我很早就买了本《最优美的散文》，里面收集的全部是名人名作。当时的想法是，咱学英语，就得学最好的东西阿。再者，散文多是心情、景致、人生道理的主题，平时教材都干巴巴没意思，这方面的词汇一点都学不到，所以就买了本散文集。后来翻了一下，名家就是名家，三步五十地来些不认识的词，玄乎得很阿。说是读散文，竟然一点美感也没有觉出来，于是也没看了。这回觉得学英语还得踏踏实实，一点一滴地攒阿。于是挑了这篇看起来字少的读一读。OK，先看正文吧。
This Was My Mother
She was 82 and living in Keoluk when,
unaccountably, she insisted upon
attending a convention of old settlers of the Mississippi Valley.
All the way there, and it was some distance, she was
young again with excitement and eagerness. At the
hotel she asked immediately for Dr.Barrent, of St. Louis. He had
left for home that morning and would not be back, she was told. She
turned away, the fire all gone from her, and asked to
go home. Once there she sat silent and thinking for many days, then
told us that when she was 18 she had loved a young medical
student with all her heart. There was a misunderstanding
and he left the country; she had immediately married, to show him
that she didn’t care. She had never seen him since and then she
had read in a newspaper that he was going to attend the old
settler’s convention. “Only three hours before we reach that
hotel he had been there,” she mourned.
She had kept that pathetic burden in her heart 64 years without
any of us suspecting it. Before the year was out, her memory
began to fail. She would write letters to school-mates who
had been dead for 40 years and wonder why they never answered. Four
years later she died.
自从在梁潇方那里得到启发之后，发现英文写成的东西跟冬天的白萝卜似的——浑身都是宝！看来世界确实是缺少发现美的眼睛阿。先来两个不太熟悉的单词：
used
to say that something is very surprising and difficult to
explain:
这之子孙孙的，谁也摸不准老奶奶的心思，大老远的，这高龄的，去凑啥热闹呢。奇怪！
1 to feel
very sad and to miss someone after they have died
[= grieve
for]:
2 to feel
very sad because something no longer exists or is no longer as good
as it used to be:
大老远去了，还扑了一个空，奶奶能不伤心吗？能不缅怀吗？两个字，难过！
另外，mourn 的名词形式就是
mourning，读音起来跟“早上”一样，但是这是“伤心、哀悼”或者“黑色丧服”的意思,比如
sb. in mourning, wear mourning. 连起来似乎可以造句：In this country
people in mourning wear
mourning.瞎造一个句，不知道有没错误。
1 great
sadness because someone has died:
2DCCMX black clothes worn to show that you are very sad
that someone has died:
单词学完了，看看那些句子和搭配吧。
1. It was some distance。 那挺远的
第一次看见distance 前面用some来形容的。 some
distance，恩，一些距离。
2. with excitement and eagerness
这个断语好，因为用到的机会实在很多。分开几年的同学没见了，见到之前难道不是with
excitement and
eagerness.即兴奋又期待的。孩子就要降临了，准爸爸一定也是with
excitement and eagerness。 不知道失恋的人知道要见到ex，是不是with
excitement and
eagerness。不过，奶奶不就是这样吗？看来心中仍旧没放下嘛。with
＋名词，万金油搭配阿。
3. the fire all gone form
her
热情消散，人也蔫了。唉，期望越高，失望也越大阿
如火的热情 “fire!!热情”
gone from sb. gone
这个词咋就有这么多意思呢？用fade之类行不行呢？不过gone在这里感觉是去得快，取得干净。类似的，excitement
gone from him ; smile gone from her face
4. love sb. with all one's heart
有一个朋友，曾经love her boyfriend with all
her
heart,一颗心仿佛都不够她爱的，但是最后还是分手了。爱得深，伤得也深阿。这句话用英语怎么说？
The deeper you fall in love with him, the more hurt you will get in
the end. 瞎翻。
5. Before the year was out, her memory began
to fail. 这句话里面可学的东西不少哇
the
year，用的是定冠词the，year说的是一个人的寿命、生命的长度。年复一年，终归于尘土。没有用end，而是out。我知道run
out 是什么东西用完的意思，这里out是不是指生命一点点用完呢？ before
the year was out 在生命大限到来之前/在灯枯油尽之前
老年人记忆力（memory）都呈减退状态，记性不好，它不正常运作（fail）拉。我发现fail这个词也是万金油一样的词，到处看得见，有时候这个词可以代替好几个中文字。但是，why
does my memory seem to fail these days? I forgot
my dad's
birthday. I thought I
was still young!
经过一番折腾，仿佛咂摸出了这篇文章的一点味道。看来慢慢来，多花点时间也是有收获的。总体说下这篇，文字果然很简洁，单词简单，但是一个没浪费，平凡（单词）见神奇，把老奶奶的从兴奋到失望到回忆的各种情绪都写出来了。Simple
is power!
另外，马克先生的时态一点不含糊阿，估计他写的时候从没想过时态是啥东西。单词就如流水一般淌出来。为啥我会总犯时态上的错误，某些时候，搞不清楚到底应该用过去完成，现在完成，过去完成进行时。
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