回憶的抽屜

你的抽屜里都裝了什么？無論如何，都別忘了為自己保留一個回憶的抽屜……

\"Angela，\" her mother began， \"let's plan something really special for your 16th birthday. Why I remember my sweet sixteen party...\"

\"Stop it， Mom! Please just stop it!\" Angela wailed1)， clenching2) her fists as she fought back tears. \"I've already told you， without Dad here， I don't want to celebrate my birthday!\"

\"Now look here， young lady. You do not speak to me in that tone of voice，\" Barbara said. She added softly， \"I know how much you miss your dad. We all do， but he'd want you to celebrate this important day.\"

\"We don't know what he wants! He's dead!\" After running up the stairs and slamming her bedroom door， Angela threw herself across the bed and sobbed.

It's so unfair! Why did it have to be my dad? Why couldn't it have been someone else's dad? Like that horrible Sarah Jennings... No， no， I don't really mean that. But why Dad? Why did he have to go into work that day anyway? He knew the roads were bad， but he just had to go. Mom should've stopped him， but she said he'd be fine. She lied!

Angela rolled over， and tears slid down her freckled3) cheeks. The doorbell rang. Muffled4) voices drifted5) up， and then her mother called out， \"Angela， Sandy's here to see you.\"

Angela jumped up. She wiped angrily at her wet eyes before heading downstairs. I don't want Sandy to know I've been crying， she thought. She'll go and blab6) to everyone at school.

Angela attempted a smile when she saw Sandy. \"Hi Sandy. What's up? \"

\"Hey Angela. I'm going to the mall to shop and maybe see a movie. You want to come? \" Sandy asked cheerfully.

Angela looked down at the floor and answered， \"Gee Sandy， that sounds like fun， but Mom wants me to clean up the garage.\"

\"Now Angela， the garage can wait，\" her mom interjected7).

\"No， Mom， I have to do it. It's my responsibility. Maybe some other time， Sandy. Have fun， okay? \"

Angela hurried back up to her room. She sat in her window seat watching her friend leave.

How could Sandy think I would be interested in shopping or a movie? Nobody understands! Everybody expects me to continue on， business as usual. It's only been two months since Dad died. Has everyone else forgotten him?

As Barbara was getting into her car she sadly looked up at Angela's window. Angela ducked8) out of sight until her mother was gone.

I don't know why she even bothers to go to the beauty shop now. Maybe she just wants to impress her friends at lunch.

Angela decided to go work in the garage. Her father's presence filled every shadowy corner. She could even catch a faint whiff9) of his cologne. A row of birdhouses lined the workbench. Some were not yet complete. Angela decided to finish one and place it in the tree next to her father's grave.

Bending down to get some paints from under the bench， something unusual caught her eye. Angela pulled a soft cloth off of a beautiful walnut jewelry chest with glass doors. She carefully opened them to reveal10) four drawers lined in red velvet. In the bottom drawer lay an envelope addressed to her in her father's handwriting. Angela held it to her cheek， then opened it. Several small pieces of paper drifted to the floor， but Angela ignored them， anxious to read the letter inside.

“安杰拉，”她的媽媽開口說道，“我們一起來為你的16歲生日做些別出心裁的安排吧。我可記得我那次美好的16歲生日宴會，因為……”

“別說了，媽媽！拜托你別再說了！”安杰拉傷心地喊道，她握緊拳頭，硬生生把欲奪眶而出的淚水逼了回去。“我已經說過了，爸爸不在這里，我根本不想慶祝生日！”

“聽著，小姑娘。不準用那種語氣和我說話，”芭芭拉說，接著語氣又轉溫柔，“我知道你有多想爸爸，我們都很想念他，但他一定也希望你能好好慶祝這個重要的日子。”

“我們哪里會知道他是怎么想的！他已經死了！”安杰拉跑上樓，砰地一聲摔上她臥室的房門，一頭撲在床上抽泣起來。

上天太不公平了！為什么偏偏是我的爸爸？為什么就不能是別人的爸爸？比如那個討厭的薩拉·詹寧斯……不，不，我并不是真那么想的。但為什么是爸爸？為什么他那天非要去上班？他明明知道路況不好，但他不得不去。媽媽本該攔下他的，可她卻說不會有事。她騙我！

安杰拉翻過身來，眼淚順著她點點雀斑的雙頰滑落下來。這時門鈴響了，壓低嗓門說話的聲音傳上樓來，隨后，就聽見媽媽大聲說道：“安杰拉，桑迪來看你了。”

安杰拉從床上跳了起來。她氣憤地擦干淚眼，走下樓去。我可不想讓桑迪知道我在哭，她暗自想，她會去學校胡說八道的。

看見桑迪，安杰拉努力擠出一絲笑容。“嗨，桑迪。找我有事嗎？”

“嗨，安杰拉。我想去商場買點東西，可能再去看場電影。想一起去嗎？”桑迪興高采烈地問道。

安杰拉垂下頭，望著地板說：“噢，桑迪，聽上去可真不錯，不過我媽媽要我打掃一下車庫。”

“沒關系，安杰拉，打掃車庫不著急。”她媽媽插話道。

“不，媽媽，我必須打掃車庫。這是我的職責。桑迪，咱們改天再約吧。祝你玩得開心，好嗎？”

