大學(xué)英語第三冊(cè)UNIT5全文翻譯對(duì)照

1、Writing Three Thank-You LettersAlex Haley1 It was 1943, during World War II, and I was a young U. S. coastguardsman. My ship, the USS Murzim, had been under way for several days. Most of her holds contained thousands of cartons of canned or dried foods. The other holds were loaded with five-hundred-

2、pound bombs packed delicately in padded racks. Our destination was a big base on the island of Tulagi in the South Pacific.寫三封感謝信亞利克斯黑利那是在二戰(zhàn)期間的 1943 年，我是個(gè)年輕的美國海岸警衛(wèi)隊(duì)隊(duì)員。我們的船，美國軍艦軍市一號(hào)已出海多日。多數(shù)船艙裝著成千上萬箱罐裝或風(fēng)干的食品。其余的船艙裝著不少五百磅重的炸彈，都小心翼翼地放在墊過的架子上。我們的目的地是南太平洋圖拉吉島上一個(gè)規(guī)模很大的基地。2 I was one of the Murzim's seve

3、ral cooks and, quite the same as for folk ashore, this Thanksgiving morning had seen us busily preparing a traditional dinner featuring roast turkey.我是軍市一號(hào)上的一個(gè)廚師，跟岸上的人一樣，那個(gè)感恩節(jié)的上午，我們忙著在準(zhǔn)備一道以烤火雞為主的傳統(tǒng)菜肴。3 Well, as any cook knows, it's a lot of hard work to cook and serve a big meal, and clean up an

4、d put everything away. But finally, around sundown, we finished at last.當(dāng)廚師的都知道，要烹制一頓大餐，擺上桌，再刷洗、收拾干凈，是件辛苦的事。不過，等到太陽快下山時(shí)，我們總算全都收拾停當(dāng)了。4 I decided first to go out on the Murzim's afterdeck for a breath of open air. I made my way out there, breathing in great, deep draughts while walking slowly abou

5、t, still wearing my white cook's hat.我想先去后甲板透透氣。我信步走去，一邊深深呼吸著空氣，一邊慢慢地踱著步，頭上仍戴著那頂白色的廚師帽。5 I got to thinking about Thanksgiving, of the Pilgrims, Indians, wild turkeys, pumpkins, corn on the cob, and the rest.我開始思索起感恩節(jié)這個(gè)節(jié)日來，想著清教徒前輩移民、印第安人、野火雞、南瓜、玉米棒等等。6 Yet my mind seemed to be in quest of somethi

6、ng else - some way that I could personally apply to the close of Thanksgiving. It must have taken me a half hour to sense that maybe some key to an answer could result from reversing the word "Thanksgiving" - at least that suggested a verbal direction, "Giving thanks."可我腦子里似乎還在搜索

7、著別的事什么某種我能夠賦予這一節(jié)日以個(gè)人意義的方式。大概過了半個(gè)小時(shí)左右我才意識(shí)到，問題的關(guān)鍵也許在于把Thanksgivin艇個(gè)字前后顛倒一下那樣一來至少文字好懂了： Giving thanks。7 Giving thanks - as in praying, thanking God, I thought. Yes, of course. Certainly. 表達(dá)謝意一一就如在祈禱時(shí)感謝上帝那樣，我暗想。對(duì)啊，是這樣，當(dāng)然是這樣。8 Yet my mind continued turning the idea over. 可我腦子里仍一直盤桓著這事。9 After a while, li

8、ke a dawn's brightening, a further answer did come - that there were people to thank, people who had done so much for me that I could never possibly repay them. The embarrassing truth was I'd always just accepted what they'd done, taken all of it for granted. Not one time had I ever both

9、ered to express to any of them so much as a simple, sincere "Thank you."過了片刻，如同晨曦初現(xiàn)，一個(gè)更清晰的念頭終于涌現(xiàn)腦際一一要感謝他人，那些賜我以諸多恩惠，我根本無以回報(bào)的人們。令我深感不安的實(shí)際情形是，我向來對(duì)他們所做的一切受之泰然，認(rèn)為是理所應(yīng)當(dāng)。我一次也沒想過要對(duì)他們中的任何一位真心誠意地說 一句簡單的謝謝。10 At least seven people had been particularly and lastingly helpful to me. I realized, swallo

