Unit 4

This text is adapted from an article of the same title in Family Storybook Collection by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen. Health Communications, Inc. 1996.

close1RT When my grandfather died, my 83-year-old grandmother, once so full of life, slowly began to fade. No longer able to manage a home of her own, she moved in with my mother, where she was visited often by other members of her large, loving family (two children, eight grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren). Although she still had her good days, it was often hard to arouse her interest.

送給曾祖母的洋娃娃

杰奎林·希基

我爺爺去世后，我83歲的奶奶漸漸失去了原有的活力。由于奶奶無法再照顧自己，所以她搬去和我媽媽一起住。我們一家是個充滿愛的大家庭（奶奶有兩個孩子，8個孫輩，22個曾孫輩，還有兩個玄孫輩），大家經(jīng)常去看望她。盡管奶奶的日子過得挺舒適，她卻對什么事都提不起興趣。close2RT But one chilly December afternoon three years ago, my daughter Meagan, then eight, and I were settling in for a long visit with "GG", as the family calls her, when she noticed that Meagan was carrying her favorite doll.

三年前十二月里的一天下午，天氣陰冷，我和當(dāng)時才8歲的女兒米根去看望GG（家里人都這么稱呼她），并在那兒住了一段時間。奶奶看見米根抱著她心愛的洋娃娃。close3RT "I, too, had a special doll when I was a little girl," she told Meagan. "I got it one Christmas when I was about your age. I lived in an old farmhouse in Maine, with Mom, Dad and my four sisters, and the very first gift I opened that Christmas was the most beautiful doll you'd ever want to see."

“小時候我也有一個很特別的洋娃娃，”奶奶告訴米根，“那是我的圣誕禮物，那時我和你現(xiàn)在差不多大。我和父母、四個姐妹住在緬因州的一個老農(nóng)場里。那年圣誕我打開的第一份禮物是一個非常漂亮的娃娃，那么漂亮，見過之后你也許不會再想看別的洋娃娃了?！?/span>close4RT "She had an exquisite, hand-painted porcelain face, and her long brown hair was pulled back with a big pink bow. Her eyes were blue as blue could be, and they opened and closed. I remember she had a body of kidskin, and her arms and legs bent at the joints."

“洋娃娃有一張精致的、手繪的瓷臉，長長的棕色頭發(fā)用一個粉紅色蝴蝶結(jié)束在腦后，眼睛是標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的藍色，還眨巴眨巴的。我還記得她的身體是用小山羊皮做的，手腳關(guān)節(jié)還可以動呢?！?/span>close5RT GG's voice dropped low, taking on an almost reverent tone. "My doll was dressed in a pretty pink gown, trimmed with fine lace. But what I especially remember was her petticoat. It was fine linen, trimmed with rows and rows of delicate lace. And the tiny buttons on her boots were real.... Getting such a fine doll was like a miracle for a little farm girl like me — my parents must have had to sacrifice so much to afford it. But how happy I was that morning!"

GG的聲音忽然沉了下去，她用一種幾乎是虔誠的語調(diào)在敘說?！拔业难笸尥薮┲患恋姆奂t禮服，邊上繡著精致的蕾絲。我印象最深刻的是她穿的亞麻布料的襯裙，上邊繡著一排排精致的蕾絲。她靴子上的小鈕扣還是真的…對于我這個農(nóng)家女兒來說，得到這樣一個可愛的洋娃娃簡直就是一個奇跡，為了買她，我的父母一定犧牲了很多。那天早上我太高興了。”close6RT GG's eyes filled and her voice shook with emotion as she recalled that Christmas of long ago. "I played with my doll all morning long. She was such a beautiful doll.... And then it happened. My mother called us to the dining room for Christmas dinner and I laid my new doll down, ever so gently, on the hall table. But as I went to join the family at the table, I heard a loud crash."

GG的眼眶濕潤了，她用顫抖的聲音敘說著很久以前的那個圣誕節(jié)?！罢麄€上午我都在玩這個洋娃娃，她太漂亮了…然而悲劇發(fā)生了。媽媽叫我們?nèi)ワ垙d吃圣誕晚餐，我輕輕地把洋娃娃放在廳里的桌子上。我走過去和家人一起吃飯，猛然聽見一聲巨響?！?/span>close7RT "I hardly had to turn around — I knew it was my precious doll. I just knew it. And it was. Her lace petticoat had hung down from the table just enough for my baby sister to reach up and pull on it. When I ran in from the dining room, there lay my beautiful doll on the floor, her face smashed into a dozen pieces. I can still see my mother trying to put my poor doll together again. But it couldn't be done. She was gone forever."

