佚名/Anonymous
Sheila stomped into the staff room,her uniform plastered with someones dinner.“I dont know how you do it!”she fumed to Helen,the nurse supervising the evening shift.“Mrs.Svoboda just threw her tray at me again,and she's so agitated I don’t know how l'll be able to clean her up before bed.Why don’t you have so much trouble with her?”
Helen smiled sympathetically.“I've had my share of rough nights with her,too.But I’ve been here,longer and,of course,I knew her husband.”“yeah,Troy.I've heard about him.It’s about the only word I can understand when she gets going.”
“Sheila,”Helen began hesitantly.I know it's hard to work with people like Mrs.Svoboda.When Mrs.Svoboda was admitted she wasn’t as bad as she is now,but she was still pretty spicy.She used to give me grief over the smallest things.her tea wasn't hot enough,her bed wasn’t made up right.On her bad days she'd accuse us all of stealing her things.I had no patience with her,until one day her husband happened to be there during bath time.I was gearing up for the usual fight with her when he asked if he could help.‘Sure,’I said gratefully.Good thing the safety restraints were on because she began kicking and screaming.’
“I began washing her quickly,anxious to get it over with,when Troy laid his hand on my arm.‘Give her a moment to get used to the water,’he asked.Then he began talking softly in Russian.After a few moments she became calm and seemed to listen to him.Very gently,he took the cloth and soap from me and washed each of her hands.Then slowly and carefully,he washed her arms and shoulders,working his way over the wrinkled,sallow skin.Each touch was a caress,each movement a promise.After a while,she closed her eyes and relaxed into the warm water.‘My beautiful Nadja,’the old man murmured.‘You are so beautiful’.To my surprise,Mrs.Svoboda opened her eyes and murmured back,’My beautiful Troy.Even more astonishing,she had tears in her eyes!”
Helen took a deep breath and continued her story.“Mrs.Svoboda stayed calm that whole afternoon.Her husband helped me dress her and feed her lunch.She complained about the food and at one point knocked over her soup.Mr.Svoboda patiently cleaned it up and waited until her tantrum was over.Then he slowly fed her the rest of her meal and talked to her until she was ready to go to bed.I was concerned about that old man.He looked completely exhausted.I asked him why he insisted on doing so much by himself when we were paid to do it.He turned to me and said simply,‘Because I love her.’You don’t understand,he continued.We’ve been married for almost forty-nine years.When we started out,life on the farm was harder than you can imagine.The drought killed our crops,and there wasn’t enough pasture for the cattle.Our children were small,and I didn’t know how we were going to survive the winter.I was very hard to live with that year.Nadja put up with my moods,and left me alone,but one night I blew up at the supper table.She’d made our favorite treat,rice pudding,and all I could think about was how much sugar and milk she’d used.”
“Suddenly.I just couldn’t take it.I picked up my bowl and threw it against the wall,and stormed out to the barn.I don’t know how long I stayed there,but around sundown,Nadja came out to find me.‘Troy’，she said,‘you are not alone in your troubles.I promised to stand by you through everything life brought our way.But if you won’t let me,then you have to go.‘She had tears in her eyes,but her voice was firm.’when you are ready to be with us again,we are here.Then she kissed my cheek and walked back to the house.”
“I stayed in the barn that night,and the next day I headed into town to look for a job.There was nothing,of course,but I keep looking.After about a week,I was ready to give up.I felt a complete failure,at farming,as a man.I started for home,not knowing if I’d be welcome,but I didn’t have anywhere else to go.When she saw me coming down the lane,Nadja came out running,her apron strings riving.She threw her arms around me and I began to weep.I clung to her like a newborn baby.”
“If she could stay committed to me during my worst times,during the hardest time of our life,the least I can do is to comfort her now.And remind her of the good times we had.We always smiled at each other when we ate rice pudding,and its one of the few things she still remembers.”
Helen was quiet.Suddenly Sheila pushed back her chair,“My break is over,”she said,dabbing at the tears that rolled down her cheeks.“And I know an old lady who needs another dinner.”She smiled at Helen.“If I ask them nicely,Ill bet the kitchen can rustle up a dish of rice pudding for her,too.”
