By Liona Boyd

　　郁可选注

　　The summer holidays had come to an end. The next day we would leave my grandparents' home in Spain, jump on the rickety-rackety train to the French border, catch the night train to Paris and then the ferry back across the Channel to England.1

　　Our bags were packed, but I heard my mother pestering my father about a classical guitar she spotted that afternoon in a shop window.2 "Why does Mummy want a guitar?," my six-year-old mind wondered.

　　"Please let's buy it! It's only a few pounds and it would look so pretty on the sideboard3," she pleaded4.

　　"Too late, darling. The shop is closed and it's impossible for me to carry a guitar along with all these over-packed cases5," my father stated matter-of-factly6.

　　The next morning as we prepared to depart, my persistent mother was still trying to persuade my father to buy the guitar.7 At the last minute he capitulated and together they dashed around the winding streets in search of the music shop.8 My mother returned breathless, but triumphant!9 Her husband stuffed the delicate instrument with its canvas cover into his rucksack and carried it to England on his back.10

　　The guitar was an attractive addition to our sparsely furnished living room and a lovely memento of our holiday in Spain.11 Occasionally, while my baby brother slept, my mother placed it on her lap to pluck12 a simple tune she had taught herself. The guitar delighted my six-year-old sensibilities as I listened with fascination to its enchanting tones.13

　　A year later when my family immigrated to Canada, the guitar was once again shoved into the old rucksack.14 It eventually reclined on a ledge over a heating vent in our new Toronto home until one night a shattering noise awakened us.15 The hot, dry air had almost proven fatal for the poor guitar.16 Its delicate wooden body is cracked17. Fortunately my art teacher father was able to use his skills to glue the guitar back together again.

　　After three years we again packed up our belongings, and headed back to England.18 This time the guitar seemed too cumbersome so my mother was reluctantly persuaded to give it to a friend who owned a summer camp in northern Ontario.19 She was reassured that it would have a new life, strumming accompaniments to songs around the campfire.20

　　The following year, when we unexpectedly returned to Canada, there welcoming us back was the friend.

　　"Here, you must have your guitar back," she insisted, thrusting it into my mother's hands against her protests21. Back it went to resume its ornamental role in our new living room.22

　　"Liona, what would you like for Christmas?," my parents asked me a year later. At a loss my eyes alighted on the guitar23 and with little thought responded, "I guess you could give me that old guitar and a few lessons."

　　Thus the die was cast and my long love affair with the guitar was about to begin.24 That patient instrument had been waiting for me, bidding25 its time until I was ready. It had entered my life because of a last minute whim and survived ocean crossings, the dryness of the Canadian winters and the silence of the years.26 It had been abandoned, given away and tossed from hand to hand around a campfire.27 But amazingly the little guitar returned to inspire me to start on my life's calling and fulfill my destiny as a performing artist and composer, and share my music with the world.28

　　1. rickety-rackety:摇摇晃晃、嘈杂喧闹的；border:边境；ferry:渡船；the Channel:即the English Channel，英吉利海峡，英国隔此海峡与法国相望。

　　2. pack:打点(行装)；

　　pester:纠缠；classical guitar:古典吉他；spot:看到。一般来说吉他共分三大类，即古典吉他、民谣吉他、电吉他，古典吉他主要用于古典音乐的演奏，主要特征是琴颈很宽，一、二、三弦是尼龙弦。

　　3. sideboard:餐具柜。

　　4. plead:恳求，请求。

　　5. over-packed case:超负荷的箱子，装满了东西的箱子。

　　6. state: v.陈述，声明；matter-of-factly:就事论事地，不带感情地。

　　7. depart:起程，出发；persistent:坚持不懈的，执着的；persuade sb. to do sth.:说服某人做某事。

　　8. capitulate:屈从；dash:急跑，飞奔；winding:弯曲的，蜿蜒的。

　　9.回来的时候妈妈已经是气喘吁吁的了，却又满脸的欢欣和喜悦。triumphant: (因胜利或成功)欢欣鼓舞的。

　　10. stuff (into):把……塞进，把……填进；canvas:帆布；rucksack:旅行用帆布背包。

　　11.这把吉他是我们西班牙之行的一个可爱纪念，也令我家空落落的客厅增色不少。sparsely:稀疏地；memento:纪念物，纪念品。

　　12. pluck:弹，拨(乐器的弦)。

　　13. sensibility:鉴赏力；enchanting:令人陶醉的。

　　14. immigrate:移居；shove:乱塞。

　　15. recline (on):斜倚，靠；ledge:壁架；vent:通风孔；shatter:打碎，碎裂。

　　16.后来发现，这把可怜的吉他差点就被这些又热又干的气流给毁了。fatal:毁灭性的。

　　17. crack:使裂开。

　　18. pack up:收拾(行李)；belonging: [常作~s]行李；head: v.朝特定方向行进。

　　19. cumbersome:累赘的；reluctantly:不情愿地；summer camp:夏令营。

　　20. reassure:再三保证；strum:弹出；

　　accompaniment:伴奏。

　　21. thrust:强使接受；against one's protests:不顾某人的反对。

　　22. resume:继续；ornamental:装饰的。

　　23. at a loss:茫然不知所措，此处是说"我"也不知道自己想要个什么样的生日礼物；alight:偶然发现。

　　24.事情就这样定了下来，我和这把吉他的悠长"爱情"故事就这样开演了。The die is cast (或throw): <谚>木已成舟，事已定局。

　　25. bid: (在拍卖中买主)出价，喊价。此处是说这把吉他等了这么多年，就为了等到它真正的主人--"我"。

　　26.就因为(妈妈)最后那一刻的心血来潮，它走进了我的生活，屡次飘洋过海、经受住了加拿大干燥严冬的考验以及这么多年被遗忘冷落的待遇，如今它依然在我的身边。whim:突然产生的念头。

　　27. abandon:遗弃；give away:赠送；toss:扔，抛。

　　28.但是让人惊奇的是，这把小小的吉他又回来了，回来激励我去开创自己一生的事业，去实现我命中注定的使命：成为一名表演艺术家和作曲家，与世人一起分享我的音乐。calling:职业，行业。