357、晨读夜诵，英语小故事（中英对照）“白栀子花之谜”

Mystery of the White Gardenia

白栀子花之谜

Every year on my birthday，from the time I turned 12，a white gardenia(栀子)was sent to my house .

从我12岁开始，每年在我生日的时候都会送一朵白栀子花到我家。

There was never a card or note, and calls to the florist（花店） were in vain because the purchase was always made in cash.

从来没有卡片或便条，打电话给花店也是徒劳，因为买它的人总是用现金。

After a while, I stopped trying to discover the identity of the sender.

过了一段时间，我不再试图找出送花者的身份。

I just delighted in the beauty and heady（令人陶醉的） perfume of that one magical, perfect white flower nestled（依偎） in folds of soft pink tissue paper.

我只是陶醉于那朵充满魅力、完美无暇、依偎在柔软的粉红色包装纸的褶皱里的白花，以及沁人心脾的芳香。

But I never stopped imagining who the sender might be. Some of my happiest moments were spent daydreaming about the sender.

但我一直在想象送花者是谁。有时候我最开心的时刻就是对送花者的幻想。

My mother encouraged this imagining. She'd ask me if there was someone for whom I had done a special kindness. Perhaps it was the old man who I looked after when he was ill.

我母亲支持我这样想象。她问我，是否对某个人做过一件特别的善事，也许是一位生病时我照顾过他的老人。

As a girl, I had more fun imagining that it might be a boy who had noticed me even though I didn't know him.

作为一个女孩，我更多的乐趣在于想象可能是一个我不认识他的男孩注意到了我。

One month before my high school graduation, my father died of a heart attack.

在我高中毕业前一个月，我父亲死于心脏病。

I felt very sad and didn't want to go to the upcoming graduation dance at all. And I didn't care whether I had a new dress or not.

我感到很难过，根本不想去参加即将到来的毕业舞会。我也不在乎我有没有新的礼服。

But my mother, in her own sadness, would not let me miss out on any of these things. The day before the graduation dance, I found a beautiful dress awaiting me on the living-room sofa.

但我的母亲尽管自己很难过，但也不会让我错过任何这些事情。毕业舞会的前一天，我发现客厅的沙发上有一件漂亮的礼服在等着我。

I may not have cared about having a new dress, but my mother did. She cared how I felt about myself.

我可能不在乎新礼服，但我母亲在乎。她在乎我对自己的感觉。

She imbued（使感染） me with a sense of the magic in the world, and she gave me the ability to see beauty even in the face of adversity（逆境）.

她让我对世界充满了神奇的感觉，让我在逆境中也能看到美好。

In truth, my mother wanted me to see myself much like the gardenia — lovely, strong and perfect.

事实上，我母亲希望我把自己看作栀子花一样——可爱、坚强、完美。

My mother died ten days after l was married. I was 28. That was the year the gardenia stopped coming.

我母亲在我结婚十天后去世了。那年我28岁，从那以后，再没有栀子花送来了。

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