“我不用回頭看就知道那是我的寶貝洋娃娃。我能感覺到。果然沒錯。洋娃娃的蕾絲襯裙垂到桌子旁，剛好我的小妹妹夠得著，把她拉了下來。我從飯廳沖過去，只見我的洋娃娃躺在地上，臉?biāo)こ闪耸畮讐K。我還記得媽媽正試著幫我把那可憐的洋娃娃重新拼起來。但是怎么弄都不行。我的洋娃娃就這樣沒了?！?/span>close8RT A few years later, GG's baby sister was also gone, she told Meagan, a victim of pneumonia. Now the tears in her eyes spilled over — tears, I knew, not only for a lost doll and a lost sister, but for a lost time.

GG告訴米根，幾年后小妹妹因為肺炎也永遠離開了。GG這時滿臉淚水，我知道她流淚不止是因為失去了洋娃娃和小妹妹，更因為那逝去的年華。close9RT Subdued for the rest of the visit, Meagan was no sooner in the car going home than she exclaimed, "Mom, I have a great idea! Let's get GG a new doll for Christmas, one exactly like the doll that got broken. Then she won't cry when she thinks about it."

米根郁郁寡歡地度過了剩下的幾天，我們該回家了。一上車她就叫道："媽媽，我有一個好主意。我們送給GG一個新洋娃娃作圣誕禮物吧，跟那個摔破的洋娃娃一模一樣的。那她再也不用想到它就哭了。"close10RT My heart filled with pride as I listened to my compassionate little daughter. But where would we find a doll to match GG's fond memories?

看到我的女兒這么富有同情心，我覺得很驕傲?？墒俏覀兩夏膬喝フ乙粋€與GG的美好記憶中一模一樣的洋娃娃呢？close11RT Where there's a will, as they say, there's a way. When I told my best friends, Liz and Chris, about my problem, Liz put me in touch with a local dollmaker who made doll heads, hands and feet of a ceramic that closely resembled the old porcelain ones. From her I commissioned a doll head in the style of three-quarters of a century ago — making sure to specify "big blue eyes that opened and closed," and hands and feet. From a doll supply house I ordered a long brown wig and a kidskin body, and Meagan and I shopped for fabric, lace and ribbon to duplicate the outfit GG had so lovingly described. Liz volunteered to put the doll together, and as the last days before Christmas raced by, Chris helped me make the doll's outfit, complete with lacy petticoat. And while Liz, Chris and I searched for doll "boots with real buttons," Meagan wrote and illustrated the story of the lost doll.

“有志者事竟成。”當(dāng)我把我的難處告訴好朋友莉茲和克麗絲后，莉茲幫我聯(lián)系到一個當(dāng)?shù)氐耐婢呱a(chǎn)商，他們專門制作陶瓷娃娃的頭和四肢，與老式的瓷洋娃娃很像。我委托她定做了洋娃娃的頭部，按照七十五年前的式樣，還特別強調(diào)要“藍色的大眼睛能眨巴眨巴”，也定做了手和腳。在另外一個玩具供應(yīng)商那里，我訂做了長長的棕色假發(fā)和小山羊皮做的身體模型。我和米根買了織布、蕾絲以及絲帶，準(zhǔn)備做GG深情描述過的洋娃娃服裝。莉茲自告奮勇組裝洋娃娃，隨著圣誕節(jié)日益臨近，克麗絲用我們買來的物品做成了一件有蕾絲的那種裙子。在莉茲、克麗絲和我三個人到處尋找"有真扣子的靴子"的時候，米根寫好了失去的洋娃娃的故事，還配上了圖畫。close12RT Finally, our creation was finished. To our eyes it was perfect. But, of course, there was no way it could be exactly like the doll GG had loved so much and lost. Would she think it looked anything like it?

終于大功告成了。在我們看來，這個洋洋娃娃是完美的。當(dāng)然了，她跟GG所鐘愛的那個丟失多年的洋娃娃不可能一模一樣。但她會不會覺得有點像呢？close13RT On Christmas Eve, Meagan and I carried our gaily wrapped gift to GG. "It's for you," Meagan said, "but first you have to read the story that goes with it."

圣誕前夜，我和米根把我們包裝鮮艷的禮物拿給GG。“送給您的。不過您得先讀一讀配的故事。”米根說。close14RT "Read it out loud," we demanded. GG no sooner got through the first page than her voice cracked and she was unable to go on, but Meagan took over where she left off. Then it was time to open her present.

