文字难度：★★☆
I had just knocked on Mrs. Mary Rosewood’s door when I heard her laughter in the rain. The doors to the garden opened right next to her little apartment and the sound of laughter had come from there.
She was just entering the building, waving a cheerful goodbye to someone from under her orange umbrella. “Ah, I made it just in time it seems!” she smiled and walked in, leaning on her 1)cane. I had her lunch in my 2)trolley and waited for her to open the door.
“There you go,” she said and opened the door. “You may put the food on the kitchen table. I’ll warm it up in the microwave shortly.”
I took her meal and carried it indoors. The route to her small kitchen took me through her living room. As before, I couldn’t help glancing at the pictures on her living room walls. Other people living in this old people’s home had traditional landscape paintings or religious pictures on their walls. But not Mrs. Rosewood. Her walls were filled with pictures of comedians: 3)Jim Carrey, 4)Leslie Nielsen, 5)Steve Martin, 6)Goldie Hawn.
刚敲响玛丽·罗斯伍德夫人的房门,我便听见雨中传来她的笑声。她那间小公寓旁边的花园的侧门打开着,她的笑声就是从那里传来的。
她撑着橘黄色雨伞,一边愉快地跟人挥手道别,一边正往回走进大楼。“啊,看来我回来得正是时候!”她拄着手杖,微笑着走进来。她的午餐在我的小推车里,我在等着她开门。
“请进吧,”她边说边打开门。“你可以把食物放在厨房的餐桌上。我待会儿用微波炉加热。”
我拿出她的饭菜,端进房里。我要经过客厅才能进入她的小厨房。像往常一样,我还是忍不住瞥了一眼她家客厅的墙上挂着的照片。这所老年公寓的其他住户的房里,墙上挂的多是传统的风景画或是宗教画,但罗斯伍德夫人的例外。她房内的墙上挂满了喜剧演员的照片:金·凯瑞、莱斯利·尼尔森、史蒂夫·马丁、歌蒂·韩。
“You are looking at my pictures, I see,” Mrs. Rosewood’s cheerful voice came from behind my shoulder.
“Well, yes... Can I ask you why you have them there? ”
“Isn’t it obvious? I like to laugh! Look here!” The old lady opened the cupboard next to her television. I saw films, dozens of them. All comedies.
“Now that is a bit unexpected,” I said, “It’s a hobby of yours? Comedies, I mean.”
“Not a hobby but a way of life, young man!” she smiled. I did not know what to say. She turned to push the window open and laughed. Again I head her laughter in the rain.
“I had very serious parents,” she said, “very 7)religious. I was taught ever since I was a child that life was 8)dire business and useless laughter took you nowhere. Nowhere good that is. Unfortunately for them, I didn’t believe it,” she laughed. “When I was a teenager I became acquainted with a neighbor of ours. She used to be a 9)nun. I asked why she was nun no more and she said it was too gloomy. I talked with her, and she knew what my parents thought about laughter and being happy. And one day she started talking about laughter. ‘Mary, tell me, how do you feel when you laugh?’ I told her I felt happy. ‘How do you feel when you know you are totally loved.’ I wondered how she could know I 10)was up to my ears in love with someone. But I answered her that I felt happy. ‘Well tell me then, if someone were total love, totally made of love, how would he feel?’ ‘Happy, of course.’ ‘What do happy people do?’ ‘They laugh.’ ‘Why then would laughter be bad?’”
“你在看我挂的那些照片,我知道,”我身后传来罗斯伍德夫人那欢快的声音。
“嗯,是的……我能不能问问,你为什么会挂这些照片呢?”
“这还不明显吗?我喜欢笑!看看这儿!” 老夫人打开她那电视机旁边的橱柜。我看到了影碟,许许多多的影碟。全都是喜剧片。
“这可有点出人意料了,”我说,“这是你的爱好之一吗?我是说,看喜剧片。”
“不是爱好,而是一种生活方式,年轻人!”她微笑着说。我不知道该说些什么。她转身去推开窗户,并大笑起来。我又一次听见她的笑声飘荡在雨中。
“我的父母都是很严肃的人,”她说,“非常认真。我从小就被教导着——生活是很严肃的事,而无谓的笑声会让你一无所成,对你一点好处都没有。不幸的是,对此我完全不相信。”她大笑道。“十几岁时,我开始与我们家的一位邻居相熟起来。她曾经是一位修女。我问她为什么不再做修女了,她说因为那些日子过得太阴郁了。我跟她聊天,于是她知道了我父母对于笑和快乐的看法。后来有一天她开始谈起关于‘笑’的问题。‘玛丽,告诉我,当你大笑的时候,你有什么感觉?’我告诉她,我感到快乐。‘当你感到你被完全地爱着时,你有什么感觉?’我不知道她是如何得知我正与某人陷入热恋中的。不过我回答她说,我感到快乐。‘嗯,那么告诉我,如果某人充满了爱,又完全被爱包围着,他会有什么感觉?’‘当然是快乐啦。’‘那么快乐的人会怎么做呢?’‘他们会笑。’‘那么为什么笑会是不好的呢?’”
