书城外语那些温暖而美好的小事
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第2章 流年岁月,与你共赴夕阳(2)

After 40 years, he passed away, left her a letter which said, “My dearest,please forgive me, forgive my whole lifes lie. This was the only lie I said to you-the salty coffee. Remember the first time we dated? I was so nervous at that time,actually I wanted some sugar, but I said salt. It was hard for me to change so I justwent ahead. I never thought that could be the start of our communication! I triedto tell you the truth many times in my life, but I was too afraid to do that, as I havepromised not to lie to you for anything. Now Im dying, I am afraid of nothing soI tell you the truth. I dont like the salty coffee, what a strange bad taste...But Ihave had the salty coffee for my whole life! Since I knew you, I never feel sorry foranything I do for you. Having you with me is my biggest happiness for my wholelife. If I can live for the second time, I still want to know you and have you for mywhole life, even though I have to drink the salty coffee again.”

Her tears made the letter totally wet. Someday, someone asked her, “Whatsthe taste of salty coffee?” She replied, “Its sweet.”

生活中最美好的时候

一个男人和他的女友结婚,他们举行了一场盛大的仪式。

所有的朋友和家人都来见证他们美好的结婚典礼,参加他们的欢宴和庆祝活动。大家玩得都很开心。

穿着白色婚纱的新娘美丽动人,身穿黑色礼服的新郎英俊潇洒。大家都能看出他们对彼此的爱是真挚的。

几个月后,妻子上前对丈夫提议说:“我刚刚在杂志上看到一篇关于如何巩固婚姻的文章。”她说:“我们俩都把自己发现的对方的小缺点写在一张纸上,然后我们一起讨论一下怎么处理,以便让我们的生活更幸福。”

丈夫答应了。于是他们去不同的房间,想对方的毛病。那一天剩下的时间里,他们都在考虑这个问题,并把所想到的都写下来。

第二天早上,用早餐的时候,他们决定处理下列表上的问题。

“我要开始了。”妻子说,然后拿出了她的清单,上面写了很多条目,足足写了3页!事实上,当她开始读的时候,她发现丈夫眼里开始泪光闪闪。

“怎么了?”她问。“没事,”丈夫说,“接着读吧。”

于是妻子继续读下去,直到读完所有的条目,然后才把单子整齐地放在桌上,两手交叉放在上面。

“现在,该你读你的单子了,然后我们讨论一下所列举的缺点。”她高兴地说。

丈夫平静地说:“我的单子上什么都没写,我认为像你这样已经很可爱了,我不想你为我改变任何事。你很可爱迷人,我不想让你为我改变。”

妻子被丈夫的诚实以及对她的深情和接受感动了,转头哭起来。

生命中我们有太多的失望、沮丧和烦恼,其实我们不必去寻找。

我们拥有一个美好的世界,这个世界充满了美丽、光明、希望。当我们放眼四周时,为何要浪费时间去寻找不快、失望和烦恼,而看不到面前的美好事物呢?

In Life We Are Happiest When

A man and his girlfriend weremarried. It was a large celebration.

All of their friends and familycame to see the lovely ceremonyand to partake of the festivities andcelebrations. All had a wonderful time.

The bride was gorgeous in her whitewedding gown and the groom was verydashing in his black tuxedo. Everyonecould tell that the love they had for eachother was true.

A few months later, the wife cameto the husband with a proposal, “I readin a magazine, a while ago, about howwe can strengthen our marriage,” sheoffered. “Each of us will write a list ofthe things that we find a bit annoyingwith the other person. Then, we can talkabout how we can fix them together andmake our lives happier together.”

The husband agreed. Each of themwent to a separate room in the house andthought of the things that annoyed themabout the other. They thought aboutthis question for the rest of the day andwrote down what they came up with.

The next morning, at the breakfasttable, they decided that they would goover their lists.

“Ill start,” offered the wife. Shetook out her list. It had many items onit, enough to fill three pages. In fact, asshe started reading the list of the littleannoyances, she noticed that tears werestarting to appear in her husbands eyes.

“Whats wrong?” She asked.

“Nothing,” the husband replied, “keepreading your list.”

The wife continued to read until shehad read all three pages to her husband.

She neatly placed her list on the tableand folded her hands over the top of it.

“Now, you read your list and thenwell talk about the things on both of ourlists,” she said happily.

Quietly the husband stated, “I donthave anything on my list. I think that you areperfect the way that you are. I dont want youto change anything for me. You are lovely andwonderful and I wouldnt want to try andchange anything about you.”

The wife, touched by his honestyand the depth of his love for her and hisacceptance of her, turned her head andwept.

In life, there are enough times whenwe are disappointed, depressed andannoyed. We dont really have to golooking for them. We have a wonderfulworld that is full of beauty, light andpromise. Why do we waste time in thisworld looking for the bad, disappointingor annoying when we can look aroundus, and see the wondrous things beforeus?

