英語美文鑒賞 073

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朋友就該這么做

Jack tossed the papers on my desk—his eyebrows knit into a straight line as he glared at me.

杰克把文件扔到我桌上，皺著眉頭，氣憤地瞪著我。

"What’s wrong?" I asked.

“怎么了?”我問道。

He jabbed a finger at the proposal. "Next time you want to change anything, ask me first," he said, turning on his heels and leaving me stewing in anger.

他指著計劃書狠狠地說道：“下次想作什么改動前，先征求一下我的意見。”然后轉(zhuǎn)身走了，留下我一個人在那里生悶氣。

How dare he treat me like that, I thought. I had changed one long sentence, and corrected grammar, something I thought I was paid to do.

他怎么能這樣對我!我想，我只是改了一個長句，更正了語法錯誤，但這都是我的分內(nèi)之事啊。

It’s not that I hadn’t been warned. Other women who had worked my job before me called Jack names I couldn’t repeat. One coworker took me aside the first day. "He’s personally responsible for two different secretaries leaving the firm," she whispered.

其實也有人提醒過我，上一任在我這個職位上工作的女士就曾大罵過他。我第一天上班時，就有同事把我拉到一旁小聲說：“已有兩個秘書因為他而辭職了。”

As the weeks went by, I grew to despise Jack. His actions made me question much that I believed in, such as turning the other cheek and loving your enemies. Jack quickly slapped a verbal insult on any cheek turned his way. I prayed about the situation, but to be honest, I wanted to put Jack in his place, not love him.

幾周后，我逐漸有些鄙視杰克了，而這又有悖于我的信條——別人打你左臉，右臉也轉(zhuǎn)過去讓他打;愛自己的敵人。但無論怎么做，總會挨杰克的罵。說真的，我很想滅滅他的囂張氣焰，而不是去愛他。我還為此默默祈禱過。

One day another of his episodes left me in tears. I stormed into his office, prepared to lose my job if needed, but not before I let the man know how I felt. I opened the door and Jack glanced up. “What?” he asked abruptly.

一天，因為一件事，我又被他氣哭了。我沖進(jìn)他的辦公室，準(zhǔn)備在被炒魷魚前讓他知道我的感受。我推開門，杰克抬頭看了我一眼。“有事嗎?”他突然說道。

Suddenly I knew what I had to do. After all, he deserved it.

我猛地意識到該怎么做了。畢竟，他罪有應(yīng)得。

I sat across from him and said calmly, “Jack, the way you’ve been treating me is wrong. I’ve never had anyone speak to me that way. As a professional, it’s wrong, and I can’t allow it to continue.”

我在他對面坐下：“杰克，你對待我的方式很有問題。還從沒有人像你那樣對我說話。作為一個職業(yè)人士，你這么做很愚蠢，我無法容忍這樣的事情再度發(fā)生。”

Jack snickered nervously and leaned back in his chair. I closed my eyes briefly. God help me, I prayed.

杰克不安地笑了笑，向后靠靠。我閉了一下眼睛，祈禱著，希望上帝能幫幫我。

“I want to make you a promise. I will be a friend,” I said. “I will treat you as you deserve to be treated, with respect and kindness. You deserve that. Everybody does.” I slipped out of the chair and closed the door behind me.

“我保證，可以成為你的朋友。你是我的上司，我自然會尊敬你，禮貌待你，這是我應(yīng)做的。每個人都應(yīng)得到如此禮遇。”我說著便起身離開，把門關(guān)上了。

Jack avoided me the rest of the week. Proposals, specs, and letters appeared on my desk while I was at lunch, and my corrected versions were not seen again. I brought cookies to the office one day and left a batch on his desk. Another day I left a note. “Hope your day is going great,” it read.