Now here was a question I had not thought about before. Mrs. Rosewood turned into her kitchen and left me standing there. I waited for a short while and then had to ask. “What did she mean by that?”
Again I heard her laughter. In the rain, a 11)blackbird was singing beautifully. “I thought you’d never ask!” She appeared back into the living room, “So I’ll tell you what she said. Dwelling in negative thinking and complaining about things are just ways to tell that you don’t trust life can be good. So think about it in such a way that you may search for happiness and laughter purposefully. ”
“Well that sound quite nice,” I said.
“Yes indeed,” she smiled, “and that is when I started to find laughter on purpose. I bought funny books. I went to see funny movies. I wrote down the best jokes I found. And this week... Oh this is so much fun... I found out there is such a thing as laughter yoga! I’m going to try it next week! ”
“Yoga at your age... ” I 12)started.
“Oh it is just laughter. Laughing on purpose, no one needs to bend themselves into a knot,” Mrs. Rosewood laughed. “And time has taught me I took the right road. I met my husband at a movie theater when I went to see a Goldie Hawn movie! Not to mention other friends I met through laughter.” She bent towards me. “You see I am following the advice of the neighbor... I inherited that 13)cross stitch picture from her. ”
I looked at the picture above her TV. “The Purpose of Life Is Joy,” it said.
这可是我之前从来没有思索过的问题。罗斯伍德夫人转身走进厨房,留下我站在那里。我等了一小会,接着忍不住问道:“她说这话是什么意思呢?”
我又一次听到了她的笑声。在雨中,一只乌鸫正在鸣唱,歌声优美动听。“我还以为你永远都不会问这个问题呢!”她回到客厅里,“那么我来告诉你她说了些什么。停留在消极的思想中,抱怨个不停,只不过说明了你不相信生活可以很美好。所以不妨有意地去寻找快乐和笑声,通过这种方式去思考人生!”
“嗯,这听起来挺不错的,”我说。
“是的,确实如此,”她微笑道,“而我就是从那时开始有意地去‘寻找’笑声。我买笑话书。我去看喜剧片。我抄下我发现的最棒的笑话。而这个星期……哦,这真是太有趣了……我发现了有一种叫‘笑声瑜伽’的运动!下个星期我就要去试试!”
“您这个年纪还学瑜伽……”我吃了一惊。
“噢,就是笑笑而已。有意地大笑罢了,没人真的要将身体弯成一个结,”罗斯伍德夫人大笑道,“而且时间告诉我,我的人生选对了方向。我在电影院里看歌蒂·韩的喜剧片时认识了我丈夫!更别提我通过笑声认识的其他朋友了。”她向我弯下腰来。“你看,我一直听从那位邻居的建议……她留了那幅十字绣作品给我。”
我看着电视机上方的那幅画。“生活的意义在于快乐,”上面写着。
Later Mrs. Rosewood gave it to me before she died and said: “Look at this and remember it. Always try to be the sound of laughter in the rain. Life is so hard for so many people; it is like an eternally continuing rainy day. They are not happy. So you be happy, show them the way. Be the laughter in the rain for them. Be as happy as you can—only then can you spread happiness to others.”
Even though twenty years have passed since that rainy day, I’ll always remember Mrs. Rosewood. We became good friends, and she often invited me to watch funny movies with her. When Mrs. Rosewood died, she donated all her money to a local theater with the instruction the money was to be used to produce one comedy play per year. Guess what the first play was called? Laughter in the Rain.
To me she gave all her funny movies and pictures of her “funny people”. I still have them hanging on my study walls; all faded with time of course, but just as valuable as ever. Their smiles haven’t faded at all. And when I look at the cross stitch message “The Purpose of Life Is Joy”, I always remember the first time I heard her laughter in the rain. And to honor her life’s work of bringing joy to the people around her, I try to be the sound of laughter in the rain to others as well.
后来,在罗斯伍德夫人去世前,她把那幅画送给了我,并对我说:“看看这幅画,记住它。永远都要努力成为那飘荡在雨中的笑声。对于太多人来说,生活太过艰难,就像是永不停歇的雨天。他们过得不快乐。所以你要快乐,并给他们指明方向。为了他们,成为那飘荡在雨中的笑声。尽你所能地快乐——只有这样,你才能将快乐带给其他人。”
尽管那个雨天已经过去了二十年,但我会永远记得罗斯伍德夫人。我们后来成为了好朋友,她经常邀请我和她一起看喜剧片。罗斯伍德夫人临终前将所有的钱都捐给了本地的一家电影院,并指明这笔钱要被用作往后每年创作一部喜剧作品的资金。猜猜第一部作品的名字是什么?《飘荡在雨中的笑声》。
她将她所有的喜剧片和“滑稽角色”的照片都送给了我。我依然将它们挂在我家书房的墙壁上;当然,随着时间的流逝,照片都已经褪色了,但依然和从前一样珍贵。他们的笑容一点都没有褪去。而且,每当我看着那幅十字绣上的文字——“生活的意义在于快乐”时,我总能记起我第一次听到她那飘荡在雨中的笑声时的情形。而为了对她毕生的“工作”——为她周围的人们带来快乐——表示敬意,我也在努力成为其他人可以听到的那飘荡在雨中的笑声。
