英语美文背诵 所有的花儿都美丽(下)

After the play, I took home the flower I had stuffed in the apron¹ of my costume. My mother pressed it between two sheets of paper toweling in a dictionary, laughing as she did it that we were perhaps the only people who would press such a sorry-looking weed.

演出结束后，我把那朵蒲公英塞进了我演出服的口袋里带回了家。妈妈把它压在两张纸巾之间再夹进字典里，笑着说，这世上也许只有我们两人愿意把这么一株不起眼的野草小心翼翼地夹起来。

I often look back on our lunchtimes together, bathed in the soft midday light. They were the commas in my childhood, the pauses that told me life is not savored² in pre-measured increments³ , but in the sum of daily rituals and small pleasures we casually⁴ share with loved ones. Over peanut-butter sandwiches and chocolate-chip cookies, I learned that love, first and foremost, means being there for the little things.

如今，沐浴在正午和煦的阳光里，我常回忆起我们一起度过的那些午餐时间。它们就像是我童年岁月里的小逗点儿。这些停顿告诉我，生命不是在预先量好的增额中来体味的，而是要在每天的生活琐事以及不经意中和所爱的人共享的许多小乐趣中去细细体味的。吃着花生酱三明治和巧克力曲奇条，我认识到：爱，首先并且最重要地，意味着关注那些微不足道的小事。

A few months ago, my mother came to visit. I took off a day from work and treated her to lunch. The restaurant bustled⁵ with noontime activity as businesspeople made deals and glanced at their watches. In the middle of all this sat my mother, now retired⁶, and I. From her face I could see that she relished⁷ the pace of the work world.

几个月前，妈妈来看我。我请了一天假陪她吃午饭。午时的餐馆熙熙攘攘，一些商人在吃饭，时不时地瞟一眼腕上的手表。在这些忙碌的人群中，我和现已退休的妈妈坐在那里。从她脸上，我看得出她非常羡慕上班族的工作节奏。

Mom, you must have been terribly bored staying at home when I was a child, I said.

“妈妈，我小时候您呆在家里照顾我时，一定感到非常厌烦吧？”我问道。

Bored? Housework is boring. But you were never boring.

“厌烦？家务活确实让人感到厌烦，但你永远也不会让我感到厌烦。”

I didn't believe her so I pressed. Surely children are not as stimulating⁸ as a career.

我有些不相信，于是又说：“照顾孩子肯定不像工作那么具有挑战性。”

A career is stimulating, she said. I'm glad I had one. But a career is like an open balloon. It remains⁹ inflated¹⁰ only as long as you keep pumping. A child is a seed. You water it. You care for it the best you can. And then it grows all by itself into a beautiful flower.

“工作确实非常具有挑战性，"她说,”我很高兴我有过一份工作。不过，工作就像是一个敞开口的气球，你只有一直给它充气，它才会保持膨胀。但孩子就像是一粒种子，你给它浇水，尽自己最大努力来呵护它。然后，它会自己成长起来，变成一朵美丽的花儿。"

1 apron   

n.围裙；工作裙

参考例句：

• We were waited on by a pretty girl in a pink apron.招待我们的是一位穿粉红色围裙的漂亮姑娘。
• She stitched a pocket on the new apron.她在新围裙上缝上一只口袋。

2 savored   

v.意味，带有…的性质( savor的过去式和过去分词 )；给…加调味品；使有风味；品尝

参考例句：

• We savored the barbed hits in his reply. 我们很欣赏他在回答中使用的带刺的俏皮话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• We savored, (the pleasures of) mountain life to the full. 我们充分体会了山居生活的乐趣。 来自辞典例句

3 increments   

n.增长( increment的名词复数 )；增量；增额；定期的加薪

参考例句：

• These increments were mixed and looked into the 5.56mm catridge case. 将各种药粒进行混和，装在5．56毫米的弹壳中。 来自辞典例句
• The Rankine scale has scale increments equal to the FahrenheIt'scale. 兰氏温标的温度间距与华氏温标的相同。 来自辞典例句

4 casually   

adv.漠不关心地，无动于衷地，不负责任地

参考例句：

• She remarked casually that she was changing her job.她当时漫不经心地说要换工作。
• I casually mentioned that I might be interested in working abroad.我不经意地提到我可能会对出国工作感兴趣。

5 bustled   

闹哄哄地忙乱，奔忙( bustle的过去式和过去分词 )； 催促

参考例句：

• She bustled around in the kitchen. 她在厨房里忙得团团转。
• The hostress bustled about with an assumption of authority. 女主人摆出一副权威的样子忙来忙去。

6 retired   

adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的

参考例句：

• The old man retired to the country for rest.这位老人下乡休息去了。
• Many retired people take up gardening as a hobby.许多退休的人都以从事园艺为嗜好。

7 relished   

v.欣赏( relish的过去式和过去分词 )；从…获得乐趣；渴望

参考例句：

• The chaplain relished the privacy and isolation of his verdant surroundings. 牧师十分欣赏他那苍翠的环境所具有的幽雅恬静，与世隔绝的气氛。 来自辞典例句
• Dalleson relished the first portion of the work before him. 达尔生对眼前这工作的前半部分满有兴趣。 来自辞典例句

8 stimulating   

adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的

参考例句：

• shower gel containing plant extracts that have a stimulating effect on the skin 含有对皮肤有益的植物精华的沐浴凝胶
• This is a drug for stimulating nerves. 这是一种兴奋剂。

9 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

10 inflated   

adj.（价格）飞涨的；（通货）膨胀的；言过其实的；充了气的v.使充气（于轮胎、气球等）( inflate的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）膨胀；（使）通货膨胀；物价上涨

参考例句：

• He has an inflated sense of his own importance. 他自视过高。
• They all seem to take an inflated view of their collective identity. 他们对自己的集体身份似乎都持有一种夸大的看法。 来自《简明英汉词典》