读者文摘:最美的赞歌(4)

And then I thought back to when I was real young and my mom had sent me to Catholic school.

然后我回想起在我很小的时候，我妈妈把我送到天主教学校。

It was the ’70s, and there had been this hippie nun¹ who would come out with a guitar at recess² and sing hymns⁴ on the playground.

那是70年代，有个嬉皮士修女会在课间休息时拿着吉他出来，在操场上唱赞歌。

She always sang “Michael Row Your Boat Ashore⁵.” And I was like, ooh, ooh—I did know a hymn³!

她总是唱“迈克尔划你的船上岸”。我说，哦，哦，我知道一首赞歌！

I turned to the organist, who was waiting patiently, and I said, “‘Michael Row Your Boat Ashore,’ please, ma’am.”

我转向耐心等在一旁的风琴师，对他说：“‘迈克尔划你的船上岸’，夫人。”

The music started, and about the place where it felt like there should be some words, I started to sing.

音乐开始了，在应该出现一些歌词时，我开始唱。

“Michael, row your boat ashore, alleluia. Michael, row your boat ashore ...”

“迈克尔，把你的船划上岸，哈利路亚。迈克尔，把你的船划上岸...”

It was about the time I reached the second alleluia that I realized that was in fact the only line I remembered.

直到我到达第二个哈利路亚时，我才意识到这实际上是我记得的唯一的一句歌词。

But Shawnees have never been quitters. So I decided⁶ there can be different versions of the same song.

但肖尼人从来不会轻易放弃。所以我决定一首歌可以有不同的版本。

There could be extended dance remixes, where vocals⁷ are looped repetitively.

可以有延长的舞蹈混合，其中声乐是循环重复。

And so I thought I’d sing the line four times, give it a little bit of a rest, sing it four more.

所以我想我应该把这句话唱四遍，稍微休息一下，再唱四遍。

And so on for a total of 16 times, which seemed long enough to be a real song.

以此类推，一共唱了16遍，看起来足够长了，足以成为一首真正的歌曲。

About halfway⁸ through I closed my eyes, because sometimes it’s better not to see your audience.

大概唱到一半时，我就闭上了眼睛，因为有时候最好不要看到你的观众。

And while I stood there singing, I had plenty of time for existential questions, like: Who is Michael?

当我站在那里唱歌时，我有很多时间思考存在主义的问题，比如：迈克尔是谁？

Why does God want him to row his boat ashore? And then, finally, I hit that line for the 16th time and I stopped.

为什么神要他把船划到岸上？然后，最后，我唱了16次后，我停了下来。

The organist, who was not quite sure what was happening, continued to play,

风琴手不太清楚发生了什么事，他继续演奏，

but when she realized it was finally over, she stopped in kind of an abrupt⁹ way, and then there was silence, and in that silence I walked back down the aisle¹⁰.

但当她意识到这一切终于结束时，她突然停了下来，然后是一片寂静，在寂静中我沿着过道往回走。

I started to climb back over my friend’s knees. As I did, our eyes met and he just said, “Dude.” I sat back down.

从我朋友的膝盖处爬回去。就在这时，我们的目光相遇了，他说：“伙计。我又坐了下来。

Miss Myrtle was on the other side of me. She wasn’t making eye contact. And her posture¹¹ seemed somewhat rigid¹².

桃金娘小姐在我的另一边。她没有眼神交流。她的姿势似乎有些僵硬。

But once I was settled in my seat, she leaned toward me slightly and said quietly, “I don’t believe I’ve ever met someone that didn’t know at least one hymn.”

但当我在座位上安顿下来后，她略微向我倾过身来，轻声说：“我相信我所遇到的每个人都懂至少一首赞歌。”

There wasn’t a whole lot I could say about that, so I was just like, “Happy Mother’s Day.”

关于这一点，我没什么好说的，所以我就说，“母亲节快乐。”

1 nun   

n.修女，尼姑

参考例句：

• I can't believe that the famous singer has become a nun.我无法相信那个著名的歌星已做了修女。
• She shaved her head and became a nun.她削发为尼。

2 recess   

n.短期休息，壁凹（墙上装架子，柜子等凹处）

参考例句：

• The chairman of the meeting announced a ten-minute recess.会议主席宣布休会10分钟。
• Parliament was hastily recalled from recess.休会的议员被匆匆召回开会。

3 hymn   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌

参考例句：

• They sang a hymn of praise to God.他们唱着圣歌，赞美上帝。
• The choir has sung only two verses of the last hymn.合唱团只唱了最后一首赞美诗的两个段落。

4 hymns   

n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At first, they played the hymns and marches familiar to them. 起初他们只吹奏自己熟悉的赞美诗和进行曲。 来自英汉非文学 - 百科语料821
• I like singing hymns. 我喜欢唱圣歌。 来自辞典例句

5 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

6 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

7 vocals   

（乐曲中的）歌唱部份，声乐部份( vocal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Also look out for soaring vocals on The Right Man. 另外，也可留意一下《意中人》中的那高亢的唱腔。
• Lazy bass line, lazier drums, lush violins, great piano and incomparable vocals. 懒惰的低音线，较懒惰的鼓，饮小提琴，棒的钢琴和无比的声音。

8 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

9 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

10 aisle   

n.（教堂、教室、戏院等里的）过道，通道

参考例句：

• The aisle was crammed with people.过道上挤满了人。
• The girl ushered me along the aisle to my seat.引座小姐带领我沿着通道到我的座位上去。

11 posture   

n.姿势，姿态，心态，态度；v.作出某种姿势

参考例句：

• The government adopted an uncompromising posture on the issue of independence.政府在独立这一问题上采取了毫不妥协的态度。
• He tore off his coat and assumed a fighting posture.他脱掉上衣，摆出一副打架的架势。

12 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。