評論
打印
But the roses—they were loveliest of all. Never have I found in the greenhouses of the North such heart-satisfying roses as the climbing roses of my southern home. They used to hang in long festoons from our porch, filling the whole air with their fragrance, untainted by any earthy smell; and in the early morning, washed in the dew, they felt so soft, so pure, I could not help wondering if they did not resemble the asphodels of God's garden.
而玫瑰，則是花園中最傲人的花魁。我從來沒有在北方的溫室里見過長勢如此繁茂的玫瑰，花朵沿著門廊形成了一道長長的花徑，空氣中彌漫著沁人的芳香，那種清醇的味道絲毫不沾染泥土的濁氣。每天早晨，在露水的沐浴中，玫瑰嬌柔淳美，這時我就會禁不住展開神思遐想，這些花兒是不是很像上帝花園中的常春花呢？
The beginning of my life was simple and much like every other little life. I came, I saw, I conquered, as the first baby in the family always does. There was the usual amount of discussion as to a name for me. The first baby in the family was not to be lightly named, every one was emphatic about that. My father suggested the name of Mildred Campbell, an ancestor whom he highly esteemed, and he declined to take any further part in the discussion. My mother solved the problem by giving it as her wish that I should be called after her mother, whose maiden name was Helen Everett. But in the excitement of carrying me to church my father lost the name on the way, very naturally, since it was one in which he had declined to have a part. When the minister asked him for it, he just remembered that it had been decided to call me after my grandmother, and he gave her name as Helen Adams.
就像諸多弱小的生命一樣，我生命的伊始樸素而單純；我來了，我觀察，我奮爭，如同很多百姓家中第一個孩子所做的一樣。為了給我起名字，家人還煞費了一番周章。一個家庭里第一個孩子的名字當然馬虎不得，家里的每一個人都參與其中。我的父親建議給我取名米爾德萊德·坎貝爾，此人是父親極為崇敬的一位祖先，對于這個名字，父親拒絕做進一步的商榷。而我的母親則按照她自己的意愿解決這個問題，她認為我應該隨她母親的姓氏。她母親少女時代的名字是海倫·埃弗里特。沒想到的是，就在一家人興高采烈地帶我去教堂洗禮的路上，父親把起好的名字給弄丟了，這再自然不過了，因為這是一個父親本不喜歡的名字。所以，當牧師問他的時候，他才記起來，我的名字還是應該隨我外祖母的姓氏，這是早就定好了的，于是他給嬰兒取名叫海倫·亞當斯。
