英语小达人 429 In Life, We Are Happiest When...(2)

 The next morning, at the breakfast table, they decided¹ that they would go over their lists. 第二天早上，吃早饭的时候，他们决定谈谈彼此的缺点。

I'll start, offered the wife. She took out her list.  我先开始吧。妻子说。她拿出她的单子，

It had many items on it, enough to fill 3 pages.  上面列举了很多条，事实上，足足写满了三页。

In fact, as she started reading the list of the little annoyances,  当她开始念的时候，

she noticed that tears were starting to appear in her husband's eyes. 她注意到丈夫眼里含着泪花。

What's wrong? she asked. Nothing, the husband replied, keep reading your list. 怎么啦?她问。没什么，丈夫答道，继续念吧。

The wife continued to read until she had read all three pages to her husband.  妻子又接着念。整整三页都念完之后

She neatly² placed her list on the table and folded her hands over the top of it. 她把单子整齐地放在桌上，两手交叉放在上面。

Now, you read your list and then we'll talk about the things on both of our lists, she said happily. 现在该你念了，然后我们谈谈所列举的缺点。她高兴地说。

Quietly the husband stated, I don't have anything on my list.  丈夫平静地说：我什么也没写，

I think that you are perfect the way that you are.  我觉得像你这样就很完美了，

I don't want you to change anything for me.  我不想让你为我改变什么。

You are lovely and wonderful and I wouldn't want to try and change anything about you. 你很可爱迷人，我不想让你改变。

The wife, touched by his honesty and the depth of his love for her and his acceptance³ of her, turned her head and wept. 妻子被丈夫的诚实和对她深深的爱和接纳感动了，她转过头去哭起来。

In life, there are enough times when we are disappointed, depressed⁴ and annoyed. 生命中我们有很多的失望、沮丧和烦恼，

We don't really have to go looking for them.  我们根本不需要寻找。

We have a wonderful world that is full of beauty, light and promise.  我们美妙的世界充满了美丽、光明、希望。

Why waste time in this world looking for the bad, disappointing or annoying when we can look around us,  但是，当我们放眼四周时，为什么浪费时间寻找不快、失望和烦恼，

and see the wondrous⁵ things before us? 而看不到我们面前的美好事物呢？

1 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。

2 neatly   

adv.整洁地，干净地，灵巧地，熟练地

参考例句：

• Sailors know how to wind up a long rope neatly.水手们知道怎样把一条大绳利落地缠好。
• The child's dress is neatly gathered at the neck.那孩子的衣服在领口处打着整齐的皱褶。

3 acceptance   

n.接受，接收，验收，接纳；承认，认可

参考例句：

• The new laws gained widespread acceptance.新法令受到广泛赞同。
• It took years for Einstein's theory to gain acceptance.爱因斯坦的理论经过多年才被人们接受。

4 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

5 wondrous   

adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地

参考例句：

• The internal structure of the Department is wondrous to behold.看一下国务院的内部结构是很有意思的。
• We were driven across this wondrous vast land of lakes and forests.我们乘车穿越这片有着湖泊及森林的广袤而神奇的土地。