英语美文欣赏：装满吻的盒子

 　　The story goes that some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, "This is for you, Daddy.”

　　有这样一个故事，爸爸因为三岁的女儿浪费了一卷金色的包装纸而惩罚了她。家里很缺钱，当孩子想要用包装纸装饰一个挂在圣诞树上的盒子时，爸爸生气了。然而，第二天早上小女孩把盒子作为礼物送给了爸爸，“这是给你的，爸爸。”

　　The man was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared¹ again when he found out the box was empty. He yelled² at her, stating, "Don't you know, when you give someone a present, there is supposed to be something inside? The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried, "Oh, Daddy, it's not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box. They're all for you, Daddy."

　　女儿的这个行为让爸爸感到尴尬。但是当他发现盒子是空的时候，他的怒火再一次燃烧了。他对女儿喊道，“难道你不知道给别人礼物的时候，里面应该放有东西吗？”女孩抬头看着父亲，眼里含着泪水，“爸爸，盒子不是空的。我把吻放在了盒子里，都是给你的，爸爸。”

　　The father was crushed³. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness. Only a short time later, an accident took the life of the child. It is also told that her father kept that gold box by his bed for many years and, whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary⁴ kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

　　爸爸感动极了，他搂住女儿，恳请她的原谅。之后不久，一场事故夺走了小女孩的生命。据说，父亲便将那个小金盒子放在床头，一直陪伴着他的余生。无论何时他感到气馁或者遇到难办的事情，他就会打开礼盒，取出一个假想的吻，记起漂亮女儿给予了自己特殊的爱。

　　In a very real sense, each one of us, as humans beings, have been given a gold container filled with unconditional⁵ love and kisses... from our children, family members, friends, and God. There is simply no other possession, anyone could hold, more precious than this.

　　从一个非常真实的意义上说，我们每个人都被赠与过一个无形的金色礼盒，那里面装满了来自子女，家人，朋友及上帝无条件的爱与吻。人们所能拥有的最珍贵的礼物莫过于此了。

1 Flared   

adj. 端部张开的, 爆发的, 加宽的, 漏斗式的 动词flare的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• The match flared and went out. 火柴闪亮了一下就熄了。
• The fire flared up when we thought it was out. 我们以为火已经熄灭，但它突然又燃烧起来。

2 yelled   

v.叫喊，号叫，叫着说( yell的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He yelled at the other driver. 他冲着另一位司机大叫。
• The lost man yelled, hoping someone in the woods would hear him. 迷路的人大声喊着，希望林子里的人会听见。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 crushed   

a.压碎的，倒碎的

参考例句：

• The car was completely crushed under the truck. 小轿车被卡车压得完全变形了。
• The box was crushed when the car ran over it. 汽车辗过箱子时把它给压碎了。

4 imaginary   

adj.想象中的，假想的，虚构的，幻想的；虚数的

参考例句：

• All the characters in this book are imaginary.此书中的所有人物都是虚构的。
• The boy's fears were only imaginary.这小孩的恐惧只是一种想象。

5 unconditional   

adj.无条件的，无限制的，绝对的

参考例句：

• The victorious army demanded unconditional surrender.胜方要求敌人无条件投降。
• My love for all my children is unconditional.我对自己所有孩子的爱都是无条件的。