英语美文一盘豌豆

在日常生活或是工作学习中，说起美文，大家肯定都不陌生吧？随着网络文化的发展，美文的概念已经不限定于某种文体，或某类内容。你知道怎么才能写好美文吗？以下是小编收集整理的英语美文一盘豌豆，希望能够帮助到大家。

A Plate of Peas

一盘豌豆

My grandfather died when I was a small boy, and my grandmother started staying with us for about six months every year. She lived in a room that doubled as my fathers office, which we referred to as "the back room." She carried with her a powerful aroma. I don‘t know what kind of perfume she used, but it was the double-barreled, ninety-proof, knockdown, render-the-victim-unconscious, moose-killing variety. She kept it in a huge atomizer and applied it frequently and liberally. It was almost impossible to go into her room and remain breathing for any length of time. When she would leave the house to go spend six months with my Aunt Lillian, my mother and sisters would throw open all the windows, strip the bed, and take out the curtains and rugs. Then they would spend several days washing and airing things out, trying frantically to make the pungent odor go away.

我的祖父在我小时候去世了，我的祖母开始每年和我们住在一起大约六个月。她住在一个兼作我父亲办公室的房间里，我们称之为“后屋”。她身上带着浓郁的香气。我不知道她用的是哪种香水，但那是一种双管的、防九十度的、击倒的、使受害者失去知觉的、杀死驼鹿的香水。她把它放在一个巨大的雾化器里，经常大量地使用。几乎不可能进入她的房间并在任何时间内保持呼吸。当她离开家去和我的莉莉安阿姨共度六个月时，我的母亲和姐妹们会打开所有的窗户，剥去床上的床单，拿出窗帘和地毯。然后，他们会花几天时间清洗和通风，疯狂地试图让刺鼻的气味消失。

This, then, was my grandmother at the time of the infamous pea incident.

这就是臭名昭著的豌豆事件发生时我的祖母。

It took place at the Biltmore Hotel, which, to my eight-year-old mind, was just about the fancies place to eat in all of Providence. My grandmother, my mother, and I were having lunch after a morning spent shopping. I grandly ordered a salisbury steak, confident in the knowledge that beneath that fancy name was a good old hamburger with gravy. When brought to the table, it was accompanied by a plate of peas. I do not like peas now. I did not like peas then. I have always hated peas. It is a complete mystery to me why anyone would voluntarily eat peas. I did not eat them at home. I did not eat them at restaurants. And I certainly was not about to eat them now. "Eat your peas," my grandmother said.

它发生在比尔特莫尔酒店，在我八岁的孩子看来，这几乎是普罗维登斯所有人最喜欢吃的地方。一上午购物后，我和祖母、母亲正在吃午饭。我隆重地点了一份索尔兹伯里牛排，自信地知道在这个花哨的名字下面是一个很好的肉汁老汉堡。当它被端到桌子上时，旁边还有一盘豌豆。我现在不喜欢吃豌豆了。那时我不喜欢豌豆。我一直讨厌豌豆。为什么有人会自愿吃豌豆，这对我来说完全是个谜。我没有在家吃它们。我没有在餐馆吃过。我现在当然不打算吃了。“吃你的豌豆，”我奶奶说。

"Mother," said my mother in her warning voice. "He doesn‘t like peas. Leave him alone."

“妈妈，”我妈妈用警告的声音说。“他不喜欢豌豆。别管他。”

My grandmother did not reply, but there was a glint in her eye and a grim set to her jaw that signaled she was not going to be thwarted. She leaned in my direction, looked me in the eye, and uttered the fateful words that changed my life: "Ill pay you five dollars if you eat those peas."

我的祖母没有回答，但她的眼睛里闪烁着光芒，下巴上挂着冷酷的表情，这表明她不会被挫败。她向我的方向倾斜，看着我的眼睛，说出了一句改变了我生活的致命的话：“如果你吃了那些豌豆，我会付给你五美元。”

I had absolutely no idea of the impending doom. I only knew that five dollars was an enormous, nearly unimaginable amount of money, and as awful as peas were, only one plate of them stood between me and the possession of that five dollars. I began to force the wretched things down my throat.

