双语美文：用脚掌亲吻大地等

　1、用脚掌亲吻大地

　It was a day in late December.

　　那是十二月末的一天

　　The Christmas tree had been taken down.

　　圣诞树已经从街头搬走

　　The lights and decorations had been boxed up

　　彩灯和装饰物收回了盒子

　　and put in the closet

　　放回橱柜里

　　until next year.

　　等着明年再取出来

　　And I was feeling a little blue.

　　我感到有些沉郁

　　I sure wasn’t looking forward to the long, cold, dark Winter to come.

　　对于即将到来的漫长，严寒，黑暗的冬天，我没有多少向往

　　I had always been a light lover on the inside.

　　在我的内心，我一直喜欢光明

　　I tried to take comfort

　　我试着安慰自己

　　in knowing that

　　因为我知道

　　a few more minutes of daylight was being added each day,

　　每一天，日照的时长都会比昨天多一点

　　but I still felt tired

　　但我仍感到疲乏

　　and run down.

　　似乎已经被掏空了

　　I was both surprised and delighted then

　　没想到一件事情让我感到既惊喜又振奋

　　when I looked out my window

　　那时，我从窗口看出去

　　and saw that a Spring like day had suddenly arrived.

　　发现一个像春天一样暖和的日子刚刚到来了

　　The temperatures quickly soared into the sixties

　　温度很快升到了华氏60°

　　and the sun was shining down on the earth

　　阳光普照大地

　　with a loving light.

　　温暖人心

　　I could hear the neighborhood children outside playing in the warm air.

　　天气暖和了，我能听到邻居家的孩子在外面玩耍

　　I smiled when I saw them

　　看到他们时，我报以微笑

　　and my inner child longed to be out there

　　我内心的小孩也渴望着出门去

　　riding bikes

　　去骑自行车

　　and playing games as well.

　　去玩游戏

　　I leashed my dogs

　　我给几条狗栓了狗绳

　　for their afternoon walk

　　准备下午带他们去散步

　　hoping to enjoy some of the sunshine myself.

　　希望自己也能享受一些阳光

　　As I was about to head out the door, however,

　　可是，当我正准备出门的时候

　　I decided to do something a little different.

　　我决定做一点不一样的事情

　　I reached down

　　我蹲下身

　　and pulled my shoes and socks off.

　　把自己的鞋子和袜子脱了下来

　　I hadn’t been barefoot outside since the Summer.

　　夏天结束以后，我就没有光着脚出门过了

　　I slowly stepped out

　　我慢慢的迈步出门

　　on the cool, damp grass.

　　踩在冰凉，湿漉漉的草地上

　　It felt so alive under my feet.

　　它们在我脚下，是那样鲜活

　　I laughed as I walked along.

　　我一边走一边笑

　　I remembered something I once read too

　　想起自己曾读到过的一句话:

　　“Walk as if you were kissing the earth with your feet.”

　　在大地上行走，如同你在用脚掌亲吻大地

　　And with each step I did so.

　　每踩出一步，我心中都是这样想

　　My walk felt sacred and holy.

　　我感到自己的步子有种圣洁而神圣的意味

　　I felt a oneness with the world

　　我感到自己与世界合为一体

　　and the love of nature all around me.

　　感到大自然的爱萦绕在自己周身

　　With love in my heart

　　我心中充满了爱

　　I thanked nature for the gift of this day

　　我感谢大自然将今天这个礼物送给众人

　　and no longer dreaded the Winter to come.

　　再也不畏惧冬天的到来

　　All of us are walking through this life.

　　我们每个人都在穿越自己的人生之路

　　But it is up to each of us how we do so.

　　但应该怎么走，却是由各人做主

　　Are you going to stumble and stomp

　　你会磕磕绊绊，步履沉重

　　and complain with each step you take?

　　每迈出一步就抱怨一句吗

　　Or

　　抑或

　　are you going to kiss the earth with your feet

　　你选择用脚掌亲吻大地

　　and nature with your heart?

　　用心灵亲吻大自然?

　　The choice is yours.

　　选择权在你自己手中

　　2、飓风来时，我们镇定自若

　　Well today it happened…

　　好吧这是今天发生的事情

　　A day we never want to happen,

　　我们从不曾希望会有这样一天

　　but continually prepare for

　　但却一直做着准备

　　throughout the school year.

　　贯穿这一整个学年

　　We had a tornado touch down near the school,

　　飓风在学校附近登陆了

　　and as expected,

　　应验了我们的预期

　　went into our emergency tornado procedures.

