讓莫莉興奮無比，但我們之所以會有了不一樣的感覺并且會笑起來，并不是它的原因。而是因為有一位老婦人感覺到了我們的悲傷和痛苦。這只殘廢的手象征著一個療傷之觸，讓我們意識到，我們并不是孤獨地對抗這場戰(zhàn)斗，也有其他人在關心我們，想要幫助我們。我們感到重新有了信心，于是在午餐的剩余時間里，我們規(guī)劃好了第二天的家庭計劃，為每個人都準備了有趣的活動，而這一天充滿了更多快樂的念頭。

I will never forget that crippled arthritic hand that taught us such an important lesson. One does not have to go through life facing hardships all alone; the world is full of compassionate and understanding people. Even those that are suffering from their own afflictions have much to give to each other.

我永遠都不會忘記那只殘廢的手，為我們上了如此重要的一堂課。人們并非只能獨自面對生活中的困難，這個世界上滿是富有同情心和善解人意的人。即便是那些自己遭受很多苦難的人，也有很多東西要給對方。

The hand that covered Molly’s on that day still covers it. And although Molly is no longer with me, I can see her holding hands with that old lady now, both hands perfect and both faces filled with smiles and laughter. And though Heaven has these two perfect angels now, the lessons that they both taught me will remain forever in my heart.

覆蓋在莫莉手上的那只手，那一整天都一直在那兒。盡管莫莉現在已經不和我在一起了，我仍能看到她和那位老婦人手牽著手，兩只手都很完美，兩張臉都充滿了笑容。雖然這兩個完美的天使現在待在天堂里，但她們倆教會我的東西永遠都在我心中。

超多雙語閱讀，盡在聽力課堂