雙語美文，整個世界因你而不同

All the Difference in The World

整個世界因你而不同

Every Sunday morning

I take a lightjogaround a park near my home.

There"s a lakelocatedin one corner of the park.

每個星期日的早晨

我都會繞著我家附近的公園輕鬆地慢跑。

公園的一角有一片湖。

Each time I jog by this lake,

I see the sameelderlywoman

sitting at the water"sedge

with a small metalcagesitting beside her.

每當我慢跑經過這片湖，

都會看到同一個老婦人，

身邊放著一個金屬籠子坐在湖邊。

jog/d??g/ v. 慢跑;輕推

locate/l?(?)"ke?t/ v. 位於;查找…的地點

elderly/"eld?l?/ adj. 上了年紀的;過了中年的

edge/ed?/ n. 邊緣

cage/ke?d?/ n. 籠，獸籠

This past Sunday my

curiositygot the best of me,

so I stopped jogging and walked over to her.

上個星期日我終於忍不住好奇，

停止了慢跑，走到她身邊。

As I got closer,

Irealizedthat the metal cage was in fact a smalltrap.

走近時我發現金屬籠子其實是一個小陷阱。

There were threeturtles, unharmed,

slowly walking around thebaseof the trap.

三隻烏龜安然無恙

繞著陷阱底部慢悠悠地爬著。

curiosity/kj??r?"?s?t?/ n. 好奇，好奇心

realize/?r??la?z/ v. 實現;認識到

trap/tr?p/ n. 陷阱;圈套

turtle/"t?: t(?)l/ n. 龜，甲魚

base/be?s/ n. 基礎;底部

She had a fourth turtle in her lap

that she was carefullyscrubbing

with aspongybrush.

她正認真地用海綿刷擦拭著第四隻趴在她膝蓋上的烏龜。

"Hello," I said.

"If you don"t mind mynosiness,

I"d love to know what you"re doing with these turtles."

「你好啊，」我說,

「如果你不介意我多管閑事的話，

我很想知道你在對這些烏龜做什麼呢。」

She smiled.

" I"m cleaning off theirshells,"

she replied.

「我在清洗他們的殼，」

她笑著回答說。

scrub/skr?b/ v. 用力擦洗;使凈化

spongy/"sp?n(d)??/ adj. 海綿狀的;輕軟的

nosiness/"noz?n?s/ n. 好打聽;愛管閑事

shell/?el/ n. 殼，貝殼

"Anything on a turtle"s shell,

likealgaeorscum, reduces

the turtle"s ability toabsorbheat

andimpedesits ability to swim.

It can alsocorrode

andweakenthe shell over time."

任何烏龜殼上，像海藻、泡沫浮渣這些東西，

都會減弱烏龜的吸熱能力並且阻礙他們遊動，

時間長了還會腐蝕龜殼，

讓龜殼變得脆弱。

She went on:

"I spend a couple of hours each Sunday morning,

relaxing by this lake and helping these little guys out.

It"s my ownstrangeway of making a difference."

她繼續說道：「每個星期天早晨我都會花幾個小時待在湖邊

邊放鬆自己，邊幫這些小傢伙擺脫困難。

這就是我奇怪的製造改變的方式。」

algae/??ld?i: / n. 藻類;海藻

scum/sk?m/ n. 浮渣;泡沫

absorb/?b"z?: b/ v. 吸收;吸引;承受

impede/?m"pi: d/ v. 阻礙;妨礙

corrode/k?"r??d/ v. 侵蝕;損害

weaken/"wi: k(?)n/ v. 減少;使變弱

strange/stre?nd?/ adj. 奇怪的;陌生的

"But don"t most freshwater turtles

live their whole lives with algae and scum

hanging from their shells?" I asked.

「但是，難道不是所有的淡水烏龜

都是伴隨著它們殼上的海藻和泡沫、浮渣度過一生的嗎?」

我問道。

"Yep, sadly, they do," she replied.

「遺憾的是，它們的確這樣。」 她回答道。

"Well then, don"t you think

your time could be better spent?

And 99% of these turtles

don"t have kind people like you

to help them clean off their shells.

「那麼，你不覺得你在浪費時間嗎?

99%的烏龜都沒有遇到像你這麼好的人去幫他們清洗龜殼。

So, nooffense…

but howexactlyare yourlocalized effortshere

truly making adifference?"

所以，無意冒犯…

但是你在這兒，通過你一個人的努力到底能帶來多大改變呢?」

offense/?"f?ns/ n. 過錯;冒犯

exactly/?g"z?k(t)l?/ adv. 恰好地;正是

localized/"lok?"la?zd/ adj. 局部的;地區的

effort/"ef?t/ n. 努力;成就

difference/"d?f(?)r(?)ns/ n. 差異;不同

The woman

giggledaloud.

老婦人大聲咯咯笑起來。

She then looked down at the turtle in her lap,

scrubbed off the last piece of algae from its shell,

and said, "Sweetie, if this little guy could talk,

he"d tell you

I just made all the difference in the world."

接著她看看膝蓋上的烏龜，

把龜殼上的最後一塊海藻擦拭乾凈，

說道：「親愛的，如果這隻小烏龜會說話的話，

它一定會告訴你我剛剛改變了整個世界。」

giggle/"g?g(?)l/ v. 傻笑;咯咯地笑

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