晨读美文：最好的遗产是爱

晨读美文：最好的遗产是爱

摘录：随着时间的流逝，我开始重新审视从前我对Al刻薄的评价。你们知道，我认识Al已成年的儿子，Ernie。他是我认识的最善良、懂得关心人、最有爱心的男人了。每每看着他和他的孩子们，我都能感觉到他们之间爱的自然流动。我意识到这种善良和关心一定有所渊源。

As a young man, Al was a skilled artist, a potter. He had a wife and two fine sons. One night, his oldest son developed a severe stomachache. Thinking it was only some common intestinal disorder, neither Al nor his wife took the condition very seriously. But the malady was actually acute appendicitis and the boy died suddenly that night.

年轻时， Al就已经是一个技艺精湛的陶艺艺术家了。他有了妻子和两个健壮的儿子。但是一天夜里，他大儿子肚子疼得厉害，他想这也只不过是普通的肠道疾病，就没太在意，他妻子也是这样认为。然而那种病却是急性阑尾炎，这个男孩那天夜里就这么死了。

Knowing the death could have been prevented if he had only realized the seriousness of the situation, Al's emotional health deleriorated under the enormous burden of his guilt. To make matters worse his wife left him a short time later, leaving him alone with his six-year-old younger son. The hurt and pain of the two situations were more than Al could handle, and he turned to alcohol to help him cope. In lime Al became an alcoholic.

如果他那时意识到情况的严重性，孩子的死本来是可以避免的，一想到这些 Al内心就无比愧疚，情绪也一天比一天糟糕。更糟的是，不久他的妻子抛弃了他，把他们6岁的小儿子留给了他。丧子之痛加上妾离之苦让Al无法喘息，他开始斟酒来麻痹自己，最后他成了一个名副其实的酒鬼。

As the alcoholism progressed, Al began to lose everything he possessed-his home, his land, his art objects, everything. Eventually Al died alone in a San Francisco motel room.

就这样喝酒度日，Al慢慢地失去了他所拥有的一切——房子，土地，艺术作品等等，最后孤独地在旧金山的一个汽车旅馆里死去。