　　我们开始按照预演的应灾步骤进行

　　I wasn’t even in the classroom when it happened.

　　一切发生时，我甚至并不在教室里

　　I had taken a student with me

　　那时我带着一个学生

　　to the workroom

　　两人一起去了储备室

　　to help gather items for a project.

　　一起去拿教学需要的教具

　　When the sirens starting wailing

　　警报响起的时候

　　I immediately grabbed my student’s hand

　　我立刻抓住学生的手

　　and ran as fast as I could

　　用最快的速度

　　back to the classroom.

　　跑回了教室

　　Never did I imagine

　　我从不曾想到过

　　needing to put our tornado drills to use.

　　应对飓风的程序会真的派上用场

　　I never imagined

　　我从未想过

　　actually needing to line my students up on the wall,

　　我真的会让学生们在墙边排队站好

　　have them crouch down

　　让他们全部下蹲

　　with their knees and heads touching the ground,

　　膝盖和头触着地面

　　hands on the backs of their heads.

　　手放在他们的后脑勺上

　　Their hearts beating so fast

　　他们的心慌跳得那么快

　　(and mine, if we are honest)

　　(老实说，我的也是)

　　they couldn’t catch their breath,

　　他们不能呼吸

　　or the fear filled eyes

　　他们眼中写满了恐惧

　　looking up at me

　　抬头看着我

　　as they ask if

　　问我

　　their mommies, daddies,

　　他们的爸爸妈妈

　　maw maws, and friends

　　爷爷奶奶，还有朋友们

　　were going to be okay.

　　会不会安然无恙

　　Never did I imagine

　　我从未想过

　　the eery silence that would come over the whole school,

　　寂静笼罩整个校园

　　with hundreds of students lined up against the walls of one building.

　　成百上千的学生聚集在同一幢教学楼里，靠墙而立

　　Never did I imagine

　　我从未想过

　　the way I would feel,

　　自己会是这样的心情

　　and other teachers along with me,

　　其他老师也和我一起

　　as we tried our best to comfort our students,

　　我们尽全力安抚我们的学生

　　assure them of their safety,

　　让他们相信他们是安全的

　　and promise them everything would be alright;

　　承诺一切都会没事

　　when we truly didn’t know

　　其实我们自己也不知道

　　what the outcome would be.

　　事情最后的结果会是什么样

　　Today has taken a toll on me,

　　今天的灾难让我深受其害

　　as I am sure

　　我相信

　　it has on the hundreds and thousands of teachers

　　其他成百上千的老师

　　in the local areas and surrounding areas.

　　在本地和临近地区的他们亦是如此

　　But at the same time,

　　但与此同时

　　I am beyond proud,

　　我又感到无比的骄傲

　　surprised,

　　惊喜

　　and elated

　　且欢欣鼓舞

　　at how my students handled themselves today.

　　因为我的学生们今天的表现太棒了

　　In the midst of a very scary, emotional , and dangerous situation,

　　期间在十分恐怖，危险，让人心惊胆战的情况下

　　my students handled themselves

　　我的学生们都能镇定自若

　　with the attitudes and mindset of children much older than them.

　　态度和心境都像是比他们年长许多的孩子

　　Never in my life

　　这一生中

　　have I seen my students follow directions

　　我都没见过学生们这样好的服从指令

　　so quickly, precisely,

　　迅速，准确

　　and without hesitation.

　　毫不犹豫

　　Even though some tears were shed,

　　虽然我们都流下了眼泪

　　and some hearts were beating fast,

　　虽然我们都心跳如鼓

　　my students were brave.

　　我的学生们却十分勇敢

　　They had such an unshaking trust in my assistant

　　他们对我的指导存有不可动摇的信任

　　and myself

　　对我本人亦是如此

　　that they were able to be 100% calm

　　所以他们才能100%镇定

　　and collected the entire time.

　　一直十分镇定

　　They were brave beyond their years today

　　这一天他们表现出了超出年龄的勇敢

　　and for that,

　　为此

　　I am eternally grateful.

　　我莫大的感恩

　　Tomorrow will bring a new set of challenges;

　　明天还会有许多新的挑战

　　and will be a day used to encourage,

　　这一天我仍会鼓励

　　instill ,

　　训导学生们

　　and prepare the students

　　让他们做好准备

　　for the next time this might happen.

　　以防下一次再有这样的事情发生

　　Right now,

　　此刻

　　I look back on the day

　　我审视着这一天

　　thankful for everyones safety, courage, and bravery.

