双语有声阅读：修女谢谢您的指教(4)

I had never seen a serviceman in a military coffin¹ before. Mark looked so handsome, so mature.

 

我从未见过军人躺在军用棺材里的样子。马克看上去是那样英俊，那样成熟。

After the funeral, Mark's mother and father found me. "We want to show you something," his father said. "They found this on Mark when he was killed. We thought you might recognize it." Opening a billfold, he carefully removed two worn and frazzled pieces of notebook paper that had obviously² been taped, folded and refolded many times. I knew without looking that the pieces of paper were the ones on which I had listed all the good things that Mark's classmates had said about him. "Thank you so much for doing that." Mark's mother said. "As you can see, Mark behaved better and better at school. It's all because of you and your list."

葬礼结束后，马克的父母找到了我。“我们想给您看一样东西，”他爸爸说，“马克牺牲的时候他们在他身上找到了这个。我们想您可能认得。”他打开皮夹，小心翼翼地取出两张破损不堪的笔记本纸。很明显，这两张纸用胶带补过、反复折叠过。不用看我也知道，这就是当初那两张纸，我当时把马克的同学们对他的表扬都写在了上面。“您所做的这些，我们感激不尽，”马克的妈妈说，“您也看到了，马克在学校里的表现越来越好。这都归功于您和您的这张单子。”

Mark's classmates started to gather around us. Charlie smiled rather sheepishly and said, "I still have my list. It's in the top drawer of my desk at home." Chuck's wife said, "Chuck asked me to put this in our wedding album." "I have mine too," Marilyn said. "It's in my diary." Then Vicki, another classmate, reached into her pocketbook, took out her wallet and showed her worn list to the group. "I carry this with me at all times," Vicki said without batting an eyelash. "I think we all saved our lists."

这时，马克的同学们也围了过来。查利腼腆地笑着说：“这张单子我现在还保留着，就在我家书桌最上面的抽屉里。”查克的妻子说：“查克让我把这个放在我们的结婚纪念册里。”“我的也在，”玛丽莲说，“就在我日记本里。”接着，另一个同学维姬从手提袋里取出钱包，给大家看那张已经磨损了的纸。“我一直把这个带在身上，”维姬眼睛一眨不眨地说，“我想我们都保存着自己的单子。”

That's when I finally sat down and cried.

那一刻，我终于坐下大哭起来。

Sometimes the smallest things could mean the most to others. The density³ of people in society is so thick that we forget life will end one day and we don't know when that one day will be. Compliment⁴ the people you love and care about, before it is too late.

有时候，即便是最微不足道的事情，对他人也可能意义非凡。在这个社会上，在熙熙攘攘的人群中，我们哪里还会记得某天人生终会走到尽头，更不知道那一天何时到来。所以，趁一切都还来得及，去赞美你爱着、关心着的人吧！

1 coffin   

n.棺材，灵柩

参考例句：

• When one's coffin is covered,all discussion about him can be settled.盖棺论定。
• The coffin was placed in the grave.那口棺材已安放到坟墓里去了。

2 obviously   

adv.显然；明白地

参考例句：

• Obviously they were putting him to a severe test.显然他们是在给他以严峻的考验。
• Obviously he was lying.显然他是在撒谎。

3 density   

n.密集，密度，浓度

参考例句：

• The population density of that country is 685 per square mile.那个国家的人口密度为每平方英里685人。
• The region has a very high population density.该地区的人口密度很高。

4 compliment   

n.[pl.]问候，致意；n./v. 称赞，恭维

参考例句：

• The manager paid her a compliment on her work.经理赞扬了她的工作。
• Your presence is a great compliment.承蒙光临，不胜荣幸。