给祖母的圣诞惊喜 圣诞惊喜

　　圣诞节快到了,你希望收到什么礼物呢?一件心仪已久的漂亮外衣、一样实用的数码产品还是一块帅气的手表?这些礼物都太没新意了!而且,这一件件的礼物该花多少银子啊。来件DIY小物吧。把有意义的纪念物或者旧物改头换面一番就是一份别具匠心的好礼了――节约才是王道!诶,把人当礼物,这个主意不错――
　　
　　Grandma lived on Sugar Creek Mountain all alone. It was a beautiful mountain, with tall cedar[雪松] trees all over the mountain top. In the middle of the mountain was a
　　crystal clear lake. The water in the lake was the prettiest blue you’ve ever seen.
　　I still remember the day that Grandpa drowned[溺水] in the lake. My parents had tried to talk Grandma into moving into town, but she wouldn’t hear of[出于善意拒绝某事] it � she was set in her ways[旧习难改]. I knew my parents worried about her being alone, because Grandma was the only person who lived there.
　　Today I was going to visit Grandma, and the excitement
　　grew inside me at the thought of spending time on the mountain once more. After all, it had been ten years since I had seen Grandma. As I approached the top of the
　　mountain, I could see Grandma staring out the window of her little log cabin home.
　　Grandma greeted me at the door with a big hug.
　　“We’ll have a party on Christmas Eve. This Christmas is going to be so wonderful! I have a special surprise for you dear,” said Grandma. Little did Grandma know that I had a very special surprise for her as well.
　　When we baked cookies and candies in the kitchen, Grandma told me how she used to bake apple pies for Grandpa. “He loved apple pies,” said Grandma. Those were his favorite. She said that after the pies would cool off, Grandpa would send her into the living room, under the pretense[假装] that he would clean up the kitchen. Grandma knew what he was really up to, but she never let on[泄露秘密] that she knew. Grandma would go into the living room and sit in her rocking chair. She would sing some of the songs that she knew Grandpa loved. About an hour later, Grandma would wander back into the kitchen. “Why Henry!” she said, as she tried to look surprised, “This kitchen isn’t clean and what happened to that pie?” Grandma could see that he had eaten two slices of the apple pie. Keeping as straight a face注1
　　as he could, Grandpa would go into a wild story. He’d say, “Gee Emmy, you know that when our horses smell those apple pies, they prance[腾跃] right up to the window
　　and snatch[夺取] them!” “How is it that they only got two pieces?” asked Grandma. “Well, if I hadn’t snatched it away they would have eaten the whole pie,” chuckled[吃吃地笑] Grandpa! Grandma said it was the same routine every time she baked an apple pie.
　　Grandma’s eyes would sparkle and twinkle whenever she relived her memories of Grandpa. Listening to her talk about him was a real
　　experience. Whenever she would talk about Grandpa, you could feel the love for him in every word.
　　Sitting alone in the quiet house, I pondered my
　　childhood memories of my grandparents. They had
　　always been such a fun loving and happy couple.
　　Shortly after they were married, Grandpa built the log cabin home for his “Little Ole注2 Emmy,” as he called her. Just before Christmas, almost twelve years ago,
　　Grandpa was outside gathering firewood, when
　　Grandma heard a horrible scream and a terrible noise. She ran outside to find that an area of the ice on the lake had fallen through. She yelled for Grandpa over and over but no reply ever came. They searched the lake for over a week, but no trace of Grandpa could be found. Finally, they called off[取消] the search. One of the men who had helped in the search said they’d probably never find Grandpa now.
　　On Christmas Eve the village people started arriving just after dark. Grandma always waited until evening to have her Christmas party, because she loved the lights. All the guests gathered around in the front yard and began to sing Christmas carols[颂歌]. Oh, how Grandma loved that!
　　Then Grandma said, “Laura, I have a surprise for you.” As she handed me the present, I could see the love and pride in her eyes. “I love it, Grandma,” I said, as I bent down to kiss her cheek, “I will cherish it
　　forever.” Grandma had made a quilt[被子] out of some of my dresses that I had worn as a little girl.
