SHE IS A GEM

美丽故事

She Is a Gem

〔译〕 她如珍宝般可贵

I was sixteen when I first spoke to Ms. Cost-elloe. She asked me where I got my coat. I was painfully shy and hardly managed to spit out the name of the store. The following year, still hope-lessly shy, I joined her English class. Illness soon took over my life after that, and from then Ms.Costelloe became my rock, and would continue to be so over the next three years.

〔译〕当我与科斯特洛老师第一次对话时，我十六岁。她问我的外套是在哪里买的。我极度害羞，几乎没能说出那个商店的名字。接下来的一年，我还是十分害羞。我开始」她的英语课。在那之后疾病很快扰乱了我的生活，从那时开始，科斯特洛老师就成了我的依靠，在接下来的三年里都是如此。

You see, I suffer from Bipolar Affective Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder and it has shaken my world. I have spent over a year in psy-chiatric hospitals, experiencing overwhelming highs which have always crashed into plumme-ting2 lows. Put schoolwork into the mix of this and you have hell on earth. When I thought I had no one to help me, I found an ally in the smile of one particular teacher.

〔译〕你们知道吗？我患有双相情感障碍和社交焦虑障碍症，它动摇了我的整个世界。我花了一年多的时间在精神病院里接受治疗，在那里我体验到了难以抗拒的兴奋和由兴奋急转直下而来的极度抑郁。再把学校的功课和这些混到一起，你会觉得那简直是人间炼狱。当我感觉已经没有人可以帮助我时，我在一位特别的老师的微笑中找到了依靠。

She has not only opened my mind up to the wonderful works of Sylvia Plath and Emily Bron-te, encouraged my own creative writing, inspired me to read more, create more, but has given me zest'for life. She has shown me that I do not need to run away from my sickness. She has helped me come to terms with it.

〔译〕她不仅仅打开了我的心灵，让我去欣赏西尔维娅·普拉斯和艾米莉·勃朗特那些精彩的作品，鼓励我进行创造性的写作，激励我去读更多的书、创作更多的作品，还给予了我对生活的热情。她让我明白我不需要去逃避我的疾病，她让我学会了如何去面对它。

The first time I went to hospital I found it almost impossible to imagine continuing on in school. I was seventeen and scared of both leav-ing and staying in the walls of education. I was

[译]当我第一次去医院的时候，我发现自己几乎不能想象还要继续我的学业。那时我十七岁了，既害怕离开学校，又怕留在学校。

cajoled into going back for one half day, first s English. After the forty minutes of Wuther-Heights, the bell rang, ending the lesson.Costelloe asked me to stay back. She spoke tly and kindly about how I was missed and w she was happy to see me back. It gave me'a nse of place, a class to look forward to, a rea-on to come back to school.

〔译〕我被哄着回到学校去上半天的课程，第一课是英语。在进行了四十分钟的《呼啸山庄》学习后，铃声响了，那节课结束了。科斯特洛老师让我留下来。她很温柔很亲切地告诉我，她是多么想念我，她很高兴我可以回到学校。这给了我一种归属感，给了我一门期待的课程和一个回到学校的理由。

I let myself fall in love with great poets and narrowing novels. I wrote many short stories. I didn't know what illness I was battling with yet,but I knew reading and writing soothed it. Not to say it was all plain sailing from there on end.But Ms. Costelloe has picked me up every time. She has calmed me down from many a panict attack and her words have given me the courage to face my diagnosis (the scariestthing I have ever done).

〔译〕后来，我爱上了伟大的诗人们和悲情小说，写了大量的短篇故事。我不知道自己在与什么样的疾病作斗争，但我知道读书和写作可以缓和疾病带来的痛苦。虽然说不上从此就一帆风顺了，但科斯特洛老师每一次都会在我跌倒时把我扶起来。在我每一次病症发作的时候她都让我平静下来，她的话给了我面对疾病诊断的勇气（面对它曾是我最害怕的事)。

She is not only an amazing English teacher,but a teacher of life. She has given me life lessons that I carry with me each and every day. I can honestly say she is the reason I am still alive, liv-ing not just existing. She is truly the best teacher any student could hope to come across. She is a gem, and I thank her for all she has taught mein

〔译〕她不仅是一位了不起的英语老师，也是一位人生导师。她给了我每一天都受用的人生道理。坦诚说，正是因为她，我到现在还活着，还在努力地生活，而不仅仅是存在于这个世界上。她真的是任何学生都期望可以遇到的最好的老师。她就是一件珍宝。我很感谢她在那短暂的三年里教会我的东西。