10、wing hard, that about half of them had since died - so they were forever beyond any possible expression of gratitude from me. The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I became. Then I pictured the three who were still alive and, within minutes, I was down in my cabin.至少有七個(gè)人對(duì)我有過不同尋常、影響深遠(yuǎn)的幫助。令人難過

11、的是，我意識(shí)到，他們中有一半已經(jīng)過世了一一因此他們永遠(yuǎn)也無法接受我的謝意了。我越想越感到羞愧。最后 我想到了仍健在的三位，幾分鐘后，我就回到了自己的艙房。11 Sitting at a table with writing paper and memories of things each had done, I tried composing genuine statements of heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to my dad, Simon A. Haley, a professor at the old Agricultural Mech

12、anical Normal College in Pine Bluff, Arkansas; to my grandma, Cynthia Palmer, back in our little hometown of Henning, Tennessee; and to the Rev. Lonual Nelson, my grammar school principal, retired and living in Ripley, six miles north of Henning.我坐在攤著信紙的桌旁，回想著他們各自對(duì)我所做的一切，試圖用真摯的文字表達(dá)我對(duì)他們的由衷的感激之情：父親西蒙A

13、黑利，阿肯色州派因布拉夫那所古老的農(nóng)業(yè)機(jī)械師范學(xué)院的教授；住在田納西州小鎮(zhèn)亨寧老家的外祖母辛西婭帕爾默；以及我的文法 學(xué)校校長，退休后住在亨寧以北6英里處的里普利的洛紐爾納爾遜牧師。12 The texts of my letters began something like, "Here, this Thanksgiving at sea, I find my thoughts upon how much you have done for me, but I have never stopped and said to you how much I feel the need t

14、o thank you - " And briefly I recalled for each of them specific acts performed on my behalf.我的信是這樣開頭的： “出海在外度過的這個(gè)感恩節(jié)，令我回想起您為我做了那么多事，但我從來沒有對(duì)您說過自己是多么想感謝您一一”我簡短回憶了各位為我所做的具 體事例。13 For instance, something uppermost about my father was how he had impressed upon me from boyhood to love books and read

15、ing. In fact, this graduated into a family habit of after-dinner quizzes at the table about books read most recently and new words learned. My love of books never diminished and later led me toward writing books myself. So many times I have felt a sadness when exposed to modern children so immersed

16、in the electronic media that they have little or no awareness of the marvelous world to be discovered in books.例如，我父親的最不同尋常之處在于，從我童年時(shí)代起，他就讓我深深意識(shí)到要熱愛書籍、熱愛閱讀。事實(shí)上，這一愛好漸漸變成一種家庭習(xí)慣，晚飯后大家圍在餐桌旁互相考查近日所讀的書以及新學(xué)的單詞。我對(duì)書籍的熱愛從未減弱，日后還引導(dǎo)我自己撰文著書。多少次，當(dāng)我看到如今的孩子們?nèi)绱顺撩杂陔娮用襟w時(shí)，我不由深感悲哀，他們很少，或者根本不了解書中所能發(fā)現(xiàn)的神奇世界。14 I reminded t

17、he Reverend Nelson how each morning he would open our little country town's grammar school with a prayer over his assembled students. I told him that whatever positive things I had done since had been influenced at least in part by his morning school prayers.我跟納爾遜牧師提及他如何每天清晨和集合在一起的學(xué)生做禱告，以此開始鄉(xiāng)村小學(xué)

18、的一天。我告訴他，我后來所做的任何有意義的事，都至少部分地是受了他那些學(xué)校晨 禱的影響。15 In the letter to my grandmother, I reminded her of a dozen ways she used to teach me how to tell the truth, to share, and to be forgiving and considerate of others. I thanked her for the years of eating her good cooking, the equal of which I had not fou