　　 “Grandma, if you could have just one special gift for Christmas, what would it be?” I asked her. Without even stopping to think, she replied, “I would like to see your grandfather just one more time, so I could feed him the apple pie that the horses quit snatching when he left us.”
　　Just then, Grandma’s face lit up like the lights on the Christmas tree! Everyone turned to see what Grandma was looking at. Walking slowly toward her, with an apple pie in his hand, was Grandpa! There were two slices missing from the pie that he was holding. The village people were speechless, as they thought they were
　　seeing a ghost. Grandpa chuckled, as he yelled out, “Emmy, those darn[该死的] horses snatched the pie and got away with two pieces. They would have eaten it all if I hadn’t snatched it back away from
　　them!”
　　Tears of joy were flowing down Grandma’s cheeks as she threw her arms around Grandpa. “Henry! We thought you had drowned!” Grandma wept.
　　Grandpa told everyone to gather around the fireplace and he would tell them what had
　　happened to him. “For almost twelve years I couldn’t remember anything,” said Grandpa, “Not even my name. Then about two months ago, Laura came to work at the county where I have been living.
　　“I didn’t recognize Laura at first. She was so shocked to see me, that it took her a while to
　　believe it was really me. She started to tell me some of the stories that Emmy used to tell me. She would sit there with me and sing me the songs that Emmy used to sing. At first it didn’t make any difference to me, but slowly my memory started to return.
　　“I remember now, going out to gather firewood. There was a nice piece of wood on the lake. I thought the lake was frozen over so I stepped out on the lake to get the piece of wood. I remember hearing the lake crackle and that’s the last I remember about the accident.”
　　 “Laura, how can I ever thank you for bringing
　　Grandpa home to me?” asked Grandma. I replied, “Seeing the happiness and the love you have for each other is all the thanks I need.”
