精美英文欣赏:赠予的火光

The given light

赠予的火光

Once upon a time, a man had heard that in a foreign place, far away, there was a holy¹ flame burning.

从前，有一个人听说在一个遥远的地方，有一堆圣火在燃烧。

So he got up and left his home to find the holy flame and bring some of its light back home to his house.

所以他就动身离家，前去寻找，希望能给自己带回一些圣火的光亮。

He thought: When I have this light, then I will have happiness and life and all the people I love will have it too.

他边走边想：“当我得到圣火的时候，我的生活将会变得幸福，所有我爱的人也将得到幸福”。

He traveled far, far away and finally found the holy flame, with which he lit his light.

他走了很远很远，最后终于发现了梦寐以求的圣火。于是，他用圣火将自己的灯点亮。

On his way back he had only one worry that his light could go out.

在返回的途中，唯一让他担心的是：半道上，圣火会不会熄灭。

On his way home he met someone who was freezing and didn't have any fire and who begged him to give him some of his fire.

当他兴冲冲地往家赶时，一个快要冻僵的人拦住了他，请求他用圣火为自己生起一堆篝火，来驱赶难耐的严寒。

The man with the light hesitated² for a moment.

拿着圣火的人迟疑了片刻：

Wasn't his light too precious³, too holy to be given away for something ordinary like that?

这么珍贵的圣火，值得用在这样普通的地方吗？

Despite these doubts, he decided⁴ to give some of his light to the one who was freezing in the darkness.

尽管带着这些怀疑，他仍然决定分出一些自己的灯火，让寒夜里这个快要冻僵的人也享受到温暖。

The man continued his journey home and when he had almost reached his house a terrible thunderstorm⁵ started.

随后，他继续着自己回家的行程。就在他快要到达时，一场可怕的雷雨突然袭来。

He tried to protect his light from the rain and the storm, but at the end his light went out.

很不幸，灯火被雷雨浇灭了。

To return the long way back to the place where the holy flame was burning was impossible, he wouldn't have had enough strength to go back this far—but he was strong enough to return to the human being whom he had helped on his way home.

他已无力再走到圣火的燃烧的地方。万般沮丧间，他忽然想起他曾帮助的那个人。是的，他还有足够的力气走到那个人所呆的地方。

...and with his light he could light his own again.

在那里，他用自己的曾分出去的圣火，重新点燃了自己的灯。

1 holy   

adj.神圣的，圣洁的，至善的；n.神圣的东西

参考例句：

• She was still a holy and pure young girl.她仍是一个圣洁的少女。
• He reads the Holy Bible every night.他每晚读《圣经》。

2 hesitated   

v.犹豫( hesitate的过去式和过去分词 )；吞吞吐吐；顾虑；停顿

参考例句：

• She hesitated before replying. 她犹豫了一下才回答。
• I hesitated a millisecond too long. 我几乎没犹豫。

3 precious   

adj.宝贵的，珍贵的，过于精致的，珍爱的

参考例句：

• Each life is precious.生命都是宝贵的。
• Spring rain is as precious as oil.春雨贵如油。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 thunderstorm   

n.雷雨；雷暴

参考例句：

• Thunderstorm is common in summer.雷电交加的暴风雨在夏天很常见。
• The thunderstorm will perhaps settle the weather.大雷雨可能使天气稳定下来。