A Tooth for a Tooth以牙還牙

梁璐茜

I had always associated1 the word “miracle” with people surviving horrible crashes or “incurable” diseases， or epic2 events in the Bible like the parting of the Red Sea. But as Ive grown older and learned how to pay closer attention to the world around me， Ive discovered that Gods hand is everywhere， and miracles also include small events that most people write off as coincidences3.

我一直把“奇跡”一詞與那些在可怕的車禍中或者“不治之癥”中幸存下來的人，或是《圣經(jīng)》中像摩西分海一樣史詩般的事件聯(lián)系在一起。但隨著年齡的增長，我學(xué)會(huì)了如何更密切地關(guān)注周圍的世界，我發(fā)現(xiàn)上帝之手無處不在，奇跡也包括很多人認(rèn)為是巧合而不重視的小事件。

I experienced one such event recently when my older daughter， Marli， lost her first tooth. She was so excited about it that she took it to school to show to her friends， most of whom were also losing teeth like little popcorn machines. They would stand around in groups giggling and wiggling4 their loose teeth between their thumbs and forefingers， or proudly displaying the spaces where teeth used to be. It was sort of a competition to see who was growing up faster， and who could get the largest amount of cold， hard cash from the Tooth Fairy.

我最近經(jīng)歷了這樣一件事，我的大女兒瑪莉，掉了她的第一顆牙。她非常興奮，帶著牙去學(xué)校給她的朋友們看，他們中的大多數(shù)人也像小爆米花機(jī)一樣掉了牙。他們會(huì)成群結(jié)隊(duì)地站在一起，咯咯地笑著，用拇指和食指擺弄他們掉下來的牙齒，或者驕傲地展示牙齒曾經(jīng)所在的位置。這有點(diǎn)像是一場(chǎng)看誰更快長大，看誰能從牙仙那里得到最多金幣的比賽。

We were on the big lawn in front of Marlis elementary school during the usual after-school play date when she reached into her pocket and took out the small， cloth bag we gave her to carry her tooth in. She put her finger into the bag to take out the tooth so she could show it to some friends who had gathered around， but her smile disappeared when she realized it wasnt there. It had fallen out， probably when she was doing somersaults5 with a friend. She started to cry. Anxious to calm her down， I said， “Dont worry， sweetie. Well find it.” But as I looked at the size of the lawn and thought of the actual chances of finding a tiny incisor6 somewhere in that sea of green， I didnt feel very optimistic7.

在平時(shí)放學(xué)后玩耍的時(shí)間段里，我們正在瑪莉讀的小學(xué)前的大草坪上，她把手伸進(jìn)口袋，拿出了我們給她裝牙齒的小布袋。她把手指伸進(jìn)袋子里，想把牙齒拿出來給周圍聚集的朋友們看，但當(dāng)她意識(shí)到牙齒不在里面時(shí)，她的笑容消失了。牙齒可能在她和朋友翻跟頭的時(shí)候掉了。她哭了起來。我急著想讓她平靜下來，說：“別擔(dān)心，親愛的。我們會(huì)找到它的?！钡?dāng)我看到草坪的大小，想到在那片綠色海洋中找到一顆小門牙的可能性時(shí)，我感到并不樂觀。

Other parents and kids saw us poking8 around in the grass and asked what we had lost. They joined the search one by one until a small army was searching between every blade9 of grass. They all knew it was a re-enactment10 of the needle-in-a-haystack11 story， but they felt so sad for Marli that they couldnt help but try.

其他的父母和孩子看到我們?cè)诓莸厣纤奶幪綄?，問我們丟了什么東西。他們一個(gè)接一個(gè)地加入搜尋的隊(duì)伍，在每一片草葉之間尋找。他們都知道這是大海撈針的故事重演，但他們?yōu)楝斃蚋械诫y過，忍不住想試試?！?br>