双语阅读：白色的信封.docVIP

双语阅读：白色的信封The White Envelope The White Envelope? 白色的信封 It’s just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so. 卡在圣诞树枝上的只是一个很小的白色信封，没有姓名，没有身份，也没有留言。这封放在树枝上的信已经有10多年历史了。 It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas — oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it — overspending... the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma — the gifts given in desperation because you couldn’t think of anything else. 事情的开始是由于丈夫迈克不喜欢圣诞节--哦，并不是真指圣诞节，而是它的商业化--超支了……为了给哈利叔叔买领带，给奶奶买爽身粉，他在圣诞来临之际跑这跑那--只能送这些礼物，因为根本也想不出别的东西。 Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way. 有一年，我知道他也这么想，就决定不再像以往那样买衬衫、毛衣、领带之类的东西。我灵感突现，想为迈克准备一个特殊的礼物。 Our son Kevin, who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and sparkling new wrestling shoes. 那年，儿子凯文12岁，正在学校里练习初级摔跤。就在圣诞节前，他们有一项非组织性的比赛要举行，他们的对手由市里一家教堂赞助。那些少年穿的运动鞋破旧不堪，好像脚上就剩下鞋带了。我们这边的孩子一律身着金蓝色的衣服和崭新的摔跤鞋，着装与和他们形成鲜明的对比。 As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler’s ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn’t acknowledge defe