“大聲讀出來，”我們對GG說。還沒讀完第一頁，GG的聲音就開始顫抖了，她沒法繼續(xù)讀下去。米根接下去把故事讀完，隨后該拆開禮物了。close15RT I'll never forget the look on GG's face as she lifted the doll and held it to her chest. Once again her tears fell, but this time they were tears of joy. Cradling the doll in her frail arms, she repeated over and over again, "She's exactly like my old doll, exactly like her."

我永遠也不會忘記GG拿起洋娃娃抱在胸前的表情，淚水又滑落了下來，不過這次是開心的淚水。她用虛弱的雙臂抱著洋娃娃不停地搖著，嘴里反反復(fù)復(fù)地念著：“跟我以前的那個洋娃娃一模一樣，簡直一模一樣?！?/span>close16RT And perhaps she wasn't saying that just to be kind. Perhaps however impossible it seemed, we had managed to produce a close copy of the doll she remembered. But as I watched my eight-year-old daughter and her great-grand-mother examining the doll together, I thought of a likelier explanation. What GG really recognized, perhaps, was the love that inspired the gift. And love, wherever it comes from, always looks the same.

也許她并不是為了安慰我們才這樣說的，雖然看起來不可能完全一樣，但我們畢竟做了一個她記憶中近似的復(fù)制品。但是當(dāng)我看著八歲的女兒和她曾祖母一起端詳著洋娃娃時，我想到了一個更為合理的解釋：或許GG看到的是那種激勵我們制作洋娃娃的那份愛。愛，不管來自何方，給人的感受都是一樣的。

2

T Care of the Elderly: A Family Matter

This text is adapted from An Intermediate Reading Skills Text by Lorraine C. Smith & Nancy Nici Mane. Heinle & Heinle Publishers. 1990.

close1RT Who takes care of the elderly in the United States today? Many people wrongly believe that when people reach old age, their families place them in nursing homes. They are left there in the hands of strangers for the rest of their lives. Their grown children visit them only occasionally, but more often, they do not have any regular visitors. The truth is that this idea is an unfortunate myth — a fictitious (虛構(gòu)的) story. In fact, family members provide over 80 percent of the care that elderly people need.

關(guān)愛老年人：事關(guān)全家人

在當(dāng)今美國社會，誰在照顧老年人？很多人錯誤地以為，人們上了年紀后，家人便會把他們送到養(yǎng)老院去，由陌生人照顧，并在那里度過余生。他們成年的孩子偶爾會來看看他們，更多的時候，沒有人會來定期看望他們。這種看法其實只是個令人遺憾的誤解，與事實根本不符。事實是，老人們得到的關(guān)愛，超過百分之八十來自他們的家庭成員。close2RT Samuel H. Preston, a sociologist (社會學(xué)家) at the University of Pennsylvania, studied how the American family is changing. He reported that by the time the average American couple reaches 40 years of age, they have more parents than children. This statistic shows the change in life-styles and responsibilities of aging Americans. The average middle-aged couple can look forward to caring for elderly parents some time after their own children have grown up. Moreover, because people today live longer after an illness than people did years ago, family members must provide long-term care. These facts also mean that after caregivers provide for their elderly parents, who will eventually die, they will be old and may require care too. When they do, their spouses (配偶) will probably take care of them.

賓夕法尼亞大學(xué)的社會學(xué)家塞繆爾．H．普雷斯頓研究了美國家庭是怎樣變化的。他報告說，一對普通的美國夫婦到40歲時，需要他們照顧的父母比需要他們照顧的孩子要多。這個數(shù)據(jù)顯示了美國人變老后在生活方式和責(zé)任方面發(fā)生的變化。當(dāng)他們的小孩成年后不久，普通中年夫婦就要預(yù)備照顧年邁的父母了。此外，由于當(dāng)今人們戰(zhàn)勝疾病的能力比以往增強了，壽命不斷延長，因此家庭成員需要給予老人們長期的照顧。這些事實也意味著中年夫婦在照顧他們的父母頤養(yǎng)天年直至告別人世之后，他們自己也已漸漸老去，也需要他人的照顧了。當(dāng)他們需要照顧時，他們的配偶也會照顧他們。close3RT Because Americans are living longer than ever, more psychologists and social workers have begun to study caregiving to improve care of the elderly. They have found that all caregivers share a common characteristic: All caregivers believe that they are the best for the job, for different reasons. One caregiver said that she had always been close to her mother. Another was the oldest child. Another was the youngest child. In other words, they all felt that they could do the job better than anyone else. Social workers interviewed caregivers to find out why they took on the responsibility of caring for an elderly, dependent relative. They discovered three basic reasons. Many caregivers believed that they had an obligation to help their relative. Some stated that helping others made them feel more useful. Others hoped that by helping someone now, they would deserve care when they became old and dependent.

