精美英文欣赏:赫本的梦想

Hepburn’s Dream

My mother’s dream was always to be a prima ballerina.

No matter how hard she had trained her most important and formative years had passed and could not be recaptured. The war had been tough on her, and poor nutrition had impaired¹ some of her muscular growth and development. Besides, she was too tall for any male dancer of the era. My mother simply couldn’t compete with the other dancers who had received proper training as well as proper sustenance² during the war years. The war had stolen her dream. She remembered going back to her room that day and “just wanting to die.” The dream that had kept her hope alive all those years had just vanished.

赫本的梦想

我母亲的梦想一直是成为首席芭蕾舞女演员。

但不管她训练多么刻苦，最关键的塑型时期还是过去了，而且无法重来。战争让她受尽苦头。营养上的不足削弱了她肌肉的生长和发育。除此之外，在那个时代，对于任何一个男芭蕾舞演员来讲，她都长得太高了。而且，母亲完全无法与其他那些接受过正规训练并在战争年代能得到足够粮食补给的舞者竞争。战争粉碎了她的梦想。她记得那天回到房里时，她觉得自己“只想死”。那个多年来为她点燃希望之火的梦想破灭了。

1 impaired   

adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

2 sustenance   

n.食物，粮食；生活资料；生计

参考例句：

• We derive our sustenance from the land.我们从土地获取食物。
• The urban homeless are often in desperate need of sustenance.城市里无家可归的人极其需要食物来维持生命。