双语阅读：国境以南,太阳以西

1、双语阅读：国境以南,太阳以西以下是 整理的情感类英语美文欣赏：国境以南，太阳以西，希望 对你有所感触。In the six years I went to eleme ntary school, I met just oneother only child. So I rememberher (yes, it was a girl) very well.I got to know her well, and we talked about all sorts of thin gs.We un derstood each other. You could eve n say I loved he

2、r.小学六年时间我只遇上一个独生子，所以对她(是的，是女孩儿)记得十分真切。我和她成了好朋友，两人无话不谈，说是息息相通也 未尝不可。我甚至对她怀有了爱情。Her last n ame was Shimamoto. Soon after she was born,she came dow n with polio, whichmade her drag her left leg.On top of that, she&rsq uo;d tran sferred to our school at theend of fifthgrade. Compared to me, then, she ha

3、d a terrible load of psychological baggage to strugglewith. This baggage, though, only made her a tougher, more self-possessed onlychildtha nIcouldeverhavebee n. Shen everwhi ned orcompla in ed,n evergaveanyin dicatio n oftheannoyanceshemusthavefeltat times.No matterwhathappened,she’d man age

4、a smile. Theworse things got, in fact, the broader her smile became. I loved her smile. It soothed me,e ncouraged me. It’ll be all right her smile told me.Just hang in there, and everyth ing will tur nout okay. Years later, whe never I thought of her, it was her smile that came to mind first.她

5、姓岛本，同是独生子。由于出生不久便得了小儿麻痹，左腿有 一点点跛，并且是转校生（岛本来我们班是五年级快结束的时候）。这 样，可以说她背负着很大的；;大得与我无法相比的；;精神压力。但是， 也正因为背负着格外大的压力，她要比我坚强得多，自律得多，在任 何人面前都不叫苦示弱。不仅口头上，脸上也是如此。即使事情令人 不快，脸上也总是带着微笑。甚至可以说越是事情令人不快，她越是 面带微笑。那微笑实在妙不可言，我从中得到了不少安慰和鼓励。“没 关系的，”那微笑像是在说，“不怕的，忍一忍就过去了。”由于这个 缘故，以后每想起岛本的面容，便想起那微笑。Shimamoto always got good gr

6、ades and was kind to every one. People respected her. We werebothon ly childre n,but in this sense she and I were differe nt. This does n&rsq uo;t mea n, though, thatall our classmates liked her. No one teased her or made fun of her, but except for me, she had no real frien ds.岛本学习成绩好，对别人大体公平而亲切，所以在

7、班上她常被人高看一眼。在这个意义上，虽说她也是独生子，却跟我大不一样。不过若说她无条件地得到所有同学喜欢， 那也未必。大家固然不欺负她 不取笑她，但除了我，能称为朋友的人在她是一个也没有。She was probably too cool, too self-possessed. Some of our classmates must have thought hercold and haughty. But I detected somethingelse- something warm and fragile justbelow thesurface. Something very muc

8、h like a child playing hide-and-seek,hiddendeep within her, yethoping to befound.想必对他们来说，她是过于冷静而又自律了，可能有人还视之为 冷淡和傲慢。但是我可以感觉出岛本在外表下潜伏的某种温情和脆 弱;如同藏猫猫的小孩子，尽管躲在深处，却又希求迟早给人瞧见。 有时我可以从她的话语和表情中一晃儿认出这样的影子。Because her father was tran sferred a lot, Shimamoto hadattended quite a few schools. I can’trecal

9、l what her father did. On ce, she expla ined to me in detail what he did, but as with mostkids, it went in one ear and out the other. I seem to recall some professional job connectedwith a bank or tax office or something. She lived in company housing, but the house was largerthannormal, a Western-st

10、yle house with alow solid stone wall surroundingit. Above the wallwas anevergreen hedge, and through gaps in the hedge you could catch a glimpse of agarde n with a law n.由于父亲工作的关系，岛本不知转了多少次校。她父亲做什么工 作，我记不准确了。她倒是向我详细说过一回，但正如对身边大多数 小孩一样，我也对别人父亲的职业没什么兴趣。记得大约是银行、税 务或公司破产法方面专业性质的工作。这次搬来住的房子虽说也是公司住宅，却是座蛮大

11、的洋房，四周围着相当气派的齐腰高的石墙，石 墙上连着常绿树篱，透过点点处处的间隙可以窥见院里的草坪。Shimamoto was a large girl, about as tall as I was, with striki ng features. I was certa in that ina few years she would begorgeous.Butwhe n 1 first met her, she had n&rsq uo;tdevelopedanouterlooktomatch her inner qualities.Somethi ngabout herwasun b

