經(jīng)典英語(yǔ)優(yōu)美散文:A Paper Fan
經(jīng)典英語(yǔ)優(yōu)美散文:A Paper Fan
下面是學(xué)習(xí)啦小編為大家?guī)?lái)英語(yǔ)優(yōu)美散文:A Paper Fan,希望大家喜歡!
I stared at the computer screen, the recipe for blueberry cobbler staring back at me as my daughter’s voice, plaintive as a puppy’s whine, pleaded, “Please, Mom, why can’t I go? Everybody else is going.”
“You can go to the school lock in, or you can stay home from the prom. You cannot go to some hotel room with a bunch of drunken seniors. That’s final.” I still didn’t look up because the hurt and accusation in my daughters’ eyes skewered me, their blue the same blue as my sister’s satin dress and cornflower corsage had been. “I said no, and I meant it. If you continue to whine, you can consider yourself grounded as well.”
My daughter huffed out of the home office, slamming the door, sharp and sudden like the piercing pain I felt when I remembered my sister, who never came home from her prom. One year in age had separated us. Russian vodka at a Ramada Inn had bonded us.
My sister had left the Ramada in a white Ford Mustang convertible. On the old river road, the bridge railing met the Mustang’s front bumper. The Sunday paper said the car had folded as neatly as a paper fan. A paper fan. The three words pulsed in my head.
After that night, shame had shriveled my heart and kept me silent. My daughter didn’t know how the aunt she had never met, but looked so much alike, had died. My daughter didn’t know that the vodka arrived at the party in my handbag.
Through the door my daughter yelled, “You never let me do anything. I hate you.”
And I welcomed this hurt, believing pain would redeem me. My attention turned again to the screen. A cup of blueberries, a cup of sugar, a cup of flour.
Blue berries. Blue dress. Blue flowers on my sister’s grave.
譯文:紙扇
我盯著電腦屏幕,閱讀著藍(lán)莓酥皮水果餡餅的食譜,耳邊不時(shí)傳來(lái)女兒小狗一樣哼哼唧唧的抱怨聲,她幾乎是帶著哭腔懇求道:“媽媽,求求你了,為什么我不能去酒店參加聚會(huì),其他人都去了。”
“你可以成天呆在學(xué)校里,也可以遠(yuǎn)離舞會(huì)呆在家里。就是不能去酒店的房間,和一群醉醺醺的畢業(yè)班學(xué)生呆在一起。就這樣定了。”我不敢再抬頭,我怕女兒眼中的傷害和怨恨刺痛我的心,從她藍(lán)色的眼睛里,我看見(jiàn)了姐姐藍(lán)色的真絲連衣裙,和胸前佩戴的矢車菊小花飾。“我向來(lái)說(shuō)一不二,你是知道的,如果還要嘀咕,你自己考慮關(guān)禁閉。”
女兒氣呼呼地跑出家庭辦公室,砰地關(guān)上自己的房門,我的心里突然感到針扎般尖銳的難受,當(dāng)我想起我的姐姐從舞會(huì)上再也沒(méi)有回來(lái)的時(shí)候。大我一歲的姐姐已經(jīng)離開(kāi)了我們,都是在華美達(dá)酒店喝的俄國(guó)伏特加惹的禍。
我姐姐是坐著一輛福特野馬敞篷車離開(kāi)華美達(dá)酒店的。當(dāng)車子行駛在熟悉的沿河路時(shí),福特車的保險(xiǎn)杠撞在了欄桿上。據(jù)當(dāng)時(shí)星期天的報(bào)紙報(bào)道,福特車擠壓變形同折疊的紙扇。紙扇,這幾個(gè)字在我的腦海里嗡嗡作響。
從那天晚上開(kāi)始,悔恨讓我心灰意冷,之后我變得沉默寡言。我的女兒不知道,她從未謀面的姨媽,長(zhǎng)得和我那么相像的姨媽已經(jīng)去世了。她更不會(huì)知道,伏特加是我放在袋子里拿到舞會(huì)上去的。
“你總是這也不讓我做,那也不讓我做,我恨你。”女兒還在房間里大聲叫喊,對(duì)此我已無(wú)動(dòng)于衷。
我只有接受這種傷害,希望痛苦能讓我贖罪。我的注意力又轉(zhuǎn)向屏幕,一杯藍(lán)莓,一杯糖,一杯面粉。
藍(lán)莓,藍(lán)絲裙,還有姐姐墳?zāi)股鲜㈤_(kāi)的藍(lán)色小花朵。