Daffodil Principle 水仙花法则
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水仙花法则音频:00:0006:43合集#英语美文朗读131个
Several times my daughter had telephoned to say, “ Mother, you must come to see the daffodils before they are over. ” I wanted to go, but it was a two-hour drive from Laguna to Lake Arrowhead.
好几次了,我女儿打电话来说: “妈妈,你务必得在那些水仙花凋谢之前来看看它们。”我是想去,可从拉古娜到箭头湖要开两个小时的车。
“ I will come next Tuesday, ” I promised, a little reluctantly, on her third call.
“那我下周二去吧。”在她第三次打来电话时,我极不情愿 地答应道。
Next Tuesday dawned cold and rainy. Still, I had promised, and so I drove there.
到了那个周二,清晨很冷又下着雨,不过既然答应了, 我还是开车去了。
When I finally walked into Carolyn’s house and hugged and greeted my grandchildren, I said,
等我终于到了卡罗琳家,拥抱问候过我的外孙们,说:
“ Forget the daffodils, Carolyn! The road is invisible in the clouds and fog, there is nothing in the world except you and these children that I want to see bad enough to drive another inch! ”
“卡罗琳,别想那水仙了!天阴又有雾,路都看不清。这世上除了你和这些孩子,没有什么能让我为想去看他们再开一步车了!”
My daughter smiled calmly and said, “ We drive in this all the time, mother.”
女儿平静地笑着说:“妈妈,我们一直都在这种天气里开车 的呀!”
“ Well, you won’t get me back on the road until it clears, and then I’m heading for home! ” I assured her.
“那反正你甭想让我再开车上路了,除非天晴了,然后我就直接开车回家!”我重申道。
“ I was hoping you’d take me over to the garage[ɡəˈrɑːʒ] to pick up my car.”
“ 我本来指望你能开车捎我去修车厂取我的车呢!”
“How far will we have to drive?”
“我们得开多远啊?”
“Just a few blocks,” Carolyn said. “ I’ll drive, I’m used to this.”
“就几条街,”卡罗琳说,“我来开,反正我习惯了这种天气。”
After several minutes, I had to ask,“ Where are we going? This isn’t the way to the garage!” “We’re going to my garage the long way, ” Carolyn smiled, "by way of the daffodils.”
过了几分钟,我不得不问dao:“我们这是去哪儿啊?这不是去修车厂的路啊!”卡罗琳笑了,“我们要去的那个修车厂很远,要经过水仙花。”
“ Carolyn,” I said sternly, “ please turn around.”
“卡罗琳,”我严厉地说,“请你掉头回去。”
“ It’s all right, mother, I promise. You will never forgive yourself if you miss this experience.”
“没事的,妈妈,我保证。如果你错过了这次经历,你永远不会原谅自己的。”
After about 20 minutes, we turned onto a small gravel road and I saw a small church. On the far side of the church, I saw a hand-lettered sign that read, Daffodil Garden.
大概过了 20分钟,我们转到了一条碎石小路上,我看到一个小教堂。在教堂的稍远一侧,我看见一个手写的牌子,上面写着: “水仙花园”。
We got out of the car and each took a child’s hand, and I followed Carolyn down the path. Then, we turned a corner of the path, and I looked up and gasped. Before me lay the most glorious sight.
我们走下车,一人领着一个孩子。我跟着卡罗琳顺小道而行, 转到小道的一角,我抬头一看,惊住了。
It looked as though someone had taken a great vat of gold and poured it down over the mountain peak and slopes. Each different-colored variety was planted as a group so that it swirled and flowed like its own river with its own unique hue. There were five acres of flowers.
在我面前是极为壮观的 景象,看上去仿佛有人把一大缸金子倾倒下来,覆盖了峰顶和山 坡。那些花栽种成宏伟的漩涡图案——宽宽窄窄的条纹有很多颜 色,有深橘、白、柠檬黄、橙红、番红和乳黄。每种不同色系的 多种颜色种植为一组,这样看上去每组都用自己独特的色调一圈 圈地在自己的河流中流淌。那有五亩花。
“ But who has done this? ” I asked Carolyn.
“这是谁种的呢?”我问卡罗琳。
Carolyn pointed to a well-kept A-frame house that looked small and modest in midst of all that glory. We walked up to the house. On the patio, we saw a poster. “ Answers to the Questions I Know You Are Asking ” was the headline.
“就一个女人,”卡罗琳回答, “她就以这片花为生。那是她的家。”卡罗琳指着一个整修得很好的A字形房子,在一片壮丽的景象当中,这房子看起来小而朴素。
我走到房子跟前,在院子里我看到一张海报,标题是“答案我知道你要问的这些问题”。
The first answer was a simple one. “ 50,000 bulbs,” it read.
第一个答案很简单,写着:“50,000株”。
The second answer was, “ One at a time, by one woman. Two hands, two feet, and very little brain.”
第二个答案是:“一次种一株,一个女人,两只手,两只脚,不需多动脑”
The third answer was, “ Began in 1958.”
第三个答案是:“开始于1958年”
There it was. The Daffodil Principle. For me, that moment was a life-changing experience. I thought of this woman whom I had never met, who, more than 35 years before, had begun—one bulb at a time—to bring her vision of beauty and joy to an obscure mountain top.
这就是“水仙定律”。对于我,那一刻是一次改变生活的经历。我在琢磨这个我从未谋面的女人,她在35年前,开始一次种一株——给她自己带来了美的景象和花满山顶的快乐。
Just planting one bulb at a time, year after year, this unknown woman had forever changed the world in which she lived. S