第8章 EpisodesinLife生命中的插曲(1)

我们赤裸裸地来到这个世界，没有思想，没有情感。伴随着生命中的那些真假善恶的累积，我们渐渐成熟了，懂得了分辨，适应了社会。而这些意外出现于我们生命中的真假善恶，教会了我们坚毅、勇敢、洞察真假的能力、如何去体味幸福！

A Little Piece of Me 生命中的过客

Anonymous

When he told me he was leaving I felt like a vase which has just smashed. There were pieces of me all over the tidy， tan tiles. He kept talking， telling me why he was leaving， explaining it was for the best， I could do better， it was his fault and not mine. I had heard it before many times and yet somehow was still not immune； perhaps one did not become immune to such felony.

He left and I tried to get on with my life. I filled the kettle and put it on to boil， I took out my old red mug and filled it with coffee watching as each coffee granule slipped into the bone china. That was what my life had been like， endless omissions of coffee granules， somehow never managing to make that cup of coffee.

Somehow when the kettle piped its finishing warning I pretended not to hear it. That‘s what Mike’s leaving had been like， sudden and with an awful finality. I would rather just wallow in uncertainty than havethings finished. I laughed at myself. Imagine getting all philosophical and sentimental about a mug of coffee. I must be getting old.

And yet it was a young woman who stared back at me from the mirror. A young woman full of promise and hope， a young woman with bright eyes and full lips just waiting to take on the world. I never loved Mike anyway. Besides， there are more important things. More important than love， I insist to myself firmly. The lid goes back on the coffee just like closure on the whole Mike experience.

He doesn‘t haunt my dreams as I feared that night. Instead I am flying far across fields and woods， looking down on those below me. Suddenly I fall to the ground and it is only when I wake up that I realize I was shot by a hunter， brought down by the burden of not the bullet but the soul of the man who shot it. I realize later， with some degree of understanding， that Mike was the hunter holding me down and I am the bird that longs to fly. The next night my dream is similar to the previous nights， but without the hunter. I fly free until I meet another bird who flies with me in perfect harmony. I realize with some relief that there is a bird out there for me， there is another person， not necessarily a lover perhaps just a friend， but there is someone out there who is my soul mate. I think about being a broken vase again and realize that I have glued myself back together， what Mike has is merely a little part of my time in earth， a little understanding of my physical being. He has only， a little piece of me.

生命中有很多过客，他们的出现能够让我们的人生变得绚丽多彩。

参考翻译（佚名）

当他告诉我他要离开我时，我感觉自己就像一个刚刚被打碎的花瓶，在褐色的小瓷砖上碎成一片一片的。他不停地说着，告诉我他为什么离开，解释说这样最好，我可以找到更好的，他离开我是他的不对，不怪我。我以前曾无数次听过这样的话，然而我对此仍然没有免疫力，也许没有人能对这种重罪行为有免疫力。

他离开了，我试着继续过我的生活。我装满一壶水，放到炉子上烧开。我拿出了以前用的红杯子，倒上咖啡，看着咖啡颗粒滑进骨瓷杯中。这就像我过去的生活，无数遗漏的咖啡颗粒，不知怎么，从未设法冲成那样一杯咖啡。

当水壶烧开鸣笛示警时，我装作没有听见。这就像迈克离开我的时候，突兀以及难堪的决绝。我宁愿徘徊在不确定中，而不是让事情得出一个结论。我嘲笑自己，由一杯咖啡能想到这么多有关哲学和感伤的东西，我一定开始变老了。

然而镜子里却是一个年轻女人盯着我，一个充满承诺和希望，有着明亮的大眼睛和饱满的嘴唇的年轻女人正等着给这个世界呈现新的面貌。不管怎样，我从未爱过迈克。而且，还有更重要的事等着我去做。比爱情重要得多，我坚决支持自己。茶盖放回咖啡杯上，就像我对所有关于迈克的往事有了了断。

在我不安的那个夜晚，他没有徘徊在我的梦里。相反，我高高飞翔在田野和树林的上空，俯视着身下的这一切。突然，我跌在地上，当我醒来，我意识到我被猎人击落，不是被猎人的子弹，而是他的灵魂。后来我意识到，从某种程度上理解，猎人就是迈克，是他让我跌落的，而我就是那只渴望高飞的小鸟。第二天晚上我做的梦和前天晚上的相似，只是没有猎人。我无忧无虑地飞着，直到我遇到了另一只鸟，我们一起飞得非常和谐。我松了一口气，意识到外面世界里还有一只鸟，即有那么一个人，不一定是爱人，或许只是个朋友，但是他是我的灵魂伴侣。我想到了那个打碎的花瓶而且意识到我已经把它粘合一起了，在尘世里，迈克只是我生命中的一小部分，他只是对我的外在有一些了解。他只不过是我生命中的一个过客而已。

Promises Kept 恪守诺言

Anonymous

My father was not a sentimental man. I don’t remember him ever ohhing or ahhing over something I made as a child. Don‘t get me wrong， I knew that my dad loved me， but getting all mushy-eyed was not his thing. I learned that he showed me he loved me in other ways. There was one particular moment when this became real to me...

I always believed that my parents had a good marriage， but just before I， the youngest of four children， turned 16， my belief was sorely tested.

My father， who used to share in the chores around the house， gradually started becoming despondent. From the time he came home from his job at the factory， to the time he went to bed， he hardly spoke a word to my mom or us kids. The strain on my mom and dad’s relationship was very evident. However， I was not prepared for the day that mom sat my siblings and me down and told us that dad had decidedto leave.

All that I could think of was that I was going to become a product of a divorced family. It was something I never thought possible and it grieved me greatly. I kept telling myself that it wasn‘t going to happen， and I went totally numb when I knew my dad was really leaving. The night before he left I stayed up in my room for a long time. I prayed and I cried and I wrote a long letter to my dad. I told him how much I loved him and how much I would miss him. I told him that I was praying for him and wanted him to know that， no matter what， I loved him. I told him that I would always and forever be his Kristi...

As I folded my note I stuck in a picture of me with a saying I had always heard.“Anyone can be a father but it takes someone special to be called a Daddy.”

Early， the next morning as my dad left our house I went to the car and slipped my letter into one of his bags. Two weeks went by with hardly a word from my father.

Then， one afternoon， I came home from school to find my mom sitting at the dining room table waiting to talk to me. I could see in her eyes that she had been crying. She told me that dad had been there and that they had had a very long talk. They decided that there were things that the both of them could， and would change- and that their marriage was worth saving.

Mom then turned her focus to my eyes.“Kristi， dad told me that you wrote him a letter. Can I ask what you wrote to him？”

I found it hard to share with my mom what I wrote from my heart to my dad. I mumbled a few words and shrugged. My mom replied，“Well， dad said that when he read your letter， it made him cry. It meant a lot to him and I have hardly ever seen your dad cry. After he read your letter， hecalled to ask if he could come over to talk. Whatever you said really made a difference to your dad.”