希拉的製服上被灑了厚厚的一層晚飯，她怒氣衝衝地走進了護士室。她向當晚的領班護士海倫發火道：“天哪！我實在不明白您是怎麽做到的！斯沃博達太太剛剛又把盤子扔到我身上了。她情緒這麽激動，我真不知道在睡前該怎麽為她洗澡。為什麽你在服侍她時，就不會碰到這些麻煩呢？”
海倫滿懷同情地微笑著說：“剛開始，我也曾有過很多糟糕的夜晚。不過因為我來這裏的時間比較長，自然，我也就認識她丈夫。”“哦，我聽說過，是特洛伊吧。她每次暴躁不安時，我就隻能聽明白這個詞。”
海倫遲疑了一下，說：“希拉，我明白，要讓斯沃博達太太這樣的人來配合你的工作，這的確很難。她剛來到這裏時，情況還沒有現在這麽糟糕，但也讓人覺很非常棘手。她總是在一些雞毛蒜皮的小事上找我的茬——比如，她的茶不夠熱，她的床整理得不夠整潔等等。心情糟糕時，她還會指責我們所有人，說我們偷她的東西。我對她的忍耐已經達到了極限，直到有一天為她洗澡時，她丈夫碰巧在場。我像平常一樣蓄勢待發，準備與她進行‘戰鬥’，此時，他問我是否需要幫忙。我十分感激地說：‘當然。’因為她已經開始又踢又叫，好在我已經做好了安全約束措施。”
“然後我開始用最快的速度給她洗澡，心裏盼望著能早一點結束。這時特洛伊把手放在我胳膊上，讓我先停下來。他請求道：‘請給她一點時間來適應水溫。’接著他開始用俄語溫柔地對她說話。不一會兒，她就安靜了下來，看起來像是在聽他講話。他接過我手中的毛巾和肥皂，非常溫柔地擦洗著她的雙手。之後，又緩慢而細心地擦洗著她的手臂和肩膀，認真地擦拭著她滿是皺紋並已變得灰黃的皮膚。他的每次觸摸仿佛都是愛撫，每個動作仿佛都是許諾。不久，她閉上了眼睛，在溫暖的水裏顯得很輕鬆。老人喃喃低語道，‘我美麗的娜佳，你多麽漂亮啊。’令我驚訝的是，斯沃博達太太居然睜開雙眼，低聲答道，‘我英俊的特洛伊。’更令人詫異的是，她的眼裏竟含著淚水！”
海倫長長地呼了口氣，接著說：那天下午，斯沃博達太太一直都很安靜。她丈夫幫我給她穿衣服，並喂她吃午餐。她埋怨午餐不合胃口，還打翻了湯。斯沃博達先生耐心地清理完灑了的湯，並一直等到她發完脾氣，恢複平靜。之後他又慢慢地喂她把剩下的食物吃完，並陪她聊天，一直到她準備睡覺。我很擔心這位老人，因為他看上去已經非常疲憊。這些事本都是我們應該做的，於是我問他為什麽要堅持自己做。他轉身麵對著我，簡單地說道：‘因為我愛她！’他又接著講道，你不明白，我們結婚差不多49年了。你無法想象，我們當初在農場的生活是多麽的艱苦。旱災讓我們的莊稼顆粒無收，也沒有充足的牧場養牛。那時我們的孩子還小，而我甚至不知道我們是否能夠熬過去那個寒冷的冬天。那一年，我也變得脾氣暴躁，難以相處。然而，娜佳卻一直忍受著我惡劣暴躁的脾氣，也不煩擾我。但最終有一天我還是爆發了，當時一家人正在吃晚飯。娜佳做了我們最愛吃的米飯布丁。可我腦海唯一能想到的就是她得用了多少的牛奶和糖啊！
我一口也不想吃，猛地抓起我的碗，用力砸到牆上，然後衝出門，跑到穀倉裏。我不清楚獨自在那兒待了多長時間。但日落時，娜佳找到了我。她說：“特洛伊，你有麻煩，可你卻並不孤單。我答應你，我會永遠站在你身邊，不管生活給我們帶來多少艱難困苦，我都會和你一起麵對。但倘若你不同意，那你就隻有離開了。”盡管她滿眼含淚，但語氣卻十分堅定。“無論何時，我們都會在這裏等你，隻要你願意回到我們身邊。”她輕吻我的臉頰，然後轉身走回了屋子。
那晚我一直待在穀倉裏。次日，我直接去了城裏，準備在那裏找一份工作。當然，我一無所獲，但我還是繼續在找。大約一周後，我決定放棄了。作為一個男人，一個莊稼漢，我覺得自己徹底地失敗了！於是我動身回家，我不知道他們是否會歡迎我的歸來，但除了家，我的確無處可去。當我走在回家的鄉間小路上時，娜佳看到了我並飛快地從屋裏衝了出來，朝我跑來，她的圍裙帶歡快地跳躍著。她張開雙臂，緊緊地擁抱著我。我不禁哭了出來，像剛出生的嬰兒一樣緊緊地依偎著她。
‘在我人生最黑暗的時候，在我們生活最艱苦的時候，娜佳都能一直守候在我身邊，那麽，我現在能做的隻有盡力來安慰她，讓她回憶起我們曾經美好快樂的日子。每當一起吃米飯布丁時，我們總會微笑著看著彼此。而這也是現在她能想起的少數幾件事情之一。’
說完，海倫默默地望著希拉。突然，希拉推開椅子，站起身來，將臉頰上滾落的淚水輕輕拭去，柔聲地說道：“我休息好了。我也終於明白了，這位老太太為什麽總想要其它的晚餐。”然後，她看著海倫，露出了笑容並說：“隻要我誠心誠意地請求他們，我敢打賭廚房一定能很快地為她做一盤米飯布丁。”
詞匯筆記
agitated[?d??te?t?d]adj.激動的；表現不安的
His answers were all mixed up,so agitated was he.
他是那樣心神不定，回答全亂了。
sympathetically[’s?mp?’θet?kl?]adv.悲憐地；富有同情心地
They were all sympathetically disposed towards her bitter experience.
他們都對她的悲慘遭遇寄予同情。
hesitantly[hez?t?ntli]adv.遲疑地；躊躇地
He finally accepted hesitantly.
他最終猶猶豫豫地接受了。
concerned[k?ns?:nd]adj.擔心的；煩惱的；憂慮的
We all concerned for her safety.
我們都很擔心她的安全。
小試身手
他的每次觸摸仿佛都是愛撫，每個動作仿佛都是許諾。
不管生活給我們帶來多少艱難困苦，我都會和你一起麵對。但倘若你不同意，那你就隻有離開了。無論何時，我們都在這裏等你，隻要你願意回到我們身邊。
短語家族
I asked him why he insisted on doing so much by himself when we were paid to do it
Insist on：堅持；強調
Nadja put up with my moods,and left me alone,but one night I blew up at th supper table.
Put up with：忍受；容忍