背诵为王 第 四 册 第 22 课

（单词翻译）

　　Lesson22 Bounty¹ of Love
My mother had a habit of keeping my letters, binding² them carefully in neat bundles with green tape, but this was her own secret. She never told me she was doing it. In 1957, when she knew she was dying, I was in hospital in Oxford³ having a serious operation on my spine⁴ and I was unable to write to her. So she had a telephone specially⁵ installed beside her bed in order that she might have one last conversation with me.
She didn't tell me she was dying, nor did anyone else for that matter, because I was in a fairly serious condition myself at the time. She simply asked me how I was and hoped I would get better soon and sent me her love. I had no idea that she would die the next day. She knew perfectly⁶ that her life was numbered in hours, but she still wanted to reach out and speak to me for the last time.
When I recovered and went home, I was given this vast collection of my letters, all neatly⁷ bound with a green tape, more than six hundred of them altogether, dating from 1925 to 1945, each one in its original envelope with the old stamps still on them. I am very lucky to have something like this to
refer to in my old age.
bounty 慷慨
spine 脊柱
慷慨母爱
母亲习惯保存我写给她的信件，她把这些信小心翼翼地用绿丝带捆得整整齐齐。但这是她自己的秘密，她从来没有告诉过我她在这么做。1957年，她知道自己将不久于人世了，那时我正在牛津住院，做一个重大的脊椎手术，所以无法给她写信。于是，她让人专门给她的床边安装了一部电话，这样她就能够和我最后说上几句话。她没有告诉我她即将要不久人世了，别的人也没有告诉我，因为我当时自己的身体状况也很不乐观。她只是问我怎么样了，希望我早日康复，并且说她爱我。我丝毫不知她第二天就要去世了。她很清楚地知道自己在这世上也就几个小时的光景了，但仍然想要最后一次和我通话。
我康复后回到家，拿到了那一大捆我的信件，整整齐齐地用绿丝带捆着，总共有六百多封，写信的时间是在1925到1945年间，每一封都装在原来的信封里，贴着原来的旧邮票。在年老时能拥有像这样的东西时常翻看我真是幸运。