Stay with Me
与我相随
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Sadness flies away on the wings of time.
忧伤终将插上时间的翅膀飞走。
~Jean de Lan Fontaine
——让·德·拉风丹
I was the new kid in the neighborhood. My family had just moved from the country to a bigger city, so I had to start over making friends. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do that, even though I had moved many times before. It was just never easy introducing myself to total strangers with the hopes that they’d like me enough to become my friend.
随家人刚刚从小城镇搬到这个稍大一点的城市,我成为这里新来的孩子,必须重新认识朋友。该怎么做,我感到很无助。尽管之前也有几次搬家的经历,但向完全不认识的陌生入介绍自己绝非一件容易的事,因为你总是奢望人人都喜欢你,都愿意和你做朋友。
So I was really lonely until the day that this boy named Brandon came up to me and asked if I wanted to play with him and his friends. After that, we were like best friends. He was a few years older than I was so he always treated me like a little sister. If he wasn’t at school, he was playing with me.
刚开始我总是形单影只,直到有一天,一个名叫布兰登的男孩儿走过来问我是否愿意和他以及他的朋友们一起玩。从那之后,我们成了好朋友。他比我年长几岁,对我就像妹妹一样。他不上学的时候，我们就会在一起玩耍。
A few months passed and then a whole year went by. We were closer than ever, even though Brandon began making more friends at school and they would come over, too. Still, he let me play with him, even when they were around. Brandon never let anyone push me aroundor pick on me. He was always there for me.
几个月过去,一整年过去。我们比以前更亲密。尽管布兰登在学校又认识了许多新朋友,他们也会过来找他,但他仍然会带着我一起，哪怕有他的朋友参加。布兰登从不准别人欺负或者捉弄我,他总会在我身边保护我。
When my mom would call me in for dinner, I would always beg her to let me play for a few more minutes. He would say, “No, go ahead. I’ll wait right here for you.” I would sometimes think that he would not be there waiting when I was done, but he was always still there.
妈妈喊我吃晚餐时,我总是乞求她让我再多玩一会儿。这时布兰登会说:“不行,赶紧回家去,我可以等你。"有时候我不确定等我吃完饭后他还在不在,但每次他都会等着我。
A lot of times, Brandon would help me withmy homework and tell me more about what a certain subject was abut. Afterwards, we would ride bikes or skate around our neighborhood together. The most important thing that he ever taught me, though, was to be my own person. He always used to say, “Who cared what others think about you? You should only care about how you feel about yourself.” That saying got me through a lot of hard times.
许多时候,布兰登还会辅导我的功课,给我讲解关于各门功课的有趣的内容。后来,我们在家附近一起骑自行车或是滑冰。他教会我的重要的一点是,按照自己的方式行事。他过去总是说:“为什么要在乎他人对你的看法? 你只需要关心自己的感受。”这句话陪伴我度过了许多艰难的日子。
One weekend, I had to go to my grandmother’s. A new kid, named Lance, had moved to our neighborhood a few weeks before, and he seemed cool. The day I left, Brandon said he was going over to Lance’s house to play video games. I said, “Okay, I’ll see ya Sunday afternoon.”
一个周末,我需要去深望祖母。那时,我们这里又搬来了一个孩子他的名字叫兰斯,看起来很酷。我出门时布兰登告诉我他要去兰斯家玩电子游戏。我说:“好吧,那咱们周日下午见。”
Well, things changed forever after that. Brandon spent the night over at Lance’s and they played video games and watched movies. That Saturday, they went into Lance’s parents’ room to playNintendo 64. Lance noticed that there was a little gun by his dad’s bed, so he picked it up to check it out. Just joking around, he pointed the gun at Brandon and pulled the trigger. He thought it wasn’t loaded. Well, he thought wrong.
从那一刻开始一切都改变了。当天是周六,兰斯带着布兰登来到他父母卧室玩任天堂游戏。兰斯发现他父亲的床边有一把小手枪,于是拿起来把玩,之后又开始四处比画。他把枪对准布兰登并扣动了坂机。他本以为枪里没有子弹,结果,他错了。
I didn’t get back until late Sunday night. I came in to find everyone in my family crying. I was scared because I didn’t know what had happened. My mom took me into her room and said there had been an accident. From that moment on, I knew nothing would ever be the same. She finally told me that Lance had accidentally shot Brandon with a gun and that Brandon didn’t make it. My mom wouldn’t tell me where he had gotten shot but I had a good idea of it.
我直到周日晚上很晚才回来。到家后我发现家人们都很悲伤,我很害怕,不知道出了什么事。妈妈把我带到她的房间告诉我出事了,一刹那我感觉到这件事将是无法弥补的。妈妈接着告诉我兰斯用枪意外击中了布兰登,布兰登最终去世了。尽管妈妈妈没有告诉我布兰登到底被击中了哪里，但我已经能够想象出悲剧发生的那一幕。
I started crying, and I ran to my room and hid my face in my pillow. I didn’t want to talk to or see anyone.
我开始哭起来，接着冲向自己的房间，把头埋在枕头里。我不愿见人也不愿开口说话。
A few days later, we went to his funeral. I couldn’t help but cry. I went up to see him and I realized he was in a better place, because I knew that Brandon knew God, and that was comforting to me. All this happened about six years ago. I am now thirteen. Still, there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about him. I cry whenever I pass by the cemetery. My best friend is gone, but the friendship that he showed me—the new kid in the neighborhood—will stay with me forever.
几天以后，我们一起参加了布兰登的葬礼，我抑制不住，再次痛哭。我走上前去，觉得布兰登应该去一个更美好的地方，我知道他能认出上帝，这让我稍觉宽慰。这件事已经过去了六年，现在我十三岁了，没有一天不在想念着他。每次从墓地经过我都忍不住掉泪。我最好的朋友离开了，但他当初对我这个新邻居表现出的友爱将永远与我相随。
~Jaime Fisher
——杰米·费舍尔
读美文记单词 ：
1. start over重新开始
2. push around v.把…差来遣去；摆布；使唤
3. pick on找…的岔子；故意刁难
4. trigger英 [ˈtrɪgə(r)] 美 [ˈtrɪɡɚ]
n.（枪）扳机;起动装置，扳柄;引发其他事件的一件事;[电子学]触发器，触发电器
5. cemetery英 [ˈsemətri] 美 [ˈseməteri]
n.墓地，公墓