你才是我的幸福

她在跳舞,我那患有残疾的祖母竟然在跳舞!我站在客厅的门口,彻底呆住了。我看了一眼厨房的餐桌,果然,餐桌上有一块新鲜出炉的烤蜜桃派,就在墙上那幅小的镶框画像的正下方。

在我推门进房间的时候,我听到了她在唱歌,可我不想喊出来,不想打断那悠扬的歌声,于是我踮着脚尖走进去。

她身体消瘦,我看着她优雅地弯下,手臂迎着从窗口射进来的阳光。而她的腿……自我记事开始,她一直拄着拐杖,穿着便鞋,走起路来很僵硬。然而现在,她穿着漂亮的舞鞋,双腿完全听从着她的支配。既不蹒跚,也不僵硬,只有优雅、流畅的动作。我从一张老旧的剪报中读到,她曾经是舞蹈界的宠儿,但后来她遭遇了一场意外,舞蹈生涯从此结束了。

她慢慢转身,做了一个足尖旋转,看到了站在门口的我。她的歌声和那优雅的动作戛然而止,似乎从一场美梦中被人晃醒了。突然的沉默冲击着我的耳朵。看起来祖母特别像是一个偷拿饼干罐却被抓了个正着的小孩,我禁不住发出了一阵略带紧张的笑声。祖母叹了口气,转身走到厨房。我跟在她后面,还是难以相信自己的眼睛。她穿着那双漂亮的舞鞋,行走自如。我们坐在了桌旁,从她那好吃的蜜桃派中切出了大大的几块,然后一起吃。

“那么……”我不假思索地说,“您的腿怎么好了呢?”

“跟你说实话吧,我的腿一直都很好的!”她说。

“但我不明白了!”我说,“你的舞蹈事业……我是说……难道这么多年您一直是装的吗?”

“是的,”祖母闭上眼睛,吃着蜜桃派,“是因为一个特别美好的原因。”

“什么原因?”

“你的祖父。”

“您是说,他不让您跳舞了?”

“不是,这是我自己的选择。我相信,假如我继续跳舞的话,我就会失去他了。我衡量了名利和爱情轻重后,选择了爱情。”

她想了一下,继续说:“在你祖父必须去从军参战的时候,我们已到了谈婚论嫁的地步。他离开的那段时间,是我一生中度过的最可怕的时期。我特别担心失去他,为了不让自己疯掉,唯一的办法就是跳舞。于是我投入了所有的精力和时间用来练习,并且成为了很好的舞蹈者。评论家多次给我好评,观众也很喜欢我。但是,我能感觉到的是我心底的痛,因为我不知道我一生的最爱是否能平安回来。然后我回到家里,一遍遍地读着他的来信,直到睡过去。在信的结尾他总这样写:你才是我的幸福。一生爱你。然后才是他的名字。有一天,我又收到了他的来信。信中只有三句话:我失去了一条腿。我不再是一个完整的人了,所以现在我把自由还给你。你最好把我忘了吧。”

“那时我马上做出了决定。

我向观众作别,离开了这个城市。当我回来的时候,我给自己买了一副拐杖,并用绷带紧紧裹着我的腿。我告诉每一个人,我遭遇了一场车祸,我的腿再也无法完全复原了。我的舞蹈生涯就这样结束了。没有人质疑过我的话——我在回家之前已经学会如何巧妙地跛行。我确保第一个听说我出车祸的是一位我熟悉的记者。然后我来到了你祖父所在的医院。

他们用轮椅把他推出来。一副拐杖放在他轮椅旁边。我深深吸了一口气,靠在我的拐杖上,一瘸一拐地向他走过去。”

这时,我已经忘记了蜜桃派,沉醉地听着祖母说话。“之后发生了什么故事呢?”在祖母停下来吃几口派时,我追问道。

“我对他说,失去了一条腿的人并不是他一个人,即使我的腿没截掉。我让他看了关于我车祸的剪报。因此,假如你认为我会让你在以后的人生里自怨自艾,就休想了。在外面还有全新的生活在等待着我们!我不想因此而哀伤自怜。但现在,我需要做的事情已经够多的了,因此你最好也赶快给我振作起来。而且你可别想我会背你——你得自己向前走。”

祖母呵呵地笑着,这位白发苍苍的老妇人,竟然发出了少女般的笑声。

“我一瘸一拐地走开几步,然后让他看我从口袋里掏出的一样东西。现在让我看看,你还是个男子汉。我不会说第二次的。他弯着腰从地上捡起他的拐杖,挣扎着从轮椅中站起来。我可以看出,他从前根本没这样做过,只有一条腿的他,差点倒在地上。但我不准备帮他。然后他想办法自己站稳了,朝我走过来。而且,在他的后半生里,他再也没有坐回到轮椅上。”

“你让他看了什么东西呢?”我必须知道。祖母看着我咧嘴一笑,说:“当然是一对订婚戒指了。在他从军参战离开后的第二天,我就买了这对戒指,我没打算把戒指浪费在其他任何男人身上。”

我看着许多年前我祖父亲手绘的那幅画像,现在就在厨房墙壁上。我眼中全是泪水,眼前的画像开始模糊起来。“你才是我的幸福。一生爱你。”我轻声说道。画像里坐在公园长椅上的年轻女子,眼神明亮,笑着看着我。她的手指上,被精心地画着一枚订婚戒指。

You Are My Joy

She was dancing. My crippledgrandmother was dancing. I stood in theliving room doorway absolutely stunned.