開春的第一天

“Ah spring!I absolutely love spring!”Amy thought as she shooed1her two little boys out of the back door and into the yard to play.It was really warm enough to let them out without jackets and the need for hot chocolate waiting when they got tired of the frosty2air of the long winter.

Amy watched the boys start to chase each other around the yard just starting to release all the pent up3energy of a winter spent mostly indoors.With a smile she turned to open the dining room windows,inhaling4the fresh breeze as it swept through the house taking with it the last vestiges of winter gloom.With the happy sounds of little boys laughing in her ears, Amy picked up her duster and dutifully started to dust around the dining room,lifting knick knacks5, plants,and various other items.Dusting the pictures on the walls and not forgetting to dust the trim around the doors,she started with that and would end with cleaning the tile floors.

There was a lot of spring cleaning to do and today was the first really pretty day of the year and Amy wanted to take full advantage.She,like her boys had some energy to work off.So she dusted,wiped and polished,feeling very proud of herself for doing such a thorough job and knowing she would be very happy with the results.

“Mommy!Eric got a dragonfly.Come and look at it!”Glancing around from the bookshelf she had been rearranging,Amy could see out of the back door that her older son did indeed hold something in his hands. As if the huge triumphant6smile on his face wasn’t clue enough.

“春天，我太喜歡春天了!”艾米一邊對自己說，一邊讓她的兩個小兒子去后門外的院子里玩耍。天氣很溫暖，在房間外面，孩子們可以不用穿夾克衫；艾米也不用為他們準備熱巧克力來抵抗冬天的嚴寒。

看著她的孩子在院子里面互相追逐，開始釋放因為整個冬天待在室內而壓抑許久的能量，艾米笑了，她打開餐廳的窗戶，感受著清爽的微風將房間內最后一絲冬天的陰霾吹散。聽著孩子們歡快的笑聲，艾米拿起抹布開始盡職地擦拭整個餐廳。房間里的小擺設，盆栽和其他的一些物品都要挪開，墻上的畫也要擦干凈，門周圍的裝飾品也要擦拭。她開始清潔門上的裝飾品，并且打算最后打掃地板。

春季大掃除有許多事情要做，今天是一年中最好的開端，艾米打算好好地利用這一天。和她的孩子們一樣，艾米精力充沛，所以她有許多的精力來打掃房間，擦拭家具，擦亮餐具。對于完成這么一項細致的工作，艾米感到自我滿足，她也會對自己的工作成果很滿意。

“媽媽，艾瑞克抓到了一只蜻蜓，快來看啊!”艾米從她剛剛重新整理的書架中抬起頭來環視了一下，從后門望去發現她的大兒子手中拿著什么東西。似乎他臉上那勝利的微笑都不足以說明他的興奮。

“OK,Mommy sees,be careful and don’t squish7it!”Amy grinned at her littlest,Todd,and shooed him back outside.“Now go and catch one of your own, honey.”

Todd’s eyes got very big for a moment before he whirled and dashed back outside and began in earnest to hunt for a bug of his very own.As she turned back to the waiting bookshelf,Amy could hear Eric offering sound advice on exactly how to catch a dragonfly to his little brother.

For a brief moment,Amy wished she could be as carefree as her children,with nothing more on their minds than catching bugs and enjoying the bright sunshine of spring.Sitting on the floor,with the job of rearranging books still half finished,Amy couldn’t resist just watching her boys for a few moments.

Their hair messed up8from the warm breeze, faces flushed9from running and laughing in the sun. The grass was coming in green now and the first daffodils had popped their bright heads up in her flowerbeds already.She loved daffodils,tulips and crocus too.Always the first flowers to be seen in spring,their bright colors like so many banners announcing the end of winter and the renewal10of life that spring signified to11Amy.

Wandering over to the back door,Amy leaned against the door jamb and looked over the fences to all the trees in the neighborhood and had to smile at the bright green buds popping out12on all the branches. Birds were singing and Mrs.Witters next door was out with a little spade and her gardening gloves puttering around her own flower beds.Her old face lit up with13a smile when she saw Amy and she smiled. Amy gave a small wave back and turned again to watch her boys.

Eric heard it first.The first true sign of spring. That one sound that every kid knows.It is guaranteed to send even the smallest child running.The ice cream truck.Before Amy had even registered the sound,Eric had already started running towards her,his blue eyes wide and excited.“Mommy!Mommy!The ice cream truck is coming!Can we get an ice cream please?”His hand tugged on her jeans with a great deal of urgency. Everyone knows if you don’t act fast the ice cream man would be gone.

