我为自己疏忽了每晚的惯例感到内疚。忏悔中，我想起那些紧抱于心中的记忆。我有义务弥补因粗心而忘记流下的眼泪。因为忘记痛惜他们的缺席，我感到已经背弃了家人。令我失望的是，泪水及难以抑制的悲伤已不再与那些在脑海中重温的记忆相伴相随。这令人无法接受。那时，我不懂是为什么，但觉得必须哭。我必须痛苦。
尽管想起那些曾经会令我泪流满面的事情，但我不再哭泣。此时，我懂得了那时不明白的事。我用于表达痛苦的泪水、悲伤及其强度是我留住深知永远失去了的一家人的方式。借助哭泣，我一直把感情寄托在一群无法回报我的爱的人身上。我的感情牢牢扎根于过往，于是我无法体会当下的幸福。
那晚躺在床上，我在漫长的心灵康复及自我发现之路上迈出了第一步。令人难过的事实是，有时尽管极其困难，但为了当下幸福的生活，我们有时不得不放弃曾经的种种！
轻英语
外出旅游英语必备（2）
1. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you. 我将为你祈祷。
2. One boy is a boy； two boys half boy；three boys no boy. 一个和尚挑水吃，两个和尚抬水吃，三个和尚没水吃。
3. Never trouble trouble until troubletroubles you. 不要杞人忧天。
4. Did you get the picture？ 你明白了没有？
5. Be back in thirty minutes！ 一定要在三十分钟内回来！
6. Time is running out. 没时间了。
7. To the best of my knowledge... 就我所知……
8. Don’t let me down. 别让我失望。
9. You’ll get it soon. 你很快也会的。
10. Pick up the pace. 快点。
Friendship for Real
天涯若比邻
-Prolonged Absence Without FalteringI grew up in Jamaica Plain，anurban community located on theoutskirts of Boston，Massachusetts.
In the 1940s it was a wholesome，quaint little community. It was myhome and I loved it there； backthen I thought I would never leave.
My best friend Rose and I used tocollectively dream about raising afamily of our own someday. We hadit all planned out to live next door toone another.
Our dream remained alive throughgrade school，high school，and even beyond. Rose was my maid of honor when I got marriedin 1953 to the love of my life，Dick. Even then she joked that she was just one perfect guyshort of being married，thus bringing us closer to our dream. Meanwhile，Dick aspired tobe an officer in the Marines and I fully supported his ambitions. I realized that he might bestationed far away from Jamaica Plain，but I told him I would relocate and adjust. The idea ofexperiencing new places together seemedsomewhat romantic to me.
So，in 1955 Dick was stationed inAlaska and we relocated. Rose was sad tosee me leave，but wished me the best ofluck. Rose and I remained in touch for afew years via periodic phone call but after awhile we lost track of one another. Back inthe 1950s it was a lot more difficult to stayin touch with someone over a long distance，especially if you were relocating every fewyears. There were no email addresses ortransferable phone number and directorylookup services were mediocre at best.
I thought of her several times overthe years. Once in the mid 1960s whenI was visiting the Greater Boston area Itried to determine her whereabout but mysearch turned up empty-handed. JamaicaPlain had changed drastically in the 10years I was gone. A pretty obvious shift inincome demographics was affecting my oldneighborhood. My family had moved out ofthe area，as did many of the people I used toknow. Rose was nowhere to be found.
52 years passed and we never spoke.
I’ve since raised a family of five，all ofwhom now have families of their own，and Dick passed away a few years ago.
Basically，a lifetime has passed. Now here Iam at the doorstep to my 80th birthday andI receive a random phone call on an idleWednesday afternoon. “Hello？” I said. “HiNatalie，it’s Rose，” the voice on the otherend replied. “It’s been so long. I don’t knowif you remember me，but we used to bebest friends in Jamaica Plain when we werekids.” she said.
We haven’t seen each other yet，but wehave spent countless hours on the phone，catching up on 52 years of our lives. Theinteresting thing is that even after 52 yearsof separation our personalities and interestsare still extremely similar. We both sharea passion for several hobbies that we eachpicked up independently several years afterwe lost touch with one another. It almostfeels like we are picking up right where weleft off，which is really strange consideringthe circumstances.