19、nd since. Finally, I thanked her simply for having sprinkled my life with stardust.在給外祖母的信中， 我談到了她用了種種方式教我講真話， 教我與人分享， 教我寬恕、體諒他人。我感謝她多年來讓我吃到她燒的美味菜肴，離開她后我從來沒吃過那么可口的菜肴。最后，我感謝她，因?yàn)樗谖业纳腥鱿旅烂畹腻谙搿?6 Before I slept, my three letters went into our ship's office mail sack. They got mailed when we reache

20、d Tulagi Island.睡覺前，我的這三封信都送進(jìn)了船上的郵袋。我們抵達(dá)圖拉吉島后都寄了出去。17 We unloaded cargo, reloaded with something else, then again we put to sea in the routine familiar to us, and as the days became weeks, my little personal experience receded. Sometimes, when we were at sea, a mail ship would rendezvous and bring u

21、s mail from home, which, of course, we accorded topmost priority.我們卸了貨，又裝了其它物品，隨后我們按熟悉的常規(guī)，再次出海。 一天又一天，一星期又一星期，我個(gè)人的經(jīng)歷漸漸淡忘。我們?cè)诤Ｉ虾叫袝r(shí)，有時(shí)會(huì)與郵船會(huì)合，郵船會(huì)帶給我們家信，當(dāng)然這是我們視為最緊要的事情。18Every time the ship's loudspeaker rasped, "Attention! Mail call!" two hundred-odd shipmates came pounding up on deck and

22、 clustered about the two seamen, standing by those precious bulging gray sacks. They were alternately pulling out fistfuls of letters and barking successive names of sailors who were, in turn, shouting back "Here! Here!" amid the pushing.每當(dāng)船上的喇叭響起： “大伙聽好！郵件點(diǎn)名！ ” 200 名左右的水兵就會(huì)沖上甲板，圍聚在那兩個(gè)站在寶貴

23、的鼓鼓囊囊的灰色郵袋旁的水手周圍。兩人輪流取出一把信，大聲念收信水手的名字，叫到的人從人群當(dāng)中擠出，一邊應(yīng)道： “來了，來了！ ”19 One "mail call" brought me responses from Grandma, Dad, and the Reverend Nelson-and my reading of their letters left me not only astonished but more humbled than before.一次“郵件點(diǎn)名”帶給我外祖母，爸爸，以及納爾遜牧師的回信一一我讀了信，既 震驚又深感卑微。20 Rathe

24、r than saying they would forgive that I hadn't previously thanked them, instead, for Pete's sake, they were thanking me - for having remembered, for having considered they had done anything so exceptional.他們沒有說他們?cè)徫乙郧安辉兄x他們，相反，他們向我致謝，天哪，就因?yàn)槲矣浀?，就因?yàn)槲艺J(rèn)為他們做了不同尋常的事。21 Always the college professor

25、, my dad had carefully avoided anything he considered too sentimental, so I knew how moved he was to write me that, after having helped educate many young people, he now felt that his best results included his own son.身為大學(xué)教授的爸爸向來特別留意不使用任何過于感情化的文字，因此， 當(dāng)他對(duì)我寫道， 在教了許許多多的年輕人之后， 他認(rèn)為自己最優(yōu)秀的學(xué)生當(dāng)中也包括自己的兒子時(shí)，我知道

26、他是多么地感動(dòng)。22 The Reverend Nelson wrote that his decades as a "simple, old-fashioned principal" had ended with schools undergoing such swift changes that he had retired in self-doubt. "I heard more of what I had done wrong than what I did right," he said, adding that my letter had brought him welcome reassurance that his career had been appreciated.納爾遜牧師寫道，他那平凡的傳統(tǒng)校長的歲月隨著學(xué)校里發(fā)生的如此迅猛的變化而結(jié)束， 他懷著自我懷疑的心態(tài)退了休。 “說我做得不對(duì)的遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)多于說我做得對(duì)的， ” 他寫道， 接著說我的信給他帶來了振奮人心的信心：自己的校長生涯還是有其價(jià)值的。23 A glance at Grandma's familiar handwriting brought back