英語美文欣賞：祈盼清風

Lying in bed, by an open window, and listen....

窗邊靜躺，細心聆聽······

"No air-conditioning, how can you sleep?" my fiend asks, horrified. I've just revealed that my family had decided to shut the air-conditioner off and trim our electric bill.[/en

“不開空調?能睡得着嗎?”聽說家人要爲了節省電費而把家裏的空調關掉時，我的朋友一臉驚愕。

 [en]On its first night of our cost-cutting adventure, it's only eighty-five degrees. We're not going to suffer, but the three kids grumble anyway.

在大膽嘗試節電的第一天晚上，氣溫不過華氏85°而已，我們並不覺得難受，但三個孩子卻怨聲連天。

 

"It's too hot to sleep." my thirteen-year-old daught moans. "I'm about to die from this heat!" her brother hollers down the hall. "Just try it tonight." I tell them. In truth, I'm too tired to argue for long. My face is sweaty, but I lie quietly, listening to the criket choirs outside. That remind me of childhood.

“太熱了!怎麼睡啊!”我十三歲的女兒不停嘀咕着。“熱死我啦!”他弟弟的牢騷聲也從客廳的另一頭傳來。我只好說：“今晚就試着忍一忍，好嗎?”其實我根本沒有餘力多做解釋。臉上也出汗了。我靜靜地躺着，聆聽着窗外蟋蟀的合奏曲，思緒被牽回到了童年時光。

 

I think about my grandma, who lived to ninety-two and still supervised my mom's garden until just few weeks before she died. And then I'm back there in her house in the summer heat of my child hood. I moved my pillow to the foot of grandma's bed and angled my face toward the open window. I flipped the pillow, hunting for the cooller side.

這是我禁不住想起了外婆，她活到了92歲，直到去世前的幾個禮拜，她一直都幫助媽媽照料着花園。回到童年炎熱的夏天，回到了外婆的小屋，我把枕頭移到外婆的牀位，臉朝着窗。之後我又把枕頭翻了過來，讓比較涼爽的一頭朝上。

 

Grandma sees me thrashing, "if you just watch for the breeze," she says, "you'll cool off and fall asleep." She cranks up the Vanetian Blinds. I stare at the filmy white curtain, willing it to flutter. Lying still and waiting, I suddenly notice that life outside the window, the bug chorus. Neighbours, porch-sitting late, speaking in hazy words with sanded edges that soothe me.

看到我翻來翻去地睡不着，外婆說：“只要用心去感受和祈盼，風會來的，這樣你就可以一身清涼地入夢鄉了。”她把百葉窗拉了起來，於是我就一直注視着朦朧的白窗簾，等待它的飄動。靜靜地躺着，祈盼着，這是我忽然找到，窗外世界的生命。小蟲的清唱;門廊外閒聊着的鄰居，他們模糊不清的喋喋細語開始催我入眠······

 

"Mom, did you heat that?" my seven-year-old blurts, "I think it was an owl family."

“媽媽，您聽到了嗎?”我7歲的孩子囔道，“我覺得那是一頭貓頭鷹一家子在叫。”

 

"Probably." I tell him, "Just keep listening!"

“很有可能!”我跟他說，“再仔細聽!”

 

Without the droning air-conditioner, the house is oddly peaceful, and the unfiltered noise seems close enough to touch. I hope I'm awake tonight that the first breeze sneaks in.

沒有了空調機的嗡嗡聲，房間飄逸着一種奇異的祥和氣氛，還有未經過濾的、親近的伸手就可觸及的夜聲。真的希望，當第一縷清風悄然而至的時候，我依然能夠迎接她的到來。

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