由于美國人壽命越來越長，越來越多的心理學(xué)家和社會工作者開始研究如何給老年人更好的關(guān)心和照顧。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)所有照顧老人的人有一個共性：他們都認為自己是最適合這項工作的人，當(dāng)然理由各有不同。有一個人說她和母親關(guān)系親密，另一個說他是長子，而另一個說自己是家中最小的孩子。換句話說，他們都認為自己可以比別人做得更好。社會工作者通過對看護人員的采訪，弄清楚他們?yōu)槭裁匆袚?dān)起照料老人或無依無靠親戚的責(zé)任。他們找到三個基本理由：首先，很多護理人員認為他們有義務(wù)幫助他們的親屬。一些人認為，通過幫助別人，他們感覺自己更有用了。還有的人希望現(xiàn)在幫助別人，等到自己老了無依無靠時也能夠得到別人的關(guān)愛。close4RT When people care for an elderly relative, they often do not use available community services, such as adult daycare centers. If the caregivers are adult children, they are more likely to use such services, especially because they often have jobs and other responsibilities. In contrast, a spouse, usually the wife, is much less likely to use support services or to put the dependent person in a nursing home. Social workers discovered that the reason for this difference was fear of poverty. An ill, elderly person may live for years, and medical care and nursing homes are very expensive. An elderly couple's savings can disappear very quickly. The surviving spouse, usually the wife, can be left in poverty. As a result, she often tries to take care of her husband herself for as long as she can.

人們在照顧年老的親屬時通常并不使用現(xiàn)有的諸如成人日間護理中心之類的社區(qū)服務(wù)。但是如果看護人是成年子女的話，他們會利用此類服務(wù)，因為往往他們自己要工作，同時還有一些其他事情要做。相比而言，如果是一個配偶照顧另一個配偶時（常常是妻子照顧丈夫），她更不會使用援助服務(wù)或者把丈夫送去養(yǎng)老院。社會工作者發(fā)現(xiàn)，這種差異是畏懼貧困的心理造成的。生病的老人也許還能活許多年，而醫(yī)療保健和養(yǎng)老院的費用是非常昂貴的。一對老年夫婦的積蓄很快就會耗盡，那么留下的配偶――通常是妻子――則會陷入貧困。因此，妻子總是親力親為，盡可能久地照顧自己的丈夫。close5RT Researchers have found that caring for the elderly can be a very positive experience. The elderly appreciated the care and attention they received. They were affectionate (充滿深情的，親切的)and cooperative (合作的；共同的). However, even when caregiving is satisfying, it is hard work. Social workers and experts on aging offer caregivers and potential caregivers help when arranging for the care of an elderly relative. One consideration is to ask parents what they want before they become sick or dependent. Perhaps they prefer going into a nursing home and can select one in advance. On the other hand, they may want to live with their adult children. Caregivers must also learn to be assertive (斷然的；自信的) and ask for help from others. Brothers and sisters are often willing to help, but they do not know what to do.

調(diào)查還發(fā)現(xiàn)照顧老年人可以是一種確有助益的經(jīng)歷。老年人感激照顧并關(guān)心他們的人，因此心里充滿了感情，并積極配合。不過，盡管照顧他人是一件讓人滿足的事，但這仍然是件非常艱難的工作。當(dāng)看護人和有可能要照顧他人者在安排照顧年邁親屬事宜時，社會工作者和老年問題專家常會提供幫助。一種建議是讓他們在父母生病需要照顧之前就詢問父母的意見?；蛟S他們寧愿去老人院，那就可以提前給自己選擇一家。另一方面，也許他們想和已長大成人的孩子們住在一起?？醋o人必須果斷行事，需要幫助時則向他人開口。兄弟姐妹常常是樂于伸出援助之手的，只是他們也不知道該怎么做而已。close6RT We can expect to live longer lives than ever before in American history. Caring for the elderly and being taken care of can be a mutually satisfying experience for everyone involved.

現(xiàn)在我們可以比美國歷史上任何時候的人都活得更長。照顧老年人和得到別人的關(guān)照對有關(guān)的每個人都是一種令人心滿意足的經(jīng)歷。

A Sailor's Christmas Gift

William J. Lederer 1RT Last year at Christmas time my wife, three boys, and I were in France, on our way from Paris to Nice. For five wretched days everything had gone wrong. Our hotels were "tourist traps"; our rented car broke down; we were all restless and irritable in the crowded car. On Christmas Eve, when we checked into a shabby hotel in Nice, there was no Christmas spirit in our hearts.