6 Yet my mind seemed to be in quest of something else - some way that I could ally apply to the close of Thanksgiving. It must have taken me a half hour to ksgiving"-at least that suggested a verbal direction, "Giving thanks, e word that maybe some key to an answer could result from reversing th 可我脑子里似乎还在搜索着别的事什么一一某种我能够赋予这一节日以 个人意义的方式。大概过了半个小时左右我才意识到,问题的关键也许在于把 Thanksgiving这个字前后颠倒一下一一那样一来至少文字好懂了: Giving thanks 7 Giving thanks --as in praying, thanking God, I thought. Yes, of course Certainly 表达谢意一一就如在祈祷时感谢上帝那样,我暗想。对啊,是这样,当然 是这样。 8 Yet my mind continued turning the idea over 可我脑子里仍一直盘桓着这事 9 After a while like a dawns brightening, a further answer did come- that there were people to thank, people who had done so much for me that I could never possibly repay them. The embarrassing truth was Id always just accepted what they'd done, taken all of it for granted. Not one time had I ever bothered to express to any of them so much as a simple, sincere"Thank you 过了片刻,如同晨曦初现,一个更清晰的念头终于涌现脑际一一要感谢他 人,那些赐我以诸多恩惠,我根本无以回报的人们。令我深感不安的实际情形是, 我向来对他们所做的一切受之泰然,认为是理所应当。我一次也没想过要对他们 中的任何一位真心诚意地说一句简单的谢谢 0 At least seven people had been particularly and lastingly helpful to me realized, swallowing hard, that about half of them had since died -so they were forever beyond any possible expression of gratitude from me. The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I became. Then I pictured the three who were still alive and within minutes i was down in my cabin 至少有七个人对我有过不同寻常、影响深远的帮助。令人难过的是,我意 识到,他们中有一半已经过世了一一因此他们永远也无法接受我的谢意了。我越 想越感到羞愧。最后我想到了仍健在的三位,几分钟后,我就回到了自己的舱房 11 Sitting at a table with writing paper and memories of things each had done, I tried composing genuine statements of heartfelt appreciation and grat itude to my dad Simon A. Haley, a professor at the old Agricultural Mechanical Normal College in Pine Bluff, Arkansas; to my grandma, Cynthia Palmer, back in our little hometown of Henning, Tennessee; and to the rev. Lonual Nelson, my grammar school princ ipal retired and living in ripley, six miles north of Henning 我坐在摊着信纸的桌旁,回想着他们各自对我所做的一切,试图用真挚的 文字表达我对他们的由衷的感激之情:父亲西蒙·A·黑利,阿肯色州派因布拉 夫那所古老的农业机械师范学院的教授;住在田纳西州小镇亨宁老家的外祖母辛 西娅·帕尔默;以及我的文法学校校长,退休后住在亨宁以北6英里处的里普利 的洛纽尔·纳尔逊牧师。 12 The texts of my letters began something like, "Here, this Thank sgiv ing at sea I find my thoughts upon how much you have done for me, but I have never stopped and said to you how much I feel the need to thank you -"And briefly I recalled for6 Yet my mind seemed to be in quest of something else -- some way that I could personally apply to the close of Thanksgiving. It must have taken me a half hour to sense that maybe some key to an answer could result from reversing the word "Thanksgiving" -- at least that suggested a verbal direction, "Giving thanks." 可我脑子里似乎还在搜索着别的事什么――某种我能够赋予这一节日以 个人意义的方式。大概过了半个小时左右我才意识到，问题的关键也许在于把 Thanksgiving 这个字前后颠倒一下――那样一来至少文字好懂了：Giving thanks。 7 Giving thanks -- as in praying, thanking God, I thought. Yes, of course. Certainly. 表达谢意――就如在祈祷时感谢上帝那样，我暗想。对啊，是这样，当然 是这样。 8 Yet my mind continued turning the idea over. 可我脑子里仍一直盘桓着这事。 9 After a while, like a dawn's brightening, a further answer did come -- that there were people to thank, people who had done so much for me that I could never possibly repay them. The embarrassing truth was I'd always just accepted what they'd done, taken all of it for granted. Not one time had I ever bothered to express to any of them so much as a simple, sincere "Thank you." 过了片刻，如同晨曦初现，一个更清晰的念头终于涌现脑际――要感谢他 人，那些赐我以诸多恩惠，我根本无以回报的人们。令我深感不安的实际情形是， 我向来对他们所做的一切受之泰然，认为是理所应当。我一次也没想过要对他们 中的任何一位真心诚意地说一句简单的谢谢。 10 At least seven people had been particularly and lastingly helpful to me. I realized, swallowing hard, that about half of them had since died -- so they were forever beyond any possible expression of gratitude from me. The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I became. Then I pictured the three who were still alive and, within minutes, I was down in my cabin. 至少有七个人对我有过不同寻常、影响深远的帮助。令人难过的是，我意 识到，他们中有一半已经过世了――因此他们永远也无法接受我的谢意了。我越 想越感到羞愧。最后我想到了仍健在的三位，几分钟后，我就回到了自己的舱房。 11 Sitting at a table with writing paper and memories of things each had done, I tried composing genuine statements of heartfelt appreciation and gratitude to my dad, Simon A. Haley, a professor at the old Agricultural Mechanical Normal College in Pine Bluff, Arkansas; to my grandma, Cynthia Palmer, back in our little hometown of Henning, Tennessee; and to the Rev. Lonual Nelson, my grammar school principal, retired and living in Ripley, six miles north of Henning. 我坐在摊着信纸的桌旁，回想着他们各自对我所做的一切，试图用真挚的 文字表达我对他们的由衷的感激之情：父亲西蒙·A·黑利，阿肯色州派因布拉 夫那所古老的农业机械师范学院的教授；住在田纳西州小镇亨宁老家的外祖母辛 西娅·帕尔默；以及我的文法学校校长，退休后住在亨宁以北 6 英里处的里普利 的洛纽尔·纳尔逊牧师。 12 The texts of my letters began something like, "Here, this Thanksgiving at sea, I find my thoughts upon how much you have done for me, but I have never stopped and said to you how much I feel the need to thank you -- " And briefly I recalled for