英語(yǔ)散文名篇欣賞：林中漫步(下)

　　The letters on one side were indistinct, but on the other an 'R' was clearly visible with what looked like an 'I' after it. "Some budding romance?" I asked, "did you know who they were?"

　　"Oh yes, I knew them", said Mary Smith, "it says RH loves MS."

　　心一邊的字母已無(wú)法辨認(rèn)了，但在另一邊，字母“R”清晰可見(jiàn)，后面還有個(gè)像是“I”的字母。“初戀羅曼史?”我問(wèn)道，“你知道他們是誰(shuí)嗎?”

　　“唔，我知道。”瑪麗·史密斯說(shuō)，“寫(xiě)的是‘RH愛(ài)MS’。

　　I realised that I could be getting out of my depth, and longed to be in my office, away from here and this old lady, snug, and with a mug of tea in my hand.

　　She went on, "He had a penknife with a spike for getting stones from a horse's hoof, and I helped him to carve my initials. We were very much in love, but he was going away, and could not tell me what he was involved in the army. I had guessed of course. It was the last evening we ever spent together，because he went away the next day, back to his Unit."

　　我意識(shí)到我可能涉入太深了，真希望自己身在辦公室，遠(yuǎn)離這個(gè)地方和這個(gè)老年女士，手里還端著杯茶，舒舒服服地。

　　她繼續(xù)講下去：“他拿著一把袖珍折刀，折刀上嵌有長(zhǎng)釘，那種長(zhǎng)釘可以用來(lái)挖出夾在馬蹄上的石塊，我們一起刻了我名字的第一個(gè)字母。我們深深相愛(ài)，但他卻要離開(kāi)了，而且不知道他將在軍隊(duì)里干什么。當(dāng)然我也曾猜想過(guò)。那是我們?cè)谝黄鸬淖詈笠粋€(gè)夜晚，因?yàn)樗诙炀突夭筷?duì)去了。

　　Mary Smith was quiet for a while, then she sobbed. "His mother showed me the telegram. 'Sergeant R Holmes ... Killed in action in the invasion of France.'

　　"'I had hoped that you and Robin would one day get married,' she said, He was my only child, and I would have loved to be a Granny, they would have been such lovely babies' - she was like that!

　　瑪麗·史密斯停了一會(huì)兒，接著抽泣起來(lái)。“他母親給我看了那封電報(bào)。‘R?荷爾姆斯軍士……在解放法國(guó)的戰(zhàn)役中犧牲。’“

　　我本來(lái)希望你和羅賓會(huì)結(jié)婚的。’她母親說(shuō)，‘我只有他一個(gè)孩子，我本希望能做祖母，有非?？蓯?ài)的小寶寶。’——她真是那么說(shuō)的!

　　"Two years later she too was dead. 'Pneumonia, following a chill on the chest' was what the doctor said, but I think it was an old fashioned broken heart. A child would have helped both of us."

　　There was a further pause. Mary Smith gently caressed the wounded tree, just as she would have caressed him. "And now they want to take our tree away from me."

　　“兩年后她也去世了。醫(yī)生說(shuō)是‘肺炎，胸部著涼造成的’，但我認(rèn)為這是典型的傷心過(guò)度。如果有個(gè)孩子那我們倆就都不會(huì)這樣了。”

　　瑪麗·史密斯又停了會(huì)兒沒(méi)說(shuō)話。她輕柔地?fù)崦强每踢^(guò)的樹(shù)，就像她曾經(jīng)撫摸他一樣。“現(xiàn)在他們想把我們的樹(shù)奪走。”

　　Another quiet sob, then she turned to me. "I was young and pretty then, I could have had anybody, I wasn't always the old woman you see here now. I had everything I wanted in life, a lovely man, health and a future to look forwards to."

　　She paused again and looked around. The breeze gently moved through the leaves with a sighing sound. "There were others, of course, but not a patch on my Robin!" she said strongly. "

　　她又輕輕地抽噎了一下，然后她轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身來(lái)對(duì)著我。“當(dāng)時(shí)我年輕漂亮，我愛(ài)嫁給誰(shuí)都可以，我當(dāng)時(shí)可不是現(xiàn)在這么老的。我擁有生命里所要的一切，一個(gè)值得愛(ài)的男人、健康的身體和充滿夢(mèng)想的未來(lái)。”

　　她頓了頓，朝四周看了一眼。微風(fēng)輕輕吹拂著樹(shù)葉，發(fā)出嘆息般的沙沙聲。“當(dāng)然， 那時(shí)還有其他人，但他們連羅賓的一絲一毫都比不上!”她肯定地說(shuō)。

　　And now I have nothing - except the memories this tree holds.

　　If only I could get my hands on that awful man who writes in the paper about the value of the road they are going to build where we are standing now, I would kill him.

　　“現(xiàn)在我一無(wú)所有——只剩下殘留在這棵樹(shù)上的記憶。

　　那個(gè)可惡的家伙竟建議把路修在我們所站的這個(gè)地方，我真希望掐死他。

　　Has he never loved, has he never lived, does he not know anything about memories? We were not the only ones, you know, I still meet some who came here as Robin and I did. Yes, I would tell him!"

　　I turned away, sick at heart.

　　我會(huì)對(duì)他說(shuō)：你從沒(méi)愛(ài)過(guò)嗎，你活過(guò)嗎，你從不知道什么叫記憶嗎?你知道，不僅僅是我們，現(xiàn)在我仍能看見(jiàn)些男男女女像當(dāng)年的我和羅賓那樣到這兒來(lái)。是的，我一定要對(duì)他說(shuō)!”

　　我轉(zhuǎn)過(guò)身去，心里感到很難過(guò)。