精美英文欣赏: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.

心一边的字母已无法辨认了，但在另一边，字母“R”清晰可见，后面还有个像是“I”的字母。

"Some budding romance?" I asked, "did you know who they were?"

“初恋罗曼史？”我问道，“你知道他们是谁吗？”

"Oh yes, I knew them", said Mary Smith, "it says RH loves MS."

“唔，我知道。”玛丽·史密斯说，“写的是‘RH爱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, snug¹, and with a mug of tea in my hand.

我意识到我可能涉入太深了，真希望自己身在办公室，远离这个地方和这个老年女士，手里还端着杯茶，舒舒服服地。

She went on, "He had a penknife with a spike² for getting stones from a horse's hoof³, and I helped him to carve my initials.

她继续讲下去：“他拿着一把袖珍折刀，折刀上嵌有长钉，那种长钉可以用来挖出夹在马蹄上的石块，我们一起刻了我名字的第一个字母。

We were very much in love, but he was going away, and could not tell me what he was involved in the army.

我们深深相爱，但他却要离开了，而且不知道他将在军队里干什么。

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."

当然我也曾猜想过。那是我们在一起的最后一个夜晚，因为他第二天就回部队去了。

Mary Smith was quiet for a while, then she sobbed⁵. "His mother showed me the telegram. 'Sergeant⁶ R Holmes ... Killed in action in the invasion of France.'

玛丽·史密斯停了一会儿，接着抽泣起来。“他母亲给我看了那封电报。‘R?荷尔姆斯军士……在解放法国的战役中牺牲。’“

"'I had hoped that you and Robin⁷ would one day get married,' she said,

我本来希望你和罗宾会结婚的。’她母亲说，

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!

‘我只有他一个孩子，我本希望能做祖母，有非常可爱的小宝宝。’——她真是那么说的！

"Two years later she too was dead. 'Pneumonia⁸, following a chill on the chest' was what the doctor said,

“两年后她也去世了。医生说是‘肺炎，胸部着凉造成的’，

but I think it was an old fashioned broken heart. A child would have helped both of us."

但我认为这是典型的伤心过度。如果有个孩子那我们俩就都不会这样了。”

There was a further pause. Mary Smith gently caressed⁹ the wounded tree, just as she would have caressed him.

玛丽·史密斯又停了会儿没说话。她轻柔地抚摸着那棵刻过的树，就像她曾经抚摸他一样。

"And now they want to take our tree away from me."

“现在他们想把我们的树夺走。”

Another quiet sob⁴, 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.

她又轻轻地抽噎了一下，然后她转过身来对着我。“当时我年轻漂亮，我爱嫁给谁都可以，我当时可不是现在这么老的。

I had everything I wanted in life, a lovely man, health and a future to look forwards to."

我拥有生命里所要的一切，一个值得爱的男人、健康的身体和充满梦想的未来。”

She paused again and looked around. The breeze gently moved through the leaves with a sighing sound.

她顿了顿，朝四周看了一眼。微风轻轻吹拂着树叶，发出叹息般的沙沙声。

"There were others, of course, but not a patch on my Robin!" she said strongly. "

“当然， 那时还有其他人，但他们连罗宾的一丝一毫都比不上！”她肯定地说。

And now I have nothing — except the memories this tree holds.

“现在我一无所有——只剩下残留在这棵树上的记忆。

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 standing¹⁰ now, I would kill him.

那个可恶的家伙竟建议把路修在我们所站的这个地方，我真希望掐死他。

Has he never loved, has he never lived, does he not know anything about memories?

我会对他说：你从没爱过吗，你活过吗，你从不知道什么叫记忆吗？

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!"

你知道，不仅仅是我们，现在我仍能看见些男男女女像当年的我和罗宾那样到这儿来。是的，我一定要对他说！”

I turned away, sick at heart.

我转过身去，心里感到很难过。

1 snug   

adj.温暖舒适的，合身的，安全的；v.使整洁干净，舒适地依靠，紧贴；n.（英）酒吧里的私房

参考例句：

• He showed us into a snug little sitting room.他领我们走进了一间温暖而舒适的小客厅。
• She had a small but snug home.她有个小小的但很舒适的家。

2 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

3 hoof   

n.(马，牛等的)蹄

参考例句：

• Suddenly he heard the quick,short click of a horse's hoof behind him.突然间，他听见背后响起一阵急骤的马蹄的得得声。
• I was kicked by a hoof.我被一只蹄子踢到了。

4 sob   

n.空间轨道的轰炸机；呜咽，哭泣

参考例句：

• The child started to sob when he couldn't find his mother.孩子因找不到他妈妈哭了起来。
• The girl didn't answer,but continued to sob with her head on the table.那个女孩不回答，也不抬起头来。她只顾低声哭着。

5 sobbed   

哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说

参考例句：

• She sobbed out the story of her son's death. 她哭诉着她儿子的死。
• She sobbed out the sad story of her son's death. 她哽咽着诉说她儿子死去的悲惨经过。

6 sergeant   

n.警官，中士

参考例句：

• His elder brother is a sergeant.他哥哥是个警官。
• How many stripes are there on the sleeve of a sergeant?陆军中士的袖子上有多少条纹？

7 robin   

n.知更鸟，红襟鸟

参考例句：

• The robin is the messenger of spring.知更鸟是报春的使者。
• We knew spring was coming as we had seen a robin.我们看见了一只知更鸟，知道春天要到了。

8 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

9 caressed   

爱抚或抚摸…( caress的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His fingers caressed the back of her neck. 他的手指抚摩着她的后颈。
• He caressed his wife lovingly. 他怜爱万分地抚摸着妻子。

10 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。