真正的慷慨

第一步：逐句逐段雙語讀

When a tornado touched down in a small town nearby, many families were left completely destroyed. Afterward all the local newspapers carried many human-interest stories featuring some of the families who suffered the hardest.

一場龍捲風襲擊了咱們家附近的一座小鎮以後，許多家庭都損失慘重。全部的當地報紙刊登了許多關於ー些受災最嚴重家庭的感人故事。

One Sunday, a particular picture especially touched me. A young woman stood in front of an entirely shattered mobile home, a depressed expression twisting her features. A young boy, seven or eight yearsold, stood at her side, eyes downcast. Clutching (緊握) at her skirt was a tiny girl who stared into thecamera, eyes wide with confusion and fear.

週日那天，一張特別的照片深深地觸動了我。照片上，在一座徹底被毀壞的移動房前，站着一個少婦，痛苦的表情扭曲了她的面容。在她身旁，站着一個七八歲的小男孩，低垂着雙眼。還有一個很小的女孩，拽着少婦的衣裙，用她那充滿了慌亂和恐懼的大眼晴直町着相機鏡頭。

The article that went with the picture gave the clothing sizes of each family member. With growinginterest, I noticed that their sizes closely matched ours. This would be a good opportunity to teach mychildren to help those less fortunate than themselves. I taped the picture of the young family to ourrefrigerator, explaining their difficulty to my seven-year-old twins, Brad and Brett, and to three- year-old Meghan.

在與照片相關的報道中，給出了這個家庭每位成員的衣服尺寸。我注意到他們衣服的尺す與我家的尺寸很接近。這是一個教育個人孩子們的好機會，能夠經過這件事讓他們學會去幫助那些比本身不幸的人們。我把那個年輕家庭的照片貼在冰箱上，向我那對七歲的雙胞胎兒子布蘭德和佈雷特，以及三歲的小女兒梅格安解釋了他們的困境。

" We have so much. And these poor people now have nothing," I said."We'll share what we have withthem." I brought three large boxes down from the room upstairs and placed them on the living room floor. Meghan watched seriously, as the boys and I filled one of the boxes with canned goods and foods. While I sorted through our clothes, I encouraged the boys to go through their toys and donate some of their less favorite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys piled up discarded toys and games. "I'll help you find something for the little girl when I'm done with this," I said.

「咱們擁有這麼多東西，而這些可憐的人此刻卻一無全部，」我說，「咱們應該把本身的東西和他們一塊兒分享。」我從閣樓上拿下來三個大箱子，把它們放在客廳的地板上。當兩個兒子和我一塊兒把一些罐裝食品，肥皂和其餘洗漱用品裝進其中一個大箱子時，梅格安臉嚴肅地望着咱們。在我整理衣服的時候，我鼓勵兒子們也去整理一下他們的玩具，而後把不太喜歡的捐出來。男孩子們把不要的玩具和遊戲堆成一堆，而梅格安只是在一旁靜靜地看着。「等把這些整理好以後，我來幫你給那個小女孩挑選一些東西。」我對梅格安說。

The boys placed the toys they had chosen to donate into one of the boxes while I filled the third boxwith clothes. Meghan walked up with Lucy, her worn, faded, much-loved rag doll hugged tightly to her chest. She paused in front of the box that held the toys, pressed her round little face into Lucy's flat, painted-on-face, gave her a final kiss, then laid her gently on top of the other toys.

男孩子們把準備捐贈的玩具放進另外一個箱子裏，最後一個箱子裏放我挑出的衣服。這時，梅格安懷裏牢牢抱着露西一一那個破舊的、褪色的、她最喜歡的布娃娃一走了過來。在裝玩具的那個箱子前停下，把她圓圓的小臉牢牢貼在露西扁扁的娃娃臉上，給了它最後一個親吻，而後，將它輕輕地放在其餘玩具的最上面。

"Oh, Honey," I said."You don't have to give Lucy. You love her so much." Meghan nodded seriously, eyes glistening with held-back tears. '"Lucy makes me happy, Mommy. Maybe she'll make that other little girl happy, too．"「噢，甜心，我說，「你沒必要把露西捐出來，你是那麼喜歡它。梅格安眼裏閃着淚光，認真地點了點頭，「媽媽，露西讓我快樂，也許，她也會給那個小女孩帶來快樂的」。

Swallowing hard, I stared at Meghan for a long moment, wondering how I could teach the boys thelesson she had just taught me. For I suddenly realized that anyone can give their cast-offs away. Truegenerosity is giving that which you value most.我長久地注視着梅格空。吃力地嚥了口唾液。不知該如何把梅格安對個人教化傳遞給男孩子們。我忽然意識到，任何人均可以把他們棄之不要的東西捐贈給別人，而真正的慷慨倒是把你最珍愛的東西給予別人。

Honest benevolence (善行) is a three-year-old offering a valuable, though shabby, doll to a little girlshe doesn't know with the hope that it will bring this child as much pleasure as it brought her. I, who had wanted to teach, had been taught.

