經典美文：愛永不太遲

摘要：如果你曾認爲，尋找真愛對你來說已經太遲，或者你的人生已經結束了，那麼你應該多看看像他們倆這樣的浪漫故事。

My aunt died back in about 2003. She was eighty-four and so was my uncle. When she passed he wasdevastated. They had been married for over 60years. We expected him to pass on quickly after shedied. He attended his church More frequently and hismourning was nearly unbearable to witness. His onlydaughter lived clear across the country so he hadonly the rest of the extended family and churchfamily to comfort him.

我伯母大約在2003年去世。她已是84歲高齡，我伯父與她同齡。伯母的去世對伯父來說是個沉重的打擊。他們結婚超過60年了。伯母去世後，我們以爲伯父很快也會跟着離開。伯父愈加頻繁地去教會，他的悲慟幾乎令人不忍目睹。他唯一的女兒一直住在離他很遠的另一個地方，因而他只能從家族的遠親以及教會同伴那裏尋求慰藉。

My cousin talked him into selling the house that he and my aunt had built together abouttwenty-five years before. It was very hard to part with the home they built together. He wasgoing to move into an apartment, but at the last moment, my cousin and he saw a new housefor sale, that was close to his business. She helped him buy furniture and a flat screentelevision. He had not watched television for years because of his religion. He was like a kid witha new toy but still grieved horribly for my aunt.

我堂姐遊說伯父賣掉那棟他和伯母大概在25年前一起建造的房子。要離開他倆一起建造的“家”，這對伯父而言非常艱難。他準備搬進一間公寓，不過就在最後一刻，我堂姐和他看中了一棟待售的新房，而且這房子離伯父的公司很近。堂姐幫伯父買來了傢俱和一臺平板電視機。由於他的宗教信仰，伯父已經很多年沒有看電視了。他如同一個拿到一件新玩具的孩子那樣開心，不過對於伯母的離去，他還是非常傷心。

One day he called my cousin who was living in Texas and told her that he reconnected with alady from a church that he and my aunt went to forty years previously. She played piano andhis church was looking for new music. Her husband had died about seven years previously. Hesaid he just wanted someone to go out to dinner with and spend time with. We were happy forthem but had no idea how it would turn out. They were both almost eighty-seven years old.

有一天，伯父打電話給我那住在得克薩斯州的堂姐，告訴她說他和一位女士重新取得了聯繫，而那位女士來自他和伯母40多年前常去的一間教堂。那位女士會彈鋼琴，而伯父所在的教會正要找新的音樂伴奏。那位女士的丈夫大約七年前去世了。伯父說，他只是想有個人一起出去吃飯，一起消磨時光。我們很爲他們倆高興，卻不知道結果會如何。他們倆都將近87歲高齡。

They were like lovebirds and spent as much time together as they could. They both had onechild each, she a son, he a daughter. She had a house that her father built for her when shegot married to her first husband. She was content there.

他們倆如同一對恩愛夫妻一般，儘可能多地在一起共度時光。他們各自都有一個孩子，她有個兒子，而他有個女兒。她有棟房子，是她父親在她和第一任丈夫結婚時爲她建的。她在裏面住得很滿意。

The other fly in the ointment was that they were both very busy people. They both still worked!They were in their mid-eighties and both had their own family businesses. She worked for herson who took over the family business and he had his own business.

另一處美中不足的是，他們倆都是非常忙碌的人。他們倆都仍然在工作!他們都已80多歲，都還有各自的家族生意。她爲已經接管了家族生意的兒子工作，而他有自己的公司。

The clash in their relationship came when they neither wanted to leave their respectivechurches. She went to her Baptist church that she had attended for many years and he went tohis, which was a Pentecostal. They decided to remain friends but nothing more. He was broken-hearted, but felt that his religion was the only way. She didn’t want to leave her church anddidn’t like the extreme of his.

