雙語散文欣賞父親失約

　　今天的散文，小編給大家介紹一篇來自丹麥的散文，接下來，小編給大家準備了,歡迎大家參考與借鑑。

　　It happened in one of those picturesque Danish taverns that cater to tourists and where English is spoken. I was with my father on a business-and-pleasure trip, and in our leisure hours we were having a wonderful time.

　　“It’s a pity your mother couldn’t come,” said Father. “It would be wonderful to show her around.”

　　He had visited Denmark when he was a young man. I asked him, “How long is it since you were here?”

　　“Oh, about 30 years. I remember being in this very inn, by the way.” He looked around, remembering. “Those were gracious days—” He stopped suddenly, and I saw that his face was pale. I followed his eyes and looked across the room to a woman who was setting a tray of drinks before some customers. She might have been pretty once, but now she was stout and her hair was untidy. “Do you know her?” I asked..

　　“I did once,” he said.

　　The woman came to our table. “Drinks?” she inquired.

　　“We’ll have beer,” I said. She nodded and went away.

　　“How she has changed! Thank heaven she didn’t recognize me,” muttered Father mopping his face with a handkerchief. “I knew her before I ever met your mother, “he went on. “I was a student, on a tour. She was a lovely young thing, very graceful. I fell madly in live with her, and she with me.”

　　“Does Mother know about her?” I blurted out, resentfully.

　　“Of course,” Father said gently. He looked at me a little anxiously. I felt embarrassed for him.

　　I said, “Dad, you don’t have to-“

　　“Oh, yes, I want to tell you. I don’t want you wondering about this. Her father objected to our romance. I was a foreigner. I had no prospects, and was dependent on my father. When I wrote Father that I wanted to get married he cut off my allowance. And I had to go home. But I met the girl once more, and told her I would return to America, borrow enough money to get married on, and come back for her in a few months.”

　　“We know,” he continued, “that her father might intercept a letter, so we agreed that I would simply mail her a slip of paper with a date on it, the time she was to meet me at a certain place; then we’d married. Well, I went home, got the loan and sent her the date. She received the note. She wrote me:” I’ll be there.” But she wasn’t. Then I found that she had been married about two weeks before, to a local innkeeper. She hadn’t waited.”

　　Then my father said,” Thank God she didn’t. I went home, met your mother, and we’ve been completely happy. We often joke about that youthful love romance.”

　　The woman appeared with our beer.

　　“You are from America?” she asked me.

　　“Yes,” I said.

　　She beamed. “A wonderful country, America.”

　　“Yes, a lot of your countrymen have gone there. Did you ever think of it?”

　　“Not me. Not now,” she said. “I think so one time, a ling time ago. But I stay here. It much better here.”

　　We drank our beer and left. Outside I said,” Father, just how did you write that date on which she was to meet you?”

　　He stopped, took out an envelope and wrote on it. “Like this,” he said. “12/11/73, which was, of course, December 11, 1973.”

　　“No!” I exclaimed. “It isn’t in Denmark or any European country. Over here they write the day first, then the month. So that date wouldn’t be December 11 but the 12th of November!”

　　Father passed his hand over his face. “So she was there!” he exclaimed. “And it was because I didn’t show up that she got married.” He was silent a while. “Well,” he said., “I hope she’s happy. She seems be.”

　　As we resumed walking I blurted out, “It is a lucky thing it happened that way. You wouldn’t have met Mother.”

　　He put his arm around my shoulders, looked at me with a heart-warming smile, and said, “I was doubly lucky, young fellow, for otherwise I wouldn’t have met you, either!”

　　【參考譯文】

　　事情發生在丹麥的一個富有畫意的客棧裡。這種客棧專逢迎遊客，通用英語。我和父親這次旅行也是辦事，也遊樂，空閒的時候，玩得很痛快。

　　父親說：“可惜你媽不能來。如果能帶她來逛逛，多好。”

　　父親年輕時到過丹麥。我問他，“從你上次來，有多久了?”

　　“哦，差不多三十年了。我記得那時就住在這家小客棧裡。”

　　父親四下望望，回憶道：“那些日子真美……”他忽然住口不言，臉色轉白。我順著他的眼光看去，只見房間那邊有個女人正端著托盤在客人面前上酒。她從前可能很美，但是現在已經發胖，頭髮也很亂。我問父親：“你認識她嗎?”

　　他說：“從前認識。”

　　女人走到我們的桌前。問道“要酒嗎?”

　　我說：“我們要啤酒。”她點點頭，去了。

　　父親掏出手巾擦額，低聲說道：“她真變了!謝天謝地，幸而她沒認出我來。我認識她在你的媽媽之前，那時候我是學生，假期旅行到這裡。她年輕漂亮，非常可愛。我愛她到了極點，她也愛我。”

　　我很不高興地衝口問道：“媽曉得她的事嗎?”

　　“當然知道。”父親略感不安地望著我。我都替他難為情。

　　我說：“爸爸，你用不著……”

　　“哦，我要告訴你，我不要你亂猜。她的父親反對我們相愛。我是外國人，又沒有好前途，還要依靠父親。我寫信給父親說要結婚，父親就不寄錢來。我只好回家。但是我又和她見了一次面，告訴她我要回美國去借結婚的錢，過幾個月就來找她。”

　　“我們知道，”他接著說，“她父親可能會拆看我們的信件，所以商量好我只寄給她一張紙，上面寫個日期，那是要她在某處和我見面的時間，然後我們就結婚。後來我回家去，借到錢把日期寄給她。”

　　“她收到了信，回信道，‘我準來。’但是她沒來。後來我才知道她已在兩個星期前嫁給一位當地客棧的老闆了。她沒有等我。”

　　父親又說：“感謝上帝，她沒有等我，我回家去，遇見了你媽媽，我們始終極為快樂。常把這一段年輕時的戀愛作為笑談。”

　　那個女人把啤酒送到我們面前。

　　她問我：“你們從美國來的嗎?”

　　我說：“是的。”

　　她笑道：“美國是好地方。”

　　“是的。那邊有許多你們的同胞。你有沒有想過要去?”

　　她說：“我不想，現在不想。我想過一次，那是很久以前的事了，但是我留在了此地。此地好得多。”

　　我們喝完啤酒就出來。一出客棧，我就問父親：“爸，你叫她等你的日期到底是怎樣寫的?”

　　他停下來，拿出一個信封，在上面寫了幾個字。他說：“這樣寫的，12/11/13，這當然是1913年12月11日。”

　　我叫道：“不對!在丹麥和歐洲任何國家都不是這樣寫的!他們先寫日子，後寫月份。所以那個日期不是12月11日，而是11月12日!”

　　父親抬起手摸了摸臉，叫道“那麼她是去過了!因為我沒有到，所以她嫁了別人!”他沉默了一會兒，說道：“也好。我希望她快樂，她似乎很快樂。”

　　我們再往前走時，我又衝口說：“幸而如此，不然你不會遇見媽媽。”

　　父親伸手摟著我的肩膀，很溫暖地向我笑道：“小夥子，我是錦上添花，要不然我也不會有你了。”