我完全不知道即将到来的厄运。我只知道五美元是一笔巨大的、几乎无法想象的钱，尽管豌豆很可怕，但只有一盘豌豆挡在我和那五美元之间。我开始把这些可怜的东西塞进喉咙。

My mother was livid. My grandmother had that self-satisfied look of someone who has thrown down an unbeatable trump card. "I can do what I want, Ellen, and you can‘t stop me." My mother glared at her mother. She glared at me. No one can glare like my mother. If there were a glaring Olympics, she would undoubtedly win the gold medal.

我母亲脸色铁青。我的祖母看起来很满足，就像一个打出了不可战胜的王牌的人。“我可以做我想做的事，艾伦，你不能阻止我。”我妈妈瞪了她妈妈一眼。她瞪了我一眼。没有人能像我妈妈那样瞪着我。如果有一届引人注目的奥运会，她无疑会赢得金牌。

I, of course, kept shoving peas down my throat. The glares made me nervous, and every single pea made me want to throw up, but the magical image of that five dollars floated before me, and I finally gagged down every last one of them. My grandmother handed me the five dollars with a flourish. My mother continued to glare in silence. And the episode ended. Or so I thought.

I、 当然，不停地往我喉咙里塞豌豆。瞪着我的眼睛让我很紧张，每一粒豌豆都让我想吐，但那五美元的神奇形象浮现在我面前，我终于把最后一粒都咽了下来。我奶奶手舞足蹈地递给我那五块钱。我母亲继续默默地瞪着眼睛。这一集结束了。或者我是这么想的。

My grandmother left for Aunt Lillians a few weeks later. That night, at dinner, my mother served two of my all-time favorite foods, meatloaf and mashed potatoes. Along with them came a big, steaming bowl of peas. She offered me some peas, and I, in the very last moments of my innocent youth, declined. My mother fixed me with a cold eye as she heaped a huge pile of peas onto my plate. Then came the words that were to haunt me for years.

几周后，我的祖母去了莉莉安姑妈家。那天晚上，在晚餐上，我妈妈端上了我一直以来最喜欢的两种食物，肉夹馍和土豆泥。和他们一起来的是一大碗热气腾腾的豌豆。她给了我一些豌豆，在我天真无邪的青春的最后时刻，我拒绝了。当我妈妈把一大堆豌豆堆到我的盘子上时，她冷冷地看着我。然后是那些困扰我多年的话。

"You ate them for money," she said. "You can eat them for love."

“你吃它们是为了钱，”她说。“你可以为了爱而吃它们。”

Oh, despair! Oh, devastation! Now, too late, came the dawning realization that I had unwittingly damned myself to a hell from which there was no escape.

哦，绝望！哦，灾难！现在，为时已晚，我突然意识到，我无意中把自己诅咒到了一个无法逃离的地狱。

"You ate them for money. You can eat them for love."

“你吃它们是为了钱。你可以吃它们是因为爱。”

What possible argument could I muster against that? There was none. Did I eat the peas? You bet I did. I ate them that day and every other time they were served thereafter. The five dollars were quickly spent. My grandmother passed away a few years later. But the legacy of the peas lived on, as it lives on to this day. If I so much as curl my lip when they are served （because, after all, I still hate the horrid little things）， my mother repeats the dreaded words one more time: "You ate them for money," she says. "You can eat them for love."

我能提出什么可能的论据来反对这一点？没有。我吃豌豆了吗？你肯定是我干的。那天我吃了它们，之后每隔一次都会上桌。那五块钱很快就花完了。几年后，我的祖母去世了。但豌豆的遗产一直延续到今天。如果我在上菜时卷着嘴唇（毕竟，我仍然讨厌这些可怕的小事），我妈妈会再重复一次可怕的话：“你吃它们是为了钱，”她说。“你可以为了爱而吃它们。”