他們都不願意脫離各自的教會，這使得他們的關係出現了衝突。她去的是已經加入多年的浸禮會，而他去的是五旬節派教會。他們決定只做朋友，別無他求。對此，伯父傷心不已，不過他感到自己的信仰是唯一的撫慰方式。而她不想離開自己所在的教會，也不喜歡他的教會那麼偏激。不久，兩人意識到他們並不想分開。他們要一起加入一個新的教會，並打算結婚。當他帶着她前往一家珠寶店給她買鑽戒時，那些店員們都非常感動，寫了一大篇文章發表在我們當地的報紙上，標題爲“情人節‘真諦’”。他們爲婚禮做着準備。由於他們倆都迫不及待地想要“在一起”，而不結婚就不是嚴格意義上的“在一起”，所以他們把婚期提前了。

Before too long they realized that they did not want to be apart. They would find a new churchtogether. They planned to marry. When he took her to a jewelry store and bought her adiamond, the employees were so impressed that they had a big write up in our own localpaper, "'The Truth' for Valentines' Day." They prepared for their wedding. They moved thewedding date up because neither wanted to wait any longer to "be together," and it was notproper to "be together" without being married.

他們在她的房子裏舉行了婚禮，並決定婚後一起住在那裏。這是一件看來如此美好而令人欣喜的事情——兩位你原以爲已經度過了大半生的老人即將在一起開始新生活。我從未看到我伯父像現在這般快樂幸福。他仍然沉浸在愛河中，而且他們彼此深愛着對方。

They got married in her house, where they decided they would live. It was such a beautifulrefreshing thing to see, two people who you would have thought had pretty much lived theirlives, were beginning a new one together. I have never seen my uncle happier. He is still in loveand she loves him as much as he loves her.

如果你曾認爲，尋找真愛對你來說已經太遲，或者你的人生已經結束了，那麼你應該多看看像他們倆這樣的浪漫故事。他們都還在工作，而且他們現在已經結婚將近兩年了。再過兩個月，他們倆都將迎來90歲高壽，他們熱愛兩人在一起的生活。同時，他們仍然維繫着各自的家庭、一起去教堂、和他們的家人朋友們一起外出聚餐。尋找真愛永遠不會太遲，無論是再一次還是第一次!

　　最浪漫的回憶

As Anna looked out the window of her old beach house on the edge of the emerald sea, she bedpan to remember all the beautiful memories she had there throughout her many years. One memory in particular seemed to come to mind It was about 70 years ago late in the month st. Anna was 16 years old and that was her first summer together with Peter. Although she felt that she had been with him forever, it had only been a short month since then had tirst met on that very beach. This particular day was so memorable that Anna found herself thinking about it all the time, since Peter ha、passed away.

坐落在翠綠的海邊的海濱別墅裏，安娜望着窗外，開始回憶起她多年來在那裏留下的美麗的瞬間，關於其中的某個瞬間的記憶猶爲深刻。故事發生在大概70年前的深秋，那年安娜16歲，也是她和皮特一起度過的第一個夏天。儘管她感覺已經和皮特在一起很久了，可實際上自從他們第一次在海灘相遇纔過去短短一個月而已。那是特殊的一天，是值得回憶的一天，自從皮特去世後，安娜的思緒總是不自覺地回到那一天。

Early that morning at about 5:45, Anna awoke to the sound of a tapping on her window. When she opened the window, to her surprise Peter was standing there with a

picnic basket and a blanket. Peter told Anna that since it was his last day at the beach this summer that he wanted to spend the entire day with her. from the time of the sunrise to after the sunset on the horizon. After they watched the sunrise early that and ate their romantic picnic breakfast. they一sat on the swing at the nearby talked for hours on end, telling each other how they would keep in touch until they could be together the following summer.

那天清晨約5:45,安娜就被輕輕敲打窗子的聲音弄醒了打開窗，她驚訝地發現皮特站在窗外手裏提着野餐籃和毯子他說今天是和安娜一起在海灘度過的這個夏天的最後一天，他想要一整天都和安娜在一起，從日出到日落他們一起觀看老人那天清晨的的日出，一起享用了一頓浪漫的野餐早餐，一起在附近的公園盪鞦韆他們交談了好幾個小時，讓彼此知道他們會一直保持聯繫，直到第二年夏天再次相見。

It was a beautiful day and the aun beamed down on them in the early afternoon as they swam in the waves of the crystal clear water at the beach. Anna could remember them splashing and playing in the water for what has seemed like a million years and not knowing where all the time had gone.