　　为每个人的安然无恙，为他们的勇气和淡定而心存感恩

　　But also heartbroken

　　同时又感到心碎

　　at the thought of

　　想到

　　millions of students,

　　数以百万的学子

　　all over the country,

　　范围覆盖全国

　　having the same scenarios play-out at their schools.

　　都在他们的校园里经历着同样的事情

　　The fear I saw in my students eyes,

　　我在我的学生们眼中看到的恐惧

　　I imagine

　　我想

　　in the eyes of every student out there.

　　一定也会出现在其他学校的每个学生眼中

　　I can only wish for those students,

　　我只能为那些学生祝福

　　their parents,

　　为他们的家长

　　and especially their teachers.

　　尤其他们的老师祝福

　　For behind every great, brave,

　　因为，在每一个优秀，勇敢

　　and courageous student,

　　镇定的学生背后

　　is a long line of individuals

　　都有许多成年人

　　who have made it their life’s goal

　　立下了一生的志愿

　　to empower, train, and teach them.

　　要训练，教导他们，给他们力量

       3、这辈子让你思考最多的一句话

　　Which sentences have made you think the most in your life?

　　生活中哪些话让你思考最多?

　　获得132.6k好评的回答@Eva Gutierrez：

I read this quote about six years ago when I was in college. It took me five years to figure out what it really meant.

　　我大概是6年前上大学时读到这句话的，用了5年时间才弄明白它真正的含义。

　　Like 90% of my peers, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life or who I wanted to become. At the exact same time Instagram was becoming really big. I started following bloggers and world travelers who seemed to have it all together. I can still feel the sting that pinged my heart when I would see that these globe trotters were younger than me and seemed to have it all figured out.

　　我像90%的同龄人一样，不知道自己想怎样度过自己的人生或者想成为什么样的人。那时Instagram(一款分享图片的应用程序)真的很火，我开始关注一些博主和环球旅行者，他们似乎活得很明白。我仍能感觉到当我知道那些环球旅行者比我年纪小却好像活得很明白时心上那种刺痛。

　　How had they figured it out? What had they been given that I hadn’t?

　　他们怎么弄明白的?他们拥有什么我所没有的?

　　For years I asked these questions. I would wonder what the difference between them and I were. It took me until one year ago to realize what the difference was between these “successful” millennials and myself.

　　这些问题我思考了几年。我就想知道他们和我有什么区别，直到一年前我才弄明白这些“成功”的千禧一代和我之间的区别。

　　They had taken action. They had done something at some point that had catalyzed them to the lifestyle they were now living. While I had been spending years wondering what they had been given that allowed them to create successful blogs and travel the world they had been taking the action and finding out how to create successful blogs and travel the world.

　　他们会采取行动。他们在某个时刻做了些事塑造了他们现在的生活方式。当我正花数年时间想弄明白他们被赋予了什么才会创建出成功的博客并环游世界的时候，他们就已经在采取行动弄明白如何创建成功的博客并环游世界了。

　　We were both totally equal, the only thing separating us was action.

　　我们是完全平等的，唯一的区别就是“行动”。

　　All it took for me to go from unhappy college graduate working at a bar to freelancing writer was realizing that if I took things into my own hands, I would figure it out.

　　我从一个在酒吧工作的不开心的大学毕业生变成一个自由撰稿人就是因为我意识到如果我把一切都攥在手心，我就能把他们弄明白。

　　To this day, this quote has been the most powerful sentence I have ever come across. It explains everything you need to know about creating the lifestyle and career that you have always wanted.

　　直到今天这句话一直是我读过的最有影响力的一句话，它解释了关于创造你一直想拥有的生活方式和事业所需要知道的一切。

　　获得37.8k好评的回答@Susan Kaveny：I was working in a car shop while I was in college. One Friday evening, we had just finished up there and the guys wanted to go to the bar across the side street. I wanted to go too, and I wanted to go get cleaned up first. The guy who owned the garage, Bob, said, “If they don’t like you dirty, they don’t like you clean either.”

　　大学时我正在一家汽车店工作，一个周五的晚上我们刚忙完，朋友们想去小巷对面的酒吧，我也想去，我想先把自己身上弄干净。开修车厂的Bob说：“如果他们不喜欢你脏的样子，那他们也不会喜欢你干净的样子。”

　　That applies to a lot of areas of life. If they don’t like you how you are, the people in question probably just don’t like you and won’t even if you change.

　　这句话适用于生活很多方面，如果他们不喜欢你本来的样子，那他们可能就是不喜欢你，即使你做出改变也不会喜欢你。

　　翻译：菲菲