英语美文：我听到了爱的声音

 　I “Heard” the Love

　　When I was growing up I do not recall hearing the words “I love you” from my father. When your father never says them to you when you are a child, it gets tougher and tougher for him to say those words as he gets older. To tell the truth, I could not honestly remember when I had last said those words to him either. I decided¹ to set my ego² aside and make the first move. After some hesitation³, in our next phone conversation I blurted⁴ out the words, “Dad… I love you!”

　　There was a silence at the other end and he awkwardly replied, “Well, same back at ya!”

　　I chuckled⁵ and said, “Dad, I know you love me, and when you are ready, I know you will say what you want to say.”

　　Fifteen minutes later my mother called and nervously⁶ asked, “Paul, is everything okay?”

　　A few weeks later, Dad concluded our phone conversation with the words, “Paul, I love you.” I was at work during this conversation and the tears were rolling down my cheeks as I finally “heard” the love. As we both sat there in tears we realized that this special moment had taken our father/son relationship to a new level.

　　A short while after this special moment, my father narrowly escaped death following heart surgery. Many times since, I have pondered the thought, if I did not take the first step and Dad did not survive the surgery, I would have never “heard” the love.

　　随着我逐渐长大，我不记得爸爸对我说过“我爱你”。如果从孩提时候起，爸爸就从来没对你说过“我爱你”，那么随着他年龄的增长，就会愈来愈难张口。实话说吧，我也实在记不起来上次什么时候对他说过那些话。我决定放开自尊，采取主动。犹豫了一阵后，在下次打电话时我突然说出了这些话：“爸爸……我爱你！”

　　电话的那端沉默了一阵，然后他有些害羞地说：“呃，我也爱你！”

　　我轻声地笑了起来，说：“爸爸，我知道你爱我，我知道当你准备好时，你就会把想说的话告诉我。”

　　一刻钟后，妈妈打电话过来，有些紧张地问：“保罗，一切都好吗？”

　　几个星期过后，爸爸在挂电话前说了句“保罗，我爱你。”打电话的时候我还在上班，在终于“听”到爱的声音后，我的泪水顺着脸颊流了下来。由于我们两人都坐在那儿泪流满面，我们知道这特别的时刻使我们的父子关系达到一种新境界。

　　这个特别时刻刚过不久，爸爸就进行了心脏手术，不过幸免于难。从那以后，我时常仔细回味，如果我没有走出第一步，如果爸爸的手术没有成功，我就再没有机会听到爱的声音了。

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 ego   

n.自我，自己，自尊

参考例句：

• He is absolute ego in all thing.在所有的事情上他都绝对自我。
• She has been on an ego trip since she sang on television.她上电视台唱过歌之后就一直自吹自擂。

3 hesitation   

n.犹豫，踌躇

参考例句：

• After a long hesitation, he told the truth at last.踌躇了半天，他终于直说了。
• There was a certain hesitation in her manner.她的态度有些犹豫不决。

4 blurted   

v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She blurted it out before I could stop her. 我还没来得及制止，她已脱口而出。
• He blurted out the truth, that he committed the crime. 他不慎说出了真相，说是他犯了那个罪。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 chuckled   

轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She chuckled at the memory. 想起这件事她就暗自发笑。
• She chuckled softly to herself as she remembered his astonished look. 想起他那惊讶的表情，她就轻轻地暗自发笑。

6 nervously   

adv.神情激动地，不安地

参考例句：

• He bit his lip nervously,trying not to cry.他紧张地咬着唇，努力忍着不哭出来。
• He paced nervously up and down on the platform.他在站台上情绪不安地走来走去。