嚴 冬Winter Extreme
(4)
To experience such piercing-cold weather, I decided to walk outdoors the
other day with blowing snow. Before
stepping out of my house, I was warmly dressing myself with a heavy coat, hat,
gloves, and a pair of rubber shoes for rainy weather, and an umbrella, and
among other things a cell phone in case of emergency. Stepping on the sidewalk,
I almost fell, oh, boy! Because the snow was as deep as 4 inches. Then to keep
balance, I tried to walk on by moving to the community street/ avenue (because
of less or no traffic at this time), especially on the traces of which driven
and pressed by vehicles before. The traces were steadier and easier to move on.
After walking for ten minutes, I was satisfied with my choice and what I was
doing. But, when I turned to a main street, there was heavier traffic; I found
it hard to keep moving on it. Because
there was only a narrow margin between vehicles passing by and me. Though no
drivers honked at me, it was dangerous, so I moved on to the sidewalk again,
trying to find discernable footsteps to follow them. Now for safety I was
really “following someone’s footsteps!”
And it did make me pace up.
為了體騐如此刺骨的冷天氣，前幾天在落雪飄飄中我決定走到室外去。離開家之前我穿得暖暖地-厚外衣、帽子、手套、雨鞋、一把衣傘，尤其帶了手機以備急用。一踏上人行道我就差一點滑到，真糟糕! 因有4吋的積雪。然後為了保持平穩，我試圖走上社區街道(因此時交通量較少) ，尤其走在車輛已走過的車輪痕跡之上。在這些痕跡上走，較安穩和容易。走了十分鐘後，我滿意這樣的選擇。可是等我上了主街道時，交通量就多起來了。發覺走下去有點困難，因為我與駛過的車輛之間的空間很少，很危險。雖無司機對我按喇叭，但還是危險。因此我又上人行道，想在上面找到可清楚辨認，別人走過的脚印，再循脚印走下去。為了安全起見，我真的『正在跟隨他人脚步走』 (另有仿效之意)，也使我速度加快。
Someone might laugh at me for “being a bitter fool to be walking alone on a biting-cold day against a bitter snow storm.” In fact, I was on my way to a pharmacy
to have my medications refilled. Half way to it, unfortunately, I lost my way
due to the sheer whiteness of snow everywhere.
While trying to figure out the direction of the pharmacy, a car stopped
by me, asking to offer me help. The
driver was an old lady, with her husband on the passenger side. She kindly
asked the pharmacy’s phone number, calling it for me, and making sure of its
exact direction. Then the old lady was even so gracious as to offer to give me
a lift. Thanks to her kind help, I was immediately taken to the pharmacy and
soon was dropped off. Well, on a cold snowy day, I had the luck to have an
encounter with a lady having an exceedingly warm heart. If the same thing had happened in LA, I might
have been left alone on the road. I had a
feeling that despite the freezing weather outdoors, people’s heart is warm. At
least my heart was benevolently warmed.
有人也許會笑我『大傻瓜，才會獨自在嚴寒的日子裡，面對大風雪走在路上。』事實上我正前往藥局去拿藥。不幸由於到處是白茫茫的一片，走了一半我竟迷路了。正當想要找到藥局的方向時，有一台車停在我旁邊，想幫助我。開車者是位老太太，先生坐在她旁邊。她客家地問我藥局的電話號碼，以確定它的地址。然後老太太客氣地要送我去。幸虧她的幫助，我立刻被送到藥局前下車。在寒雪冬日，我有幸遇到一位善心女士。此事若發生在洛杉磯，我可能留在路上沒有人管。有一個感覺，儘管室外温度冰冷，但人們的心是暖和的。因為至少我感到了温暖。
Though it usually takes me 25 minutes to walk to the pharmacy, now it
took me as long as one hour.
Notwithstanding, it not only manifests something, but convinces me as
well that there are indeed, people here in Seattle with more generosity, compassion
and benevolence than elsewhere.
平常走到藥局要花25分鐘，今天竟花了長達一小時。儘管如此，這件事不僅印証了某事，而且使我深信，在西雅圖地區的人們比其他地區的人更慷慨、更具同情心與慈悲心。
During the snow storms, the senior citizens may find it inconvenient or
uneasy to live a day as they do routinely or normally, especially those without
power at home. But to me still some
people are brave and determined enough to face and to cope with the odds or obstacle
from nature. That’s human nature. Big
snow storms are indeed a challenge to people all right, but are there people
who benefit from them and enjoy most?
Yes. I think it is school children. They are enjoying care-free days of
“no schools”, (due to the closure of
schools) having fun skiing or skating on the ice in front or back yard! Blessed are those who are young and
innocent!
在暴風雪來臨時，老年人也許會發現，日子無法過得像平常那樣地方便與自在，尤其又遇到家裡停電時。可是對我而言，有些人有勇氣與決心去與來自自然的逆境與困難博鬥。也許這就是人性吧。不錯，大風雪的確對人們是一項挑戰，但有誰蒙受其到呢？我想是學童吧。『由於學校停課』，他們享受到無憂無慮的日子，在自己家的前或後院，溜冰或滑鞋呢。真是年輕與天真的孩童有福了！(全文完)
03/18/2013增加中文譯文
12/16/2013 revised
Justin Lai 中英文
全聯會
AACHW13
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