英语美文：真朋友,天涯若比邻

英语美文：真朋友，天涯若比邻

I grew up in Jamaica Plain, an urban community located on the outskirts of Boston, Massachusetts. In the 1940’s it was a wholesome, quaint little community. It was my home and I loved it there; back then I thought I would never leave. My best friend Rose and I used to collectively dream about raising a family of our own someday. We had it all planned out to live next door to one another.

我在牙买加平原长大，那是美国马萨诸塞州波士顿市郊的一个城镇。在20世纪40年代，那是个生气勃勃而又老式别致的小社区。那是我的家乡，我热爱的地方。那时，我以为自己永远不会离开。我的朋友罗斯和我常常一起梦想着有一天各自拥有自己的家庭。我们什么都计划好了，还想着以后要挨着住，做邻居。

Our dream remained alive through grade school, high school, and even beyond. Rose was my maid of honor when I got married in 1953 to the love of my life, Dick. Even then she joked

that she was just one perfect guy short of being married, thus bringing us closer to our dream. Meanwhile, Dick aspired to be an officer in the Marines and I fully supported his ambitions. I realized that he might be stationed far away from Jamaica Plain, but I told him I would relocate and adjust. The idea of experiencing new places together seemed somewhat romantic to me.

我们的这个梦想历经小学、中学，甚至之后的岁月，从未变更。1953年当我嫁给我一生的挚爱——迪克时，罗斯是我的伴娘。那时，她甚至开玩笑说，她就差结婚了，要不就完美了——这样就能够离我们的梦想更近了。就在那时，迪克决心成为一名海军陆战队军官，而我则全力支持他的雄心壮志。我意识到，他可能会在牙买加平原以外很远

的地方驻扎，不过我告诉他我能够重新安家并适合下来。和他一起体验新天地的生活，这想法对我来说有些浪漫。

So, in 1955 Dick was stationed in Alaska and we relocated. Rose was sad to see me leave, but wished me the best of luck. Rose and I remained in touch for a few years via periodic phone call but after awhile we lost track of one another. Back in the 1950’s it was a lot more difficult to stay in touch with someone over a long distance, especially if you were relocating every few years. There were no email addresses or transferable phone number and directory lookup services were mediocre at best.

于是，1955年迪克被安排驻扎在阿拉斯加时，我们搬家了。罗斯对我的离开感到很难过，但仍祝我好运。接下来的几年里，我们通过定期打电话来保持联络，但不久我们便失去了彼此的音讯。20世纪50年代那会，要想和远方的人保持联络并不太容易，特别是当你每隔几年就要搬家时。那时还没有电子邮箱或者搬家不换号的服务，姓名地址查询服务也不甚完善。

I thought of her several times over the years. Once in the mid 1960’s when I was visiting the Greater Boston area I tried to determine her whereabout but my search turned up empty-handed. Jamaica Plain had changed drastically in the 10 years I was gone. A pretty obvious shift in income demographics was affecting my old neighborhood. My family had moved out of the area, as did many of the people I used to know. Rose was nowhere to be found.

这些年来，我有好几次想起了她。20世纪60年代中期，有一次在我去大波士顿区时，我尝试追寻她的下落，但却搜寻未果。在我离开后的10年里，牙买加平原发生了巨变。外来人口的大量迁入影响了我的旧

社区。我家早已搬离了那个地区，从前理解的邻居中有很多也搬走了。罗斯则杳无音讯，无迹可寻。

52 ye ars passed and we never spoke. I’ve since raised a

family of five, all of whom now have families of their own, and Dick passed away a few years ago. Basically, a lifetime has passed. Now here I am at the doorstep to my 80th birthday and I receive a random phone call on an idle Wednesday afternoon. “Hello?” I said. “Hi Natalie, it’s Rose,” the voice on the other end replied. “It’s been so long. I

don’t know if you remember me, but we used to be best

friends in Jamaica Plain when we were kid” she said.

52年过去了，我们再未说过话。后来，我有了一个五口之家，现在孩

子们也全都有了自己的家庭，而迪克也在几年前去世了。基本上，我

的一生就这么过去了。如今，在我即将迈入八十大寿之际，一个空闲

的周三下午我接到了一个陌生来电。“喂?”我打招呼道。“嗨，纳塔利，我是罗斯。”电话那头的声音回应道。“已经过了这么久了。我

不知道你还记不记得我，过去还是小孩子的时候，在牙买加平原，我

们是的朋友。”她说道。

We haven’t seen each other yet, but we have spent countless hours on the phone14)catching up on 52 years of our lives.

The interesting thing is that even after 52 years of

separation our personalities and interests are still

extremely similar. We both share a passion for several

hobbies that we each picked up independently several years

after we lost touch with one another. It almost feels like we are picking up right where we left off, which is really

strange considering the circumstances.

我们到现在也还没再见过面，但我们花了很长的时间在电话里互诉了

这52年里我们各自的生活。有意思的是，即使是分别了52年，我们