那個星期余下的幾天，杰克一直躲著我。他總趁我吃午飯時，把計劃書、技術(shù)說明和信件放在我桌上，并且，我修改過的文件不再被打回來。一天，我買了些餅干去辦公室，順便在杰克桌上留了一包。第二天，我又留了一張字條，在上面寫道：“祝你今天一切順利。”

Over the next few weeks, Jack reappeared. He was reserved, but there were no other episodes. Coworkers cornered me in the break room. “Guess you got to Jack,” they said. “You must have told him off good.”

接下來的幾個星期，杰克不再躲避我了，但沉默了許多，辦公室里再也沒發(fā)生不愉快的事情。于是，同事們在休息室把我團(tuán)團(tuán)圍了起來。“聽說杰克被你鎮(zhèn)住了，”他們說，“你肯定大罵了他一頓。”

I shook my head. “Jack and I are becoming friends,” I said in faith. I refused to talk about him. Every time I saw Jack in the hall, I smiled at him. After all, that’s what friends do.

我搖了搖頭，一字一頓地說：“我們會成為朋友。”我根本不想提起杰克，每次在大廳看見他時，我總沖他微笑。畢竟，朋友就該這樣。

One year after our "talk," I discovered I had breast cancer. I was thirty-two, the mother of three beautiful young children, and scared. The cancer had metastasized to my lymph nodes and the statistics were not great for long-term survival. After my surgery, friends and loved ones visited and tried to find the right words. No one knew what to say, and many said the wrong things. Others wept, and I tried to encourage them. I clung to hope myself.

一年后，我32歲，是三個漂亮孩子的母親，但我被確診為乳腺癌，這讓我極端恐懼。癌細(xì)胞已經(jīng)擴散到我的淋巴腺。從統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)來看，我的時間不多了。手術(shù)后，我拜訪了親朋好友，他們盡量寬慰我，都不知道說些什么好，有些人反而說錯了話，另外一些人則為我難過，還得我去安慰他們。我始終沒有放棄希望。

One day, Jack stood awkwardly in the doorway of my small, darkened hospital room. I waved him in with a smile. He walked over to my bed and without a word placed a bundle beside me. Inside the package lay several bulbs.

就在我出院的前一天，我看到門外有個人影。是杰克，他尷尬地站在門口。我微笑著招呼他進(jìn)來，他走到我床邊，默默地把一包東西放在我旁邊，那里邊是幾個球莖。

"Tulips," he said.

“這是郁金香。”他說。

I grinned, not understanding.

我笑著，不明白他的用意。

He shuffled his feet, then cleared his throat. "If you plant them when you get home, they’ll come up next spring. I just wanted you to know that I think you’ll be there to see them when they come up."

他清了清嗓子，“回家后把它們種下，到明年春天就長出來了。”他挪挪腳，“我希望你知道，你一定看得到它們發(fā)芽開花。”

Tears clouded my eyes and I reached out my hand. "Thank you," I whispered.

我淚眼朦朧地伸出手。

Jack grasped my hand and gruffly replied, "You’re welcome. You can’t see it now, but next spring you’ll see the colors I picked out for you. I think you’ll like them." He turned and left without another word.

“謝謝你。”我低聲說。杰克抓住我的手，生硬地答道：“不必客氣。到明年長出來后，你就能看到我為你挑的是什么顏色的郁金香了。”之后，他沒說一句話便轉(zhuǎn)身離開了。

For ten years, I have watched those red-and-white striped tulips push their way through the soil every spring.

轉(zhuǎn)眼間，十多年過去了，每年春天，我都會看著這些紅白相間的郁金香破土而出。事實上，今年九月，醫(yī)生已宣布我痊愈了。我也看著孩子們高中畢業(yè)，進(jìn)入大學(xué)。

In a moment when I prayed for just the right word, a man with very few words said all the right things.

在那絕望的時刻，我祈求他人的安慰，而這個男人寥寥數(shù)語，卻情真意切，溫暖著我脆弱的心。

After all, that’s what friends do.

畢竟，朋友之間就該這么做。