陌生人的善心
I took my daughter, Hannah, to a local store the other day. As we entered the store, I greeted the clerk and told her that I was looking for a birthday present for my daughter.
前幾天我帶我的女兒，漢娜，去當地的一間商店。當我們進入那間店時，我向店員打招呼並告訴她我在為我的女兒找生日禮物。
the other day 前幾天another day改天greet (v.)打招呼,迎接
Before the clerk could say anything, Hannah ran toward a porcelain doll. It was an exquisite doll with smooth skin and curly hair.
就在店員開口說話前，漢娜向一個瓷娃娃跑了過去。它是個擁有光滑肌膚和捲頭髮的精緻娃娃。
porcelain (n.)陶瓷exquisite (ad.)精緻的an exquisite piece of china一件精緻的陶器smooth (adj.)平滑的,順利的
To our disappointment, the doll was over our budget by a lot. I asked the clerk to hold it for me. I planned to come back and get it after I got my next paycheck.
令我們失望的是，那個娃娃超出我們的預算很多。我問店員是否可以幫我保留起來。我打算在領到下次薪水後回來買。
to one’s +情緒性名詞 令某人感到…的是to one’s satisfaction 令某人感到滿意的是to one’s sorrow 令某人感到悲傷的是to one’s delight令某人感到高興的是paycheck (n.)薪水支票salary (n.)薪水wage (n.)工資
An elderly lady came up to me and offered to buy it for my daughter.
一名年長的女士向我走來並提出要買給我女兒。
elderly (adj.)年長的come up to sb. 接近,走向某人
I thanked her for her generous offer and declined.
我感謝她慷慨的提議並拒絕了。
generous (adj.)慷慨的decline (v.)拒絕 = refuse politelyreject (v.)拒絕
Then she explained why it was important for her to help us. She had been homeless for two years.
然後她向我解釋為何幫助我們對她來說如此重要。她曾無家可歸兩年。
過去完成式 had + p.p.
If it had not been for the kindness of strangers, she would not have been able to survive.
如果不是陌生人的善心，她根本無法存活下來。
If it had not been for + N…, S + would have p.p….. 若不是…就…(與過去事實相反的假設語氣)survive (v.)存活survivor (n.)倖存者
“I am no longer homeless. I made a promise to myself to pay the love forward when I have the chance,” she said.
「我現在已經不再無家可歸了。我答應自己有機會的話要把這份愛傳出去。」她說道。
no longer 不再make a promise to sb. 向某人做出承諾