精美英文欣赏:幸福的回忆

A Beautiful Memory

Er...the loveliest house that I've ever lived in was one that I lived in with my grandparents when I was a child. And the name of the house was Crosslands. And I have some very happy memories of Crosslands. It was, it seemed, so huge to me as a child. And it had a lovely living room with a piano in it and a lovely sort of hall with lots of carpets and chests¹ and antiques² and so on. And there was a mysterious room, it was the drawing room, and we only used it on Sundays, or when the vicar came for tea, or Christmas Day or Easter Day, and I was used to be amazed³ about this room because it had the best furniture in it but it was covered up with sheets- it was as if all the furniture was wearing clothes- and it seemed to me ridiculous⁴ that we couldn't enjoy this beautiful furniture all the week through really.

And probably my favorite room was the kitchen. It had a lovely red flagstone floor, which was always highly⁵ polished⁶, and an Aga, you know, one of those big cookers that heats the whole room so it was always warm there, and there was a kind of clothes horse above it that we used to hang all our clothes on, and it was just lovely. It was a very warm room with baked bread and my grandmother used to make ice cream and we'd eat it in there and... there was a vegetable garden leading from thereso I spent a lot of time in the vegetable garden picking peas⁷ and eating them—my grandmother used to get really cross with me because I used to pick all the vegetables and the fruit for our meals and then I'd eat half of them, because they tasted so delicious coming fresh from the garden.

Now, I went back to it a few years ago and it was a big mistake. They've modernized⁸ it inside, they've got rid of those lovely old fire-places...have just gone. And they've knocked a wall down so the drawing room and the living room have become one big modern plastic kind of room.

But I think what upset me most about it was the feeling that the house had shrunk⁹, it had become smaller and that my memory of this lovely large warm comfortable house had turned into an old house with modernized rooms inside it. And it taught me a lesson really, that you can't go back on the past and recapture it. But there's a beautiful memory there.

呃……我住过的最可爱的房子，就是小时侯和爷爷奶奶一起住的房屋了。房子的名字叫“十字地带”，它留给我一些令人非常愉快的回忆。房子，在儿时的我眼里，感觉真是好大啊！可爱的起居室里摆放着一架钢琴，漂亮的大厅里有各种各样的地毯、柜子、古董等东西。还有一间很神秘的房间，就是会客厅，我们只在周日，以及牧师来喝茶、圣诞节或者复活节的时候才用它。里面有最好家具，却总是覆盖着东西―― 就好像所有的家具都穿上了外衣，因此，那时候我一直对这间房子很好奇。不过，令我感到荒谬的是，这么漂亮的家具我们却一个星期都不能连续享用。

我最喜欢的房间，也许就是厨房了吧。令人愉快的红色石质地板，总是被擦得亮亮的。房间里有一个大壁炉，把整个屋子烤得暖暖和和的，壁炉上面挂着一个衣架，我们的衣服都挂在衣架上，真的是很合适，也很漂亮。烤着香香的面包，房间里真是好温暖啊。奶奶还常做冰淇淋，我们就在这个房间里吃……从厨房能够通往菜园，我常在园子里摘豌豆吃。我会把菜园里的蔬菜和水果摘个精光，做好饭后我几乎能吃掉一半，奶奶有时就真的生气了。主要是因为从菜园里摘的蔬菜太好吃了。

几年后，我回到这里--这真是一个很大的错误--房子里面装修得很现代化了，那些漂亮的壁炉也拆掉了……都已经不存在了。他们把会客厅和起居室之间的墙拆掉，改为一大间很现代的可塑型的房间。

然而，我认为最让我不舒服的是感觉房子好像变小了。它越来越小，我记忆中的那个既漂亮温暖又舒服的大房子变成了一套房间装修得很现代化的老房子。我得出了一个教训，那就是你不能回到过去，更不能重新拥有它，但是，关于老房子的回忆还是一样的美好。

1 chests   

n.胸部( chest的名词复数 )；（常为木制的）箱子；有…胸的；胸部…的

参考例句：

• The special agents broke into his room and rummaged through chests and cupboards but couldn't find anything suspicious. 那些特务冲进他的房间翻箱倒柜地搜了一遍，但没有发现任何可疑的东西。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• I particularly liked the wooden chests and chairs. 我格外喜欢木箱子和木椅子。 来自辞典例句

2 antiques   

n.古玩，古董，古物( antique的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The room was furnished with antiques. 房间里摆放了古董。
• a priceless collection of antiques 价值连城的古文物收藏

3 amazed   

adj.吃惊的，惊奇的v.使大为吃惊，使惊奇( amaze的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Just the size of the place amazed her. 仅仅地方之大就使她十分惊奇。
• I was amazed at her knowledge of French literature. 她的法国文学知识之丰富使我大为惊奇。

4 ridiculous   

adj.荒谬的，可笑的；荒唐的

参考例句：

• It is simply ridiculous to attempt such a thing.试图干这种事，简直可笑。
• It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard in my life.这是我有生以来听到的最为荒唐可笑的事。

5 highly   

adv.高度地，极，非常；非常赞许地

参考例句：

• It is highly important to provide for the future.预先做好准备非常重要。
• The teacher speaks very highly of the boy's behaviour.老师称赞这个男孩的表现。

6 polished   

adj.磨光的，擦亮的；完美的，精良的；优雅的v.使光滑，擦亮(polish的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The boxer polished off his opponent in the first round. 那个拳击手在第一个回合就把他的对手击倒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The silver will need to be polished up for the dinner party. 为了宴会，这些银器需要擦得光亮。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 peas   

豌豆

参考例句：

• My little sister picked up many green peas in the field. 小妹从田野里拾到许多豌豆。
• The twin brothers are as like as two peas. 那两个兄弟毫无二致。

8 modernized   

使现代化，使适应现代需要( modernize的过去式和过去分词 )； 现代化，使用现代方法

参考例句：

• By 1985 the entire railway network will have been modernized. 等到1985年整个铁路网就实现现代化了。
• He set about rebuilding France, and made it into a brilliant-looking modernized imperialism. 他试图重建法国，使它成为一项表面华丽的现代化帝业。

9 shrunk   

shrink的过去式和过去分词:收缩,缩短,皱缩,退避

参考例句：

• I confess it with shame--shrunk icily into myself, like a snail. 我羞愧地忏悔了——冷冰冰地退缩，像个蜗牛。
• The peasantry has shrunk from 74.6 millions to 65.5. 农民人数已从7460万减至6550万。