雙語散文閱讀：綠色的靴子

穿着這雙綠色靴子的人一定是能照顧好自己，並知道什麼時候什麼事情是值得爲之去奮鬥的人。下面是本站小編爲大家帶來經典雙語散文閱讀：綠色的靴子，希望大家喜歡!

On Monday morning I wore my green platform boots to school for the first time since I had started at Edison Middle School.

星期一早晨，我穿上了那雙綠色的厚底坡跟靴去上學。自從到愛迪生中學上學以來，今天還是我第一次穿這雙靴子。

It was the day of the poetry festival, and I was excited. At my old school, I had won the poetry ribbon every year. I’m horrible at sports, too shy to be popular and I’m not cute—but I do write good poetry.

那天正好是詩歌節，我非常興奮。在我原來的學校，我每年都能獲得學校的詩歌獎。我害怕體育，也怯於參加集體活動，還不漂亮可愛，但是——我卻能寫得一手好詩。

The poem I wrote for the Edison Roetry Festival was about my dad. I had a good feeling about sharing how special he was to me, even if it was just with the fifth grade and Mrs. Baker.

這次，我爲愛迪生詩歌節寫的詩是關於我爸爸的。我很高興能讓別人知道爸爸對我是多麼特別，儘管只有我所在的五年級的全體同學和我的老師貝克太太分享我的感覺。

English class was not until after lunch period on Mondays, so by the time we started poetry, I was so nervous my mouth was dry as toast. When Mrs. Baker called on me, I had to clear my throat, take a breath and swallow about ten times before I could speak. I didn’t even bother to look at my paper. I’d spent so much time perfecting the rhymes, and counting the beats, that I knew the poem by heart.

星期一的英語課總是在午餐過後纔開始上。那天我們開始研究詩歌的時候，我感到很緊張，嘴巴里幹得就像吃的烤麪包幹一樣。當貝克太太叫到我的時候，我不得不清了清嗓子，深深地吸一口氣，並嚥了大約十口唾沫，纔開始朗誦。我甚至不必費神看我的詩稿，因爲這首詩我花了很多時間完善韻律、對齊音步，所以我對這首詩了熟於胸。

I had just started the third verse when I noticed Mrs. Baker was glaring furiously at me. I stopped in the middle of a word and waited for her to say something.

當我正準備朗誦第三節的時候，我突然注意到貝克太太正憤怒地瞪着我。我一個詞說到一半就停了下來，等待她說些什麼。

“Linda, you are supposed to be reading an original work, a poem you made up yourself, not reciting something you learned. That is called plagiarism!”

“琳達，你應該爲我們朗誦原創的作品，你自己寫的詩，而不是去背誦你學到的詩。這叫剽竊!”

“Oh, but it’s not. I mean... I did make it up, it’s about my dad.” I heard a “Yeah, right!” from somewhere behind me, and someone else giggled.

“哦，這不是的。我的意思是……這首詩就是我自己寫的，是我寫我爸爸的。”我聽到身後有人起鬨道：“是的，沒錯!”其他人則都“咯咯”地笑了起來。

I felt as if I’d somersaulted off the high dive and then, in midair, realized that there was no water in the pool. I opened my mouth to explain, but no words came out.

頓時，我感覺自己像是從高臺翻騰而下跳水，卻在半空中發現水池沒有水。我張着嘴想解釋，但卻一個詞兒也說不出來。

“You will leave the room and will not return until you are ready to apologize,” said Mrs. Baker. “Now. Go!”

“現在請你離開教室，在你準備道歉之前不許回來，”貝克太太厲聲說，“現在，出去!”

My last thought was a flash of understanding as to why the kids had nicknamed her“Battle-Ax Baker”—then my brain just fizzled out, and I turned and left the room.

就在那一刻，一閃念間我突然明白了爲什麼孩子們私下裏給她起了個綽號“貝克戰斧”——接着，我的大腦好像就停止了運轉，我轉過身走出了教室。

I’d been standing outside for about half an hour when Joseph, the school janitor, came over to ask me what heinous crime I’d committed to be banished for so long. He loved using unusual words.

就這樣，我站在教室外面，大約半小時後，學校的大樓管理員約瑟夫看到了我，就問我究竟犯了什麼彌天大罪要被驅逐出教室這麼長時間。他說話的時候總喜歡用些不同尋常的詞。

We’d made friends one morning before school, when he saw me sitting alone, pretending to do homework. He invited me to help open up the classrooms, and after that, it sort of became my job. He always talked to me as we wiped down the chalkboards and turned on the heat. Just that morning he’d been telling me that Mark Twain once said that the difference between the right word and the almost right word is like the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. I liked that. My dad would have liked it, too.