12、ala need,and not manypeoplefelt she was much to look at. There was an adult part ofher and a part that was still a child-a ndthey were out of sync.And this out-of-s ync quality made people un easy.岛本是个眉目清秀的高个子女孩，个头同我不相上下，几年后必定出落成十分引人注目的绝对漂亮的姑娘。但我遇见她的当时，她还没获得同其自身资质相称的外观。当时的她总好像有些地方还不够谐 调，因此多数人并不认为她的容

13、貌有多大魅力。我猜想大概是因为在她身上大人应有的部分同仍然是孩子的部分未能协调发展的缘故，这种不均衡有时会使人陷入不安。Probably because our houses were so close, literally a stone’s throw from each other, the firstm on th after she came to our school she was assig ned to the seat next to mine.I broughtherup to speed on what texts she’d need,what

14、 the weekly tests were like, how much we&rsq uo;d covered ineach book, how the clea ning and thedish in g-out-l unchassig nmentswerehan dled.Ourschool’s policy was for the child who lived n earest any tran sfer stude nt to help him or her out;my teacher took me aside to let me know that he exp

15、ected me to take special care ofShimamoto, with her lame leg.由于两家离得近（她家距我家的的确确近在咫尺），最初一个月在 教室里，她被安排坐在我旁边。我将学校生活所必需知道的细则一一 讲给她听；;教材、每星期的测验、各门课用的文具、课程进度、扫除 和午间供饭值班等等。一来由住处最近的学生给转校生以最初的帮助 是学校的基本方针，二来是因为她腿不好，老师从私人角度把我找去， 叫我在一开始这段时间照顾一下岛本。As with all kids of eleve n or twelve talki ng with a memberof the

16、 opposite sex for the first time,for a couple of days ourconversations were strained. When we found out we were both onlychildren, though, we relaxed. It was the first time either of us had met a fellow only child. Wehad so much we&rsq uo;d held in side about being only childre n. Oftenwe’dwal

17、k home together. Slowly,because of her leg,we’d walk the three quarters of a mile home, talking about all kinds ofthings. The more we talked, the more we realized we had in com mon: our love of books an dmusic; not to mentioncats. We both had a hard time explainingourfeelings to others. Weboth

18、 had a long list of foods we did n&rsq uo;t want to eat. Whe n it came to subjects at school, theones we liked we had no trouble concentrating on; the ones we disliked we hated to death. Butthere was one major differenee between us – more than I did, Shimamoto con sciouslywrapped herself in si

19、de a protective shell. Un like me, she made an effort to study the subjectsshe hated, and she got good grades. Whe n the schoo I lunch contained food she hated, shestill ate it. In other words, she constructed a much taller defensive wall around herself than lever built. What remainedbehind that wal

20、l, though, was pretty muchwhat lay beh ind mine.就像一般初次见面的十一二岁异性孩子表现出的那样，最初几天我们的交谈总有些别扭发涩，但在得知对方也是独生子之后，两人的 交谈迅速变得生动融洽起来。无论对她还是对我，遇到自己以外的独 生子都是头一遭。这样，我们就独生子是怎么回事谈得相当投入，想 说的话足有几大堆。一见面；;虽然算不上每天;两人就一起从学校走 路回家，而且这一公里路走得很慢（她腿不好只能慢走），边走边说这 说那。说话之间，我们发现两人的共同点相当不少。我们都喜欢看书， 喜欢听音乐，都最喜欢猫，都不擅长向别人表达自己的感受。不能吃 的食物都

21、能列出长长一串，中意的科目都全然不觉得难受，讨厌的科 目学起来都深恶痛绝。如果说我和她之间有不同之处，那就是她远比 我有意识地努力保护自己。讨厌的科目她也能用心学且取得很不错的 成绩，而我则不是那样。不喜欢的食物端上来她也能忍着全部吃下， 而我则做不到。换个说法，她在自己周围修筑的防体比我的高得多牢 固得多，可是要保护的东西都惊人地相似。Un like times whe n I was with other girls, I could relax withShimamoto. I loved walki ng homewith her. Her left leg limped slight