Her husband passed away a few yearsago as well，but she mailed me severalphotographs of her family that were takenover the years. It’s so crazy，just looking atthe photos and listening to her describe herfamily reminds me of my own； a reasonablylarge，healthy family. Part of me feels likewe led fairly similar lives.
I don’t think the numerous similaritiesbetween our two lives are a coincidenceeither. I think it shows that we didn’t justcall each other best friend，we truly werebest friend and even now we can be bestfriends again. Real friends have two thingsin common： a compatible personality anda strong-willed character. The compatiblepersonality is what initiates the connectionbetween two people and a strong-willedcharacter at both ends is what maintainsthe connection. If those two ingredients arepresent in a friendship，the friendship is forreal，and can thus sustain the tests of timeand prolonged absence without faltering.
海内存知己，天涯若比邻。千山万水也阻隔不了真朋友间的情感联系。也许最珍贵的友情并不只存在于咫尺，真友谊经得住任何时间、距离、身份的考验。
我在牙买加平原长大，那是马萨诸塞州波士顿市郊的一个城镇。在20世纪40年代，那是个生气勃勃而又老式别致的小社区。那是我的家乡，我热爱的地方。那时，我以为自己永远不会离开那。我最好的朋友罗斯和我常常一起梦想着有一天各自拥有自己的家庭。我们什么都计划好了，打算以后挨着住，做邻居。
我们的这一梦想历经了小学、中学，甚至之后的岁月，从未变更。1953年当我嫁给我一生的挚爱-迪克时，罗斯是我的伴娘。那时，她甚至开玩笑说，她就差结婚了，要不就完美了-这样就可以离我们的梦想更近了。然而，迪克决心成为一名海军陆战队军官，而我则全力支持他的雄心壮志。我意识到，他可能会在牙买加平原以外很远的地方驻扎，不过我告诉他我可以重新安家并适应下来。和他一起体验新天地的生活，这想法对我来说有些浪漫。
于是，1955年迪克被安排驻扎在阿拉斯加时，我们搬家了。罗斯对我的离开感到很难过，但仍祝我好运。
接下来的几年里，我们通过定期打电话来保持联络，但不久后我们便失去了彼此的音讯。20世纪50年代那会儿，要想和远方的人保持联络并不太容易，特别是当你每隔几年就要搬家时。那时还没有电子邮箱或者搬家不换号的服务，姓名地址查询服务也不甚完善。
这些年来，我有好几次想起了她。20世纪60年代中期，有一次在我去大波士顿区时，我尝试追寻她的下落，但却搜寻未果。在我离开后的10年里，牙买加平原发生了巨变。外来人口的大量迁入影响了我的旧社区。
我家早已搬离了那个地区，从前认识的邻居中有很多也搬走了。罗斯则杳无音讯，无迹可寻。
040 不畏将来，不念过往52年过去了，我们再未说过话。后来，我有了一个五口之家，现在孩子们也全都有了自己的家庭，而迪克也在几年前去世了。
基本上，我的一生就这么过去了。如今，在我即将迈入八十大寿之际，一个空闲的周三下午我接到了一个陌生来电。“喂？”我打招呼道。“嗨，纳塔利，我是罗斯。”电话那头的声音回应道。“已经过了这么久了，我不知道你还记不记得我，过去还是小孩子的时候，在牙买加平原，我们是最好的朋友。”她说道。
我们到现在也还没再见过面，但我们花了很长的时间在电话里互诉了这52年里我们各自的生活。有意思的是，即使是分别了52年，我们的个性和兴趣仍然极其相似。我们都钟情于某些爱好，而那是在我们失去联络几年后各自养成的。这感觉简直就像我们才刚刚分别就又重聚了一样，考虑到现实情况，这确实让人有些惊叹。
她的丈夫也在几年前去世了，但她寄了几张那些年里拍的家庭合影给我。令人兴奋不已的是，仅仅是看着这些照片，听她描述着她的家庭就让我想起了我自己的家庭；一个相当健康的大家庭。内心深处，我感到我们有着极其相似的人生。