|
Is Fire Goddess Spelled with Two “D”s ?
英汉对照
When I was eight years old, I saw a movie about a mysterious island that had an erupting 1)volcano and 2)lush jungles filled with wild animals and 3)cannibals. The island was ruled by a beautiful woman called Tondalaya, the Fire Goddess of the
Volcano. It was a terrible low budget movie, but to me, it represented the perfect life. Being chased
by 4)molten 5)lava, blood thirsty animals and savages was a small price to pay for freedom. I desperately wanted
to be the Fire Goddess. I wrote it on my list of things to be when I grow up, and I asked my
girlfriend if Fire Goddess was spelled with two “D”s.
Through the years, the school system did its best to mold me into a no nonsense, responsible,
respectable citizen, and Tondalaya was forgotten. My parents approved of my suitable marriage
and I spent the next 25 years being a good wife, eventually the mother of four, and a very
respectable responsible member of society. My life was as 6)bland and boring as a bowl of 7)oatmeal. I knew exactly what to expect in the future. The children would grow up and leave home,
my husband and I would grow old together, and we’d baby-sit the grandchildren.
The week I turned 50, my marriage came to a sudden end. My house, furniture and everything I’d owned was auctioned off to pay debts I didn’t even know existed. In a week I had lost my husband, my home and my parents who refused to
accept a divorce in the family. I’d lost everything except my four teenage children. I had enough money to rent a cheap apartment
while I looked for a job or I could use every penny I had to buy five plane tickets from Missouri to
the most remote island in the world, the big island of Hawaii. Everyone said I was crazy to think
I could just run off to an island and survive. They predicted I’d come crawling back in a month. Part of me was afraid they were right.
The next day, my four children and I landed on the big island of Hawaii with less than $2,000,
knowing no one in the world was going to help us. I rented an unfurnished apartment where we
slept on the floor and lived on 8)cereal. I worked three jobs 9)scrubbing floors on my hands and knees, selling 10)macadamia nuts to tourists and gathering coconuts. I worked 18 hours a day and lost 30 pounds
because I lived on one meal a day. I had panic attacks that left me curled into a knot on the
bathroom floor shaking like a 11)shell-shocked soldier.
|