unit 5 Writing Three Thank-You Letters
Alex Haley served in the Coast Guard during World War ll. On an especially lonely day to be at sea -- Thanksgiving Day -- he began to give serious thought to a holiday that has become, for many Americans, a day of overeating and watching endless games of football. Haley decided to celebrate the true meaning of Thanksgiving by writing three very special letters.
亞歷克斯•黑利二戰(zhàn)時在海岸警衛(wèi)隊服役.出海在外,時逢一個倍感孤寂的日子――感恩節(jié),他開始認真思考起這一節(jié)日的意義.對許多美國人而言,這個節(jié)日已成為大吃大喝、沒完沒了地看橄欖球比賽的日子.黑利決定寫三封不同尋常的信,以此來紀(jì)念感恩節(jié)的真正意義.

Writing Three Thank-You Letters
Alex Haley
1 It was 1943, during World War II, and I was a young U. S. coastguardsman. My ship, the USS Murzim, had been under way for several days. Most of her holds contained thousands of cartons of canned or dried foods. The other holds were loaded with five-hundred-pound bombs packed delicately in padded racks. Our destination was a big base on the island of Tulagi in the South Pacific.
寫三封感謝信
亞利克斯•黑利
那是在二戰(zhàn)期間的1943年,我是個年輕的美國海岸警衛(wèi)隊隊員.我們的船,美國軍艦軍市一號已出海多日.多數(shù)船艙裝著成千上萬箱罐裝或風(fēng)干的食品.其余的船艙裝著不少五百磅重的炸彈,都小心翼翼地放在墊過的架子上.我們的目的地是南太平洋圖拉吉島上一個規(guī)模很大的基地.
　
2I was one of the Murzim's several cooks and, quite the same as for folk ashore, this Thanksgiving morning had seen us busily preparing a traditional dinner featuring roast turkey.
我是軍市一號上的一個廚師,跟岸上的人一樣,那個感恩節(jié)的上午,我們忙著在準(zhǔn)備一道以烤火雞為主的傳統(tǒng)菜肴.

3Well, as any cook knows, it's a lot of hard work to cook and serve a big meal, and clean up and put everything away. But finally, around sundown, we finished at last.
當(dāng)廚師的都知道,要烹制一頓大餐,擺上桌,再刷洗、收拾干凈,是件辛苦的事.不過,等到太陽快下山時,我們總算全都收拾停當(dāng)了.
4I decided first to go out on the Murzim's afterdeck for a breath of open air. I made my way out there, breathing in great, deep draughts while walking slowly about, still wearing my white cook's hat.
我想先去后甲板透透氣.我信步走去,一邊深深呼吸著空氣,一邊慢慢地踱著步,頭上仍戴著那頂白色的廚師帽.

5I got to thinking about Thanksgiving, of the Pilgrims, Indians, wild turkeys, pumpkins, corn on the cob, and the rest. 我開始思索起感恩節(jié)這個節(jié)日來,想著清教徒前輩移民、印第安人、野火雞、南瓜、玉米棒等等.

6Yet my mind seemed to be in quest of something else -- some way that I could personally apply to the close of Thanksgiving. It must have taken me a half hour to sense that maybe some key to an answer could result from reversing the word "Thanksgiving" -- at least that suggested a verbal direction, "Giving thanks."
可我腦子里似乎還在搜索著別的事什么――某種我能夠賦予這一節(jié)日以個人意義的方式.大概過了半個小時左右我才意識到,問題的關(guān)鍵也許在于把Thanksgiving這個字前后顛倒一下――那樣一來至少文字好懂了：Giving thanks.

7Giving thanks -- as in praying, thanking God, I thought. Yes, of course. Certainly.
表達謝意――就如在祈禱時感謝上帝那樣,我暗想.對啊,是這樣,當(dāng)然是這樣.

8Yet my mind continued turning the idea over.
可我腦子里仍一直盤桓著這事.

9After a while, like a dawn's brightening, a further answer did come -- that there were people to thank, people who had done so much for me that I could never possibly repay them. The embarrassing truth was I'd always just accepted what they'd done, taken all of it for granted. Not one time had I ever bothered to express to any of them so much as a simple, sincere "Thank you."
過了片刻,如同晨曦初現(xiàn),一個更清晰的念頭終于涌現(xiàn)腦際――要感謝他人,那些賜我以諸多恩惠,我根本無以回報的人們.令我深感不安的實際情形是,我向來對他們所做的一切受之泰然,認為是理所應(yīng)當(dāng).我一次也沒想過要對他們中的任何一位真心誠意地說一句簡單的謝謝.

