One summer afternoon, when I was about eight years of age,
我八歲時,一個夏天的下午,
I was standing at an eastern window, looking at a beautiful rainbow that, bending from the sky, seemed to be losing itself in a thick, swampy wood about a quarter of a mile distant.
我站在窗邊,看著美麗的彩虹從天邊彎下來,似乎消失在四分之一英里外的一片沼澤密林里。
It happened that no one was in the room with me then but my brother Rufus, who was just recovering from a severe illness, and was sitting, propped up with pillows, in an easy-chair, looking out, with me, at the rainbow.
當(dāng)時房間里只有我和我的哥哥魯弗斯,重傷康復(fù)的他靠著枕頭坐在扶手椅里,和我一起看彩虹。
"See, brother," I said, "it drops right down among the cedars, where we go in the spring to find wintergreens!"
“看,哥哥,”我說,“彩虹正好落在雪松林里,我們春天還在那兒找過鹿蹄草呢!”
"Do you know, Gracie," said my brother, with a very serious face,
“你知道嗎,格雷西,”哥哥認真地說,
that if you should go to the end of the rainbow, you would find there purses filled with money, and great pots of gold and silver?
如果你到彩虹盡頭,你會找到鼓鼓的錢包,和一罐罐的金銀?
"Is it truly so?" I asked.
“真的嗎?”我問。
"Truly so," answered my brother, with a smile.
“真的,”哥哥笑著說。
Now, I was a simple-hearted child who believed everything that was told me, although I was again and again imposed upon;
我當(dāng)時還是一個頭腦簡單的孩子,盡管多次被騙,但別人說什么我仍然信以為真。
so, without another word, I darted out of the door, and set forth toward the wood.
于是,二話不說,我蹦蹦跳跳地跑出門,向樹林跑去。
My brother called after me as loudly as he was able, but I did not heed him.
去。哥哥大聲喊我的名字,可是我并沒注意。
I cared nothing for the wet grass, which was sadly drabbling my clean frock,—on and on I ran: I was so sure that I knew just where that rainbow ended.
我完全不顧潮濕的草地是不是弄臟了我干凈的連衣裙,只是不停地跑:我相信我知道彩虹的盡頭在哪兒。
I remember how glad and proud I was in my thoughts, and what fine presents I promised to all my friends out of my great riches.
我是那么開心和自豪,我發(fā)誓用我的巨大財富把最好的禮物送給好朋友們。