22、ly as she walked. We sometimes took a breather on a parkbe nch halfway home, but I did n&rsq uo;t mind. Rather the opposite-I was glad to have the extra time.我很快习惯了同她单独在一起。那是全新的体验。同她在一起， 我没有同别的女孩子在一起时那种心神不定的感觉。我喜欢同她搭伴 走路回家。岛本轻轻拖着左腿行走，途中有时在公园长椅上休息一会 儿，但我从未觉得这有什么妨碍，反倒为多花时间感到快乐。Soon we began to spend a

23、 lot of timetogether,but Idon&rsq uo;trecallanyonekidd ingusaboutitThisdid n&rsq uo;tstrikeme at thetime, thoughnow itseemsstra nge. After all, kids that age n aturallytease and make fun ofany couple who seem close. It might have bee n because of the kind ofperson Shimamoto was. Something about her

24、made other people a bit ten se. She had an airabout her that made people thi nk: Whoa-better not say any thi ng too stupid in front of this girl.Even our teachers were somewhat on edge when deali ng with her. Her lame ness might havehad somethi ng to do with it. At any rate, most people thought Shim

25、amoto was not the ki nd ofpers on you teased, which was just fine by me.我们就这样单独在一起打发时间。记忆中周围不曾有人为此奚落 我们。当时倒没怎么放在心上，但如今想来，觉得颇有点不可思议。 因为那个年龄的孩子很喜欢拿要好的男女开心起哄。大概是岛本的为人所使然吧，我想。她身上有一种能引起别人轻度紧张的什么，总之 就是说她带有一种“不能对此人开无聊玩笑”的气氛。就连老师看上 去有时都对她感到紧张。也可能同她腿有毛病不无关系。不管怎样， 大家都好像认为拿岛本开玩笑是不太合适的，而这在结果上对我可谓 求之不得。During ph

26、ys. ed. she sat on the sidelines, and when our class went hiking or mountainclimbing,she stayed home.Same with summer swim camp. On our annual sports day, she did seem alittle out of sorts. But other tha n this, her school life was typical. Hardly ever did she men ti on herleg. If memoryserves, n ot

27、 eve n on ce. When ever we walked home from schooltogether, she never once apologized for hold ing me back or let this thought graze her expressi on. I kn ew,though, that it was precisely because her leg bothered her that she refra ined from men ti onin git. She did n&rsq uo;t like to go to other ki

28、ds’ homes much, since she&rsq uo;d have to removehershoes,Japa nese style, at the entran ce. The heels of her shoes were differe nt heights, and the shoesthemselves were shaped differe ntly&n dash; someth ing she wan ted at all costs tocon ceal. Must havebee ncustom-made shoes. When shearrived

29、 at her own home, the first thing she did was tossher shoes in the closet as fast as she could.岛本由于腿不灵便，几乎不参加体操课，郊游或登山时也不来校， 类似游泳那样的集体在外留宿的夏令营活动也不露面。开运动会的时候，她总显出几分局促不安。但除了这些场合，她过的是极为普通的 小学生活。她几乎不提自己的腿疾，在我记忆范围内一次也不曾有过。 即使在和她放学回家时，她也绝对没说过例如“走得慢对不起”的话, 脸上也无此表现。但我十分清楚，晓得她是介意自己的腿的，惟其介 意才避免提及。她不大喜欢去别人家玩，因

30、为必须在门口脱鞋。左右 两只鞋的形状和鞋底厚度多少有些不同；;她不愿意让别人看到。大约 是特殊定做的那种。我所以察觉，是因为发现她一到自己家第一件事 就是把鞋放进鞋箱。Shimamot o’s house had a brand-new stereo in theliving room, and I used to go over to herplace to listen to music. It was a pretty nice stereo. Her father’sLPcollecti on, though, did n&rsq uo;tdo it justi

31、ce. At most he had fiftee n records, chiefly collecti ons of light classics. We liste ned tothose fiftee n records a thousa nd times, and eve n today I can recall the music-every si ngle n ote.岛本家客厅里有个新型音响装置，我为听这个常去她家玩。音响装置相当堂而皇之。不过她父亲的唱片收藏却不及音响的气派，LP唱片顶多也就十五六张吧，而且多半是以初级听众为对象的轻古典音 乐，但我还是左一遍右一退反反复复听这

32、十五张唱片，至今都能真可谓真真切切巨细无遗地一一记起。Shimamoto was in charge of the records. She’d take one from its jacket place it carefully on theturntable withouttouch ingthe grooves with her fin gers, and, aftermaki ng sure to brush thecartridge free of any dust with a tiny brush, lower the n eedle ever so gen tly

