读者文摘:寻找三叶草给我带来的启示(1)

When I was in the third grade, we had a scavenger¹ hunt at school.

在我上三年级的时候，我们会在学校玩寻物游戏。

We gathered up chalk, pencils, stones, and poorly hidden tchotchkes, rapidly filling our checklists. It was a very close race.

我们收集粉笔、铅笔、石头和隐藏得很差的一些小玩意，迅速填满了我们的清单。这是一场势均力敌的比赛。

I was out of breath when I reached the clover patch in search of the last, most hard-to-find item: a four-leaf clover.

我上气不接下气地跑到三叶草地去寻找最后一片叶子，是最难发现的那种：四叶三叶草。

I was pretty sure that I was going to win. I had a trump² card.

我很确定我将赢得这场胜利，我有一张王牌。

The thing is, I have always been able to find four-leaf clovers. I just see them.

最重要的是，我总是能发现四叶草。我就是能看到它们。

I spent my childhood collecting and pressing four-leaf clovers into books at my mother's house.

我的童年是在母亲家里收集四叶草并把它们压在书里面度过的。

I started with big cloth- and leather-bound books. Joyce's Ulysses, the complete works of the Shakespeare, my great-grandmother's copy of Les Misérables.

我从布面和皮面的书籍开始。乔伊斯的《尤利西斯》，莎士比亚全集，还有我曾祖母的《悲惨世界》的抄写本。

When I ran out of romantically bound volumes, I be-gan to slip my treasures into anything I could find: well-thumbed fiction paperbacks³, cookbooks.

当我在浪漫装订的书里都放了四叶草后，我开始把我的宝藏放在我能发现的任何书里：经常翻阅的小说平装本，烹饪书籍。

The same is true in my house today. Shake a book, and a papery treasure just might fall into your hand.

现在在我家的情况也是如此。摇晃一本书，一个薄纸样的宝贝可能就会落到你的手上。

I believe that there is casual magic in everyday acts.

我认为在我们日常的行径中都存在着偶然的魔法。

A few years ago, in Nova Scotia, my husband and I pulled off the road for a picnic.

几年前，在新斯科舍省，我和丈夫开车去野餐。

The ground was thick with clover. Some shoots had four, five, even six leaves.

地上长满了三叶草。有一些嫩芽有4片、5片甚至6片叶子。

I lined them up on the picnic table to admire as my husband, never yet having found one four-leaf clover, looked on with awe⁴.

我把这些三叶草放在野餐桌上排成一排，欣赏着它们，而我那从没发现过一个四叶三叶草的丈夫则敬畏着看着它们。

To me, it was simple. The differences in their shapes popped out, breaking the pretty pattern of the conventional clovers with their three perfect leaves.

对我来说，这很简单。它们形状的差异突然显现出来，打破了传统三叶草的有三片完美的叶子的美丽模式。

Two summers back, while wait-ing for an airport shuttle in Munich, I found a tiny four-leaf clover in a traf-fic circle and tucked it into my pass-port.

两个夏天以前，在慕尼黑等机场班车的时候，我在一个交叉路口里发现了一株小小的四叶三叶草，把它塞进了我的护照里。

On the way home, my husband and I were upgraded to business class. Friends attributed our good luck to the clover.

在回家的时候，我和丈夫升级到了商务舱。朋友们都把我们的好运气归功于三叶草。

I think it's more likely that we were upgraded because a flight can-cellation

我认为更可能的原因是，在那之后的几个晚上，由于航班延误，

left us stranded⁵ in two cities on as many continents on subsequent nights and a kind customer service rep took pity on us.

我们被困在了两个大洲的两个城市里，一位好心的客服代表对我们表示了同情。

People disagree about whether the luck lies in the finding or in the pos-session of a clover.

运气在于寻找还是为三叶草所有，人们在这个问题上存在分歧。

Some believe that the luck is lost if the four-leaf clover is even shown to somebody else, while others think the luck doubles if it is given away.

有些人认为，如果展示四叶三叶草给他人看的话，运气就会消失。而其他人认为如果把它赠送给别人的话，运气会加倍。

I believe that positiv-ity is compounded by sharing. I feel lucky to find the clovers so often,

我认为分享的话，积极会增多。我感觉很幸运能经常发现四叶三叶草，

but I don't think they influence my life any more than it does to share anything a little special—that momentary⁶ close-ness

但是，我觉得它们不会影响我的生活，就像是当我和朋友或陌生人进行一次特别的分享时一样，

between you and a friend or a stranger, as you all lean in to wonder at a rare find.

我们都靠近去看一个特别的发现，由此产生一种瞬时的亲密，这也不会影响我的生活。

What is luck, anyway? Does it mean you can't take credit for the things that happen to you?

不过，运气到底是什么？这是否意味着你不能把发生在你身上的事情归功于自己？

Should I have kept all the clovers I found instead of giving them away? I believe that there is casual magic in everyday acts.

与其赠送给别人，我应该把我发现的所有的三叶草都保留起来吗？我认为在我们日常的行径中都存在着偶然的魔法。

It's lucky simply to know what it is to seek out and love a genetically⁷ deformed⁸ clover—to know how to treasure difference.

仅仅需要知道，寻找并且爱上一个基因转变的三叶草的目的是要让人珍视差异，这就是幸运。

Every time I see a patch of clover, I feel a compul-sion to search that cannot be satisfied until I hold a four-leaf clover in my hands. It's a sort of mania⁹.

每当我看到一片生长有三叶草的土地时，我就有一种寻找四叶三叶草的冲动，在发现之前，我是不会满足的。我对这件事有一种狂热。

1 scavenger   

n.以腐尸为食的动物，清扫工

参考例句：

• He's just fit for a job as scavenger.他只配当个清道夫。
• He is not a scavenger nor just a moving appetite as some sharks are.它不是食腐动物，也不像有些鲨鱼那样，只知道游来游去满足食欲。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 paperbacks   

n.平装本，平装书( paperback的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This shop only sells paperbacks. 这家书店只出售平装本的书。 来自辞典例句
• Other paperbacks were selling for ten or 15 cents each. 其它的平装书每本才卖十或十五美分。 来自互联网

4 awe   

n.敬畏，惊惧；vt.使敬畏，使惊惧

参考例句：

• The sight filled us with awe.这景色使我们大为惊叹。
• The approaching tornado struck awe in our hearts.正在逼近的龙卷风使我们惊恐万分。

5 stranded   

a.搁浅的，进退两难的

参考例句：

• He was stranded in a strange city without money. 他流落在一个陌生的城市里， 身无分文，一筹莫展。
• I was stranded in the strange town without money or friends. 我困在那陌生的城市，既没有钱，又没有朋友。

6 momentary   

adj.片刻的，瞬息的；短暂的

参考例句：

• We are in momentary expectation of the arrival of you.我们无时无刻不在盼望你的到来。
• I caught a momentary glimpse of them.我瞥了他们一眼。

7 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

8 deformed   

adj.畸形的；变形的；丑的，破相了的

参考例句：

• He was born with a deformed right leg.他出生时右腿畸形。
• His body was deformed by leprosy.他的身体因为麻风病变形了。

9 mania   

n.疯狂；躁狂症，狂热，癖好

参考例句：

• Football mania is sweeping the country.足球热正风靡全国。
• Collecting small items can easily become a mania.收藏零星物品往往容易变成一种癖好。