10At least seven people had been particularly and lastingly helpful to me. I realized, swallowing hard, that about half of them had since died -- so they were forever beyond any possible expression of gratitude from me. The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I became. Then I pictured the three who were still alive and, within minutes, I was down in my cabin.
至少有七個人對我有過不同尋常、影響深遠的幫助.令人難過的是,我意識到,他們中有一半已經(jīng)過世了――因此他們永遠也無法接受我的謝意了.我越想越感到羞愧.最后我想到了仍健在的三位,幾分鐘后,我就回到了自己的艙房.

11Sitting at a table with writing paper and memories of things each had done, I tried composing genuine statements of heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to my dad, Simon A. Haley, a professor at the old Agricultural Mechanical Normal College in Pine Bluff, Arkansas; to my grandma, Cynthia Palmer, back in our little hometown of Henning, Tennessee; and to the Rev. Lonual Nelson, my grammar school principal, retired and living in Ripley, six miles north of Henning.
我坐在攤著信紙的桌旁,回想著他們各自對我所做的一切,試圖用真摯的文字表達我對他們的由衷的感激之情：父親西蒙•A•黑利,阿肯色州派因布拉夫那所古老的農(nóng)業(yè)機械師范學(xué)院的教授；住在田納西州小鎮(zhèn)亨寧老家的外祖母辛西婭•帕爾默；以及我的文法學(xué)校校長,退休后住在亨寧以北6英里處的里普利的洛紐爾•納爾遜牧師.
12The texts of my letters began something like, "Here, this Thanksgiving at sea, I find my thoughts upon how much you have done for me, but I have never stopped and said to you how much I feel the need to thank you -- " And briefly I recalled for each of them specific acts performed on my behalf.
我的信是這樣開頭的：“出海在外度過的這個感恩節(jié),令我回想起您為我做了那么多事,但我從來沒有對您說過自己是多么想感謝您――”我簡短回憶了各位為我所做的具體事例.

13For instance, something uppermost about my father was how he had impressed upon me from boyhood to love books and reading. In fact, this graduated into a family habit of after-dinner quizzes at the table about books read most recently and new words learned. My love of books never diminished and later led me toward writing books myself. So many times I have felt a sadness when exposed to modern children so immersed in the electronic media that they have little or no awareness of the marvelous world to be discovered in books.
例如,我父親的最不同尋常之處在于,從我童年時代起,他就讓我深深意識到要熱愛書籍、熱愛閱讀.事實上,這一愛好漸漸變成一種家庭習(xí)慣,晚飯后大家圍在餐桌旁互相考查近日所讀的書以及新學(xué)的單詞.我對書籍的熱愛從未減弱,日后還引導(dǎo)我自己撰文著書.多少次,當(dāng)我看到如今的孩子們?nèi)绱顺撩杂陔娮用襟w時,我不由深感悲哀,他們很少,或者根本不了解書中所能發(fā)現(xiàn)的神奇世界.

14I reminded the Reverend Nelson how each morning he would open our little country town's grammar school with a prayer over his assembled students. I told him that whatever positive things I had done since had been influenced at least in part by his morning school prayers.
我跟納爾遜牧師提及他如何每天清晨和集合在一起的學(xué)生做禱告,以此開始鄉(xiāng)村小學(xué)的一天.我告訴他,我后來所做的任何有意義的事,都至少部分地是受了他那些學(xué)校晨禱的影響.

15In the letter to my grandmother, I reminded her of a dozen ways she used to teach me how to tell the truth, to share, and to be forgiving and considerate of others. I thanked her for the years of eating her good cooking, the equal of which I had not found since. Finally, I thanked her simply for having sprinkled my life with stardust.
在給外祖母的信中,我談到了她用了種種方式教我講真話,教我與人分享,教我寬恕、體諒他人.我感謝她多年來讓我吃到她燒的美味菜肴,離開她后我從來沒吃過那么可口的菜肴.最后,我感謝她,因為她在我的生命中撒下美妙的遐想.

16Before I slept, my three letters went into our ship's office mail sack. They got mailed when we reached Tulagi Island.
睡覺前,我的這三封信都送進了船上的郵袋.我們抵達圖拉吉島后都寄了出去.

17We unloaded cargo, reloaded with something else, then again we put to sea in the routine familiar to us, and as the days became weeks, my little personal experience receded. Sometimes, when we were at sea, a mail ship would rendezvous and bring us mail from home, which, of course, we accorded topmost priority.
我們卸了貨,又裝了其它物品,隨后我們按熟悉的常規(guī),再次出海. 一天又一天,一星期又一星期,我個人的經(jīng)歷漸漸淡忘.我們在海上航行時,有時會與郵船會合,郵船會帶給我們家信,當(dāng)然這是我們視為最緊要的事情.

