The?Value?of?Love 愛的價值

The cheerful girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them: a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box. “Oh please, Mommy. Can I have them?” Please, mommy, please!”

Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl’s upturned face. “A dollar ninety-five. That’s almost $2.00. If you really want them, I’ll think of some extra 4)chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday’s only a week away and you might get another 5)crisp dollar bill from Grandma.”

As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny 6)bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick 7)dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.

Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere—Kindergarten, 8)Sunday school, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a 9)bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.

Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night when he finished the story, he asked Jenny, “Do you love me”

“Oh ye Daddy. You know that I love you.”

“Then give me your pearls.”

“Oh, Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess—the white horse from my collection. The one with the pink tail. Remember, Daddy” The one you gave me. She’s my favorite.”

“That’s okay, Honey. Daddy loves you. Good night.”And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.

About a week later, after the story time, Jenny’s daddy asked again, “Do you love me”

“Daddy, you know I love you.”

“Then give me your pearls.”

“Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is so beautiful and you can have the yellow 11)blanket that matches her 12)sleeper.”

“That’s okay. Sleep well, little one. Daddy loves you.”And as alway he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.

A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian-style. As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek.

“What is it, Jenny” What’s the matter”?

Jenny didn’t say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little 14)quiver, she finally said, “Here, Daddy. It’s for you.”

With tears gathering in his own eye Jenny’s kind daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime-store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny. He had had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her genuine treasure.

　　這個興高采烈的女孩差不多五歲了，留著一頭富有彈性的金黃卷發(fā)。她正和媽媽在收銀臺旁排隊等候交錢，忽然，她看見一串閃閃發(fā)光的白珍珠，裝在一個粉紅色的金屬盒里。“噢，媽咪，能給我買那個嗎?媽咪，求你了!”

　　她的媽媽迅速看了看那個小金屬盒的背后，然后回過頭望著女兒仰起的臉孔里那雙充滿懇求的藍(lán)眼睛。“1.95美元。幾乎要2美元。如果你真想要，我會給你多一些家務(wù)做。很快你就能存夠錢給自己買了。再過一個星期就是你的生日，奶奶也許會給你一張嶄新的一美元鈔票。”

　　詹妮一回到家就把儲錢罐里的錢全倒了出來，數(shù)了數(shù)，一共17美分。飯后，她做家務(wù)比往常更勤快了。她還跑到鄰居家問麥克詹姆斯太太，愿不愿意花10美分讓她幫忙采蒲公英。她生日那天，奶奶真的給了她一張嶄新的一美元紙幣。最后，她終于存夠了錢買那串項鏈。

　　詹妮很喜愛這一串珍珠項鏈。戴上它，她便感到自己打扮得很漂亮，感到自己很成熟。她走到哪兒都戴著它——上幼兒園，星期天上主日學(xué)校，甚至是在睡覺的時候，只有游泳或洗泡泡浴時才取下。媽媽說，如果那些珍珠濕了水，就可能染綠她的脖子。

　　詹妮有一個慈愛的爸爸。每晚她臨睡前，爸爸總會停下手頭上的工作，上樓來給她讀一個故事。有一天晚上，當(dāng)爸爸講完了故事，他問詹妮：“你愛爸爸嗎?”

　　“嗯，爸爸，你知道我愛你。”

　　“那把你的那條珍珠項鏈送給爸爸吧。”

　　“噢，爸爸，不要是珍珠項鏈嘛。我給你我百寶箱里的公主——那匹長著粉紅色尾巴的白馬。爸爸你記起了嗎?那是你送給我的。她是我最喜歡的寶貝。”

　　“好吧，甜心。爸爸愛你。晚安。”他輕吻了一下女兒的臉頰。

　　過了一個星期，讀完故事，詹妮的爸爸又問：“你愛爸爸嗎?”

　　“爸爸，你知道我愛你。”

　　“那把你的那條珍珠項鏈送給爸爸吧。”

　　“噢，爸爸，不要是珍珠項鏈嘛。我給你我的娃娃，我生日收到的那個新的。她很漂亮，你還可以要那條和她睡衣顏色很相襯的黃色毛毯。”

　　“好吧。寶貝，睡個好覺。爸爸愛你。”像往常一樣，他輕吻了一下女兒的臉頰。

　　過了幾夜，爸爸走進(jìn)詹妮的房間，她正盤腿坐在床上。爸爸走近時發(fā)現(xiàn)，詹妮的下巴顫抖著，一顆淚珠無聲地滑落她的臉頰。

　　“怎么了，詹妮?發(fā)生什么事了?”

　　詹妮沒有答話，只把小手舉到爸爸面前。她攤開手掌，露出她那串小小的珍珠項鏈。她微微顫抖了一下，最終說道：“爸爸，這是送給你的。”

　　爸的眼里滿是淚水，慈愛的他伸出一只手，拿起珍妮手里那串在廉價商店里買的項鏈，另一只手則伸進(jìn)自己的口袋里，拿出一個用天鵝絨包裹著的藍(lán)色盒子，里面裝著一串用天然珍珠串成的項鏈遞給詹妮。他一直帶著這串項鏈。他只是等待女兒放棄那串廉價的珍珠項鏈，好送給她這份天然的珍品。