33、 onto the record.Whe n the record was fini shed, she&rsq uo;d spray it and wipe it with a felt cloth. Fi nally she&rsq uo;d returnthe record to its jacket and its proper place on the shelf. Her father had taught her thisprocedure, and she followed his in structi ons with a terribly serious look on h

34、er face, her eyes narrowed, her breath held in check. Mean while, I was on the sofa, watch ing her every move.O nly whe n the record was safely back on the shelf did she turn to me and give a little smile.And every time, this thought hit me: It was n&rsq uo;t a record she was han dli ng. It was a fr

35、agile souli nside a glass bottle.照料唱片是岛本的任务。她从护套里取出唱片，在不让手指触及 细纹的情况下双手将其放在唱片盘上，用小毛刷拂去唱针的灰尘，慢慢置于唱片之上。唱片转罢，用微型吸尘器吸一遍，拿毛布擦好，收 进护套，放回架上原来的位置。她以极其专注的神情一丝不苟地进行 父亲教给她的这一系列作业，眯起眼睛，屏息敛气。我总是坐在沙发 上目不转睛地注视她这一举一动。唱片放回架上，岛本这才冲我露出一如往常的微笑，而那时我每每这样想：她照料的并非唱片，而大约 是某个装在玻璃瓶里的人的孱弱魂灵。In my house we didn’thave recor

36、ds or a recordplayer. My pare nts did n&rsq uo;t care much for music.So I was always liste ning to music on a small plastic AM radio. Rock and roll was my favorite,but before long I grew to enjoy Shimamot o’s brand of classical music. This was music froma no ther world, which had its appeal, b

37、ut more tha n that I loved it because she was a part ofthat world. Once or twice a week, she and I would sit on the sofa, drinking the tea her mothermade for us, and spe nd the after noon liste ning to Ross ini overtures, Beethove n&rsq uo;s Pastorale,a nd the Peer Gynt Suite. Her mother was happy t

38、o have me over. She was pleased herdaughter had a friend so soon after tran sferri ng to a new school, and I guess it helped that Iwas a n eat dresser. Honestly, I couldn’t bring myself to like her mother very much. Noparticular reas on. I felt that way. She was always n ice to me. But I could

39、 detect a hint ofirritati on in her voice, and it put me on edge.我家没唱机也没唱片，父母不是对音乐特别热心的那一类型，所 以我总是在自己房间里，扑在塑料壳AM收音机上听音乐。从收音机里听到的大多是摇滚一类。但岛本家的轻古典音乐我也很快喜欢上 了。那是“另一世界”的音乐。我为其吸引大概是因为岛本属于那“另一世界”。每星期有一两次我和她坐在沙发上，一边喝着她母亲端来 的红茶，一边听罗西尼的序曲集、贝多芬的田园交响曲和培尔;金特送走一个下午。她母亲很欢迎我来玩，一来为刚刚转校的女儿交 上朋友感到欣喜，二来想必也是因为我规规矩矩而且总是

40、衣着整洁这 点合了她的心意。不过坦率地说，我对她母亲却总好像喜欢不来。倒 不是说有什么具体讨厌的地方，虽然她待我一直很亲切，但我总觉得 其说话方式里多少有一种类似焦躁的东西，使得我心神不定。Of all her father’s records, the one I liked best was a record ing of the Liszt pia no con certos: one con certo on each side. There were two reas ons I liked this record. First of all, the recordjac

41、ket was beautiful. Second, no one aro undme – with the exception of Shimamoto, ofcourse-ever listened to Liszt’s piano concertos. The very idea excited me. I’d found a world that no one around me knew &n dash; a secret garde n on ly I was allowed to en ter. I felt elevated, lifted

42、toa no ther pla ne of existe nee.她父亲收集的唱片中我最爱听的是李斯特钢琴协奏曲。正面为1号，反面为2号。爱听的理由有两点：一是唱片护套格外漂亮，二是 我周围的人里边听过李斯特钢琴协奏曲的一个也没有，当然岛本除 外。这委实令我激动不已。我知晓了周围任何人都不知晓的世界！这就好比惟独我一个人被允许进入秘密的花园一样。对我来说，听李斯特的钢琴协奏曲无疑是把自己推上了更高的人生阶梯。And the music itself was won derful. At first it struck me as exaggerated, artificial, evenincomprehensible.Little by little,though, with repeatedlistenings, a vague image formed inmymind &n dash; an image that had meaning. Whe n I closed my eyes and concen trated, the music cameto me as a series of whirlpools. On