Gifts from the Heart

Track 6

by Michael Josephson

翻譯：常青

學(xué)生送給老師一瓶清泉水，泉水明明已變味，老師卻仍裝作水很清甜，為何呢？

A young mancame acrossa1)springof clear water while2)roamingthe desert. He filled his bottle with the water, so he couldbringsomebackto an old man who had been his teacher. After a four-day journey, he3)presentedthe water to the old man.The old man took a deep drink, smiled warmly and felt4)grateful. The young man returned to his village with a happy heart.

Later, the teacher let another studenttastethe water. However, the student said it was5)awful. The water6)apparentlyhad become7)stalebecause ofthe old bottle. The student challenged his teacher,“Master, the water was awful. Why did youpretend tolike it?”

詞組加油站

come across偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)

bring…back把……帶回來

pretend to假裝……

1) spring [sprI?] n. 泉

2) roam [r??m] v. 漫步于

3) present [prI'zent] v. 贈(zèng)送，呈現(xiàn)

4) grateful ['greItf?l] adj. 感激的

5) awful ['??f?l] adj. 糟糕的

6) apparently [?'p?r?ntlI] adv. 顯然，顯而易見地

7) stale [steIl] adj. 不新鮮的，變味的

The teacher replied, “You only tasted the water.But I tasted the gift. The water was simply the container for an act of kindness and nothing could be sweeter.” After all, gifts from the heart are truly8)precious.

8) precious ['pre??s] adj. 寶貴的

參考譯文

一個(gè)年輕人在沙漠漫步時(shí)發(fā)現(xiàn)了一汪清泉。他盛了滿滿一瓶水想帶回給一位老人——他以前的老師。經(jīng)過了四天的跋涉，他把這瓶泉水獻(xiàn)給那位老人。老人喝了一大口，面露溫暖笑意，心懷感激。年輕人心情愉悅地回到了自己的村莊。

過后，老師讓另一個(gè)學(xué)生來品嘗這泉水。然而，這個(gè)學(xué)生卻說水太難喝了。由于盛水的瓶子年代久遠(yuǎn)，水顯然已變味。這個(gè)學(xué)生質(zhì)疑老師道：“老師，這水明明很難喝。您為什么還假裝水好喝？”

老師回答說：“你喝到的只是水，但我卻能品嘗到里面所包含的心意。水本身不過是心意的承載物，但這水卻讓我品出了世上最甜美的味道。”畢竟，來自心靈的禮物是彌足珍貴的。

名師考點(diǎn)小結(jié)

1.taste作及物動(dòng)詞，表示“品嘗”，后面跟賓語(yǔ)。例如：

He tasted both cakes, but neither was good. 他兩塊蛋糕都嘗了嘗，但是都不好吃。taste也可作系動(dòng)詞，意為“嘗起來”，后面跟形容詞作表語(yǔ)。例如：

The meat tastes delicious. 這肉味道真好。

This soup tastes salty. 這湯嘗起來很咸。

拓展：taste還可作可數(shù)名詞，表示“味道”。例如：

The medicine has a bitter taste. 這種藥有苦味。

2.because of是復(fù)合介詞短語(yǔ)，意思是“由于”，其后可接名詞或名詞短語(yǔ)、what從句等。例如：

We didn’t go hiking because of the rain. 由于下雨，我們沒有去遠(yuǎn)足。

He is angry because of what you have done. 他因你所做的事而生氣。