Flowers on the Bus 公车上的鲜花（在线收听）

[00:01.37]Flowers on the Bus 公车上的鲜花

[00:04.31]We were a very motley crowd of people who took the bus every day

[00:09.56]that summer 33 years ago.

[00:11.65]During the early morning ride from the suburb,

[00:14.26]we sat drowsily with our collars up to our ears,

[00:17.45]a cheerless and taciturn bunch.

[00:19.73]One of the passengers was a small man who took the bus to the centre for senior citizens every morning.

[00:25.31]He walked with a stoop and a sad look on his face when he, with some difficulty,

[00:29.90]boarded the bus and sat down alone behind the driver.

[00:33.42]Then one July morning he said good morning to the driver

[00:37.13]and smiled short-sightedly down through the bus before he sat down.

[00:41.40]The driver nodded guardedly. The rest of us were silent.

[00:44.99]The next day, the old man boarded the bus energetically,

[00:48.63]smiled and said in a loud voice: “And a very good morning to you all!”

[00:52.88]Some of us looked up, amazed, and murmured “Good morning,” in reply.

[00:57.92]He said good morning to us every day and we gradually began to nod and talk to each other.

[01:03.17]One morning he had a bunch of wild flowers in his hand.

[01:06.54]The driver turned around smilingly and asked: “Have you got yourself a girlfriend, Charlie?”

[01:12.24]He nodded shyly and said yes.

[01:14.88]Every morning after that Charlie always brought a flower.

[01:18.69]Some of the regular passengers began bringing him flowers for his bouquet,

[01:23.29]gently nudged him and said shyly: “Here.” Everyone smiled.

[01:27.88]The men started to jest about it, talk to each other, and share the newspaper.

[01:32.03]The summer went by, and autumn was closing in,

[01:35.10]when one morning Charlie wasn’t waiting at his usual stop.

[01:38.82]When he wasn’t there the next day and the day after that, we started worrying.

[01:43.41]When we came nearer to the centre for senior citizens,

[01:47.12]one of the passengers asked the driver to wait.

[01:49.54]Yes, the staff said, the elderly gentleman was fine,

[01:52.81]but he hadn’t been coming to the centre that week.

[01:55.67]One of his very close friends had died at the weekend.

[01:59.27]How silent we were the rest of the way to work.

[02:02.33]The next Monday Charlie was waiting at the stop.

[02:05.73]Inside the bus was a silence akin to that in a church.

[02:09.66]Even though no one had talked about it,

[02:12.05]all those of us, who he had made such an impression on that summer,

[02:16.35]sat with our eyes filled with tears and a bunch of wild flowers in our hands.