讀點(diǎn)好英文:Love Notes 愛(ài)的小字條

Love Notes 愛(ài)的小字條

·Howard·

It's been over eleven years now. It was a wintry afternoon, the snow swirling around the cedar trees outside, forcing little icicles to form at the tips of the deep green foliage clinging to the branches.

My older son, Stephen, was at school, and Reed, my husband, at work. My three little ones were cIustered around the kitchen counter, the tabletop piled high with crayons and markers.Tom was perfecting a paper airplane, creating his own insignia with stars and stripes, while Sam worked on a self-portrait, his chubby hands drawing first a head, then legs and arms sticking out where the body should have been.The children mostly concentrated on their work.Tom occasionally tutoring his younger brother on exactly how to make a plane that would fly the entire length of the room.

But Laura, our only daughter, sat quietly, engrossed in her project. Every once in a while she would ask how to spell the name of someone in our family, then painstakingly form the letters one by one.Next, she would add flowers with small green stems, complete with grass lining the bottom of the page.She finished off each with a sun in the upper right-hand corner, surrounded by an inch or two of blue sky.Holding them at eye level, she let out a long sigh of satisfaction.

“What are you making, honey?”I asked.

She glanced at her brothers before looking back at me.

“It's a surprise，”she said, covering up her work with her hands.

Next, she taped the top two edges of each sheet of paper together, trying her best to create a cylinder. When she had finished, she disappeared up the stairs with her treasure.

It wasn't until later that evening that I noticed a“mailbox”taped onto the doors to each of our bedrooms. There was one for Steve.There was one for Tom.She hadn't forgotten Sam or baby Paul.

For the next few weeks, we received mail on a regular basis. There were little notes confessing her love for each of us.There were short letters full of tiny compliments that only a seven-year-old would notice.I was in charge of retrieving baby Paul's letters, page after page of colored scenes including flowers with happy faces.

“He can't read yet，”she whispered，“but he can look at the pictures.”

Each time I received one of my little girl's gifts, it brightened my heart.

I was touched at how carefully she observed our moods. When Stephen lost a baseball game, there was a letter telling him she thought he was the best ballplayer in the whole world.After I had a particularly hard day, there was a message thanking me for my efforts, complete with a smile face tucked near the bottom corner of the page.

This same little girl is grown now, driving off every day to the community college. But some things about her have never changed.One afternoon only a week or so ago, I found a love note next to my bedside.

“Thanks for always being there for me, Mom.”it read，“I'm glad that we're the best of friends.”

I couldn't help but remember the precious child whose smile has brought me countless hours of joy throughout the years. There are angels among us.I know, I live with one.

霍華德

十一年前的一個(gè)寒冬的下午，窗外，大片的雪花繞著雪松盤旋飛舞，枝頭深綠色的葉尖上掛著小小的冰柱。

我的大兒子史蒂芬去上學(xué)了，丈夫里德去上班了，三個(gè)小孩擠在廚房的桌子旁，桌面上堆積著蠟筆和記號(hào)筆。湯姆正用星星和條紋做徽章，為紙飛機(jī)做漂亮的裝飾。山姆正忙著自畫(huà)像，他胖乎乎的小手先畫(huà)了一個(gè)頭，然后在本該畫(huà)身體的位置畫(huà)了腿和胳膊。孩子們都全神貫注地忙碌著，湯姆不時(shí)地告訴弟弟怎樣正確地制作一架能夠穿行于整間房子的飛機(jī)。

而我們唯一的女兒勞拉靜靜地坐在那里，聚精會(huì)神地忙著她的事。偶爾她也會(huì)問(wèn)及如何拼寫(xiě)我們家某成員的名字，然后極為困難地逐個(gè)字母拼寫(xiě)出來(lái)。接著，她畫(huà)了一些有著嫩綠小莖的花朵，在紙的底部添些草邊。每完成一頁(yè)，她都會(huì)在右上角畫(huà)一個(gè)太陽(yáng)，周圍是一小片藍(lán)天，然后把它們舉到眼前欣賞一番，心滿意足地長(zhǎng)舒一口氣。

“寶貝，你干什么呢？”我問(wèn)道。

看我之前，她瞥了一眼她的兄弟們。

“這是一個(gè)驚喜?！彼秒p手捂住了作品。

接著，她把每張紙的上下兩邊都粘貼起來(lái)，盡量做成一個(gè)圓筒。做好后，她帶著那些寶貝消失在樓梯上。

直到深夜我才發(fā)現(xiàn)，每個(gè)人的臥室門上都貼著一個(gè)“郵箱”。史蒂芬一個(gè)，湯姆一個(gè)，她也沒(méi)把山姆和小保羅忘了。

之后的幾周，我們都會(huì)定期收到信件。她用這小小的字條表達(dá)了對(duì)我們每個(gè)人的愛(ài)。這些簡(jiǎn)短的信滿載著一個(gè)年僅7歲的孩子的純真問(wèn)候。小保羅的信件由我負(fù)責(zé)拆閱，一張張彩色圖畫(huà)上有花朵，也有歡樂(lè)的笑靨。

“他還不識(shí)字，”她喃喃自語(yǔ)道，“但他能看這些圖畫(huà)。”

每次收到小女兒的禮物，我沉悶的心就會(huì)豁然開(kāi)朗。

她對(duì)我們心情的細(xì)微體察令我頗受感動(dòng)。史蒂芬輸了棒球賽后，收到了一封信，她認(rèn)為他是世界上最好的棒球手。如果哪天我特別勞累，便會(huì)收到一封對(duì)我的努力表示感謝的信，信紙下角還附有一個(gè)笑臉。

如今，那個(gè)小女孩已經(jīng)長(zhǎng)大，每天開(kāi)車上社區(qū)學(xué)院。但是有些事情她一直都沒(méi)有改變。大概就在一周前的一個(gè)下午，我在床邊發(fā)現(xiàn)了一張愛(ài)的字條。

“媽媽，感謝您一如既往地支持我，”上面寫(xiě)著，“我為有您這樣的好朋友而感到高興。”

我情不自禁地想起，多年以來(lái)，這個(gè)可愛(ài)的孩子的笑容帶給我無(wú)盡的歡樂(lè)。人間確有天使，我知道，我正幸運(yùn)地與其中一個(gè)生活在一起。

Practising&Exercise　實(shí)戰(zhàn)提升篇

核心單詞

wintry['wintri]adj.冷淡的；冷漠的；寒冷的

cIuster['kl?st?]n.串，（花等的）束，簇 v.聚集

engross[in'gr?us]v.使全神貫注

edge[ed?]n.邊，棱；邊緣

treasure['tre??]n.財(cái)富；貴重物品

whisper['（h）wisp?]v.低語(yǔ)，耳語(yǔ)；私語(yǔ)

tuck[t?k]v.把……塞進(jìn)，把……藏入

實(shí)用句型

I couIdn't heIp but remember the precious chiId whose smiIe has brought me countIess hours of joy throughout the years.

我情不自禁地想起，多年以來(lái)，這個(gè)可愛(ài)的孩子的笑容帶給我無(wú)盡的歡樂(lè)。

①whose在這里引導(dǎo)定語(yǔ)從句。

②could not help but禁不住。類似的表達(dá)還有could not help to不能幫忙做某事。

翻譯練習(xí)

1.我現(xiàn)在必須集中精力工作。（concentrate on）

2.他們買了一棟家具齊備的房子。（complete with）

3.一位有經(jīng)驗(yàn)的機(jī)械師負(fù)責(zé)這工作。（in charge of）