英语美文欣赏:童年往事

来源:互联网新闻 时间:2020-05-02 09:24

A Lesson Learned

现在大部分都是独生子女,也许没有体验过这种兄弟姐妹之爱。兄弟姐妹之间的相处之道主要来源于父母的教育,如果父母强调家庭的和睦和互爱,他们就会互相照顾、为对方承担;相反,如果父母没有给予他们这种爱的教育,他们就会互相指责与揭发、争夺父母的爱。比起现在的独生子女,那些有兄弟姐妹的人是幸福的,从小他们就知道父母的爱不可能分在一个人身上,于是形成了一种公平的观念,也学会了如何自己去爱自己;而且他们的童年永远不会感到孤独,当他们受到欺负的时候,哥哥姐姐就是可以依赖的力量;当他们有问题解决不了的时候,包括如何瞒骗父母,他们有人可以商量。他们生活在爱的包围中,家就是最温暖的地方。

I stood there listening to the stern words of my father.

He had gathered us into our enclosed patio and had the look on his face that told us all that one of us did something wrong. .

"Which one of you did this?" he asked with a sharp voice.

We all stared down at the floor containing the art of a child\'s handwriting in chalk. I suppose that had been a no-no for us, though can\'t say I quite remember that part when I was committing this horrible crime

I stood there. trembling on the inside and had hoped that no one else could see it. Will he know it was me? I secretly wondered.

Scared, the only words that came from my mouth were, "Not me,dad."

The others denied it as well. Of course, we knew that one of us must have done it. But l. being the youngest and smallest of thethree. just couldn\'t find the courage to tell the truth. It wasn\'t that I was a bad kid. Lying was not normal for me. But the look on my dad\'s face that evening sent a chill up and down my spine and somehow I couldn\'t bring myself to tell him.

He had a way about him when I was a child that made me afraid of him. But I loved him for it too, because it gave me my limits, my boundaries of what I could and could not do. I wanted to please him, of course. Maybe that\'s why I held back the truth that day. I was afraid of displeasing the one man I looked up to.

Without saying a word, he disappeared for only minutes and came back with a piece of paper and a pencil. He was so determined to find the culprit!

"I want each of you to write exactly what you see on the step." I was not a stupid kid. though and when my turn came, I deliberatelywrote the words differently. So when my dad compared thehandwriting, he still couldn\'t tell which one of us did it.

Frustrated, he stood a step above us and looked down at histhree small kids.

"I\'m going to give you one more chance to confess."

He continued to stand there for a few moments, but to me itonly seemed like a second. Not surprisingly, neither my brother nor my sister spoke up. Why should they? I was the one who did it.

Should I say something? Is it too late? He\'II be mad! So again,frightened, I held my tongue.

"Well, if someone would have come forward when I asked,there would have been no punishment." Oh, no! I\'ve lost my chance! "But now it\'s too late." Stupid, stupid, stupid! I should have confessed! Now l\'m gonna get it!

He took us all in the house as tears welled up in my eyes.

"Since none of you seemed to have done it, then you all get a spanking." What?! Still, I stood there and said nothing. The last thing Iwanted was a spanking! .

"I did it." someone said and I was pretty sure it wasn\'t me.

I looked around to see my sister come forward. Huh? She did it?

No, she didn\'t because I did. Why was she was taking the blame for something I did? Feeling guilty, yet still scared to \'fess up, I stood there knowing my sister was going to get spanked for something did. And I let it happen. I didn\'t speak up.

We didn\'t talk about that day for many years. Not until we were all older and I knew it was safe to finally tell my dad it was really me.

By that time, I had already figured out why my sister took the rap for it. She had become my protector, my worrywart. my best friend. And because of that, she would have rather taken the pain herself than see me suffer.

We joke about it now -- all of us, including my sister. And as always felt guilty because of it, that was the last time I let anyonetake the blame for me.

When I think back to that day, I know I learned the value offamily, of a sister who would do anything for me. And l\'m glad to say that I know now I would do the same for her.

...................................................................

