读者文摘:陌生人的爱(1)

WHEN TYRA DAMM lost her husband, Steve Damm, to brain cancer in 2009 after 15 years of marriage,

2009年，蒂拉·达姆结婚的第16年，丈夫史蒂夫·达姆死于脑癌。

her heart broke for herself and her kids, then ages four and eight.

她和当时4岁和8岁的孩子心痛不已。

And in the opaque¹ blur² of that first year, one day stood out: his birthday.

在去世第一年模模糊糊的记忆中，有一天格外引人注目：丈夫的生日。

It was the hardest day of them all, full of unbelievable grief.

这是蒂拉和孩子过的最艰难的一天，充满了悲伤。

Almost out of desperation, she hatched a plan for Steve's next birthday.

几乎到了绝望，她为史蒂夫的下一个生日制定了计划。

She would use it to help people she'd never met.

她会用这一天帮助她从未见过的人。

On November 4, 2011, Tyra asked friends in her Texas community to perform random³ acts of kindness in Steve's honor.

2011年11月4日，蒂拉邀请她在德克萨斯州的朋友为史蒂夫做一些善事。

Hundreds of people responded.

数百人响应蒂拉的邀请。

A movement—and the hashtag #dammkind—was born.

一场带着标签# dammkinde的运动诞生了。

In the years since, #dammkind has been passed along and expanded, moving people Tyra has never met to do good deeds:

在那之后的几年里，“dammkind”得以传承和推广，人们从未见过蒂拉，但在蒂拉的感召下做善事

buying coffee or ice cream for a person in line behind them, leaving a note of gratitude⁴ and a large tip for a waiter,

这些人给在后面派对的人买咖啡或冰淇淋，给服务员留下感谢的字条和一大笔小费。

baking cookies for Meals on Wheels.

为上门送餐服务烘培饼干。

"November 4," says Tyra, a 46-yearold middle school teacher and parenting columnist⁵ for the Dallas Morning News,

“11月4日，”46岁的蒂拉说，她是一名中学教师，也是《达拉斯晨报》的育儿专栏作家。

"is my favorite day of the year."

“这一天是一年中我最开心的一天。”

1 opaque   

adj.不透光的；不反光的，不传导的；晦涩的

参考例句：

• The windows are of opaque glass.这些窗户装着不透明玻璃。
• Their intentions remained opaque.他们的意图仍然令人费解。

2 blur   

n.模糊不清的事物；vt.使模糊，使看不清楚

参考例句：

• The houses appeared as a blur in the mist.房子在薄雾中隐隐约约看不清。
• If you move your eyes and your head,the picture will blur.如果你的眼睛或头动了，图像就会变得模糊不清。

3 random   

adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动

参考例句：

• The list is arranged in a random order.名单排列不分先后。
• On random inspection the meat was found to be bad.经抽查，发现肉变质了。

4 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

5 columnist   

n.专栏作家

参考例句：

• The host was interviewing a local columnist.节目主持人正在同一位当地的专栏作家交谈。
• She's a columnist for USA Today.她是《今日美国报》的专栏作家。