Unit 8B - Just a Little Scratch
Just a Little Scratch
Catherine Scott
The autumn after we graduated from college, my friend Marie and I took a trip to England. We planned every detail, determined to make this the vacation of a lifetime. Every penny we had went into our dream vacation. We decided that renting a car for the month would afford us the most freedom, and Marie's mother lent us her credit card for the rental.
By the time our flight arrived at Heathrow Airport, we were delirious with anticipation and lack of sleep. It was a crisp, bright morning, and we had four weeks ahead of us to explore a new country. We picked up our little blue rental car and were sent off with a map and a reminder to Marie to stay on the left side of the road. We drove away in high spirits, laughing as Marie tried to shift gears on the wrong side and smacked her arm on the door.
Within five minutes we were lost, but even that was exhilarating—our first time lost in a foreign country! We found ourselves driving down a narrow street in a small shopping district, and as I consulted our photocopied map, Marie gasped and there was a terrible scraping noise.
A car had cut us off and Marie, forgetting for an instant about the left side of the car, veered too far over and scraped a parked car. She pulled over. We sat there, frozen, staring at each other in horror.
Then Marie burst into tears, sobbing brokenly, "Oh my God, what am I going to do? The insurance! My mother's credit card! They're going to sue me!"
"Maybe it isn't that bad," I said cautiously, getting out of the car to inspect the damage.
The car had a long white scrape on the driver's side and the wing mirror had been knocked loose, dangling at a drunken angle. Walking to the other vehicle, I saw a matching blue scar on the white paint. I heard a wail of anguish behind me as Marie surveyed the damage.
I tried to reassure her.
But Marie was inconsolable. Weeping and trembling with fear, she cried out, "I've ruined our vacation! They'll sue me for all my money! My mother will never forgive me!"
She was certain that the repercussions would be awful. I had to admit I had no reason to think differently. When she had calmed down a bit, we decided to find the owner of the car she had hit and walked over to the shop closest to the scraped car. A bell tinkled over our heads as we opened the door and a middle-aged woman came out of the back room to greet us.
"Excuse me, but I was w-wondering if that wh-white car is yours, b-because I - " Marie faltered and started crying again.
The woman came forward in concern.
"Good heavens, are you all right, dear?"
I explained what had happened. As I finished, a man came out of the back with raised eyebrows.
The woman guided Marie to a seat and said, "These poor girls have just come from the airport and gotten all muddled up and scraped a car. There, dear, have a tissue."
As the woman fussed over Marie, I walked out with the man to survey the damage. After looking at both cars we went back into the shop and he said cheerfully, "Well, there's no harm done. It's just a little scratch, some polish will take care of that. Don't worry yourselves about it."
Still sniffling, Marie asked, "Is... is it your car?"
"Oh, no, but we know the fellow who owns it. Don't worry, this happens all the time with people coming from Heathrow. We're quite used to it around here. It's a shame that your holiday had to start out with such a scare." Marie and I looked at each other incredulously.
"Are you sure? I mean, won't your friend be mad? We should at least pay for—"
The woman wouldn't let Marie finish. "Don't be silly. It's just a scratch, and he knows the risk parking there. He'll be sorry to hear you were so upset about such a little thing. Really, you mustn't let it spoil your holiday."
After repeatedly assuring us that the owner of the car would not be angry and offering us tea, the kindly couple waved us on our way with wishes for a wonderful vacation and a reminder to get some polish for the scratch on our rental.
Later that week we stayed with my uncle, who polished the scrape until it disappeared and popped the wing mirror back into place.
In the days that followed, Marie and I met many kind and generous people who helped make our dream vacation perfect. However, the most lasting impression was made in the first hour of our trip, by a couple who believed that a young woman's happiness was far more important than a blue scrape on some white paint.
