A Nine-Year-Old's Brush with Magic
佚名 / Anonymous
Every June, on the night before summer officially arrives, we renew an annual tradition at our house. Our children are given bowls and asked to collect pieces of nature that remind them of the coming season. They leave those bowls on the front of porch and we go for a walk. When we return we find fairies have transformed the bowls into ice-cream sundaes.
I’m not certain how this tradition evolved, I think I was rambling on about fairies years ago, and it all just sort of happened. But ever since, it has been one of our favorite rituals.
“When are the fairies coming?” six-year-old Anna had been asking all last June, giddy with expectation. Meanwhile, Jim, nine, was getting wise to fairies and Santa and such silly things. So he was pretty cocky as the evening approached, winking and giggling. He said he would understand if, during our walk, Mom or Dad would forget something and return home.
Wink. Wink.
Or, he proclaimed, during the walk a parent might have to run an errand in the car.
Hee, hee.
Jim had everything figured out. Or so he thought. The evening arrived, gorgeous and balmy. The children collected leaves and blades of grass, pebbles and berries, twigs and dead insects.
We set their bowls on the front porch and took off on our walk. But midway round the block, I moaned that I had forgotten my keys and needed to go back. Jim smiled a knowing grin.
“Oh wait,” I added. “I find them! I don’t have to go back.” As we continued on our way, Jim was beginning to get a bit confused.
Near our house, I warned that the fairies might not have arrived yet—and that we might need to go around a few more blocks. Jim seemed relieved. Yes, he said, they probably hadn’t come.
Yet when we reached the porch, the bowls were in the same place we had left them—filled to their brims with ice-cream sundaes.
Anna accepted all this with complete innocence and exhilaration. But Jim was astonished, speechless, humbled. He looked up at me, at his dad, then gazed around the neighborhood in amazement.
“The fairies must have come,” he stammered as we all sat down to feast.“Maybe…is there really…was this magic?”
Jim was quiet the entire evening. I kissed Anna and said him good-night and tucked them into bed. But at 2 a.m. Jim crawled into bed next to me. “Mommy,” he whispered. “I can’t sleep. You have to tell me, Mommy. How did you do it?”
By the time a child is nine you need to answer a direct question with a direct answer. So I told him I had asked a neighbor to help us. After we left on our stroll, she had sneaked over to our house and switched the bowls. Jim smiled, chuckled in relief and thanked me for telling him. Then he cuddled up and fell asleep.
And just then, at that moment, I believed in magic too.
每年六月，在夏季正式到来的前夕，我们家中都会举行一年一次的传统仪式。我们要求孩子们拿着碗去收集大自然的片断，提醒他们即将来临的季节。他们把碗放在门廊的前面，我们就一起出去散步。当我们返回家时，发现精灵们在碗里放满了圣代冰激淋。
我不确定这个习惯是如何发展来的，我认为也许是几年前我在讲精灵的故事时偶然想到的。但自那以后，这就成了我们最中意的仪式之一。
“精灵什么时候降临？”去年六月，六岁的安娜一直带着急切的期望问。同时，九岁的吉姆已经明白了精灵和圣诞老人这些近乎愚昧的事情。所以在每天晚上到来时，他都特别骄傲地眨眼和傻笑。他说他明白了，当我们散步的时候，爸爸妈妈会因为忘记一些事情而返回家的。
他眨着眼睛宣布说，当我们散步时，父母会因为有事而回到车子那里。吉姆故作明白的笑了笑。也许这就是他所想的。晚上华丽而温和。孩子们收集叶子和草，小圆石和浆果，树枝和死了的昆虫。
我们把他们的碗放在门廊上，就出去散步了。但是到了中途，我叹息道没拿钥匙，必须回去一趟。吉姆抿着嘴笑了。
“噢，等一下，”我喊道。“我找到了！我不用回去了。”于是我们继续我们的路程，吉姆也开始有些疑惑了。
临近家时，我提醒说精灵可能还没降临，我们还是再去别的地方走走吧。吉姆好像有些放心了。他说，确实，他们可能还没来呢。
当我们到了门廊时，碗还在原地，放满了圣代冰激淋。
安娜对这一切满心欢喜。但是吉姆很惊讶，他什么也没说，感到有些挫败。他仰着头看了看我，又看了看他爸爸，又惊异地看了看周围的邻居。
当我们都坐下品味着冰激淋时，吉姆结结巴巴地说，“精灵一定是来过了，或许这是真的……有魔力？”
吉姆整晚都很安静。我吻过安娜，说了晚安，又掖了掖他们的被子。但是凌晨两点，吉姆爬到我的被窝里低声说：“妈妈，我睡不着。”
“妈妈，你必须告诉我，你是怎么做到的？”
面对一个9岁孩子的直接提问，你必须做一个干脆的回答。所以我告诉他是邻居帮的忙。我们散步时，他悄悄走近我们的房子，把碗换了。吉姆安慰似的咯咯笑了，还谢谢我告诉了他真相，然后就抱着我睡着了。
就在那一瞬间，我也相信这世界是有魔力的。
记忆填空
1. Our children are given and asked to collect pieces of nature that remind them of the coming . They leave those bowls on the front porch and we go for a . When we return we find fairies have transformed the bowls ice-cream sundaes.
2. Yet when we the porch, the bowls were in the same we had left them—filled to their brims ice-cream sundaes.
3. After we left our stroll, she had sneaked over to our house and switched the bowls. Jim , chuckled in relief and thanked me telling him. Then he cuddled up and asleep.
佳句翻译
1. 我不确定这个习惯是如何发展来的，我认为也许是几年前我在讲精灵的故事时偶然想到的。
2. 临近家时，我提醒说精灵可能还没降临，我们还是再去别的地方走走吧。
3. 就在那一瞬间，我也相信这世界是有魔力的。
短语应用
1. Our children are given bowls and asked to collect pieces of nature that remind them of the coming season.
remind of：提醒；使记起；使回想起
2. Jim had everything figured out.
figure out：解决；算出；想出；理解；断定