練習(xí):

　　Mrs. Chambers sits comfortably in her armchair, enjoying a cup of coffee. She has had athe right to relax. She has had a long and very busy life.

　　Mrs. Chambers has retired now to a small house in Bangor, a popular seaside town not far from Belfast. But for most of her life she lived in the country. Her husband’s farm was on an island in the middle of Strangford Lake. There, Mrs. Chambers baked bread twice a week, made jam every summer, and put her husband’s dinner on the table at twelve 0’clock exactly every day. The island farm had been owned by the Chambers family for may years, passing on from father to son. It was a quiet and beautiful place to live. They grew potatoes and vegetables, and kept hens and cows. When Mr. Chambers died, his son took on the farm, Mrs. Chambers moved away.

　　She takes another sip of coffee, and smiles as she remembers people from the past. “The old lady down the road thought she had a ghost in the house,” she says, “but it was only old Tom MaAleer, frightening her for fun.” The memories come fast. “Twenty men, they had, only tem years ago, to bring in the potato crop. Young Hugh has a machine now. He only needs five.”

　　It’s time for the news on TV. Mrs. Chambers wants to see the racing results. She won quite a lot of money last week. Next month she’s going down to Tipperary in the Republic of Ireland. The horse-racing there is wonderful. She finds it hard to stay away. But before the racing results there’s another item of news. A bomb has exploded in Belfast. Several people have been killed. Mrs. Chambers shakes her head. “They’re all crazy,” she says. “It’s just a few who make all the trouble. The rest of us want to live in peace. We’ve all got life long friends from both sides. And most of the time we never talk about the trouble.”

　　The racing results come on. She leans forward to watch. For her, ordinary everyday life is the most important thing.

　　參考譯文:

　　喬柏斯太太舒服地坐在扶手椅里, 享受著一杯咖啡.她有權(quán)利放松, 她已經(jīng)過了很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的忙碌生活了.

　　現(xiàn)在喬柏斯太太已經(jīng)退休了, 住在班戈區(qū)的一所小房子里.班戈區(qū)是貝爾法斯特附近一個(gè)廣受喜愛的海邊小城.但是在生命中的大部分時(shí)間里, 她都住在農(nóng) 村.她丈夫在斯福德湖中間的一座島上有一個(gè)農(nóng)場(chǎng).喬柏斯太太每周都烤兩次面包, 每個(gè)夏天都要做果醬, 每天12點(diǎn)準(zhǔn)時(shí)把丈夫的午飯擺在桌上.島上的那個(gè)農(nóng)場(chǎng) 屬于喬柏斯家族已經(jīng)很多年了, 是從父輩傳下來的.那是個(gè)安靜美麗的地方.他們自己種土豆和蔬菜, 還養(yǎng)母雞和奶牛.喬柏斯先生去世后, 他的兒子接管了農(nóng)場(chǎng), 喬柏斯太太搬離了那里.

　　她喝了口咖啡.想起以前那些人的時(shí)候, 她笑了.”住在路盡頭的那個(gè)老太太以為自己房子里有鬼, “她說, “其實(shí)那只是老湯姆.麥艾里爾唬她逗她玩的.”記憶被快速的喚醒.”僅僅在十年前, 他們請(qǐng)了二十個(gè)人來挖土豆.年輕的休現(xiàn)在有了自己的機(jī)器, 他只需要五個(gè)人.”

　　現(xiàn)在到電視新聞時(shí)間了.喬柏斯太太想看看跑馬比賽的結(jié)果.她上個(gè)禮拜贏了一大筆錢.她下個(gè)月要去愛爾蘭的蒂帕雷里, 那里的跑馬比賽很精彩, 她發(fā)現(xiàn)自 己很難不參與進(jìn)去.但是在比賽結(jié)果公布之前還有另外一則新聞: 貝爾法斯特發(fā)生一起爆炸, 幾個(gè)人被炸死了.喬柏斯太太搖了搖頭.”他們瘋了”她說, “制造麻 煩的只是少數(shù)人, 我們其余的人都想過平靜的生活.我們都有來自雙方的終身朋友(雙方指天主教徒和新教徒), 多數(shù)時(shí)候我們從不談?wù)摕┬氖?”

　　比賽結(jié)果出來了.她傾著身子去看.對(duì)她來說, 普通平凡的日常生活才是最重要的.

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