• 导读

• 在西方过圣诞节就如中国的春节般隆重，是家人团聚的象征。西方人们过圣诞节时，会装点圣诞树，教会会组织一些圣诗班挨家挨户唱圣诞颂歌（圣诞歌有很多其中以Silent Night最为有名）。

• 本文记叙的时间跨度大，从童年的天真，到婚后后的不幸，到日后的惊喜，再到中年的不幸，最后到老年的欣慰，都以Christmas为主线，文章标题为：圣诞节失而复得（Christmas Lost and Found）

Passage Christmas Lost and Found

• Christmas was a quiet affair（事情） when I grew up. There were just my parents and I.

• I vowed（誓言），that someday I'd marry and have six children, and at Christmas my house would vibrate（颤动） with energy（活力） and love.

• 优美句子：at Christmas my house would vibrate with energy and love.

• 译文：人长大了过圣诞节也就没有气氛了，过圣诞节时，只有我和父母在一起过。我对自己发誓等我结婚后，我要生半打孩子，这样过圣诞节时家里热门翻天，其乐无穷。

• I found the man who shared my dream, but we had not reckoned（料想） on the possibility of infertility（不育）. Undaunted（大无畏的）,we applied for（申请） adoption（领养）,and then he arrived.

• 优美句子：I found the man who shared my dream

• 译文：有着共同梦想之人已找到，没想到的是患上了不育症，我们申请了领养，权领养的孩子也随之而来。

• We called him Our Christmas Boy because he came to us during that season of joy.

• Then nature （上天）surprised us again. We added two biological （有血亲关系的）children to the family—not as many as we had hoped for, but three made an entirely satisfactory（满意的 ）crowd.

• 译文：在这充满圣诞喜庆的季节，我们领养的孩子来到了身边，我们给他取名圣诞儿。上天又给我带来惊喜，家里添了两个娃―尽管没有

当初设想的那么多，三个娃也足以是满意的一家子了。

• As Our Christmas Boy grew, he made it clear that only he had the expertise（专长）to select and decorate（装饰） the Christmas tree. He rushed the season, starting his gift list in November. He pressed us into singing carols（圣诞歌）, our froglike voices contrasting（对比） with his musical gift（天赋） of perfect pitch（调）.Each holiday he stirred us up（激起）,leading us into a round of merry chaos.（忙活）

• 语言解析：he made it clear that only he had the expertise to select and decorate the Christmas tree. 此处it为形式宾语，clear为宾语补语 that引导的从句为宾语从句

• 译文：圣诞娃渐渐长大了，他信心满满地跟我们说他是挑选与装点圣诞树的高手。整个季节里他东奔西跑，十一月份就开始计划圣诞礼物了。他硬是要我们唱圣诞歌，他完美无缺音乐天赋与我们蛙叫般的声音形成了鲜明的对比。每当节日来临，他都让我们激动不已，在喧闹中给我们带来一连串的欢乐。

• Then, on his 26th Christmas, he left us in a car accident on his way home to his wife and infant （婴儿）daughter. But first he had stopped by the family home to decorate our tree.

• 译文：在他的第26个圣诞节时，他路过我们家时，

他停下来帮我们装点圣诞树，可就在他离开我们回到他自己家的路上，出车祸，他永远地离开我们了。

• Grief-stricken （悲痛欲绝的）,his father and I sold our home, where memories clung（cling粘附） to every room, and moved away. Seventeen years later, we grew old enough to return home, and settled into （安顿）a small quiet house, like the house of my childhood. Our other son and daughter had married and had begun their own Christmas traditions in another part of the country.

• 译文：我们悲痛欲绝，从每个角落都贴着回忆的老房子搬出来，把房子卖了。十七年后，我们告老还乡，住进一处僻静如孩提时的房子。其它儿女已成家，在他乡按照传统过着自己的圣诞节。

• One day, I heard the doorbell ring. There stood our granddaughter, and in her gray-green eyes I saw the reflection （映像） of Our Christmas Boy. Behind her, lugging（拖拉） a large pine（松树） tree, came her mother and stepfather（继父）.They swept（掠过） past us in a flurry（一阵风） of laughter; and then decorated the tree.

• 译文：一天门铃响了，站在门外的是孙女，灰绿色的双眸，简直就跟圣诞娃长的一模一样，身后拖着一棵大松树，母亲和继父跟在她后面。他们欢声笑语地掠过身边，开始装点起圣诞树来。

• "You'll recognize （认出）the ornaments（装饰物）,"said my former daughter-in-law（前儿媳）."They were his. I save them for you. " When I murmured（低声说 ）that we hadn't had a tree for 17 years, our granddaughter said, "Then it's time to have one!" They asked us to join them the next morning for church and for dinner at their home.• Our granddaughter ordered, "I'm singing the solo（独唱）独唱曲 and I want you to be there.

• 译文："认得出这些装饰品吧" 前儿媳说道，"这是他特意给你们留的。"我喃喃地回答说，我们都十七年没有过圣诞树了，孙女说"现在有了"• 他们要我俩明早一起去教堂，晚上一起吃团员饭。孙女下命令了，要我们一定去，到时她会为我们独唱一曲。

• "We had long ago given up the poignant（令人痛苦的 ）Christmas services（仪式）,but now, we sat rigid（僵直的 ）in the front pew（长凳）,fighting back tears. Our granddaughter's magnificent（华丽的） voice soared（高飞）,clear and true, in perfect pitch. How her father would have relished（欣慰） that moment!

• 译文：很久以前，我们就舍弃这一令人心酸的圣诞仪式了，而如今，我们强忍着泪水，僵直地坐在这上。孙女飞扬着歌声，是那么的清晰纯，那么的完美，要是她父亲在的话，他会对这一刻多么的欣慰！

• We had been alerted （提醒）that there would be a lot of people for dinner——but 35!I could not sort out （分出）who belonged to whom, but it didn't matter. They all belonged （属于）to each other. It occurred （突然想到）to me that a true family is not always one's own flesh（肉） and blood. It is a climate（氛围） of the heart. Had it not been our adopted son, we would not now be surrounded（围绕） by caring strangers.

• Had it not been our adopted son, we would not now be surrounded by caring strangers.本句为虚拟语气

• 译文：来之前他们就提醒我们吃团员饭人很多——35人！会不会分不清谁是谁，不过没关系，都是一家人。我突然想起，真正的一家人不一定要是血肉的联系，而是心在一起的一种氛围。要不是圣诞娃，我们这群有关爱的陌生人今天就不会围坐在一起了。

• Later, our granddaughter asked us to come along with her to a place she likes to go. In the foothills（山丘） there was his grave（坟墓）.As we stood by the headstone（墓碑） in the chilly（寒冷的 ）but somehow comforting（安慰的 ）silence, we were not prepared for our granddaughter's next move（举动）.

• 译文：后来，孙妇邀我们一道去了她经常喜欢去的地方，我们在山麓的下的墓碑前静静地站着，虽然天气有一丝寒冷，心里还是令人欣慰，对孙女的下一举动有些措手不及。

• Once more that day her voice, so like her father's, lifted in song, and the mountainside echoed（发回声 ）on and into infinity（无限）.• When the last pure note（音符） had faded（减弱）,I felt a sense of peace, of the continuity（延续）of life, of renewed（重建的） faith （信仰）and hope. The real meaning of Christmas had been restored（恢复） to us.

• 译文：酷似她父亲的声音再次响起，在半山腰回荡，余音不断，悠悠不绝。当最后一个音符消失，我内心一片平静，感觉到了生命的延续，重获信仰与希望，圣诞节的意义重归心间。