我和他成爲朋友是在一天早晨上課之前。那天，我一個人坐在教室裏裝模作樣地做作業，約瑟夫看到了，就邀請我幫他去打開其他教室的門。從那之後，這好像就成了我的一項工作。每次當我們一起擦黑板開暖氣的時候，他總是滔滔不絕地跟我說個沒完。就在那天早晨，他還對我談起馬克.吐溫曾經說過的一句話：正確的話和差不多正確的話之間的差別就像是閃電和螢火蟲之間的差別一樣。我很喜歡這句話，我相信我爸爸也會喜歡這句話的。

Now as Joseph waited for me to answer, he looked so kind and sympathetic that I poured out the whole story, trying not to cry. A tightness flashed over his face, and he jerked an enormous yellow duster out of the pocket of his gray overalls. “So what are you going to do?” he asked, rolling up the duster into a tight ball.

現在約瑟夫正在等待我回答他的問題，他和藹地注視着我，目光中充滿了同情。於是，我忍住淚水，把整件事的來龍去脈一股腦兒地全告訴了他。他聽着我的講述，眉頭皺了一下，然後，從他那件灰色工作服的口袋裏拽出一塊巨大的黃色抹布，問道：“那你打算怎麼辦?”一邊把抹布緊緊地捲成—個圓球。

I shrugged, feeling helpless and sad.“I don’t know.”

“我不知道，”我聳了聳肩，感到好無助，好難過。

“Well, you are not going to stand here all day, are you?”

“那你難道打算一整天都站在這兒，是不是?”

I sighed. “I suppose I’ll do what she said. You know... say I’m sorry.”

我嘆了口氣說，“我想我只能照她說的去做了。你知道的……說對不起。”

“You’ll apologize?”

“你要去向她道歉?”

I nodded. “What else can I do? It’s no big deal. I’ll just never write anything good in herclass again.”

我點了點頭，說：“我還能怎麼樣呢?這沒什麼大不了的。今後，上她的課我只有再也不寫這麼好的詩了。”

He looked disappointed with my response, so I shrugged once more and turned away from him.

聽了我的回答，他失望地注視着我。我再次聳了聳肩，轉過身去。

“Linda.” The tone of his voice forced me to look back. “Accepting defeat, when you should stand up for yourself, can become a very dangerous habit.” He twisted the duster around his fingers. “Believe me. I know!”

“琳達，”他的語氣迫使我不得不又轉過頭來。“當你應該勇敢地站出來爲自己辯護的時候，你卻接受失敗，這會成爲一個非常危險的習慣，”那塊抹布在他手指上纏繞着，他說，“相信我。我知道的!”

He was staring right into my eyes. I blinked and looked down. His eyes followed mine, and we both noticed my green boots at the same time. Suddenly his face relaxed and creased into a huge smile. He chuckled and said, “You’re going to be just fine. I don’t have to worry about you. When you put on those boots this morning, you knew you were the only Linda Brown in the whole world.” As if he didn’t need it anymore, he cheerfully dropped the duster back into his pocket and folded his arms across his chest. “Those are the boots of someone who can take care of herself and knows when something is worth fighting for.”

看着他那逼人的目光，我眨了眨眼，然後低下了頭。他的目光也跟着我看向地面。幾乎就在同一時刻，我們都注意到了我腳上穿的那雙綠靴子。突然，他那原本嚴肅的神情一下子放鬆下來，臉上也綻開了笑容。“你一定會很快好起來的，我根本就不需要爲你擔心的，其實，當你今天早上穿上這雙靴子的時候，你就知道，世界上只有你纔是唯一的。”琳達·布朗說到這，他興沖沖地收起那塊抹布，把它放回口袋裏，就好像不再需要它似的。然後，雙手交叉抱在胸前，微笑地注視着我說：“穿這雙靴子的人一定是能照顧好自己，並知道什麼時候什麼事情是值得爲之去奮鬥的人!”

His eyes, smiling into mine, woke up a part of me that had been asleep since I’d come to this school, and I knew that he was right about me. I’d just lost direction for a while. I took a deep breath and knocked on the classroom door, ready to face Mrs. Baker—ready to recite my poem.

他的眼睛微笑地看着我，喚醒了我心靈深處的一種東西，自從我來到這所學校以後這些東西就一直沉睡不醒。我知道，約瑟夫對我的看法是正確的，我差一點兒就迷失了方向。然後，我深深地吸了一口氣，敲響了教室的門，我要面對貝克太太——繼續背誦我自己寫的詩。