The Angel

◎董欣

The Angel

◎董欣

The angel took up the rose bush；then he kissed the child，and the little one half opened his eyes.The angel gathered also some beautiful flowers，as well as a few humble buttercups and heartsease.

“Now we have flowers enough，”said the child；but the angel only nodded，he did not fly upward to heaven.

It was night，and quite still in the great town. Here they remained，and the angel hovered over a small，narrow street，in which lay a large heap of straw，ashes and sweepings from the houses of people who had removed.There lay fragments of plates，pieces of plaster，rags，old hats and other rubbish not pleasant to see.Amidst all this confusion，the angel pointed to the pieces of a broken flower pot，and to a lump of earth which had fallen out of it.The earth had been kept from falling to pieces by the roots of a withered field flower，which had been thrown among the rubbish.

“We will take this with us，”said the angel，“I will tell you why as we fly along.”

译文

安琪儿把这朵花带走了，同时还吻了孩子一下，孩子半睁开他的眼睛。他们摘下了几朵美丽的花，但也带走了几朵被人瞧不起的金凤花和野生的三色堇花。

“现在我们有足够的花儿了。”孩子说。安琪儿点点头，可是他并没有飞到天上去。

一天夜晚，非常静寂。他们停留在这座大城市里。他们在一条最狭窄的街上飞。街上堆着许多干草、尘土和垃圾，因为这是一户刚搬完家的人清理出来的。这儿还有破碎的碗盘、墙上脱落下来的泥块、烂布和破帽子——让人不忍直视。安琪儿在这堆破东西中间指着几块花盆的碎片和花盆里面掉出来的一团干泥块。一枝枯萎了的野花用它的根把自己和这个土块维系在一起。这枝花现在已经没有用了，因此被人抛到街上来了。

“我们要把这枝花带走！”安琪儿说，“我在飞行的时候再把理由告诉你。”

注释

rose bush玫瑰花丛

gather收集

humble(级别或地位)低下的；不大的

buttercups毛茛属植物

heartsease三色堇

nod点头

remain保持；留下

hover盘旋，翱翔

heap堆积

straw稻草

ash灰尘

sweep打扫，扫除

fragment碎片；片段

plate板材

rags破布；抹布

rubbish垃圾，废物

amidst在……当中

confusion混淆，混乱；困惑

flower pot花盆

lump块

wither枯萎，使凋谢