　　As I retired to bed that night, I couldn’t help but think about the surprise that I had given to Grandma for Christmas. I knew in my heart that it was the best surprise present that Grandma would ever get. What a warm and wonderful feeling came over me as I fell asleep, thinking of my grandparents.
　　
　　祖母独自住在糖溪山。那是一座美丽的山脉,山顶上长满了高大的雪松。山腰上有一个清澈透明的湖泊,湖水是你见过最美丽的
　　蓝色。
　　我还记得祖父在湖中遇溺的那一天。我的父母试图劝祖母搬到城里去住,可是她根本听不进去――她总是固执己见。我知道父母不放心她独自一人生活,因为祖母是住在那个地方的唯一一个人。
　　今天我准备去探望祖母,一想到又能再次回到山区,我的心情便愈发兴奋激动。毕竟,我已经有10年没见过祖母了。我朝着山顶走去,可以看到祖母从她那间小小的木屋子里往外张望。
　　祖母在门口迎接我,给了我一个大大的拥抱。“我们会在圣诞节前夜举行一个派对。今年的圣诞节一定会非常棒!亲爱的,我为你准备了一份特别的礼物,”祖母说。她并不知道,我也为她准备了一份非常特别的惊喜。
　　当我们在厨房烘烤饼干和糖果的时候,祖母给我讲以前为祖父烤苹果馅饼的事情。“他很爱吃苹果馅饼,”祖母说。那是他的最爱。她说每次馅饼放凉之后,祖父就会把她赶到起居室,假装要清扫厨房。祖母知道他的真正目的是什么,但从不揭穿。祖母会走到起居室,坐在安乐椅上,唱着一些祖父喜欢的歌曲。大概一小时后,祖母会走回厨房。“亨利,为什么!”她说,装出很惊讶的样子。“厨房还是乱糟糟的,那个馅饼怎么了?”祖母看出他吃了两块苹果馅饼。祖父一边尽量面不改色,一边开始讲一个疯狂的故事。他会说:“天啊,艾米,你知道吗?我们的马儿闻到这些苹果馅饼的香味,它们立即跳上窗户来抢着咬馅饼。”“那为什么它们只吃了两块馅饼呢?”祖母问。“噢,如果我没有把馅饼抢回来,它们可要把整个馅饼都吃光了,”祖父吃吃地笑着说!祖母说,每次她烤苹果馅饼的时候,祖父都会这样编
　　故事。
　　每当祖母忆起祖父的点点滴滴,她的双眼都充满神采,闪烁着光芒。听她讲祖父的故事就如同身临其境。你总能在她的一字一句中感受到她对祖父的爱。
　　我一个人坐在这间安静的屋子里,回想起与祖父母一起度过的童年。他们两人情真意切,由始至终都是一对快乐人儿。婚后不久,祖父亲手建了一间木屋子,献给他的“小不点老艾米”――他总喜欢这样叫她。12年前临近圣诞节的一天,祖父出外捡柴火,祖母听见一声惊恐的尖叫和一阵可怕的声响。她冲了出去,看到结冰的湖面有一块陷了下去。她不停地呼唤祖父,却没有任何回应。他们在湖里搜寻了一个多星期,始终找不到祖父的踪迹。最后,他们停止了搜救行动。其中一个帮忙搜救的人说,也许他们再也找不到祖父了。
　　圣诞前夜,村民们在天黑后陆续到来。祖母总是等到傍晚才开始圣诞派对,因为她喜欢看着亮起的圣诞装饰灯。所有的宾客集聚在前院,唱起了圣诞颂歌。噢,祖母多么热爱这样的
　　场景!
　　随后祖母说:“劳拉,我要给你一个惊喜。”她把礼物递给我的时候,我能看到她眼中的爱意和自豪。“我很喜欢,祖母,”我说着,弯下身亲吻她的脸颊,“我会永远珍惜它的。”祖母用我小时候穿过的衣物给我缝制了一床被子。
　　“祖母,如果你能得到一份特别的圣诞礼物,你希望是什么?”我问她。她不假思索地回答:“我只想再见你祖父一面,这样我就能喂他吃苹果馅饼――他离开我们之后,马儿们不再偷吃馅饼了。”
　　就在这时,祖母的脸像圣诞树上的灯光那样焕发出耀眼的光彩!所有人都朝着祖母的视线望去。一个人慢慢地向她走近,手里拿着一个苹果馅饼――那个人是祖父!他捧着的馅饼有两块不见了。村民们鸦雀无声,以为自己看见了鬼魂。祖父吃吃地笑着,大声叫道:
　　“艾米,那些可恶的马儿抢了两块馅饼跑了。如果不是我从它们嘴里抢回来,它们就要把整个馅饼都吃掉啦!”
　　喜悦的泪水从祖母的脸颊上流淌下来,她双手抱住祖父,抽泣着说:“亨利!我们以为你淹死了!”
　　祖父让所有人聚拢在壁炉边,告诉我们发生了什么事。“近12年来,我什么事情都记不起来,”祖父说。“甚至连自己的名字都忘记了。大概两个月前,劳拉来到我住的县城工作。
　　“一开始我根本认不出劳拉。她看到我时也很惊讶,花了一段时间才相信那真的是我。她开始讲艾米过去常常给我讲的故事,坐下来唱艾米给我唱过的歌。起初这些一点都不凑效,但是慢慢地,我想起了一些事情。
　　“我现在已经记起来了,那天我出去收集柴火。湖面上有一块很不错的木头。我以为湖面已经完全结冰,于是走上去拿木头。我记得自己听到湖面冰块破裂的声音,之后发生的事情我都记不起来了。”
　　“劳拉,你把祖父带回我身边,我该怎么报答你呢?”祖母问道。我回答:“看到你们两位幸福关爱地在一起,这就是给我最好的回报了。”
　　那天晚上我回到房间,一直回想着自己给祖母带来的惊喜。我心里非常清楚,这是祖母能得到的最喜出望外的礼物了。一阵温暖美好的感觉将我包围。我枕着对祖父母的爱念,
　　慢慢睡着了。
　　
　　注1:正常语序为“straight face”,指不露表情的脸,没有表情的脸。
　　注2:ole用于书面语,代表某些人说old的方式。