why, i pleaded with my mother, did i have to share a room with lind a? i was 12 at the time, and i my mind, at least, my seven瞴ear瞣ld sister was still a child. she went to bed earlier than i did, and the light was turned off at her bedtime, i had to resort to flashlight under the covers if i wanted to r ead.
secretly, i meditated on the bliss of being an only child with a room all my own . and during that summer, my father seemded to be meditating along the same line s. he was going to night school and wanted a room to study in quietly, apart fro m his noisy family. so he decided to build one.
for my father, adding a room to the house was not a matter of calling in a contr actor or an architect勃瞚t meant getting out hammer and saw, buying some nails, plaster and lumber, and getting to work.
we children were fascinated with the construction process. my baby brother toddl ed about the back yard with cries of “hammoah, hammoah” as he dragged behind h im a hammer bigger than he was. when the framework went up on the concrete found ation, the room became a forest where we played robin hood.
all through the summer the room rose like a miniature magic castle. daddy built a bookcase into one wall for his schoolbooks, a large closet, and windows facing out in three directions. how i envied him the luxury of a rrom of his own.
by christmas, the room was finished 勃 paleblue walls, blue curtains shot with gold thread, floor laid, heat and electricity turned on.
on the last day before christmas vacation, i came home from school and found the bedroom i shared with my sister completely rearranged.
“okay, linda!” i shouted. “what did you do with my books?” linda smiled her smug i瞜now瞫omething瞴ou瞕on't瞜now smile and led me down the hall. my par ents were standing in the new room. “surprise!” they cried. all my things had been arranged in a new maple bedroom suite. my clothes hung in the closet; my bo oks lined the built瞚n bookshelf. i was overwhelmed.
“daddy knew瞴ou needed your own room,” my mother said. “so he decided you sh ould have this one.”
that night, tucked up in my very own bedroom and staring out the window at the s uddenly mysterious and alien backyard in the darkness, i experienced a strange e motion. i was lonely. i missed my sister's sleepy mumbles. “if you don't turn t hat flashlight off, i'm telling mom” had somehow become a missed comfort rather than an annoying threat. i tiptoed to linda's room. she was still awake. togeth er, we tiptoed back to the new room, turned off the lights and huddled under the covers giggling. we told each other ghost stories, each begging the other halfw ay through to stop. beyond the long windows, moonligh sifted through the branche s of the maple tree.
“i'm glad you're back here,” linda said.
i was touched. “really?”
“uh瞙uh. because now i've finally got a room of my own.”
"我心所願"英語作文譯文
“為什麼我一定要和琳達同住一間屋子呢?”十二歲那年，我這樣問過母親。至少在我看來，我那才七歲的妹妹還是小孩子。妹妹晚上比我睡得早，而她上床 就得關燈，如果我還想看書話就只得藉助手電筒子，而且還得藏在被窩裡。
我悄悄夢想：要是我是家裡唯一的小孩，能夠擁有完全屬於我自己的一個房間，那該多好啊 !那個暑假，父親似乎也在盤算同樣的事兒——他在上夜校，也想有一間屋子清清靜靜地學 習，躲開一大家子人的喧鬧。因此，父親決定加蓋一間屋子。
對父親來講，給原來的房子加蓋一個房間用不著請個建築商或者設計師什麼的，而是找出榔 頭、鋸子，買些釘子，灰泥和木板，自己動手。 我們小孩對房子的建築過程著了迷。剛學會走路的弟弟拖著一把比他自己還大的榔頭在後院 里一搖一晃地走來走去，一邊口齒不清地叫嚷“錘錘，錘錘。”房子的框加架在混凝土地地 基上建立起來後，那間屋子就成了我們玩捉“羅賓漢”遊戲的森林。
整個暑假，屋子就像魔法師手中的微縮城堡一樣，日漸成形。爸爸在一面牆上做了一個書架 ，用來放在他讀夜校時要用的書；還在這面牆上做了一個大大的壁櫥。另外三面牆都開了窗 。我好羨慕他，擁有屬於他自己的房間，太奢侈了! 到聖誕節時，房子完工了。淺藍色的牆壁，緩有金絲線的藍色窗簾，鋪了地板，裝了暖氣， 安了電燈。
臨放聖誕假的前一天，放學回到家，我發現我和妹妹同住的臥室徹底變了個樣。
“好哇，琳達!”我大叫，“你把我的書怎么了?”琳達笑得神秘兮兮地，好像她知道一些我 不知道的事。她把我拖下樓，來到客廳。爸媽站在新房子裡，“大吃一驚吧!”他們朝我大 聲說道。我的所有東西都被安放在了一套嶄新的楓木臥室家具里。衣服掛在壁櫥里，書擺放 在壁架上。我激動不已。
“爸爸知道你需要有自己的房間，”媽媽說，“因此他決定你該住這間。”
那晚，蜷縮在我自己的獨有的臥室里，凝望窗外，黑暗中，突然覺得後院變得陌生而神秘起 來。我體驗著一種很奇怪的感覺，我覺得孤獨。我想念妹妹睡夢中的呢喃。“你再不關手電 我就告訴媽咪了”也不再是讓我頭疼的威脅，反而成了令我懷念的慰藉。我踮著腳尖走進琳 達的房間，原來她也沒有睡著。我們一起躡手躡腳地回到新屋，關掉燈，擠在被窩裡咯咯地 笑成一團，我們互相講鬼故事，講到一半又嚇得彼此告饒，不敢再聽了。月光透過長長的窗 戶，濾過窗外楓樹的技葉，靜靜地瀉進屋子裡。
“我很高興你住在這兒，”琳達說。
我很感動，“真的?”
“唔，因為現在我總算有我自己的房間。”