“媽媽看見了，小心點，別把它捏死了?！卑讓λ男鹤油械逻肿煨?，然后讓他重新回到室外去：“親愛的，你自己也去抓一只?！?/p>

聽到這個，托德的眼睛睜得大大的，然后就馬上沖到屋外開始認真地去捕捉屬于他自己的蟲子。艾米重新回到書架邊時，聽到了艾瑞克在教他弟弟怎樣去抓蜻蜓。

有那么一刻，艾米希望她可以和她的孩子一樣無憂無慮，不用想任何事情，可以享受抓蟲子的樂趣和享受春天燦爛的陽光。艾米坐在地板上一邊整理才處理一半的書籍，一邊忍不住地看著她的孩子玩耍。

暖風吹亂了孩子們的頭發，陽光下的追逐和歡鬧使孩子們的臉蛋兒紅彤彤的。小草帶著綠綠的芽從土里鉆出來，花壇中的水仙花已經明艷地開放。艾米喜歡水仙，郁金香和藏紅花，因為這些都是春天里最先開花的。正如春天向艾米預示著的一樣，這些鮮艷的花猶如眾多旗幟宣布著冬天的結束和生命的復蘇。

走到后門，艾米靠在門柱邊從籬笆望過去，欣喜地發現鄰居院子里的樹木都冒出了綠色的枝丫，也聽到了鳥兒的歌聲。鄰居維特斯夫人手上戴著園藝手套，拿著一把小鐵鍬走在她的花壇中，當她看到了艾米之后朝她微笑，艾米向她揮手示意之后再次將目光投向她的孩子們。

艾瑞克是第一個聽到這個聲音的。這才是春天到來的真正標志，每個孩子都知道這個聲音。只要聽到這個聲音，保證最小的孩子也會開始跑向它。這個聲音就是從冰淇淋車發出來的。還沒等艾米識別出這個聲音，艾瑞克就已經朝她跑過來，充滿興奮的藍眼睛睜的大大的。“媽媽，媽媽，冰淇淋車來了，我們能買冰淇淋吃嗎？”他的手迫不及待地拉著艾米的牛仔褲。所有人都知道如果你不立馬行動的話，賣冰淇淋的人可能就離開了。

“Please Mommy!”piped up Todd also.

Amy was wise enough to know that on this day at least she couldn’t hope to win a battle against two pairs of bright blue pleading eyes and such sunny spring smiles.

“Yea,guys,let’s go and catch the ice cream truck. Hurry!”And Amy was off,holding little Todd’s hand as she grabbed her purse and burst out of the front door, she started waving at the truck as excited as any of the neighborhood kids that already lined the street.

The three hurried over to the truck and impatiently waited in line.Eric and Todd were both chattering excitedly about what exactly they were going to get,and each changing their minds at least five times before their turn came.Amy knew exactly what she would get—an ice cream sandwich.It’s what she got every time and she always enjoyed the first one of the season more than any other.

Spring cleaning was long forgotten as Amy,Eric and Todd sat right down in the soft spring grass and enjoyed their first ice cream in the warm sun.Any thoughts of winter were far gone already.The promise of spring had already started to deliver—warm breezes, bright flowers and green grass and the smell of new life in the air.

Grinning at two little ice cream-covered faces, Amy couldn’t suppress the thought,“I love spring.”

“求你了，媽媽!”托德也跟著喊起來。

艾米知道在這一天，面對著兩雙明亮的帶著祈求的藍眼睛和如此陽光般的笑容，她就別指望可以拒絕他們。

“好的，孩子們，我們去追冰淇淋車吧，快點!”艾米牽起小托德的手，抓起她的錢包就往前門沖。她向冰淇淋車揮手，和所有已經站在街上排隊的孩子們一樣興奮。

三個人趕到冰淇淋車，焦躁地排在隊伍里。艾瑞克和托德開始興奮地討論著要買什么樣的冰淇淋，輪到他們之前，兄弟倆至少交換了五次想法。艾米知道自己想買什么樣的，那就是冰淇淋三明治。她每次都買這種，她總是最享受這個季節的第一個冰淇淋。

艾米早已經將她的春季大掃除忘到一邊去了，艾瑞克和托德坐在柔嫩的春草上，在溫暖的陽光中享受他們在春天的第一個冰淇淋。此刻沒有人會想到冬天，春天的希望已經開始傳播開來。溫暖的春風，明艷的鮮花，翠綠的青草以及彌漫在空氣中新生命的氣息。

看著吃的滿臉都是冰淇淋的孩子，艾米咧開嘴笑了，再次克制不住地在心里說：“我愛春天?！?/p>

Notes：

1.shoov.發出噓聲趕走 2.frostyadj.霜凍的，嚴寒的

3.pent up被抑制的，被壓抑的 4.inhalev.吸入，吞咽

5.knick knack小擺設，小飾品 6.triumphantadj.勝利的，得意洋洋的

7.squishv.壓扁 8.mess up混亂，弄糟

9.flushv.發紅 10.renewaln.復蘇

11.signify to對……來說，向……預示著 12.pop out突然出現，突出

13.lit up with充滿