那天天氣很好，他們在海邊清澈的波浪裏游泳，午後的陽光照耀在他們身上安娜仍然記得，他們在海里打着水仗，時間在嬉戲中不知不覺地流失。

It was already starting to get dark on the beach. So then, Anna and Peter dried off and found a pretty spot at the top of a hill they had often gone to talk throughout the summer. They set out their blankets and laid in each other's arm until all of sudder it began to pour. Most people would have thought that the rain would put a damper on their prfect day, but Anna still remembers the strike of excitement it sent through her, as the drops poured way Peter had taken her by the hand and led her down the side of muddy hill to the beach sent chills up her began to dance right there on the sand, in th a pouring rain. As they danced. in each other strong could still remember Peter's exact words. He said to her.‘f love you Anna and f want to be with you and only you for the rest of my life’At that very moment. Anna knew that she felt exactly the same and that they would be together for the rest of their lives.

海灘開始呈現夜色，安娜和皮特待衣服風乾後，在整個夏天他們聊天常去的小山頂上找到了一處好位置，攤開毯子，彼此依偎，直到突然下起傾盆大雨.大多數人也許會覺得這場雨給他倆完美的一天帶來些許遺憾，而安娜卻仍然記得當雨點傾瀉而至時自己體會到的興奮皮特牽着她的手，帶着她走下泥濘的山坡，一直走到海灘上的情形令她心動神搖傾盆大雨中，他們開始在沙灘上跳舞，他們跳着、緊緊地擁抱着對方，“我愛你，安娜，我希望能和你共度此生，也只想和你共度此生”，這些話，安娜仍然清楚地記得.在那一刻，她知道，她的想法和皮特一樣，他們將共度餘生.

As the rain bedpan to stop and the clouds cleared from the sky, Peter and Anna sat down to watch the most beautiful sunset that either of them had ever seen. Peter walked Anna home that night and regardless of how hard it was for the both of them to say good-bye; they both knew it had to happen eventually. Throughout that year, Anna still remembers sending and receiving dozens of letters and pictures to keep in touch.

雨過雲開，安娜和皮特一起坐着欣賞未曾見識過的落霞美景晚上皮特送安娜回家，儘管他們都不願意說再見，但他們明自，這個時刻始終會到來安娜清楚地記得，那一年，他們保持着頻繁的信件和照片聯繫。

Thinking back through the 69 wonderful years that they had together, that one day is the one that stands out most in her mind Although she had many more memories that are unforgettable with Peter, she still thinks back to the way he looked that night. The way his wet dark hair fell over his sapphire blue eyes still put butterflies in Anna's stomach’!In addition, the way that his strong body made her feel so safe as they danced in the rain, like ht would never let her go.

回憶起他們一起走過的幸福的69年時光，有關那大的記憶最爲深刻儘管還有很多有關皮特的無法忘懷的回憶，她仍然經常回憶起那天晚上皮特的樣子，他溼溼的黑髮垂在深藍色的眼睛上面的樣子仍讓她的心如小鹿般亂撞此外，他們雨中舞動時，他那強壯的體魄給她一種強烈的安全感，讓她感覺他永遠都不會放開她.

Anna spent many days and nights for the past nine months since Peter had passed away reminiscing" about that one special day they had together, she never regretted any of the time they had spent together. She only cherished the way that sun looked as it raised and tell over the horizon. Anna continued to sit by her windowsill and dream of yesterday and she would continue to until the day she could be with her one true love, Peter again.

皮特去世後的9個月內，安娜日夜都沉浸在他們在海灘一起度過的那個特殊日子的美好回憶中。對於她和皮特一起度過的每一天，安娜井不覺得有任何遺憾，她只是在珍藏着那天日出日落的美景坐在窗邊，安娜重溫着昨大的記憶，日復一日，直到她和真愛皮特再次相聚的那天。