Often in the soothing, restorative glow we stare transfixed, bouncing our ambitions and hopes and plans off this great reflector. We dream our dreams; we examine the structure of our lives; we make considered decisions. In a hectic, confusing world, it helps to step out into a quiet, clear swath of moonlight, to seek out the fundamentals and eschew the incidentals.
The night after I showed John the moon, he burst breathlessly through the door, calling, Mom, come out for a minute! This time, he led me, coatless and shivering. The driveway gravel crunched underneath our sneakers. From somewhere in the woods beyond the pond, the plaintive calls of geese honked and died away.
Past the row of pine trees that line the road, the sky opened up with the full moon on it, suspended so precariously close that it might come hurtling toward us - incandescent, even larger and more breathtaking than the night before, climbing its motionless climb over the molten silver of our pond.
參考譯文
常常,在那令人屏神靜氣的光華中,我們注目凝視;這時,我們的雄心壯志、美好希望和宏偉藍圖便會從那了不起的反射物上躍然而出。我們做著五光十色的夢,考察我們的生活結(jié)構(gòu),作出深思熟慮的決定。在一個喧囂、混亂的世界上,走進一片寧靜、清新的月光,去尋循事物的根本,避開不期而至的變故,那可真是大有裨益。
就在我讓約翰看月亮的第二天晚上,他氣喘喘地一頭闖進屋來,喊道媽,快出去一會兒。這一次是他牽著我。當時我沒穿外衣,不由得一陣哆嗦。車道上的礫石被我們的旅游鞋踩得嘎嘎作響。從水塘彼岸的樹林里不知什么地方傳來幾聲鵝的哀鳴,轉(zhuǎn)而又悠然消逝。
走過路邊那排松樹,天空豁然開朗,一輪滿月晃晃悠悠地懸浮在上面,離我們那么近,仿佛就要掉下來撞在我們身上。它光華照人,比前一天晚上還大,更令人心馳神往,在熔銀般的水塘上空悄悄地爬升。