愛(ài)，一直有著廣博的涵義。誰(shuí)在最黑暗的日子里，無(wú)私地關(guān)懷你、幫助你，而他(她)竟然和你毫無(wú)血緣之親?請(qǐng)不必驚訝，不必疑惑，只管用心去感受，因?yàn)檫@一切或許只以愛(ài)的名義……
Job was not a brilliant man. He swept floors for a living. He believed that 1)Tarzan was a real man, and that all those movies were really 2)documentaries of Tarzan’s life. He was the 3)butt of many jokes, yet he taught me about the essence of a “real man”: love and respect for women, honor, kindness and gentleness.
Job embraced life in unexpected, simple ways. He showed up for work, on time. He never 4)bragged about himself, and he loved only one woman―his wife, Molly.Job filled a void in my life. He was principled and 5)straightforward in my world of dishonor and lies. He loved me as his very own grandchild, even though he was a year younger than my father.
I will never forget my graduation from high school. That was a day of hopeless 6)inevitability for me.My father, who was a heavy drinker, began his celebration very early in the day. By the time we conGREgated in the high school 7)gymnasium my father had congratulated himself through nearly a case of beer.
I tried to be invisible within a sea of faces.I wanted to run away.Disappear.Most of all I wanted no one to guess whose kid I was.I was 8)betrayed by my last name, which began with the letter “A,” so I was the first graduate on the first row. Being a red-head gave me even more exposure, and the 9)baccalaureate speaker, who had never met me, decided to use me as his 10)audio-visual aid.
“This young lady, this bright young lady, with the bright red hair.” His voice rolled through the auditorium in 11)sonorous phrases, as I sank lower in my seat.Over to my left, at the door of the 12)auditorium, was a seating arrangement for the “elderly.”And there sat Molly, age 61, and Job, age 47, with all of the grandparents. My heart ached when I looked at them, wishing with all my heart that I were, truly, their grandchild.
As the speaker continued with his speech, he reached a point where he had an uncontrollable urge to introduce “all the wonderful people, who have made this day possible!”
“All the siblings of the graduates, please, stand.”I slipped lower in my seat, glancing hurriedly around, hoping to remain invisible.
“Now, all the parents, please stand.”Dear Lord, I thought, I’m sure my father can’t stand, even if he wanted to.I didn’t bother to look around.
“Now the grandparents...”I closed my eyes, dreading the hopelessness of my situation.I had no grandparent to stand proudly for me. I finally opened my eyes, and there they were, Job and Molly, standing proudly with all the other grandparents. Job looked over at me, his eyes beaming like diamonds.
“I’m so proud of you,” he smiled as he mouthed the words that I will never forget. I knew that he stood there, not out of duty, but because of his love for me!
喬布并不起眼，他以打掃樓道為生。他相信在現(xiàn)實(shí)生活中，人猿泰山是真實(shí)存在的，所有的那些電影都是泰山生活的真實(shí)記錄片。他是大家取笑的對(duì)象，然而他教會(huì)了我“真正的人”應(yīng)有的品質(zhì)：愛(ài)護(hù)與尊重女性、榮耀、善良和親切。
喬布用出人意表的簡(jiǎn)單方式擁抱生活。他工作準(zhǔn)時(shí)，從不吹噓自己，而且只愛(ài)一個(gè)女人――他的妻子莫莉。喬布填補(bǔ)了我生命中的空白。在我那滿布謊言和恥辱的世界里，他是如此有原則和正直。他像愛(ài)自己的孫女一樣愛(ài)我，盡管他比我父親還小一歲。
我永遠(yuǎn)也忘不了高中畢業(yè)時(shí)的情形。那天對(duì)我來(lái)說(shuō)本是注定讓人絕望的。我的酒鬼父親，那天一大早就開(kāi)始自己狂歡了。當(dāng)我們?cè)趯W(xué)校體育館集中慶祝時(shí)，他已經(jīng)浸在幾乎一箱啤酒里自己作樂(lè)了。
我盡力讓自己在人海里顯得毫不起眼。我想逃走。我想消失。我最希望的，就是沒(méi)人知道我是誰(shuí)的孩子。可我的姓氏出賣了我。我姓氏的首字母是“A”，因此我是第一排的第一個(gè)畢業(yè)生。滿頭的紅發(fā)讓我更加顯眼，而那個(gè)與我從未謀面的畢業(yè)致詞者，決定把我當(dāng)作輔助他“教學(xué)的工具”。
“這位年輕的女士，這位長(zhǎng)著一頭亮麗紅發(fā)的漂亮女士。”他言詞夸張，聲音在禮堂里盤旋回響。而座位上的我，卻縮得更低了。我左邊的禮堂門口處，是給“長(zhǎng)者”的座位區(qū)。61歲的莫莉和47歲的喬布跟其他人的祖父母?jìng)兌甲谀莾骸Ｎ彝麄儯娜绲陡睢Ｎ叶嗝聪Ｍ艺媸撬麄兊膶O女。
發(fā)言者繼續(xù)著他的演講，說(shuō)到點(diǎn)子上時(shí)，他按捺不住內(nèi)心的激動(dòng)，要介紹“所有成就了今天畢業(yè)禮的了不起的人們!”
“所有即將畢業(yè)的同學(xué)們，請(qǐng)起立。”我靠在座位上，身子藏得更低了，眼睛快速地向周圍掃視了一下，但愿沒(méi)人看得見(jiàn)我。
“現(xiàn)在，所有的父母?jìng)儯?qǐng)起立。”我暗地里想：天啊，我敢肯定，就算我父親想站，他也站不起來(lái)了。我甚至看都不用看了。
“現(xiàn)在，祖父母?jìng)?hellip;…”我閉上眼睛，處境讓我不堪設(shè)想。沒(méi)有祖父母會(huì)為我自豪地站起來(lái)。我最后睜開(kāi)了眼睛，他們站起來(lái)了――喬布和莫莉，他們跟所有的祖父母?jìng)円黄鹱院赖卣酒饋?lái)了。喬布看著我，眼睛里閃爍著鉆石般的光芒。
“我真為你感到驕傲，”他做著口形說(shuō)道，說(shuō)的時(shí)候面帶笑容，而我將永遠(yuǎn)也不會(huì)忘記這些話。我知道，他站起來(lái)并不是出于責(zé)任，而是源于他對(duì)我的愛(ài)!
1) Tarzan n. 泰山(美國(guó)影片《人猿泰山》的主人公)
2) documentary n. 記錄片
3) butt n. 笑柄
4) brag v. 吹牛
5) straightforward adj. 正直的，坦率的
6) inevitability n. 必然性
7) gymnasium n. 健身房，體育館
8) betray v. 出賣，背叛
9) baccalaureate n. <美>在畢業(yè)典禮上對(duì)畢業(yè)班所作的告別講話
10) audio-visual aid(多媒體)視聽(tīng)教育的教具，視聽(tīng)教學(xué)輔助器材
11) sonorous adj. 語(yǔ)調(diào)夸張的，給人印象深刻的
12) auditorium n. <美>會(huì)堂，禮堂