参考译文——只不过是一点刮痕
只不过是一点刮痕
凯瑟琳·斯科特
我们大学毕业后的那个秋天，我和朋友玛丽去英国旅行了一趟。我们周密计划，决心让这个假期过得终生难忘，并把所有的钱都投入到了那个梦寐以求的假期上。我们决定那个月要租一辆车，以获得最大限度的自由。玛丽的妈妈把信用卡借给了我们作租车之用。
航班到达希思罗机场时，对旅行的期待加上睡眠不足搞得我们头昏脑涨。那天早晨空气清新，阳光明媚。我们接下来将有四周的时间游览这个陌生的国家。拿到租来的蓝色小汽车后，我们带着一张地图和给玛丽的一封“靠左行驶”的提示信离开了。我们兴奋地开着车，由于玛丽总想把车转到路的右侧，她的胳膊还不时地碰到车门，我们都笑个不停。
不到五分钟我们就迷路了，即使这样我们还是很开心——这是我们第一次在外国迷路！我们沿着一个小商业区的一条小路行驶。在查看那张影印版的地图时，我听到一阵刺耳的刮擦声，玛丽倒吸了一口气。
一辆车挡住了我们的路，玛丽一时间忘了注意车的左侧，由于转向过猛刮到了一辆停着的车。她停下车，我们俩呆坐在那儿，充满恐惧地面面相觑。
然后玛丽哭了，断断续续地抽泣着说：“天啊，我该怎么办啊？保险金！我妈的信用卡！他们会起诉我的！”
“也许没有那么糟糕。”我小心翼翼地说道，同时下车检查了车的损坏状况。
车的驾驶席一侧留了一道长长的白色刮痕，侧面的后视镜也被撞松了，摇摇欲坠地悬着。走近另一辆车时，我看到那车的白漆上有一道与我们租来的车颜色相近的蓝色刮痕。玛丽在我身后查看车辆的损坏状况，我听到了她痛苦的哭声。
我尽力去安慰她。
但是安慰并不起作用，她怕得边掉眼泪边发抖。她说：“我把咱们的假期搞砸了！他们会告我，所有的钱都得搭进去！我妈妈永远都不会原谅我了！”
她确信后果会很糟糕。不得不承认，我也没有理由不这么想。等她稍微平静了一点，我们决定找到被剐蹭的车的车主。我们向着距离被刮汽车最近的店铺走去。当我们推开店门时，一只铃铛在我们头顶叮叮当当地响了起来。一个中年妇女从里屋走了出来迎接我们。
“不好意思，我想……想知道，那辆白……白色的车子是您的吗，因……因为我——”玛丽结结巴巴地说着，并且又开始哭了起来。
那个妇女关切地走了过来。
“老天啊，亲爱的，你没事吧？”
我向她解释了发生的一切。我刚说完，一个男人扬着眉毛从里屋走了出来。
妇人领着玛丽坐下并说道：“这两个女孩刚从机场出来，迷迷糊糊地剐蹭了一辆车。给，亲爱的，拿张纸巾。”
妇人在那儿跟玛丽嘘寒问暖，我和男人到外面查看汽车的损伤状况。看过两辆车后我们回到店里，男人轻松地说：“哎，没什么，只不过是一点刮痕，有点上光剂就能搞定，你们不要吓唬自己了。”
玛丽还在抽泣，她问道：“那……那是您的车？”
“哦，不是，但是我们认得车主。不用担心，从希思罗来的人经常会遇到这种事。我们这儿的人都习惯了。让你们的假期以惊吓开始真是很遗憾。”我和玛丽看着彼此，简直不相信这是真的。
“您确定？我的意思是说，您朋友不会生气？我们至少该赔——”
妇人打断了玛丽的话：“别傻了，那只不过是一道划痕，他知道车停那儿的危险性。要是听到你因为一点划痕而这么不安的话，他肯定会很惭愧的。真的，不能让这件事破坏掉你们的假期。”
再三安慰我们说车主不会生气并给我们沏了茶之后，那对好心的夫妇挥手送我们上路，祝愿我们度过一个愉快的假期，还提醒我们给租来的车上漆。
那周的后几天我们待在我叔叔家，他给刮痕处上了漆，直至划痕完全消失，并且把侧面的后视镜弄回了原位。
在接下来的几天，我和玛丽遇到了许多好心的、慷慨的人，他们让我们的假期变得很完美。不过，记忆最深的还是旅途开始的那个小时，只因那对夫妇坚信一个年轻女孩的快乐远比什么白色车漆上的蓝色划痕更加重要。
Key Words:
credit ['kredit]
n. 信用，荣誉，贷款，学分，赞扬，赊欠，贷方
flight [flait]
n. 飞行，航班
n. 奇思妙想，一段楼
shift [ʃift]
n. 交换，变化，移动，接班者
v. 更替，移
minutes ['minits]
n. 会议记录，(复数)分钟
explore [iks'plɔ:]
v. 探险，探测，探究
reminder [ri'maində]
n. 提醒物，提示
district ['distrikt]
n. 区，地区，行政区
vt. 把 ... 划
anticipation [æn.tisi'peiʃən]
n. 预期，预料
determined [di'tə:mind]
adj. 坚毅的，下定决心的
sue [su:]
vt. 控告，起诉
vi. 请求，追求，起诉
tissue ['tiʃu:]
n. (生物的)组织，织物，薄绢，纸巾
reassure [ri:ə'ʃuə]
v. 使 ... 安心，再保证，重拾(信心等)
certain ['sə:tn]
adj. 确定的，必然的，特定的
pron.
anguish ['æŋgwiʃ]
n. 苦闷，痛苦
v. 使 ... 极苦闷，使
inspect [in'spekt]
vt. 调查，检阅
vi. 调查
insurance [in'ʃuərəns]
n. 保险，保险费，安全措施
scar [skɑ:]
n. 疤痕，伤痕，断崖
v. 结疤，使 ...
credit ['kredit]
n. 信用，荣誉，贷款，学分，赞扬，赊欠，贷方
vehicle ['vi:ikl]
n. 车辆，交通工具，手段，工具，传播媒介
survey [sə:'vei]
v. 调查，检查，测量，勘定，纵览，环视
spoil [spɔil]
n. 战利品，奖品
v. 宠坏，溺爱，破坏，腐
polished ['pɔliʃt]
adj. 擦亮的；优美的；圆滑的 v. 擦亮（polis
lasting ['læstiŋ]
adj. 永久的，永恒的
动词last的现在分
impression [im'preʃən]
n. 印象，效果
reminder [ri'maində]
n. 提醒物，提示
generous ['dʒenərəs]
adj. 慷慨的，宽宏大量的，丰盛的，味浓的
upset [ʌp'set]
adj. 心烦的，苦恼的，不安的
v. 推翻，
polish ['pɔliʃ]
n. 光泽，上光剂，优雅，精良
参考资料：
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