18Every time the ship's loudspeaker rasped, "Attention! Mail call!" two hundred-odd shipmates came pounding up on deck and clustered about the two seamen, standing by those precious bulging gray sacks. They were alternately pulling out fistfuls of letters and barking successive names of sailors who were, in turn, shouting back "Here! Here!" amid the pushing.
每當(dāng)船上的喇叭響起：“大伙聽好!郵件點名!”200名左右的水兵就會沖上甲板,圍聚在那兩個站在寶貴的鼓鼓囊囊的灰色郵袋旁的水手周圍.兩人輪流取出一把信,大聲念收信水手的名字,叫到的人從人群當(dāng)中擠出,一邊應(yīng)道：“來了,來了!”

19One "mail call" brought me responses from Grandma, Dad, and the Reverend Nelson -- and my reading of their letters left me not only astonished but more humbled than before.
一次“郵件點名”帶給我外祖母,爸爸,以及納爾遜牧師的回信――我讀了信,既震驚又深感卑微.

20Rather than saying they would forgive that I hadn't previously thanked them, instead, for Pete's sake, they were thanking me -- for having remembered, for having considered they had done anything so exceptional.
他們沒有說他們原諒我以前不曾感謝他們,相反,他們向我致謝,天哪,就因為我記得,就因為我認為他們做了不同尋常的事.

21Always the college professor, my dad had carefully avoided anything he considered too sentimental, so I knew how moved he was to write me that, after having helped educate many young people, he now felt that his best results included his own son.
身為大學(xué)教授的爸爸向來特別留意不使用任何過于感情化的文字,因此, 當(dāng)他對我寫道,在教了許許多多的年輕人之后,他認為自己最優(yōu)秀的學(xué)生當(dāng)中也包括自己的兒子時,我知道他是多么地感動.

22The Reverend Nelson wrote that his decades as a "simple, old-fashioned principal" had ended with schools undergoing such swift changes that he had retired in self-doubt. "I heard more of what I had done wrong than what I did right," he said, adding that my letter had brought him welcome reassurance that his career had been appreciated.
納爾遜牧師寫道,他那平凡的傳統(tǒng)校長的歲月隨著學(xué)校里發(fā)生的如此迅猛的變化而結(jié)束,他懷著自我懷疑的心態(tài)退了休.“說我做得不對的遠遠多于說我做得對的,” 他寫道,接著說我的信給他帶來了振奮人心的信心：自己的校長生涯還是有其價值的.

23A glance at Grandma's familiar handwriting brought back in a flash memories of standing alongside her white rocking chair, watching her"settin' down" some letter to relatives. Character by character, Grandma would slowly accomplish one word, then the next, so that a finished page would consume hours. I wept over the page representing my Grandma's recent hours invested in expressing her loving gratefulness to me -- whom she used to diaper!
一看到外祖母那熟悉的筆跡,我頓時回想起往日站在她的白色搖椅旁看她給親戚寫信的情景.外祖母一個字母一個字母地慢慢拼出一個詞,接著是下一個詞,因此寫滿一頁要花上幾個小時.捧著外祖母最近花費不少工夫?qū)ξ冶磉_了充滿慈愛的謝意,我禁不住流淚――從前是她給我換尿布的呀.

24Much later, retired from the Coast Guard and trying to make a living as a writer, I never forgot how those three "thank you" letters gave me an insight into how most human beings go about longing in secret for more of their fellows to express appreciation for their efforts.
許多年后,我從海岸警衛(wèi)隊退役,試著靠寫作為生,我一直不曾忘記那三封“感謝”信是如何使我認識到,大凡人都暗自期望著有更多的人對自己的努力表達謝意.

25Now, approaching another Thanksgiving, I have asked myself what will I wish for all who are reading this, for our nation, indeed for our whole world -- since, quoting a good and wise friend of mine, "In the end we are mightily and merely people, each with similar needs." First, I wish for us, of course, the simple common sense to achieve world peace, that being paramount for the very survival of our kind.
現(xiàn)在,感恩節(jié)又將來臨,我自問,對此文的讀者,對我們的祖國,事實上對全世界,我有什么祝愿,因為,用一位善良而且又有智慧的朋友的話來說,“我們究其實都是十分相像的凡人,有著相似的需求.”當(dāng)然,我首先祝愿大家記住這一簡單的常識：實現(xiàn)世界和平,這對我們自身的存亡至關(guān)重要.

26And there is something else I wish -- so strongly that I have had this line printed across the bottom of all my stationery: "Find the good -- and praise it."
此外我還有別的祝愿――這一祝愿是如此強烈,我將這句話印在我所有的信箋底部：“發(fā)現(xiàn)并褒揚各種美好的事物.”

Thanksgiving, like Spring Festival, brings families back together from across the country. Waiting for her children to arrive, Ellen Goodman reflects on the changing relationship between parents and children as they grow up and leave home, often to settle far away.
如同春節(jié)那樣,散居各處的美國人到感恩節(jié)就回家團聚.埃倫•古德曼在等待著子女回家的同時,思索著當(dāng)子女長大離家,常常在遠方定居之后,父母與子女關(guān)系的不斷變化.