童年往事

我站在那里,听着爸爸严厉的话语。

他把我们集合在家里四面围着的内院,脸上的表情告诉我们所有人:我们中肯定有人做错了什么事。

“你们谁干的这件好事?”他厉声问道。

我们全都低下头,盯着地板上小孩笔迹的粉笔涂鸦作品。我猜想当时这可能是不允许我们干的事情,尽管我不能说当我犯下这可怕罪行的时候自己牢记着这一点。

我站在那里,心里在发抖,但愿没有人能看出来。他会知道是我干的吗?我暗自揣测。内心惴惴地,从我嘴里脱口而出唯一的几个词是: “不是我,爸爸。”

其他人也都否认是自己干的。当然,我们心里明白,肯定是我们中的一个干的。只是三个孩子中年纪最小、个子也最小的我,实在拿不出勇气来说出真相。我并不是一个坏孩子。我也很少说谎。

但爸爸那天晚上的脸色让我感到毛骨悚然,不知怎么地我下不了决心告诉他真相。

当我是个小孩子时,爸爸对待孩子的方式就让我对他产生敬畏。

但我也因此而爱他,因为它给了我约束,明白哪些是能做的哪些是不能做的。当然,我想讨他的欢心。或许正因为如此,我那天隐瞒了真相。我生怕让我尊敬的人不高兴。

没说一句话,爸爸离开了。几分钟后,他又回来了,手里拿着一张纸和一枝铅笔。看来他是铁了心要找出元凶了。

“我要你们每个人将你们在台阶上看到的准确地写下来。”但我可不是一个笨孩子,该我写时,我故意用一种不同的笔迹写。因此爸爸比较完笔迹后,仍然不能确定是谁在地板上乱涂乱画。

气急败坏的爸爸站在高一级的台阶上低头审视着自己三个年幼的孩子。

“我再给你们一次机会来承认错误。”

他在那儿继续站了片刻,但对我来说,那似乎只有一秒钟。我哥哥和姐姐什么话都没说,这也在情理之中。他们为什么要说呢?

那是我干的好事。我是不是该说出来呢?现在说是不是太晚了?他肯定会怒气冲天的!恐惧之下,我又一次把话吞回去了。

“好啦。如果刚才我问时有人自动站出来,将不会受到惩罚。”

噢,不!我失去机会了! “但是现在太晚了。”笨蛋,笨蛋,笨蛋!

我早该承认错误的!现在,我该受到惩罚了!

他把我们全部领进了房子里,泪水涌上我的眼眶。

“既然你们中似乎没人做过这件事,那你们每个人都得挨打屁股。”什么?!但我仍然站在那儿,一言不发。我最不想要的就是被打屁股了!

“是我干的,”有人开口了,但我确信绝对不是我。

我环视四周,看到姐姐站了出来。啊?是她干的吗?绝对不是,因为那是我干的。她为什么要替我做的事情承受责难呢?尽管感到愧疚,但我还是吓得不敢承认错误。我只是站在那里,知道姐姐要替我挨打了。我任其发生,而没敢说一句话。

此后许多年,我们从没谈论过那天发生的事情。直到我们都长大一些,知道没有大碍我才告诉爸爸那事实际上是我干的。到这个时候,我已明白姐姐为什么要替我受责。她是我的保护者,替我担心的人,我最好的朋友。正因为如此,她宁愿自己忍受痛苦也不愿看到我遭罪。

我们现在还常拿这件事开玩笑,包括姐姐在内的所有人。因为这件事我总是感到有愧,自此以后,我再也没让别人替我承担罪责。

每当我回忆起那一天,我知道自己从中明白了家庭的价值,明白了一个愿意为我做一切事情的姐姐的价值。我很高兴地说,我现在已明白,我也会为姐姐做同样的事情。

生词表

stern a/n 严厉的,坚决,坚定;船尾

patio n 院子;天井;凉台

deny v 否定,否认

spine n 脊骨,脊柱

culprit n 犯人,犯罪

frustrate v 挫败,阻挠,使灰心

worrywart n 自寻烦恼的人

本文刊于《英语沙龙》,转载请注明出处。

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