安杰拉快步跑上樓回到自己的房間。她坐在窗邊，看著朋友離開。

桑迪怎么會認為我還有興趣去購物或看電影呢？沒人能理解我！每個人都希望我能一如既往地生活下去。可爸爸去世才兩個月啊，難道其他人都已經把他忘掉了嗎？

當芭芭拉準備鉆進車里時，她抬頭憂傷地看了看安杰拉房間的窗戶。安杰拉急忙彎下身躲開媽媽的視線，直到她開車離去。

真不明白為什么她現在還能花費心思去美容院，也許她只是想在午餐時給朋友們留下好印象。

安杰拉決定去車庫里干點活兒。在那里的每個陰涼角落，她都能感覺到父親的存在，甚至還能聞到父親身上淡淡的古龍香水味。工作臺上擺了一排鳥舍，其中有一些還沒做完。安杰拉決定做好一個，然后把它放到父親墓邊的那棵樹上。

她彎腰準備到臺下取些油漆，目光卻被一件特別的東西吸引住了。安杰拉掀開一塊軟布，軟布下面是一只漂亮的胡桃木首飾匣，鑲嵌著玻璃門。她小心翼翼地打開玻璃門，里面露出了四個墊著紅色天鵝絨的抽屜。在最下面的那個抽屜里躺著一只信封，收信人署名是她，那是爸爸的筆跡。安杰拉捧起信封緊緊貼在臉頰上，然后才打開它。幾張小紙片飄落到地板上，但安杰拉沒有在意，她迫不及待地讀起里面的那封信來。

安杰拉用顫抖的手指打開了每一張小紙片。讀著上面印刷整齊的話語，她整個人頓時被排山倒海的回憶所吞沒。她聽到了，那時正是秋天，她和父親在山間穿行，落葉踩在腳下劈啪作響；她還聽到了，那是夏天的雨水在他們避暑小屋的錫頂上敲打出咚咚的鼓點。她聞到了雪松的氣味，那是他們在圣誕節砍來做壁爐架的；她還聞到了鮮花的芬芳，那是春天時和爸爸一起摘來的。她又喝到了山谷里那清冽的溪水，吃到了他們午餐最愛去的那家店里的熱狗。有一晚父親開車帶她去野外露營，金色滿月下，有冷霜在流瀉的清輝中閃閃發光；有一次她和爸爸順謝南多厄河漂流，謝南多厄河那未經雕琢的野性之美仍歷歷在目。她可以感覺到山風撫過面頰，當時他們正站在高高的山頂往下眺望。她記起父親當年背著他的小妹妹，赤著腳，頂著大雪，連夜步行五英里地去上學的故事。每當她滿腹牢騷時，爸爸總會給她講這個故事。

捧著這些紙片，安杰拉感到字里行間都散落著父親的音容笑貌。現在她終于意識到，盡管父親已不在人世，他還是會一直陪伴在她身邊。安杰拉決定，她要往這個抽屜里放入的第一份回憶就是她即將到來的生日。她要把朋友們都約過來，好好慶祝一番，正如她父親所希望的那樣。

這時，安杰拉聽到媽媽在外面停車的聲音。她緊緊握住匣子，走出去迎接媽媽，屋外正是陽光燦爛。

Dear Angela，

Happy 16th birthday. I wish for you success that will enable you to fill this chest with the rarest of gems11).

But no matter how many or how precious the jewels are that you store in this chest， none will be as valuable as memories. So always keep a drawer of memories to help you through the low times. I have put some of my favorite memories in this drawer. Some of them I have shared with you， some of them I would like to share with you， and some memories cannot be shared.

I hope you will add to the memories in this drawer. As long as it is full you will always be wealthy.

Love，

Dad

親愛的安杰拉：

十六歲生日快樂。我衷心地祝你成功，可以在這個首飾匣里裝滿世上最稀有的寶石。

但無論你在這個匣子中存放了多少寶石，無論這些寶石有多么貴重，它們都沒有你的回憶珍貴。所以，請永遠留出一個抽屜來儲存回憶，它能幫助你走過人生的低谷。我已經在這里放了一些自己最心愛的回憶，這些回憶，有的我已與你分享，有的我希望能與你分享，還有的，我愿獨自品嘗。

我希望，你能不斷往這個抽屜里添加新的回憶。抽屜里裝滿回憶，你將永遠富有。

愛你的，

爸爸

A Duplicate Gold Medal

復制的奧運金牌

贏了比賽，卻丟了金牌，好一個樂極生悲！組委會臨時決定，復制一枚金牌來彌補缺憾。

Vyacheslav Ivanov won his first gold medal in the single sculls rowing (單人雙槳無舵艇) event in the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne (墨爾本). As Mr. Ivanov received his medal， the audience roared (喧嘩). He was so excited that he threw his medal into the air. Each time he did so， the audience applauded more loudly. The louder the audience cried， the more excited and passionate (激動的) Mr. Ivanov became. Finally， he became carried away(陶醉) and tossed (拋，擲) his medal into the lake.

His fellow team members dived into the lake to search for the gold medal but failed to recover it. With the loss of the gold medal， Mr. Ivanov was dejected (沮喪的). In order to comfort the outstanding young athlete， the IOC (國際奧林匹克委員會) made another gold medal， the first-ever duplicate gold medal.

A few years later， Mr. Ivanov won two more gold medals in the single sculls rowing event in the 1960 and 1964 Olympic Games， becoming the first athlete to win the single scull event three successive (連續的) championships in the Olympics. In those games， however， Mr. Ivanov no longer dared to throw his medals into the air.