一個三歲的孩子把她最珍愛的布娃娃，儘管它又破又舊，送給一個陌生的小女孩，但願能給她帶去一樣的快樂，這纔是真正的仁愛。而我，原本想教育孩子們，結果卻從梅格安那兒受到了教育。

The boys had watched, open-mouthed, as their baby sister placed her favorite doll in the box. Without a word, Brad rose and went to his room. He came back carrying one of his favorite action figures. He hesitated briefly, clutching the toy, then looked over at Meghan and placed it in the box next to Lucy.

看着小妹妹把她最喜歡的洋娃娃放進箱子裏，男孩子們驚訝地張大了嘴巴。布蘭德什麼也沒說，起身走進他的房間，拿出他最喜歡的動做人偶。他牢牢地抓着玩具，稍稍猶豫了一下，而後看了看梅格安，把它放在箱子裏，放在露西的旁邊。

A slow smile spread across Brett's face. Then he jumped up, eyes twinkling as he ran to fetch someof his prized Matchbox cars.Astonished, I realized that the boys had also recognized what little Meghan's gesture meant. Swallowing back tears, I pulled all three of them into my arms.

佈雷特的臉上慢慢露出了笑容，他跳起來，眼晴閃閃發光，跑回房間拿來了幾個他曾得過獎的寶貝火柴盒汽車。我驚訝地意識到，兒子們也領悟到了小梅格安舉動的意義。我強忍着淚水，我把他們三個摟入懷中。

Taking the cue from my little one, I removed my old jacket from the box of clothes. I replaced it with the new hunter green jacket that I had found on sale last week. I hoped the young woman in the picture would love it as much as I did.

在小女兒的影響下，我把我那件袖口已經磨損的舊棕褐色夾克從衣服箱子裏取出來，而後把我上星期剛買的那件綠色夾克放了進去。我但願照片上的那個少婦會像我同樣喜歡它。

It's easy to give that which we don't want any more, but harder to let go of things we cherish, isn't it? However, the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart.

把你再也不想要的東東捐出去很容易，但若是是你珍惜的東東捐出去的話就可貴多。然而，發自心裏的捐贈纔是捐款的靈魂（即：真正的慷慨仁愛來自心裏）。

第二步：獨立自主英文讀

When a tornado touched down in a small town nearby, many families were left completely destroyed. Afterward all the local newspapers carried many human-interest stories featuring some of the families who suffered the hardest. One Sunday, a particular picture especially touched me. A young woman stood in front of an entirely shattered mobile home, a depressed expression twisting her features. A young boy, seven or eight yearsold, stood at her side, eyes downcast. Clutching (緊握) at her skirt was a tiny girl who stared into thecamera, eyes wide with confusion and fear. The article that went with the picture gave the clothing sizes of each family member. With growinginterest, I noticed that their sizes closely matched ours. This would be a good opportunity to teach mychildren to help those less fortunate than themselves. I taped the picture of the young family to ourrefrigerator, explaining their difficulty to my seven-year-old twins, Brad and Brett, and to three- year-old Meghan. " We have so much. And these poor people now have nothing," I said."We'll share what we have withthem."

I brought three large boxes down from the room upstairs and placed them on the living room floor. Meghan watched seriously, as the boys and I filled one of the boxes with canned goods and foods. While I sorted through our clothes, I encouraged the boys to go through their toys and donate some of their less favorite things. Meghan watched quietly as the boys piled up discarded toys and games."I'll help you find something for the little girl when I'm done with this," I said.

The boys placed the toys they had chosen to donate into one of the boxes while I filled the third boxwith clothes. Meghan walked up with Lucy, her worn, faded, much-loved rag doll hugged tightly to her chest. She paused in front of the box that held the toys, pressed her round little face into Lucy's flat, painted-on-face, gave her a final kiss, then laid her gently on top of the other toys.

"Oh, Honey," I said."You don't have to give Lucy. You love her so much."Meghan nodded seriously, eyes glistening with held-back tears. '"Lucy makes me happy, Mommy. Maybe she'll make that other little girl happy, too．"

Swallowing hard, I stared at Meghan for a long moment, wondering how I could teach the boys thelesson she had just taught me. For I suddenly realized that anyone can give their cast-offs away. Truegenerosity is giving that which you value most.Honest benevolence (善行) is a three-year-old offering a valuable, though shabby, doll to a little girlshe doesn't know with the hope that it will bring this child as much pleasure as it brought her. I, who had wanted to teach, had been taught. The boys had watched, open-mouthed, as their baby sister placed her favorite doll in the box. Without a word, Brad rose and went to his room. He came back carrying one of his favorite action figures. He hesitated briefly, clutching the toy, then looked over at Meghan and placed it in the box next to Lucy.  A slow smile spread across Brett's face. Then he jumped up, eyes twinkling as he ran to fetch someof his prized Matchbox cars. Astonished, I realized that the boys had also recognized what little Meghan's gesture meant. Swallowing back tears, I pulled all three of them into my arms.Taking the cue from my little one, I removed my old jacket from the box of clothes. I replaced it with the new hunter green jacket that I had found on sale last week. I hoped the young woman in the picture would love it as much as I did.It's easy to give that which we don't want any more, but harder to let go of things we cherish, isn't it? However, the true spirit of giving is to give with your heart.